ProphetPaul’s Planning Process - Part 4 - The Grandparent Parlay

2019 Feb 4 - Part 3 – Plan 2.0
2019 Jan 17 - Part 2 – “Perfect” Plan(s)
2019 Jan 10 - Part 1 – Proposal
2019 Jan 4 - Paul’s Dream is Renewed
2018 Oct 11 - A Dream Delayed

Quick Reminders:
Oct 26 – Nov 3 (8 nights, split stay)
Me, DW, DS4, DS3, DD1, and now GM/GP (my parents) and GG/PP (DW’s parents)

There have been some major changes to our Halloween 2019 plans, so I thought I’d provide a quick update. After booking our 1-bedroom Boardwalk Villa (nights 5-8 of trip), we decided to wait for the dust to settle a little before canceling our original Boardwalk Inn room. One night last week, I was laying in bed thinking about our Disney trip and out of nowhere I got the idea of giving the room to my parents to use. They’ve never been to WDW. It could be fun, I thought. So, the next day I proposed the idea to DW and her initial reaction was that we should also invite her parents. All four grandparents?!?! Crazy! We decided the best plan was to have one set come the first half of the trip, and the other come the latter half.

We had 2 rooms for the second half of the trip, but what about the first half? I started doing some research and we eventually decided to rent more DVC points and book a 2-bedroom at Boulder Ridge to replace our standard room at the Contemporary. We’ve been interested in the Wilderness Lodge since the beginning, so we are really excited about this. And the price was almost the same as the standard room at CR!

The plan for now is to share the BR room with DW’s parents during the first half of the trip. My parents are undecided on the BWI room during the second half, they may opt for a cheaper option at the Swan/Dolphin or maybe offsite (I’m encouraging them to stay as close to us as possible for convenience).

All in, this is going to be a much more expensive trip than we originally planned (we are going to help out the grandparents financially), but the gamble will be worth it. I’m calling it the Grandparent Parlay. Not only will we get to share our magical vacation with our parents (more memories for everyone!), but we’ll also have 2 extra sets of hands to help out with the kiddos. This should make things a little less stressful. We’ll be able to ride some things together without needing rider swap. Some of us can stay in the parks later while someone goes back to the room with DD1 and/or DS3 (and/or DS4). Maybe I can even plan a date night with DW!

The only thing I didn’t think about before booking Boulder Ridge is that now we will have to buy our park tickets in a non-refundable manner. I’m ashamed that I didn’t think about this. The Disney encyclopedia in my head failed me. I got so excited about the grandparents coming that I just pulled the trigger. This is a problem because if DS3’s cancer returns, we will almost certainly cancel the trip. So, we will wait to buy our tickets a few days before FP day in August. We’re scheduled to get an MRI/CT and bloodwork done a few weeks before that, so we should have a green light. Hopefully not a red light. The thought terrifies me. Of course, something unexpected could always come up anyways. That is the risk we are betting against I guess.

I won’t go into any more details, but here is our updated “simplified” itinerary:

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I just want to say that your spreadsheet is amazing!! I love all the detail and icons you have added!

And what a special thing to include BOTH sets of grandparents on this amazing trip. Your kids may not remember it much but you, your wife and all the grands will have the sweetestest memories! We took my parents with us earlier this month and I feel like they provided a good perspective (encouraging us to slow down and enjoy the kids, not stressing, etc). Can’t wait for your next plan iteration!

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I’ve backed off the detailed version and keeping things a little simpler for now. Too many moving parts that keep changing. Closer to ADR day in April I’ll probably share a more detailed version. Actually, who am I kidding? I’ll probably put together another big post in a few weeks, lol…

but Paul, we were supposed to be at mnsshp on Tuesday :wink: thats okay dh and i can meet you and your family at the HEA dessert party on Monday. praying all works out for you. you do know with park tickets if you had to cancel, you wouldn’t lose your money…you could modify later but would just pay any price increase

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:laughing:

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So you’re saying we could just modify the ticket dates? What about re-assigning them to someone else if our party changes (siblings come instead of parents)?

A very good idea! Avoiding the situation Child 1 saying “I want sit next to Grandpa 1 and Grandma 1 on Small World” right in front of Grandpa 2 and Grandma 2 saves everyone aggravation and hurt feelings.

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I don’t know how this aspect works because I have never done it, but look into whether you can “umbrella” the grandparents into your 60 day FP bookings if they are off-site. If you can’t do that, it may be a factor for them because they likely won’t be able to get the same FPs as you (and may miss out on some FP like FOP completely)

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im pretty sure you can still do that, although ive never done it, i know in mde account you can reassign tickets. what say all you knowledgeable liners on buying tickets but then changing dates?

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but swan and dolphin still get the 60 day fpp, right?

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I’m pretty sure that is the case, but he also mentioned off-site.

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oh sorry. missed that part

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I love your spreadsheet and the idea of including both grandparents and at separate times. I hope all goes great with the Scans praying it turns out well.

We are taking my parents (who live close to us in Ohio and babysit all the time) as a thank you to them and yes we get help on vacation too. But am hoping my DH parents can join us for part of the trip. They live in Fl and hoping they can come spend a weekend with us. That way we get time with them and it let’s my parents have a couple of days they can do what the want without feeling obligated to do stuff with the kids.

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