Pre-Trip Report – Are we experts yet?
The Cast:
Me – Mom, (34), perpetually exhausted control freak, but I’m working on it
Captain Planner – Dad, (37), former naysayer who has embraced Disney wholeheartedly
Tinkerbell – DD (15), moods are like the weather in Southwestern Ontario –wait five minutes, it’ll change
Dory – DD (13), a bit absentminded, but game for anything
Shopaholic – DD (8), can’t decide if her favourite attraction was Space Mountain or the gift shop
Planning for this batch of Disney Days began in January 2005 with a room-only reservation at the Port Orleans Riverside (POR). Friends of ours also booked a trip, with the assurance that we’d be right there to help them navigate their first trip to the World. We were going to be a Magical Gathering, and thought it was just Grand.
Flash forward six months – free dining? FREE? You bet your mouse ears! We sacrifice our $19 dollar a night AAA discount and switch over to the free dining package. At the same time we discover the perils of trying to fly home on Columbus Day – adding a night to our package saves us an estimated $400+ in airfare.
July rolls around. Friends decide they can’t swing the trip, so we’re on our own again. My dad, teenage brother, sister and her boyfriend decide free dining sounds good, so they book to go along with us. We’re a Gathering again! They will ultimately cancel, and we’ll be back on our own again.
The airline offers a 24 hour seat sale, and we pounce. Online booking screws up, and it takes an entire day to unravel the mistake. I call corporate and complain, and they give us a further discount. Most-used quote of this debacle: “My credit card has been charged three times and I still don’t have plane tickets! All I’m trying to do is take my family to Disney World!”
I’m booking Advance Dining Reservations at this point – free dining is going to be great! Disney’s madness in offering free dining is becoming apparent, as I am heard to say several times, “Since we don’t have to pay for meals, we can afford…”
Captain Planner doesn’t seem to be doing as much planning, but that’s okay. This is slow season, and we’ve been there before – plans aren’t as vital.
Hurricane season steps up, and we become addicted to the NOAA web site. I also become a suitcase Nazi – Tinkerbell insists that her entire wardrobe is necessary. With five of us, a wheelchair, and golf clubs, I stand my ground – one bag apiece, and one group bag, and that’s it!
We’re running out of Days Before We Go. The kids protest my suitcase check, but I refuse to let them go looking like the Clampetts Do Disney. Why must they pack their oldest, shoddiest clothes?
Bags are packed, car is loaded, and the living room is vacuumed. (I refuse to leave a dirty house behind) Captain Planner has produced a plan for each day. The kids are hustled off to bed for a few hours sleep before our 4:30 a.m. departure for the airport. NOAA is checked one more time – there are no storms on the horizon.
We’re going to Disney World!
OMG!
The cast names are perfect!
I can so "hear" you saying this as i am reading!
Posted by: kim | October 14, 2005 at 10:14 AM