I can't remember what I've posted already and what I haven't! 
It's been a rough week. Monday afternoon my daughter was sent home with a fever. Monday night (at 2am) my older son vomited. Tuesday both kids were home sick. Wednesday afternoon my older son was sent home (again) for exhaustion (no fever or vomiting). My nanny started vomiting on Wednesday. Last night the little one started vomiting (at 3am) and is running crazy fevers all day. I actually had to cancel 1/2 day of patients today (which I never do!) to stay home with Zachary. Poor munchkin! 
And I've had a rough week at work which is another can of worms....
Anyway, we upgraded to APs and enjoyed our TIW card. I changed our August reservation to a room-only and canceled the dining plan. I need to buy the older 2 kids their annual passes when we arrive in August. We'll have a kitchen and we prefer sit-down meals anyway. I don't like "having" to order an entree and dessert. We much prefer appetizers and salads. I think we'll have more flexibility just using the TIW card, eating in the villa, and paying cash. I'm now re-considering my ADRs given that we won't be doing the dining plan. For example, I'm not sure I want to pay cash for the Fantasmic! dinner package at Hollywood & Vine. Fantasmic! is late for my kids anyway and I don't think the food at H&V is worth it. I may see if there's anything at the Brown Derby (too tired to remember if the name is right!) instead. I think I read that the TIW doesn't work for the Fantasmic! package but I'd rather pay for good food. That's just the way I roll!
I will go through my ADRs when I get some breathing room and make some changes. We would have ordered from garden grocer regardless so we'll just add to our order. We ate a few meals in when we stayed at SSR and that worked well for us. We had dinner one night made up of heated left-overs and 1 box of mac n cheese. I just find the dining plan limiting (the only time we used it was when we had free dining and I didn't miss it on our other trips!). I also wonder if the push towards the QS dining plan will make ADRs a bit easier in the future?
I'm also starting to think about our January 1/2 marathon trip. I'm leaning towards staying at a monorail resort. The 1/2 marathon runs past the monorail resorts so the grandparents and children can sleep in and just step outside to see us. I loved staying in the Epcot area but I think this makes more sense. Thoughts? Opinions? Advice????
Amanda
It's been a rough week. Monday afternoon my daughter was sent home with a fever. Monday night (at 2am) my older son vomited. Tuesday both kids were home sick. Wednesday afternoon my older son was sent home (again) for exhaustion (no fever or vomiting). My nanny started vomiting on Wednesday. Last night the little one started vomiting (at 3am) and is running crazy fevers all day. I actually had to cancel 1/2 day of patients today (which I never do!) to stay home with Zachary. Poor munchkin! And I've had a rough week at work which is another can of worms....Anyway, we upgraded to APs and enjoyed our TIW card. I changed our August reservation to a room-only and canceled the dining plan. I need to buy the older 2 kids their annual passes when we arrive in August. We'll have a kitchen and we prefer sit-down meals anyway. I don't like "having" to order an entree and dessert. We much prefer appetizers and salads. I think we'll have more flexibility just using the TIW card, eating in the villa, and paying cash. I'm now re-considering my ADRs given that we won't be doing the dining plan. For example, I'm not sure I want to pay cash for the Fantasmic! dinner package at Hollywood & Vine. Fantasmic! is late for my kids anyway and I don't think the food at H&V is worth it. I may see if there's anything at the Brown Derby (too tired to remember if the name is right!) instead. I think I read that the TIW doesn't work for the Fantasmic! package but I'd rather pay for good food. That's just the way I roll!
I will go through my ADRs when I get some breathing room and make some changes. We would have ordered from garden grocer regardless so we'll just add to our order. We ate a few meals in when we stayed at SSR and that worked well for us. We had dinner one night made up of heated left-overs and 1 box of mac n cheese. I just find the dining plan limiting (the only time we used it was when we had free dining and I didn't miss it on our other trips!). I also wonder if the push towards the QS dining plan will make ADRs a bit easier in the future?
I'm also starting to think about our January 1/2 marathon trip. I'm leaning towards staying at a monorail resort. The 1/2 marathon runs past the monorail resorts so the grandparents and children can sleep in and just step outside to see us. I loved staying in the Epcot area but I think this makes more sense. Thoughts? Opinions? Advice????
Amanda
Nothing like a jarring step back into reality after your wonderful trip!
Beaches and Cream is one of the restaurants I would love to try some day! I will have to add it to my list. Any pictures of the infamous balloon? 
for APs!! 
)
You make a good point! We haven't used the Dining Plan for Signature dining; we usually just pay cash.
