Catching up (The WDW planning saga)

So as my mind starts to drift toward my family's ambitious road-trip adventure to Southern California in four months, I thought it was about time that I finally post everything I put together for the kids and grandparents last December at DisneyWorld. Please keep in mind that these few articles were basically journal entries to myself written at the time of planning (relatively this time last year).

Planning Walt Disney World with 2 Kids, 2 Parents, and 4 Grandparents

Part I Room reservations

The following is a run-down of the process it took to plan the overall dynamics of our son’s first “official” WDW trip…

My booking window (exactly seven months prior to our date of check-in) was here and I was primed and ready to make our reservations at the new Bay Lake Towers at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. However, I had no idea how complicated the actual reservations would be.

I was planning for two grandparents with us part of the time (four nights) and two grandparents with us the whole time (six nights), plus hubby, myself and the boys. Of course, simply calling and asking for three rooms over X dates wasn’t going to cut it. This was going to take some work and adaptation to our needs in conjunction with what was available.

After about a week of deliberation and calls back and forth with DVC (Disney Vacation Club), I found a plan. We booked a studio for four nights, and a two bedroom villa for six nights with a drastic mixture of points and cash payments (Day 1-points; Day 2 & 3 - cash; Day 4-points; Day 5- cash; Day 6- points). You would not believe what I went through to get that finalized. The Disney people were always helpful, just a lot of hoops and coordination with availability and family. But we got it set! This was at approximately 210 days out. Next, we just had to wait until our 90 day window to book dining reservations!

Part II Dining Reservations

In the meantime, I began planning. I use an excel spreadsheet for all our travel plans. I did this even before we had kids. My husband and I have traveled with and without schedules, and after our last unscheduled vacation, he assured me that my scheduling was the best way to go. So I began looking at the possible plans – I knew the first day had to be the Magic Kingdom with both sets of grandparents. Next, I had to think about everyone’s needs, interests, and comfort levels from the seven month old to the 70 year old. From nap schedules to mobility issues not to mention the time people need to get up and about in the morning, it was all I could do to keep my head from spinning.

I started with basics: meal times and parade/show schedules available. I decided to go with the Dining Plan so that there was never a concern about who picked up the check, and because of my in-depth planning, I knew I could easily make it worth the money. So I selected a few choice character meals – Crystal Palace for breakfast the first day (a tradition for my parents and me), lunch with Playhouse Disney characters, breakfast with Donald, and breakfast at Chef Mickey’s for the morning we were leaving. I also knew Castle Dining was a must. Many of the others I began to pick and chose as the 90 day window loomed closer for making the reservations. I selected some old stand bys but also reviewed and contemplated menus for some new dining experiences. (I highly recommend AllEars.net for its great website with menus.)

On the 90^th day prior to our check-in at Bay Lake Resort I was up at 4:45 a.m. for the reservation office to open in Orlando. I was poised with my credit card, reservation number, and anything else they might ask me. I called for 15 minutes straight. Then voila a Disney cast member answered, and we were on our way. I got it! Our castle dining reservation for six adults and two children booked! Hooray!

In the course of that day, I called back once to make nine more dining reservations. Then over the next week I called and made four more. I then called and booked a couple of meals just for my father and his wife, and I booked one more reservation online. Scarily, 30 days out I still had one reservation that I hadn’t booked for my in-laws, but they didn’t seem that keen on what they wanted to do which made it a little difficult on me. Surely, I can get a reservation for two squeezed in somewhere (eyebrow raised). In total, I made 17 reservations for our party over a total seven night stay – and a mixed bag at that, some for parties of two, some for eight, some for six and one for four.

Then began the coordination of more dynamics and more questions: who goes with the grandchildren and when, who keeps which child, who sleeps in, who gets up early, when do we relax, can we make it from Fantasmic! to the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show in an hour? The questions go on and on. However, all of that said, I have the schedule set and with 30 days out I started on the smaller details: grocery lists, airport transfers, packing lists, and the daily countdown for a 3 year old.

Budgeting vacation and Christmas at the same time

One art in traveling is learning to plan and budget wisely, especially if you have the crazy idea of traveling around the holidays. If you are anything like me, you may often use your credit card to pay for a vacation and you may also use it to purchase the endless list of Christmas gifts. Put these two major purchase times together and you have the making for a credit card bill that is near impossible to pay off.

Fortunately for me, we have been planning our Disney World trip for months. So beginning in July, I started analyzing my credit card billing cycle – on my Disney Visa card. I made plans to buy early Christmas presents, space out vacation purchases such as tickets, and also started collecting a few gift cards for spending at the Parks – all the while adding up reward points/dollars for our vacation. One money saving opportunity because of my preparation and our length of stay, I am saving $50 per ticket by not adding the park hopper. It is funny, I consider myself pretty frugal, but when it comes to Disney I want to experience so much. I worry if I have gone overboard on this trip. I have tried to cut back where I can like with the tickets, and I have also spaced out my purchases over five months so as not to take a huge hit when we are in the parks. When all is settled, I will have only six Christmas presents to buy in December (four of those are members of my traveling party and I plan to get their presents at WDW) and my Disney World charges will hopefully total only $1200 – most of that going toward the Deluxe Dining Plan I chose for my family -- which can be offset by whatever we have left on our gift cards and reward card.