We’ve had a timeshare since before we had kids. I grew up in a traveling timeshare family and really liked it as a kid, so I pushed for the some experience for our own family. When we had triplets, and then three more kids, we constantly outgrew the units we owned, so we never used it as much as we had hoped. A couple of years ago, though, we were finally able to acquire a week in Orlando in a unit big enough for everybody, and the countdown began. This past Christmas, we announced to the kids that the time had come, and this year we would take them to Disney.
Everybody except Kender was excited, and more than okay with the saving we intended to do leading up to the trip. Kender never really paid much attention. He doesn’t watch TV or movies much, so the characters meant nothing. He also hasn’t done rides very often anywhere. As we got within a week or so of leaving, with planning and packing going on full time, he realized we were going on a trip, but that was about it.
One happy thing happened shortly before we left: Kender finally started saying things like his name and age, his dog’s name, even his parents’ names. This is a huge milestone we’ve been waiting for years to hear!!
Getting to Disney was the first obstacle. A place to stay in Orlando we had. How to get there? Flying is out, partly because of expense (Have you ever priced plane tickets for a family of eight??) and partly for political reasons. We needed to plan for at least three days travel time each way. We put planning this part off for way too long, until we happened upon a used popup trailer for sale that would sleep everybody. Problem solved: we’ll camp! Cheap, and we felt comfortable camping after borrowing a trailer from a friend for a couple of trips.
Planning our time at Disney was another step in preparation. I’m a big planner, especially with such a big family, so when a friend told me about http://touringplans.com I was in planner heaven. These folks have spent years collecting data on the Disney Parks, and you can use their computer and database to plan optimal trips through the parks based on what you want to see and do, how fast you walk, fastpass times, and predicted line times at different times of day and year. They even have an app you can use to reoptimize your plan during your visit.
Armed with our camper, our touring plans, and our A’Kos, we felt we were up to the challenge of taking our large family to the ultimate family destination.