A Disney-addicted mom plans a trip in August, 2010! *New pics #574*

[cdotla]

Wow Amanda! That sure sounded like a busy agenda for the conference! I always try to tack on a day or two when travelling like that - it is so much more enjoyable when you know you will have a bit of time to yourself! Otherwise, life can just pass us by...no second chances, right?

Laughing at the thought of you and the table of 60-something men. I have been there too, but it is getting better!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Wow, I'm tired just reading about your weekend! Glad you made it back safely.

 

[klacey1]

Sounds like a packed weekend!! It must be hard to adjust to the jet lag over such a short trip!!

 

[Charlefours]

Wow, what a busy weekend! At least you got some down time with shopping and meeting up with friends.

 

[carissanboys]

Just stopping in to say a quick "Hi"! Congrats on completing the C25K program!

 

[DrMomof3]

Wow Amanda! That sure sounded like a busy agenda for the conference! I always try to tack on a day or two when travelling like that - it is so much more enjoyable when you know you will have a bit of time to yourself! Otherwise, life can just pass us by...no second chances, right?

Laughing at the thought of you and the table of 60-something men. I have been there too, but it is getting better!

The number of women in my field is increasing slowly. I'm sure in a few more years the faces will be much different!

I would have tacked on some extra days except: #1 it was Memorial Day weekend and I wanted to hang out with the kids and #2 my DH wasn't thrilled about being left behind to "babysit" in the first place.

Wow, I'm tired just reading about your weekend! Glad you made it back safely.

Thank you!

Sounds like a packed weekend!! It must be hard to adjust to the jet lag over such a short trip!!

Totally. Jet lag sux!

Just stopping in to say a quick "Hi"! Congrats on completing the C25K program!

Thank you!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I feel like my trip planning has stalled. I'm thinking about doing autograph books but can't motivate to get going (I downloaded some pages from the autograph book thread and uploaded them to shutterfly). I just can't decide what to include. I don't want autograph hunting to take over this trip. The lines for characters can get very long and I don't want the kids too focused on that. We have a few character meals planned so I can include those in the book but I'm wondering if I should keep some extra "blank" pages and minimize the personal ones? I don't want the books to get huge or super expensive! I'm happy to hear advice or opinions!!!!

I'll save some of the day by day planning for closer to the trip. Or even after we arrive in Florida. Since most of our ADRs are for dinner and (I think?) all of those are within walking distance of our resort, we can be pretty flexible with our park plans. I'll print out touring plans for the various parks on various days. My DH sometimes likes to make last minute decisions about which park to visit on a particular day and I'm totally cool with that. If we're loving MK, we can spend an extra day there. If we're tired of the parks, we can stay at the pool. He'll read the book (Unofficial Guide) when we're actually there and pick a plan. He doesn't get into planning ahead of time but he can get excited to plan once we're in Florida. I believe in some built-in flexibility when traveling with kids!

We arrive on a Saturday evening and we're spending that 1st night at CSR. I'm leaning towards going to AK on Sunday. #1 since we'll have to take a bus from CSR regardless of where we're going, we might as well go to a park that would require a bus from BCV. #2 touringplans recommended AK that day (although I need to re-check that bc they've changed some of the recommendations). #3 While we like AK, we tend to like the other parks better. This way we can do the things we like at AK and be done with it. If we find something that we love at AK, we can always go back. Opinions? We'll probably make the final decision while we're on the plane the day before!

Amanda

 

[BippityBoo]

HI CONGRATS on CSR!!! I am excited to read about your trip!! Seems like you had a long weekend

 

[serene56]

I feel like my trip planning has stalled. I'm thinking about doing autograph books but can't motivate to get going (I downloaded some pages from the autograph book thread and uploaded them to shutterfly). I just can't decide what to include. I don't want autograph hunting to take over this trip. The lines for characters can get very long and I don't want the kids too focused on that. We have a few character meals planned so I can include those in the book but I'm wondering if I should keep some extra "blank" pages and minimize the personal ones? I don't want the books to get huge or super expensive! I'm happy to hear advice or opinions!!!!Amanda

PopPop made our character books based on our dining.
the cover page says something along the line of Dining at Disney.
next page would be crystal palace and date and time then the other pages from each charater we meet
next page is Ohana with a picture of Ohana. our date and time of reservation then the other pages are characters. etc etc.

 

[-Hope-]

I also didn't want autograph hunting to take over our trip. I included the characters we'll see with dining and the fab 5 who I'm pretty sure we'll see at AK (this is the only park where I've actually planned to do lines at the greeting trails). Then I have lots of blank pages so if we see someone with a short line and want an autograph we're prepared.

 

[cdotla]

Hey Amanda!

I think the rationale of doing AK before you get to BC makes perfect sense! Plus it will give you an idea whether you have any desire to fit any extra time at AK into the rest of the trip right at the outset.

As for the autograph books, one year I did homemade ones which turned out quite nice, but they took me forever to complete. I probably would still be making them on every trip, but I stopped because I found the kids didn't tend to treat them the way I would have hoped. I am obsessive about my books, ect. I don't like bent pages, ect. Watching my son scribble in his, and seeing how they got tossed into toyboxes after the trip made me stop going through the enormous effort. The last 2 trips I have bought ours.

However, if you could be particularly diligent about protecting the books you make, and then immediately stashing them away somewhere safe when you return to preserve them, I think it would make a great keepsake, and would certainly be a lot more special than the store-bought ones.

If I had more time I would probably try them again, especially now that the kids are older. But realistically, I am not sure I will be going down that road again.

 

[dismagiclover]

The autograph books sound fun, but I agree that it would be best to only personalize characters you know it will be fairly easy to see. The last thing you want to be doing on vacation is desparately trying to get an elusive autograph from a character that is tough to find.

 

[DrMomof3]

HI CONGRATS on CSR!!! I am excited to read about your trip!! Seems like you had a long weekend

Thank you and welcome!!!

PopPop made our character books based on our dining.
the cover page says something along the line of Dining at Disney.
next page would be crystal palace and date and time then the other pages from each charater we meet
next page is Ohana with a picture of Ohana. our date and time of reservation then the other pages are characters. etc etc.

Thanks for the ideas.

I also didn't want autograph hunting to take over our trip. I included the characters we'll see with dining and the fab 5 who I'm pretty sure we'll see at AK (this is the only park where I've actually planned to do lines at the greeting trails). Then I have lots of blank pages so if we see someone with a short line and want an autograph we're prepared.

Good idea! My kids are funny about character greetings. In the past they have sometimes insisted on waiting in line to meet and greet.

Hey Amanda!

I think the rationale of doing AK before you get to BC makes perfect sense! Plus it will give you an idea whether you have any desire to fit any extra time at AK into the rest of the trip right at the outset.

As for the autograph books, one year I did homemade ones which turned out quite nice, but they took me forever to complete. I probably would still be making them on every trip, but I stopped because I found the kids didn't tend to treat them the way I would have hoped. I am obsessive about my books, ect. I don't like bent pages, ect. Watching my son scribble in his, and seeing how they got tossed into toyboxes after the trip made me stop going through the enormous effort. The last 2 trips I have bought ours.

However, if you could be particularly diligent about protecting the books you make, and then immediately stashing them away somewhere safe when you return to preserve them, I think it would make a great keepsake, and would certainly be a lot more special than the store-bought ones.

If I had more time I would probably try them again, especially now that the kids are older. But realistically, I am not sure I will be going down that road again.

I totally relate to that!

The autograph books sound fun, but I agree that it would be best to only personalize characters you know it will be fairly easy to see. The last thing you want to be doing on vacation is desparately trying to get an elusive autograph from a character that is tough to find.

Exactly.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

A few comments first:

I just took another Board exam this morning. I really didn't study enough and it was quite painful! Let's hope I pass....

Remember the tax issues we had in April? I got this horrible phone call from my accountant while on DME in April? On my way to my conference at YC? We owed tons and tons of money. 2009 was the first year we had to pay quarterly taxes because of a change in DH's job structure so we didn't know how things would work. I *thought* I had set aside the appropriate amount for taxes and then I got this painful phone call in April. Fast forward.... Earlier this week we received a letter from NYS Department of Taxation. I figured it was a tax bill for the remainder of what we owed with our penalties, etc. Instead it was a significant refund check. Weird, right? So I faxed the info to my accountant. Back in November he told me to make a quarterly payment and I did it. But I never sent him a copy of the checks or confirmed the payment with him. I just did what he told me to do and assumed he kept track of it. He thought I'd never made the payment. So now we've WAY overpaid our taxes!!! We're going to have them apply the overpayment to the 2010 estimated taxes so it isn't cash for us to spend. But it means we DON'T have a tax problem and our financial situation is much better than I thought! Woohoo!!! Which means I'll probably be able to run the half-marathon in January!!!! I'm SO relieved. We're still doing Dave Ramsey and careful budgeting. In a way I'm glad this all happened because it made us really look at how we spend $$$.

Back to the autograph book issue... I've already done a lot of the work - downloaded pages to my computer and uploaded them to Shutterfly. Now I just have to pick and choose the characters. Help????

Our character meals: Cape May Cafe, Garden Grill, Akhershus Princess.

Definites:
Mickey
Minnie
Goofy
Donald
Pluto
Chip
Dale
Cinderella
Aurora
Snow White
Belle
Ariel

Should I include Daisy? Toy Story characters? Tiana? Safari characters? Alice in Wonderland characters? Fairies? Any of the Princes?
I'm wondering if the "current" movie characters won't be readily available and therefore maybe included?
Or should I just stick to basics and leave lots of extra pages. I guess I can also look at our old autograph books to see who's signed in the past...

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

for the tax man! How often do you hear that? Here is a site I use to find out what characters are around. It's maintained by a CM that posts regularly here on the DIS. Hopefully that helps you know what characters should be pretty easy to find.

http://sites.google.com/site/wdwcharacterhunt/home

 

[BabyEeyore]

Oh wow!!! I am SO happy that everything worked out nicely!

I'm also starting to think about autograph books. I've definitely decided to go ahead and do it. We have two character meals we're going to so I know the definites, but I'm trying to decide what other pages to include and how many blank ones. I'm not sure if Ashlyn will like the characters this trip, but I think it will be a great, simple scrapbook of sorts. I'm going to have the autograph page with a picture of Ashlyn (or all of us) with the character next to it.

 

[Charlefours]

Great news Amanda! I imagine that was quite a stress relief for you and DH.

I am torn on the whole autograph thing too. I know we will be standing in line for some characters because it is DD's birthday trip and she wants to meet her favorites. I am not going to be standing in line for every character--especially the ones she does not know, nor really cares about or likes. Since I am not sure how many we are going to collect/stand in line for, I am leaving all the pages blank. I will put them in with a photo in her scrapbook and/or in the family's bigger scrapbook.

 

[DrMomof3]

for the tax man! How often do you hear that? Here is a site I use to find out what characters are around. It's maintained by a CM that posts regularly here on the DIS. Hopefully that helps you know what characters should be pretty easy to find.

http://sites.google.com/site/wdwcharacterhunt/home

Thanks for the link. I'm SO relieved that I didn't really screw up our taxes afterall!

Oh wow!!! I am SO happy that everything worked out nicely!

I'm also starting to think about autograph books. I've definitely decided to go ahead and do it. We have two character meals we're going to so I know the definites, but I'm trying to decide what other pages to include and how many blank ones. I'm not sure if Ashlyn will like the characters this trip, but I think it will be a great, simple scrapbook of sorts. I'm going to have the autograph page with a picture of Ashlyn (or all of us) with the character next to it.

It sounds like you're in about the same place that I am!

Great news Amanda! I imagine that was quite a stress relief for you and DH.

I am torn on the whole autograph thing too. I know we will be standing in line for some characters because it is DD's birthday trip and she wants to meet her favorites. I am not going to be standing in line for every character--especially the ones she does not know, nor really cares about or likes. Since I am not sure how many we are going to collect/stand in line for, I am leaving all the pages blank. I will put them in with a photo in her scrapbook and/or in the family's bigger scrapbook.

Such a relief!
I'm not so good at organizing a scrapbook after the fact. I do ok with photobooks. I just don't want to have this HUGE autograph book that is almost empty at the end of the trip!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I just got the letter from the IRS confirming that we overpaid our taxes. Woohoo! We're going to apply that $$$ to our estimated 2010 taxes. Nice! My accountant is going to look everything over and call me next week with instructions. There aren't words to describe my sense of relief. We aren't going to start spending like crazy or anything but we aren't behind.

Ok. I looked over the character lists. I still need help and advice! Please???

[I'm starting to think that we should try to get lunch at Hollywood & Vine. Zachary loves the Little Einsteins. Loves them. And he is the neglected 3rd child. We've done this lunch on every single trip. And I was kinda hoping to skip it this time. But I don't want to do him a disservice. What do y'all think???]

Must-have characters for book:

Annie Goofy Tiana
Ariel Handy Manny Tigger
Aurora Jasmine Pooh
Belle June Woody
Buzz Leo
Chip Minnie
Cinderella Mickey
Dale Pluto
Daisy Quincy
Donald Snow White

???
Aladdin
Alice
Jessie
Jiminy Cricket
Lotso
Mary Poppins
Pocohontas
Prince Eric
Prince Naveen
Stitch
Tinkerbell

If we go to that petting zoo area at AK, we met Jiminy Cricket and Pocohontas in the past. I guess if we're planning to go to that part of AK, I should include them. If not, leave them out?
I'm guessing there'll be a lot of Toy Story characters with the new movie. So maybe include Lotso and Jessie?
My kids don't really know Alice, Mary Poppins, or Stitch very well. I've seen Alice and Mary Poppins from a distance but we've never gotten their autographs. Leave out?
Since we'll see the Princesses at the dinner, maybe I'll leave the Princes out?
Is Tinkerbell hard to find? Long lines?
I'm thinking of maybe adding Lotso and Jessie. +/- Jiminy Cricket and Pocohontas.
Who am I forgetting?
If we don't do the Dine & Play, maybe leave out Handy Manny and Einsteins?

Thanks,
Amanda

 

[lexmas]

That is crazy about the tax thing. Great that it made you look at your money and how you're spending it though, so it was a good thing!

As for characters, I have no idea, I wish I could be of help!