9 Months, 3 Trips, 1 Grand Gathering?!?! ~ A PTR

[dtr_angel]

Mama Melrose is one we were thinking about for March but decided against... we both love Italian food but didn't like Tutto Italia as much as we thought we would, so we're skipping Italian this time... it just can't compare to this awesome local authentic Italian place we have at hope!

We also hoping to have a CS lunch in DTD at Wolfgang Puck Express. We ate at the WPC for dinner in June and were dissapointed, it would've made a better lunch and I hear WPE is the best deal in CS on the DDP.

We're already looking into adding Teppan Edo to our August ADR's when it's time.

As far as character dining - we only have done Chef Mickey's but we LOVED it, I think my husband more than me! So we're eating there for dinner on St. Patrick's Day. Since we liked it so much, this time we're also adding Restaurant Akerhaus (I'm a big fan of Princesses), Crystal Palace, and a breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. Le Cellier was probably our most favorite meal on our honeymoon.

 

[michellem1118]

you are so organized!!! I can't even imagine what it would be like to plan a Disney vacation for that many people!! Or even be stuck in WDW with my in laws, lol. My dance studio is dancing in Disney World in June and my MIL and SIL decided to go (hubby and I already decided to take a week vacation in June anyway) but we both realized we didn't want to be in Disney in June AGAIN so we rescheduled for Spring Break in March which is better since it's closer and it won't be as hot. I can't wait!

We have never been at AK in the dark so I'm excited about the evening EMH.
We haven't eaten at Earl of Sandwich either but we can't wait to try it this time! Your ADRs sound good. We had a hard time picking this time, so we're already picking out restaurants for August LOL.

Yay, another reader! Welcome! So you're avoiding June in favor of August?!?!?! LOL August is HOT & HUMID at WDW!

Hi Michelle! Sorry for going MIA...I've missed lots of updates!!! You've got some great dining planned and so excited you got your December trip booked! Have you been in December yet? It's beautiful, you're going to love it!! What about Le Celliar for your anniversary in Canada? We really loved their food...

What is Tables of Wonerderland? Never heard that before, is that only something you can get for having DVC? Fill me in!

Glad DH started his job and it sounds like it's going to work our great schedule wise for you guys!!

Love the tshirts and binders!! Does your family know they are coming? Have they rec'd them yet? They are going to be so impressed!!! Did you make the design? I"m trying to come up with something cute and small for my Mom's upcoming trip.....that's cute cause it's small!!!!

Hope all is well and looking forward to more updates!!!

Le Cellier is actually one of our favorites, but I think we're going to try Victoria & Alberts for our anniversary dinner... we both really want to try it out, and we need a REALLY good reason to spend that kind of money! We're skipping Le Cellier in March, but will probably eat there in July & probably with the whole family in December as well.

The "Tables in Wonderland" card used to be called the Disney Dining Experience card... its a discount card available to annual passholders, and we're looking into it since we're getting APs this year (I'm ordering them next week! ) I believe they get you 20% off the total bill for dinner (including the alcohol), but then they add in an 18% gratuity automatically.

We mailed the folders out on Monday evening, so I'm thinking they'll arrive today or tomorrow... DH just spoke to his mom and she didn't mention anything, so either she hadn't checked her mail yet, or it didn't arrive today. I think he told her to expect something, but not sure if he actually told her exactly what it was. I believe I got the castle/balloon part of the design from someone on the DISign board, but I modified it to make the t-shirt logo and customized info for the folders & binder myself.

I'm soooooo happy that I was able to book the rooms for December. I ended up being on the phone with DVC member services for a few minutes into my first period class, and my students were admonishing me to get off the phone. Our school has a strict no cell phone policy for the kids... oops. But I got the rooms I wanted for the dates I wanted.... now I just have to deal with trying to get the three rooms at SSR close together... and MIL wants me to try at the 7-month mark to change our ressie from AKL to SSR.... but I'm pretty sure we're going to need that tiny bit of privacy that an entirely different resort allows, so I don't think I'll be able to make that change....

I'm hoping to have some updates about all the trips coming soon....

 

[michellem1118]

Mama Melrose is one we were thinking about for March but decided against... we both love Italian food but didn't like Tutto Italia as much as we thought we would, so we're skipping Italian this time... it just can't compare to this awesome local authentic Italian place we have at hope!

Oh, you've gotta try Mama Melrose! We're also big on Italian food (heck, DH is Italian!), and we really like it (but didn't really care for Tutto Italia), MM is definitely the better of the two... and almost never has a long wait, we've been able to walk in with no ressie and no crowds to speak of....

 

[dtr_angel]

well my husband's birthday is in August, and it's cheaper, and hopefully less crowded. Plus, my MIL won't be there

 

[michellem1118]

well my husband's birthday is in August, and it's cheaper, and hopefully less crowded. Plus, my MIL won't be there

I don't remember the crowds being too bad in August... certainly no worse than they usually are over Spring Break! And I think not being there with your MIL is a great reason! We're only going w/ both sets of parents in Dec. because DH's family lives in NY, and we (and my family) live in Texas... and rather than having to alternate where to spend Christmas every year, we're hoping to start a tradition where everyone travels to the same place for the holidays... until we have kids, then everyone will have to come to us!

 

[michellem1118]

Just a quick update... we ordered our AP's on Monday! It's exciting, but I'm not happy about the amount charged to my American Express... even with the DVC discount!

Also, we only have 5.5 weeks left until our trip!

And on an non-trip-related note, we're going house hunting on Saturday, looking to buy our first home! (our first mortgage was DVC, though... my MIL thinks we did things a bit backwards... lol )

 

[ktmetke]

Your folders are absolutely beautiful! I planned a Disney Vacation/Cruise last September for 8 adults and 7 kids and I wish I had thought to do what you did! Fantastic!

 

[michellem1118]

Your folders are absolutely beautiful! I planned a Disney Vacation/Cruise last September for 8 adults and 7 kids and I wish I had thought to do what you did! Fantastic!

Thanks, and to my pre-trippie!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Hey Michelle! Saw on my TR that you put in a bid for a house yesterday, any word yet? Keeping my fingers crossed for you, that's SO exciting!!!!! Fill me in on the details...what type of house are you bidding on? I love house shopping!!!!!

 

[michellem1118]

Hey Michelle! Saw on my TR that you put in a bid for a house yesterday, any word yet? Keeping my fingers crossed for you, that's SO exciting!!!!! Fill me in on the details...what type of house are you bidding on? I love house shopping!!!!!

We didn't get the house from Saturday, the listing agent had 4 or 5 offers when he got to work Monday morning! But, we went out again Monday night because another one hit the market in the same neighborhood, so we put a bid on that one last night, and it was accepted this morning! So, it appears we're going to be homeowners! The house is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath single story house... I'm hoping to have pictures this weekend - we need to set up the inspection, so when we go out for that & have access to the house, I'll get some pictures to post.

Now, just have to figure out how to get out of our lease so we don't have to pay rent & mortgage payments for 2 months, we'll never be able to afford it!

And, to make this not totally , our annual passes came in the mail the other day, and we're considering adding one more night to our March trip if I can figure out how to get on to the AP website to check room rates...

 

[princess&her4princes]

We didn't get the house from Saturday, the listing agent had 4 or 5 offers when he got to work Monday morning! But, we went out again Monday night because another one hit the market in the same neighborhood, so we put a bid on that one last night, and it was accepted this morning! So, it appears we're going to be homeowners! The house is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath single story house... I'm hoping to have pictures this weekend - we need to set up the inspection, so when we go out for that & have access to the house, I'll get some pictures to post.

Now, just have to figure out how to get out of our lease so we don't have to pay rent & mortgage payments for 2 months, we'll never be able to afford it!

And, to make this not totally , our annual passes came in the mail the other day, and we're considering adding one more night to our March trip if I can figure out how to get on to the AP website to check room rates...

Yay!!! How exciting!!!! Good luck with the inspection and figuring our rest/mortgage...that's always so stressful, so I hope it goes smoothly for you. Keeping my fingers crossed here. Can't wait to see the pics!!

And you're making your trip longer next month, woohoo!! Any more details of the trip?

 

[michellem1118]

Yay!!! How exciting!!!! Good luck with the inspection and figuring our rest/mortgage...that's always so stressful, so I hope it goes smoothly for you. Keeping my fingers crossed here. Can't wait to see the pics!!

And you're making your trip longer next month, woohoo!! Any more details of the trip?

Well, since you asked...

We have a bit of a dilemma to solve... it seems we can't get out of our lease, so we're going to have at least one month, and maybe two, where we have to pay both rent & a mortgage payment. We're still taking all of our WDW trips, so no worries there, but now to figure out some important things...

First, there are no passholder special rates for the night I wanted to add to the trip, so that night will most likely still be spent off-site, probably an hour or so out of Orlando. I just can't justify the $150 that Disney wants for a value that night. So really, no extra time for the March trip.

Second, we have to decide what to do about meals. We have a bunch of ADRs made, with the assumption we would either add the DDP or get the "Tables in Wonderland" dining discount card. Even with the DDP, we'll have to pay for probably one meal out of pocket, so the TiW card causes it to basically break even. But... now we're thinking that for $100 or so less, we can get the quick service DDP, and just choose one ADR to keep as our one meal OOP for the week. I'm leaning towards this, since it will save us at least $100 overall - I'll just budget that savings for souvenirs, and we'll be really careful about what we buy! The cost of food is pretty much covered by what is left from our tax refund after we pay for the APs.

Third.... dang, I can't remember the other dilemma right now! But I know there is one... it was probably about the July trip though. On that trip, I think we're going head to Florida a few days early and spend some time with DH's uncle in Tampa before checking in at AKV on our anniversary. Man, I wish I could remember what I was going to type!

I have a few pictures of the inside of the house we'll own in another month or so, but I haven't uploaded them from the camera yet. I'm hoping to get around to that this weekend.

 

[michellem1118]

Well, we did it! We added on one night to the March trip! I was pricing hotels in the Gainesville & Ocala areas to stop at on Sunday night, and they were all running ~$100 or so a night. I was able to add a night at All-Star Movies for $150, and DH agreed that it was worth it to spend then extra $50 and have an extra night in Disney! We're also going to add the CS meal plan for the SSR portion of the trip. Three weeks from today we'll be checking in to ASMovies!!!! Trip #1 is about to be underway!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!

 

[michellem1118]

*** We interrupt this pre-trippie to bring the loyal reader(s?) a few pictures of the new house... ***

Backsplash in the kitchen:

Chandelier in the dining room:

Fireplace in the living room:

Of the 15 pictures I took, these were the only decent ones. I didn't even manage to take any of the outside of the house, or any of the rooms as a whole. Hopefully we'll get back in soon and be able to take more pictures.

*** Now back to your regularly scheduled pre-trippie. ***

 

[princess&her4princes]

Hey!! Lots of great updates!! Yay for having another day at Disney in March!!! And I love the pics you took of the house, especially the backsplash and fireplace, very nice!!! Can't wait to see the "house" in full...keep them coming!!!

 

[dtr_angel]

Congratulations on the house! We just became homeowners a few weeks ago, which is part of the reason why I have been completely MIA from DisBoards.

 

[michellem1118]

Two weeks from today we leave on trip #1!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Two weeks from today we leave on trip #1!

Yay!! Are you packed yet? You need to update us girlie..what's going on with house and everything? Fill us in when you can!!

 

[dtr_angel]

Two weeks from today we leave on trip #1!

us too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[michellem1118]

Yay!! Are you packed yet? You need to update us girlie..what's going on with house and everything? Fill us in when you can!!

us too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi! Sorry for the delay, our 6-week grading period ended last week so things were a bit crazy for a few days, trying to get all my grades submitted and deal with state testing yesterday.

Some updates... trip related first:
We officially added the extra night at All-Star Movies - did I mention that yet? - and the quick service dining plan for the Saratoga Springs portion of the trip. We're still waiting on our tax refund (it's been 5 weeks since we filed, with direct deposit, so it should be here by now!) for spending money, but otherwise we're good on the trip part. We'll start packing next week - we need to get a bunch of stuff out of our closet and to my parents house for a yard sale first. I designed a logo to put on black hoodies for the chilly nights, and got it printed onto iron-on transfers... but I can't find hoodies ANYWHERE! I guess that's what happens when you live in TX and it was 85+ degrees out today.... I'll keep looking though, don't want the iron-on's to go to waste... maybe I'll just buy us black t-shirts???

On the house front... everything is going well. I have one more bit of paperwork to get to the title company, and still need to wrap up the homeowner's insurance part of it (wow! those quotes are expensive!)... and at the end of next week, our realtor is going to ask the seller to push back the closing by ~2 weeks so that we can avoid having two months of both mortgage & rent! I'll be getting some pictures of the outside on Saturday, so I'll post them this weekend!!!

On another note, we're going to a job fair on Saturday for a school district that's closer to the house - I do NOT want to commute over an hour each way to work every day. It's just not worth it! So we're hoping to find jobs in one of several districts that are closer to the house & pay comparably to where I am right now.