Our Flying by the Seat of Our Pants No Plan Plan for WDW Trip Report *Updated 7/9* COMPLETE~!! About This Page:

[I♥THEMOUSE]

Hello fellow Passporters! I couldn't wait any longer to start my pre-trip report so here we go!

When: February 21-28, 2009

Where: POFQ

Who: April, 33 yr old single mom and lover of all things Disney. I'm the business manager for the largest retailer of Texas Tech merchandise in Lubbock. I don't know how many of you follow college sports, but Tech's football team had a pretty impressive year. My boss thought it would be a great idea to fire his internet manager about 3 days before we played the biggest game of the year and guess who got to take over? Yep, ME! I've been unbelievably busy since the end of October. During that time my mom also suffered a small stroke so with the stress of caring for her and work I really need a vacation!

DD: Kricket, 17 yr old princess. She'll be turing 18 shortly after our visit and also graduating in May. She's homeschooled and has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. She also loves all things Disney. Especially the Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh, and also the Jonas Brothers.

I basically started planning our return trip to WDW the week we got back from our first trip. We both had the most magical time and couldn't wait to get back. Unfortunately my pocketbook wasn't of the same mind. We both really wanted to stay at a Deluxe resort for our next trip and both of us really loved the look of the Beach Club. After the 2009 rates finally came out in August I started looking at different packages and decided that we would have to wait until December of 2009 for a return trip if we wanted to stay Deluxe. We were both pretty bummed.

It didn't take long though for us both to decide that was WAY too long to wait to get back! Plus, we didn't spend a lot of time at the resort during our first trip so we could go back to a Moderate and be just fine. I did some number crunching in my budget and decided that if I lived on PB&J for lunch and cut way back on my obsession with Bath and Body Works products (seriously, they should have a 12 step program) we could probably swing a trip sooner than December. The small raise my boss gave me would help too.

So we started looking for alternate dates. Being in college retail I'm limited on travel dates. Anything between Jan and July is fine, but don't even THINK about asking off from August through November! I had read TR from people who had gone during Epcots F&GF and thought that would be a great time to travel to the World. So we decided on May 3-9, 2009. To save even more money we decided to try out POP since Kricket had always thought that would be a fun place to stay.

Up next................How the trip went from May to February!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start April!!

[elisa1006]

ooh How exciting. It's always great to see trips that move closer instead of further away.

[bsblady01]

I hope that you and your dd have a magical time at the world

[lukeandbrookesmom]

Wonderful start April!

[lissybri]

Great start. Can't wait to read more.

[disneydreamer33]

Don't leave us hanging. More please.

[NanaTink]

great start! More please!

[I♥THEMOUSE]

Thanks for reading everyone!

My daughter and I are complete opposites. While we both share a love for Disney, I live to plan trips and she HATES anything having to do with planning. If I even mention my Excel spreadsheets she gives me a BAER (bigg a$$ eye roll). Oh well, more fun for me.

With dates in hand I started putting together mock touring plans. I tried out different scenarios and had a rough idea of how we would spend our time at WDW. All I needed now were park hours so I could decide on ADR's. We knew the places we wanted to eat at every park (well I knew, Kricket didn't care) I just needed to know which parks were having EMH so I could firm up our daily plans.

So I started waiting.

And waiting.

And I waited some more. By the middle of December I was getting very antsy. I hadn't been on the boards a lot but when I would be here browsing I knew I wasn't the only one is this situation. I mentioned my anxiety to Kricket and her response was a short but sweet, "Chill out Mom." I tried to take her advice, but come ON, I'm an OCD planner! I can't just chill out!!!

Work was busy and home was busy so that helped settle me some, but I was still ready to get on with the planning. That's when Kricket threw me a curve ball. She reminded me that I don't like the heat. In fact, if it's over 65 outside it's HOT to me. She asked me if I was sure I wanted to go in May when the heat and humidity would be up there. I had already been going over that in my head for a few weeks and in truth, I wasn't sure I could handle the heat in May. The only thing that kept drawing me back to that time of year was the F&GF. I love flowers and gardening and I really wanted to see this. But my level headed daughter had a point. Me and the heat do not mix. It had even been too warm for me some of the days during our February trip last year. I kept going back and forth in my head about what to do.

So, we started discussing alternate dates. We both had commitments in April so that month was out. March was out simply because of Spring Break. So we were down to January and February. The "pay for 4 play for 3" deal had really knocked off some of the cost from our May trip so I knew we could sweeten our savings by booking during Value season. I started looking at my work calendar and trying to sort out when I would have time available to travel. Working in retail we always have something going on that I have to be there for. In our office we all work outside events like sidewalk sales (we have two going on this month) and I knew inventory was coming up too.

I sat down with my boss and went over available dates. I had wanted to travel January 24-31, but we have sidewalk sale that weekend. So I opted for February 1-8. That was no good because of a family obligation that I had forgotten about. We had inventory the next weekend (yes, over Valentine's day weekend though we won't have to work Saturday ) So it looked as though Value season was a no go for us.

I pondered over just keeping our original reservation when Kricket asked me to price out the 21-28 of February. Even with airfare the "pay for 4 play for 3" deal made it very reasonable. The fact that my boss had given me a great Chrismas bonus helped a lot too. With Kricket smiling beside me I booked and paid in full for our trip! We were both so excited!!! A trip less than 45 days away!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A TRIP LESS THAN 45 DAYS AWAY?!?!?! How am I going to plan a trip less than 45 days away?!?!?

Up next.............."Mom, why do we HAVE to go with a plan?"

[mpwife153]

the start. NOT PLANING is sooooomuch harder then planning! I am in the same boat, we leave in 8 days & I am not allowed to plan. (DH's one condition on this spur of the moment trip!). I have EMH plotted out but that's it...this is tourture I tell you!!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you finally settled on a date!! More please!!

[disneydreamer33]

Can't wait to see what your plans are. Thanks for sharing your planning. Keep it up please.

[NanaTink]

Great update! More please.

[Lemap760]

Great start. Can't wait to hear how it all works out.

[westie22]

What you mean you plan? Just kidding, I'm an OCD planner and have already mapped out our June trip (subject to being tweaked when the schedule comes out).
Can't wait to hear the rest!