Our 3rd Trip to WDW, Sept' 09, *TOC on Pg 1* *TR STARTED - CLICK ON THE LINK*

That is an impressive collection of stuff for the trip!! Where did you get the Pez dispensers? I never have had to look for stuff like that before but since we are taking kids this time I have to get all that stuff don't I? :rotfl:

Wal-mart is a great place :goodvibes We find a lot of stuff there... We always have made the kids a backpack filled with stuff they have never seen or played with... We put in new coloring books, crayons, stickers, snacks, little travel games, a new game or 2 for their video game systems, silly putty (I love this stuff!), etc... Works out great for the airplane ride as well as the wait in the airport... If you need any help making one of these travel bags, just contact my DW, the guru of planning!
 
Crazy! Now, not only will we be there at the same time, now we're going to be at the same resort!!

Congrats on getting to stay at AKL!!

If you see a family of freaks at the pool :rotfl:, I would run as fast and as far away as you could... It can get ugly!!! :scared1:
 

Actually, the way we have done it saved us a ton of money... All of that stuff we bought will fit into 1 suitcase (we are experts at packing a suitcase to the limit :thumbsup2)... It costs us $15 each way to check the bag at the airport... You have to remember that in Oregon, we pay a lot less for stuff, and we have no sales tax.... We originally thought about doing Garden Grocer and having these things delivered to the resort, but after doing a price comparison, there was no way that it would be cost efficient... For example...

  • Capri Sun Drinks - We paid $1.97, GG was $3.79
  • Pop Tarts - We paid $.99, GG was $2.69
  • Cereal Fun pack - We paid $2.49, GG was $4.19
  • Fruit Snacks - We paid $1.49, GG was $2.99
  • Sunblock - We paid $12.99 at Costco for 2 bottles of spray and a face stick, GG was $9.99 for a single bottle of spray... (We bought 6 bottles of sunscreen spray with 3 face sticks for a total of $39, where GG would have been over $60 just for the spray...

Just buying the sunscreen alone, we saved well over the $15 check fee, not to mention that we didn't have a sales tax on anything, and we would have been charged the 7% down there... And once the bag gets dropped off at my airport, it will be delivered to the room... If we would be staying in a Villa the whole visit, we would have thought more about it cause we would want perishable items like produce, but since all the stuff we will be bringing is packaged and sealed, we figured this was the better route...

Yeah, the lack of sales tax makes a big difference! Ours is 6% at home, so 7% in FL isn't a significant difference. GG is really expensive, though. We go with a different company that shops Publix and only charges the receipt total plus a flat delivery fee, so we pay pretty much the same prices for things down there as we do here.

The real reason we started ordering rather than packing everything is that I'm at Mt dew addict and Disney's one and only shortcoming is that they're a Coke place. Even when checked bags were free, I didn't see packing soda as practical! So we discovered WeGoShop and have used them on every trip since.
 
I know all about the Soda Pop thing... My wife is a Dr.Pepper fan and they don't have that either....
 


1. Getting ADR's wanted (until Wednesday the 17th)
2. Him "officially" getting the time off (until about the 1st of July)
3. Hurricanes... Must learn everything about them and review history since the beginning of time... I did this last year also... (this will be ongoing until August...)
4. Planning and having Alec's birthday party... (He is turning 10, thinking we may get him a digital camera... What do you all think?) Party will probably be 15th of August...
5. Spend 2 weeks worrying if the dogs will be alright and remember me when I get home...
6. Start REALLY worrying about hurricanes... This begins the beginning of September and lasts until our flight leaves PDX... I have the National Weather Service website programmed into my blackberry...
7. Did I forget to pack something??? This will haunt me the entire flight...
8. How to push Terry off the plane when he has annoyed me too much... :headache:
9. Once we land... I will stop worrying... Then have fun, I swear... BUT, then as we are on the flight home, I will start to worry about when we can return...

So there you have it, I admit I have issues, and some shrink is going to make a lot of money off me... I am stimulating the economy... :teacher:

Okay so with keeping my list in order...
#1 has been completed...
#2 is half way done... Terry got the first half of the time approved and we will know by next Friday if the second half is approved... Should not be an issue...

I have added in a few things for July... Well, actually starting tomorrow, my grandma called and has my little sister(she is 8, yes younger then Alec, I tried to tell my step mom that when I start having kids, she should have stopped...:laughing:) anyways, she is taking my sister to my aunts house on the coast and is meeting some of the little girl cousins over there from different states and wanted to take Tailor also... This is the first time, and I am okay with it, but will miss my princess princess:

Terry's birthday is next Friday, the 4th of July... He has to work but gets off at 6pm so we will do a nice steak BBQ and fireworks at my parents house... his parents are leaving town to go camping...

My Dad is taking Terry to Seattle for the weekend of the 17-19th for some races for his birthday gift... So I will be on my own with the kids... I think my mom and I are going to take the kids school clothes shopping...

Sometime in the beginning of August Terry may be headed to Las Vegas for 4 days... His aunt lives an hour outside Vegas and is alone out there and needs some help with things... She never had any kids so Terry is the closest thing she has got... I bought him a plane ticket for Christmas last year and sent him for New Year's and he had a great time, so we are going to try and send him at least once if not twice a year... She is a hoot, and can drink everyone I know under the table... She takes a rolling cooler full of beer everywhere she goes... :rotfl:

I got to see her over memorial day weekend... My little brother, who is in the Air Force is stationed in North Carolina, and he was sent to Vegas for training... Well, on a Friday night I mentioned to Terry as he was driving home that I should throw the kids in the car and drive to go see him for the long weekend... I was kidding with a tiny bit of hope in my voice... My brother and I are very close... We are best friends and know we can always count on each other, and it is getting harder and harder to know he is being deployed to Afghanistan soon... So, Terry said, well how much is airfare? :eek: SAY WHAT??? :love: He got home and first thing called my brother to see if he was up for me heading down... He totally was, so then Terry called my parents to see if they would watch the kids on Sunday while he worked and took me to the airport, I found a 54.00 flight on Sunday so I was going to wait until then... Well, my Mom says, "I want to go! But I have to be back on Tuesday.. " I was staying til Thursday to see Terry's aunt also... So within 30 minutes of Terry being home from work I had flights booked, hotel booked and was at Walmart at the travel section buying all those cute little bottles of stuff...

I am such a planner that this kind of trip is just not me at all... My mom doesn't do that stuff either... We flew down together and flew home apart... We got some great time with my brother and I will always be grateful for that...

He got me to go on the rides at the top pf the stratosphere... :scared1: His fellow Airmen were too scared!! :lmao::rotfl::rotfl2: My eyes were closed because I get motion sick :sick: But once the ride was not going fast I would open them and the view was amazing...
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I have the best husband in the world... All of our guy friends were thinking he was crazy for sending his wife to Vegas without him... Umm, hello I went to see my brother with my Mom...:rolleyes:

So, July is looking busier than originally thought, but that will just help time fly by...

This came out way longer then intended...:rolleyes1
 


Any luck finding the pool pics? I am anxiously waiting :surfweb:...

Sorry, I guess I didn't get any - I remember now that I didn't take the camera down on the first day, and then it rained hard on the 2nd day. We stayed there two nights after our SSR stay. Here is a link with a pool pic on this page - there are probably more on that thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1798820&page=2

The pool area is really cool - there are little paths leading to quiet hot tub areas and playground areas. We got chairs on a path behind the pool bar and facing the flamingos. Everyone was really enjoying the pool. It is kind of a green color like at WL - looks natural - and there were ducks swimming in the pool. I think it has a zero entry area.
 
He got me to go on the rides at the top pf the stratosphere... :scared1: His fellow Airmen were too scared!! :lmao::rotfl:

I have the best husband in the world... All of our guy friends were thinking he was crazy for sending his wife to Vegas without him... Umm, hello I went to see my brother with my Mom...:rolleyes:

So, July is looking busier than originally thought, but that will just help time fly by...

This came out way longer then intended...:rolleyes1

:scared1: You're just crazy - both of you!:eek: I'm glad you got to see your brother, though.
 
OMG those pictures from the Stratosphere, I would have peed my pants. Great pictures :thumbsup2.
 
I have to say I LOVE your PTR...that photos are great. They really help those that DON'T have a planning disorder get organized!!! :rotfl: Well I am joining in for the rest of the ride. I feel so behind in planning after reading this! :confused3
 
Sorry, I guess I didn't get any - I remember now that I didn't take the camera down on the first day, and then it rained hard on the 2nd day. We stayed there two nights after our SSR stay. Here is a link with a pool pic on this page - there are probably more on that thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1798820&page=2

The pool area is really cool - there are little paths leading to quiet hot tub areas and playground areas. We got chairs on a path behind the pool bar and facing the flamingos. Everyone was really enjoying the pool. It is kind of a green color like at WL - looks natural - and there were ducks swimming in the pool. I think it has a zero entry area.

I am loving that thread... Thank you for posting it!

:scared1: You're just crazy - both of you!:eek: I'm glad you got to see your brother, though.

The rides were actually pretty fun once we got over how high up it was... I wish I could have had my eyes open for the pictures, but I tried and I would have thrown up...

OMG those pictures from the Stratosphere, I would have peed my pants. Great pictures :thumbsup2.

It was kinda cute, my Mom decided she wanted to spoil her kids while we were there, so she bought some meals, and she paid for us to go to the top of the Strat and ride the rides, but she stayed down at the main casino... So since she didn't get to see us, I bought the photos as a thank you, and I knew Dad would want to see them... Well, after she got home and I was still in Nevada, I get a call from my Daddy and he was saying how proud he was of us to do that, and he had taken the pictures to work and showed them off, and one it his screen saver at work... It was too cute...

Aww, I love last minute unexpected awesome trips! :) Loving the pictures from the rides..haha!

For it being totally out of the blue, I had a great time... I told Terry not to be surprised that if he comes home one day to our bags packed cause I found a great deal on flights... :thumbsup2

I have to say I LOVE your PTR...that photos are great. They really help those that DON'T have a planning disorder get organized!!! :rotfl: Well I am joining in for the rest of the ride. I feel so behind in planning after reading this! :confused3

Welcome... I am feeling very behind in planning, but when I try to plan something, I realize that I don't have anything to plan... :sad2: I think we are going to get some great pictures this trip, Terry has been really getting into his camera, and is getting great shots around here...
 
Well, we are facing a hard decision tonight... We found out a family member needs some help... We are in a position to help, but we would need to go back down to CBR in order to make it comfortable to us... We are bummed after getting ourselves so excited about the new upgrade, but will be just fine at a mod... We talked and decided that no matter where we stay we will be at Disney, and if we can help out someone we love in need without putting a strain on us financially, we should do it... So, I will be calling our travel agent on Monday and asking her to put us back at CBR... :)
 
Well, we are facing a hard decision tonight... We found out a family member needs some help... We are in a position to help, but we would need to go back down to CBR in order to make it comfortable to us... We are bummed after getting ourselves so excited about the new upgrade, but will be just fine at a mod... We talked and decided that no matter where we stay we will be at Disney, and if we can help out someone we love in need without putting a strain on us financially, we should do it... So, I will be calling our travel agent on Monday and asking her to put us back at CBR... :)

I'm sure it was a difficult decision but it will turn out for the best. Disney will always be there, as well as AKL. You guys are awesome for helping out family. I know if it were me I would do the same thing. Like you said... you WILL still be at Disney so there's no need to be too bummed about it. By the time you get there and go through those Disney gates, it won't make a difference where you're staying. And you're spreading some Disney pixie dust outside of Disney too :love: Hope everything works out for your family member too.
 
Well, we are facing a hard decision tonight... We found out a family member needs some help... We are in a position to help, but we would need to go back down to CBR in order to make it comfortable to us... We are bummed after getting ourselves so excited about the new upgrade, but will be just fine at a mod... We talked and decided that no matter where we stay we will be at Disney, and if we can help out someone we love in need without putting a strain on us financially, we should do it... So, I will be calling our travel agent on Monday and asking her to put us back at CBR... :)

Your act of kindness is going to get some extra magic sprinkled pixiedust: on your vacation...just wait and see.
 
Alright... we have to call our travel agent tomorrow morning to swithc the reservation... What are your suggestions for a MOD? We are open, but need to make a decision by morning, so quick responses would be great...

Thanks
 
I keep hearing amazing things about POFQ so that's why I booked it for my trip in September. So that would be my suggestion! :)
 
We loved POFQ and POR both. POFQ is a lot smaller and usually the busses pick up there first.
 
You are so generous to help your family out. I'm sure you'll be blessed for your kindness. We would do the same, and you'll have fun no matter where you stay.

Haven't stayed mod because of DVC, but I have heard that alot of people like CSR or POR better than CBR - something about it being too spread out and not refurbished yet...:confused3
 

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