A Halloween Adventure in Autism (11/12) New Thread Begun on TR Board!

[Charleston Princess]

Happy Fourth of July, Kathy!

 

[joy13]

Same to you Kathy!

 

[KathyRN137]

Countdown Party and Disney Store Loot!


Well, yesterday Tricia and I took a little Mother-Daughter shopping trip so we could take advantage of some of the fantastic holiday sales. Instead of going to our local mall, we traveled a bit further to a larger mall that has...

... A Disney Store!!!

After scoring some bathing suits and other clothing for Tricia and Billy at phenomenal sale prices, we stopped for a bite to eat at the food court (Subway... I had one of their lower-fat sandwich selections with a bottle of water... yeah me!!) and then zeroed in on the Disney Store!

I was immediately drawn to a display of "Summertime Fun" entertaining pieces that I had been eyeing on the website, but had been hemming and hawing over purchasing. What a surprise to find that the pieces were 75% off!!! How perfect for our upcoming "99 Days To Disney" party!!



These plates ended up costing around $1.12 a piece, plus tax!

Wait! There's one missing! Oh, I see. Tricia used the Nemo one for her breakfast plate...

We also got two fun chip bowls to match...

And, of course, if you are serving chips you must have a bowl for dips....

Note the lime green Mickey Head handle!!!


I was on a mission to get Billy an "Up" tee shirt! There was such a cute one with Dug the dog, but unfortunately, the kids sizes only go up to 10-12 and Billy has outgrown them... so I had to get him a nice-but-significantly-less-cute adult size shirt. He likes it, though, because it has all the balloons on it!

This one was still at full price ($12.00), but I wanted it!

Tricia, however, found some tee shirts normally $9.50 that were on sale, two for $12.00 so she bought two (with her own money.)

She wasn't interested in Princesses or HSM or Hannah Montana or Jonas Bros. (she is just "too old" for that!!) So, she opted for two of the old favorites... Pluto and Goofy!

I was about to get on line for check-out when I spotted a display of plush characters from "Up." Now, Billy has a ton of plushies, but he really loved "Up" and to add to the temptation, these were the kind that said different phrases when you pressed their paw.

I could not resist Dug... "My name is Dug! I have just met you, and I love you!" "Will you be my master?" "I am an excellent tracker!"

And, believe it or not, when we saw the movie, Billy laughed and laughed at Alpha, the Doberman, who sounds a whole lot like one of Billy's favorites, Alvin the Chipmunk! "Squirrel!!" "Do not laugh at my voice!" "We are tracking the small mailman and the one who smells like prunes!"

(That line gets me every time!)

So, I rationalized that with all the $$ we had saved that day, I could afford to get Billy the plushies to add to his collection....

He played with them a long time and even slept with them last night!! So, I am glad that I splurged a little!

This morning we were having breakfast and I was taking the new Disney plates out of the dishwasher... Billy spied them and I guess it triggered something in his brain, because he suddenly announced, "We will call Catie and she will come to our house for a Disney party!"

Wow! Was that a complete sentence, or what??

So, naturally, we had to grab the phone so he could call his cousin and officially invite her to our house for a pary!

I was so happy to hear him speaking appropriately on the phone to his cousin... conversations are difficult enough for him, but even more so on the phone. After he hung up, he took my hand and led me to our calendar so we could circle the date for our "99 Days to Disney Party"... July 22. He actually has school that day (a field trip to a state park) and I'm working a half-day. But, it is the actual day of our coundown, so we'll just plan an afternoon get together.

I'm looking forward to doing a bit 'o trip planning, especially to plan ADRs, which I can finally make on August 1st!!

On a related note, you may recall that I like to use Tour Guide Mike for his "Least Crowded Parks" charts... they have not failed us in the past three trips. Well, with the change in ADR window to 90 days and the release of park hours on the exact 90 days, it has become very difficult for those of us who vacation during the first week of the month to plan ahead. We have to wait for park hours, quickly try to figure out where we'll be on which day, and then plan ADRs accordingly.... all in one day!

Well, TGM has traditionally not released his least crowded parks charts until about 3-4 days later... making it kind of useless to sign up... because by the time he got done, well, most of the important planning had been done! I guess he must've been losing business because his new policy is to publish the charts for days 1-15 on the first of the month and to edit them with comments in the following days.

I'm really happy with this developement because there have been so many changes at Disney (mainly with limited showings of Fantasmic and SpectroMagic) that seriously affect the crowd levels. It makes it very difficult to plan based upon last year's data.

So, until August 1st, my pre-trip planning will continue to focus on assembling costumes for MNSSHP and planning our pre-trip party.

Thanks for reading along!!!


Kathy

 

[irish dancer]

Happy 4th of July Kathy!

What a great score at the Disney store. Hmmm, I was eyeing those plates and such when they were 50% off but decided against it. Might have to take a swing by the mall and see if they have any left. It sure would brighten up our table!

I'm a TGMer too and it has been making things difficult with Disney releasing hours so late. They also change them a lot after posting them. I really like his forums too so figured what's another $15 or so on top of what we're already paying for our trip. We had an amazing group signed on to the June Vacation Club, someone designed buttons we all wore in the parks and I met a few very nice TGMers while we were there. Have fun planning! I"m living vicariously through you......

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great finds Kathy! I love the plushes! YAY for Billy wanting to talk about he party, he looks so happy with Dug and Alpha. I have been looking at the 2 for $12 shirts for the kids and the 2 for $15 for the rest of us. I think I might be buying some today!

 

[KathyRN137]

Great finds Kathy! I love the plushes! YAY for Billy wanting to talk about he party, he looks so happy with Dug and Alpha. I have been looking at the 2 for $12 shirts for the kids and the 2 for $15 for the rest of us. I think I might be buying some today!

for good shopping mojo!!!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Happy 4th of July Kathy!

What a great score at the Disney store. Hmmm, I was eyeing those plates and such when they were 50% off but decided against it. Might have to take a swing by the mall and see if they have any left. It sure would brighten up our table!

I'm a TGMer too and it has been making things difficult with Disney releasing hours so late. They also change them a lot after posting them. I really like his forums too so figured what's another $15 or so on top of what we're already paying for our trip. We had an amazing group signed on to the June Vacation Club, someone designed buttons we all wore in the parks and I met a few very nice TGMers while we were there. Have fun planning! I"m living vicariously through you......

The plates, etc. are really a bargain at 75% off!!! Definitely get them if you can!

I wish I had time to go on the forums at TGM... as it is, I can barely seem to get enough time to DIS. I love the Least Crowded Parks charts! I signed up for the Unofficial Guide site as well this year... but a lot of the advice conflicts with TGM and what I've learned here on the DIS and through my own experience, so I'm not sure how much weight I'll give to their info.

Vicarious trip enjoyment is fun while waiting for your next vacation countdown ticker... hope yours comes soon!

Kathy

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

LOVED the shopping trip update!


~Happy 4th of July!!!~

 

[KathyRN137]

LOVED the shopping trip update!


~Happy 4th of July!!!~

Thanks, Erin!

It's nice to have a bit of time to DIS before we have our cook-out dinner and head over to the fireworks!!

Happy (belated) Canada Day!!


Kathy

 

[Hedy]

i love the shirts. The plushes are cool too-did they have the Carl public menace shirt there? I think it's hysterical
http://www.disneystore.com/disney/s...logFromSearch=10002&catalogId=10002&langId=-1

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great scores at the Disney store!! I love the plushies - very cute!!

I know exactly what you mean about Tour Guide Mike. We had the same problem with our planning this year. Luckily our vacation started at the end of April so I had the information I need to plan those ADRs, but I didn't have the May information quick enough. Not knowing the entertainment schedule for May did made April planning a little tricky... I'm glad to hear TGM has made that change - I haven't been back on his site since our trip - actually I just got a "Good-Bye" email from Mike that my subscription had expired. I was really on the fence about whether I would use the service again - I'll be curious how it works out for you and how many changes he makes after the initial charts are published on the 1st. It's getting closer!!

 

[cjackearl]

I've come back three times today and tried to reply to your post with quotes, but I keep getting a your message is too short error.

Anyway, love your Disney purchases. Yea for bargains! I especially love the dip bowl. I may need that.

Good choice with the plushies for Billy. He sure looks like he's enjoying his new friends. That Dug cute, but my favorite was Kevin. Do they make a Kevin plushie?

Awesome response from Billy re: the Disney party! Sounds like everyone is on board and ready for some fun Disney planning.

 

[KathyRN137]

i love the shirts. The plushes are cool too-did they have the Carl public menace shirt there? I think it's hysterical
http://www.disneystore.com/disney/s...logFromSearch=10002&catalogId=10002&langId=-1

They did... I almost got it for him, but then for some reason I didn't think it was suitable for an 11 year old boy to wear. Perhaps older people who didn't know the movie would think it was poking fun at them or something like that.

(I love Carl, too!!)

Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

I know exactly what you mean about Tour Guide Mike. We had the same problem with our planning this year.... I'll be curious how it works out for you and how many changes he makes after the initial charts are published on the 1st. It's getting closer!!

I'm hoping all will turn out well. Other than a pre-park opening breakfast at Crystal Palace, none of my ADRs are at super popular places. But even for that one breakfast... how do I know when to schedule it if I don't know which mornings we'll be at MK??

I already know what we'll be doing on October 31st... just relaxing at the resort and doing the MNSSHP later... so having the October hours really doesn't help much. And what's up with the EMHs and the nighttime entertainment?? There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern!

If they would just stick to something like: Spectro every Mon-Wed-Fri and Fantasmic every Tues-Thurs-Sat, it would be so much easier to plan!!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Good choice with the plushies for Billy. He sure looks like he's enjoying his new friends. That Dug cute, but my favorite was Kevin. Do they make a Kevin plushie?

I didn't see any Kevin merchandise and I don't know why... she's a much more integral character than the rest of Alpha's buddies, and they had plushies of them!

Kathy

 

[irish dancer]

The plates, etc. are really a bargain at 75% off!!! Definitely get them if you can!

I wish I had time to go on the forums at TGM... as it is, I can barely seem to get enough time to DIS. I love the Least Crowded Parks charts! I signed up for the Unofficial Guide site as well this year... but a lot of the advice conflicts with TGM and what I've learned here on the DIS and through my own experience, so I'm not sure how much weight I'll give to their info.

Vicarious trip enjoyment is fun while waiting for your next vacation countdown ticker... hope yours comes soon!

Kathy

Really the only forum on TGM that I frequent is my monthly vacation club. They were an invaluable resource for planning. Many of the members are veterans for that time of year and had lots of info. Plus the moderator will PM you when there are any updates/changes to the park info.

As for our next ticker, it might be a while. Currently our plan for next year is to go to HHI for spring/Easter break. There is a slight chance we'll do WDW at Tgiving but that is a big maybe.

 

[KathyRN137]

As for our next ticker, it might be a while. Currently our plan for next year is to go to HHI for spring/Easter break. There is a slight chance we'll do WDW at Tgiving but that is a big maybe.

HHI sounds like fun! for turkey with Mickey Mouse!!!


Kathy

 

[IluvXU]

Your pics make me want to go to the Disney store. I love the plates and all the Up Stuff to! Your party will be super fun!

 

[carissanboys]

Oh my goodness! I am going to have to hit the Disney Store today and see if they have those same dishes! Love them!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Kathy, I just adore the new Disney summer plates, and what a great sale price on all of them!

Love that Billy called Catie to invite her to the party! How sweet of him!