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

[JKSWonder]

Although they give you a time, your table already has your name on it before you even get there. So it really doesn't matter when you line up because you know your table will be there waiting--along with all those FABULOUSLY fun desserts!!! Don't forget to get your picture taken!! PP photographer is there and they get beautiful shots with Castle in the background!!!

Great, thank you! I am pretty excited about this. My kids are FINALLY old enough to stay up to see Wishes, so this will actually be our first time seeing the show at all, since we have always left the park early before. We are supposed to go to Liberty Tree for dinner that night, which I am now considering canceling and just doing something quick and light before so we have plenty of room for the yummy good stuff!

 

[joshsmom]

Great, thank you! I am pretty excited about this. My kids are FINALLY old enough to stay up to see Wishes, so this will actually be our first time seeing the show at all, since we have always left the park early before. We are supposed to go to Liberty Tree for dinner that night, which I am now considering canceling and just doing something quick and light before so we have plenty of room for the yummy good stuff!

We eat VERY light before this. We want a little real food in us, but not so much that we don't enjoy a few sweets!

 

[Disneylover99]

So I would love to hear from those of you who leave the park and those of you who don't leave the park in the afternoons....and really just how bad is the heat and if its so bad why is the summer one of the most popular time of the year...is everyone just mad?!

Stop worrying! Like Pigletto, this will be our fourth August trip in a row. I hate the heat....I'm a fair redhead (or greyish redhead now ) but I love Disney in August! Sometimes we take a break and sometimes we don't. We have a 9 and 6 year old so we play it by ear. Always assume it will rain (even on the sunniest day) because the weather changes quickly. We never let the heat or rain slow us down! Maybe we are crazy, but we love it, and I bet you will love it too!

 

[msyjoa]

We are paid in full as of today!! I was able to book our Wishes dessert party for 8/7, and we are 62 days out!
On a non-Disney side, I have three days of work left this year. I teach 7th grade, and I am ready for the summer!

Also, we also buy our Disney gift cards from Target and have received the 5% off. We use the Target debit card.

Question, how many of you do the photo pass? As first time visitors, I would like to know what you like or don't like about it.

 

[mrstomrice]

QOTD: From the Disney facebook page today: Who were you with when you saw Cinderella's Castle for the first time?

I was with my mom when I was 4 years old in 1982. When I went back 20 years later with my ex and her kids it was a rush walking down Main Street USA again. The memories were very vivid. It's something that sticks with you for sure.

Based on photos I saw, I know I was there as early as 1976, when I was 4, with our family of 7. I will have to ask if we has been there prior to that trip. My parents owned a motor home and we would drive to DW every year and stay at FW. We never flew down until I was 15!

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

Thank all of you for your kind words! We found out that the deployment is for sure going to happen, will be 12 months, but won't be until next June. He'll leave right as our son turns 2 and come back right as he turns 3 (he missed his birth too ) but I'm keeping positive. We get a whole year together until then!

QOTD
I also was introduced to the big pink birthday cake castle and remember being confused! I can't wait for my kids to see it!

Also got a ressie for the dessert party on 8/30!

Glad to hear you have some time together as a family before he's deployed again!

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

Yikes I was just reading a thread about how hot it is already and how terrible it is etc. Then lots of people chimed in and said they went once in the summer and would never do it again and so on and so on and so on!!! I just shouldn't read these threads as then I think maybe the end of August wasn't such a great idea but then I think when else could we have gone that isn't crazy busy with a child in high school. I know a family that goes just about every other year in August and they love it and spend all day in the parks. So now I'm just confused by it all. I know lots of people take brakes in the afternoon and I was just leaving that up in the air to see how we did. I think for the frist part of the trip when we are at Universal etc. I was thinking it would be easy to do that there as we are staying on resort and could walk but I'm not so sure it's as easy at WDW and our DHS day and AK day the parks close at 6 and 5 so I don't think we will want to leave the park on those days. Maybe I'm being silly thinking we should get as much as we can done since DH said he wasn't going back for a third time as there were to many other places he wanted to see....we didn't do as much as I would have liked our first trip as we went at the beginning of March at is was busy and I didn't have a clue what to do.
So I would love to hear from those of you who leave the park and those of you who don't leave the park in the afternoons....and really just how bad is the heat and if its so bad why is the summer one of the most popular time of the year...is everyone just mad?
I think at this point I would love to get this trip going so I can stop thinking about the heat and the storms etc. and just start to enjoy it! I don't get this crazed about other trips though I do like to plan so I know what I'm doing and how to get from point A to point B! Only 75 more days till we leave and 83 until we are at Disney!

The last two times we've been at ASMo resort too far to take that afternoon break at the resort as it was a waste of time for us, we just found shows indoors to relax in at each park. In MK we do philharmagic, in DHS muppet vision 3d, in epcot all the pavillion shows and the land pavillion too, and in AK nemo worked great to be a t the heat and give the toes a rest!

 

[cinnderly]

Yes! Well maybe not the touristy mid-town area, but when I lived on West 19th and 7th, as soon as summer hit, I could get parking in front of my building anytime I wanted - it was great!

Oh, I avoid the touristy areas at all costs. Crowds are not my favorite. Yes, this causes issues at Disney when the fireworks let out! I am not at my best in crowds, which is why I could never visit during, say, Easter week or Christmas. Yikes!

I spend most of my time on the East side -- in Harlem, the UES and the East Village. I guess most of those residents don't have the cash for heading out to The Hamptons. UES peeps excluded, of course. I go to school in that area though, a CUNY school -- us poor folk all go to CUNY.

 

[jdd]

People do it all the time, according to the boards. If you have a Target Red Card (either credit or debit) you get 5% off the Disney gsc, and if you get a 5% prescription bonus (I guess for spending XX amount on prescriptions), you can also apply that 5%, which works out to about a 9% savings.

Awesome - thanks so much for the info!!

 

[Disney Commando]

Those sound like fun! They sound similar (does anyone know for sure?) like the mid-ship detective games on DCL. Where did you find the information on them? And I totally forgot the transportation cards even existed...I wonder if we still have any kicking around here.

I will shamelessly plug one of my main sources of info, it is a Great site and Rikki does a Great job, the site is called It's A Disney World After All, It is the WDW Commando Club's recommended site for news and rumors, I find this site is usually ahead of other sites and the info is usually right on the money

As far as the Transportation Cards they are now in series 3, 1st series had 18 cards, 2nd series had 25 cards (well 27 if you got the pulled cards), and the 3rd series has 26, on our last day of our last trip in Nov I was able to find 3 of the new series cards, from what I'm gathering they are pretty much the same as the 2nd series but with 1 added card, best I can figure is that is is a bus or boat card

 

[squirrel4569]

Question, how many of you do the photo pass? As first time visitors, I would like to know what you like or don't like about it.

We used it on our last two trips and used the Photopass plus on the last trip. We absolutely love it. My wife is a scrapbooker so we have to have a million pictures of everything. The pictures are great quality and everyone is in the pictures, which is also nice. If you pre-order you get a discount on the CD and the PP+ includes most, if not all, of the ride photos and a bunch of the Character Meal photos too. We took the opportunity last Thanksgiving to get family Christmas pictures done and the BBB Castle package to get DD2's 4 year old pictures as well.

 

[joshsmom]

I just realized that I don't have to set my alarm for 5:50am Central Time tomorrow to check for August Dessert Party availability!!!
WhatEVER will I do with my time now??? Hey, I got it, maybe I will actually SLEEP until I'm SUPPOSED to get up!!! Now THAT'S a plan I can live with!!!! I can go to sleep tonight knowing that the Dessert Party Reservation has been safety secured!!! Oh what a FEELING!!!!

 

[Koh1977]

Have any of you stayed at CBR? Thoughts?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Whereisalyssa]

We just made a dessert party ressie for 9pm on August 20th! Meep! how exciting! My little brother (18 haha) and I are keeping it a secret from our mom who is taking us on this wonderful trip as a surprise thank you!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Thank all of you for your kind words! We found out that the deployment is for sure going to happen, will be 12 months, but won't be until next June. He'll leave right as our son turns 2 and come back right as he turns 3 (he missed his birth too ) but I'm keeping positive. We get a whole year together until then!

So glad to hear the deployment is not imminent . Here's to a year of making some great memories together to help carry you through your 12 months apart.

We just made a dessert party ressie for 9pm on August 20th! Meep! how exciting! My little brother (18 haha) and I are keeping it a secret from our mom who is taking us on this wonderful trip as a surprise thank you!

What a sweet thing to do for your mom . What good kids you and your brother are!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

We are paid in full as of today!! I was able to book our Wishes dessert party for 8/7, and we are 62 days out!
On a non-Disney side, I have three days of work left this year. I teach 7th grade, and I am ready for the summer!

Also, we also buy our Disney gift cards from Target and have received the 5% off. We use the Target debit card.

Question, how many of you do the photo pass? As first time visitors, I would like to know what you like or don't like about it.

We have used photopass on a number of trips and love it. I still bring my own camera, of course, but I no longer lug around my SLR, we always get everyone in the picture, which is the best part, and I love the magic shots.

I am excited about the + addition. This is the first time we are going since the + started. Last trip I bought the Chef Mickey pics and I always love the ride pics but rarely if ever spend the $ on them. I am so excited to be able to get those this time!

Actually, as I was debating the dessert party, one of the ticks in my "pro" column was that I hear there is a PP photographer there. I'm a sucker for pictures.

Glad to hear you have some time together as a family before he's deployed again!

I meant to respond to this yesterday - I too, am glad his deployment won't interrupt your trip. Hugs still...I don't know how families in the service do it. Big thanks from us for all of your sacrifice.

Have any of you stayed at CBR? Thoughts?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I stayed there twice, once in 2000 and once in 2003. The resort is great, but just very big, IMO. Back then we always rented a car as my boys were much younger and I didn't want to deal with buses and strollers and trying to get on with sleepy kids at the end of the day, etc. 2003 was actually the last trip we rented a car and after that began using Disney transportation.

I am not a fan of the internal bus system (I believe there are 7 stops), and it can take a while to get going. For that reason I only stay at POFQ when I stay on the moderate level. But the resort itself is great. I found the food court to be plentiful, the pool is great, and the theming/atmosphere is wonderful! Definitely make sure you request a specific room area. We were in Trinidad North our first trip and either Aruba or Jamaica our second (can't remember but do remember the long walk across the bridge to get coffee in the morning!....hmmm...where did my CBR mugs go...I need to go hunt in the back of my cabinet - I've been using my CR one lately. Ok, sorry, I'm digressing!).

My sister and I did the surrey bike one day and the place is HUGE, so definitely request Trinidad or Martinique if you are the type who likes to be close to the action.

We just made a dessert party ressie for 9pm on August 20th! Meep! how exciting! My little brother (18 haha) and I are keeping it a secret from our mom who is taking us on this wonderful trip as a surprise thank you!

How sweet of you! You will be there one day before us!

 

[MET270]

We are paid in full as of today!! I was able to book our Wishes dessert party for 8/7, and we are 62 days out!
On a non-Disney side, I have three days of work left this year. I teach 7th grade, and I am ready for the summer!

Also, we also buy our Disney gift cards from Target and have received the 5% off. We use the Target debit card.

Question, how many of you do the photo pass? As first time visitors, I would like to know what you like or don't like about it.

Congrats on being paid in full! I just paid our trip off yesterday! My wife and I did the photo pass on our last visit and loved it. You don't have to carry your camera with you and they take great quality photos in the best locations. I would definitely recommend it!

 

[jdd]

Have any of you stayed at CBR? Thoughts?

We've stayed there twice and I love it! It's my favorite moderate (and we've stayed at them all), and where I picked to stay for our anniversary weekend. The grounds are so beautiful and the theming is fantastic.

Most of the complaints I hear are about the size, but that wasn't a problem for us. We requested (and got) the Jamaica section both times - it's a short (5-7 minutes) walk across a little tropical island to the main pool/food court area. I did this every morning to pick up breakfast, fill up our mugs, etc - so peaceful and gorgeous. We didn't stay in the Pirate rooms, but I'm sure that would be so cool with young kids.

There are a few great threads on the boards about CBR - and mickeystoontown has written several trip reports about her visits there. Check them out!

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

Have any of you stayed at CBR? Thoughts?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We're staying for the first time this summer, check out the CBR resorts thread and theres a photo thread too!

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

We just made a dessert party ressie for 9pm on August 20th! Meep! how exciting! My little brother (18 haha) and I are keeping it a secret from our mom who is taking us on this wonderful trip as a surprise thank you!

What a great surprise! I'm trying to talk DH into it but not winning on the price tag lol!