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RobbiD · 07-19-2002, 07:44 AM

Dates:June 20-29
Adventurers:Robbi (Me!), Dean (DH), Nicole & Ashley (DD’s)
Resort: Port Orleans – Riverside
Celebration: Summer Vacation & the End of School!

Prologue: We're Not Going to Disney This Year!
After Christmas, when Dean and I began discussing vacation options for this year, he mentioned coming back to Disney. We had been in 1997 and 2000, and while I love WDW, I didn’t want to go back yet. 1st of all after 9/11, I wanted a very mellow, low key vacation; someplace low profile with a beach (for me) and golf (for Dean.) I also wanted to see other parts of the country. So the vacation planning began and we settled on the Outer Banks, NC. Beach for me (check!), golf for Dean (check!), fun for the girls (check!), low key (check!). Now a lot of the rentals down there are geared toward family reunions and are really large (and expensive) properties. But there’s only the 4 of us. Hmmmm. I finally found a condo that was a little pricier than I wanted but decided to book it anyway. There’s a fee for this, and fee for that and….$1900 for a week! NO WAY! Now here’s the problem for me; all vacations end up getting compared cost and value wise to Disney, and I could do All-Stars and passes for that much for the week. Forget Outer Banks.

A very frustrating week of web searches for family resorts began, and then ended with me saying “Forget it, you plan it! Let’s just get in the car and drive to North Carolina!” And it was off my plate. Or so I thought!

Dean was working from home on my birthday (Feb. 21st) and I went out and got the mail. Lo and behold, a postcard from Disney! Let’s see, “Come back to make believe…for a price you won’t believe…moderates from $84/night.” $84 per night? For a moderate? We paid $99 per night for All Stars in 2000. Grab the calculator…7 nights x $84 plus tax…WOW! Oh, Dean! He’s on the phone for work! Rats! So of course, being very mature, I just start waving the postcard under his nose! He hangs up and reads the card and I’m babbling away about costs and dates, etc. He just looked at me and said “Wait, you don’t want to go this year.” “Yes, but we’ll never see rates like this again!” “But if you don’t want to go…” “Oh honey, I’m just trying to save you money!” [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] And the 2002 trip was born!

My rules were simple: 1) we’d leave the day after school ended since we had to check in by 6/21 to take advantage of the postcard rate; 2) it would be Disney only, no side trips; 3) mellow pace, no kamikaze touring! 4) We’d take a day off in the middle of the vacation so we wouldn’t get burned out.

Yea! Of course, in the meantime, I found Passporter and the boards which made my planning even more fun. Now we just have to get to June…

Next: What Was I Thinking?

07-19-2002, 07:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
RobbiD Community Rank: Traveler Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 467	The Slight Soggy, Mostly Memorable Trip Report Dates:June 20-29 Adventurers:Robbi (Me!), Dean (DH), Nicole & Ashley (DD’s) Resort: Port Orleans – Riverside Celebration: Summer Vacation & the End of School! Prologue: We're Not Going to Disney This Year! After Christmas, when Dean and I began discussing vacation options for this year, he mentioned coming back to Disney. We had been in 1997 and 2000, and while I love WDW, I didn’t want to go back yet. 1st of all after 9/11, I wanted a very mellow, low key vacation; someplace low profile with a beach (for me) and golf (for Dean.) I also wanted to see other parts of the country. So the vacation planning began and we settled on the Outer Banks, NC. Beach for me (check!), golf for Dean (check!), fun for the girls (check!), low key (check!). Now a lot of the rentals down there are geared toward family reunions and are really large (and expensive) properties. But there’s only the 4 of us. Hmmmm. I finally found a condo that was a little pricier than I wanted but decided to book it anyway. There’s a fee for this, and fee for that and….$1900 for a week! NO WAY! Now here’s the problem for me; all vacations end up getting compared cost and value wise to Disney, and I could do All-Stars and passes for that much for the week. Forget Outer Banks. A very frustrating week of web searches for family resorts began, and then ended with me saying “Forget it, you plan it! Let’s just get in the car and drive to North Carolina!” And it was off my plate. Or so I thought! Dean was working from home on my birthday (Feb. 21st) and I went out and got the mail. Lo and behold, a postcard from Disney! Let’s see, “Come back to make believe…for a price you won’t believe…moderates from $84/night.” $84 per night? For a moderate? We paid $99 per night for All Stars in 2000. Grab the calculator…7 nights x $84 plus tax…WOW! Oh, Dean! He’s on the phone for work! Rats! So of course, being very mature, I just start waving the postcard under his nose! He hangs up and reads the card and I’m babbling away about costs and dates, etc. He just looked at me and said “Wait, you don’t want to go this year.” “Yes, but we’ll never see rates like this again!” “But if you don’t want to go…” “Oh honey, I’m just trying to save you money!” [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] And the 2002 trip was born! My rules were simple: 1) we’d leave the day after school ended since we had to check in by 6/21 to take advantage of the postcard rate; 2) it would be Disney only, no side trips; 3) mellow pace, no kamikaze touring! 4) We’d take a day off in the middle of the vacation so we wouldn’t get burned out. Yea! Of course, in the meantime, I found Passporter and the boards which made my planning even more fun. Now we just have to get to June… Next: What Was I Thinking?

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