Cue the Music: How we MADE money and slept with Ariel! Done!

[mickeystoontown]

I'm here!! I can't wait for all of your 2017 adventures!

You are the first!

I here whoop whoop!! So excited to follow along Lisa, you have always been one of my favorite trip report writers and I have been enjoying reading since 2011 when we took our first family trip! It seems like so many veteran trip reporters on here have all but vanished over the years and I am so happy you are still actively posting. It's so nice to see a familiar face. Anyways enough babbling I can wait to hear more!!

After the year that we had in 2016, I felt like I had vanished but I'm here!

Can't wait to hear all about it!

Welcome Ryan!

Whoo hoo! Can't wait to hear about your latest adventure!

It's Mel! Welcome!

Hi! Very excited to read your report. This will be my first one that I've seen from you, but man, sounds like we're in for a good time!

Welcome to the first Mickeystoontown report! I hope that you enjoy!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sounds like loads of fun! Can't wait to read it!

Welcome! We had a fantastic trip!

Can't wait for the ride to begin! Thanks for the heads up on FB.

Welcome Deb!

Hi Lisa, no promises I'll be able to keep up here, but I'm gonna try. Life's been different for a few years now. Got to get my Disney knowledge back in tune.

Oh my word! Look who is here! I know that you've had a lot of things happen in the last few years. You need an escape from reality!

So glad to see this report.

I'm in!!!

It's Dee! Welcome!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yippee! You are back with new stories for us! I can't wait to hear!

Welcome aboard the crazy train!

Yay!! I’m here! I’m here!! Excited to follow along, yet again, on one of your fabulous trip reports!!!

Welcome! Hope that you enjoy our travels!

Of course I am joining in!

It's Jen! Welcome aboard!

Joining in.

Glad to see you here!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Joining in! Can't wait to hear about all of the new things you guys got to do!

Thanks for joining!

I'm here. I can't wait to read your new trip report.

Reena

Reena! So happy to see you!

Yesssssssss so excited!! )

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Can’t wait to read more. Love your style of writing.

Thank you so much! Welcome!

I'm here, too!!!!!!

Welcome Ann! Thanks so much for letting me book one of your Disney trips!

 

[pooh'smate]

Joining in.

 

[Angelrose]

I'm here as well. I always enjoy your reports so much. You make me laugh so hard.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Preparation is the key to any good vacation!

I'm a notes, spreadsheet, itinerary type of gal. Call me weird but I love notes! Notes! Notes and more notes! Notes make me happy. So, you can just imagine how happy I was that I had a typed out itinerary for each day of our trip. Having said that, I don't like having every minute of every day planned. That would be too stressful. I just want a plan and notes. Did I mention that I like notes?

I just looked at my email "2017 Disney trip" folder and there are, I crap you not, over 240 emails. They range from "your reservation has been confirmed" to "invitation to edit doc". You see, I have this problem. It's called "I suffer from the need to make sure that the stars align perfectly for this trip" syndrome. It's a real problem!

I am the same way when I help people plan their trips. I want them to have the ultimate Disney vacation experience. It makes for a little bit of a stressful time but the end result is fabulous! So just know if I book your trip, you're going to have a fantastic time!

I guess I should stop here and tell you how this trip came about. Repeat readers will probably remember what a craptastic year 2016 was for our family. We returned from our 2016 two week WDW trip and found out that my boss died, John's place of employment closed the same day and, well, everything seemed to go downhill after that. Like that wasn't a fall from a mountain already.

We've been going to WDW since our son turned one and he is now 20. There was no way that we were going to miss going to WDW in 2017. No way at all. No. Um-Um. It was happening. But, with both of us starting new job, we figured that a Spring trip (our usual time of the year) was out of the running. My boss is a big duck hunter meaning that he is out for the majority of November and December. John's boss said he could go whenever he wanted. It had been years and years and years since we went at Thanksgiving. We talked it over and decided that's when we'd plan to go in 2017.

Our countdown started at 197 days!



At this point, we were thinking that it may be three of us. Hunter, our son, was in college but was looking for a part time job. I had him on the reservation and all of our dining reservations were initially made for a party of three.

Whoa, hold up a sec, I forgot something! Where were we staying? As soon as the free dining promotion was released, I ran to the Disney Travel agent site and pulled up availability. Our home away from home is Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. We love it! Seriously love it. As in we have stayed over 200 nights there over the years. There was no availability at CBR. Availability was super limited. I had two choices. Disney's All Star Music Resort at less than $4,000 or Disney's Yacht Club Club Level Room at over $17,000! That's not a typo. It was truly $17k. Well, I bet you can guess where we booked.



Disney's All Star Music Resort was a new resort for us. We have only stayed at one value resort over the years and that was Disney's Pop Century Resort in May/June, 2016. I poured over the room views on Touring Plans and finally settled on a room request in the Broadway section of the resort.

After I had booked, Hunter got a job at the local library. Even though he was part time, he wasn't sure that he wanted to request time off. But, he also wasn't ready to pull the plug on the trip all together. And, then, our son-in-law text me. How much would it cost to add Lacey, our daughter, to the trip? He wanted her to go with us and he would pay for the trip as her Christmas present. Shoot! Our dining reservations were for three. I needed to make them for four! Tip a tap, click a click and almost all of our dining reservations were modified.

A month before the trip, both had decided they weren't going. We were officially going as a couple. Just me and my hubby. Just me and my pal. Just me and my partner in crime. Just John and I! Dang, now that I uploaded that picture, I'm wondering what's up with John. Was he arghing or something?


I was excited and feeling a bit guilty at the same time. Walt Disney World is our family's happy place. It's the place where we always went as a family. What would it be like to go as a couple?

Now that our plans were finalized, I had to get busy. Busy finalizing plans for my clients and making sure all of their ducks were in a row before I left. I also wanted to tackle some sewing projects for myself. I made a cute little purse.


and just a few days before the trip, I decided that I wanted a new cinch bag too. Cinch bags are a fantastic bag to take on trips. They fold and store easily and they can be crammed full of all sorts of stuff that you need in the parks.





I always say that I'm going to pack my suitcases a week before hand. Does that ever happen? Nope. 'Cause I'm sewing bags and making itineraries. For this trip though, I did pretty well. I started tossing stuff into the suitcases a day or two in advance.



Packing for this trip was hard for me. You see, our normal travel times are in May and June and it's hotter than a pistol. I'm used to throwing in shorts, tees, sandals and tennis shoes. The weather during a Thanksgiving trip is a bit more challenging. I packed some of everything and then threw in the kitchen sink for good measure.

**Up Next: We never ever leave when we want to! Awww, you made a CD for me?

​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Joining in.

Welcome aboard!

I'm here as well. I always enjoy your reports so much. You make me laugh so hard.

I love knowing that I can bring giggles to people!

 

[Disneymom2kiddos]

I'm here!!! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[debedo]

Yaaaaaaa! Can’t wait to read a new trip report from the best trip reporter !

 

[rndmr2]

Yay! so glad to see you started your TR!! Can't wait to read all about it.

 

[PittypatBR]

Oh boy, a new trip report! Looking forward to reading all about it!

 

[cmaee]

Yay!! I’m so glad to see you started your TR!

 

[amazingact21]

Oh yay! I'm here and following along!

 

[Caretames1]

Notes, I like notes. I keep mine in a binder, separated by tabs, titled and sub-sectioned. Yeah, I like notes. Lol

 

[Bethislucy]

yay a new report

 

[Smilelea]

I'm so excited for a new TR!! Following along.

 

[krysenchips]

Joining in! Can't wait to see what this trip brings you!

 

[julydeya]