Lizzim 18 USA Trips: 2 weeks with the family... are we crazy?! Pre-trip summary

As some of you may remember our last Disney trip was last summer with our friends and their 3 children which was definitely a different experience for us!

We did manage a winter trip to Washington DC and Delaware and had been hoping to sneak in a short break for just the two of us - but we didn't manage it

So, as it stands our next trip was a family adventure in Sept/Oct for 2 weeks.

The group

Obviously, there is Rob and I (the tour guides).

We are joined by his parents Paul and Tracey (who are generously funding the trip). Paul celebrated his 60th birthday shortly before our trip and retired in August. Tracey had heart surgery last year and despite not really enjoying flying was looking forward to riding Splash Mountain repeatedly!

Finally we had Kevin (Rob's brother), his partner Sharna and their 3 children: Blake (14), Leona (10) and Charlie (6).

Accommodation

For the first week of our trip we were staying at Port Orleans French Quarter in 3 separate rooms. We had the 'free' QSDP but upgraded to the DDP so that we could fit in some of our favourite restaurants.

After our disappointment last year I cancelled our booking at the villa we had reserved (although we have lost our deposit as the owners stuck to their T&Cs despite the fact we felt the villa was misrepresented on the website) and I (after much research) found another property which will hopefully live up to their reviews.

For our final night I splurged and used most of our DVC points to book a Grand Villa at Bay Lake Tower. I didn't quite have enough points for a Theme Park view so we booked a Lake View and were planning to watch Hallowishes from the Top of the World lounge. I am reasonably confident that this is not the best use of our points but it may be Tracey's last visit and I think she will really enjoy it!

Food

Having discussed meal options with the group I booked the following restaurants:

Sanaa
Be Our Guest (Breakfast)
The Plaza
Sci Fi
Teppan Edo
Garden Grill
Chef Mickeys
T Rex - for the rest of the group, Rob and I will visit Yachtsman instead!

Treats

As we did last year we had a few special treats planned for the children.

We booked Leona a makeover at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.

Charlie will be turned into a pirate at the Pirate's league - hopefully he will like that.

Blake was too old for being a pirate so we were hoping to book places at one of the DVC moonlight magic events so that he will get some time without the others (we failed). If I can't book this he will probably go clothes shopping instead!

Custom cake - last year I got Amy a Frozen themed cake at Chef Mickeys. Paul would not enjoy the attention of a birthday cake so instead I think I am going to get a Splash Mountain themed cake for everyone to share - Tracey will love that!

We were also planning a trip to Busch Gardens but not Universal as tickets for 9 people get expensive fast…plus I'm not sure we have time for much more! but the plans changed....

I had to make one minor adjustment and switch The Plaza and Garden Grill around as we were originally planning The Plaza on a halloween party day - and that seems to affect the available reservation times.

I got everything else on the day I wanted - although I had to take slightly earlier times for 2 nights but they are on our first couple of days so I don't think it will cause any problems.

I also have the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and the Pirates League booked on the same day as our Chef Mickey reservation so everything is sorted!

I also got our Halloween party tickets booked using our DVC discount.

I got some new ears from TheMerryEarMarket 😁

And here are my 3 new accessories all together 🤩

What is a plan without a few changes?!

So, Busch Gardens is out...

Charlie really loves Lego and so we bought tickets for Kev, Sharna, Leona and Charlie to do a day at Legoland!

And, Rob and I took Blake to Universal - a 1 day 2 park ticket is expensive but allowed him to visit both bits of Harry Potter and hopefully get to see a lot of the rest as we wouldn’t have to hang around for the others...

Paul and Tracey will probably have a villa day to rest!

I’ve been buying a few bits and pieces along the way for the kids:

Bag for Leona