Spreadsheets, Insomnia, and Hallucinations... OH MY!!! PIC HEAVY PTR

[thosecrazystephens]

Introductions


Ok this is my first PTR... and I"m super early... like more than 2 years... but we are also doing DL and maybe a mommy and daddy WDW trip before the big one!

I'm Naomi, I'm 27 years old and I am the CEOICOE (Chief Executive Officer in Charge of Everything) for the Stephens corp.

Here is a picture of my husband, Danny, he is also 27 years old... He is the NICOAEMMO (Not in Charge of Anything Except Making Money Officer aka he has no say in anything )

And here is one of him with his shirt off as we are leaving the pool... cause that's how Momma likes it

And here is a picture I took of one of our engagement pictures... I have no idea how to work the scanner on our printer

We have four kids

Bella 4 (did I kind of sort of name her after Belle.... mmmmaaaaybe)

Tripp 3 (did I kind of sort of name him after Matthew McConnaughey's character in Failure to Launch... YES!)

Maeve 2 (pronounced with a long a like May... no e sound at all, and no it's not Mauve either lol... it's an Irish name that means "she who makes men drunk with love")

Rudy 13 months (named after my Grandma Ruby who died a few weeks before he was born. We figured Rudy and Ruby rhyme, and my husband loves the movie Rudy lol)

This little guy just started walking a few days ago... I can't get him to sit still anymore

Here is a picture of our whole family, minus me (I'm the photographer)

We are also having my husband's parents and his little sister go with us to help keep an eye on the kids... but I know his other little sister will be jealous since she used to work at WDW, and then his one brother and his wife will have a 2 year old by then, and his other brother is a big kid at heart so I'm certain he will want to go! So we will probably have 14 people there since Cory and Charisse's baby boy Harry will be 2 then! But it could always be more if my BIL Eric gets married, or if Gina my SIL gets married before then. So here is a picture of the whole family from this Christmas!

Back Row: (Left to Right) Cory (BIL) Charisse (Cory's wifey) Eric (BIL) Tripp (our 3 yr old) Me, Danny (DH) Maeve (our 2 yr old)
Front Row: Gina (SIL), Bella (our 4 yr old) Paw-paw John (FIL), Rudy (Our youngest), Granny Kaylene (MIL), Lynsey (SIL)


Sorry some of these pictures are so large, I hope that's not a no-no!

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Out of my little family (okay there are 6 of us, but I'm used to extended family so it still seems small lol) I am the only person who has been to WDW.

Luckily I've never been the one picking up the tab When I was 19 my roommates brother who lives in the Orlando area was getting married. Her whole family used to work for Disney when they all lived there.

They still have their employee free passes that were good for a few more months. I agreed to go and sing at her brother's wedding in exchange for my first Disney experience.

It was a crazy road trip with five of us packed in my little Volkswagen Jetta.
We drove almost 24 hours straight through and almost died on the way there when one of the driver's fell asleep and started to cross the highway median and almost hit a semi.

But in the end we were all safe and it was worth the long drive. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when we got there. I still remember the butterflies I had in my stomach.

It was a wonderful trip even if we only had one day in Disney!

My next trip came in 2004 when I was a nanny in the Washington DC/Baltimore area (this was right before I met my husband and his family).

My employer's decided on a whim to go on a vacation cause they were stressed out from their jobs and the father had a 2 hr commute (4 hrs rt).

So I suggested Disney because they had a 4 year old daughter who loved all things Disney and a 14 month old who just loved anything lol.

My employer basically gave me her credit card and told me to plan a quick 3 day trip.

Looking back now I see exactly how expensive that was lol. We stay at the Poly CL TPV... we didn't even use the CL lounge lol. But it was totally worth it cause the concierge got us into CRT the night before when there were no spots really left...I may or may not have acted as if my job were on the line lol.

And in fact I almost did... I slept in too late the next morning and the boat was a little late so we almost missed our reservation (it was a have to show up as soon as they open type of thing).

Being the dedicated employee that I am, I put their daughter on my back (she was four but about as tall and heavy as a 7 year old) and ran from the front gates to the castle in flip flops and a mini skirt

All was well and Emily had a wonderful time! I did too! I cried during the fireworks (I don't know if it was called Wishes back then).

I also saw Ratcliffe (from Pocahontas) walking by and I started singing the gold song he does after we had walked past him. All of a sudden everyone around me was laughing and I was like, hey I'm a crowd pleaser, then I felt like I was being watched so I turned around at Ratcliffe was right there mocking me lol I more shrieked like a little girl rather than screamed. I laugh every time I think of it lol.

On the way back to Baltimore we all fell asleep on the plane. It was an exhausting 3 days! And now I'm hoping to go back for 6+ days not including the 48 hour RT drive. (We are hoping by then to be able to afford 6 plane tickets, but really $2400 compared to $800 is nothing to sneeze at).

 

[Joyciemc]

Okay! This is going to be a fun 2 years

Your family is beautiful and your kids are well named!

Also, your pictures are sized just fine, never fear.

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Oddly enough I don't even remember what was the catalyst that made me decide a WDW trip was in order.
I remember always thinking, one day we'll do Christmas at the poly and spend a ton of money and have a 2 month stay etc. But then I realized, A. we will probably never save up enough money for a suite that is $2000 a night during value season lol and B. our kids need to go to Disney when they are young. Sure my first trip was at 19, but I can only imagine how exciting it would have been to meet the princesses when I was little!
So first up will be a one day side trip to DL since we will be about 8 hours away at a family reunion (this will be August 2011).
And then next up in September 2012 we will be doing WDW with everyone!
I really wish we could go this year and I'm trying to figure out a way to at least get my husband and I there for one of the marathons/half-marathons.
Unfortunately the economy got to my husband this year. He is a personal trainer (with a ton of certifications for post rehab type stuff).
Sadly he was working for a local gym that is not very ethical. After 4 years of 60+ hour weeks he lost his management position with the gym after refused to give a lady $420 worth of free training after the company promised her he would without consulting him.
Anyway they demoted him and we lost 1/3 of our income. So he quit and switched gyms. He is now at a wonderful place and once he has his clientele built back up to previous levels we will be making way more than he ever did at the other gym.
Sadly for us this means that he has no vacation time to use until next April, and we have no extra money on hand to pay for a vacation this year We also don't want to get into the habit of charging our vacations. We want to save up for them and then go so we don't have to worry about paying off something we've already enjoyed.

So I am in charge of planning this family reunion shin-dig. I have to figure out the approximate costs (since there aren't pricing schedules available yet lol) and the way to make an on site trip work.
I know that just being in the parks is magical, but having stayed off-site, and having stayed at the Poly, I know where the magic is... no one called me princess at the $30 a night hotel in St. Cloud lol.
We will have at least one car there but would prefer to be close to MK so we can walk or take the monorail or the little boats from the Poly. We don't want to be taking a bus everyday. It will be fine going to DHS or to AK but we would really like to be able to get back to our rooms quickly for a nap.

We are thinking BLT, Poly, or CR to be closest to MK but we might split up the groups and have people staying at different places and levels since everyone will want to do different things at different points. We will mainly meet in the evenings, though I'm pretty sure the grandparents will spend a lot of time with us since they will want to see the grandkids first disney experience.
I'm also thinking that maybe if we split up into 3 rooms (two 5 person and one 4 person room) at 3 different resorts then my kids, hubby and I, will have access to all 3 pools since the reservations will be made in our names and everyone else in the family will be sending us their payments.
Cause I wouldn't break the rules and pool hop, but if we are going to be paying for three different resorts at once then I think they would be okay with that, don't you? We will still ask the lifeguards, we don't want to do anything wrong.

So here are the resorts we are thinking of booking.

BLT
POLY
CR
BCR
BWI
CBR
OKW (because of the sand castle pool and I hear they might have a 5 person room by then)

Also we are thinking maybe everyone will rotate rooms through out the stay... I wonder if we could tip the bellhops enough to have them move everyone's luggage every other night lol.
That way each member of the family can experience each resort! Maybe we will through AKL/AKV in the mix and have the kids stay there on the day we go to AK... hmm

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Okay! This is going to be a fun 2 years

Your family is beautiful and your kids are well named!

Also, your pictures are sized just fine, never fear.

YAY!


Thanks for the compliments. I'm really excited to get this planned. There might be lull between when I finally get all of our stuff planned and then when we are actually able to book lol. Though maybe I can entertain you with our vacation to Wyoming, Utah, and Disneyland next summer! And my husband's friend has a Cessna and has offered to fly us places before so if I get up the nerve to fly to Florida in a puddle jumper then I will post that as well! It's so nice having friends who can hook us up. I have a friend who works at Disney who said he could get us 3 free tickets, so I'm thinking maybe we can go out for the marathon and stay offsite but at least still go to Disney, IF we can the airline tickets (or if I would really fly 2000 miles in a 4 seater lol).

Plus I love taking pictures and love posting lots of them too so you will also get to see my kids changing. My baby (well he's almost 14 months but still a baby to me) will be 3 by the time we go! There will be a ton of changes!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Hi Naomi! I came over from my PTR. You take great photos! I love the one of the family on the steps!

Hey, it's never too early to start planning a Disney vacation - planning is half the fun, so why not drag it out! And doing a PTR is a great way to keep the excitement up along the way.

Oh, and if you do want/need to resize your pics, here's how you do it (if your using photobucket to host, that is): Click on your picture to open it from the album. Hover your mouse over the top edge of the pic. You'll get a toolbar to appear with one of the options being "resize". If you click that, you'll get a dropdown menu with size options. I usually pic "large" because it is still really big, but not so big that you have to scroll your browser to the side to see all of it. Some people do medium. Hope that helps!

 

[annmarieda]

Looking forward to following your PTR. I hope to learn from you how to plan a trip well in advance. See, for us we have normally decided "okay, we have the money book the trip" We are usually within the 45 day window. The trip I am currently planning for is one of the farthest out I have ever planned. Once I get back, it won't be long until I will want to start planning a trip back with my dh for our 25 year anniversary. THAT is a long way away! He is so tired of going to Disney, but I got a maybe out of him for our 25 year....in 2014.

Never too early to start dreaming?

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Yay! Two more people to help me with my crazy planning!


So I thought now would be a good time to explain the title of my PTR

Spreadsheets, Insomnia, and Hallucinations... OH MY!!!

Even though I hate advanced levels of math like trig and calculus, I have always loved numbers... and spreadsheets.

I got it into my head about a week ago that we should go to WDW. I found out about DVC points, free dining, pin codes, and a ton of other things!

I started a spreadsheet to calculate our meal credits on the DDP to figure out how many times we could eat at CRT... cause I love the Castle, and come on, I'm a true princess, so that is where I deserve to eat

Then I started comparing the cost of free dining plan, 40% off pin codes, and DVC.

I got to the point where I couldn't sleep until I looked up "just one more thing" or made one more calculation, or read one more PTR. I fell asleep many times with my laptop in bed lol. This lasted for about 4 days. Me going to sleep around 2 am and waking up around 6-7am with the kids.

I have a sleep condition called hypnopompic hallucinations. Meaning sometimes when I am not getting enough sleep, I will have hallucinations upon waking. It can be random spots, or spiders, or even more menacing things.

SO I had to take a break from planning and start taking a sleeping pill to help me get to sleep earlier because I was planning so much that I wasn't getting enough sleep and I was waking up my husband screaming.

They aren't as bad as they sound, more like a nightmare really but still I figured that was my cue to start cutting back a little lol.

Anyway I am back to planning now and I'm trying to figure out a way to go around spring break, though I think that it will be pretty expensive then.

I am having a hard time even contemplating staying offsite or in a value (I think ASMo looks awesome for the kids but I really worry about driving to the parks in the morning, then back in the afternoon for nap time, and then back for dinner and wishes.

But I don't know that we can afford a trip in April and then our family reunion in August.

My husband and I were talking about going for the marathon since we can get free friends and family passes, but I would feel super guilty leaving the kids behind on our "first" trip (basically my first since being married and having kids).

Then again my husband and I got married at 21/22 and stayed at a nice B&B for one night (wedding gift) then a pretty standard motel... in the same town we were living lol. Mainly cause our apartment wasn't finished yet.

And we have 4 kids by the time we had been married for 4.5 years. So I sort of feel like we deserve a vacation, but going to disney without our kids makes me feel like a bad mom lol.

Anyway can any of you tell me how long it takes to drive from CSR to MK? How about CSR to Epcot or DHS?

What about POR? I think we might have to stay there because it will be cheaper to do one room that holds 5 plus the baby under 3 than to do a suite at CSR.

From what I'm seeing though pretty much all of April will be peak, boo.

I'm sort of hoping that we can get in some time in the spring during value or regular season and just stay 3 nights with a 30% pin... though I don't know that they will offer them.

If we did ASMo we would have to get two rooms and hope they connect. Though seriously we would most likely end up sleeping in one room cause that's how our kids are when we are gone on vacation.


So does anyone want to want to see my spreadsheets? I will have to figure out how to do a screenshot and post them so you can see my crazy analyzation habits.

 

[annmarieda]

Wow, lots to think about. I totally get feeling guilty if I don't bring the kids. My nearly 20 year old did not come with us on our last trip and it about killed me with guilt... enough that I have planned a whole new trip.

As for where to stay. I totally would recommend POR. We stayed there last time. It was nice. With smaller kids I am sure the space would be good for you. For us...we might have been better with the two room idea as we have a couple large teenage boys..but I still loved POR!

 

[Nettaboo]

Thanks for stopping by my PTR.. your family is so beautiful!!!
I think as parents we are too hard on ourselves, we dedserve breaks too!
It is not like you are not taking them next year- but I understand what you are saying and I would feel the same way!!

Also I wanted to ask you I am on the superfeet website..what color do you have?? I see there are 4 different ones

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Thanks for stopping by my PTR.. your family is so beautiful!!!
I think as parents we are too hard on ourselves, we dedserve breaks too!
It is not like you are not taking them next year- but I understand what you are saying and I would feel the same way!!

Also I wanted to ask you I am on the superfeet website..what color do you have?? I see there are 4 different ones

We always get the green super feet, but we have never tried the others.
Also FYI the super feet need to be broken in, so don't slip them in the day you leave. I would get them a few weeks before and wear them around at least 6 hours total before leaving. Otherwise your feet/joints might be a little sore at disney. It is a firm support to keep you from pronating/supinating and it takes your body a while to get use to it's different gait but ultimately it will help your knees and back feel better than not having them.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[thosecrazystephens]

Today's dose of crazy...
I'm seriously thinking that in the next two months I will go ahead and book a rooms only reservation at CR for 3 nights. I can get $285 a night rack rates during value season for a 5+1 room.
3 things are holding me back:
1. Don't know if there will be a value season in the spring when my husband finally gets his vacation time
2. Don't yet know if he gets two weeks or just one week (and we have a family reunion we have to go to)
3. How to sneak $285 from the checking account with out letting my husband know lol
We don't argue about money or anything, but I know it would be a lot easier to just do it without talking to him. He loves me like that He would just shake his head and say "as long as we can pay our bills I don't care" He is still feeling the pressure of being 27 and providing for a family of 6 by himself.

So what do you think? Dare I just book it? I know we can get free park tickets through a friend who works there (he has generously offered me at least 3 free tickets for this year, more if it's after the new year) and I think if we are really good about it we can get there for $800 or less, and I have no problem getting a ton of lunchables for the kids and then eating off site for dinner.

I realized that if I put off going until I can afford everything I want to do (CRT every morning anyone? lol) then I will never go. So I'm relaxing my standards and saying as long as we are on-site, and at Disney then I don't care!

Who knows, maybe I'll even have to stay off-site, I just really want the convenience of taking the monorail back for nap-time. I don't want to drag my kids around the parks all day. Though I guess if they had strollers to sleep in it would be ok... though 5 years old seems a little old to be in a stroller to me... what do you think?

 

[annmarieda]

Today's dose of crazy...
Though I guess if they had strollers to sleep in it would be ok... though 5 years old seems a little old to be in a stroller to me... what do you think?

My 5 year old was in the stroller last trip, in february. I plan for her to be in September as well. The McClarren (not sure on the spelling) is a good one that is more suited for older kids.

 

[thosecrazystephens]

My 5 year old was in the stroller last trip, in february. I plan for her to be in September as well. The McClarren (not sure on the spelling) is a good one that is more suited for older kids.

I'd love one but I know I couldn't afford 2 doubles lol. I can see it now,

"hey honey, I booked us a disney world vacay! PS I'm spending $400 on strollers too"

I'm going to see if anyone I know around here would have strollers I could borrow since we only have one umbrella stroller and one jogging stroller.

 

[disneyscrappinjan]

I'm in on your report. I am loving the planning so far. You sound just like me with all the planning and decisions to make.....Good luck....

 

[Joyciemc]

Hmmm, I wish I could be more help with your specific questions. But here is what I'm thinking after reading your post:

Don't discount a value because of the driving (though the room size will be an issue with a family of 5)- the moderate resorts are pretty similar when it comes to transportation. Unless you're on a monorail resort, you'll have to drive back for nap time. But if you have a car, it shouldn't be that bad!
For what it's worth, POR and POFQ are awesome! I've never been to the other moderates, though.
I think a budget short trip before the big one is a great idea! Here's why:
a)You'll be able to go sooner (obviously)
b)You'll have an awesome time even if you do have to skip some things because you're sharing Disney with your family for the first time
c)You can think of this trip as 'research' for the big family blow out trip. You'll figure out things that are must-do's and things that are skippable. It's an investment, really

I'd like to see your spreadsheets- it's fun to see how others plan!

 

[annmarieda]

I'd love one but I know I couldn't afford 2 doubles lol. I can see it now,

"hey honey, I booked us a disney world vacay! PS I'm spending $400 on strollers too"

I'm going to see if anyone I know around here would have strollers I could borrow since we only have one umbrella stroller and one jogging stroller.

They are pretty pricey. I just have a single and I know that it was a hard choice to get the one we did. We got it when she was 3. It has survived 3 WDW trips and is planning on going on a fourth. I had others prior to that and they didn't last as long. They were only a fraction of the cost, but...didn't last. Maybe check ebay?

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Naomi,
You will have just as much fun at a value resort, I promise! And the kids will love it. We've stayed at the All Stars and Pop Century, and all the moderates except CBR (where we are staying this fall). We'd like to eventually stay at every resort, so after this fall - we'll move up to the deluxes. But - I would not hesitate to stay at a value again if it meant an extra trip. The theming there is just so much fun! I would much rather stay at a value onsite, then a "nicer" offsite resort. For me, its all about the totally immersive Disney experience. Which is another reason why we don't drive when we are there. Even when we've had a car - we've chosen to use Disney transportation.

Oh, and the stroller issue? I would highly suggest a stroller swap - I think they are still doing those here on the Dis, no? We used to rent Disney strollers, but the huge price increase a couple years ago on rentals coincided with our girls getting to that age where we figured they could just hoof it. And they did fine.

I would LOVE to see your spreadsheets! I am a planning freak, I do tons of spreadsheets for our trips. And everyone else' now that I'm a TA. I'm always looking for new ways to organize!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Joining in! Look forward to hearing more details!