Pre-Trippie: Going Back With Old Friends Jan-Feb 2009 Pop and Offsite House Rental

[hmsharpe]

Dates: Jan 23-Feb 2, 2009
Cast of Characters: my family-DH, 34, myself, 33, DD, 5, DS, 3-AND 3 other families
Accomodations: 1 night at Pop and then 9 nights at an 8 bedroom house
Transport: plane, rental car

This trip started after our family trip in May. When we came back we really raved about our experience and when we began talking about a winter getaway with friends, Florida was suggested. As many friends with little kids, we have scattered around 2 countries now and don't get to see each other as often and figured meeting up for a 10 day get together. We decided to stay in one huge house, so that we could do meals and put kids down while still being able to socialize at night-harder to do in hotels. That being said, we are also planning on splitting up to allow families to do their own thing. Our family is arriving a day before the others and will do an extra park day plus shopping that day (23rd). We (our family) are planning 2-3 days at MK, 1 day at HS, 1 day at Epcot, and 1 day at AK. Leaving us some extra days for maybe going to the beach or revisiting favs. Weather dependent we will hit a waterpark. We have two ADR-one at Chef Mickey's and one at 1900 Park Fare-just our immediate family. Must do's this time around is to hit HS (we never have before, especially for Toy Story Mania and hopefully a meet and greet with Bolt. We would also like to find Pixie Hollow and ride 'Goofy's Rollercoaster' a bazillion times. Also, just spending time with friends and enjoying having time together as families! Because we are staying off-site we can't do a grand gathering, but it will still be one! We are also having a 'girls' night and a 'guys night' as well as trading off babysitting to give couples nights off. Suggestions for what you would do if you were 3 girls alone for a late afternoon/evening would be great

Thanks for reading, looking forward to reporting back in a few weeks...

[arnoldvb]

Looking forward to your upcoming trip report, but I'd make one suggestion. You might want to consider spending 2 days at Epcot instead of just one. It's very hard to cover that park in one day and, although it's often thought of as an "adult" park, there are many cool things for the small ones also. Also, when we visited with our 2-3 year old grandaughter (December 2006 and 2007), a highlight was dinner with Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale at the Garden Grill. If it's not too late to get space, you might want to consider adding an ADR there. Just a thought.

Arnold

[hmsharpe]

Thanks for the advice, we will think about extra time at Epcot-the other travellers are skipping it all together, but our kids had fun there on our last trip. We did Chef Mickey's this time so hopefully they get their fill of characters at that meal! I enjoyed your trip report by the way-had a laugh at your mention of going to Aruba when you live in St. Thomas-we are under a huge dump of snow and it has hit -40 with the wind chill a few weeks ago!!

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

wow ! cant wait to hear about the 8 bedroom house.

[TinaMouse]

Take pics of that 8 br house! WOW! I'm sure you'll have a great time. As far as the girls/boys night, the boys are easier. Rent a speed boat, games at ESPN zone, followed by World Showcase. Girls, well, you could get the foot/leg massage at the spa, have tea at the GF, and perhaps World Showcase. Dinner at Teppan Edo would be really fun in a group. Wishes by way of the California Grill would be fun in a group too.

We went to the Swan to Karaoke one night. That was fun!

Let us know what you decide to do. "Adults only" is a unique and wonderful way to experience WDW!

[OregonGirl]

Hi! I'll be in WDW the same time as you with my folks! I started a trip report also with pre-trip comments already. As a 28 year old female, my suggestions for a 3 girls night out would be eating at an EPOT world showcase restaurant and catching Illuminations after, Doing DisneyQuest for a few hours and then maybe catching La Nouba, Exploring the Boardwalk and heading over to Atlantic Dance for the dueling pianos, or Going to Wilderness Lodge and taking a horse drawn carriage over to Fort Wilderness and going for a horseback ride. Or the favorite spa day at the Grand Floridian! Some thoughts anyway! Have a great time in the world and maybe we'll dump into each other and not know it while we're both there! - Carey

[hmsharpe]

I will totally take pictures of the house, it looks great, so hopefully it is! We are leaning towards the boardwalk for our date night-thanks for the suggestion and not yet sure on the girls night-might even just be teenagers and storm a park or somethign Have a great trip Oregon Girl, I wonder if we will cross paths!

[mickeymom5]

Since you have not been to HS...if your kids like the Playhouse Disney characters...you definitely need to go see the Playhouse Disney show. My DD age 2 LOVED it! It has the Handy Manny, Tigger and Pooh, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins characters. If they are fans, they will recognize all the songs. We really enjoyed her enjoying the show...

Watch for the times that Lightning McQueen comes out. She enjoyed that too! Of course meeting Buzz and Woody was a huge moment too!

Yes, you can say I have introduced to just about every Disney character!

Can't wait to read your trip report...it sounds like you are going to have lots of fun! Hope everything turns out "magical!"