With that being said, WE ONLY HAVE 11 MORE DAYS TILL OUR TRIP!!! Some changes have happened around here since I began to plan the trip way back in April.  We are now staying at the Boardwalk Inn. We are both really happy to be staying here as it is one of our favorite resorts and we just love the proximity to EPCOT and this year’s Food and Wine Festival

We are looking forward to enjoying F&W as well as the new ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Toy Story Midway Mania. This is the first time Jim has been to the F&W or attended Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party

We are also going to spend one day at Universal Studios and attend their Horror Night’s Event.

I am hoping to be able to video blog each day and possibly do a short written recap as well.

I think this is pretty cool. My husband and I love watching the Deadliest Catch and this would be something we would both love to be at.

I am just sick over this. We loved going to the Adventurer’s Club on each trip. We would spend most of the night there taking in as many shows in the Library, Mask Room, or Trophy room as we could. We loved the personal interaction with the Pamela, Hathaway, and Emil to just name a few. I am so sad that I will not be there before it closes to have one more Kungaloosh. This was truly an unique experience for Disney and one that will be missed by many, many guests.

• OKW was not near as enjoyable as I remembered.  The resort is HUGE.  We were in the same building as last time. There was really nothing bad about it but I think that unless we get an amazing rate I don’t know that we will stay there again. I really, really just enjoy the monorail or EPCOT resorts so much better. We had no problems with transportation but relying on Disney buses is just not as enjoyable as the monorail or boats.
• The parks were pretty crowded.  It was clear Disney was not prepared or staffed for the crowds.  We saw very few Photopass Photographers in comparison to what we saw in Jan/Feb.
• The Flower and Garden Festival was pretty neat.  I wish we had been able to spend more time enjoying it.
• The fireworks cruise was amazing.  We were on the Breathless, which beforehand I was upset about but in retrospect it was perfect.  My husband, dad, and brother all fell in love with that boat.
• We also did a photo session at the Grand Floridian. We ended up with about 80 pictures from our 30 minute session.  Our photopass CD finished up with about 600 pictures once all the edits were made.  You can now convert pictures into black and white which is a neat feature.
• Magical Express worked well going back to the airport, however we had to wait almost an hour to leave the airport to get to OKW.  We arrived around midnight and they waited until the bus was about half full before we left.  Luckily we were the first stop.

All in all it was a most incredible trip. The pictures are up on our flickr account. There are many, many more but that gives you a good overview. It was very overwhelming at first to be there with my family who I had not been together with in so long. I hope it is not the last family vacation we take. Disney Cruise anyone?

It was written by by Deb Wills and Debra Martin Koma who are the founder and editor in chief of Allearsnet.com and it deals with any type of special needs when traveling to Walt Disney World or on the Disney Cruise line.

As you guys know I love the PassPorter Books and have had one since 1999. I think this could be a great tool for anyone traveling to WDW in the near future. It covers all types of challenges ranging for physically handicaps, dietary issues, even had advice for pregnant travelers.

Me(33)- Disney Veteran of 30+ trips. I am the master planner for this vacation

Jim (35) (DH)- Disney Veteran of 20+ trips.

Dad(54)-15+ trips to world but last was in 2002; Sometimes referred to as Jed Clampitt

Mom(54)-same as dad; we will be celebrating her 55th birthday while there

Chris(Brother)(27)-10+trips to WDW, Only one of us who has been to any overseas parks (Tokoyo Disneyland) Currently stationed in Hawaii; will be deployed to Iraq again this fall for the 4th time

Crystal (Sister in Law)(28)-2nd trip ever to the world

Patsy(Grandma)(75)-3rd trip

Possible Attendee: Cousin Melissa(26)-never been to Disney;currently live in NC. Undecided if she will be joining us

Background:
My immediate family has not all been together since 2004. My brother is currently in the Marine Corps and has been stationed in NC and HI. In 2005, both my parents and my husband and I lost our homes in Katrina, 3 days after my brother was deployed to Iraq. While both me and my brother have been home since then, neither of us have been back to MS at the same time. Late last year my parents sold their property to a casino developer and were able to purchase a new home and basically be financially secure into their retirement years. My parents are taking both their kids and spouses as well as my dad’s mom on an all expense paid trip. We will be celebrating my mother’s 55th birthday while at Disney and well as enjoying being together before my brother is once again deployed. Also last August we lost my grandfather while my brother was in Iraq and was unable to come home for the funeral. This is the first time he will be seeing my grandmother since then. This is also my grandmother’s 1st trip without my grandpa.

Accommodations:
We are currently booked at Old Key West in a 2-bedroom villa. This is the same place we stayed in 2002 when we took my grandparents on their first Disney vacation. I would have liked to be at a different DVC resort but this was the only thing available when we made the reservation and also when AP rates were released. We will be there for 7 nights. I also tried to get a bounce back rate while at the Poly in Feb, but again nothing else was available. I have also inquired into a Grand Villa but have had any success with price and/or availability

Travel:
Obviously since my Brother and SIL live in Hawaii they will be flying. They are actually flying in 2 days before everyone else and will be staying at All Star Sports for their first night on property.
My husband and I will be flying in but not arriving until 11:30pm the first night
My mom, dad, and grandmother will be driving from MS and arriving approx 3:30pm the first day

All flying travelers will be using Magical Express.

Advanced Dining Reservations:
April 4th
Whispering Canyon-Lunch
Chef Mickeys-Dinner

April 5th
Yak and Yeti-lunch

April 6th (Mom’s Birthday)
Hoop Dee Doo 9pm Show

Apirl 7th
LeCellier Dinner

April 8th
No ADR’s

April 9th
Ohauna Dinner

April 10th
check out day No ADRs

Other info
Our park plans will basically follow the ADR’s. We are not planning any water parks. There will probably be a few night for us to go to Pleasure Island and the marketplace. I have an EPCOT fireworks cruise booked on the Breathless on the 5th. At the time it was booked we did not think that my grandma was going to want to go to the parks with us so the 6 person limit on the Breathless was not an issue. We are still not sure how we are going to handle this but I am not wanting to cancel it. Maybe we will draw straws..who knows. I am hoping maybe there will be a cancellation with a pontoon boat and then the problem will be solved. We are also wanting to have a photo session at the Grand Floridian seeing as all of us have not been together in such a long time. I will book that over the next 2 days.

Well that’s the plan so far. I’ll keep you updated on any changes.

When we arrived we were greeted with leis and a very friendly “aloha” We headed to the front desk to check in and were quickly told that we had been upgraded. The tears quickly welled up in my eyes and I could not tell them Thank you enough. They gave us our gold room keys and we headed to the Hawaii building. I had requested that we be on the 3rd floor and that is just what we got, 3rd floor garden view. One downside is we were the very last room on the 3rd floor, basically as far away from the concierge lounge as you could possibly get. After finding our room we headed to the lounge to check things out. It is stunning and breathtaking. There is a 3 story picture window which overlooks the 7 seas lagoon: to the right is the Contemporary Hotel, straight head is Cinderella Castle and to the left is the Grand Floridian.

We enjoyed and made great use of the lounge the next several days. We had breakfast every morning. It was your standard continental breakfast fare, cinnamon rolls, bagels, crossaints, danishes, cereals, etc. Afternoon snacks were usually cookies, goldfish crackers, chips/salsa and mixed nuts. The evening service was amazing. We basically made this our dinner on several nights and the menu changed nightly. Then for the after dinner service we had some great desserts which also changed nightly.

For Super Bowl sunday, the staff threw a party complete with decorations. The Giants fans watched from the 3rd floor tv, while most of the Patriots fans were on the 2nd floor. The food, drinks, and beer were readily available all evening. In fact the chef had to remind my husband to save room for dessert.

We had a great view on the beach (if not better than Main Street) of Wishes and the music is piped in so you feel like you are part of the fireworks. We also watched the Electrical Water Parade on several occasions from the lounge.

One of the concerns with staying at the Poly was the ease to get to the parks. Let me say that is was very easy to get where ever we were going. We primarily go to MK and EPCOT and we used the monorail and/or boat to very quickly get there. The walk to the TTC was quick and beautiful. We only rode buses to get to Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Downtown Disney.

We have stayed at Club level before at the Boardwalk. While our room at the Boardwalk had a much better view and more room, the club level there seemed like an afterthought. At the Poly everything is so laid back and like I said you just feel like you are on vacation. There was no stuffiness to the club level or anywhere else for that matter. Everyone at the resort was friendly and greeted you with an aloha anytime they saw you. Like I said we will be staying here again, and again, and again, and again. A+++++++++