Baseball and Magic! Mar 2014 PTR, Um- make that TWO trips please!

I am so sorry. My Grandmother has been in a nursing home for many years ravaged by the same disease. I will pray for peace for your heart.
 
I am so sorry Christen! I will be praying for you and your family. I tell you, this month of August has totally sucked.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your grandfather's passing. I pray that you can get through the legal aspects quickly so that you can grieve properly and not have to worry about the legal mumbo jumbo (remember, I know all about that kind of stuff). We'll be here when you have a chance to return to the Dis.
Thank you so much! I do know that you know… too bad we're not from the same state…

I am so sorry. My Grandmother has been in a nursing home for many years ravaged by the same disease. I will pray for peace for your heart.
It's a terrible disease! He did have a wonderful nursing home and the girls there loved him. I'm so grateful for that!

I am so sorry Christen! I will be praying for you and your family. I tell you, this month of August has totally sucked.
Thank you. I have friend whose step-mom had a heart attack and her dad died the next day (ETA- she just called and let me know that her husband's uncle passed this morning!), another friend who lost her job, I have family member (on the other side) suffering from panic/anxiety attacks… August has SUCKED for just about everyone I know.

I have a trip to Jamaica planned with my (ex)SIL in a few weeks- I'm planning on enjoying the ALL inclusive resort offerings… such as the swim up bar at the pool… I'm not one to party or drink hard, but I think I may hit it a little harder than usual. This trip was planned MONTHS ago, so I'm glad that the timing of it seems perfect now that we're dealing with so much!
 
Very quick post, one that I'm not happy to make… My grandfather has passed away. I love this man with all my heart and his funeral was one of the hardest days of my life. He was an amazing, hardworking, unconditionally loving, supportive, strong and Godly man. He has been "gone" from us for a while, due to Alzheimer's Disease, but his death still cut me to the core. He died on Cortlyn's first day of school. I wish I had it in me to share about that wonderful day, but right now, I just can't. The next thing on the agenda is just getting all the legal ducks in a row- I have been his POA and we have to transition to the executor and such… I'm hoping that over the next two weeks or so, I can focus on this happy Disney stuff again… But right now, it's just not in me. :sad2:

I'll be back though! It will be okay… just need some time. Ya know? Thank you guys!

Hi! Just popping in. I have been reading your last TR and just started reading this PTR. I am so sorry to hear about your grandfather. My grandma has had end stage Alzheimer's for about 9 years. It is such a hard disease to watch. I just ran a 7 mile road race in her honor with the local ALZ chapter in MA. Take your time to process and grieve. :hug:
 
Christen, I'm so sorry about your grandfather. Your family will be in my prayers. :grouphug:

And when you're ready, I'd love to hear about Cortlyn's first day of school.
 
Hi! Just popping in. I have been reading your last TR and just started reading this PTR. I am so sorry to hear about your grandfather. My grandma has had end stage Alzheimer's for about 9 years. It is such a hard disease to watch. I just ran a 7 mile road race in her honor with the local ALZ chapter in MA. Take your time to process and grieve. :hug:
I may get involved in something in the next year. It's a TERRIBLE disease. How awesome that you ran 7 miles… I don't think I could walk for 7 minutes straight! ;)

Christen, I'm so sorry about your grandfather. Your family will be in my prayers. :grouphug:

And when you're ready, I'd love to hear about Cortlyn's first day of school.
You will… I'll recover from the crazy and the sad soon enough. I'm not one to sit and be depressed.
 
Hello, all! I'm back. Hopefully I will be back for GOOD and happy things will only follow. I still have moments when I look at my girls and wish that my PawPaw was still around… but I have faith that he can see them now and that there is no pain or confusion for him. Not that I want to be too preachy- but I am very thankful for my strong faith in times like this. I know that this is NOT where his life ends. :goodvibes

So, in the middle of all the sad and crazy, we had family pictures taken… did I share any of those here? I don't think that I did…







And my sweet Cortlyn started school! We hit the JACKPOT with Cortlyn's teacher. She is the sweetest and most wonderful kindy teacher there ever was. I really hope we are still living here when Catie starts school and she can have this teacher. She was one of those people that was just BORN to teach kindy!


And I JUST got back from JAMAICA!! So, I think I will do a mini-trip report in my PTR! Is that okay with ya'll?? :laughing:
 
Wow, What a fabulous family picture. And the girls look so darn cute too.
Um yes please. I need a little tropical pick me up!
 
Okay, so this trip was to celebrate my (ex)SIL's 45th birthday. She lost her sister in Dec and had a pretty crappy last few years and wanted something FUN and relaxing for her birthday. So, she emailed all her friends and we were able to book an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica for CHEAP! We had flights from Atlanta to Montego Bay and then a shuttle to the resort. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort.

My roommate Laurie and I! We had never met before this trip, but we were great friends by the end of the trip!


While we were checking in, we had a lady walk up and offer us drinks… :cool1:


The resort is older and needs a good makeover, but it's not a bad place to stay. The rooms were fairly large and plenty of storage space. Bathrooms were small and had odd doors. We stayed in Building 5, which was nice since that was closer to the "adult area" and less kids.




These chairs come together and make a cute little bed area for a small kid… like my Catie! I really do think we might bring the girls here one day!


The view from our room


This is the "Jerk Hut" where you could get jerk chicken or pork. YUMMY!


The courtyard area between buildings 5 and 6
 
Let me go back and start at the beginning though! So, I had to fly from Indy to Atlanta. I found one of those GREAT $60 flights, so I booked that REAL quick! Only problem was that my flight from Indy took off at 6:30am. I am 2 hours PLUS a timezone away from the Indy Airport. :scared: I woke up at 1:30am to get there on time. I had planned the night before to go to Walmart and buy a book or two to take with me and also I needed to get a new flat iron, since I had left mine at a friend and couldn't get it back before the trip. Oh well! Of course, my plans fell apart when my 5 year old injured her foot and I had to take her for an X-ray to make sure it wasn't broken before I left the country for 5 days! :sad2: Luckily, it was NOT broken!! YAY! But my night was still all messed up. No problem, I will just stop at the Walmart in Plainville near the airport and grab things there… I picked up The Help at Walmart and only got one book, mainly because I thought SURELY that book was thick enough and would keep me entertained the whole week and I just didn't have time to look around a lot.

While I was checking out, I made a fatal mistake. I forgot to grab something to EAT! I didn't eat when I left the house at 2:30am and I was HUNG-RAY! popcorn:: So… no problem… I'll grab something at the airport. So, I did the self check in to get a boarding pass and ran to the McD's in the food court. This took FOREVER!!!! :eek: I literally took two bites of my biscuit because it was now 6am and I needed to get through security and I knew my gate would be at the far end of the terminal. I had bought a SMALL Dr. Pepper and drank that SUPER fast and stuffed the rest of my biscuit into my carry on luggage (I decided to NOT check a bag). Luckily I sailed through security and RAN to my gate, which was the FURTHEST gate away. It could NOT have been farther! :sad2: I was probably the last person on the plane.:rolleyes1 As soon as I got on the plane, an older male flight attendant grabbed my carryon suitcase and shoved it in an open spot… with my book and biscuit in there!! Sigh. I found my seat and I was sitting by myself with a window- yay! But I jumped back up with the guy walked away to grab my book, which was in a front pocket and as I was going for my biscuit the captain came on, so I just sat down. I figured once we were in the air, I would grab the biscuit. I started to read and I became completely useless. Thank GOD I didn't have a seatmate, because I stretched out and just READ! I couldn't stop. By the time I thought about getting my biscuit, we were fairly close to Atlanta, so I just didn't bother.

Got to Atlanta and I had plenty of time to read while I was waiting for my friends to arrive- I was there about 3 hours before our next flight. Finally, they showed up and we were ready to board the plane! One of the gals brought these napkins. Funny, but it didn't apply to me. I honestly love to sip on drinks, but I have never been drunk (nor do I have any interest in doing do- I just don't judge those that do!).


By the time they got there I had a decent dent in the book. The next flight I was at an aisle eat with a couple next to me and they didn't care that I was reading. Once we arrived, my reading for the day was over, but I had about 1/4 of the book done.

So, I already covered check in and the Rum Punch that we were greeted with!When you check-in they give you a wristband. There were a couple of different colors and styles. They all mean something different. They offer "day passes" to locals and to "friends" while you are here, so I know that it one of the bands. They also have different bands for people who are part of the reward system for Hilton I think? OH! And kids got a different color as well. Small kids didn't have to have them, but over about age 8 it seemed everyone had to wear one. They would charge you $100 if you lost your wristband! :crazy2: I HATE wearing bracelets, but you better believe I kept this bad boy ON!


We also headed to the bar and got a variety of drinks after we got checked in and walked around the resort. My drink of choice was a strawberry daiquiri!


This was a little while later, we had walked around and checked things out. You can tell, my early day had caught up with me and I was fading FAST. I ducked out pretty quickly and went to bed. Funny thing- Jamaica was on Central time!! Not sure how that happened, I really expected it to be Eastern or Atlantic Time. Anyway, it was only about 6 in this picture, but I went to bed before 7!!!


The next morning, my roommate and I both woke up fairly early. We both have small kids, so I think it was just our 'normal' time to be up and we couldn't sleep in. We got our swimsuits on and headed to the buffet for breakfast and then down to the beach. This is how I spent most of my morning!


Curled up with my book I devoured it!! I couldn't stop and my roommate was a strong reader, too, so she didn't mind at all. We were there for several hours before the rest of our group found us. When they did, I realized that I was already getting sunburnt- on the FIRST day! :guilty: So I went inside and continued to read from my room! I finished that book by late afternoon. That is what happens to me… I just keep reading until it's finished. It's a good AND bad thing! haha!

Okay, I will stop there! Sorry there are as many pictures, but as you can see- I was a LITTLE preoccupied with The Help! If you haven't read the book, you should!! I haven't seen the movie yet, because I know that the movies are never as good as the book.
 
Yea - Jamaica details! I'm not sure what happened on our call yesterday. But I knew the girls were being a little difficult for you so I just figured we'd talk later. :)

So, I looked at the chart you sent me. Questions:
1) I assume you're not getting Park Hoppers?
2) You're not planning to go to AK until day #6???
3) What day can you make ADRs? What restaurants are you thinking about?
 
Yea - Jamaica details! I'm not sure what happened on our call yesterday. But I knew the girls were being a little difficult for you so I just figured we'd talk later. :)

So, I looked at the chart you sent me. Questions:
1) I assume you're not getting Park Hoppers?
2) You're not planning to go to AK until day #6???
3) What day can you make ADRs? What restaurants are you thinking about?

I said "Hold on" and clicked to answer a call! It's okay, because they were being a little crazy and I had to start making our early bird dinner!

I'm about to post some Trip stuff! SHHH!!! You are spilling secrets!
 
Okay, so….

We booked our trip this morning!!!!!

:banana: :yay: :banana: :yay: :banana: :yay: :banana: :yay: :banana: :yay:

We decided to book POR for this trip.:cool1: Cortlyn had wanted a Pirate room, but I'm just not sure if I want to upgrade to that. Corey said that we should POR, since that is the resort I have wanted to stay at since our very first trip. Plus, this may be our last trip for a couple of years, since we want to do some beach trips. This is still up for debate though, since we have talked about possibly buying into DVC. We haven't decided for sure on that yet though (that is another post for another day!). Anyway, we want to have a little more space, but we don't want to splurge on the suite again. We went ahead and booked the package- basic tickets and the dining plan, but I really go back and forth on that dining plan!!!! I feel like the price has risen so much and I'm fairly sure I could save money by not getting it- but if we by some miracle get free dining, then that won't be an issue, right? :rolleyes:

I am totally bummed that it looks like we will have to do the Magic Bands. I HATE wearing bracelets and I don't want to have to plan my FPs for the day… :sad1: Oh well. I'll get used to it- it's Disney after all!
 
Oh my God! Yea!!!!!!! :yay: :dance3: :woohoo: :banana:

I am SOOOOOO EXCITED that you booked POR! I know you've wanted to stay there for YEARS! Especially if you guys buy DVC, this may be the last trip you'll want to book a moderate for more than a night or two.

I know we've talked at length about the dining plan. I go back and forth too. And now that the price has gone up, it's even more discouraging. Luckily, you still have time to decide and even plenty of time for other deals to be released.
 
Oh my God! Yea!!!!!!! :yay: :dance3: :woohoo: :banana:

I am SOOOOOO EXCITED that you booked POR! I know you've wanted to stay there for YEARS! Especially if you guys buy DVC, this may be the last trip you'll want to book a moderate for more than a night or two.

I know we've talked at length about the dining plan. I go back and forth too. And now that the price has gone up, it's even more discouraging. Luckily, you still have time to decide and even plenty of time for other deals to be released.

Yup, that's my thinking about POR. If we end up with DVC, then we'll likely do values for a night or whatever. Apparently you can use your points for Mod when they don't have any DVC rooms.
 
YAY for booking!

Why do you have to do the magic bands? Is it for all resort guests? I have read very little on the subject.
 
YAY for booking!

Why do you have to do the magic bands? Is it for all resort guests? I have read very little on the subject.

Apparently by then, it will be for all guests. When I look at my reservations on the "my Disney Experience" it's got info about the magic bands.:sad2: I just don't like the idea that I have to book my FP's early since I have small kids- we ALL know that they are unpredictable! PLUS, I have a small kid! If she doesn't have the same thing that Sissy has (a band!) then she will get REALLY upset. I read a blogpost where someone asked a CM that she said that the CM looked completely stunned- that it never occurred to that CM that a 2 year old would want a band.:confused: I have heard/seen that some toddlers are getting the bands, some aren't… I hope they figure it out by then- but a magic band for my ALMOST 3 year old will be mandatory lest we have to deal with… :furious:
 
Soooo… Today was the DAY!!! :woohoo:



I made my ADR's!!!

Let's start with the plans for my days:

Sun-MK, early EMH
Mon-Epcot
Tues-HS
Wed-Break
Thur-MK, Early EMH again!
Fri- AK

This is subject to change though. See… we aren't sure if we are driving or flying, and if we fly, we're not sure if we will fly out of Indy/St Louis (we're smack dab in the middle of them both!) or if we will fly out of Nashville, since there is a good chance that Corey will have to be in Nashville that weekend for Basketball Tournaments!! :confused3 It's going to be quite complicated for us! My HOPE is that we can leave from Nashville on Saturday morning- fly or drive! It's about a 10 hour drive from Nashville and Airtran goes between Nashville and Orlando, but the flights right NOW are outrageous! Nothing under $200 for one way! I have to buy 4 tickets this time, so I need about $200 roundtrip in order for flying to be a good option for us. Otherwise, driving will be fine! ::yes::

So, now on to this morning! It started off well, I woke up around 6 and got the laptop out. I logged into the Disney site and clicked on CRT. I was happy, because they had plenty of breakfast options… so I picked a later breakfast, entered in my CC info and clicked the button. And then it happened. The page CRASHED! It wouldn't work! I kept refreshing and going back a page. NOTHING was working! I texted Jen and Shelley, they both replied the site wasn't working for them either. Of course, I called the dining line, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly a Cast Member answered the phone after the prompts! She was super nice (but had no idea why the site was down!) and we were able to book all of my reservations! pixiedust: We have a few new and a few favorites for this trip!

So here is my list!!

Sun- O'hana Dinner! NEW!!!!
Mon-Teppan Edo Dinner! NEW!!!!
Tues-Hollywood & Vine Breakfast
Wed- 1900 Park Fare Breakfast
Thurs- CRT Breakfast
Fri- Tusker House Breakfast

We also may do a dinner at Boatwright's since we'll be staying at POR. We aren't going to book anything right now, but I'm hoping we can just get a walk-up if we decide to do it one night. Depending on how we are traveling, I also may make a ressie at Kona for Breakfast on Saturday- I will have to see if we are driving or flying before I make that ressie. So those are two other options we have in the wings!

I also think that since we're doing so many buffets that we will likely NOT do the dining plan, unless we a get free dining discount (which I'm not holding my breath for, but I AM hopeful, since they did a big free dining promo for the fall!). We are doing so many all you can eat/buffets breakfasts that it doesn't make sense to have the dining plan. I'm leaving it on my reservation for now, helps for budgeting right now! :thumbsup2
 
YAY for booking!! I am not looking forward to using the magic bands either. I agree with having small children how can you plan your FP before you even go on your trip. I also am not one to have a trip so organized like that also. I like to be able to do what I want when I want, which you still can but I want to get my FP when I want.
 
YAY for booking!! I am not looking forward to using the magic bands either. I agree with having small children how can you plan your FP before you even go on your trip. I also am not one to have a trip so organized like that also. I like to be able to do what I want when I want, which you still can but I want to get my FP when I want.

I know! I like to gauge my kid's attention spans and nap times before I grab a FP. I know that you technically can change the times via the app or kiosks in the park, but is that going to be reasonably done on a crowded day in the park?
 

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