~ Aug 2013~ Sew what... We've gotta find a way back! Part I!!

[NiniMorris]

Just got off of chat with my SIL...

It's a..........





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

Super excited!!!!!!!!!

D~

Congratulations!

 

[cogero]

Congrats. I can't wait to find out for sure what this baby is.

 

[BabyRapunzel]

Just got off of chat with my SIL...

It's a..........



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Super excited!!!!!!!!!

D~

Congratulations!

 

[nowellsl]

Congratulations on the boy

I hesitate to mention it because I know you are stressing about your trip already, buttt, do those prices include trip insurance? August is hurricane season in FL and you never can tell. We had to cancel school a few years back in August because a hurricane was headed our way. Just thought I'd throw that out there I never buy it myself because we don't do long expensive trips, but I think I might if I were you!

 

[Terkina]

Just got off of chat with my SIL...

It's a..........





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​

Super excited!!!!!!!!!

D~

Congratulation

 

[Luvchefmic]

Congratulations on the boy

I hesitate to mention it because I know you are stressing about your trip already, buttt, do those prices include trip insurance? August is hurricane season in FL and you never can tell. We had to cancel school a few years back in August because a hurricane was headed our way. Just thought I'd throw that out there I never buy it myself because we don't do long expensive trips, but I think I might if I were you!

Yes congratulations a BOY great news !

re-hurricanes season is Aug-Nov but I think after what NY/NJ went through further proof anything can happen anytime I would consider insurance no longer an option but a must

Again congrats do they have a name

 

[solana131]

Yay! A boy...so exciting Boys are the best!

 

[nannye]

So exciting!!!!!

V's on a roll making lanyards.... Does Ali sew? I can't remember. As long as it's fun they could help save a bit too maybe.

I am in the same boat as you. Aren't the rates for standard rooms the same at POR/FQ? would switching resorts really help with the exception of booking a royal room and trust me they are worth every penny! I wish we could do one this time. I won't rule it out but I am doubtful

 

[Luvchefmic]

per Disney Co beginning DEC 4 TUSKER HOUSE
character lunches in addition to character breakfasts !

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I love the Eeyore bag!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I worked on and off in my sewing room... Alternating time on the computer. I
Still trying to wrap my mind around the cost of this trip - even though I have the military discount - it's still a lot more than I want to pay. It kind of frustrates me. I just don't know what to do??? I've been saving like crazy, but I am just so worried that I won't be able to save enough in time. When it's all said and done - even if we are lucky and get Free Dining, this trip will still cost us DOUBLE of what our trip cost us last year - and it's only 2 more nights! It makes me ill that Disney upped their prices THAT much. But I guess they have to pay for the new FLE somehow... Sigh.

I guess I will just keep saving, saving, saving.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today!

D~

I agree with you on the FP+. I actually would love to be able to schedule FPs. We are not huge FP people, running all over to get them, so this would actually work for us. I don't know how your girls are entering their teens, but it's hard to get my boys to rope drop these days. They will do it for a TSM FP and just to do it at MK, but I'd say if I can get them there three times during the trip at that hour it will be a success . Therefore, this could be perfect for us...if it works out the way they say. I've glanced at some of the threads, but I've decided to wait on really spending time investigating it until some of the rumors die down and the facts start coming through. You'd think it's the apocalypse the way people are carrying on about this!

As for the trip cost...ugh, I hear ya. The prices just keep going up and up (and we all keep paying them, so why wouldn't they keep raising them??)

I know - it's so frustrating to me. Not that Disney is ever affordable, but I keep comparing everything to our trip last year - and we just got the most fabulous deal... I need to quit doing that.


************************

Trip stuff....

Are you all sick of this yet? I feel like I change my mind every other day...

I keep lamenting over the cost of this trip... I really need to bring it down somehow... Going over our finances and figuring out what I already have saved, and what I will be making over the next few months - I will barely have enough to pay for this trip. And you all know me... Our trips are paid for with CASH ONLY - never on credit at all - so it's very important for me to be able to pay for this trip on time.

With what we have booked currently... 11 nights - POR Royal Room (pool view) with OOP DDP (no tickets booked at all yet)... It's sitting at $3700 (OUCH) We still have to add tickets in there - which is +$1,000... And tips, and souveniers and airfare. YIKES! Seriously - who can afford that?

So, I think I need the girls to make a choice...

A) Remove 2 nights from our current reservation... That sill makes our trip 9 nights (which is still a very nice trip). By taking away those 2 nights, that would mean that we would have to also take away our WPF&M. Because we just wouldn't have time for any water parks at all. This would bring our trip down approximately to $3700 total. A $1k savings by removing 2 nights. That's pretty significant.

B) Keep the trip exactly as it is, and keep checking for military rates to become available at FQ... By switching resorts, that brings the price of the trip to roughly $4100 - still more expensive, but a bit easier to swallow.

I am quite certain, that at some point, I will have 2 totally seperate trips booked. I hope. I plan to hold on to both of them until Disney releases their specials for that time of year, and then I will decide on the right deal for us.

Hopefully, it does end up being free DDP (and not free QSDP, and I'd have to pay for the upgrade, like the rumors are saying)...

So, despite our earlier aprehension about staying anywhere but FQ... It has pretty much disolved, and we are VERY MUCH looking forward to staying at POR in the RR. So, I am really hoping that there is some way we can make it a bit more budget friendly.

Ok - I must get moving on my day - so much to accomplish... I hope you all have a fantastic day today!

D~

Our last trip was a BB and then got even better with an AP rate. Plus I had purchased the APs at the prior trip, so it felt like a bargain. This one is so much more expensive, even with the *** deal. Well actually I am making it more $$...had I just gone with the BC the whole trip it would be a very good deal, but I got my heart set on Poly for half the trip, and so far I haven't changed my mind. We also only pay cash for our trips, so I will cut back and alter things as time goes by if something changes financially. What I am really hoping for though is some kind of discount for Poly to come out.

Have you plugged in your numbers to the DDP calculator that is circulating? There's a link to it at the end of my PTR. I had a feeling it wasn't going to benefit us, but after plugging in the numbers, the DDP would have actually cost us about $300 more. And if you do decide to go OOP, there are ways to cut down on the meals. I'm not sure of your dining schedule, but do you do a GG order? We saved a lot on breakfast, snacks and water last time doing this. I already told the boys (unless FD pops up), I am ordering snacks and water and if they choose a Disney snack, they are on their own to pay for it (along with their souvenirs) and to budget accordingly.

Realistically, cutting back two days may be a good way to go though. I could stay for weeks, but most people do manage to do a ton in a 7 day trip. 10 days is a lot of time and you will get a lot done.

Another idea, if you choose to keep the 11 nights (or even if you did do 9 nights) is to consider a split stay. Maybe four nights at a value or SOG would be enough to make it doable. The first few days (for us at least) are go go go with the parks, and we don't really begin to use the resort all that much until we've gotten that out of our system. So maybe stay somewhere cheaper and then head over to POR later in your trip.

And last, are you driving or flying? When looking at airfare, I generally like to get there as early as possible and leave as late as possible, but we did save a significant amount of money one year by taking an 8 am flight home. I did not want to pay a night at the BC for that (and I believe at that point LOS passes were still the deal and an extra night also meant an extra day of passes for five). So we stayed in the MK until it closed, went back to the BC, got our bags, and went to the airport and stayed at the Hyatt right in MCO. Got up in the morning, ran downstairs and checked us in, went back up and showered and got dressed, walked on the plane and went home. It gave us that full extra day and saved a lot of $$.

Just got off of chat with my SIL...

It's a..........



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Super excited!!!!!!!!!

D~​

Congratulations!!!!​

 

[DMGeurts]

Hey D~

I been MIA for a while. I am feeling your pain with the prices for 2013. We had decided after returning in December that we were not going back but the other day at breakfast we got to talking and really want to head back for F&W. Just about decided on October 20 to October 27, since we saw the Christmas decorations and want to see the Fall/Halloween.

Praying for a discount or FD I may check to see what AAA is offering. I could kick myself for not booking the BB.

I been trying to remember when you are going?

Hope you and your family are well.

Hi Sheila! It's great to see you again - I've missed seeing you around. I am glad to see that you are doing well.

Bummer about the BB... I am kind of hoping for one when we get there, so I can book for next year for the girls' Sweet 16 trip. We are going at the end of August this time... a bit nervous about the neat - and now the hurricanes...

Your fall trip sounds magnificant!

We pay for our trips in cash too! We don't want debt hanging over our heads when we get home. We book what we want and as discounts come out we have them added to our trip. We also add dining at the beginning so that is paid as well. There's still lots of extra expenses,tips,dog care, photo pass, airport parking,photo pass etc but we set up "an envelope system" and fill those before we leave. It works for us and it's fun to watch out trip balance come down.
RuthIE, I don't have a ticker because I don't know how to add one! 37 more days! Time to get tip envelopes made!
Hope everyone has a great day! Ruth

Exactly - I don't like having debt in the first place - some of it can't be avoided sometimes, but I will never take a trip in my life that I can't pay for. I agree - I like the dining, for some people, it doesn't pay, but I found it works well for us. However, it is just at the cusp - and if it gets much more expensive we will have to start paying OOP for ours. But I love the convenience of it.

I do the envelope system for our trips, I agree, it works well.

We have gone every year for the past 10 years...and I have to honestly say I can't remember ever a time when we used credit to pay for a vacation of any kind. The closest we came to using credit was my husband had a gas card once that for x amount of time, if you used the gas card you got so many cents off per gallon. He used that for the gas on the trip...but that is it.

We always pay cash...of course I will admit to robbing from the grocery budget for the next month a tiny bit...

Nini

Yep - it's the best way to vacation!

Congratulations!

Thank you - we are soooo excited!

Congrats. I can't wait to find out for sure what this baby is.

I can't wait to find out what you're having too! You should be pretty close... Are you going to share with us?

Congratulations!

Thank you!

Congratulations on the boy

I hesitate to mention it because I know you are stressing about your trip already, buttt, do those prices include trip insurance? August is hurricane season in FL and you never can tell. We had to cancel school a few years back in August because a hurricane was headed our way. Just thought I'd throw that out there I never buy it myself because we don't do long expensive trips, but I think I might if I were you!

Thanks!

ACK!!! I didn't even think of vacation insurance... I've never purchased it before - but you are right... I need to think about it.

Congratulation

Thanks Lillian!

Yes congratulations a BOY great news !

re-hurricanes season is Aug-Nov but I think after what NY/NJ went through further proof anything can happen anytime I would consider insurance no longer an option but a must

Again congrats do they have a name

Thanks RuthIE! Nope, no name yet. We are thinking it will probably be something very Dutch, since they live in The Netherlands.

I will definately consider it.

Yay! A boy...so exciting Boys are the best!

I know - super excited!

So exciting!!!!!

I know - we can barely contain ourselves!

V's on a roll making lanyards.... Does Ali sew? I can't remember. As long as it's fun they could help save a bit too maybe.

Alli does not sew - she knows how, but she has no patience for it.

I am in the same boat as you. Aren't the rates for standard rooms the same at POR/FQ? would switching resorts really help with the exception of booking a royal room and trust me they are worth every penny! I wish we could do one this time. I won't rule it out but I am doubtful

I think the rates for the POR/FQ standard rooms are the same - however, I am not sure I want a standard room at POR? I just think I would end up in the parking lot... I love the location of the Royal Room Pool View - there are only about 10 rooms in that specific category, and all of them have the most amazing location - I would be very happy with any of them - however, I am hoping for the 2nd floor, so I can look out the windwo and see the girls in the pool if I am not down there with them.

per Disney Co beginning DEC 4 TUSKER HOUSE
character lunches in addition to character breakfasts !

I know they had character lunches last year when we were there, because we scheduled one - and were very thankful they still had the breakfast offerings out, because we didn't like the lunch at all. So, I am not sure this is new, unless they are offering different characters?

I love the Eeyore bag!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Thanks Christine!

**********************************************************

I worked like a mad woman in my sewing room all day yesterday. I am pleased to say that I finished what I needed to. I have one teeny-tiny thing to do this morning (it slipped my mind yesterday) - then it's going in the mail. It has approximately 10 days to make the trip, before this person leaves for WDW... Hopefully it arrives on time.

Even though it's done... I cannot show you all yet. It is a surprise for the person receiving it - they know about it - but they let me "do what I wanted" - so, they have no idea what it looks like. I know they read here occasionally - so I have to wait to show pics.

As you all know - It's a BOY!!!!! Brian and Myrthe met my In-laws in Aruba a few days ago, so they've all be enjoying lots of rest and relaxation... My FIL posted this adorable photo of them on FB the other day - and awwwwww... They are just so cute!!!! I couldn't resist posting it, and even though I've posted pictures of them before - I distorted their faces just in case...


Then, I spent some time yesterday picking out fabrics for the quilt I plan to make the little man... I think I went a bit overboard. In all fairness - I have never made a quilt before - in the end, I ended up with 8.5 yards of adorable flannel... Then I discovered that I only needed about 2.5 yards. Sooo... I think I might make the little guy a few pairs of comfy flannel pants... Maybe a second quilt. And a third. Then I might even have some fabric left for a few burpee cloths and pee-pee tee-pees (do people really actually use those?)

Anyways, here's the fabrics I chose:

For the main quilt:

Then, all of the extra fabrics that I am sure I will find something to make with them... They all coordinate with eachother, so - it's not a total loss.

We really are so very excited!

If anyone has any other ideas of what I can make with all this excess fabric - I am very open to suggestions.

It sounds like Brian and Myrthe are coming home with the baby sometime next fall. And it also sounds like we are all going to try to meet in Aruba sometime in 2015 - which means NO WDW for me that year... But Aruba would be amazing. Not sure if the girls would come with for that trip or not... Alli would be in 11th grade and V would be in 10th - but I just couldn't fathom going on a trip to see their Uncle Bri, and not have them go with - they are so close and it would just crush them. So, they'd probably come.

Ok - I must go wrap up that one tiny thing in my sewing room and get this order packaged up.

I still haven't decided what I am going to work on over the next few days - since I don't have to start my next order until Monday... I will see what inspires me.

Have a great day everyone!

D~

 

[sjs314]

D~

Congrates on the new nephew!

We have gone twice in August beginning and end. Honestly I do not recall the heat so much as the rain, torrential downpours and my frizzy hair.

The BB offer was for FD and changed to Room Discount while we were there but I did not find that out until after I returned home since we missed Mousekeeping the the day it changed and the day after as we ended up sick in our room and never received the new offer

Bob agreed to stay at Poly next trip so I definately need to get some kind of deal, fingers crossed

 

[NiniMorris]

With bounce backs...timing is everything!

We arrived in November where the bounceback was a % off room only in January...then when we left in December, the bounce back was completely non existent! As in there was none, zip, nada!

Disney was in the middle of revamping their reservation system and since you could not make a reservation, they decided to go with no bounceback. Two days after we left...the bounce back offer was for free dining during the same Nov/Dec time frame for 2013.

Needless to say I was very angry! I tried to convince Disney they needed to let me have the bounceback...but no dice. But, for the past 4 years, the bounce back during late fall has been free dining for late fall.

So, now I get to worry that free dining won't be offered...or that military rates won't be extended.


Nini

 

[mommy2mrb]

just catching up a bit...

eeyore bag is so cute!

congrat on a new little nephew! will be fun for you to do boy stuff! love the fabrics you choose! you could also make some receiving blankets.

hope somesort of a discount comes through for your trip!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Ugh
where the _ _ _ _ did i leave off on this PTR??? mind tell me??!?!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I just want to say...Just because he was rude to me, doesn't mean he is rude to everyone. I shouldn't have used his pictures. But he should have sent me a PM instead of ruining my TR. I can't delete his posts or posts from the others he connected with me. It is too bad, but honestly...his site is great! He does a great job giving honest opinions on things. I don't want to turn away people from his site because of a stupid moment last year. Give it a look and decide for yourself if you like him Hey, Disney planning is tough...we can use all the help we can get!

I Applaud you for this.

 

[Chicago Mo]

The Eeyore bag is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G all the little details your really are creative!!
the pictures are yellow because the white balance is off on the camera. Speaking of how is the new photographer of the family?!?!?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your PUPPY!!! the big 1!!! WHOOP!
a HUGE congrats on a BOY!!!! How fun!!!! did you see the pack and play mickey set?!?!? def a need....
i miss you guys and i am BACK for sure!!! i need to catch up!!
should take a picture of my email in box of all the dis emails i get....
so a hijacking i will go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Iamthequeen]

D~ your flannel fabrics are very nice and very appropriate for a little boy! One suggestion I have is to wash your fabrics and dry them in the dryer before you cut out anything. Flannel tends to shrink - a lot, and if you wash and dry it first, most of the shrinkage should occur then. Some quilters will wash flannel twice before they cut it out.

I'm still flip-flopping myself on when I want to go for our next trip - either September (which I love) or December to see the Christmas decorations. We've been in February before and the weather was fine while we were there, but not quite warm enough for me to go swimming.

I loved the Daisy, Tigger and Eeyore bags. I'll have to keep an eye out for the Feb auction.

 

[cajunfan]

I just have to say...I popped on here breifly yesterday and congratulating you on the "It's a BOY!" that I thought...HOLY COW...HOW DID I MISS THAT D~ WAS PREGNANT!!!...needless to say I backed up and read that you were expecting a nephew! Congrats!

Love the quilt fabrics...Maybe you could make some pillow cases for goive kids the world...maybe Cheryl will come and share her tutorial ...that is if she is finished working on her new version of the UPPB.

Lynn