Elianor
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2010
Okay, so I have been reading pre trip reports and completed trip reports since June and I have finally succumbed to the urge to write my own. I blame Glennbo's trip report entirely for the desire to do this, since I have become addicted to his thread. 
We took the children, Meredith (7) and Paul (2) to DW in April with my parents. We stayed off property in a 3 bedroom condo and while my family flew, the parental units drove their enormous Dodge diesel truck down and picked us up.
That trip was fun (is it possible for Disney not to be fun?) but WORK. My dh was stressed out between trying to herd my parents on their little electric carts (dad has a heart problem and mom's had a hip problem that makes walking hard) and the kids and me...while also trying to keep track of some work projects that weren't going well. My darling husband, Mark, is a sweet man, but he doesn't really travel well. He hates everything about air travel, but it just wasn't practical to drive to the World from Missouri with a toddler.
He got cross after the first couple of days and by the end of the trip I was ready not to speak to him again, EVER. The drive back home from the airport...he started talking about "the next time we go". Hmmm. The wheels are turning here!
I started checking into the possibility of going for our anniversary in September. We will be celebrating 9 years and it seemed doable! I chatted him up about it and to my shock,
he was not adverse to the idea!
I am kind of frugal (he's positively Scottish compared to me) but I hate to spend money and feel it was wasted so I started looking around and resorts and prices (Oh DEAR GOD the resort prices are enough to give me heart failure!) but Mr. Man really wanted to try staying on the property for once. I figured we could get into Port Orleans for a decent price and I planned to upgrade to a single king bed...did I mention the kids were staying at camp grandma for our trip!?? Imagine, DW with no kids!
We tried going camping (medieval style since that's how we roll!) last year without the kids, but I got a call late one night that mom had called an ambulance for my baby boy since he had gone into convulsions and turned blue from a high fever. I about lost my mind trying to get home from 14 hours away. That vacay was a total bust and Mr. Man went back to work after we got home and found out that there was no real emergency...the ds is just one of those lucky kids who have febrile convulsions when his fever goes up to fast too high. He was fine, but it scared me to death (and my mother too.)
So, needless to say, it has been a while since Mark and I have had any alone time. Our families live about 6 hours away so we don't get to see them that often. The idea of a vacation without the kids is pretty thrilling.
So, I planned out the itenerary for September...then discovered that Mark has a court case (he's a lawyer) that could be in trial sometime that month. He didn't want to risk planning a trip that we'd have to cancel. I was somewhat despondent...til he suggested we might go earlier!
The trip is ON!!!
It gets better! A dear friend is a member of DVC, but now lives in New Zealand and offered to cash in some of her points to get Mark and I into a resort room for free. I knew this would bother the dh, since he hates to feel beholden to people...but our friend got the dates we were looking at and booked the room and presented it to us fait accompli! Yay, now we *have* to go, yes???
She got us into the AKL in a studio room with a savanna view. I literally danced around the room when she called to let us know. (This was fairly awkard since I was at work at the time.)
We are leaving at O'Dark'thirty on August 2nd. For those of you not familiar with Jeff City, Missouri, we have an airport. But no commercial flights go in and out. Normally we drive to Kansas City (3 hours) or St. Louis (2.5 hours) which meant that a good part of our vacay would be spent in driving/flying. So, another upgrade and we will be at our destination by noon! Columbia (half an hour away) has a flight to Orlando connecting through Memphis (Neeley's bbq in the airport, yum) leaving at 6am. Normally, I would abhor the extra cost, but the free room has made it possible to really do this up right! We are going to do the deluxe dining plan and park hopper tickets!
So, our anniversary trip starts in 2 weeks and we are counting down the days in anticipation!
We took the children, Meredith (7) and Paul (2) to DW in April with my parents. We stayed off property in a 3 bedroom condo and while my family flew, the parental units drove their enormous Dodge diesel truck down and picked us up.
That trip was fun (is it possible for Disney not to be fun?) but WORK. My dh was stressed out between trying to herd my parents on their little electric carts (dad has a heart problem and mom's had a hip problem that makes walking hard) and the kids and me...while also trying to keep track of some work projects that weren't going well. My darling husband, Mark, is a sweet man, but he doesn't really travel well. He hates everything about air travel, but it just wasn't practical to drive to the World from Missouri with a toddler.
He got cross after the first couple of days and by the end of the trip I was ready not to speak to him again, EVER. The drive back home from the airport...he started talking about "the next time we go". Hmmm. The wheels are turning here!
I started checking into the possibility of going for our anniversary in September. We will be celebrating 9 years and it seemed doable! I chatted him up about it and to my shock,
he was not adverse to the idea!I am kind of frugal (he's positively Scottish compared to me) but I hate to spend money and feel it was wasted so I started looking around and resorts and prices (Oh DEAR GOD the resort prices are enough to give me heart failure!) but Mr. Man really wanted to try staying on the property for once. I figured we could get into Port Orleans for a decent price and I planned to upgrade to a single king bed...did I mention the kids were staying at camp grandma for our trip!?? Imagine, DW with no kids!
We tried going camping (medieval style since that's how we roll!) last year without the kids, but I got a call late one night that mom had called an ambulance for my baby boy since he had gone into convulsions and turned blue from a high fever. I about lost my mind trying to get home from 14 hours away. That vacay was a total bust and Mr. Man went back to work after we got home and found out that there was no real emergency...the ds is just one of those lucky kids who have febrile convulsions when his fever goes up to fast too high. He was fine, but it scared me to death (and my mother too.)
So, needless to say, it has been a while since Mark and I have had any alone time. Our families live about 6 hours away so we don't get to see them that often. The idea of a vacation without the kids is pretty thrilling.
So, I planned out the itenerary for September...then discovered that Mark has a court case (he's a lawyer) that could be in trial sometime that month. He didn't want to risk planning a trip that we'd have to cancel. I was somewhat despondent...til he suggested we might go earlier!
The trip is ON!!!
It gets better! A dear friend is a member of DVC, but now lives in New Zealand and offered to cash in some of her points to get Mark and I into a resort room for free. I knew this would bother the dh, since he hates to feel beholden to people...but our friend got the dates we were looking at and booked the room and presented it to us fait accompli! Yay, now we *have* to go, yes???
She got us into the AKL in a studio room with a savanna view. I literally danced around the room when she called to let us know. (This was fairly awkard since I was at work at the time.)
We are leaving at O'Dark'thirty on August 2nd. For those of you not familiar with Jeff City, Missouri, we have an airport. But no commercial flights go in and out. Normally we drive to Kansas City (3 hours) or St. Louis (2.5 hours) which meant that a good part of our vacay would be spent in driving/flying. So, another upgrade and we will be at our destination by noon! Columbia (half an hour away) has a flight to Orlando connecting through Memphis (Neeley's bbq in the airport, yum) leaving at 6am. Normally, I would abhor the extra cost, but the free room has made it possible to really do this up right! We are going to do the deluxe dining plan and park hopper tickets!
So, our anniversary trip starts in 2 weeks and we are counting down the days in anticipation!
