Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 9)

So, we traveled to Walt Disney World with 23 people over 10 days. And survived! Lots of planning went into this trip and we had an amazing time.

What did we end up doing? Well, it was a lot and we never got bored! Here is a brief overview (more for me than anyone else) walking through the trip, day by day.

 

We are here! Gotta take a picture at our resort, this time is All Star Sports.

 A bit cold and rainy this time around, but still really fun. We watched the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show on the 30th from Tomorrowland, which is our traditional spot. Ponchos came out that night but that's ok! 

 This was the night that we got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean ride with all 18 of Husband's family -all in our own boat! Something was definitely wrong with the ride, because we got stuck multiple times. Then, they had to evacuate us from the ride RIGHT before the drop. Who knew those ropes on the other side of the boat from this guy were practical? They had to tie our boat down and then help us out, one by one. We got a great shot of this guy from our boat while stuck, so that's a positive!

Late that night, on the 30th, during Extra Magic Hours, the line for Anna and Elsa were crazy short. So I convinced Husband to hop in line and wait for this awesome meet and greet! 

 The next day was Epcot, and we managed to get a big family picture with the Big Cheese.

 Aww, c'mon! Nephew giving Mickey a kiss just stole the show.

 It was the nuttiest time at Epcot I have ever seen.

 We were told later that it was an estimated 92,000 people in the park that day.

 So we went to get pizza in Italy.

The four cheese pizza is "forget your husband's name" good. Oh my.

 We were there when Italy celebrated the New Year in the old country, so there was a huge celebration at the restaurant, with singing and ringing of bells. So much fun!

 Test Track from back stage.

 We ended up taking a bypass out of the park once the 6 pm fireworks went off, because there were just too many people to have any fun. Especially when walking around with 18 people. We decided to head for the resort.

 Nephew enjoyed the hat and the noisemaker first, though!

Happy 2015, everyone!

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 8)

One of the last things that we had to arrange was our Disney Magic Express transportation, once we had made our other plans.

Disney does everything it can to get you to their property and keep you there. Period. We call it the Disney Bubble, and while we love being in the bubble, not everyone feels that way. Husband and I experienced a Disney trip with just the two of us last December and decided to rent a car to avoid some of the long bus rides. It's definitely a different experience when you're driving!

When you make your flight reservations, you send the info to Disney or your travel agent so the bus can be ready for you at Orlando International Airport.

The most amazing thing about DME is that once you check your bags at the airport at home, you don't see them again until they arrive in your Disney Resort room. They take care of waiting at the luggage carousel and load all of the bags up in a van and with the tag they sent you earlier, they know whose bags they are and to which resort and room they belong.

It's a magical service!

But you have to be careful, because this delivery process can take up to four hours from the time you land. By the time, me and the family are already checked in to the hotel and headed to the parks. So we make sure that anything we need for the rest of the first day is in our checked bags, including our park tickets/Magic Bands, a park bag, our camera, change of clothes, you get the idea.

When we check into the hotel, we usually leave a bag or two with bell services while we head to the park. This way our iPads and other airplane bag stuff is stored, safe and sound at the resort, while we have fun.

It may sound scary to lose sight of your luggage for a few hours, but believe me, the magic of walking into your room after your first day in the parks and having your bags there is pretty awesome.

Once our DME information is confirmed, it's just the countdown to the vacation to look to... and that's the hardest part - the waiting!

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 7)

Oh boy, our planning was almost done! 60 days out and time was flying now.

And now, it was time to spend some more money. But I figure this one was worth it - Disney's MemoryMaker. It's a pass to get your picture taken in multiple places around the resort, with fun backgrounds, that allows everyone to get into the picture. We had so much fun with these pictures!

Since I'm writing this after the trip, I can show you a few of them!

 

They have photographers at most of the meet and greets and elsewhere around the parks. So I got to meet Anna and Elsa and get my picture taken!

There is a meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy in Epcot that was just perfect for a large family picture. We had FastPass+ reservations for this attraction and I gave them a few minutes heads up that we were entering the line with 18 people. They managed to create some extra room so our big group could take a picture - in matching shirts no less! It was so much fun to get all these pictures, and we could all pay attention to the characters and not worry about the pictures.

Plus, the photographers catch some great moments - like this one where I gave Minnie a hug!

The other fun thing about MemoryMaker is the ability to get "magic shots" - the photographers ask you to pose in a certain way and then press a button to have some magic sprinkled into the shot. You find the surprise when you check the website for your photos after you've done vacationing for the day. The girls met Olaf and didn't even know it!

 

The service also gives you access to the on-ride photos. This one was really awesome because we didn't even have to scan our bands on the way out of the ride, the RFID technology in the bands recognized that we were on the ride and took our picture. Ain't technology grand?!

There are also a few on-ride videos that were added to our account as well, each time one of us rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Hollywood Tower of Terror.

I just love having pictures of the both of us on vacation - the photographers have fun with it, too! Since we take lots of pictures of just the two of us, they usually ask us to get all lovey-dovey and some of the shots are just adorable.

I wouldn't necessarily buy an on-ride photo but getting this one along with all the others is just great - look at my face!

So once one set of family members left, my family came in to join us for some Disney fun! We got a bunch of pictures together too.

 In addition to the photographers in the park, there are usually photographers at some of the restaurants. Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Hotel is one of them where you get a picture at the beginning. They used to print them out for you and upsell you during the meal. Now they're included in the online service! So nice.

 

It's another great example of getting the whole family in a picture - it may be a bit overcast but still, so much fun!

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 6)

So Disney is all about planning - and now that we had our dining reservations, we had a few months to hang out and just wait for the next step.

We have the big spreadsheet that dictated which parks we would go to on which day, which was helpful. Looking ahead to the next step needed that info! Since the invention of the My Disney Experience app, you can now book up to 3 FastPass+ reservations a day - basically guaranteeing that you will ride your favorite three rides in any given day. Of course, some parks have rules about which rides can go together - there are tiers that prevent you from getting the most awesome rides in a single park each day. That means you have to strategize if you want to get all the rides in over a single stay, since they won't all be done in a single day.

With 23 people going over 11 days, it was going to be a challenge to get our rides booked. I read a bunch of blogs and got suggestions from the podcasts we listen to. They say to focus on the hardest to get rides or the ones of the busiest days. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (the new coaster in the Magic Kingdom) or the Anna/Elsa meet and greet (the new hotness) are the main ones you want to focus on, for example, since they are so hard to get at 60 days out.

I stayed up late on October 30 because I heard a rumor that the system opens up at midnight Eastern - or 11 pm central! Sure enough, I refreshed my browser at that time and the FP+ window had opened!

Since there were so many of us, I started booking a single FP+ for me for the rides on the busiest days, and for the 7DMT ride that we wanted both in the daytime and the evening. When I got all the days booked for me, I then started to copy those reservations over to the whole party. Which worked for a while.

And then we hit a roadblock. Apparently one cousin's annual pass expired before our trip started, so I couldn't book their passes. My in-laws weren't hooked up to my account appropriately in the system and so it didn't show them as eligible to get FP+ (since they didn't show as having a hotel reservation) and then something else went cattywompus.

UGH. So I did what I could and then went to bed. I woke up early the next morning when the customer service line opened up, I was one of the first to call. The lovely cast member spent over an hour on the phone with me to get everybody linked up appropriately (which I thought I had done weeks ago) and our cousin renewed her annual pass.

But it actually worked out in the end - the cast member was able to copy the FP+ I had for our family staying on property and then to those who are staying off property too! Plus, she was able to do the same for the family checking in later in the week who technically weren't able to get their reservations for a few more days. That was some Disney magic right there!

The planning is almost done at this point! Just a few more things to cross off the list now...

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 5)

Disney is so much more than rides - there's all that FOOD! 

Our family loves to eat, and one of our bucket list items is to eat at every single restaurant on property. To that end, we try to pick a few new places each time we go down to the World.

Based on the schedule we created earlier, that helps us decide which places are options for dining while we are there.

I sent an email to the whole group to ask their requests - did they want a special character breakfast or a particular family favorite? I know that we don't necessarily have the most adventurous eaters (cheeseburgers and chicken fingers are usually the norm) but it's sometimes fun to try something new.

Husband and I decided that we were going to splurge and have a date at Victoria and Albert's, the only five star restaurant in Orlando. We cannot wait! 

When I got the requests from the family back, I went to town with the schedule. Since we are in Magic Kingdom on December 30 for the pre-New Year's Eve fireworks, Liberty Tree with the whole family is the perfect option.

Then again, we look to when my family joins us - my cousin loves animals, so we wanted to have a sit down dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge where they are staying. So since Husband and I haven't been to Jiko and my mom loved Sanaa the last time we were there together, we picked Jiko for the six of us for dinner one night. That plus a few other favorites, and our schedule was set! I'm so hungry just looking at this list... 

1. Liberty Tree
2. Via Napoli
3. Crystal Palace
4. 50’s Primetime Cafe
5. Victoria and Albert’s
6. Jiko
7. Rose and Crown for Illuminations
8. Spice Road Table
9. Chef Mickeys
10. Be Our Guest (dinner)
    
    

The next step is the reservations themselves. Dinner allows on-property guests to book ADRs (advance dining reservations) up to 180 days out from the first day of check in. The little known fact is that those reservations open up for your whole trip, up to 10 days. So you can make reservations almost 190 days out from your trip! Since we were hoping for some hard to get reservations like Be Our Guest, we focused on those first.

I got up early on that 180 date and got online. You can make reservations online or on the phone, but online opens up a bit earlier. We had a bit of a hiccup because I can't remember my time zones - it's in Eastern time zone and so I got up extra early. But after a few calls and a hour of work and we had our reservations!

I had to make some additional ADRs when my family decided to join us, but those were relatively easy to get. 

And now I'm crazy hungry...

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 4)

The hotel choice is always a big one for any trip, but especially for Disney. Once we decided where to stay, we started to look at our dining reservations.

However, we thought we knew who was coming on our big trip, but apparently we didn't get everybody! A few weeks after we had settled the dates of when we were going and after we had made our dining reservations (more info on that in a bit), my mom and brother started talking about going.

Then my cousin and his wife started asking questions. Before we knew it, we had added more hotel rooms for them and added them to our dining reservations!

So now we're up to something like 23 people coming for portions of the long trip.

That's a lot of people to organize for meals!

When Husband and I start our planning, we look to the park hours of operations as a starting point. We have a big ole spreadsheet that is color coded and everything! Every day we're there has a column, and each hour of the day has a row. We start with the park hours and mark those, plus the Extra Magic Hours for each park. Each day one of the parks is open early and one is open late so we try to arrange our schedule to make one of those extra times in the park. You can ride a bunch of rides in those extra hours when (in theory) the park is less crowded. We also pay for a membership in TouringPlans.com, a website that helps us in the planning process.

It may seem like a bunch of work, but it really is fun for us and the family! The schedule of the park hours allows us to choose which day to tour each park.

We use this schedule to figure out where to eat and when.... but that's for next time!

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 3)

So there has been a lot going on since we decided who was coming on our big family trip.

 

Now that we knew who was coming, we had to decide where to stay. For most people, this is a big decision to make because it's such a huge chunk of change, next to the park tickets.

One of our Disney Bucket List items is to stay at each resort on property at some point in our lives. This trip allowed us to get one new property - the Boardwalk.

 

We decided that since it was such a long trip and because the Boardwalk is so expensive, we will start the week at All Star Sports.

My MIL is a Disney Vacation Club owner so we can get our stay at the Boardwalk for a bit less - but we still need to split the stay to make it work for the points we have.

Staying for ten nights is kind of a long time, so splitting the stay will be a good break. Some of the extended family won't stay on property with us, so we'll meet them at the parks most days.

I cannot wait until we get to experience the Board Walk during this trip!

Next up... dining reservations!

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 2)

So we're going to Disney. And we know when.

Now, we had to decide who was coming.

This trip was going to turn into something big, I had a feeling. Some of my husband's cousins haven't been on a big vacation in a while, and we all love Disney, so I thought this might have a bunch of people add on.

I told my MIL that I was going to take care of the planning for this one, since she's worked on so many in the past. And while it's fun to plan, it's also stressful. I thought I'd take the stress for this particular trip which means corralling all the family and making sure everyone has everything they need. Given that I'm an event planner, I didn't think it would be too hard, but would require patience and organization. I'm only a few weeks into it, so we'll see how it goes!

So for this trip, we have upwards of 19 people joining us over the 11 nights. They include my MIL and FIL; my husband's brother and his girlfriend and their two year old nephew; a cousin and his wife and daughter who live in the Orlando area (they're staying at the hotel with all of us); another cousin and her brother and two daughters who live in George; another cousin with his wife and two sons who live in southern Missouri; and finally, a cousin who goes to school near us in St. Louis and will join us for the last part of the trip. There are 10 of us who will be there the entire time and the rest of the family comes and goes as their vacation schedule allows.

Planning for this big group of people won't be easy! But that's who is coming with us on this crazy adventure.

Adventures in Big Family Vacation Planning (part 1)

And here we are again. It's time to plan another Disney trip!

We are planning a very long trip to Walt Disney World in Florida to celebrate the New Year with a big old family trip this year. Our last Disney trip was in December 2013 with just me and my husband, to celebrate the craziness of law school and him passing the bar in 2013 and starting his new big job after graduating law school.

This upcoming trip would make my 11th to the World - I've had to start a spreadsheet with a list of the times that we have gone to keep track! It goes back to my first trip in (about) 1993 with my family. I really started to fall in love with the Mouse when I went with my husband's family in 2007 for New Year's. My mother-in-law and father-in-law went for their honeymoon in the early 1980s and have been every year since. The boys have grown up at Walt Disney World and they have so many memories from all the parks and resorts. A few years ago, they purchased a piece of the magic and now we can stay at the Disney Vacation Club when we go. It's becoming a bigger and bigger piece of our lives!

After seeing Sonya's planning of her Disney trip, I thought I'd start a not-so-regular blog series of our planning of our big trip coming up in December.

So first thing up, when to go?

When you're planning any kind of vacation, whether you have a location in mind or not, the first step is to determine WHEN to go. Do you brave the crowds on the busiest weekend of the year or do you save some money by going on an off-week?

We are the crazy people who throw in our lot with the unwashed masses for New Year's Eve. Out of all the 365 days on the calendar, this one would rank the top in their crowd calendars. Imagine the most packed outdoor festival you have ever been to, and add 10% and you're getting close to what it seems like. I mean, even the bathroom gets a half hour wait on this night. Everything is busy. Everyone is hot. EVERYWHERE you go there is a line.

But that's half the fun! Seeing all those people in one spot getting to experience a shared moment during the fireworks is pretty amazing. There are always tears in my eye when I ring in the new year at the parks. We love it and that makes it worth all the stress.

So, we knew New Year's was going to be the one for us this year - the in-laws went in March without us and we've been planning since our December trip for a big one with the whole family. Husband and I wanted to the day before New Year's, December 30. Disney has two nights of New Year's fireworks (as they do for the Fourth of July). If we saw these fireworks on the 30th, that allows us the 31st to spend in Epcot. This park isn't as family friendly but they celebrate the new year with the different countries around World Showcase Lagoon. You get to see one of the evening spectaculars in the early part of the evening and then another huge fireworks show at midnight. We haven't ever experienced that, so going down a day early allows us to accommodate both shows. It's a win-win, even though we do have an extra night in the hotel at the most expensive rate.

We had our arrival date - Tuesday, December 30. Now, how long to stay?

Traditionally, we stay in the World for one week. That would be checking out on Tuesday, January 6. When we started talking as a family, my husband and I floated the idea that we would stay an extra night, to leave on the 7th. When my MIL heard that, she thought they could do that as well. So now we're leaving on the 7th.

When we looked at the calendar, we realized that it was two days before my MIL's birthday. We've never celebrated her birthday in the World before and she thought it would be fun to do so this year. So since we couldn't leave ON her birthday (where's the fun in that?), that meant our check out date would be January 10th. Yikes, 11 nights?!

With lots of activities coming in the next year or so with jobs and other vacations, there may not be another time for a good long trip so we are going to seize the opportunity and make this happen! 11 nights in Walt Disney World, here we come!

Adventures in Traveling with Only Your Husband

When you are traveling just the two of you, it’s a bit awkward to get a picture with Santa.

But you make him do it, or else give him this look all night long…

You find a spot to sit on Main Street to watch the big parade and giggle like a little girl when it snows when the soldiers come marching by…

You put up with the groans when the wait is over an hour to get this one picture with the 7 Dwarves…

And then take all the other character pictures you can find, especially Scrooge McDuck! Because they’re special for the parties.

You make him take pictures of your sad face – this might be the last paper FastPass we ever get. It must be documented.

You hang out at Hollywood Studios and take fun pictures of the scenery when people have left for the evening.

And then stand in another really long line to get a picture in front of the lights on the Streets of America.

 

You do all of this and have an amazing time at your favorite place on Earth, with just the two of you. Happy lawyer and happy wife!

Adventures in Disney's Missouri

It's been a crazy few weeks, but what's new?

After the funeral in northern Missouri, we were driving home on the state highways and saw the above sign. We knew we were close to Marcelline, but I had no idea where exactly it was! One of my mom's grandparents actually moved from the farm near the cemetery to Marcelline back in the day. So of course it would be relatively close and not clear across the state.

With my in-laws following behind us, we had to stop by the original Main Street. I had read a few blogs and heard some podcasters talk about their Marcelline experience. Even though we were having sort of a somber day, we had to stop by!

There's actually a museum right in town, a few blocks off the original Main Street. That was our first stop and there was a photo op (obviously!)!

The museum wasn't huge but started with a tour guide who gave us a brief overview of why a museum in the middle of Missouri and why Marcelline is important in the Disney story. The rest of the museum was a self-guided tour. 

For a Disney fan like me, I actually knew most of what the tour guide and the placards said. But still, a bit of Disney in Missouri?! I'll take it any day. 

The connections to the trains was really fun. The museum is situated right next to the tracks and over 70 trains per day come through! A few came barreling by while we were on our tour. One interesting fact? If the conductor is a Marcelline native, you'll hear additional train horns beyond the standard four that have to be given when coming through a town. If there are any more 'toots', it's a conductor saying hi to mom and dad! Isn't that fun?

 

After the museum, we drove the few blocks down to Main Street. This view really says it all. It's much wider than I anticipated but it does kind of feel like the one in Disneyworld! I can see the inspiration, definitely. Can you see the Uptown Theatre towards the middle and beyond the mini van? So neat.

 Such a fun view!

Zurcher's was the inspiration for Walt's Coke Corner or Casey's in Disneyworld, I believe. Behind this newer building, there was a Victorian facade that was there during Disney's time. 

What a road trip!

Adventures in Ridiculous Faces

So my dear husband is officially done with law school and the bar. At the end of February, he took the big scary test and got through to the other side. Thank goodness we’re done with that part of it!

He came home after the test and then we got to head to Walt Disney World. Our favorite place. :) There will all kinds of family members that were able to join us for the celebration and we had such a good time. I didn’t take as many pictures as I was hoping for, but we did take some fun ones.

Husband and the nephew on waking up in Walt Disney World on the first morning. I think they’re pretty darn excited.

It was really cold the first few days we were there, so I ended up having to put on all my warm clothes! Since that wasn’t warm enough, I bought a fun Figment winter hat. I got lots of compliments on it!

The family had brunch at Raglan Road – that’s me, husband, BIL and his girlfriend and our nephew, MIL and FIL, my mama, and husband’s cousin and wife and little girl. Whew. We had fun!

 

The great and powerful Oz landed in Epcot while we were there!

Mom took our picture in front of every topiary they had set up for the Flower and Garden Festival. I think this one was my favorite!

Our special meet and greet with Mickey and Pluto happened because we have a Disney credit card. I love that my mom was so happy to meet Mickey again!

He had to get in on the warm hat fun.

We took my mama out for her special birthday that she celebrated on our trip. Dinner was at the African and Indian restaurant at the Animal Kingdom. SO GOOD.

I got to meet Rapunzel!!!! This was the first time I saw her in the parks (Epcot) and I ran up like a little kid to get in line. SOOO excited! She was really pretty. ;)

Ok, I had fun at the Festival center. I didn’t buy either one of these things, but aren’t the pictures great?

My nephew is a little flirt. Even the waitresses can’t keep their eyes off him! This lady at the Italy pavilion kept checking on us, over and over again, just to see our sweet boy again!

The kid loves his pins. We’ve started his collection already! Look at that tongue. HEHE!

I got to eat lunch at the new Be Our Guest Restaurant. Nothing like a croque monsieur at 10:30 am, huh? We waited in line at 9:45 am and were the third in line for the restaurant. It’s crazy popular and we couldn’t get a reservation for lunch so an early lunch it was. It was so worth it. JUST like walking into the movie. I may have even cried a little bit. #DisneyDork

We had the family join us for the second weekend and little A met her cousin L again. She was more excited than he was.

After two diaper blow outs (one before the bus to the airport and one after getting through security), me and my favorite nephew had to let off some steam. Silly faces in the iPhone did the trick. I love that kid.

####

So yup, we’re already counting down the days until we can get back to our happy place. Maybe January? Here’s hoping!