Caribbean Combo Pack! Engagement TR(2/11) & Disneymoon PTR(9/12) at CBR

[ronnmel]

Joyeux Noel to the both of you!!

[suorkaterina]

Originally Posted by ronnmel

Joyeux Noel to the both of you!!

Hope you guys had a great Christmas!

[suorkaterina]

Made out like bandits amassing Disney gift cards for our Honeymoon. We got 150$ bucks to add to what I got for my birthday and for my Graduation in June. So 425$ so far! Still waiting for Disney to fix their wedding registry then our guests we'll be able to add to growing pile of gift cards! I'm so looking forward to working on the registry list. I've been wanting to do it for months. Disney just needs to get their butts in gear and launch the new registry site!!!!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. DF and I had a great first Christmas living together. It was a hard one as it was the first without my dad who passed in October. But we were surrounded by family most of the day and had a nice time in the morning opening our presents. I got DF tickets to a gamer convention he's been wanting to go to and he got me jewelry for the wedding.

Now it's back to real life. In a week in a half I go to my first residency for Grad school at Goddard College for my Masters in Creative Writing. Very excited but not really looking forward to driving 5 hours away in the winter. Praying for clear weather those days I have to drive!

It's gonna be an incredibly busy 2012! Happy New Year to all of you reading!

[suorkaterina]

So as the ticker says, our trip is 8 months, 2 weeks and 1 day away. I seem to be a little ahead of the game with everything, wedding and honeymoon. So far ahead in fact that there is little for me to do now. Some things are just too far away to plan for.

Right now I am dealing with some things at home. Our jobs and income are continually challenged and it is causing me stress. We are innkeepers and the owners live on the other side of the country. The Inn is for sale. We are closed for a couple months. We thought that our salary would be paid through those months but it seems like at the last minute our bosses are going to throw a wrench in things which is worrisome since I have everything budgeted out to the penny for the months leading up to the wedding. Also it looks like someone might be interested in buying the Inn which could mean we might be looking for new employment and a new residence. I'm the sort that makes myself sick with stress over uncertainties. Not the way i wanted to enter 2012.

Also I am starting grad school in three days but these three days waiting to hear from my bosses before I leave are torturous as I wonder if... A. I'll be paid for my week at Residency. B. I'll be paid for the upcoming two months. C. If they are going to allow me to get my paycheck a day early so I can have money for the trip to Goddard College in Vermont. It's keeping me very much out of my comfort zone. But I am really looking forward to getting back to school and writing again.

DETAILS:
So a detail I have figured out for my ticket in particular is that I plan to upgrade to an anual pass after our first day in the parks. I am also planning a trip with my mother for February 2013(and hopefully my BFF and her mother) and it will be much cheaper if I get an AP. So by upgrading once I get there in September I won't lose the Free Dining discount(which I am hoping for) and I'll have my tickets all paid for February. Not to mention that I will be able to book my and my mothers room at the AP discount.

Another detail has to do with Disney Honeymoon Registry. They just launched their site and a new policy is to charge 7% on every gift and 3% for every gift charged to a credit card. So instead we will be directing our guests to the gift card page on the Disney website and letting them know that all monetary gifts will be intended for our honeymoon. We have a website and will be posting our honeymoon plans on there so our guests can see them and get excited for us. The wedding is going to be small and intimate so all I'm expecting for gifts really is a little extra spending money.

Our last trip detail has been a little change in one of our days. Since we have talked seriously about moving to Florida after I finish grad school, we thought this would be the perfect time to get a feel for Florida. We hope to save the money to make a long trip later on and really explore but since we are going to be down there, we are going to take a day, rent a car and drive around. I know parts of Florida pretty well but DF does not. He's only seen the road from the Tampa airport to MCO and there to WDW. I've been interested in the Palm Harbor area North of Tampa, which is about two hours away from Disney so we'll probably start out there then move into the outskirts of Orlando area. I'm actually not too excited by this. I;d prefer to do this in a seperate trip than waste a Disney day. But if this is what it takes to get DF excited about a move down south, then this is what I will do! I'm very tired of dealing with winters in Maine, as I deal with seasonal depression. I'm ready for some sunshine and opressive heat ;-)

TRANSPORTATION
So I am still waiting for Jet Blue and their dates to go past September 4th. And since there are no direct flights from our usual airport(Portland) anymore, I've been forced to look at other options. And here they are:

1. Mini plane from Rockland to Boston then direct flight from Boston to Orlando
This would be a good option because it cuts out parking costs because my mother could drive us there, but I'm not a fan of the mini plane, also I'm not sure the cost of this extra plane compaired to parking costs.

2. We drive to Boston and fly direct to MCO from there. I estimated about 200$ parking costs. That's a three hour drive for us too. We could find a park and fly hotel.

3. We deal with a layover in NY from Portland and worry about delays and mix ups. Not a fan of this obviously. Last trip we ended up in Tampa with a shuttle to Orlando which set us back 7 hours later than we wanted to arrive. Also there will be parking fees.

4. Wait and see if there are any direct flights from Bangor. I've never flown from here and it won't be Jet Blue because they don't fly from there. I like Jet Blue because they don't charge for your first checked bag.

So as soon as I can compare rates in these options I'll be better able to make a decision for us.

I guess that is about it for now. I probably won't post again till travel arangements are made and I've returned from Residency. Wish me luck in the wilderness of Vermont!

[ronnmel]

Well that sucks that the Disney registry changed their policy and is now charging a fee. Is that a common thing for registries to do?

Sorry you're dealing with so much stress work related, hope it gets resolved soon.

[suorkaterina]

I checked other registries and most do have a service charge. But previously Disney did not. That's why I wanted to go with them. It just doesn't make sense to deal with the service charge. They don't offer too much for benifits. I was just looking forward to building the registry as you pick specific experiences you want people to purchase gifts towards. But they even cut down on those. For instance you can't choose a specific resort, it just says "Disney Resort Stay". Ah well. Maybe I'll just refer my guests to my PTR

[ronnmel]

Oh well. Anyway, as you said, the registry doesn't offer any benefits really. Plus, anything you receive on there will just come to you in the form of cash on a gift card, and you can then spend that money on anything you want, regardless of what the guest "bought" for you.

[Belle915]

Congrats on getting married! I'm also getting married on Sept 15th and heading down to Disney for our Disneymoon! I'm so excited! We are staying at the Polynesian! Have fun planning! Your trip looks like fun!

[suorkaterina]

Originally Posted by Belle915

Congrats on getting married! I'm also getting married on Sept 15th and heading down to Disney for our Disneymoon! I'm so excited! We are staying at the Polynesian! Have fun planning! Your trip looks like fun!

Oh cool we'll have matching anniversaries! I would love to do the Poly sometime. I'm saving it for when I get my first book published. I'll treat us to a deluxe hawaiian experience then!

[suorkaterina]

So, Ive been debating if I should write this post. This is a pre-trip report after all, not a therapy session. But since this may effect our trip I thought I would add it in as part of the planning process.

On January 4th I got a call from the owners of the Inn my DF and I innkeep for. I've been working there 8 years. And over the phone, they fired us. We have to move out by the 20th. This sucks on many levels but I'll just talk about how it may effect our wedding and honeymoon.

We are now jobless and homeless. I just started grad school(low residency) and am actually in Vermont right now and won't get back till the 15th(the day I have to apply for unemployment as it's formally our last day). So now my DF and I will be unemployed and living with my Mother(bless her for taking us in). When right now we should be saving for our wedding and honeymoon, instead we are wondering what our next step as a family is going to be.

DF insists that the wedding and honeymoon will continue as planned and we will figure it all out. I hope he is right. For right now I'm trying to concentrate on school but all I can think about is the uncertainty of the future...and how much I desperately want to go to my happy place right now, and not 9 months from now.

[ronnmel]

I'm really sorry to hear about the jobless and homeless situation. It truly sucks. It's like somewhere karma knows how happy a wedding and Disneymoon makes you, and decided to make you pay by having another part of your life be crappy. I understand the feeling, as for me it was my mother getting sick. I agree with your DF though, I would hold on to the wedding and Disneymoon as they are a happy thing. It will help you get through the harder part, if you know you have something to look forward to.

[oboedm]

Found your PTR from my PTR! I like your plan to alternate full and half days. It's nice to take a break!

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Joining in! My fiance and I are getting married on September 1 and we leave September 2

I'm very sorry to read about your homeless/jobless situation. I truly hope everything works out for the two of you! I'm sending good vibes your way!

[suorkaterina]

Originally Posted by ronnmel

I'm really sorry to hear about the jobless and homeless situation. It truly sucks. It's like somewhere karma knows how happy a wedding and Disneymoon makes you, and decided to make you pay by having another part of your life be crappy. I understand the feeling, as for me it was my mother getting sick. I agree with your DF though, I would hold on to the wedding and Disneymoon as they are a happy thing. It will help you get through the harder part, if you know you have something to look forward to.

Thanks for the sympathy. It's been hard. I went to my first MFA residency and couldn't stop thinking about coming home and having to move. But I'm home now, living with my mother. My DF and mom seem to be getting along well. Today is our first day job hunting. So wish us luck! I sent my resume in for an assistant innkeeping job so I'm hoping for that. Now I just have to get on track with my school work. I'm hoping whatever job I get is sympathetic to the fact that I already have my wedding and honeymoon booked and I also have two weeks a year in Vermont for residency. We'll see how that goes.

Originally Posted by oboedm

Found your PTR from my PTR! I like your plan to alternate full and half days. It's nice to take a break!

Oh great, glad you joined in! Last trip we found when we tried to take a full day "off" we got bored and had to head to the parks by lunch time So I think half days are perfect for us.

Originally Posted by Dreamsdocometrue9112

Joining in! My fiance and I are getting married on September 1 and we leave September 2

I'm very sorry to read about your homeless/jobless situation. I truly hope everything works out for the two of you! I'm sending good vibes your way!

Glad to see a new face joining in! This honeymoon is gonna be epic, and by epic I mean very relaxing and deffinately worth the wait. Thanks for the good vibed. I will need them. Starting the job search today. Already sent out one resume. And living with mom is not idea but she's cool. I'm one of those lucky people that has a best friend for a mom. So we're here till the wedding I think which will help us save for both wedding and honeymoon.

Congratualtions on your wedding! I think September is a great month to get married. Right on the cusp of summer and fall. Not to mention it's a great slow time to take yearly anniversary trips to Disney! hehehe. That was my evil plot anyhow. I don't know about you!

[suorkaterina]

Hey everyone, it's been a little while. I've spent the last two weeks or so feeling pretty low but I'm back to being the old me again. The eternal optimist!

I've spent a lot of time (besides doing school work and trying to find a job) reading peoples TR and PTR. I found one that did a TR for a previous trip mixed in with their PTR for the next trip.

So I've decided to include our engagement trip from February 2011 into this PTR. I figure the proposal trip and the honeymoon should go hand in hand! I started this TR a while ago, it's even in my signature, but it got removed and I can't add to it anymore. I only got to the second day. Woops. So I will create a seperate index for these posts so you all can get to them quickly. It will be nice to go back to those memories and relive them as I prepare for my wedding and honeymoon.

Also, I'm cutting this down to just a PTR. I think it's too much to do two TR and a PTR together!

In other news it looks like I may have a job. An Inn I worked at in HS called me in for an interview. They seem eager to have someone with experience join their team and the owner didn't flinch too much over my wedding and honeymoon dates. Though I may have mentioned I could change the dates of the honeymoon. I'm hoping he forgets that because I am eager to make these flight arrangements the second Jet Blue opens my dates up!!!!

So anyway, just a little update to show you all I'm still around, still a fighter! And this Disneymoon will be happening as planned even with our little bump in the road.