You Know This is Going to Cost you More Money, Right?

[3Gsandme]

welcome:
Hello! After debating for a while I decided to go ahead, take the plunge and do a pre-trip/trip report for our upcoming trip. My husband gets tired of hearing about it, my blog readers are sure to lose interest and even my 13 year old gets a little tired of it after a while (a long while, but still).

The Cast

Me:

(an oldie, but a very, very goodie)
I'm Jamie. I'm 37. I'm a stay at home mom to my three little (and not so little) princesses. I'm crafty, bookish and a little bit of a geek. I sew, I knit, I crochet, I read as much as I can get my hands on (even cereal boxes, if I'm bored) and I love t.v. Flat. Out. Love. It. I oversee the zoo (Juno, Luna, Amelia, Rory and Shelly) and provide financial support for my daughters menagerie (Chloe and Zoey). I've loved Disney for forever and this will be my fourth trip.


Dh:

Big Daddy.Not into this at all, but going, reluctantly, to make everyone happy. He'll be 38 in December. He telecommutes for a large health insurer (it's been way fun at our house the past few months). He roasts his own coffee, brews his own beer, loves hockey and the beach. This will be his third trip.


The Princess

My eldest daughter who is 13. She's a little mini-me in a lot of ways, but not her height. She is a few inches taller than me already and will probably get her height from her Daddy. She's certainly gotten her feet from him. She plays clarinet, is a good student and big sister and provides excellent care to her sister guinea pigs, Chloe and Zoey. She loves Lilo and Stitch. This will be her second trip.

Littlebit
My firecracker middle child and fellow Virgo, she just turned 7. She's shaping up to be not quite as tall as her sister. Not to diminish her sisters, but Littlebit is literally the happiest child I've ever met and if you don't believe me, even strangers have vouched. She's just a little, happy, sweet ray or sunshine. She's excellent at reading and math and takes ballet and tap class. She LOVES the Princesses, but Rapunzel is her particular favorite. This will be her very first trip!

Buttons

Our Grand Finale was 4 in June and, if I'm being honest, the thought of seeing this little bugger at the Magic Kingdom is enough to make me turn cartwheels. At our house, she has a lovely nordic name, but she only goes by one name. Mickey Mouse. She's bestowed Mickey and Pals names on everyone in the family and refuses to answer to her given name at all. She doesn't even call me Mommy anymore, I'm Daisy Duck (which is better than the Princess who got stuck with Big Bad Pete). She's super active, mostly fearless and an absolute joy. This will be Button's very first trip.

Gratuitous Animal Pictures because I love looking at them in other people's PTR/TRs

Juno!

Amelia (aka Pond)

Rory (also aka Mr. Pond or Mr. Williams)

Luna Lovegood

Zoey, the guinea pig wearing a hair boy.

 

[3Gsandme]

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Not So Sad Story of a Postponed Trip
Chapter Two-Dates, Resorts and ADRs. Oh my!

 

[3Gsandme]

The trip to Walt Disney World had been looming on our horizon for a long time. Big Daddy and I are into vacation. We love to take them. We love them just the two of us and we love them with the kiddos and we love them with family and friends. Growing up, my family did vacation and his didn't and vacations are something we just agree upon and do. They're important. My guiding philosophy is that I want our children to leave the nest as packed full of experiences and life in this great big world as I am capable of giving them.

We do have a vacation destination of choice.

The Sea Islands of South Carolina. From Charleston south to the Georgia line is one of our absolute favorite places to be in the whole world. Our three of our girls are certified Beach Babies.

We live 12 hours away from our "happy place" and so it's often hard to chose to spend our vacation time and money any place else. We can rent a house on the ocean and be so content. But, I love Disney World too and I started getting anxious with Big Daddy regarding scheduling a trip.

I want to make a semi-controversial statement. We pull our kids out of school for vacation and will continue to do so until they reach an age or point of study where it's impossible. So far, we've made it all the way to 8th grade without issue and with careful planning, I think we can continue through high school.

When the New Year rolled over in January, I decided that 2013 was Our Disney Year. I informed Big Daddy that come hell or high water we would be visiting the mouse. All three of our girls still love Disney (the Princesses, Mickey, everything) and you can never be too sure of how long it will last. We took the Princess when she was 4 and I dearly wanted that little girl magic inside the park for our other two little girls (who are slowly becoming not so little!)

I decided on a great November date. We'd been to WDW in November before and it was just wonderful. I also love Christmas (I left that out of my bio) and loved the parks decorated for Christmas. Magic overload! I couldn't stand it.

But, then something big happened.

In 2001, the Princess was 18 months old and we were in Michigan visiting my parents. As was our tradition, we went to the county fair and then stopped in at the mall for some shopping. THe mall had a carousel and the Princess wanted to ride. Of course, she was indulged, and when the ride was over the operator offered her a sucker. I was concerned that she'd choke on it and so the operator offered her a cookie instead. Peanut Butter. Baked fresh today. A cookie seemed safe and we handed it to dd after we loaded her into her stroller.

Within minutes, her little eyes swelled close and despite administering benedryl every four hours, her eyes stayed swollen for days. A peanut allergy.

After testing, we discovered that the Princess had a catastrophic food allergy. A class six. I don't want to post endlessly about it, but to say having a child be that allergic is terrifying and we spent many years fearing her safety and life. A few years ago, I began hearing about a study that was desensitizing allergic children. Big Daddy and I made phone calls and did what we could to have the Princess considered, but we didn't have any luck.

Until April of this year.

With our trip looming ahead of us, we found a semi-local allergist that would be able to perform desensitization on the Princess. What does that mean? Every week, the Princess would eat increasing amounts of peanuts (starting, at first, with an amount so small you could hardly believe it).

That is the syringe she used to dose along with a full week's solution of peanut flour mixed with grape juice.

Of course, there was no other choice to be made. Desensitization became our top priority, but the costs associated with it (co-pays, travel, gas, etc) meant that our vacation budget was eaten away and we made the decision to postpone our trip to give the Princess her very best shot.

This is her current dose

She takes this dose twice a day for the next month or so and then we return to the allergist to have her maintenance dose set. The Princess will have to consume some amount of peanuts every day for the rest of her life to stay symptom free, but I can tel you that her successful desenstization has been beyond a blessing. The Princess is free in a way she never, never has been.

As Big Daddy and I made the decision to re-schedule our Disney Trip, I looked him in the eye and said "You know this is going to cost you more, right?"

 

[3Gsandme]

Poor Buttons is home sick today and wants to cuddle and watch Mickey movies, so on to chapter 2.

Once we got the Princess through Desensitization, it was time to make Disney plans, again. Originally, I'd been leaning towards vacationing at the end of March/beginning of April, but after agonizing over tons of data, I knew we had to pull the trigger on February. The prices and crowd levels were just too big of a positive to wait and despite a few misgivings from Big Daddy (and a few assurances from me) I picked the dates and booked our room.

Initially, I was leaning towards staying at Art of Animation in a suite. With there being five of us, as most of you know, our room options become more limited and I liked the idea of being able to have a private bedroom from the girls. A little privacy is always appreciated and two bathrooms aren't the worst thing if you want to get five people ready for bed at night or out the door. But, in the end I decided to be a little more budget conscious and opted to book us into the less expensive Port Orleans Riverside.

Did I mention this is our first time staying on property? I'm so excited because I've never done it. Big Daddy has some misgivings about having a full on, all Disney, all the time vacation, but the kids and I are so excited we can hardly stand it.

I debated upgrading views and rooms, but in the end decided not to. Big Daddy and I looked over the map and the scale and decided that even if we were in the furthest building, it still wasn't too far for us to walk. The girls are pretty good walkers and we theorized that if we couldn't handle an extra mile or so a day, we should be reconsidering the trip.

So, we're booked into Port Orleans Riverside for the week of February 22-March 1. I was super excited to find out my friend and her three girls will be there the same time as we, and we're looking forward to spending some time together.

After booking the room, it was just about time to make my 180 day ADRs. Talk about agony. More data crunching!

I'm not really a technical person, that's Big Daddy's area of expertise, but examining all the data leading up to a Disney Trip can be super overwhelming. Which guide to use? Who is the most accurate? How do you fit in the best days? What if I make a mistake? Like a lot of people, this trip is a big expense and I really want to make sure we get in as much as we can.

In the end, I ended up with the following ADRs

Arrival Day, Saturday February 22 dinner at 1900 Park Faire with Cinderella, the Step-sisters, Lady Tremaine and the Prince.

First Day in the Parks-EPCOT Sunday, Februrary 23
Akershus Princess Breakfast and
the Biergarten for lunch

Day One at the Magic Kingdom Monday, February 24
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

Tuesday February 25 at Animal Kingdom
No ADRs as this will be sort of a quiet day and there was nothing that screamed to me that I needed to do it.

Wednesday February 26th-Our Day Off-Downtown Disney
Dinner at 'OHana

Thursday February 27th-Hollywood Studios
Breakfast at 'Ohana

Friday, February 28th. Last day. But, it's at the Magic Kingdom and I have a dinner reservation at Be Our Guest!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Joining in

So sorry to hear about your peanut allergy! Allergies truly scary me. It must be constantly in the back of your mind.

Your ADRs look great!!!!