DISNEYMOON: "Honey, you didn't list underwear!" - 9/14: Link to TR and LIVE TWITTER! [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

SilverL

06-06-2009, 04:48 PM

Hi everyone! I've never done a Pre-Trip report, but now I'm thinking that the process might be cathartic! :rotfl: So here I am.

The Cast:

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs108.snc1/5072_1166376032912_1033238306_489351_5724583_n.jpg

My DH and I are both young newlyweds and stressed out college students who take way too many classes. I'm an English major, and he is Pre-Med. Our finances, as you can imagine, are very tight. We had a completely DIY wedding and we had to put off our honeymoon until after the summer in order to afford it without going into debt. (We are Dave Ramsey fans --- we have no debt and avoid it at all costs.) But we are going to be able to afford it, and I am SO excited!!

Me: I went to Disneyland at least 3 or 4 times when I was a kid. We live in the NW of the USA, so Disneyland is obviously much closer. However, ever since my family's first trip to Disney WORLD, I have never wanted to go back to the land! We actually tried to plan a trip to Disneyland once, and I told my mom that I would rather not go at all. (Terrible, I know, but true.) I have now been on three family vacations to Disney World. We stayed off site every time, and once our party consisted of ten people! (The answer to your question: Yes, it was insane. But it was also insanely fun.)

I am a type A personality and a planner by nature. I often say that my brain operates in lists. My mom and I have always planned our trips down to the little details. In fact, I have planned other people's vacations for them. (I handled all of the ADRs for my Grandparents a few years ago.) My DH was opposed to all of this planning at first. He wanted to just go and wing it. So, I told him, "Well, you married me!" He's now fine with it as long as there is flexibility in THE PLAN (there is) and I don't try to force him to love spreadsheets (I don't.)

DH: My DH has only been to Disneyland once or twice. I think he went when he was a kid, and his family took another trip when he was in high school. Unfortunately for him, because of this, he doesn't understand me when I start speaking "Disney World". I think he might need a glossary to understand our conversations about the trip. Poor guy. I made the mistake of showing him The Kitchen Sink dessert at Beaches and Cream and so his only requirement for the trip is that we order it.

http://www.passporter.com/photos/data/603/medium/Megan_s_Disney_Pictures_094.jpg

I don't know how just the two of us will eat that, but we'll try (and then get extremely sick)

Plans A & B:

Originally, I planned for us to go from Dec. 3-11. I made an 8 page spreadsheet, including itinerary, packing lists, shopping lists, restaurants, menus, budget, etc. Then I found out that finals week for fall term was going to be Dec. 7-11. :headache: I was frustrated, but it wasn't the end of the world, and I started over.

Okay, let's take a red eye flight on Dec. 9th and stay until the 17th. DH's birthday is on the 10th, so we can still take advantage of the free birthday admission deal. This will work. Create wdw-2.xlsx. Tweak it, and perfect it. Yay! All we have to do now is book...

Plan C:

And then the college decided it would be better to move everything back and have Dec. 14-18 be finals week. :mad::mad::mad: I had to start over again, and at that point I was really disappointed and not looking forward to it because I was afraid my plans were just going to get screwed up again :sad2:

We looked into the week before Christmas, as well as going during the last week of class and coming back for finals. Before Christmas was way too expensive ($1200 more than we had planned), and no one wants to come home from vacation to take their final exams (insert vomit smiley here). Briefly, we considered January. I started to think the trip wasn't going to happen. But then, I remembered:

In September there is free dining. :goodvibes

I priced it. Fall term doesn't start until Sept. 28th, so we could be flexible with our dates to accommodate DH's work schedule. Going in September would save us $800 from our original plans! YES! WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

Updates:

"I'll never go in September again!" (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32160487&postcount=2)
THE plan (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32160685&postcount=3)
I booked our trip!! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32163091&postcount=5)
Sharing Meals on DDP (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32167585&postcount=7)
I FORGOT TO MAKE ADRS! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32337225&postcount=14)
ADR results (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32337558&postcount=15)
Planning Cards & A Surprise for DH! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33015705&postcount=22)
Boma ADR Change (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33047111&postcount=23)
How early does KTTK get booked? (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33051224&postcount=24)
Medieval Times... oh boy (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33066356&postcount=28)
Red Eye Flight and Dining Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33067763&postcount=29)
"Honey, you didn't list underwear!" (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33078585&postcount=30)
Room Requests (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33086993&postcount=31)
Packing List (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33089739&postcount=33)
Pictures galore! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33089929&postcount=34)
Flight and tour booked! Ebeneezer is an awesome CM! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33103014&postcount=38)
Medieval Times and CODE NAMES! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33105557&postcount=39)
How many cases of water? (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33139594&postcount=43)
The mail has arrived! and pin lanyards (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33160238&postcount=45)
Just how OCD am I? (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33163521&postcount=47)
Day 1 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33172715&postcount=49)
Airlines, Pins, and Day 2 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33197130&postcount=52)
Shopping Time! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33210504&postcount=58)
LGMH, Pins & Mickey Mail! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33229738&postcount=60)
Packing and Door Decor (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33264008&postcount=62)
New Camera! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33264008&postcount=63)
Day 3 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33275167&postcount=64)
"Did your stomach just gurgle?" (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33287627&postcount=70)
MNSSHP Costumes! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33319009&postcount=78)
Shoes & Bags (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33338481&postcount=84)
New Camera Pictures (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33339809&postcount=86)
Day 4 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33478107&postcount=104)
Day 5 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33512853&postcount=105)
Day 6 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33513447&postcount=106)
Day 7 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33521066&postcount=112)
Day 8 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33529048&postcount=113)
Weather Update (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33540732&postcount=122)
Day 9 Plans (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33547458&postcount=123)
Final Schedule (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33548498&postcount=124)
PACKING and we're going LIVE (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2284140)

SilverL

06-06-2009, 04:59 PM

We interrupt the typing of the plans to explain the original title of this post ("I'll never go in Sept. again!"):

My last trip to WDW was in September 2007, and boy, let me tell you: IT WAS HOT! I am from the cold, wet, grey coast of Washington State where the seasons consist of Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining, Road Construction, and Deer & Elk season. Although we had a fabulous time on our trip and managed to avoid most crowds, it was hot hot hot, sweaty, smelly, humid, nasty, frizzy, rainy (used to that one!), and stormy! My poor sister's curly hair practically inflated every morning. I got sick from the heat on our MGM day. Lightning storms rolled in every single night and our car was almost struck by lightning (of which I am terrified). Fantasmic got canceled because of the storms. On the way home from that trip, I declared, "I will NEVER go in September EVER again!" And I never intended to. We had been in January before, and it was wonderful. But with our December plans out the window, we somehow ended up with September.

My philosophy is that if it's $800 less, you buy some shorts, some ponchos, and a mister fan, and make sure you pack deodorant, and say screw it! September works for me!

SilverL

06-06-2009, 05:19 PM

THE Plan:

Dates: Sept. 15th-23rd
Hotel: 8 nights at Pop Century (on site for the first time ever :woohoo:) with Free Dining!
Other Stuff: We have basic (non-park hopper) tickets, a prepaid PhotoPass, tickets to MNSSHP and a subscription to Touring Plans

Itinerary

Day 1: DH'S FIRST TIME FLYING Fly across the country to Orlando. Check in at Pop, and go to Beach Club for dinner at Beaches & Cream around 8. The late dinner will work great for us since when we land hopefully around 5pm, we will feel like it's only 2pm.

Day 2: INTO THE FUTURE Wake up ridiculously early (for west coasters). Miraculously make it to my FAVORITE park (Epcot) before the park opens. Tackle Future World. Ride Test Track at least three times. Have lunch at Sunshine Seasons and eat dinner at Teppan Edo (I am SO looking forward to this)
Alternate ADR plan: Garden Grill

Day 3: DO YOU WANT KETCHUP WITH THAT? AK by rope drop. Hit Kilimanjaro Safari first, because it's my favorite ride :thumbsup2 Have lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Go to Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. (WCC was SUPPOSED to be DH's birthday dinner when we intended to go in Dec. He has no idea about the antics that go on there, but is excited about the food)
Alternate ADR plan: Call back every single day until I get WCC because we WILL eat there!

Day 4: THERE BETTER NOT BE A THUNDERSTORM Hollywood Studios day. Make a beeline for TSM. Try to hit as many shows today as possible. Eat lunch at Backlot Express. HOPEFULLY we will have dinner at Mama Melrose with the Fantasmic package.
Alternate ADR plan: Try for Brown Derby. I would rather get a turkey leg and stand in line than eat at Hollywood and Vine ever again!

Day 5: EATING AROUND THE WORLD Back to Epcot. (I am very sad that we're not ending the trip at Epcot like I would prefer, but since it's in the name of avoiding crowds, I can deal.) Eat our way through the World Showcase for Breakfast and Lunch. Dinner at Chefs de France. Watch IllumiNations.
Alternate ADR plan: Rose & Crown (unless Le Cellier is miraculously available)

Day 6: HOW EARLY DO WE HAVE TO GET UP??? Wake up even earlier than usual and head over to AKL for a Photo Session---which our family doesn't know about yet. I hope we can surprise them with fabulous pictures. Then stuff ourselves at Boma and head to Hollywood Studios again. If Fantasmic got canceled on Day 4, we will do it on this day. Have dinner at Studio Catering Co. Last time we went to WDW in Sept, we never got to see Fantasmic because of lightning. Boo!
Alternate ADR plan: Ohana, with Photo Session at the Poly

Day 7: DOLE WHIP OR DIE Strollerville (AKA Magic Kingdom) day! Since we are both Disneyland veterans and we have no kids, we have opted to only spend one full day in the MK. We figure we will more than make up for it on later trips when we have kids. Have lunch at Columbia Harbor House and eat dinner at The Plaza. I WILL EAT A DOLE WHIP ON THIS DAY! We forget to EVERY trip!
Alternate ADR plan: Tony's or Liberty Tree (I can't decide which is better)

Day 8: OUR LAST DAY IN THE PARKS Back to AK. Make sure to ride Kilimanjaro in the evening. After closing, we will head over to MK for MNSSHP! We've never done a party and I'm not sure what to expect. Also not sure if we should wear costumes.

Day 9: BACK TO REALITY Fly home. Hopefully we can book a late flight and sleep in after the long day before.

MinnieNurse

06-06-2009, 08:12 PM

SilverL

06-06-2009, 09:11 PM

I got the text from DH today... go ahead and book the trip! So I did! :woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

I also bought our MNSSHP tickets for Sept. 22 and prepaid for our PhotoPass CD!

We have 9 days and 8 nights at Pop with Free Dining and 9 day basic tickets.

Still need to book our flights.

YAY! I'M SO EXCITED! :goodvibes

nu2wdisneyw

06-06-2009, 10:13 PM

Hey there!
I am joining you in your planning adventure! You have details down to the last day!!! :thumbsup2 Congrats on booking and I hope you enjoy MNSSHP...we opted not to do it since its September 4th when we are there and I am not thinking about Halloween at the beginning of September! :sad2: Well I look forward to reading along!

SilverL

06-07-2009, 10:12 AM

Hey, just tuning in. Plans look great. I will make you feel better, I will be there in August. Much hotter I am sure. But then again, I am a Texan so doesnt really bother me. :rotfl: I am enjoying your report so far.popcorn::

Oh yes, I have actually been in August as well. We were HOT TAMALES the entire trip. Even though I said NEVER again in September and went back on it, I know I will never go in the summer again. The heat is so hard for us Washingtonians who live on the coast to bear. I live right near the beach. It's June and it was cold and rainy (like fall) yesterday. Go figure!

Hey there!
I am joining you in your planning adventure! You have details down to the last day!!! :thumbsup2 Congrats on booking and I hope you enjoy MNSSHP...we opted not to do it since its September 4th when we are there and I am not thinking about Halloween at the beginning of September! :sad2: Well I look forward to reading along!

Halloween isn't typically my thing and I definitely am not thinking about it in September either. :rotfl: But my DH and I think the party will be a lot of fun. I really want to go to one of the parties... so we are! I don't think we'll dress up though. Maybe we can wear funny hats?

Question for everyone:

We are on the basic dining plan. That means we can have 1 TS each and 1 QS each per day, as well as 1 snack. I have planned to have one big TS meal per day, and if we each order our own entrees at those meals, we will use up all of our TS credits.

Now, here is my question: Do you think we could split a QS meal for each of our other two meals, or would we be hungry?

I have heard a lot of people say that the DDP is a lot of food. I have been considering simply bringing some cereal for mornings, but if the QS lunches are going to fill us up a lot, I would rather split for breakfast and lunch (or whatever our small meals are). Pop's adult breakfast platter seems like something we could easily split (scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuit, sausage, and bacon).

What do you all think?

SilverL

06-08-2009, 09:41 AM

Wish me luck, everyone. Today is the day of DH and I's scariest finals. I still have two more papers to finish before 2pm. Once this is over, though, I will be DONE with school for this term, aside from a fun project I need to do for lit! DH has his math final today. We're both terrified. I have western civ---which I would normally ace, but the professor is an awful teacher. No one ever learns anything in his classes. The entire class freaks out for the midterm and final and ends up making stuff up and then somehow we all manage to pass. It's sad. But I need history credits.

SilverL

06-16-2009, 11:41 AM

I bought my bag for the parks! But unfortunately, Kohls no longer has it available... Good thing I bought it when I did. It's cross body with two little pockets in the front big enough for a cell phone. One of them zips, and the other doesn't. Then there is a little zippered part and a big inside area with a pocket also the size of a cell phone, and an open pocket on the back just big enough to hold a notebook. It's really cute. It's bright oranges, yellows, purples, and teals on brown with flowers.

I also bought my first swimsuit in eons because my DH MADE me. :rotfl: It's very cute. Also from Kohls:

http://media.kohls.com.edgesuite.net/is/image/kohls/414191?wid=230&hei=230&op_sharpen=1

I get to make my ADRs in TWO DAYS! :cool1: Not looking forward to getting up at 3:45am Pacific, however.

Oh, our MNSSHP tickets also came. They're nothing special, though. Just regular tickets.

crocko

06-16-2009, 12:11 PM

Signing in to follow along.

My family is going from Sep 17 - 26th...so, we will be sharing in the humidity with you. I'm from Oklahoma, so probably won't really be any worse than what I'll be leaving.

Good luck getting your ADR's tomorrow!!

[by the way, your school starts back SUPER LATE!!]

MinnieNurse

06-16-2009, 01:19 PM

Question for everyone:

We are on the basic dining plan. That means we can have 1 TS each and 1 QS each per day, as well as 1 snack. I have planned to have one big TS meal per day, and if we each order our own entrees at those meals, we will use up all of our TS credits.

Now, here is my question: Do you think we could split a QS meal for each of our other two meals, or would we be hungry?

I have heard a lot of people say that the DDP is a lot of food. I have been considering simply bringing some cereal for mornings, but if the QS lunches are going to fill us up a lot, I would rather split for breakfast and lunch (or whatever our small meals are). Pop's adult breakfast platter seems like something we could easily split (scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuit, sausage, and bacon).

What do you all think?

I think you could go either way. If you normally eat 3 meals a day you probably would be better splitting breakfast and lunch. If you do not eat 3 meals a day I would say just eat the 2.

We did the deluxe plan on our last trip and it was way to much for us. Its nice because you can do a lot of signature places, but there is no way we could eat 3 meals a day that way. We were stuffed. We always do the regular dining plan and just do 2 meals and the snack and it works great for us. Hope this isnt more confusing for you. I tend to ramble. :rotfl:

MinnieNurse

06-16-2009, 01:22 PM

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.

I love the swimsuit. :thumbsup2

lovedonaldduck

06-16-2009, 02:29 PM

My mom and I split a couple of CS meals when we went in April and it worked out fine. By the time I got around to my CS dessert I was already beyond stuffed. Also, if you get a double cheeseburger you can ask for an extra bun on the side, thus making two cheesesburgers for the price of one. :)

I can't wait to hear what you think about the MNSSHP. We will be going for the first time the end of September. If you can get your DH to dress up, I say go for it. There is no way my DH will dress up, but all of the adults are going to get Halloween T shirts for the party. If you do costumes, remember how insanely hot it will be.

SilverL

06-18-2009, 10:04 PM

OMG

I FORGOT TO CALL IN MY ADRs THIS MORNING

Waiting on hold now. 7:00pm pacific time

*pulls hair out*

SilverL

06-18-2009, 10:31 PM

I'm a horrible DISer. Can't believe I forgot to call this morning! I was happily reading the boards when it dawned on me that today was the 18th. I tore out of the room like a madwoman, grabbed the phone and dialed frantically, certain that all was lost.

Here is what I wanted for my trip:

Teppan Edo 6pm
Whispering Canyon 6pm
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package 5pm
Chefs de France 6pm
Boma 7:30am
Plaza 6pm
Liberty Tree 6pm

Here is what I got:

Teppan Edo 4:40pm
Whispering Canyon 8:05pm
Mama Melrose *NOT FANTASMIC PACKAGE* 3:05pm
Chefs de France 6pm
Boma 7:30am
Plaza 6:05pm
Liberty Tree 6pm

I am pleased! :goodvibes

MinnieNurse

06-18-2009, 11:06 PM

nu2wdisneyw

06-19-2009, 12:54 AM

Good job with the ADR's...you still got everything you wanted!!:thumbsup2

lovedonaldduck

06-19-2009, 09:05 AM

Glad to see the ADRs worked out even though you "forgot". :yay: Sounds like something I might do, especially since we will be out of town at my best friend's reception the day before. Your ADRs encourage me that even if I oversleep I may still get what I want.

crocko

06-19-2009, 09:08 AM

Whew!

Glad things still worked out....didn't get the Fantasmic package...but who knows if you would have gotten that anyway.....those are hard ones.

Take a breath and do a little dance :cool1:

SilverL

06-19-2009, 10:02 AM

I may try to get the Fantasmic package at 45 days out if I remember. I could've asked about our second day in Hollywood Studios, but I would rather make the attempt on our first day there, because I know in September it can get canceled due to weather. That happened to us last year and it was too late in the trip to do a rain check.

I think H&V and Brown Derby might've had some openings as well. But I would rather wait in line for an hour than eat at H&V again, and BD is two TS credits. We just didn't want to do it.

I'm so pleased that now I can really get planning. I checked out the Unofficial Guide from the library and I'm going to go through it with DH

lovedonaldduck

06-19-2009, 11:07 AM

We've never seen Fantasmic, but from what I hear with the changes to the package, missing out may not be that big of a deal. Maybe you will be able to get it at the 45 day mark.

I checked out every Disney book I could find at my library and read most of them cover to cover before our first trip. I don't recommend doing that, since it is all pretty repetitive. :rotfl:

Can't wait to hear more about the plans.

SilverL

08-04-2009, 01:22 PM

Hey everyone! Good to be back on DIS.

We're going to be in Disney World in 42 days! :goodvibes Disney has been paid in full and now everything is set in stone except for our flights. We have a lot of big expenses this week, so I think we will book that after my DH's next paycheck.

It's 45 days out from the night we want to see Fantasmic, but I called Disney Dining and had no luck getting the Fantasmic package for Mama Melrose. We'll stick with our original non-Fantasmic reservation and wait in line, I guess.

I spent a few days making big index cards for each day of our vacation. Each day includes park hours, crowd levels, touring plans, show times, expenses, dining credits, photo ops, confirmation numbers, and notes. I also have an overview card and packing lists. It's a good thing I have good eyesight and can read tiny print. I finished them and showed DH and he balked at the touring plans. I think when I said "planning", he assumed I meant choosing which park to visit each day. :sad2: He wasn't happy about the idea of using touring plans until I showed him the chapter about them in the Unofficial Guide and informed him we will have extra time if we follow them. He hasn't argued since.

I really want to surprise my DH on this trip, and I got to thinking that I would LOVE for us to do a tour together. We probably won't have the opportunity to do it on our next trip since our next trip will probably be with kids. After some budget slashing and number crunching, I came up with enough wiggle room in the budget for the Keys to the Kingdom tour! I will be booking it next week. We're going to have a late flight home on our last day, so I think we can do it then. I can't WAIT to see the look on DH's face!

SilverL

08-06-2009, 01:07 PM

I changed our Boma reservations to 9:20am today. They had been for 7:30am, but I realized that we really should do photos before breakfast since we have no idea how long it will take to eat and don't want to feel rushed.

Had a DOH moment this morning. I had thought you could schedule a Photo Session 45 days in advance. Whoops! I have to call back in 2 weeks. Bummer. I was all excited to book it

I have my outfit for our Photo Session at AKL. Now DH needs to find something suitable to wear. Unfortunately, his clothes are far more appropriate for Wilderness Lodge... or the Country Bear Jamboree :rotfl:

SilverL

08-06-2009, 05:30 PM

:banana: Just got our ME tags and booklet today! Except they say no flight information. I know what flights I want to book, but I can't until DH gets his paycheck in a few weeks. Which means KTTK tour booking has to wait too, because I don't want to pay for it and then have to take an earlier flight :scared1:

Does anyone know if KTTK usually gets booked up mid sept?

rhondac

08-06-2009, 05:36 PM

SilverL

08-06-2009, 06:39 PM

my DH originally wanted to go over the holidays just after Christmas (dd turns 5 a few days after Christmas) - but once we priced out Sept it was sooo much cheaper for flights, disney hotel plus free dining, we couldn't turn it down ;-)

That's exactly it. Now that I'm looking at our budget, I still can't believe we were going to pay all that money to go in December. We get to stay longer and do more this way. Plus, the trip is sooner!

As I read TRs and look at other touring plans and restaurants and stuff, I've started compiling a list of random stuff into a "Dream Disney Trip" file. I have a feeling it will be quite some time before we can go back to Disney. (I would consider booking a bounceback trip, but next summer the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is putting on Hamlet and I've said for years and years that I HAD to go see it when it finally came back... Looks like we'll be visiting relatives, Ashland and Crater Lake next summer instead) By the time our next trip rolls around, DH and I may have kids. So it's fun to think of what I would love to do with my kids when I have them, or what we would do without kids if we just had more money. :rotfl:

I want to stay at Wilderness Lodge someday, because DH is going to LOVE that place. We live in the Pacific NW and it feels like home. I would also love to do the Backstage Magic tour, but we would need to stay longer than we are in order to do it. I'm trying to sell my DH on eating at Victoria and Albert's sometime just so we can say we have. I know when we have kids, we will eat at CRT, spend half the trip in MK, and go to the water parks. I hope when we take that trip we can afford to go in December just because I want to experience MVMCP and Candlelight Processional. Ah, if only money was no object!

rhondac

08-06-2009, 09:16 PM

It's fun to dream - if money were no object for us I'd be staying at the Poly instead of Pop! Although I am kind of looking forward to Pop, it looks like a fun place and I'm sure my kids will love all the big things (playdoh container, foozeball court, etc). But I would love to stay at a monorail resort for the convenience (not to mention the lovely deluxe resort!). We stayed at POR last time and it was nice.

Dh has already warned me we aren't going back again any time soon. But he really didn't think we'd be going back less than 2 years after our last trip so we'll see ;-) We will probably wait until our youngest (currently 16 months) is a bit older, 4 or 5 yo. By then the kids are old enough we *might* consider driving down (22 hour drive from Ontario) - I'll bargain with dh I'll be willing to give up flights and drive if we stay at Poly :-)

SilverL

08-07-2009, 06:09 PM

Oh boy.

My mom e-mailed me a link to Medieval Times' birthday offer. We won't be celebrating any birthdays while in the World, but it hasn't stopped me from considering going back to Medieval Times! (We went in Sept. 2007 and LOVED IT)

I figured out it would be possible to go on the HS day that we don't do Fantasmic. IMO Medieval Times > Fantasmic. However, it would cost about the same as the Keys to the Kingdom tour.

Two Adult Tickets from Undercover Tourist: $84
Taxi Fare Both Ways: $50 (roughly)
Total: $134

Two Keys to the Kingdom Tickets: $130

There is no way I'd give up KTTK for Medieval Times. If we did MT, we would do both. So that's $264. I'm looking at my budget trying to figure out ways to slash it more. "Food? We don't need food on the travel days! Checked baggage fees? There has to be a coupon to waive that somehow! Who needs souvenirs when you can watch Medieval Nights joust? Wait! That's one less QS meal! Maybe we can convert our credits to snack credits and buy piles of stuff at Goofy's Candy Company and sell it all to our relatives!"

Ahhhh! Somebody stop me!

SilverL

08-07-2009, 08:29 PM

This is me today: :surfweb:

I'm looking at flights. I had found what I thought was the perfect flight---6am from Portland, OR and arriving at MCO at 5pm. But it occurred to me that we live 2.5 hours from Portland and we need to be at the airport two hours before our flight, so we would be leaving at 1:30am. :scared1: "Geez, if we're leaving that early we might as well take a red eye!" Wait a minute... A RED EYE!

So, I checked evening flights for Sept. 14th, and lo and behold, there is a flight leaving Portland at Midnight and landing in Orlando at 11am.

Arriving at 11am?

:banana:

Naturally this sparks musing about food options, so here is what I'm thinking.

9/15:
Land at MCO at 11am
Visit MK or EP
QS Lunch
TS Dinner at Beaches & Cream

9/16:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit EP
QS Lunch @ Sunshine Seasons
TS Dinner @ Teppan Edo
See IllumiNations

9/17:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit AK
QS Lunch @ Flame Tree BBQ
TS Dinner @ Whispering Canyon Cafe

9/18:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit HS
QS Lunch @ Studio Catering Co.
TS Dinner @ Mama Melrose
See Fantasmic

9/19:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit EP
QS Lunch @ Morocco
TS Dinner @ Chefs de France
Skip IllumiNations and do laundry

9/20:
Photo Session @ AKL
TS Breakfast @ Boma
Visit HS
QS Lunch @ Backlot Express
QS Dinner @ Starring Rolls / OR GO TO MEDIEVAL TIMES

9/21:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit MK
QS Lunch @ Columbia Harbor House
TS Dinner @ The Plaza
See SpectroMagic and Wishes

9/22:
QS Breakfast @ Pop
Visit AK
QS Lunch @ Pizzafari
Go to MK at 4pm with MNSSHP tickets
TS Dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern
MNSSHP

9/23:
QS Breakfast @ Pop (If we are out of QS credits, we will just use snack credits)
Check out
Do Keys to the Kingdom Tour at MK, which includes Lunch
Catch ME to MCO
Grab some fast food for dinner
Fly out at 6pm :(

DDP Breakdown:

Quick Service Credits Used: 16/16
Table Service Credits Used: 16/16
Snack Credits Used: 0-2/16

PS
We are sharing QS Breakfasts/Lunches, FYI

SilverL

08-08-2009, 08:20 PM

I added a picture of DH and I at our wedding on the first post of the topic. DH dragged out the suitcases for me today... Packing has begun! When I travel, I always create a master packing list that includes everything. I'm always afraid I'll forget something on my way there or on my way back. Checking every single item off the lists helps alleviate that fear. DH didn't quite get it, though.

::MinnieMo "Honey, I made us a packing list for our Disney trip. Can you make sure all of your stuff is on there too?"
::MickeyMo "Huh? You put my stuff on there?
::MinnieMo "Yes, I put *everything* on there."
::MickeyMo "Why do I need a packing list?"
::MinnieMo "I don't want to forget something and then have to pay for a taxi to take us to the store or buy overpriced stuff at Disney."
::MickeyMo "..."
::MinnieMo "Can you just make sure I'm not missing any of your stuff please?"

So, he takes the list. I explain to him my elaborate sorting system, in which I sort it all into the checked bag, each of our personal items, and each of our carry on bags. I also show him the spot where I list what we'll be wearing on the flight so I know *exactly* how many shirts, pants, etc. we have for laundry purposes.

::MickeyMo "Honey, you didn't list underwear."
::MinnieMo "What? Yes I did. Right there. 1 pair in your carry on and 5 pairs in your checked bag."
::MickeyMo "No, I mean, you didn't say we'd be wearing underwear on the flight."
::MinnieMo "..."
::MickeyMo "I'm just saying."

PS
I added underwear.

SilverL

08-09-2009, 02:47 PM

I called Disney this morning to see if I could add my room requests to my reservation. A very helpful gal named Primrose answered my call right away and put them in for me, hopefully in the right order. :rotfl: You see, I was rather specific:

1.) Upper level room
2.) King sized bed
3.) 50's Section
4.) Facing Lake

After she put my notes in, she told me that if I upgraded to a preferred room, I'd be closer to the bus/food court/pools, blah blah blah. I think they might be required to go through that spiel. But she didn't push me to upgrade. She just informed me I could, so I was happy.

kmartin555

08-09-2009, 05:21 PM

SilverL

08-09-2009, 06:49 PM

Oh yeah, tell him you're nothing compared to me. LOL! It's probably true.

Here is my packing list:

CHECKED BAG
GENERAL

Batteries
Battery Charger
Power Strip
First Aid Kit
Scissors
Quart Sized Ziplocs
Permanent Marker
Tape
Safety Pins
Anti-Bacterial Wipes
Sunblock
Lotion
Aloe Vera
Sudafed
Zantac
Zyrtec
Shampoo
Conditioner
Body Wash
Laundry Bag
Laundry Soap
Stain Stick
Dryer Sheets
Pillow

HERS

3 tops (red, lace, floral---in all my list making, I have given my various tops titles, so I don't have to write "the blue wrap top with the black lace")
2 pair shorts (tan, other---other means I need to buy another pair, haha)
2 bras
5 pair underwear
5 pair socks
1 pair shoes

TOILETRIES

Shaving Cream
Razor
Razor Blades
Deodorant
Face Wash
Moisturizer
Toner
Foundation
Powder
Primer
Eyeshadow
Mascara
Blush
Brushes
Lipliner
Q-Tips
Cotton Balls
Tweezers
Hair Gel
Body Spray
Hair Ties
Floss
Toothpaste
Make Up Remover

(I know I have a heck of a lot of make up... I probably won't use any of it)

HIS

3 tops
2 pair shorts
5 pair underwear
5 pair socks
1 pair shoes

TOILETRIES

Deodorant
Razor
Cologne

(notice how his list is much smaller?)

CARRY ONS
ON PERSON
HIS

1 pair shorts
1 top
1 pair underwear <---this is what I added! ha!
1 belt
1 pair walking shoes
1 jacket

HERS

1 pair capris
1 top (purple)
1 pair underwear
1 bra
1 pair walking shoes
1 jacket
Necklace
Earrings

LIQUIDS

Purell
Toothpaste
Sunblock
Deodorant (his)
Deodorant (hers)
Lipgloss
Chapstick

HER SUITCASE

Laptop in green sleeve
Laptop Charger
Mouse
Ethernet Cable
Cell Phone Charger
iPod cable
Card reader
1 top (brown)
1 pair shorts (white)
1 pair underwear
1 pair socks
1 pair pajamas
1 swimsuit
1 pair sandals
Toothbrush
Hairbrush
Pin Lanyard

HER PURSE

Photo ID
Credit/Debit Cards
Cash
MNSSHP Tickets
ME Booklet
Itineraries
Confirmation #s
Plane Tickets
Cell Phone
iPod
Headphones
Gum
Sunglasses
Camera
Advil
Notebook
Tip Envelopes
Pen
Tissue
Highlighter
Wallet
Blotting Papers
Book
Hair Ties

HIS BACKPACK

Photo ID
Credit/Debit Cards
Cash
Cell Phone
iPod
Headphones
Gum
Sunglasses
Camera
Memory cards
Camcorder
Tapes
Batteries
Book

HIS DUFFEL BAG

Laptop
Laptop Charger
Cell Phone Charger
iPod Cable
1 top
1 pair shorts
1 pair underwear
1 pair socks
1 pair pajamas
1 swimsuit
1 pair sandals
Toothbrush
Mister Fan
Crystal Light
Water Bottle
2 Ponchos

PARK BAGS
HER PURSE

Photo ID
Credit/Debit Cards
Cash
MNSSHP Tickets
ME Booklet
Itineraries
Confirmation #s
Cell Phone
Gum
Sunglasses
Camera
Advil
Notebook
Pen
Tissue
Highlighter
Wallet
Hair Ties
Purell
Lipgloss
Pin Lanyard

HIS BACKPACK

Photo ID
Credit/Debit Cards
Cash
Cell Phone
Gum
Sunglasses
Camera
Camcorder
Batteries
Mister Fan
Crystal Light
Water Bottle
Sunblock
2 Ponchos
Anti-Bacterial Wipes

I find that dividing things into bags really helps me figure things out. I even have smaller bags within the checked suitcase. We have a toiletries/med bag and a back with all of our writing stuff, scissors, etc. This list is missing a few things that I threw in as well. I have a printed version with lines for extra items. I always make a list of absolutely everything that's in the bag so I know nothing gets lost, stolen, or left behind.

SilverL

08-09-2009, 07:05 PM

Another wedding photo:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs158.snc1/5894_1184250559764_1033238306_562619_593610_n.jpg

This is me getting fed up with my DH (FI at the time) goofing off while we were trying to get engagement photos:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs009.snc1/2870_1130835264415_1033238306_370965_1641999_n.jpg

Before we were engaged. DH and I are nerds. That's my Google apron:

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2113/211/83/589611402/n589611402_1870783_67.jpg

And now, old Disneyland pictures!

My cousin and I hugging Mickey. You can see my younger cousin crying because she was afraid of characters. Her mom is holding her. I'm the dark haired one:

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs005.snc1/4158_90749115597_590060597_2384180_4422647_n.jpg

This isn't Disneyland, but I HAD to share. I guess I didn't like kiddie rides when I was little!

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1056/211/83/589611402/n589611402_1585738_4180.jpg

Our next trip to Disneyland. Cousin is no longer crying. I'm the middle. The littlest one with her eyes closed is my little sister.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1040/250/31/1033238306/n1033238306_204862_1703.jpg

I drew a honey pot in my autograph book and Pooh didn't understand that it wasn't real:

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v373/211/83/589611402/n589611402_1488002_2436.jpg

And last, but definitely not least we have the infamous Splash Mountain picture in which my cousin, my sister and I are all making the Splash Mountain face---which I STILL make when I ride that ride!

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1040/250/31/1033238306/n1033238306_204865_2416.jpg

charming23

08-09-2009, 10:43 PM

Hello :wave:. Joining in on your PTR. You sound a lot like me when it comes to planning. I have lists everywhere.

So cool that you will be at Chefs de France the same night at me (I have a 5:30 ADR) Maybe we will see each other.

disneyscrappinjan

08-09-2009, 11:23 PM

Good trip report. I think you are about as OCD as me.:scared1: I start packing very soon. :banana:

rhondac

08-09-2009, 11:24 PM

I love the old pics, my fav is the one with Pooh, very sweet!

Rhonda

SilverL

08-10-2009, 04:44 PM

My dad owns a computer repair business and he told my old PC yesterday to the tune of enough $$ to book the flight and pay for the Keys to the Kingdom Tour!! :cool1:

I called to book the tour and got a fantastic CM named Ebeneezer. He was so funny and helpful. I mentioned that the tour was a surprise for my husband and he made sure to put a note in there so if there are any problems, the Disney rep that calls will ask for me and not for him. While he was doing so, he made sure that my ADRs were all correct and asked me if he could help me with anything else. I asked if he could put in a note to make sure the people at WCC mess with DH, and he said, "Just get up and go to the bathroom and tell the manager to lay it on him." :rotfl: He also said to ask for a little water. Never heard that one before, so I will have DH ask! I made sure to stay on the line after the call for the survey. Everything was EXCELLENT!

I am SOOOOO EXCITED! We have the perfect flight and the tour! DH is going to be so shocked!

SilverL

08-10-2009, 08:08 PM

I also bought Medieval Times tickets through Undercover Tourist today. :woohoo: I want to tell DH really badly, but I WILL hold out.

In fact, I've given my two surprises code names in the Itinerary.

On the night we're seeing Medieval Times, we're going to Hoop Dee Doo. Wink Wink.

On the day we have to show up at MK at 8:30am for KTTK, we're going to "breakfast" at Crystal Palace. Don't worry. I'll put granola bars in my purse so poor DH doesn't go hungry.

oregonmommyof2

08-11-2009, 01:57 AM

SilverL

08-11-2009, 12:45 PM

Yay, another West Coaster!!! :woohoo:

We are staying at Pop from the 15th to the 28th! And we are doing the MNSSHP on the 22nd also... ANd having dinner at LTT that night too!

I don't know what flight you were looking at for the morning of the 15th but it sure sounds like the one we are taking! lol :laughing:

We did the red eye last year and while it was nice to get there so early in the morning, the kids didn't sleep well on the plane, and if your kids are not sleeping, then you are not sleeping... :sad2: If it was just DH and I though, I would do it in a heartbeat!

Plans look like fun and I am sure your DH will love the surprises!!

We took a red eye last time we visited Disney and I took one last September to DC as well. I typically dislike them. But if it means I can arrive at 11am instead of 5pm, I'm all for it! They're tough on kids though. I sat next to a poor woman with a crying 2 year old for half of the flight to DC. I don't think I got sleep for 48 hours on that trip. Although the nice thing about red eye flights when you're on the west coast is that you'll usually get tired when it's time to go to bed local time, despite the fact that it's dinner time at home.

Are you guys from Portland?

oregonmommyof2

08-11-2009, 01:41 PM

We took a red eye last time we visited Disney and I took one last September to DC as well. I typically dislike them. But if it means I can arrive at 11am instead of 5pm, I'm all for it! They're tough on kids though. I sat next to a poor woman with a crying 2 year old for half of the flight to DC. I don't think I got sleep for 48 hours on that trip. Although the nice thing about red eye flights when you're on the west coast is that you'll usually get tired when it's time to go to bed local time, despite the fact that it's dinner time at home.

Are you guys from Portland?

We are actually in Salem... Only an hour from PDX though... We are debating staying at a hotel the night before or just having our friend drive us up at 3 am for our flight... It's not like I will be able to sleep anyways... :laughing: Our friend wants to just drive us so we don't have to pay for parking and the hotel, but we will see...

SilverL

08-12-2009, 10:30 PM

We are going to have water shipped to Pop from Costco, however, I'm debating about how much. We drink bottled water at home and I can't stand the taste of tap water. The water from Costco comes in a 24 pack, so that's 12 each for 9 days. That's not much. Maybe I should get two. Then we each have 24. That's at least one to take to the park each day and one for evening.

Thoughts?

pamjb

08-14-2009, 12:58 PM

Definately get two cases. If you have any leftover, you can always pass it along to someone who looks like they are checking in as you are leaving.
We had 3 cases for our party of 9 in June. It was 100º hot. We went thru the 3 cases in 4 days!

SilverL

08-14-2009, 01:27 PM

I think we will get two cases. Although the OCD monster in me is telling me to get 3 cases because 72 is divisible by 9 and then we will each have exactly 4 bottles of water per day instead of 2.66. :rotfl: BUT we will not be returning to the hotel in the afternoon and we will not want to lug around 3 bottles of water in each of our bags, KWIM? Having one to take to the park and one for evenings at the hotel will be nice.

Our luggage tags arrived in the mail yesterday, as well as the Medieval Times tickets from Undercover Tourist! :banana: I called up MT and reserved our date while DH was in the other room. I felt very sneaky. It occurred to me that I didn't select seats when I booked our flights on Hotwire. I think I better call the airline to make sure we're not sitting in front of the bathrooms.

Big thank you to Alyssa810, who is supplying my DH with a free Pin Lanyard. I asked him if he wanted to do pin trading and he shrugged and said sure. Isn't that incredible? He's still insisting that he's not going to ride small world, but I've got news for him. I told him I would ride Big Thunder Mtn if he rides small world with me. He's still not sure.

Looking at pin lanyards is dangerous. I really want a pirate one. I won a YOMD lanyard on our last trip. It was kind of funny, because my mom and I had said we would only do pin trading if we won a lanyard for free---and we did right as we got off Mission Space! Shortly after that, I hopped in the single rider line at Test Track. There was a little girl in front of me with a princess lanyard and we talked about pins. She asked me if I wanted to trade, but the only pins I had were the two YOMD pins, and I wanted to keep them. After we got off the ride, she insisted on giving me one of her princess pins. I stood there in shock for a few moments afterward and chased her down to give her one of the YOMD pins. Later on, I saw the same pin on a CM's lanyard and got it back. I was really glad that I gave that pin away, though. I felt like a horrible person when that little girl gave me her princess pin!

disneygirlinnj

08-14-2009, 04:12 PM

My last trip to WDW was in September 2007, and boy, let me tell you: IT WAS HOT!

Ok for one...I'm subbing! :) Second... you're leaving JUST as we get there! Third... ugh can we please not talk about the heat? I'm dreading it :eek:

Now on to comment on all your ideas and fun stuff :)

Question for everyone:
We are on the basic dining plan. That means we can have 1 TS each and 1 QS each per day, as well as 1 snack. I have planned to have one big TS meal per day, and if we each order our own entrees at those meals, we will use up all of our TS credits.

Now, here is my question: Do you think we could split a QS meal for each of our other two meals, or would we be hungry?
What do you all think?

How big eaters are you? I went with my mom on the DDP last time and we agreed it was a good amount of food BUT we were also on it when the appeitzer was still included in the normal dining plan. We didn't really share CS breakfasts, we were usually really hungry in the morning. Lunches that we had we DEFINITELY could have shared. They were huge!

Also for breakfast sometimes we just got some snacks. I believe at Pop, buiscuts and gravy are considered a snack item, etc.

For some crazy reason mom and I decided to attempt the DxDDP this upcoming trip :scared1:

I also bought my first swimsuit in eons because my DH MADE me. :rotfl: It's very cute. Also from Kohls.

LOVE your bathing suit! It's so cute! :)

I'm a horrible DISer. Can't believe I forgot to call this morning! I was happily reading the boards when it dawned on me that today was the 18th. I tore out of the room like a madwoman, grabbed the phone and dialed frantically, certain that all was lost.

Here is what I wanted for my trip:

Teppan Edo 6pm
Whispering Canyon 6pm
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package 5pm
Chefs de France 6pm
Boma 7:30am
Plaza 6pm
Liberty Tree 6pm

Here is what I got:

Teppan Edo 4:40pm
Whispering Canyon 8:05pm
Mama Melrose *NOT FANTASMIC PACKAGE* 3:05pm
Chefs de France 6pm
Boma 7:30am
Plaza 6:05pm
Liberty Tree 6pm

I am pleased! :goodvibes

Wow even for forgetting about ADRs you got some awesome places AND times! Mmmmm Chefs de France!

We're going to be in Disney World in 42 days! :goodvibes Disney has been paid in full and now everything is set in stone except for our flights. We have a lot of big expenses this week, so I think we will book that after my DH's next paycheck.After some budget slashing and number crunching, I came up with enough wiggle room in the budget for the Keys to the Kingdom tour! I will be booking it next week. We're going to have a late flight home on our last day, so I think we can do it then. I can't WAIT to see the look on DH's face!

I can't believe everyones Sept trips are coming up so soon! :banana: And keys to the kingdom sounds amazing! I'm heading back down to WDW for the marathon in january and planning on booking it for myself when I'm solo for a few days.

This is me today: :surfweb:

I'm looking at flights. I had found what I thought was the perfect flight---6am from Portland, OR and arriving at MCO at 5pm. But it occurred to me that we live 2.5 hours from Portland and we need to be at the airport two hours before our flight, so we would be leaving at 1:30am. :scared1: "Geez, if we're leaving that early we might as well take a red eye!" Wait a minute... A RED EYE!

So, I checked evening flights for Sept. 14th, and lo and behold, there is a flight leaving Portland at Midnight and landing in Orlando at 11am.

Arriving at 11am?

:banana:

Nice flight times! :)

::MickeyMo "Honey, you didn't list underwear."

hahahahah this made me giggle, you guys are hilairous

SilverL

08-14-2009, 05:34 PM

hahahahah this made me giggle, you guys are hilairous

He just loves to pick on me for my OCDness. It's bad. I mean, it's really bad. We have adventures in OCDness every day. For example, I decided to shop for my college school supplies on Wednesday because of a sale. DH slept in that morning and I went straight to there store. I was there for an HOUR in the school supplies department, carrying around three different 5 subject notebooks and trying to decide between them.

"This one has really smooth paper. But the lines are too close together. And on this one, the lines are too dark. But this one will get all busted up within the first two weeks because it doesn't have a double wire spiral. And this one only has 120 sheets of paper, while this one has 150. I really should have a thicker section for Math and Science. Do they make 2 subject notebooks?"

^^^^ Me talking to myself at the store.

I finally called DH.

"Honey, I can't make up my mind. *Tells him everything I was just saying to myself*. What do I do?"

"Yawn... Just, uh, why don't you order those expensive notebooks that you really liked?"

I have an obsession with Levenger's Circa notebooks. I want to buy one so badly, but they cost a lot and I'm afraid to invest that much $$ into something that still might not work for me.

I finally found a solution that worked for me and ventured into the pen department, where I again felt the need to call DH.

"Ooooo, honey, guess what? You know those pens I like? The Pilot G2 gel pens? Well now Pilot changed their Dr. Grip pens to be compatible with the G2 ink and I can have a Dr. Grip Gel Pen!"

DH: :sad2: :confused3 :confused:

He is oh so lucky that I haven't purchased binders and notebooks for Disney. I'm currently trying to figure out how to print out a booklet from MS Word instead, because a binder or notebook would be too heavy. Unfortunately, Word refuses to print out my pages in the correct order. This makes me very sad.

tink1957

08-14-2009, 06:01 PM

I thought I was OCD, but you've got me beat. I'm really enjoying hearing about your plans. We're going to be at WDW at the same time as you Sept 18-29 & also attending MNSSHP on 9/22. We're dining at Tony's before the party. This will be the second party for DS & I (we had a blast last year) and DD's first. You're gong to love it, I'm sure.

SilverL

08-15-2009, 02:26 PM

I finally figured out how to print a booklet in Microsoft Word! Yahoo! I have a 64 page 1/2 letter sized Word Document containing our packing list, itineraries, and menus. I even designed a cover for it. I'm going to print two copies for DH and me. It's only 16 pages when it's printed because it's 4 pages per sheet. I'll post pictures when the final version is done. For now, here's our day 0/1 itinerary.

9/14:
11:59pm - Fly out of PDX (Portland, OR)

9/15:
11:00am - Flight lands
Catch DME to Pop Century
Lunch at Everything Pop
Head to Magic Kingdom and ride a few rides
Dinner at Beaches & Cream
Unpack, relax, swim, etc.

Notes:
Buy refillable mug. Get Just Married and First Trip Pins. Decorate resort door!

CupidsKiss

08-16-2009, 02:03 AM

I had to pop in and subscribe.
I too made the mistake of showing my family the "making of the Kitchen Sink" on utube and now we are making the trip to Beaches and Cream. Of course there are five of us to work on it...but as I had a gastric bypass it is just a direct means for me to be left feeling sick..so perhaps just tthe cherries for me!

Hope to cross paths at the Pop and MNSSHP!

Diana

SilverL

08-16-2009, 11:13 AM

I haven't had gastric bypass and it still looks like a direct means to me feeling sick! :lmao: We'll look for you guys.

SilverL

08-17-2009, 03:07 PM

Oy, so I checked our seat assignments for our flights. I prefer an aisle seat, but for one of our flights we have a middle and a window seat. Also, on another flight, we're kind of far back. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Speaking of losing some, I have an old Continental OnePass account from when I had a debit card that gave me airline miles, but now I can't find the #! Grr! I need to go to the bank tomorrow and get it figured out. I know they have my # on file.

I ordered 10 pins for DH and I from Ebay. The seller was a power seller with no negative feedback. They had sold TONS of pins, and no one ever said they received any fakes. Here's hoping we don't either. If we do, it was only $15 anyway.

Here are plans for Day 2:

Breakfast in hotel room
Rope drop at Epcot
Get Fastpass for Soarin’ (everyone swears you need to do this, so I will oblige. I'm not huge on Soarin', actually)
Ride Test Track
Ride Mission Space (I might try the intense side...)
Ride Soarin’
Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
Ride Living with the Land
Tour the Seas
Ride Nemo
See Turtle Talk with Crush
Ride Journey into Imagination
See Honey, I Shrunk the Audience

We have dinner reservations at Teppan Edo for 4:40pm, so hopefully we will be able to finish all of this in time to catch the boat to Japan. If we have extra time, we will hop back on Test Track for sure!

Take boat to Japan
Tour Japan
Do Pick a Pearl
4:40pm Dinner at Teppan Edo
Tour France
Tour United Kingdom
Tour Canada
Watch O Canada
9:00pm See IllumiNations - What's the best spot to see this on your way out of the park?

crocko

08-17-2009, 03:10 PM

disneygirlinnj

08-17-2009, 03:33 PM

great plans!

I'm not huge on Soarin either but I WILL say it's a million times better if you ask to sit in the very front row. The first few times we didnt and we had feet in our view and it ruined the effect. When we finally asked to sit in the front it was MUCH MUCH better! Still not my favorite...but good nonetheless!

SilverL

08-17-2009, 05:31 PM

Epcot Day....sounds very fun......(assuming you'll get a chance to visit the "Westside" of the World Showcase later, right?)

As for getting everything done before the Teppan Edo ressie...I definitely think you'll be able to....especially if you're planning on hitting rope drop.

We have another full day at Epcot planned. I'm using the UG's two day Epcot touring plan---although I think I modified it a little bit because I knew we would want to ride Test Track at least 3x.

I keep telling DH that we can probably knock out the touring plans in the first 1/2 to 3/4 of the day and then have the rest of the day to do w/e we please if we get there by rope drop. I'm hoping this it true!

great plans!

I'm not huge on Soarin either but I WILL say it's a million times better if you ask to sit in the very front row. The first few times we didnt and we had feet in our view and it ruined the effect. When we finally asked to sit in the front it was MUCH MUCH better! Still not my favorite...but good nonetheless!

I think I heard so much hype about it before I got to ride that I assumed it would be a mind blowing experience. :rotfl: Of course, it wasn't. But I'm also afraid of heights. It makes me a bit uncomfortable. DH might want to ride it several times, though. He went on it in CA but doesn't remember whether or not he liked it. Figures!

lacrosse_lady72

08-17-2009, 06:12 PM

He just loves to pick on me for my OCDness. It's bad. I mean, it's really bad. We have adventures in OCDness every day. For example, I decided to shop for my college school supplies on Wednesday because of a sale. DH slept in that morning and I went straight to there store. I was there for an HOUR in the school supplies department, carrying around three different 5 subject notebooks and trying to decide between them.

"This one has really smooth paper. But the lines are too close together. And on this one, the lines are too dark. But this one will get all busted up within the first two weeks because it doesn't have a double wire spiral. And this one only has 120 sheets of paper, while this one has 150. I really should have a thicker section for Math and Science. Do they make 2 subject notebooks?"

^^^^ Me talking to myself at the store.

I finally called DH.

"Honey, I can't make up my mind. *Tells him everything I was just saying to myself*. What do I do?"

"Yawn... Just, uh, why don't you order those expensive notebooks that you really liked?"

I have an obsession with Levenger's Circa notebooks. I want to buy one so badly, but they cost a lot and I'm afraid to invest that much $$ into something that still might not work for me.

I finally found a solution that worked for me and ventured into the pen department, where I again felt the need to call DH.

"Ooooo, honey, guess what? You know those pens I like? The Pilot G2 gel pens? Well now Pilot changed their Dr. Grip pens to be compatible with the G2 ink and I can have a Dr. Grip Gel Pen!"

DH: :sad2: :confused3 :confused:

He is oh so lucky that I haven't purchased binders and notebooks for Disney. I'm currently trying to figure out how to print out a booklet from MS Word instead, because a binder or notebook would be too heavy. Unfortunately, Word refuses to print out my pages in the correct order. This makes me very sad.

OMG, you sound exactly like me!!!

Things need to be perfect for me otherwise I will feel uneasy about it. When I was in HS, my English teacher made us use a composition notebook so I ended up using those and LOVING them, now I can't not use one unless I absolutely cannot. They're perfect but I'm picky about the whiteness of it and I hate wide ruled so I have to spring the $5 for a Five Star notebook.

But if I can't decide between things, I will carry them along with me in store for a long time trying to decide. It takes me quite a while to buy something sometimes :)

I'm in too! I love that you're from Long Beach! I'm always down for reading a PTR from someone from the NW!

Also, I'm with you on the heat! It sucks in September! But it looks like we're going around the same time you are 9/18-10/2 so I might bump into at Pop!!! I remember September 2007 also but the only thing I can remember is all the rain, it was terrible. Last year was as perfect as it could get, it only rained one day for us Sept 15-29, 2008... the rest of the time it was very sunny but still hot.

Red-eye is definitely better especially with how far you live from PDX. Where's your layover?

SilverL

08-17-2009, 07:21 PM

I'm in too! I love that you're from Long Beach! I'm always down for reading a PTR from someone from the NW!

Also, I'm with you on the heat! It sucks in September! But it looks like we're going around the same time you are 9/18-10/2 so I might bump into at Pop!!! I remember September 2007 also but the only thing I can remember is all the rain, it was terrible. Last year was as perfect as it could get, it only rained one day for us Sept 15-29, 2008... the rest of the time it was very sunny but still hot.

Red-eye is definitely better especially with how far you live from PDX. Where's your layover?

We have family that lives in Hillsboro, haha.

I guess the rain didn't phase us on our September trip. We had good shoes and ponchos and trekked right through it. If it hadn't been for the heat and humidity and thunderstorms, it would've been just like home! I'm hoping for a freak cold snap, no thunderstorms, and no rain. A girl can dream, right?

Our layover is in Houston, TX both ways.

SilverL

08-18-2009, 02:05 PM

I have an errand filled morning today. I finally changed my last name to my DH's---it took forever because the nearest Social Security Office is not so near and I couldn't do it while summer term classes were going on---and now I need to go get my new ID. I swear, the teacher from Ferris Bueller works at the DMV here. Once I have my new ID, it's off to see the bank, the school, etc. But then it's...

Shopping Time! :cool1:

I'm going to buy the rest of the stuff we need for the trip today if I have time. Also, I might swing by Home Depot and swipe some more Mickey Heads! :rotfl:

lacrosse_lady72

08-18-2009, 03:24 PM

SilverL

08-19-2009, 08:43 PM

SHOPPING!!! My favorite subject ever! Good luck shopping, I bet you'll have fun :)

My errands got waylaid yesterday and my shopping trip was a no go :(

However, guess what I got in the mail? Two Pin Lanyards from Alyssa810! Thank you SO MUCH! DH is going to wear one and I think I will put the pins I am willing to trade on one and put my keepers on my silver YOMD lanyard.

I broke out the laminator today and decided to make DIS pins. I took the lime green mickey heads for this and wrote DO on one ear and YOU on the other ear, and DIS? in the middle for my DH's lanyard. For mine, I added SilverL below DIS. Then I laminated and trimmed them, leaving plastic in between the ears. I punched a hole through the plastic. So now we can attach them to our lanyards with a safety pin. Now, however, I'm wondering if I should've made them double sided? I will experiment. Here they are:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3838525530_b2165bc295.jpg

and here are the lanyards:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2445/3837738219_6aed400bd8.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/3838531408_4821fb83c1.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3446/3837744083_6fb7cdcc74.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2513/3837747195_10221b5c43.jpg

and here is all of my mickey and not so mickey mail:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3427/3838547482_cc3ab059b0.jpg

SilverL

08-20-2009, 12:56 PM

So the shopping trip is back on for today. I'm also going to hit up home depot for mickey heads and magnetic tape.

SilverL

08-22-2009, 12:55 PM

Success!

Everything on my packing list has now been purchased. I even got Purex 3 in 1 Laundry Sheets for $3 with coupons and register rewards at Walgreens. WooHoo!

The packing has really officially begun. We're about 1/2 way packed now. We are mostly missing clothes and non-travel sized toiletries (like makeup). I'm trying very hard to pack light. I usually bring everything but the kitchen sink, however, I'm not willing to pay all of the checked baggage fees. So DH and I agreed to bring one checked bag. I am also carrying on a suitcase, and DH has a duffel bag. We're doing laundry mid trip, so we're only bringing about 5 changes of clothes, one of which goes in our carry on in case the checked bag is lost.

Here's where the OCD monster in me rears its head again. I write down everything that I pack. Absolutely everything. I start out with a list, and if I add anything else, I write it down on the bottom of the print out and then make the appropriate changes on my computer. I tell myself that this list would come in very handy if our bag was ever lost completely. But really, I'm just crazy.

Once I deposited the items from my shopping trip into my suitcases, I dug through my purse for the stolen goods from Home Depot: Mickey Heads. Lots of Mickey heads. Of course, they are free, so they are not really stolen, but I still snuck over to the display when the paint guy was occupied. Then I snatched stacks of 10 in many different colors. While I was there, I also purchased magnetic tape. I decided to laminate the Mickeys and then stick the tape on the back. Here is the end result:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2642/3845178967_b7369b2680.jpg

30 some blank Mickey heads, ready for your messages!

And, just in case you were wondering who your noisy neighbors are:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/3845971500_c9468fee23.jpg

I had to cram them onto that little fridge door. I don't like putting them all in straight lines, but I don't know what else to do. :confused3 My creative juices have stopped flowing.

In other news...

Yesterday I booked our Photo Session at AKL. I was disappointed that by the time I called (9am Pacific), the earliest slots were gone and I had to take one at 9:15am. I had hoped to get the first slot of the day and eat at Boma afterwards. Instead, I have 7:30am at Boma. Let's hope this works out okay.

BTW, the CM who booked my Photo Session was not as helpful as other CMs I've spoken to. He said that they had been slammed all morning, however. Maybe the guy needed to take a break. He was very frazzled.

Quick question:

If we have our own laundry detergent, do we still need quarters to run the machines? How much?

SilverL

08-22-2009, 05:33 PM

My parents are buying DH and I a new camera for our trip! :cool1:

Last September I bought a Sony Cybershot right before I took a trip to DC. Unfortunately, on my way home, it was somehow lost (or perhaps stolen out of my bag) during a 4 hour layover in Newark. I never got it back, though the memory card was not in it, so I do have the photos. But I have been camera-less ever since... and ever before... I'd had a camera for a week in my life!

DH has a camera, but I hate it. So I was going to borrow my mom's nice camera for the trip, until we found this deal on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830179193

http://www.fareastgizmos.com/entry_images/0109/07/sony_w220-thumb-450x337.jpg

It's the same type of camera I had, plus a case, monopod, lens cleaning kit, and an extra battery. Since I still have the old battery charger, I can charge two batteries at once and take them both to the parks. WooHoo! :woohoo:

SilverL

08-23-2009, 02:09 PM

I'm really starting to feel like I'm talking to myself here, but I'll keep going anyway. I don't mind looking crazy, LOL!

DH and I made yummy Sushi the other day---with Smoked Salmon! I'm ready to go to Teppan Edo now. Can we please leave already?

Here are our plans for Day 3:

I was not too happy about the UG's Touring Plan for AK. First of all, I refuse to get a FastPass with no intention of returning at the printed time to ride. While I understand that you can usually use a FastPass after your return time, I don't want to bend the rules as a strategy. That just bothers me. You'll notice that I try to adhere to touring plans, but I've made modifications anytime they suggest I do that. I can't. To each their own.

The other problem with the touring plan was that I wanted to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch early in the day, when it would be more interesting. My DH would get a kick out of it.

So, here is the revised plan:

9:00am - Rope drop at Animal Kingdom
Grab a FastPass for Everest
Ride Kilimanjaro Safari
Visit Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Ride Everest
Ride Kali River Rapids

Note: It's SO hard for me to figure out when to ride these stinking rides where you will get wet, because I loathe being wet. But I love this ride. I always think: Well, what will I definitely not want to do when I'm soaked? The answer to that question, unfortunately, is EVERYTHING. Will I want to ride a roller coaster? No. See a show? No. Eat lunch? Not really.

I think I better bring a change of clothes.

Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ
Grab a FastPass for Dinosaur
Ride Primeval Whirl
See Finding Nemo
Ride Dinosaur
See It’s Tough to be a Bug
See Festival of the Lion King
Catch bus to Wilderness Lodge
Tour Wilderness Lodge
8:05pm - Dinner at Whispering Canyon Café

Note to self: Be sure to ask DH to get me some ketchup.

oregonmommyof2

08-23-2009, 03:02 PM

disneyscrappinjan

08-23-2009, 06:37 PM

I'm still here you are doing great....keep it coming.:cool1:

CupidsKiss

08-24-2009, 09:03 AM

I am still with you!::goodvibes

Have you done the photo session before? Hopring at that time you get some great dusky shots.

Diana

disneygirlinnj

08-24-2009, 09:33 AM

I'm still here too! I've noticed all the PTR's are pretty quiet lately. I think summer is just getting everyone so busy and away from the computer. Sounds like a great AK day. :)

tink1957

08-24-2009, 11:31 AM

I'm still here too. Congrats on your new camera.

SilverL

08-24-2009, 01:08 PM

I am still here, I swear!!! I keep forgetting to respond when I read!! Bad Toni, Bad!!!

yay on the new camera!! Alec just got one for his birthday from my in-laws... He was so excited...

I really wanted to eat the Whispering Canyon this year, but I don't remember why we didn't book it... :confused3

I'll admit: There are some times when I forget to respond as well!

I'm still here you are doing great....keep it coming.:cool1:

Thanks :goodvibes

I am still with you!::goodvibes

Have you done the photo session before? Hopring at that time you get some great dusky shots.

Diana

I must have forgotten to mention that our photo session is in the AM!

Hoping it won't be dusky at that time, LOL!

I'm still here too! I've noticed all the PTR's are pretty quiet lately. I think summer is just getting everyone so busy and away from the computer. Sounds like a great AK day. :)

I guess I'm the exception to that rule. We had a church picnic yesterday and I had to stay home because of my crazy allergies. :mad:

A little background:

When I was a young teenager, I broke out into the hives that never end. It took a long time before we finally got into the allergist to see why I had chronic hives all over my body! Well, they put me on a ton of meds to control the hives so they could do an allergy test, and lo and behold, I was allergic to 95% of the stuff they for which they tested. Basically, I am allergic to nature. Thank God I'm not allergic to any food or meds as well.

The Dr. said my hives looked like they came straight out of a textbook. Thanks, I guess? :rotfl: But they never did figure out exactly WHY I was getting them. They explained it like this:

Well, 50% of the time, hives go away in a few days. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a week. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a month. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a year. Otherwise, 50% of the time we figure out it's some kind of freaky deaky medical condition. Otherwise, 50% of the time we have no idea why they are there and they come and go as they please. And that's why you have hives.

Okay, so I'm part of the 1% of people who has mysterious, unexplainable chronic hives. Great.

I ended up doing allergy shots for years, while taking a combination of meds that does a doozy on hives, apparently. My allergies are not completely gone, but I'm only allergic to 30% of the things on the test now. Yippee! It's got to the point where I can control my allergies with OTC Zyrtec (one of the three meds I had been taking) and I can't afford the cost of immunotherapy. So OTC it is.

I'm really worried that I'm going to have allergy issues in FL. It's the worst thing in the world to suddenly realize that your allergies are acting up and your EARLOBE is itching like CRAZY when you don't have your old prescription strength meds to beat that sucker into normality. Okay, scratch that. There are worse things. But let me just say that it's REALLY, REALLY miserable. Like tossing around in your bed all night keeping your DH up because your legs are itchy for no good reason kind of miserable.

So, this is why SilverL is still online when everyone else is outside. :laughing: And also why I have a big medicine bag already packed in my suitcase like a freaky medicine man, full of Zyrtec, Sudafed, and some random heartburn medication that apparently works wonders on hives (it's one of the ones my allergist prescribed!) I also have Dramamine, Pepto and Advil---despite the fact that DH insists he doesn't get motion sickness. I considered the Dramamine my $5 insurance policy against having our first honeymoon (minimoon) all over again. DH spent the first three days of "wedded bliss" lying around in bed and vomiting into the very fine toilet of the very large bathroom of the very fancy schmancy hotel where we stayed for a few nights after our wedding. I'm trained like a hound now:

"Did your stomach just gurgle?" I say, as I grab my purse like it's a holster in a gunfight. Only my purse contains those evil little pink Pepto tablets that taste like chalk, and I'm poised to rip open the packet and attempt to force feed DH at any sign of nausea.

I remind him often that he's married to a crazy person. :rolleyes1

I'm still here too. Congrats on your new camera.

Thanks, glad you're here!

crocko

08-24-2009, 04:18 PM

Dizneydaz

08-24-2009, 06:25 PM

Just read your PTR-great job. Boy you sure are organized! The only days I know for sure where we'll be is 9-19 and 9-22 since they are my DD's and DM's birthdays. Other than that, everything is flexible.

We'll be at POP the same time as you. Looks like we are leaving on the same day, the 23rd.

Getting up early for rope drops can be tough with the 3 hr. difference (or more since you say you are on HI time!:rotfl2:) but without kids it's definitely doable. My DM and I used to be able to get to the parks about opening time when it was just the 2 of us. But now with DD9, it's too hard to wake her when she's sleeping so nicely! Especially when she was only 2-3/4.

Good luck on the red eye. We only did it once-we were so tired when we got to our room (Yes, they let us check in early at 7 a.m.!) that we took a 3 hour nap. None of us really slept on the plane.

Re: Sharing CS meals-we do this all the time. And then we end up with alot of CS to use on our last few days. We grabbed some meals for the plane ride. Works out great!

Can't wait to read more and then read your TR.

SilverL

08-24-2009, 06:34 PM

Day 3 sounds great (Especially since that is the day my family will be ARRIVING!)

Hope your Whispering Canyon meal goes well.....(by the way, after Kali River Rapids....Dinoland U.S.A. seems to be a nice sunny & hot area to hang out at afterward....

You're telling me! That place feels like the HOTTEST place one earth to me! And it has a silly little roller coaster that is way scarier to me than all of the other coasters in WDW combined, LOL!

DisneysRedhead

08-24-2009, 06:55 PM

I am loving the PTR! You and I are very much alike, it's kind of spooky. I too need my life to be filled with spreadsheets, charts and lists! I busted out laughing at the underwear line and when I read it to my fiance he said "Wow that sounds like something you would do." (Making the list, not the forgetting the underwear part :laughing:)

crocko

08-25-2009, 10:21 AM

You're telling me! That place feels like the HOTTEST place one earth to me! And it has a silly little roller coaster that is way scarier to me than all of the other coasters in WDW combined, LOL!

Chester & Hester's Primeval Whirl! :cool1:

I'm finding that I'm one of the minority who really love that ride :laughing:

SilverL

08-25-2009, 02:32 PM

Good luck on the red eye. We only did it once-we were so tired when we got to our room (Yes, they let us check in early at 7 a.m.!) that we took a 3 hour nap. None of us really slept on the plane.

I NEVER sleep on Red Eyes, but sometimes it works out well for us when we fly east because we're super tired when we should be going to bed local time. If we flew out in the morning, we wouldn't get tired at 9pm EST because we'd feel like it was dinner time. Waking up early still isn't easy, but it's a lot easier for me to drag myself out of bed than to make myself go to sleep.

I am loving the PTR! You and I are very much alike, it's kind of spooky. I too need my life to be filled with spreadsheets, charts and lists! I busted out laughing at the underwear line and when I read it to my fiance he said "Wow that sounds like something you would do." (Making the list, not the forgetting the underwear part :laughing:)

I know some people who do the list thing kind of like me, but none who do it to the same extent. My entire family has various OC traits. My sister and I, however, are the worst by far. My MIL is like that too, so we get along great, though my DH understands neither of us :rotfl:

Chester & Hester's Primeval Whirl! :cool1:

I'm finding that I'm one of the minority who really love that ride :laughing:

My mom loves that ride. I think I hate it because the car is wider than the track and I feel like my seat is not directly on the track. I feel like I have nothing beneath me. I'm afraid of heights, and somehow that ride scares me more than Everest.

I need to call my hair stylist soon because I need to get a haircut shortly before we leave. My hair is constantly in limbo between straight and curly and I rarely put up with it. Last time I just threw it in a ponytail everyday, but then I was unhappy with my pictures because I don't like the way I look when my hair is up. I think I'll get it cut short enough that I don't have to pull it up. I bought some anti-humidity products at Walgreens, so hopefully that stuff will have SOME kind of effect, haha.

charming23

08-26-2009, 05:05 AM

Love all of your "stolen" Mickey heads. That reminds me I need to go and get some as well.

How do you get a photoshoot planned at AKL it sounds interesting to me?

SilverL

08-26-2009, 01:51 PM

Love all of your "stolen" Mickey heads. That reminds me I need to go and get some as well.

How do you get a photoshoot planned at AKL it sounds interesting to me?

Check out the resort photo session FAQ here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1972651

It's a 20 minute or so photo session around the resort. It costs $75 when you preorder the photopass CD, I think.

My DH has decided to go as Woody for MNSSHP. That will be easy. All he has to do is bring some jeans, his boots, and his hat, and get a yellow shirt. But I am not going as Jessie. :rotfl: That's definitely not my style.

HOWEVER

I just remembered that I had my mom sew me Belle's blue dress for Halloween in 2007. I dragged it out, tried it on, and GUESS WHAT! It still fits.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/3859829876_45909d3015.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2546/3859042541_f61f358003.jpg

BAM! Halloween costume dilemma resolved. The apron wasn't wide enough and is now all wrinkly and got candy on it, :lmao: but my mom offered to make a new one. (I can't sew to save my life.) I can't zip it up all the way in the back by myself, since I'm not a contortionist, but I figure I can find some nice lady in the bathroom to help me.

Let's just hope that it cools down a bit by party time on that day. DH and I will be HOT!

disneygirlinnj

08-26-2009, 02:37 PM

love the belle costume! :)

DisneysRedhead

08-26-2009, 06:39 PM

Awww, that Belle costume is so cute! I've always wanted to make Ariel's dress that she wears in the Kiss the Girl scene. Maybe for a future MNSSHP

SilverL

08-27-2009, 01:26 PM

love the belle costume! :)

Thanks! My mom did a good job.

Awww, that Belle costume is so cute! I've always wanted to make Ariel's dress that she wears in the Kiss the Girl scene. Maybe for a future MNSSHP

I'm revealing my inner nerd here, (oh well, the act could only go on so long, LOL) but I have always wanted to go as Arwen from Lord of the Rings for Halloween. :rotfl: I was going to have my mom make the dark blue dress with the red sleeves this year, but she is going back to school this fall (:woohoo:) and won't have time to do any major sewing.

My new camera should arrive today!

tink1957

08-27-2009, 01:52 PM

SilverL

08-27-2009, 02:31 PM

Love the Belle costume, I'm still trying to find something to wear for MNSSHP. I ordered two costumes from the Disney Outlet and neither one fit,:sad2: one was too large(Ursula) and the other was too long (Jasmine). I wish I could sew, I would go as Merriweather, my favorite good fairy. Oh well, there's always Wal-mart.

That would be so cool if you could go as Merriweather! We have no Walmart here. I live across the street from a cow field.

I have to mention my conversation with DH about costumes.

::MinnieMo Maybe you could go as Woody
::MickeyMo Yeah! I'd just need to go out and buy a yellow checkered shirt and a red---
::MinnieMo Wait, wait, wait, you know what his costume looks like off the top of your head? Instantly? I had to Google it!

SilverL

08-27-2009, 06:55 PM

First of all, shoes:

I'm bringing a pair of very very broken in Keens that I plan to wear most of the time. My backup shoes WERE some old sandals. However, I took a good look at them today. Okay, maybe they're older and dirtier than I thought. :scared1: I need to toss them. I'm frankly ashamed to have never noticed it before.

I was in the market for some new shoes for college anyway, and so I chanced a peek at Payless' website. I ended up buying these:

http://www.payless.com/images/490x490/069684_4_490x490.jpg

for $13! :goodvibes We'll see how they actually feel when I get them. Hopefully they will be a good backup shoe.

Second, bags:

I have two weaknesses: office supplies and bags. So it really comes as no surprise to me that I'm finding issues with the bag I initially purchased.

I originally bought this bag in a less psychedelic print:

http://media.kohls.com.edgesuite.net/is/image/kohls/490110?wid=230&hei=230&op_sharpen=1

Problems with this bag: unhappy about the amount of room in the bag, and not enough organizational helps. I would need a wallet. I don't have a wallet --- I use a big, giant Franklin Covey planner as my wallet. I'm not bringing that. I would have to buy a wallet... fish out a wallet... etc. Not liking that idea. Also, I won't carry my stuff in my lanyard either. Too worried about it falling off.

My mom lent me the one shoulder backpack she brought with her to the parks on our last trip. It does have organizational compartments, but they're right in the front pouch of the backpack. I don't really like one shoulder backpacks, but it does have exactly what I need. However, I still have two problems: I'm paranoid that someone could slip in to my bag and steal my stuff without my knowledge, and I hate the idea of having to take off a backpack any time I want to put something away or take something out.

I ended up buying the Overland Donner bag (http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,1302T_Overland-Equipment-Donner-Bag.html) today in Green, also for $13!:

http://img.sierratradingpost.com/erez4/erez?src=ProductImages/1302T%5F64.tif&tmp=FullSize&redirect=0

I especially LOVE the fact that it has room for water bottles on the sides. I could use this at school in the fall as well. The green matches my backpack. :woohoo:

Neither of these were exactly NECESSARY. I could get by without them. But they didn't cost that much, and I can use them after the vacation too. So I consider them worth the $. DH is also happy that I won't be whining about dirty shoes or fluctuating on bags every single day of our vacation. :rotfl:

Gabrielsbigtrip

08-27-2009, 07:07 PM

Following you from my PTR:goodvibes

I am gonna try and read up this weekend of everyone else's PTR's:surfweb:

SilverL

08-27-2009, 08:42 PM

Following you from my PTR:goodvibes

I am gonna try and read up this weekend of everyone else's PTR's:surfweb:

That could be one major feat! I try to keep up with the day to day updates as best I can. It gets to be a lot!

I GOT MY NEW CAMERA!!! :woohoo:

I tore the box open, plugged in the battery for 5 minutes, and then ran off to take some shots on Auto mode. I'm SO pleased. Here are some pics that I took with absolutely no effort.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2673/3862877037_b80602b259.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3549/3863664454_dd4e3c3225.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3862887057_5b719586c4.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2560/3863674742_e1afd76922.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/3862896865_84d99ba97f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2660/3863684006_131052ef66.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3862905571_692de506e6.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2459/3862909965_5fc7fd71a7.jpg

disneygirlinnj

08-27-2009, 09:21 PM

nice photos! Which camera did you get? I'm looking for a camera for my mom!

DisneysRedhead

08-27-2009, 09:24 PM

1.) Must know what camera you bought!

2.) OMG PUPPY!!!!!!!!!:dance3:

oregonmommyof2

08-27-2009, 09:32 PM

Pictures look great!! Love your puppy! I think labs are very photogenic... I swear our 2 girls will pose sometimes!:laughing:

SilverL

08-27-2009, 10:30 PM

Pictures look great!! Love your puppy! I think labs are very photogenic... I swear our 2 girls will pose sometimes!:laughing:

1.) Must know what camera you bought!

2.) OMG PUPPY!!!!!!!!!:dance3:

This is exactly what I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830179193&PageStyle=lite&Local=y

I did get the combo deal (shown below the picture), so it came to about $200.

Pictures look great!! Love your puppy! I think labs are very photogenic... I swear our 2 girls will pose sometimes!:laughing:

I wish Jake would pose! I have always had extreme difficulty getting photos of him because he always MOVES! However, this camera captures him clearly even when he's moving. Yeah! :goodvibes

Gabrielsbigtrip

08-28-2009, 10:54 AM

All caught up:goodvibes

Loved the old pictures and especially your face going down the drop on SM. I have yet to ride that ride. I HATE drops. I did TOT once and :scared1:

I may have to steal your packing list!

Great puppy pics too!

What a great deal on the Overland bag!!!! It's a really good travel bag/purse. I have it and I love it. The only reason I got a new bag is because my Overland bag is brown and for some reason PINK is my color of choice this year:cutie:

SilverL

08-28-2009, 12:39 PM

I may have to steal your packing list!

Go for it! I was hoping it would help someone.

Naturally, it has evolved a bit since I posted it.

Here are a few additions:

• Pin Backs
• Address Labels
• Flashlight
• Granola Bars
• Dramamine
• Gold Bond Powder
• Halloween costumes
• Room Decorations

DominicaAnne

08-29-2009, 03:20 PM

Hi, I'm loving your trip report, and I haven't quite finished reading it yet, but I just wanted to warn you about something before I forgot, just in case. If you booked your flight under your maiden name, you MUST have a photo ID that shows your maiden name or you won't get through security. I booked a flight for our honeymoon under my maiden name (cause it was my name at the time) and I almost couldn't get through security because my license had my married name on it. Luckily, I always carry my expired license in my wallet, so I had it with me to show that I was me! Let me tell you, that freaked me out! I'm not sure that you did this because you are already married, but just in case I wanted to tell you about my experience. Have a great time on your trip!

SilverL

08-29-2009, 04:25 PM

DominicaAnne

08-29-2009, 11:05 PM

Yup, that would have been equally crappy :) I'm glad you're all set to go:thumbsup2

kmartin555

08-31-2009, 01:57 AM

Your TR is coming along wonderfully! :goodvibes

Love your room decorations. I am definitely going to look for you when we are there!:thumbsup2

That's the camera we are taking too! I had a heavier, more advanced camera for a long time, and it broke about 6 months ago. My dad bought me this one for my birthday in May. I love it! So light and easy to take everywhere! :cool1:

I LOVE your packing list! :love: Totally going to use it.

Aren't you just dying of excitement?!?! :dance3: I can't believe our trips are just around the corner! :yay:

SilverL

08-31-2009, 12:33 PM

Yup, that would have been equally crappy :) I'm glad you're all set to go:thumbsup2

Last time I flew I had a paper temporary ID and the security guys in Washington, DC had never seen one before. They gave me quite a bit of trouble.

Your TR is coming along wonderfully! :goodvibes

Love your room decorations. I am definitely going to look for you when we are there!:thumbsup2

That's the camera we are taking too! I had a heavier, more advanced camera for a long time, and it broke about 6 months ago. My dad bought me this one for my birthday in May. I love it! So light and easy to take everywhere! :cool1:

I LOVE your packing list! :love: Totally going to use it.

Aren't you just dying of excitement?!?! :dance3: I can't believe our trips are just around the corner! :yay:

I love love love love love this camera.

And actually, this trip still seems totally surreal to me, like it's not actually going to happen. I plan and plan, and I KNOW we're going, but it doesn't become super exciting to me until we're actually leaving the house. DH thinks this is sad. However, he should really be pleased that I don't become incredibly annoying to him until we're in the car :rotfl2:

"Yay! OMG WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!"
"Yay! OMG TOMORROW WE'LL BE IN DISNEY WORLD!"
"Yay! OMG WE'RE BOARDING THE PLANE TO DISNEY WORLD!"
"Yay! OMG WE'RE ONLY 7 HOURS AWAY FROM DISNEY WORLD!"
"Yay! OMG IT'S TIME TO CATCH OUR CONNECTING FLIGHT TO DISNEY WORLD!"
"Yay! OMG WE'RE IN DISNEYWORLDLAND (Florida)"
"Yay! OMG WE'RE ON OUR FIRST RIDE (the monorail thing at the airport)"
etc.

If he had to deal with that for two weeks he would be like this: :scared1:

crocko

08-31-2009, 03:59 PM

SilverL

09-05-2009, 12:00 PM

Say it with me guys:

TEN MORE DAYS!! :banana::cheer2::woohoo::yay:

I need to finish posting our plans for the rest of our days at the parks! I will probably add another day later, but I just woke up. :surfweb: Speaking of waking up, I really have to start getting up earlier. Switching from Pacific to Eastern time is a real stinker. I need to be able to drag myself out of bed at 5am at the least. :scared1:

Let's see... My donner bag came! It's awesome and I love it. It will be perfect for school as well. My shoes have arrived at my local payless store and I just need to go pick them up. No notification from them, though. I know they've arrived because of UPS.

I ordered 2 cases of water from Costco. I know they ship fast, but I couldn't wait any longer to do it in case something were to happen.

Question:

Can we do online check in if we have the dining plan? Or will that mess everything up?

dallastxcpa

09-06-2009, 02:10 AM

Joining a little late, but I love your trip plans so far. Our trips overlap by two days so maybe we will see you guys around on the 22 and 23. :)

amykathleen2005

09-06-2009, 11:00 PM

I'm joining too. I love it all. Planning makes me extremely happy :cool1:, although I think my fiance might kill me if I brought out notecards detailing when we are riding what ride....lol. He's a bit more laid back....

Why is it that girls seem to be the only ones to get excited about planning, is this another gender role? ;)

DisneysRedhead

09-07-2009, 12:24 AM

Oh man, I wish my countdown was as short!! I can't wait for your TR when you come back.

SilverL

09-07-2009, 11:41 AM

Joining a little late, but I love your trip plans so far. Our trips overlap by two days so maybe we will see you guys around on the 22 and 23. :)

Sweet! Look for the Lime Green Mickey Heads!

I'm joining too. I love it all. Planning makes me extremely happy :cool1:, although I think my fiance might kill me if I brought out notecards detailing when we are riding what ride....lol. He's a bit more laid back....

Why is it that girls seem to be the only ones to get excited about planning, is this another gender role? ;)

I'm not sure. There are men on the DIS who have detailed PTRs too.
Maybe it's just that a higher concentration of women are likely to join DIS and the planners are more likely to make a PTR?

Oh man, I wish my countdown was as short!! I can't wait for your TR when you come back.

If your countdown was this short you would probably be in wedding PANIC mode. :scared1: I remember it oh so well.

SilverL

09-07-2009, 11:59 AM

I guess I better get these plans up now or never, LOL!

Day 4 is our Hollywood Studios day. Here is the plan:

Rope drop at Hollywood Studios
Ride Toy Story Mania
Grab a FastPass for Toy Story Mania

After much debating, I've decided that this strategy for TSM is probably best. Also, this way we'll know if we want to use a FP for it or not.

Ride Rockin’ Rollercoaster
Ride Tower of Terror
Ride the Great Movie Ride

Can anyone explain to me the two different versions of this ride?

Lunch at Studio Catering Co.

We may or may not eat at this time. We're having a very early dinner, so if we're hungry, we will probably split something here and save another CS credit for later, in case we get hungry after dinner.

See Lights! Motors! Action! or Indiana Jones

Whichever one of these we don't see today, we will see on our second day here.

Get FastPass for Little Mermaid
3:05pm Dinner at Mama Melrose
Ride Little Mermaid
Ride Backlot Tour
Get FastPass for Star Tours
See MuppetVision 3D
Ride Star Tours
Get in line for Fantasmic
See Fantasmic
Ride Rockin’ Rollercoaster

They have added a second showing of Fantasmic on this day. Should we try to go to the first one and then have the second one as a backup?

Last time I was in WDW, there was a huge lightning storm and Fantasmic got canceled while we were all sitting in the theater already. Actually, it was kind of insane. We were all sitting there waiting for confirmation and then the lightning started up very dramatically. LOUD, very scary lightning. Then they announced the show was canceled, and as they did so, the heavens opened up and started dumping buckets of water on us. There was a mass mad dash to the exit. It was very dark. We ended up jammed in a gift shop with 200 other people waiting for the storm to end.

SilverL

09-09-2009, 08:30 PM

9/19 is our World Showcase day. We plan to show up for rope drop and get in a few rides before the WS opens:

Ride Test Track
Tour Innoventions
See Universe of Energy
Ride Spaceship Earth

Then we will either a.) Begin our tour of the world in Mexico, or b.) Hop the boat to Morocco for lunch, depending on whether or not we are hungry. It's a tradition in our family to start our tour in Mexico. If we tried to go the opposite direction, I would feel so wrong! :laughing:

Last time, we ate our way through the WS. Since we're getting lunch at a CS, I don't know if we'll do that again. But it would be nice to get candy or something little in each place. We have to get chocolate in Germany!

My other MUST is seeing Voices of Liberty. I was very serious about vocal lessons and choir in high school, so I love to hear them sing.

We're having dinner at Chefs de France at 6pm. Then we plan on going back to the hotel and doing laundry. We'll probably drop by the pool tonight too. DH is a swimmer. I'm not, but I'll get dragged along, I'm sure.

SilverL

09-09-2009, 09:16 PM

9/20 is our second DHS day, but also our crazy schedule and surprise for DH day!

First, we have to get up even earlier for Breakfast at Boma. Does anyone know if you can catch a bus to AK at 6:30am? :confused3

Immediately after breakfast, we have a private photo session at AKL. This is actually a surprise for our parents, who have no clue we're doing this. Since it's our honeymoon, we would like some good pictures of us. Not just the sweaty park warrior look. :rotfl:

Then it's to DHS for a little bit of park time. I don't know if we'll be able to ride TSM. It may be 11 or noon by the time we get there, and we have to leave early. We plan to hit our favorite rides and see any shows we missed on our first day.

DH thinks we're having dinner at Backlot Express, but we're actually going to take a taxi to Medieval Times for dinner! :banana:

OMG! I never decided how to spring the surprise on him! Guys, I need suggestions. What should I do? We are also doing Keys to the Kingdom on our last day and he thinks we have a very early breakfast at Crystal Palace.

SilverL

09-09-2009, 09:28 PM

ALSO, if anyone is going to be at Disney during our stay, I would love to exchange some contact information so I can let you all know where we end up staying. We don't plan on paying for internet at the resort and I don't think I can get on DIS from my cell phone. PM me if you're interested!

CupidsKiss

09-09-2009, 10:20 PM

Its getting close for both of us!!!

We did the medievil dinner for my son's b-day and enjoyed. We did pirates for DDil and that one was way cool too. If we left the property on this trip we were going to do the sleuth dinner as we are mystery buffs all.

We will have our LGMH's so say "Hi"

Di

oregonmommyof2

09-09-2009, 10:20 PM

MrsSpratt

09-09-2009, 10:59 PM

When I was a young teenager, I broke out into the hives that never end. It took a long time before we finally got into the allergist to see why I had chronic hives all over my body! Well, they put me on a ton of meds to control the hives so they could do an allergy test, and lo and behold, I was allergic to 95% of the stuff they for which they tested. Basically, I am allergic to nature. Thank God I'm not allergic to any food or meds as well.

The Dr. said my hives looked like they came straight out of a textbook. Thanks, I guess? :rotfl: But they never did figure out exactly WHY I was getting them. They explained it like this:

Well, 50% of the time, hives go away in a few days. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a week. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a month. Otherwise, 50% of the time they go away in a year. Otherwise, 50% of the time we figure out it's some kind of freaky deaky medical condition. Otherwise, 50% of the time we have no idea why they are there and they come and go as they please. And that's why you have hives.

Okay, so I'm part of the 1% of people who has mysterious, unexplainable chronic hives. Great.

I ended up doing allergy shots for years, while taking a combination of meds that does a doozy on hives, apparently. My allergies are not completely gone, but I'm only allergic to 30% of the things on the test now. Yippee! It's got to the point where I can control my allergies with OTC Zyrtec (one of the three meds I had been taking) and I can't afford the cost of immunotherapy. So OTC it is.

I'm really worried that I'm going to have allergy issues in FL. It's the worst thing in the world to suddenly realize that your allergies are acting up and your EARLOBE is itching like CRAZY when you don't have your old prescription strength meds to beat that sucker into normality. Okay, scratch that. There are worse things. But let me just say that it's REALLY, REALLY miserable. Like tossing around in your bed all night keeping your DH up because your legs are itchy for no good reason kind of miserable.

So, this is why SilverL is still online when everyone else is outside. :laughing: And also why I have a big medicine bag already packed in my suitcase like a freaky medicine man, full of Zyrtec, Sudafed, and some random heartburn medication that apparently works wonders on hives (it's one of the ones my allergist prescribed!)

I remind him often that he's married to a crazy person. :rolleyes1

:rotfl2::lmao::rotfl2::lmao:

I get hives all the time - done the allergist, done the immunotherapy - nada. Since I was sixteen.:headache:

The reason that the "random heartburn medication" works is that there are two types of histamines, and two types of histamine blockers. "Type A" - hives. "Type B" - ACID REFLUX! Found that out with my first (and only) bout of BAD acid reflux this year. Down for two weeks bad. Miserable bad - hives were a picnic compared to this!

So there is your answer...same thing, different animal.

Now off to read the rest of your DREAMY plans!:cloud9:

Mrs. Spratt

SilverL

09-09-2009, 11:48 PM

Caught up... Plans look good!!! I love the hubby surprise... I can't keep my mouth shut long enough to surprise Terry... :laughing:

I PM'd our numbers back to you... We will be at a hotel right by the airport as you are taking off... I will be sure to wave!!! :rotfl:

That is too funny. If we were flying out in the AM, we might've been on the same flight!

:rotfl2::lmao::rotfl2::lmao:

I get hives all the time - done the allergist, done the immunotherapy - nada. Since I was sixteen.:headache:

The reason that the "random heartburn medication" works is that there are two types of histamines, and two types of histamine blockers. "Type A" - hives. "Type B" - ACID REFLUX! Found that out with my first (and only) bout of BAD acid reflux this year. Down for two weeks bad. Miserable bad - hives were a picnic compared to this!

So there is your answer...same thing, different animal.

Now off to read the rest of your DREAMY plans!:cloud9:

Mrs. Spratt

Oh man, if I still had hives, I would be so miserable! :headache: Mine were horrible. It's funny though, because I took that heartburn medication through most of my teen years. I never experienced heartburn in my life until I was finally able to stop taking medication every day. Then I experienced it. :laughing:

Look what we cooked up today:

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs260.snc1/10731_1213090240738_1033238306_665450_43898_n.jpg

YUM!

SilverL

09-10-2009, 12:35 PM

Ah... Day 7. This is the day we will wake up, leap out of bed, put on our fatigues, and head straight to the war zone bright and early to spend the day dodging strollertanks. Yes, this is our Magic Kingdom day. :rotfl:

Don't get me wrong. We love the MK and we understand the plight of the stroller mom trying to navigate through the crowds. However, we live on the west coast, so DH and I have both been to Disneyland. I think I've been 3 or 4 times and he's been there once. So anyway, we've experienced the stuff at MK more than we've experienced the stuff at the other 3 parks---including the experience of getting clipped by a runaway strollertank! :headache: We are very much aware that when we have kids we'll be spending 75% of our vacation in the MK, so we've chosen to spend one full day here on this trip.

But that means going commando.

Here is our AM Touring Plan:

Ride Buzz Lightyear
Ride Pooh
Ride Snow White’s Adventure
Ride Peter Pan’s Flight
Ride Small World
Ride Haunted Mansion
Get FastPass for Splash Mountain
Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
Ride Splash Mountain

At this point, we will probably head to Columbia Harbor House for lunch---and to dry off. I don't like being wet. I may live in Washington, but here you don't get splashed. You just get rained on. It's an even distribution of wet, and you don't get soaked because you're always wearing a waterproof jacket, even in the summer. Also, it's not humid here. The worst feeling for me is being wet endlessly. That's what happens whenever I ride Splash or Kali. I get soaked down to my underwear, and then it never dries properly because of the nasty humidity. It just clings to me. I shudder just thinking about it. So, I think I better bring a change of clothes. :rotfl:

PM Touring Plan:

Get FastPass for Jungle Cruise
Get Dole Whips (yum yum yum)
See Enchanted Tiki Room
See Country Bear Jamboree
Ride Jungle Cruise
See PhilharMagic
See Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
Ride Transit Authority
See Carousel of Progress

We like the cheesy rides. Or at least I do! :laughing:

We have reservations at The Plaza for 6:05pm. Hopefully we will be able to complete our PM Touring Plan before dinner. Then, after dinner, all we have to do is stake out a spot for Spectro and Wishes.

You'll notice we totally skipped Toontown. See our reasoning for spending 1 full day at MK above. Although one thing I'm thinking about adding is the Tea Cups. But I have nightmares about waiting in line for that ride. So maybe not.

SilverL

09-10-2009, 10:27 PM

Day 8 (9/22) is our last full day at Disney :sad1: But, it's also our MNSSHP day!

We plan to go back to AK early in the morning and basically do whatever we want. I know we will definitely ride Kilimanjaro and Everest and have lunch at Pizzafari. We *may* go back to the hotel early to relax before the party. It depends on how much we feel like doing.

Around 3:30pm or so, we're going to head over to the MK since we can get in at 4pm. We might do a few rides before our ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 6pm.

By the time we get out of LTT, I imagine the party will have started. Here is our touring plan for the party:

Ride Haunted Mansion
Get Haunted Mansion and Cindy’s Coach Photos
Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
Ride Splash Mountain
Ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
See PhilharMagic
See HalloWishes
Ride Buzz Lightyear
Watch Parade
See Villain Show

For those who have been, what do you think of this plan?

tink1957

09-11-2009, 10:52 AM

:thumbsup2It sounds like a good plan, but this is coming from someone who collected all her candy & sat on a bench in front of the castle for most of the party last year. I had fun just people watching & had a great view of the parade, Hallowishes & the Villian show. After Hallowishes, we rode everything we wanted & left early to avoid the crowds at the bus stop. On the way out they give you Ghiradelli chocolate, yum.

The only advice I would give you is to take it easy on the day you plan to attend, I would sleep late instead of going to AK early or you'll be too whipped to enjoy the party.

Hope to see you there, I'll be with the girl in the kimono & the guy with the blinking skull on his shirt. I still don't know what I'm going as, I guess I need to make up my mind:rolleyes1

SilverL

09-11-2009, 12:17 PM

Hope to see you there, I'll be with the girl in the kimono & the guy with the blinking skull on his shirt. I still don't know what I'm going as, I guess I need to make up my mind:rolleyes1

DH has actually changed his mind about his costume. He is now going as Frodo (Yes, from LOTR---not to be confused with Frollo). He is just going to wear a green cloak with a leaf brooch. We're mega LOTR nerds. I'm still going as Belle.

He really likes to mess with me though. He said he needed sweatpants for his Frodo costume. I almost exploded in shock. "Sweatpants?? SWEATPANTS?? ARE YOU CRAZY? WE'RE GOING TO FLORIDA IN SEPTEMBER AND YOU WANT TO BRING SWEATPANTS? FRODO DOESN'T EVEN WEAR SWEATPANTS! SWEATPANTS??" Of course, he was only pulling my leg. :rolleyes1

I have a feeling it's going to be rough going for our first few days in Florida, though, because he stayed up until 3am last night... which is 6am eastern time. Yiiiiiiiiiiiikes! :scared1: DH has never flown before, nor has he switched time zones. It's not going to be pleasant trying to make rope drop with an exhausted DH. Although it may be entertaining. popcorn:: Hopefully tonight he will go to bed earlier---or perhaps his young age will carry him through. As for me, I don't care how young I am. I've always needed a full night's sleep.

So, in other news, we have FOUR MORE DAYS! :banana:

In other news, I've been having a crisis that men probably don't want to read about. (That's the cue to stop reading, guys.)

Almost all of my bras decided to spontaneously combust all at the same time. Seriously! Broken wires, bent hooks that stab you in the back, wires coming out, threads coming out... I don't even know how it's possible for them all to die simultaneously. All I can say is that at least it didn't happen at WDW. Last Friday I had to order some online, and I paid extra for three day shipping. I'm starting to wonder if the same guy that screwed up Toni and Terry's travel documents drives a UPS truck, because it hasn't been updated since the 8th, and yesterday was the 3rd day. Grrr. If it doesn't come today, I'm going to be very frustrated. I don't want to have to wait around at the house late on Monday in hopes that the package will show up. Especially if it turns out that it doesn't.

One more thing (it's safe now, guys): 9/11 - Never Forget

oregonmommyof2

09-11-2009, 12:29 PM

disneygirlinnj

09-11-2009, 12:32 PM

Ugh, I have to probably purchase a few bras too for the same reason. Hopefully you get them on time!!!

SilverL

09-11-2009, 04:35 PM

Bra Watch 2009 just replaced Document Watch 2009...

Now I have something to do... :thumbsup2

Don't they know you never mess with a girl's over the shoulder boulder holder??? Can you imagine going on rides with those things not locked and loaded??? You could give yourself a black eye... You could even knock out a small child...

ROFL! You know my plight well. I have an update, actually. The package arrived at a warehouse about 30 mins from here at 6am today, but it's not out for delivery yet.

Will it be delivered today or will we have to wait until Monday?

The saga continues...

Ugh, I have to probably purchase a few bras too for the same reason. Hopefully you get them on time!!!

All I have to say is that at least they didn't wait two more weeks to explode. If it happened in Disney, I would have a conniption.

SilverL

09-11-2009, 05:23 PM

oregonmommyof2

09-11-2009, 05:27 PM

Okay, so why does all the stress have to pile on top of me just a few days before we leave?

DH misplaced a paycheck. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't from a previous employer. :rolleyes1 So he has to go in and get them to stop that check and reprint it and also give him his last paycheck. But I don't think it will all get done before we leave. It's stressing me out because we don't have a lot of extra money. I have visions of overdrafts dancing in my head. :scared1:

At this point, I think I'm going to go Dave Ramsey style and take all of our spending $ out in cash and use an envelope system while we're there. I do not want to be stressing about balances while we're there, KWIM?

We did all cash last year... Pretty much anyway... We used our debit card just for food on our way home in the airports.... I actually really liked it... Made it very easy to see how much we had spent and keep track of it all... I was paranoid that I would lose receipts and forget about transactions then create a mess of our bank account... I think we will di it the same way this year... Only use debit if we really need to...

SilverL

09-11-2009, 05:33 PM

We did all cash last year... Pretty much anyway... We used our debit card just for food on our way home in the airports.... I actually really liked it... Made it very easy to see how much we had spent and keep track of it all... I was paranoid that I would lose receipts and forget about transactions then create a mess of our bank account... I think we will di it the same way this year... Only use debit if we really need to...

I'm glad to know that someone on here doesn't think it's crazy. I know that a lot of people use their KTTW cards for everything.

SilverL

09-11-2009, 07:59 PM

My dad has a home weather station in Washington and he just sent me a link to another home weather guy who is right outside of WDW. Since WDW isn't IN Orlando, his information is more accurate than looking up Orlando weather.

The site is here: http://kissweather.net/wxvisitor.php

So far they have:

Tuesday

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 92. Calm wind.

Tuesday Night

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Calm wind.

Wednesday

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high near 91. Calm wind.

Wednesday Night

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 75. East southeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 91. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph.

In other news...

TTA IS BACK OPEN! YAY FOR CHEESY RIDES! :banana:

SilverL

09-12-2009, 12:36 PM

Guess what didn't arrive yesterday? Yesterday the tracking info said this: 09/11/2009 1:24 P.M. IN TRANSIT TO FINAL DESTINATION

Yet nothing. I suppose it really is Bra Watch 2009...

But there are only 3 more days!

Day 9 Plans

:sad1::sad1::sad1::sad1: This is our last day in Disney. BUT, I have a big surprise for DH! :woohoo:

We're going to pack up and check out early this morning. DH thinks we have early ressies at Crystal Palace. We actually have ressies for the Keys to the Kingdom tour at 8:30am!

After the tour, the ME will whisk us away, back to reality, for our 6:00pm flight. At this point, I will start planning our next trip :rotfl:

SilverL

09-12-2009, 02:21 PM

Here is a summary of our schedule:

9/14: :drive:
Drive to Portland and fly out of PDX at 11:59pm

9/15: :cloud9:
Change flights in Houston at an ungodly hour and land at MCO at 11am!
Take DME to Pop Century and check in
Lunch at Everything Pop
Visit the MK
Dinner at Beaches & Cream
Go back to hotel to unpack, decorate the door, text the DISers, and sleep!

9/16: :hyper:
Rope drop at Epcot
Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
4:40pm Dinner at Teppan Edo
IllumiNations

9/17: :simba:
Rope drop at AK
Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ
8:05pm Dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL

9/18: :smickey:
Rope drop at HS
Lunch at Studio Catering Co.
3:05pm Dinner at Mama Melrose
Fantasmic or bust

9/19: :figment:
Rope drop at Epcot
Lunch at Tangierine Cafe
6:00pm Dinner at Chefs de France
Back to hotel early to do laundry

9/20: :darth:
7:30am Breakfast at Boma at AKL
9:15am Photo Session at AKL
Visit HS
Lunch at Starring Rolls
SURPRISE dinner at Medieval Times!

9/21: :earboy2:
Rope drop at MK
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House
6:05pm Dinner at The Plaza
Spectro & Wishes

9/22: :hmghost:
Visit AK---we may sleep in
Lunch at Pizzafari
Go to MK for MNSSHP
6:00pm Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern
MNSSHP! (Look for Belle in her blue dress and Frodo with a green cape)

9/23: :guilty:
Pack up and check out
Go to MK for another SURPRISE: KTTK!
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House (part of KTTK)
Watch our carriage turn back into a pumpkin as we take DME back to MCO

carps09

09-12-2009, 04:46 PM

SilverL

09-12-2009, 05:40 PM

Great plans!! I look forward to hearing about your experience at MNSSHP and the KTTK Tour - we're doing both for the first time on our upcoming honeymoon. Your trip is just around the corner - I hope you both have a wonderful time!

You're getting really close. I'll let you know what we think of them. Are you dressing up for MNSSHP? When is your wedding?

charming23

09-12-2009, 09:59 PM

Hope you have a wonderful time and hope we get to meet while we are there.

carps09

09-13-2009, 05:27 PM

You're getting really close. I'll let you know what we think of them. Are you dressing up for MNSSHP? When is your wedding?

Our wedding is on October 3. We decided to dress up as Lady and the Tramp for MNSSHP. We wanted to wear some sort of costume, but nothing too cumbersome. We'll both have on dog ears (DF's is PERFECT - we lucked out on finding a matted, grey dog ear hat) and collars, and I'm making shirts with Lady and the Tramp on them. Just enough to get into the spirit! We're having dinner at Tony's that night too!

SilverL

09-13-2009, 05:37 PM

Hope you have a wonderful time and hope we get to meet while we are there.

Me too! I'm excited!

Only TWO MORE DAYS!!

Although, technically we leave the house tomorrow. I think we're leaving at 1. We're going out to dinner with some family at Izzy's Pizza and then we will go to the airport around 10pm. Our flight is at 11:59!

We have to finish packing tonight. Right now DH and I are babysitting. We had an eventful morning. The kids came over at 6:30am. I had to make cupcakes before we left at 8am because today was the first day of Sunday school at church. DH and I teach the 3rd grade class. I'm really exhausted. I didn't get enough sleep at all. Hopefully we will be done babysitting by 5pm and then we can get packing.

Bad news though: I HAVE A BLISTER!

DisneysRedhead

09-13-2009, 08:31 PM

Bad news though: I HAVE A BLISTER!

Oh no!! On your foot?? I hope it goes down before you have to walk all over the place.

SilverL

09-13-2009, 08:52 PM

Oh no!! On your foot?? I hope it goes down before you have to walk all over the place.

On the back of my foot. I have one pair of sandals and a very very worn out pair of Keens with a strap that goes across the back. I think I will wear the sandals for the first few days. Hopefully it will go away quickly.

Gabrielsbigtrip

09-13-2009, 09:04 PM

I am not sure how bad the blister is but can you put Moleskin on it?

I :love: my Keens and wore them almost the entire trip.

Good luck!

tink1957

09-13-2009, 09:20 PM

Sorry to hear about your blister,:goodvibes but you have 2 days left until WDW.... so it's all good & I only have 3 days left.:woohoo:

SilverL

09-13-2009, 11:22 PM

I am not sure how bad the blister is but can you put Moleskin on it?

I :love: my Keens and wore them almost the entire trip.

Good luck!

I think Moleskin is for preventing blisters, isn't it?

Sorry to hear about your blister,:goodvibes but you have 2 days left until WDW.... so it's all good & I only have 3 days left.:woohoo:

Hopefully we will run into each other!

SilverL

09-13-2009, 11:28 PM

Okay, I have another DHism to share...

I was just looking at DisneysRedhead's PTR and DH walked in...

::MinnieMo Look, they look just like her avatar. Ariel and Eric.
::MickeyMo What's our avatar?
::MinnieMo *points* Tarzan and Jane. Do you like the face Tarzan is making?
::MickeyMo Either he just ate a really good bug or he farted
::MinnieMo .........................................
::MickeyMo ????????????????????????????
::MinnieMo He's reading.
::MickeyMo That's what it looks like!
::MinnieMo This is going in our PTR

oregonmommyof2

09-13-2009, 11:38 PM

:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

DisneysRedhead

09-14-2009, 01:53 AM

3princesses+aprince

09-14-2009, 09:46 AM

Hello, just joining in on your fun. Better late than never, right!!! We're getting married next July and going to Disney in August!!! I wouldn't call ours a romantic Honeymoon though, we already have 4 kids together, we just waited a good long while before we decided we wanted a big wedding, not too sure why, the money that goes in to it, I guess would be reason enough. lol

Can't wait to hear all about your honeymoon and all of your ADRs look great:thumbsup2 The keys to the kingdom surprise is great too.

SilverL

09-14-2009, 11:30 AM

:happytv:

That made me giggle! And thank you! I've been pretending I was Ariel since I was like 4, so it made me all giddy that someone thinks my DH and I look like Ariel and Eric! Success!

I used to pretend to be Snow White when I was a kid. My sister was Cinderella. Now I prefer Belle. She can read! :rotfl:

Hello, just joining in on your fun. Better late than never, right!!! We're getting married next July and going to Disney in August!!! I wouldn't call ours a romantic Honeymoon though, we already have 4 kids together, we just waited a good long while before we decided we wanted a big wedding, not too sure why, the money that goes in to it, I guess would be reason enough. lol

We actually pulled off a wedding with 200 people for less than $5000. We just had to get extremely creative and frugal. We also had to be okay with doing things CASUAL instead of ultra formal. But we pulled it off beautifully. No one would have guessed the price tag!

crocko

09-14-2009, 11:36 AM

Your leaving so soon!!!! :thumbsup2

SilverL

09-14-2009, 12:11 PM

Yesterday was EXHAUSTING and it took several hours of recovery from babysitting for us to muster up the energy to go pack. At about 8pm we started, and I assumed we'd be done by 9pm. We pretty much only needed to add a few things and our clothes to the suitcases. I also wanted to double check everything I had already packed. Unfortunately, I had forgotten some very important things:

1.) DH usually throws a bunch of crap in a suitcase and calls it good. He's not used to using a list. :rotfl:
2.) DH has never packed for a 9 day trip before.
3.) DH gets distracted really, really easily sometimes---especially when he doesn't want to be doing something.

(Also, let it be known that I wanted to pack for him, but he wouldn't let me.)

So, one hour turns into two, and two turns into four. It took four hours to finish packing. Although I am VERY proud that DH actually used my list. He definitely loves me if he was willing to tolerate it. But he wouldn't let me get a picture as proof for his mother. :rotfl:

We're all packed, except for his socks and some electronics. I'm worried that our checked bag may be over 50lbs. DH's carry on, however, is a small duffel bag. If the checked bag is too heavy, we can repack his duffel into a small suitcase and transfer some more stuff out of the checked bag.

We leave in 3 or 4 hours. We will not have internet, except at the airport. I've started our TR here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2284140 and included a link to my Twitter account, where I can text LIVE updates while we're in the World!