WOW I love seeing all that thread. I didn't realize he winds his own stuff. How cool to get a behind the scene tour.
Having been at the end of June it is very crowded the closer you get to July but I love being able to stay longer. It helps with the planning
I was thinking that too... I have just heard such nightmarish stories about the tour groups - I have never encountered them, and I am not sure I want to?
Our preferred length is 10 days. That gives us 2 full days in each park and 2 days off.
We have gone shorter (not good) but never longer...yet.
Nini
See... and that's what I was thinking... 10 days is the optimal trip... 8 days in the park and 2 days off in the middle... But we all know that a day "off" at WDW isn't really a day off.
We will definitely be staying at POR again this time!
Awesome!!!
Disney is too expensive to not do what you want! Just plan whatever trip is best for you guys and if it works out that we can make it, then that would be wonderful....but I would really hate to see you not have fun because you switched dates for a DISmeet!

I probably could be persuaded to take a short trip in June with just my little man.....

I love the Hopper option and think it is totally worth the extra $$, so I can easily do a long weekend in June if that works better. Oh, I'm just gonna wait a while before I book to see what works best. We are totally open, I just know I want to go sometime in 2013!
I totally agree with this Suzi. We all need to plan our trips the way we want them, and then squeeze in a meet here and there as we can.
I am totally going to have fun in October - like I said - I will just send the girls home early.

And I will stay on a few days longer.
Soooo.... Where are you planning to stay? Are you going to do the Poly again?
I know! Isn't that ridiculous?? I know it's a suite and all, but it is still a VALUE resort....ummm, where's the value? I wish they had made more regular rooms at that cool resort. But I don't think Bradey would appreciate the Little Mermaid theme But like you said, if we are spending that kind of money, I will be at the Poly....as long as it is finished it's refurb, and that's questionable right now. I think I heard last that they were starting the rooms in Jan 2013.
Yah - I about fell out of my chair when my quote came back.

It looks like a fun resort - really fun - but Value resort for Deluxe prices? Um - yah - no thanks... I will definately stay at the Poly, I've always wanted to stay there anyways.
What's TG?? I've tried to work it out, but can't do it

And I was checking out TP crowd calendars for this Oct yesterday. It looks like everything is about a 5 other than Columbus Weekend. That shoots up to a 9ish! TP looks much better than UndercoverTourist does for Oct numbers.
Thanksgiving... Nope, we won't be there for Columbus weekend - I am pretty sure that is the weekend before.... Now I better go check... Crap... Columbus day is that week. SHOOT!!!!!
finally! but that was pretty bad... Sorry about that. you made my decision.. We will be going back to Sci-fi... the food there was pretty good and the Cm were great.
Where are these tr's coming from?!?!
They've always been there m'dear.
GAH! I thought I was about to be caught up caught up!
So apparently squash is super comfy who knew?
Disney in Oct sounds so much more fab than Disney in March!
We are not doing hoppers either well unless we get YES. We always have before but there are changes between having a family of 4 and a family of 8 and park hoppers are one of those changes.
LOL Sorry about that! Yes - squash is super comfy - it's not only good for you... You should give it a try and report back.
I agree - I just can't justify hoppers. We are happy to go, and we are able to make it work with out... We love that break mid-day.
LOL...we always do hoppers...because I can.
Seriously, I don't give hubby an option. I just tell him what it will be and then I pay it. If I don't look at the breakdown between hoppers and non hoppers I can pretend it is the only way to go ....right?
Since most of our favorite restaurants are in EPCOT, and we LOVE the EPCOT fireworks, we end up most night there. Truthfully, hubby only goes for the food...
Nini
LOL... I just can't tell my self that it's worth the money... I'm the cheapskate here.
See, and we don't get into Epcot all that much... We have yet to find a restaurant that we LOVE - I am hoping that France is it.
HOLD ON
Did you mention a bag that will hold a DSLR????
Actually - no - LOL - I mentioned possibly doing an insert to go into my existing bags that will hold a DSLR.

That way you can use my bags as a bag or a DSLR bag. It wouldn't hold a lot... Just the camera with a lens on it and an extra lens. If you have other small stuff - that will fit, but that's about it. However, this is MONTHS down the road... I have the visual in my head, but I just don't have the time to even work with it for quite some time... Spring 2013 - for sure.
Max looks so cute. I think it is going to be a LONG weekend hunting for him.
I agree... I feel so bad. Josh has been so sick with his cold, so he hasn't had any ambition to work with him.
I think we did park hoppers on our first family trip. We barely used them, maybe one day and only to see the fireworks at MK after going to Chef Mickey for dinner. I know they were not as expensive as they are now. I can not justify the cost of the park hopper. We seem to spend most of the day at one park and I think my gang would gripe (the adults), or fall asleep on the way to the next park (the kids and the adults).
And that's how I would feel... There hasn't been any days that I can think of that we've needed to hop... So, I just can't justify the $$. And not to mention the time wasted traveling from park to park... We really loved going at rope drop, staying a few hours, going back to the resort, then going back into the same park in the evening, it worked out very well for us, and it was so relaxing.
On the trips that DH and I have done by ourselves we did do lots of hopping (we had AP or old tickets that included the hoppers) but we only had a few days in the parks and only did certain attractions since we had just been with the kids.
I WISH I could talk DH into going alone with me - I think he would see how wonderful of a place it is, and how I've gone from "commando" to a "leisurely" touring pace, just because, our first couple trips - I never knew if we would ever make it back - so I wanted to see it all and do it all. Now, I know I am going back, so I am much more relaxed and enjoy it more. I wish DH would just give me a chance to show him.
The suites at AOA are crazy expensive! I booked a family suite at All Star Music for December, it was much cheaper (around $300 cheaper) for 2 nights! That's with a passholder discount, but I think there's a general discount out now as well.
I agree, I just don't see the "value" in it... I guess, my thought is, there are SOOO many families of 5 - so rather than only having one resort with a portion of rooms that will accomodate them (mod or below)... This gives them an option - so I do see the benefit. But, for just the girls and I - yah - there is no value in it... FQ is cheaper by $1K and the same price as Deluxe... Seriously - we'll go deluxe if given the option.
Can't wait to see your super secret project!!
I will be giving out more details about it soon, and I even plan to do some sneak peeks here.

Hopefully, after next week, I will have enough to show you all, or very soon after that.
I am jealous! Charlotte is just enough north that the trees are turning & y'all were wearing sweatshirts. It's just now cool enough down here to get away with long sleeves.
I think you might have confused my trips... I can understand why you would - LOL I did kind of group them together. I was in Charlotte in August for the Disboutiquer meet/Fabric Shop Hop... Then I was in Wisconsin last weekend for the Cran Fest - so it was sweatshirt weather.
I love the fall and winter. of course, I also live in Alabama where snow is a treat, not a task.
I wish snow was a treat here. Last year - we had a record year of no snow - it was WONDERFUL!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!! I am pretty sure we will pay for it this year.
I haven't been to a craft fair in forever. My DH doesn't do that kind of stuff and Mom doesn't do them anymore. When my dad was alive, they used to be vendors, so I think that kind of wore her out.
Josh doesn't either - that's why I went with the girls from work. It was so much fun.
I can't imagine being a vendor - LOTS of work. I was watching for bag stands though - I only saw one that was a legitimate home - made stand (the rest were knock offs from China), and unfortunately, she did not appear to be doing well... She seemed really bored. My friend was getting something customized in the booth next to that one, so we were there a good while, and no one stopped. I felt really badly for her, because I KNOW how much work goes into making bags, and how thrilled I am that people like my items - I would feel so horribly let down and discouraged if I brought my bags to a fair and no one even stopped. I don't think I could handle the rejection.
Can't wait to get even more jealous of the other places you got to visit.
Honest, I don't travel all that often... My first ever flight was when I was 28... I've traveled more in the last year than I have traveled in my entire life combined. I just got lucky. I can't imagine that I will continue like this? I'd be really happy with one trip per year to WDW... Well, I guess we do have a couple of family trips coming up... Josh is desperately wanting to take us to D.C. and SD to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore... So, maybe I'll be traveling a bit over the next few years?
MM is adorable. T's been a bigger pill than normal: seperation anxiety and DH thinks he's still trying to catch up on all the dog gossip in the neighborhood, so he's wanting to be in the back yard. He's found a place in the fence to wiggle out, so if he's outside, one of us has to be outside too.
LOL They can be crazy, can't they? MM is a super awesome dog all day with me, he wanders from room to room upstairs, taking the time to nap in all of them. But once the girls get home, he is ON and on all night long. LOL It's like he saves up all his energy for them.
I am super excited to get up to my sewing room today - I have a lot to get done and I can't wait to finish it, so I can move on with my Super Secret Project... Josh and I were talking about the SSP last night, he is worried that I am working too hard on it. Sigh. I tend to agree with him a little bit, but I really want to meet my own deadline - and I think that people will be generally excited about it?

We'll see, I guess?
I hope everyone has a wonderful day today!
D~