Celebrating my Un-Birthday Disney Style-April 2010-New 5/3 - The TR has started!

DisMomAmy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 24, 2007
I know the "What are you celebrating?" theme will be gone in 2010 but my family has decided that I need to change my birthday. I have never had my own day... my brother's birthday is 3 days after mine and now that I'm all grown up, six years ago I went and had a baby the day before my 30th birthday so I share (happily) my day with Zach. I also share my other special day, Mother's Day, not only because we celebrate my mother and DH's mother, but because my mother's birthday is May 13th so we are often celebrating her birthday near Mother's Day too. We are the only family members who own a house so I am always hosting the celebrations... including my own birthday & Mother's Day. This year DH (Tim) decided we needed to find a day to celebrate me, with that being said, this week I booked our airfare and the planning has begun.

Here we are on the last day of our April 2009 trip:
Image771.jpg


Alexander (9 next month):
IMG_4268.jpg


Alex at soccer:
IMG_4374.jpg


Zach on his 6th birthday:
IMG_4416.jpg


Zach at soccer:
IMG_4362.jpg


If you want to learn more about me and my family, please check out my previous PTR and TRs - links below. I'm just wrapping up my current TR so I can move the focus to this upcoming trip.

Thanks for joining me!!

Links:

Airfare & Rental Car
ADR Help
ADRs back to 180 days
Itinerary - First Draft
More Itinerary Talk
ADRs
Waiting no so patiently…
ADR Update
First ADRs made
ADRs – Day 2
ADRs – Day 3
ADRs – Day 4
ADRs – Day 5
ADRs – Day 6
Happy Fall
Tree Tagging Gone Bad
Christmas Projects
Christmas Projects continued
Happy Thanksgiving
Odds & Ends
Tour Guide Mike & Zhu Zhu
Snow Day
A tooth, 2 snowmen & a serving of Cocoa
Merry Christmas
Pre-trip Report Recap
E-Ticket App for iPhone
Crazy Christmas Wait Times
Disney Christmas
The Waiting Game
Christmas Presents
Happy New Year/Magic Kingdom – Looking Back to 1982
Give a Day/Get a Day
Magic Kingdom - Looking Back to 1997
The Box & The Snow
Growing Southwest Credit
Magic Kingdom - Looking Back to 2002 & 2006
Magic Kingdom - Looking Back to 2007
Finally... Some Answers!
Updated ADRs
Magic Kingdom - Looking Back to 2008
Magic Kingdom - Looking Back to 2009
Itinerary update
Magic Kingdom - Looking forward to 2010!!
Typhoon Lagoon vs. Blizzard Beach
Epcot - Looking back to 1997 & 2002
Why Disney is so special to us! And an autism resource.
Epcot - Looking back to 2007 & 2008
Epcot- Looking back to 2009
Epcot - Looking forward to 2010
Me? An Annual Passholder?
Shoes, park bags & luggage, Oh My! – Part I: Shoes
To AP or not to AP?
Mini-Update
Penguin Plunge
Shoes, park bags & luggage, Oh My! - Part II: Park Bags!
Where are we staying?
More Odds & Ends
More Changes?
DHS - Looking Back to 1997 & 2002
DHS - Looking Back to 2006 & 2007
DHS - Looking Back to 2008 & 2009
Disney Shopping!!
DHS - Looking Forward to 2010
The condo decision!
Parking Question
Sheraton Vistana Resort - Here we come!!
Rain, rain, go away!
Animal Kingdom - Looking Back to 2002 & 2007
Animal Kingdom - Looking Back to 2008 & 2009
Animal Kingdom - Looking Forward to 2010
Other Looking Back Pictures - Post 1
Other Looking Back Pictures - Post 2
The Budget
Dining budget
Six weeks to go!!
Let the countdown begin!
So which bag did I choose?
5 Weeks to go!
Back to the drawing board!
Ch, ch, changes... a new itinerary
Shopping!!
4 Weeks & A Very Special Delivery
Updated park & entertainment schedules
Another change?
Off Topic... My leaky car
Crazy Week!
3 Weeks & some autism tips from 2007
Am I Crazy??
2 Weeks To Go & In Two Weeks - Thurs 4/22
In Two Weeks - Fri 4/23
In Two Weeks - Sat 4/24
In Two Weeks - Sun 4/25
In Two Weeks - Mon 4/26
In Two Weeks - Tues 4/27
In Two Weeks - Wed 4/28
In Two Weeks - Thurs 4/29
In Two Weeks - Fri 4/30
In Two Weeks - Sat 5/1
3 Days to go!
Photos - Easter & Updated countdown pictures
See ya real soon!

Link to my TR: Mom, this is like a whole new Disney!" - An April 2010 TR


 
I started posting information about this trip on my 2009 TR so I'm going to copy it over here. Here's what I posted yesterday about airfare & rental car:

So yesterday morning, after being haunted by the ghost of Southwest all night long, I got up and posted here on the DIS. Then I checked the Southwest prices and they had arleady gone up!! Every flight went up by exactly $5. I guess that's the penalty for procrastination.

I emailed Tim to tell him what had happened and he told me to just go ahead and book something so I could sleep again. (Until the week before our trip at least... )

The answer to the burning question... APRIL is the winner!

Here is what I booked:

Southwest Manchester - Tampa
Thursday, April 22nd 7:55am - 11:20am

Returning on Southwest Tampa - Manchester
Sunday, May 2nd 10:40am - 1:40pm

The return flights were cheaper out of Tampa plus that gives us the flexibility to switch things around if needed and visit family on either end of our trip.

And I've already booked a minivan for 10 days for $550! I think that's a great price since I was only finding prices over $1000 in my initial research. I used carrentalsavers.com. Of course I'll be watching those prices closely and probably re-book several times before April.

The reason we ended up with April was really about the flights. Direct filghts are important for us and the weather can be unpredictable for travel in February.

I did go back and cancel & rebook our flights as two separate itineraries in case a great rate opens up in Orlando for the return flight or in case there are other changes we want to make - we won't have to cancel both flights and risk the prices going up (which they probably will).

Right now the plan is to visit Jeff (Tim's brother) & Karen (Jeff's girlfriend) & the kids (J(17) & K(13) - Jeff's kids with his ex-wife) for the first weekend then check-in in Orlando on Sunday. We'll be visiting Tim's grandmother, who just turned 90, sometime during the week.

There you have it! I'll finish up this TR shortly then I'm going to take a little break for a while. I'll probably start a PTR closer to our ADR time in January... or sooner if I feel like it. We'll see...
 
I wasn't going to start this PTR until January, when I thought I would be making my ADRs. But then I heard a rumor... Here's what I posted on my TR:

Dear Dis-Friends - I need help again!!

I've read a few things about ADRs switching back to 180 days on October 27th but I can't find anything official or even somewhat official. Has anyone else heard about this?? I've also heard that park hours will go back to 180 days as well... let's hope so because if that's true I need to make ADRs starting on the 27th!! And since we're staying off-property I'll need to get up early every day to make each ADR. Help!!
 
After searching all day, I finally found something "official" about the return of ADRs at 180 days. The 2010 Disney Dining Plan brochure states the following:

"Our Table Service restaurants, character dining and dinner shows
book quickly and the restaurant and seating of your choice may
be limited or may not be available during your visit. Please make
reservations online at disneyworld.com/dining or by calling
407-WDW-DINE up to 90 days prior to your visit for the best options.
Beginning October 27, 2009, for arrivals Jan. 25, 2010, and beyond,
reservations may be made up to 180 days prior to your visit."

You can find it for yourselves here: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/vacation-packages/2010/dining/
Scroll down about 1/3 of the way and click on "Disney Dining Plan" and you'll find the brochure. The information is listed as the second "Great Tip!"

I guess I'll start working on the itinerary... :headache:
 




I'm here...and I'll do my best to stay up to date....let me help plan it may snap me out of my no-Dis funk....;)

Scrappie J~
 
good. I made page 1 and am here from the start!:thumbsup2

Glad you could make it Jordan!!

I'm here...and I'll do my best to stay up to date....let me help plan it may snap me out of my no-Dis funk....;)

Scrappie J~

Hi Julie!! Thanks for coming along. I wasn't planning to start this until January but the ADR thing is going to require some input from my DISfriends - hopefully you can help me out with some of that! I'll be posting my guess of EMHs & evening entertainment and first version of my itinerary soon for suggestions. I could use a bit of a break too so I suspect that once I get my ADRs done I'll be slowing down to work on some Christmas projects.

Sorry about the no-DIS funk. :hug:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top