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

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are back from our trip and we had a fantastic time - I'll give you guys a little mini report after I catch up on all these posts that I've missed!

Welcome back . Looking forward to reading your TR!

 

[joshsmom]

Hey there Lady!!! So happy to "see" you!! We just bought airfare for an August trip! Can you believe it was a year ago we were watching illuminations form the boat??? That was so much fun!!! The kids already asked if we could do that again. We are ready for another Disney trip and hoping to stay onsite at AoA.

Hey!!!! Nice to see you too!!!!! When are you going in August?? We are there 1-12!! We were supposed to go next week, but Josh is having some medical issues. Its all good though!! LOVED watching Illuminations from the boat! That was an AWESOME addition to our trip!!!

Hope you all are happy and healthy! We are at ASMo again this time!

 

[Disneyforus]

Hey!!!! Nice to see you too!!!!! When are you going in August?? We are there 1-12!! We were supposed to go next week, but Josh is having some medical issues. Its all good though!! LOVED watching Illuminations from the boat! That was an AWESOME addition to our trip!!!

Hope you all are happy and healthy! We are at ASMo again this time!

We will be there 8/22-8/29. I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread, but I see Josh had a transplant by your ticker....I will pray for healing and health for him. A very dear friend of ours just had a double lung transplant about 8 wks ago, and it has been quite the journey...
So glad you are getting to go celebrate in a couple months...Disney is good for the soul!!
What fun new things are you planning for this trip?
I want to try and get to the Desert party this time...we'll see...

 

[joshsmom]

We will be there 8/22-8/29. I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread, but I see Josh had a transplant by your ticker....I will pray for healing and health for him. A very dear friend of ours just had a double lung transplant about 8 wks ago, and it has been quite the journey...
So glad you are getting to go celebrate in a couple months...Disney is good for the soul!!
What fun new things are you planning for this trip?
I want to try and get to the Desert party this time...we'll see...

I have been STALKING the website for the Dessert Party!! Are you on this thread too: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3003279 It will tell you when August schedule opens up for Dessert Party.

We have ADRs for Be Our Guest, Tusker House Breakfast, and Rainforest Cafe. Those are all firsts for us. We are also taking the Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour.

Josh's transplant was actually 10 years ago (kidney). He has been in rejection since March. He has his biopsy today to see if the rejection is better! Wen are hoping!!!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Since we're offsite, the discount release doesn't affect us or our plans.

I was thinking this morning, though....I have nothing to do to pass the time. No discounts to watch for, no resort switches to consider. How the heck am I going to pass the next 15 weeks?!?

I need a vacation task. Something else to PLAN . But the plans are all in place. Oh, what a connundrum!

I will admit to stalking the Jetblue website to watch for decreases in our flight prices (no such luck yet.....just creeping higher and higher) as well Livingsocial and Groupon (not that we need any more activities....but I just need something TO DO! ). Ah well, it keeps me busy.

Thank goodness for you guys to keep me company as we count down.

Will JetBlue credit you a difference if the fare drops? Or do you have to pay the change fee?

That's really interesting. I've only looked into getting an AP briefly, but we'll have to consider it for the future. Now that we've added Disney cruises to our vacation lineup, our WDW stays have been decreasing. But in the event we'll have at least two full WDW vacations we can cram into one pass, I'd definitely look into it!

Actually, if you are cruising out of PC, then an AP can be great for the day before or the day after the cruise. We always fly in the night before (our flight was delayed 4 hours the other day - had it been the day of the cruise I would have been panicking!) and then we hit DTD on our last day before a late flight. If we had had APs we definitely would have hit a park for a few hours! You should also look at TIW and see if that can offset some meal costs if there is no FD. I always loved the freedom the few years we had APs, but the majority of the time it doesn't pay for us.

Ok, well just booked the RO discount-still bummed about missing FD for the 2nd year in a row!!!

Once the last teenager in the house is out of school, I'll be able to go on vacation whenever I want-and not when the schools tell me to!

Anywhoo, at least Im back officially on the TeamAugust bandwagon....now where'd I put those pom-poms?????

IKWYM about the school schedules, too! I can't wait to not have to worry about fitting vacations into everyone's schedule!

I just got a free dining pin code for the last week of August!!

It actually makes it cheaper to stay onsite than off so Port Orleans French Quarter here we come!

I will list the details of the PIN here so you guys know what to look for and there are two reasons I could have got it. One because I hadn't booked onsite so as far as they knew I wasn't coming and it says "Since you've been here before we wanted to make it easy for you to come back and see us again!"

The other reason I may have got it is I've been pricing out onsite trips the past few days. So don't lose hope.. call and check .. there IS a free dining pin the last week of August out there!

Here are the details..



It excludes campsites, Little Mermaid rooms and 3 bedroom suites.

Woo Hoo!!!!!! I just had beignets at POFQ on Sunday - yum! I love POFQ - it's my favorite moderate. I'm so glad you got the PIN and you have resolved the on-off site struggle!

Going to Coronado Springs!!!! She agreed to the upgrade based on the bigger beds. LOL
I am thrilled! Oooh Gotta change my ticker.

Woo Hoo! And I agree on the bed thing - you will be happier!

The wedding will be 2 days before our Disneymoon on Aug 10, back home in Canada.

But I'm taking 8 other people with me, including my bridesmaids, cousins, and siblings! It's going to be a busy honeymoon, haha

I went on a honeymoon like that! No, it wasn't MY honeymoon - but there were 19 of us, and every time they announced that the couple was on their honeymoon in the restaurants, they would point out the large group they brought with them. We got a lot of funny looks Congrats on your wedding!

Congrats to all who got pins! Those dates wouldn't work for us as school starts in Texas before Labor Day. We actually have a shorter trip than we'd like because we have to be back Friday night to have "Meet the Teacher" night and find out what class DD1 will be in come Monday morning.

We're at 99 days today! Woohoo! Double digit dance!

To pass the time since I have all of our ADRs all set (except for BOG) and there isn't much to do between now and then I started poking around at cruise times and costs for next year. We're considering doing a half and half trip where we do a few days at the parks and then a few days on a cruise. With our dates that we had in mind I think we could do 5 park days and then 3 cruise days to wind down. Of course 3 days on a cruise is the same price as a week at WDW but many have said it's a wonderful time. We've never cruised before so a short cruise sounds like a good intro. Also would be a nice way to wind down from a Disney trip since they can be pretty taxing.

I have a BOG ADR for 8/26 at 6:40 that I am going to cancel. Can you use it? If so, let me know and I will cancel it at a time you can jump on it (although I don't know if it gets released right away). If you can't use it, anyone else?

Not having enough to plan is how we just got off a cruise It is a wonderful time and we have done the three day several times (this was our 4th trip), but I wouldn't count on winding down too much - it's go go go!! There's a ton to do!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Will JetBlue credit you a difference if the fare drops? Or do you have to pay the change fee?

They will give us a credit if the fare drops .... to be used (I think) within one year. No change fee if we keep the same flights/dates . So far, on every Jetblue flight we have ever booked (a total of 7 so far) flights have only ever gone up, not down, but ya never know.

We got lucky on our Christmas trip with Airtran and got a $20 pp credit that allowed us to upgrade to business class for a pittance .

So I keep watching . It gives me something to do!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

That's what we are doing, 4 days in Disney then a 4 night on Royal Caribbean - Enchantment of the Seas (the name of the ship fits the Disney theme for our Princess) LOL
Over $1,000.00 difference, we've gone on 2 Disney cruises so we also wanted a change.

We've done RCCL and Disney (and Princess and Celebrity too). RCCL is great - tons of activities, the kids will love it, etc. But it's not Disney. I think the big decision is, do you want to stay in the Disney bubble, or do you want to take a cruise. Disney, as you'd expect, does go above and beyond, IMO.

For this past weekend cruise, I NEEDED a Disney fix and no other cruise was going to do that for me. But if you just want to try it out, you will have a great time on RCCL.

We'll have to do a room only the night before our package starts too. We fly in on Friday night and stay at the Marriott by the airport (free shuttle, decent hotel and was a very good deal) and then we were moving to Bonnet Creek. But now that we have free dining at POFQ, that doesn't start until Sunday. I think we'll book a LM room at AoA to check out the resort. I don't even think we'll do a park the first day but just take it easy, relax at the pool and head to DTD and go to Earl of Sandwich for dinner since the kids love it there.

Sounds like a great plan!

So I called and the CM told me that I would have to book a new reservation for the last 4 nights, and shorten the original reservation to 3 nights. And she said they could not guarantee that I would have the same room, though they usually try to keep it that way if possible. So, would this mean I would have to check out of my room at 11 and then wait until 3-4 to check back into the same room?!?

*** gave me a price for POR for the same dates for about $20 cheaper (and all one reservation), but DW likes the look of CBR better. We haven't stayed at either, so have no opinion either way really. This just seems to be much easier then having 2 reservations.

I have never used *** before, anything to be concerned about with them as opposed to just using Disney directly?

Thanks and have a Magical Day!

My preference would be POR. I've stayed at CBR twice and it's ok, IMO, but I love the POR/POFQ resorts so much more!

As for ***, we are using them this trip and so far have been happy.

The thought of leaving a glitter trail across the US is just too adorable!

I'm still just figuring all of this out... (I have no idea what this will look like once I hit "post") I used to just lurk. I did notice they extended the hours of operation for MK on several days between 8/18 & 8/31. Does that mean they're anticipating larger crowds?

See! My ticker thing didn't work. UGH!

I see your ticker! And thanks for the reminder that I need to go check those hours! I am not looking forward to larger crowds, but extended hours are good for us - with teens we are more night owls these days so the later the parks are open, the better.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

QUESTION OF THE DAY??
If staying on site and flying in, Are you using Magic Express?
Are you as afraid as I am that you will not get your luggage until 10pm at night and will miss out on swimming your arrival afternoon, and then will have weepy kids who don't have their 'jammies to sleep in??
Why have I only read horror stories about ME?

We will definitely use DME!!!! It is by far one of the best on site perks, IMO. We have never had a problem either coming or going and am not too worried about that. We did have a bag go missing at MCO once, but they found it and JetBlue dropped it off at the airport. We actually were headed to the HRH for the first two days that trip so we were only using DME on the way back and realized the bag was missing before we left the airport, but like I said it was tracked down so fast, you may not even know it had been missing had it come through DME.

As for the bathing suits, pack them in your carry-on, along with any meds, a small sunscreen and anything you'd want if you plan to head off to the parks. But in our experience (which is taking the earliest flight in possible), we have usually still been just checking out our room when our luggage has arrived. I have never had an experience of it coming in late.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

We've done RCCL and Disney (and Princess and Celebrity too). RCCL is great - tons of activities, the kids will love it, etc. But it's not Disney. I think the big decision is, do you want to stay in the Disney bubble, or do you want to take a cruise. Disney, as you'd expect, does go above and beyond, IMO.

For this past weekend cruise, I NEEDED a Disney fix and no other cruise was going to do that for me. But if you just want to try it out, you will have a great time on RCCL.

I agree. We don't cruise Disney because we love cruising, we cruise Disney because we love Disney! For us, having a cheaper cruise elsewhere isn't the deciding factor, it's which Disney ship and itinerary can we try next!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Last year (with the help of Gina Bo-Bina (thanks again!)) I got an AMAZING rental deal with Alamo. We got an economy car for 10 days for $157...? Something like that. It was awesome. I really prefer having my own vehicle, probably because living in NYC and getting about by public transportation for years makes waiting around feel pretty old -- and inconvenient.

Rentals seem much steeper this year though, and I'm not sure we can swing it. If prices don't go down then we will definitely be using ME. I like the idea of them handling our luggage, but I don't love the idea of using Disney transport all week.

Keep checking the codes and sites! We rented a car for this past Sunday to go from the port to DTD and then back to MCO. When I first booked it was $108 for an SUV for the day (it always cost more to drop off in a different location). By the time I actually rented the car, I got a Ford Expedition for $42!! Just keep checking Mousesavers for codes, and then keep changing your ressie.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I can thank the kind souls on the transportation board for all their help. Here is the link to the specific thread which gave me the discount code (then I applied a coupon from the Entertainment Book to lower the cost down even further):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2878667



I think the entire resort has been through a refurbishment since your stay as well. The photos of the villas are gorgeous (and the resort itself has so much to offer.....we have a couple of "resort days" scheduled in to the plans for that very reason). And 1200+ square feet for our private enjoyment plus a screened in balcony is very appealing.



I think it makes a huge difference with the ages of the people you are travelling with. Teenagers (even an awesome one like my boy) and little kids have very different needs and it puts a whole different spin on vacationing. He couldn't give a hoot about the Disney icons or the monorail running through the lobby, but desperately wants a resort with multiple pools and recreational pursuits (beach volleyball, basketball, mini golf, etc.). And he sure doesn't want to sleep in the same room with his mom and snoring dad . We enjoyed our POR stay in 2009, but we've just outgrown that small space.

I betcha I'll take my grandbabies some day to AoA. 'Cause I'm gonna be a cool Nana like that .

My DS17 still wants to stay on Disney grounds. He has never stayed anywhere else (well, except GKTW). The only thing he wants is his own bed. Grandma and I share a bed and he gets his own. After that, he's good.

I'm one of those who can see the benefits to offsite and to onsite. It's a personal decision and maybe even a different decision every time
We still do ok in one room. DD and I share a bed and ds and dh share a bed. We're a bunch of Disney nuts too so that helps
However I can't say more space wouldn't be nice. I wish I could have the space of offsite with the feel of onsite for the price of offsite.. then I would move there

I agree with both sides of this. We love the more space and for the past few trips have chosen either a DVC property or two rooms. This trip I had a 2BR villa at the BC booked, but the deal we got for two rooms was much better. And Poly's only option without spending an insane amount was two rooms. Yes, we could save a TON staying offsite, but my boys really LOVE being onsite. I wasn't sure how they'd be this year, if they were getting too old for it, etc. But after seeing their reactions the other day, it warmed my heart to see how the magic still affects them! They loved the cruise of course, but our few hours at DTD and POFQ just put us in such a Disney mood! My just turned 17 yo has been listening to Disney music and suggested we try to view all 51 animated movies prior to August I love it! And the person who was happiest was this guy we met while we were doing the CC 5k...his kids were young and he was so happy to see and hear how our boys were still so into Disney because he was afraid the magic would disappear when his kids got older!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

WOW, you covered a lot of ground in that post!! Looks like you might be caught up!! Its AMAZING how fast this thread moves!! Welcome back and thanks for the prayers for Josh. He has a biopsy today so we should know more after that!!

I'm thinking lots of positive thoughts for today - please let us know how the biopsy goes.

 

[squirrel4569]

I have a BOG ADR for 8/26 at 6:40 that I am going to cancel. Can you use it? If so, let me know and I will cancel it at a time you can jump on it (although I don't know if it gets released right away). If you can't use it, anyone else?

Not having enough to plan is how we just got off a cruise It is a wonderful time and we have done the three day several times (this was our 4th trip), but I wouldn't count on winding down too much - it's go go go!! There's a ton to do!

I appreciate the offer but we're only there until the 22nd. Hope someone else from our group can use it though. That's a great time.

 

[squirrel4569]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

For me personally I prefer to leave cooking and cleaning up to others while I'm on vacation. The ability to have laundry facilities in the event of an accident (which happens when traveling with children) is a nice thing, but we don't tend to pack/plan to do laundry while we're traveling. We've tried doing some in-room eating and that winds up being a huge hassle as our kids have the uncanny ability to spill everything at just about the worst possible time.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

For me personally I prefer to leave cooking and cleaning up to others while I'm on vacation. The ability to have laundry facilities in the event of an accident (which happens when traveling with children) is a nice thing, but we don't tend to pack/plan to do laundry while we're traveling. We've tried doing some in-room eating and that winds up being a huge hassle as our kids have the uncanny ability to spill everything at just about the worst possible time.

Same here. We don't do laundry or cook. Since we only eat at Disney once a year, we take the opportunity to buy everything from drinks to snacks to food at the parks and resort!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

We will do laundry as needed, and it will be easy when we have our own washer and dryer in our villa. I love returning home without a week's worth of dirty clothes to wash. Just makes the transition back to reality so much easier for me.

The only meals we will cook in the villa are breakfasts (and only on certain days, as we have two character breakfasts planned and we always hit Dunkin Donuts on our returning home day). We have a full kitchen with a dining area and a breakfast bar, so crafting up some bacon and eggs or pancakes and sausage will be a minimal task. And with the boy having his own separate bedroom, we can get up early (if we want) and brew a pot of coffee to enjoy on the balcony without disturbing his sleep .

Cleaning.....we will leave that to the housekeeping staff . We have daily maid service at the Vistana so no need to make beds or clean up after ourselves.

 

[pigletto]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

Depends on what type of room I am in for the cooking. We normally keep enough to have a quick breakfast in the room (cereal, juice, fruit) but that's about it for cooking. Laundry yes. I always do a pool day (because most laundry rooms are right beside the pools) and wash everything a day or two before we go home. I'm with Gina.. I hate brining home dirty clothes. It's a nice relaxing few hours for me to lay by the pool and read a book and change the laundry over. It's not much work and makes the coming home blues much better.

 

[joshsmom]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

I prefer not to have to do anything while on vacation. We stay onsite at Disney (value resorts) so we don't have the cooking option (DARN!). We try to keep our room neat and tidy, but appreciate how nice Mousekeeping makes it look. As for laundry--its a necessary evil usually. We are going in August, so we will probably use more clothes than in May. We tend to wash about half-way through our trip. we work it into our schedule as "down time". DS swims while Grandma and I wash. It works for us!!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Ok, I will keep this short since this isn't a TR thread, but for those of you wanting to pass the time, here's a brief recap of our weekend, and I will try to post a link for pictures at the bottom if you need more of a fix :

We had a great time on our cruise, and it was such a great Disney fix! Everything went perfectly except our inbound flight, which was delayed because of weather. But it was ok....all we were going to do was head to our room at the Hyatt MCO and sleep until morning. We got in around 2 am and the very nice Hyatt people upgraded us to a suite, which was enormous and had three bathrooms, which was heaven sent since we were going to be operating on much less sleep than we thought - having three bathrooms for the morning was a great time saver! We used the luggage transfer service, so we tagged our bags (like you do for DME) and left them in our room and crossed our fingers we'd see them on the ship It's funny because just reading the QOTD about DME, I never worried about missing luggage with them...figured they'd get it to me eventually. But if the bags missed the ship, that would be a problem!

Anyway, it all went fine - they arrived safe and sound and early! So we headed off to have breakfast and at about 9:50 got on line for the bus. We got to the port around 11:00, used the Castaway Club check-in line, which had no wait, and walked on the ship. We had a PAT of 11:00-11:30 and were boarding group 3. So when people tell you you are an obsessive planner, just smile and know you are doing a good thing - getting up at midnight 90 days prior to check-in and request an early boarding time worked! We had the pool deck to ourselves for quite a while!

We had lunch, checked out the kids' clubs, rode the aquaduck, swam and then got ready for dinner. We saw the Golden Mickeys and then ate at the Enchanted Garden.

In Nassau, we did a walking tour that I had printed from a google search. It turned out to be a great experience. Back on board we had massages, the boys went off and did their thing - sometimes in the Edge and Vibe clubs, sometimes on their own. Dinner was at the Royal Palace that night and was wonderful (actually all the food was amazing - much better than other cruise lines). This was also pirate night and we had a great time with Jack Sparrow! The pirate party was fun and the fireworks were fantastic!

The next morning we hit Castaway Cay. My DW, DS 12 and I ran the 5k, which was fun! It was also hot and I normally don't eat or drink like I'm on a cruise the night before I run lol, but it was still all good. The weather was perfect, and we had such a great time on CC. We relaxed, swam, the boys snorkled, played soccer, enjoyed Pelican Plunge and then we all did the sting ray experience. It was such a perfect day. That night we were at Animator's Palate and celebrated DS (now 17)'s bday. He celebrated his 4th birthday at AP on the Wonder and now his 17th at AP on Dream. It was very sweet Before dinner we saw Believe and were all piles of Disney mush by the end

The next morning disembarkation was a breeze after breakfast and we took the Budget shuttle to get our car. This was also a breeze as there was no one on line when we got there. We headed to DTD and were walking in by 11:00 (we had 8:00 breakfast and disembarked around 9, so not bad time wise). We were soooooooo excited to be on Disney property We hit the West Side and walked and shopped our way back. Then we ate at T-Rex (no ADR, just walked up). Ok, this was a first and a last I don't know if I'm just getting old or my kids have grown up a bit from their Rainforest days, but wow, it was LOUD. The food was very good though. And if you have younger kids into dinosaurs, it's fantastic! Just not for me anymore

After I decided a nice quiet boat ride would be in order. We took the boat to POFQ, just to enhance my happiness . We walked around, had beignets at the food court and then took the boat back and finished shopping in the MP. Oh, and speaking of shopping, I am in TROUBLE. Serious trouble. I think on our last trip I had been so many times in a short period that the merchandise was a little tired to me. But now it's been a couple of years and there's new stuff out there and I want it all I did splurge on the cruise and got a Dooney bag and a chamilia charm for my bracelet. So at DTD I was good - just a t-shirt and mug, but my boys got our Mother's Day gifts that day, so I made out well ;-).

We headed back to MCO, returned the car and got ready to head home. It was a quick trip, but so well worth it. The boys are ECSTATIC for our August trip now - they were excited but hadn't gotten really into the planning. Now they are all about it - should make for a fun summer of anticipation! I'm so glad I decided to do it!

Here's a link to my Photobucket album if anyone wants to see pics:

http://s1279.photobucket.com/user/ccookie49/library/Disney Dream Cruise 2013

 

[momto3gr8boys]

QOTD: Do you do routine household stuff like laundry and cooking while you're on your trip or do you prefer that to be left at home since you're on vacation?

For me personally I prefer to leave cooking and cleaning up to others while I'm on vacation. The ability to have laundry facilities in the event of an accident (which happens when traveling with children) is a nice thing, but we don't tend to pack/plan to do laundry while we're traveling. We've tried doing some in-room eating and that winds up being a huge hassle as our kids have the uncanny ability to spill everything at just about the worst possible time.

I try to avoid as much as possible, but I have done laundry at Disney on most trips, and with ten days this August, I have a feeling I will need to again.

I don't do any cooking, but I will do a GG order for breakfast to eat in the room. It is more of a time saver than anything else. We will do four resort breakfasts (TS), and the rest they can either eat in the room or go to the food court, but either way they need to be ready when I say go