Beaver Believers from Oregon May 7-19 Offsite
Travel dates: May 7 19, 2011
Travel method: Southwest Airlines and Alamo rental car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: 2 bedroom, 2 bath villa
Ages Represented in Group: 11-38
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: DH and I went to Disneyworld in July 1995 on our honeymoon; the whole family went to Disneyland in 2005 and I have been to Disneyland two other times prior to 2005.
Comments: I have been waiting for this trip for over 15 years since DH and I were there on our honeymoon. Back then we stayed on-property at Port Orleans Resort and it was a wonderful trip. Now, we have the opportunity to stay off-property and, for the first time in our married-with-children life, we are not going to be stuck in a one-room hotel sleeping in the same room as the boys!! Woohoo! Plus, we will have a kitchen, which is a big budget helper. An additional woohoo! is that this is the first major vacation we have taken since I started nursing school in 2008. In addition to the World, we will be visiting Kennedy Space Center and the Universal Parks. (Did someone say Harry Potter?!?!?)
Cast of characters:Hubbythe budget manOur Plans: Day #1Travel Day
Myselfthe planner and packer (also the person who is the most excited about this trip)
Son #1the thirteen-year old introvert
Son #2the eleven-year old extrovert
Day #2Kennedy Space Center
Day #3Typhoon Lagoon & EPCOT
Day #4Magic Kingdom
Day #5Blizzard Beach & Magic Kingdom
Day #6EPCOT
Day #7Free day, (perhaps go see something in Orlando or just lounge about poolside)
Day #8Animal Kingdom
Day #9Typhoon Lagoon & ???? (perhaps revisit MK or EPCOTor not)
Day #10Hollywood Studios
Day #11Hubby travels home, Universal parks for the rest of us
Day #12Universal parks
Day #13Water park and Travel Home
We purchased the 7 Day MagicYourWay & Water Fun passes, as well as 1-day passes to Kennedy Space Center and 2-Day park-to-park passes for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Since we are not staying on-property, we wont attend any park when there are Extra Magic Hours. Im actually relieved that the parks close at 9pm this time of year because we are more likely to get a good nights sleep and be ready to hit the ground running in the mornings.
We are not big food connoisseurs and because our enjoyment of our visit to the World does not hinge on the dining experience, we are saving on food wherever possible. We plan to eat breakfast at our lodgings, bring lunch and plenty of our own snacks into the park and will more then likely eat our one purchased meal per day outside of the park using coupons and other suggestions that I have gleaned from the internet. Thats not to say we wont indulge in the parks. I have been looking forward to a Dole Whip since 2005 and I really like the clam chowder in the bread bowl. I also want to try some of the other things like the Zebra Dome dessert.
Some might think Im crazy, but I have researched this trip like you would not believe. I have used the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and Disneyland on the past two trips weve taken with very satisfactory results. The touring plans and tips present in these guides have made our trips fun-packed and short only on waiting in line. The days Ive chosen for visiting certain parks are predicted to be the best days to visit those parks based on historical data collected by the folks at Touringplans.com. The touring plans were developed using historical data on crowd levels, flow around the parks and other factors. While all of this might sound a little too obsessive-compulsive to you, I actually have a lot of fun planning this way and find that it is rather easy to alter our plans midstride once we get there while still reaping the benefits of less waiting in line. It seems like we always start with the plan, but it morphs into something else as the day/week goes by.
Orlando, here we come!!!!!
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