PTR for the planning obsessed....Updated 11/5 We're home now.

Thanks guys!

We're watching the season opener of Deadiest Catch...DH's favorite show...anyone else watchin' it?
 
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On the cover the green grass is 3D...I cut it out of paper and glued it on.....the animals are stickers.

So cute!:lovestruc
 


Love the invitation.... very sweet. :bday: Liam!

Make sure you save one as a keepsake for him! ::yes::

And I love your son's name; the Irish version of William (Billy). I have a nephew with the same name.

Have a great party!

Kathy
 
Adorable!!! I want to come and have giraffe cake!

I'll send ya a piece!

Those invitations came out great.....Animal Kingdom.....:love:

Thanks...good timing with your TR eh?


I LOVE the animal kingdom theme.

And I love Oriental Trading. Great party stuff!

The invite is so cute!

I hope you're going to take pics of Liam's cakes.

Thanks and Yes I will take pictures and post

I've tried before -- it stresses me out too much! :scared:

How does it stress you out? All the screamin' and cussin' ?? Lots of that on that show.


Thanks!
I love the invitations!! They came out great - and the theme is great too!
Thanks...I try to be as creative as I can be on a small budget and limited time

Love the invitation.... very sweet. :bday: Liam!

Make sure you save one as a keepsake for him! ::yes::

And I love your son's name; the Irish version of William (Billy). I have a nephew with the same name.

Have a great party!

Kathy

I did make one extra invite to put in his baby box. It took my mother a couple weeks before she could pronounce Liam correctly...she was saying Ly-um. Liam's middle name is Evan which is Welsh for John (DH's name) so in a way he could be William John.

Update coming up shortly......
 
Did I mention that this PTR is for the planning obsessed?? Well it is and I should be committed. Seriously friends…I have spent 2 weeks making plans for our OFF days. One would like to think that OFF stands for Oversleep, Fart-around, and Fall into lounge chair. Nope…can’t do it. That’s not to say that we might abandon these plans or change them while we are on vacation but for now I have to have Plans….not just Plan A, but B, C and maybe even D. It’s a sickness I tell you (why can’t I have an obsession about cleaning my house or learning a foreign language?)

Our OFF days are Day 2 Monday, Day 5 Thursday and Day 8 Sunday.

I have narrowed down the activities to 3 groups:

Water Park: I would like to go to Typhoon Lagoon for a half day (10am to about 2pm). Mostly for DS to play in the little kids area…the lazy river and maybe the Shark Reef thing if there is no line…I’m sure it would pale to our scuba and snorkeling experiences…I’ve had the pleasure of snorkeling with a sea turtle in Hawaii (he was sooooo cute!), and snorkeling near a Brown shark in Belize, plus lots of beautiful fish in the Caribbean while scuba diving. But we may have to go to Blizzard Beach instead…one of the water parks should close on Nov 1 for winter rehab…that will be OK…they have a kiddie area too plus the family raft ride.

Downtown Disney: I need to get my shop on! We’ll head here after breakfast…we’ll hit the boy friendly stores until lunch time, have lunch, and then DH can take DS back to the resort for a nap/pool time while I shop s’more! I’ll take the bus back to the resort when I’m done.

Fort Wilderness Recreation and Disney Outlet Shopping: At this point I still want to hit one of the Disney outlet stores in Orlando…but this will be the first thing to go if we don’t have time. While at Fort Wilderness Campground we try to do the petting farm, campfire sing-a-long, wagon ride and walk the swamp trail.


Coupled with this I need to plan for our Disney resort dinning experiences for those 3 nights. I have narrowed our restaurants to these 4….yeah 4 restaurants for 3 nights….I’ll explain later.

‘Ohana’s

Chef Mickey’s

Captain’s Grille (at the Yacht Club)

Trails End (at FW)

For maximum flexibility I wanted to plan in such a way that I could mix and match if need be. These restaurants fit the bill.

Next I have to pick which days to do which activities….please believe me that I wrote this all out like a logic puzzle…ever done a logic puzzle? Very fun if you like that kind of thing.

First Choice

Monday- Water park-Chef Mickey’s
Thursday – DTD- ‘Ohana’s
Sunday-Outlet & FW rec-Trails End or Captain’s Grille

(we’ll go to dinner at Trails End if we are at FW at dinner time….if we end up leaving FW before dinner we will go to Captain’s Grille)

If the weather is really not good for the WP on Mon (remember we’re from NH…we wear shorts at 60 degrees) then choice two
Mon-FW rec – CM
Thur- DTD- ‘Ohana’s
Sun-WP-Captain’s Grille

I could keep going with my combos but you get the idea. I’ll make the ADR for Captain’s Grille and we’ll just wing it with seating at Trails End.

So with that done I can make my ADR's later this month at the 180 day mark. I still don't have ressies for the resort or plane tix. :confused3 But the good news is that I have saved 1/2 of what we need for the trip budget. I still need to call Southwest to get info on the infant fare. Once that is all done I can work on our daily itineraries for the parks. I have a draft done of DHS but I already think it needs changes.

If you are in the Northeast enjoy the spring like weather for the next couple of days! For everyone else enjoy this pix:

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No website or thread pick this week but I will pass along this info from allearsnet:
"Reservations are now being accepted for arrivals June 30, 2008, and later at The Wave , located at Disney's Contemporary Resort. The restaurant, a casual dining table service restaurant that features American cooking blended with world flavors, will offer a classic American breakfast, a quick and casual lunch, and dinner. In addition, the stylish contemporary lounge will offer new world wines with a twist and trendy cocktails with natural flavors. The restaurant will accept one entitlement from the Disney Dining Plan and will honor the DVC, Passholder, Disney Dining Experience, and Cast Member discounts as currently accepted at Concourse Steakhouse."
 


I love the invitations, so cute! I also love the theme by oldest dd did a Tarzan birthday for her 3rd birthday and it was mostly jungle themed.
 
You are obsessed!!

LOVE the picture!! :thumbsup2 The Thunderbirds flew over Disney while I was there last week!! They were there on Monday, April 7th. We were at Epcot - our only sunny day - they went over once and I thought that was it... then they flew over a few more times. I was able to capture a shot which you'll find later on my TR.

Amy
 
I plan our off days too -- I always have to have a plan!

The pic is great! I remember seeing the Thunderbirds when I was much younger -- it was an awesome experience!
 
I love the invitations, so cute! I also love the theme by oldest dd did a Tarzan birthday for her 3rd birthday and it was mostly jungle themed.
Thanks!

You are obsessed!!
I'm sure you mean that in the most nicest way possible! :laughing: Cool about seeing the Thunderbirds....I lifted that picture off touring plans.

I plan our off days too -- I always have to have a plan!

The pic is great! I remember seeing the Thunderbirds when I was much younger -- it was an awesome experience!
See I'm not the only one that plans OFF days!
 
I just got off the phone with Southwest airlines....I was looking for info on their Infant fares...Here's the scoop....currently the price of an infant fare (thru August booking) is $135 plus tax one way! But I was quickly told that if the online price is better just buy that fare for my DS and call and let them know that it's really an "infant" flying. I can get DS "age verified" ahead of time by mailing them a copy of his birth certificate and a written letter. By being age verified in their system I can get his boarding passes online. But I would assume that I only need to do that if I buy the "Infant Fare" not just get him a ticket online which is what I will do anyways unless the promo prices are more.

A few other things I learned....everyone in the family needs their own rapid rewards card to get credit for their flights. I thought that my account alone would get all the credits. If you missed out on this you can call and have them add the points for any flights you took in the past 2 years. I'm going to do this for DH because he just flew for work not long ago plus our flight last Jan would count too.
Oh and if you need to change your name on your rapid rewards card due to marriage you have to send them a copy of your marriage lic, you can't do it over the phone....I'll need to do this.

I actually feel like a got a lot out of that one phone call.

UPDATE: the infant fare is approx. 50% off the business class rate for your travel dates
 
I just got off the phone with Southwest airlines....I was looking for info on their Infant fares...Here's the scoop....currently the price of an infant fare (thru August booking) is $135 plus tax one way! But I was quickly told that if the online price is better just buy that fare for my DS and call and let them know that it's really an "infant" flying. I can get DS "age verified" ahead of time by mailing them a copy of his birth certificate and a written letter. By being age verified in their system I can get his boarding passes online. But I would assume that I only need to do that if I buy the "Infant Fare" not just get him a ticket online which is what I will do anyways unless the promo prices are more.

A few other things I learned....everyone in the family needs their own rapid rewards card to get credit for their flights. I thought that my account alone would get all the credits. If you missed out on this you can call and have them add the points for any flights you took in the past 2 years. I'm going to do this for DH because he just flew for work not long ago plus our flight last Jan would count too.
Oh and if you need to change your name on your rapid rewards card due to marriage you have to send them a copy of your marriage lic, you can't do it over the phone....I'll need to do this.

I actually feel like a got a lot out of that one phone call.

This information needs to be stickied somewhere on this site. This is all valuable info..:thumbsup2
 
The planning for the down days......pot meet kettle, preacher meet choir.

But I thnk you've taken OTP to a new level, maybe I should resign as President of OTPA and let you take over......
 
Chef Mickey's is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience at Ohana for dinner and would never go back.

I like how you built in a day for FW and outlet shopping. That's great!

Are you planning on buying your airfare soon?
 
Good info! I'll have to get everyone signed up with their own rapid rewards accounts - I only had mine set up at the time. And DH travels a lot for work now so he should definitely have one. We've flown SW 3 times in the past 2 years... although I think we are too late for one of the trips. Thanks for sharing! Amy
 
The planning for the down days......pot meet kettle, preacher meet choir.

But I thnk you've taken OTP to a new level, maybe I should resign as President of OTPA and let you take over......

I was thinking I could be the CFO of the OTPA!

Chef Mickey's is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience at Ohana for dinner and would never go back.

I like how you built in a day for FW and outlet shopping. That's great!

Are you planning on buying your airfare soon?

I went to Chef Mickey's in 2001...we're mainly going for DS... I think it will be a great way to introduce him to the Characters. We love 'Ohana's. People complain all the time about the food coming out too quickly but I just speak up and I'm not shy about asking for more food or whatever it is that I need. What happened to you to have such a bad experience that you won't go back?

Good info! I'll have to get everyone signed up with their own rapid rewards accounts - I only had mine set up at the time. And DH travels a lot for work now so he should definitely have one. We've flown SW 3 times in the past 2 years... although I think we are too late for one of the trips. Thanks for sharing! Amy
No Problem!
 
Southwest is only booking flights for half our trip right now. The flight I want down to Orlando is $95 per person online right now....I don't know what to do....do I book just that part so I know I got the flight I want at a price that is OK, not great? That means that I'll have 2 different ressies for the air travel. Can I cancel that booking and rebook the whole thing once November flights are available? Does anyone have any experience that they can share with me???

On a separate note....WTH....TGM has still not posted best days for October yet...EMH have been posted by Disney for days now...my ADR calls are coming up soon....There is people on his forums that are going in the beginning of Oct who's ADR dates have come and gone and they are not happy....this will be the last time I subscribe to TGM...it has amounted to reading material for me...I would have rather had another travel guide book with the money.
 
Hi :wave2:

sorry I missed a bit in your PTR...

love Liam's b-day invites, the giraffe paper for the background is too cute. I hope the party will be great and so memorable for not just him but for you MOM!

I'm in that same boat for planning the off days too (forthcoming in my PTR) and I love your OFF acronym :rotfl: I don't have back up plans for my days...we're off and running whatever may occur, though you are smart to have plan B, C, D....are you sure there isn't an E??? :rolleyes1

sorry you are fed up with TGM and he still hasn't posted your LCP charts yet. I even logged on to make sure. I'm feeling for you.

Good luck too with figuring out what to do with airfare. That's the 1 price point I'm slightly miffed with...I felt paniced 6 months out (can you believe that???) that I wouldn't get good seats and really wanted front of plane for Michael and Margaret, last on/first off that we booked even with not the best $. The only posiitve is we did get the seats I wanted and since I booked thru Disney and put on my Dis charge we ended up having it in promo till paid off.

Speaking of $$ super GOOD for you :thumbsup2 that you have your trip $ saved up.

Well, I'm glad I'm caught up with you, but must go catch some shut eye:angel:
 

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