Pre-Trip The I can't think of a creative title for my trip report, trip report!

Hey everyone! I've been lurking on this board, perusing everyone's trip reports for a while. We are down to a little over four weeks away for our Disney World family vacation. Below is the list of cast members going:

Elliott - "The Hubs"
Deb - Me!
Emmanuel - Age 19
Hayley - Age 12
Evan - Age 4

The Hubs and I have been there before, but it's been lots and lots of years. This will be the first trip for the kids and we are really, really excited (and this is a severe understatement)!!!!

When we initially priced our trip, we instantly looked at the value resorts. We loved the idea of staying on site, etc. After calculating everything, we found it would be more affordable for us to stay off site. It didn't take long for us to find a nice little villa in Lindfield Reserves. The place is really nice (especially compared to the one I am sitting in right now).

Our trip is April 30th thru May 7th. We will be flying out of New Castle, Delaware via Frontier Airlines. We scored really cheap airfare through this little airport. With that said, it will be dangerously tempting to fly to Florida more often than we can afford.

Oh and guess what???? I went to turn on my digital camera today to take a pic and the darn thing wouldn't turn on. I plugged it into the charger and nothing! Either the battery is suddenly no good or the camera itself is a goner.

With that said...I'm not taking any chances of this happening on our trip, so a new camera is getting purchased asap.

I look forward to writing this report and everyone sharing their feedback with us! If anyone has ever stayed in Lindfield Reserves, I would love to hear about your experience.

I will be checking in here and there as we get closer to our departure! Till then..........

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Congratulations on your upcoming trip. DH and I have been at that exact same dates and had a blast. Great weather, Flower & Garden Fest is beautiful, and the only crowds were really from school groups. Wow if your oldest is 19 and it's their first trip, you really haven't been in a while! Wishing you a wonderful trip back "Home"!

 

[FlaggNL]

hej great upcoming trip just 4 weeks left..... have fun!

 

[TinkandCrew]

Congratulations on your upcoming trip. DH and I have been at that exact same dates and had a blast. Great weather, Flower & Garden Fest is beautiful, and the only crowds were really from school groups. Wow if your oldest is 19 and it's their first trip, you really haven't been in a while! Wishing you a wonderful trip back "Home"!

That is wonderful to hear! Initially, we instantly thought "spring break week", but the thought of the crowds and everything was just too much. So we contemplated pulling the kids out of school. We've never done that before and felt funny making the decision to do it. We told them before the school year started that they had to have excellent attendance if they wanted to go on this trip. I'm proud of both of them as they have stuck with it!

It has been about twenty years or more since we have been there, so we feel so lost when it comes to planning and knowing what to do. Especially since we will be "off site" guests, ya know?

 

[TinkandCrew]

hej great upcoming trip just 4 weeks left..... have fun!

Thank you...I know! We can't wait and it can't come soon enough. The owner of the villa we are staying at just emailed us all of the instructions...eeeek!

I love that you figured out how to put your countdown clock on there...I have to work on mine.

 

[TinkandCrew]

Below is our tentative itinerary for our trip:

Wednesday (Arrival Day) - Lunch in Downtown Disney, shop for snacks for the house, settle in and swim

Thursday - Epcot Day

Friday - Magic Kingdom Day

Saturday - Our only house day; reservations for TRex in Downtown Disney

Sunday - Typhoon Lagoon Day

Monday - Hollywood Studios Day

Tuesday - Universal Orlando Day

Wednesday - Catching our flight back to reality

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

That is wonderful to hear! Initially, we instantly thought "spring break week", but the thought of the crowds and everything was just too much. So we contemplated pulling the kids out of school. We've never done that before and felt funny making the decision to do it. We told them before the school year started that they had to have excellent attendance if they wanted to go on this trip. I'm proud of both of them as they have stuck with it!

It has been about twenty years or more since we have been there, so we feel so lost when it comes to planning and knowing what to do. Especially since we will be "off site" guests, ya know?

Wow you've got some great kids on your hands who appear very dedicated to their vacation! Bravo!

Yes i totally understand. I think the elimination of paper fast passes will help lines a lot and again you're going at a great time. Just go slow, eat well, and take everything in! You guys will have a blast!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thank you...I know! We can't wait and it can't come soon enough. The owner of the villa we are staying at just emailed us all of the instructions...eeeek!

I love that you figured out how to put your countdown clock on there...I have to work on mine.

It's great to have the timer, but on the other hand it remembers me again and again that there still is a long way to go LOL

 

[TinkandCrew]

26 Days and counting....

Everything for our trip is paid for with the exception of our food, souvenirs and the money to check our bags on the plane. It's a great feeling!

The kids are tremendously excited. The other day my daughter brought out some of the clothes she is taking to show her grandparents. Her little brother (age4) had to run and go get his little suitcase of clothes we've set aside and pull all of his stuff out too.

He keeps telling me "Disney Word (without the "L") is far away...huh Mommy?" I told him we have to fly on a plane to get there and he wanted to know if I was going to call the plane driver man on my phone!

Something crossed my mind the other day that I wanted to post on here and now I can't think of what it was.

I'll be happy when I have pics to start posting for you all! OMG....that's it!!! That's what it was.

So, I pulled out my digital camera the other day to take a pic and it is dead....d-e-a-d! Done!

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good pocket style digital camera they could recommend? I saw the Canon ELPH and the Nikon Coolpix....not sure what is good these days.

Till next time....

 

[Zipadeelady]

The same thing happened to my camera right before our trip last December so I went and got the Nikon coolpix. I'm really disappointed. The pics r good if your completely still and the sun is out but other than that most are blurry. Id go with the cannon.

Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear how it goes!!

 

[TinkandCrew]

The same thing happened to my camera right before our trip last December so I went and got the Nikon coolpix. I'm really disappointed. The pics r good if your completely still and the sun is out but other than that most are blurry. Id go with the cannon.

Have a great trip. I can't wait to hear how it goes!!

Thank you so much for telling me this! I really couldn't decide and was having trouble finding reviews. My son's girlfriend also told me that she has a Canon and she loves the picture quality. Canon it is!!! Much appreciated!

 

[TinkandCrew]

24 days to go....

Well, today is my birthday! The last year that I will be in my 30's! This birthday will come and go with nothing too exciting to do. I want to save every penny we have for Disney! Oh...and of course...replacing my broken camera!

I can't wait to get my new one so I can show you pics of the matching shirts that I got for me and my husband. I was surprised he agreed to wear it! They are really cute. The kids all have shirts with different patterned Mickey or Minnie heads on them with their name under them in the Disney script. Now my hubby and I will sort of blend in with them.

So....since we are staying off site, we will be eating outside the parks quite a bit. Any suggestions on good spots? We are probably going to track down Bojangles. We have our T-Rex restaurant reservations. Maybe Steak & Shake????

Staring at our luggage at this point is torture!!!! Come on April 30th...get here already!!!

 

[FlaggNL]

A day after but Happy Birthday!!

 

[TinkandCrew]

A day after but Happy Birthday!!

Thank you so much!!!

 

[TinkandCrew]

23 days to go....

Well....as stated before, I don't have a camera right now, but I wanted to try to share a picture of the cute shirts that I purchased off of Etsy. They are branded with the vendors name so I think it's okay for me to share as well let you know that they are made by CustomWorldCA.

Now, we didn't want to bake in the Florida sun in black t-shirts, so we asked him if he could make them on white shirts instead. He was accommodating and said we actually had a choice of five colors. Okay...cool!

I told my husband that since are Mickey & Minnie are smooching each other, we have to make sure we walk in a coordinating fashion....I don't want my Minnie just smooching on anybody!

Whatcha think....cute? I'm still shocked the hubs said he would wear it!

 

[TinkandCrew]

Guess what??????????????????????????? I just found out that Disney is letting off site guests book their FP+ selections once they hit the 30 day out mark to their trip! Woooohoooo!!! This just made my day! The thought of getting through at rope drop just to stand at a kiosk was frustrating, so this solves that problem!

I started to make choices and thought....hold up Deb...wait for tonight when you the hubs are home together. It's killing me though. I'm obsessed with doing things involving this trip. Forums, youtube videos, tidying up loose ends. Talking about it, daydreaming about it.

April 30th....come on already!!!!

 

[TinkandCrew]

15 days to go........

Come on already!!!! I am really burnt out at this point and feel myself not having much patience lately. I really need this vacation. I haven't had a pleasurable day off since August, so this trip can't come soon enough.

Oh, oh, oh....the new camera arrived yesterday! I couldn't play with it because the darn battery had to be charged. Sigh!

I can play with it tonight so I can get some pics on here finally! Woohoo!

I have been drilling my lil guy, "Now, what do you say if a princess asks you to be her Prince Charming?" and he shakes his head "no" and says, "I"m mommy's Prince Charming." hehehehehehehehe

 

[RMichael21]

I can't wait to read your trip report and I hope you have a great time on your vacation!

 

[FlaggNL]

You used passed the 14 days to go mark

 

[TinkandCrew]

You used passed the 14 days to go mark

I know...can you believe it? I remember when we had months and now it's just days. It is truly excruciating. My kids only have three days of school left from now until we leave since they have Spring Break and then our vacation. So jealous!

For some reason...my new stress is worrying if somebody is going to get sick when it's time to go. Fingers crossed!