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: