ª"˜˜ª¤.¸Official Team August 2013 Thread!¸.¤ª˜˜"ª&#9733

[jenjordan]

Hello everyone!

I'm in the early stages of planning our trip for the last week of August (8/23 - 8/31)!! We went 4 years ago in November, but the kids are at an age where I don't want to take them out of school for a week, so I figured I would take advantage of our late start in Michigan and head to Disney

We are most likely going to stay off site at Windsor Hills. We stayed there last time and it was fantastic.

One question though, I was looking at the crowd calendar on touringplans.com and it has very high crowd volumes for the Studios that week, but I can't seem to find anything regarding a special event. Any idea why this would be?

I'm still trying to get through the thread and see what great advice and tips for touring in the hot summer months!

 

[OThopeful35]

Hey Everyone! Has anyone done the Pirates and Pal Cruise?? I think DS would love this.

SenecaWolf, hope you feel better soon!!

 

[Whereisalyssa]

UM, hang on......that's me fainting because you are booked and paid for and I am NEITHER. Wait, I need to faint again.....

hahaha! no worries, you'll get there! We're from Canada and the rates were too good that weekend to pass up, so we jumped in! please no fainting

 

[anjalee6]

My ticker is under 8 months. Getting closer!

 

[KSL]

My ticker is under 8 months. Getting closer!

Great! My desktop countdown timer finally broke the 250 day mark this week!

 

[OThopeful35]

My ticker is under 8 months. Getting closer!

Looks like we will be at Disney at the same time and at the same resort

 

[anjalee6]

Great! My desktop countdown timer finally broke the 250 day mark this week!

Yay!

Looks like we will be at Disney at the same time and at the same resort

. I love AKL. We debated staying at BC this time, but I can't tear myself away from AKL. Love it!

 

[SenecaWolf]

Hey friends and to the new August planners!!!

I was released from the hospital last Monday but while I was in Ian had started not feeling well. Got him to the doc on Wednesday and he was just starting pneumonia himself! Thankfully we caught it quick enough that steroids and antibiotics have managed to fight it off. So now my house has been scrubbed, cloroxed, lysoled and I can get back to normal!

SO ANYWAYS....I finally got to updating the resort list! So many people to add, so exciting! Our little group is growing quite nicely so far

These are the names I added/edited:
sofiesmom
js
DMGeurts
4disneygenerations
BeckyEsq
KSL
ilovejsparrow
krd315
pas130
Whereisalyssa
anjalee6
jenjordan

If I have overlooked anyone or have the info wrong please let me know and I'll get it fixed right up. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season and your shopping is going well. I got a million packages coming in from Amazon and have to try to keep my kids out of them LOL.

Oh, and I also paid a third of my trip balance the other day, oh what a great feeling that is!!! Kids and I have plans with my sister next month to go over restaurants so we can plan our ADR's. When I brought up getting together to plan she didn't quite get it, she was like "You're going to book in February? Why so early? How do you know thats what your going to want to eat?" Oh she's so cute, I just want to pat her on the head

 

[pigletto]

Hi Old friends and new!!

Senecawolf I am sorry to hear you were so ill. I hope you and ds are on the mend now!
Everyone I talk to has been sick lately. I am sure it's the flu hitting hard and fast. Tis the season. We've managed to avoid it so far *knock on wood*.

We are all booked for February and looking forward to it. I don't know about August this year. It's always a good time to go with the discounts and the kids being off but I think dh actually wants to go somewhere else for once
We'll see. Just thought I would pop in and say hi and Happy Holidays to you all!

 

[KSL]

Yay, I'm on the list! Thanks for updating, SenecaWolf! Glad to hear you're feeling better and hopefully Ian is, too.
I have finished my holiday shopping but the magnetic pull of the spanky new SuperTarget in my town is ruining my plan-ahead-and-stick-to-my-budget strategy! Yesterday I was browsing and found a Mickey T-shirt for $9.99 and then 5% off with my newly minted RedCard! So of course HAD to have it for DH as a stocking stuffer. Going to try to stay away from that side of town....!!!
Did I mention in an earlier post that a family we are very friendly with is planning their vacation exactly during ours? It's their first visit to WDW (well, the mom was there once for a couple of days about 30 years ago). They are staying at Pop and we are not traveling together per se, but will plan to spend several park/pool days together. The mom is one of my BFFs, their daughter is my middle DD's BFF and the dads get along great. Their son is my first DD's age and they've gone to school together for years, but they are at "that age" where boy/girl friendships get awkward. But they are both pretty easy-going so I'm sure they will be fine. Their poor DS is the only boy with 4 girls (we tip the scales everywhere we go!). Anyway...the whole point of mentioning is that we have set a date to get together to plan our our ADRs. So, even though it's too early to actually plan, I can PLAN to plan!

 

[SenecaWolf]

Hi Old friends and new!!

Senecawolf I am sorry to hear you were so ill. I hope you and ds are on the mend now!
Everyone I talk to has been sick lately. I am sure it's the flu hitting hard and fast. Tis the season. We've managed to avoid it so far *knock on wood*.

We are all booked for February and looking forward to it. I don't know about August this year. It's always a good time to go with the discounts and the kids being off but I think dh actually wants to go somewhere else for once
We'll see. Just thought I would pop in and say hi and Happy Holidays to you all!

Hey Pigletto, good to see you! So jealous that you are going in just a couple short months. How many times have you changed resorts?

Hopefully we'll see you planning along with us for August!

Yay, I'm on the list! Thanks for updating, SenecaWolf! Glad to hear you're feeling better and hopefully Ian is, too.
I have finished my holiday shopping but the magnetic pull of the spanky new SuperTarget in my town is ruining my plan-ahead-and-stick-to-my-budget strategy! Yesterday I was browsing and found a Mickey T-shirt for $9.99 and then 5% off with my newly minted RedCard! So of course HAD to have it for DH as a stocking stuffer. Going to try to stay away from that side of town....!!!
Did I mention in an earlier post that a family we are very friendly with is planning their vacation exactly during ours? It's their first visit to WDW (well, the mom was there once for a couple of days about 30 years ago). They are staying at Pop and we are not traveling together per se, but will plan to spend several park/pool days together. The mom is one of my BFFs, their daughter is my middle DD's BFF and the dads get along great. Their son is my first DD's age and they've gone to school together for years, but they are at "that age" where boy/girl friendships get awkward. But they are both pretty easy-going so I'm sure they will be fine. Their poor DS is the only boy with 4 girls (we tip the scales everywhere we go!). Anyway...the whole point of mentioning is that we have set a date to get together to plan our our ADRs. So, even though it's too early to actually plan, I can PLAN to plan!

How exciting that they are going!

My sister got a promotion at work and it has been quite hectic for her, she texted me yesterday asking how many days it was until we were going LOL. I think she is catching on to the "planning to plan" idea now herself My OCD self went and printed a list of restaurants in a nice little Excel form and I have all the menus downloaded to my tablet so that we can look over menus on the tablet while we go over restaurants on the laptop

Can't wait til the park days come out then I can add those to the Excel form. She left park day planning to me since she said she is just so happy to be going that she doesn't mind where she is on what day

 

[SenecaWolf]

Saw this on Facebook, just had to share!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Yep, we Disney lovers are obsessed. Here's an example of what I mean:

My Mom said she might be spending the winter in western Florida next year including Christmas. My first thought is, "ok, how am I going to convince my husband to spend Christmas in Disney next year"......seeing as how we are going in March and in August.........

 

[MouseIsInTheHouse]

Let me start by saying - I am new... new to DIS forums and new to Team August - although I have read a good way through the thread and you all sound like so much fun, and a wealth of information! We have a lot of planning to do and a lot of final decisions to make before I book, but we are DEFINITELY IN for August 2013. DD17 will be leaving for college the end of August and this is what she wants to do the summer before she starts college - and so... our family of 5 has started our planning for August and getting psyched!

We are planning for the first full week of August, arriving in MCO either August 3rd or 4th (seeing if we can do well on airfare from Newark, NJ) and staying until the 9th or 10th.

We have been to WDW many times - I was there 3 times before I got married. DH had never been before, so we went for our honeymoon 18 years ago (stayed at GF---AWESOME but $$$!) and since then we have taken the kids 5 or 6 times. The last 3 times we have stayed at POR and we are looking to stay someplace different. Our 3 kids will be 12, 16 and 17 and we are an EPCOT family, so when we go in August we are thinking we would really enjoy the BWI.

I have no PINs and there are no discounts floating around out there yet, but I am intending to book in January to lock it in and in the meantime, hoping that some promo or discount will pop up for us - but not expecting too much at the beginning of August.

I'd love to know what everyone here thinks about the BWI (if you have stayed or visited there). We are definitely doing park-hoppers, and this time thinking about getting the Water Park add-on to our passes... we have been in August, but in all of our trips, we have never done any of the water parks yet ---- Are they worth doing??? Also booking with dining since I am one of those people that likes to know that most everything is taken care of before I leave the house... Ideally, I'd like to just leave my wallet at home - LOL!

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here on Team August and I will definitely be picking your brains as I go...

 

[disneyderns]

Welcome! I have never been to WDW in August, so this will be a new experience for me! I can address your question about the water parks. I took our family to Blizzard Beach a couple of years ago around spring break time. My kids were 2 and 8 at the time and it was a blast. I'm definitely getting the water park passes for August. I think the heat at that time of year will necessitate them. We really enjoyed BB - however I tend to think there are more rides for older kids than for younger ones. We will probably hit both in August. I'm not sure that I would stay all day, especially if I have multiple entries, but I think it would be a nice break from touring the parks.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hi Mouse and welcome to our little group!! I can tell you that I loved our August trip. You can always beat the heat by going into shops and attractions which all have A/C!!! You'll have an awesome time!!!

 

[jenjordan]

Sat down with the kids yesterday and picked out our condo for the trip!!! Now if I can just get my husband to commit to the dates, I will finally feel like this trip is a reality!

Oldest daughter is worried that the vacation will interfere with her high school sign up day (when they get their schedules, etc), but I should be safe with the dates I've chosen. I would call the school and ask, but I don't want to be "that mom"...

 

[Loreli]

I told my brother all about our ADR choices and about the extra magic hours being released in February and how we will have mere days to get it all matched up and reserved....you should have seen his eyes glaze over as he tried to look interested. It was cute. He's a great big bro and I love him.
I am seriously rethinking all of the effort I put into planning our ADRs and meals. Maybe we will want to eat breakfast every morning...that leaves only the ADRs and cuts out all of those neat counter service places I chose. Plus it cuts out the lunch menus at those ADR restaurants.

I want the Delux Plan!! I know I know it's too much food, I know it's too expensive. But I know my mom wants to eat breakfast, my younger daughter does better with a big meal to start the day and hardly ever touches lunch due to her meds. Oh it's around $500 more for the delux plan...how could I possibly justify that expense to my wonderful mom who's footing the bill for our trip? The delux plan is alotta ADRs to manage though.
Guess I'd better get over the meal plan. It's just food after all...really good food, fancy food, Food Network kinda food...ok I digress.

 

[OThopeful35]

Welcome! I have never been to WDW in August, so this will be a new experience for me! I can address your question about the water parks. I took our family to Blizzard Beach a couple of years ago around spring break time. My kids were 2 and 8 at the time and it was a blast. I'm definitely getting the water park passes for August. I think the heat at that time of year will necessitate them. We really enjoyed BB - however I tend to think there are more rides for older kids than for younger ones. We will probably hit both in August. I'm not sure that I would stay all day, especially if I have multiple entries, but I think it would be a nice break from touring the parks.

We got the WPM option on our tickets. We have never been to either waterpark! DS is so excited, this will be his first water park

 

[KSL]

We've never been to the water parks either, and are very excited to try them out this summer! We are planning to do the water parks some mornings until about lunch-time (or whenever it starts to get majorly crowded), then go back to the villa for lunch/shower/relax and then back out to a park in the late afternoon/evening. Hopefully we'll beat the heat a bit that way, if there is any beating the heat in August!