****August, 2012!!!****

[mrstomrice]

ADR's are made, I added a night to the beginning of our vacation because airfare was so much cheaper, and I'm starting to gather things for our trip. I hate to wish the summer away, but I can't wait for August 16th to get here!

Hey Doylestown...Langhorne here! we got fantastic airfare out of ACY...lots of extra fees, so I need to stay informed, but tickets and seat choices came to $550 for 4 RT!

 

[mrstomrice]

Just for fun on a typical evening, I play around with booking adrs...just to see what is open. Can't believe that Le Cellier popped up for dinner...although we didn't book it. I looked into the Wishes Dessert Party and I could have booked Aug 14 or 18. I wanted to double check my plan to see where we planned to go each day and in that time, I lost the chance because they were no longer available. DH wasn't sold due to the cost (almost $100 for the 4 of us) but I was excited to try something new. I guess I will keep on trying!
Aha...just got it! I used 7:00 as a search time...when I put in 9 pm, I got it! We have it booked for Aug 18 at 9:05

 

[NightAngelX]

Is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World worth it? I went to Barnes and Noble tonight thinking I would save money on shipping and buy the book at a b&m shop and it was 2x the price! Online has me spoiled. I was going to get the ebook version but all the reviews say not to because its not formatted correctly for it and graphs are cut off. I glanced through it and seemed like all the information I already knew from online. Then I looked breifly at his touring plans and he basically just says to go to his website (which requires a subscription) for the BEST information because his book could already be outdated. Then goes about with his recommendations.
So I figure my choices are:
a. Buy the book and follow his out of date tour plans
b. just get his website subscription
c. do both
d do neither and just do what we want in the order we want to do it. lol

I am leaning towards D. Since we are two adults and it will supposedly be less busy than peak season I think we shouldnt have an issue fitting everything in.

Meanwhile....39 DAYS!!!!!!!!

 

[Nicole722]

Paid off our balance today! Now the excitement is really starting to set in. 46 more days to go.

 

[jm106]

About what time do you think you'll be checking in and what do you normally do first? Park? Pool? Shop? Eat?
We land just after 2 pm from philly so we should be at resort by 4. We have grocery and stroller delivery about then so as soon as we are checked in and everything is in room, delivered we will head to pool for a bit. We then can go freshen up and head to DTD. No ADRs so we will just grab dinner there. I have never been on a friday night so I hope there is some fun happening.

 

[Stan Solo]

I'm with you on that one. I keep looking at it and adding it to my cart, then I back off. I can't make myself pay that much money for it.

We got photo pass CD last year and while I'm glad we did DD felt posing for pictures was not her idea of a vacation. This year we are not going to bother.

About what time do you think you'll be checking in and what do you normally do first? Park? Pool? Shop? Eat?

We arrive between 1-2 PM plan to explore the resort for a bit then head off to DTD for lunch and Disneyquest, after that we will make the trek to Hess for some supplies.

I really want minnie ears but they only have girls online in what I like. They only have one pair of women's and their hot pink which is fine I just really wanted classic black with red bow. Oh well...

I could be wrong but I seem to recall seeing Mickey ears In a shop or two at WDW

Alas I am weak...added park tickets for the evenings in less than a month since my previous post

Where are you staying for Star Wars Celebration?

Just wanted to say....my Disney trip is officially paid off! Zero balance as of today!

I am so excited!!

Mine is paid off as well! Now I guess I should start saving for that huge MasterCard bill I'll be getting next month.

Is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World worth it? I went to Barnes and Noble tonight thinking I would save money on shipping and buy the book at a b&m shop and it was 2x the price! Online has me spoiled. I was going to get the ebook version but all the reviews say not to because its not formatted correctly for it and graphs are cut off. I glanced through it and seemed like all the information I already knew from online. Then I looked breifly at his touring plans and he basically just says to go to his website (which requires a subscription) for the BEST information because his book could already be outdated. Then goes about with his recommendations.
So I figure my choices are:
a. Buy the book and follow his out of date tour plans
b. just get his website subscription
c. do both
d do neither and just do what we want in the order we want to do it. lol

I am leaning towards D. Since we are two adults and it will supposedly be less busy than peak season I think we shouldnt have an issue fitting everything in.

Meanwhile....39 DAYS!!!!!!!!

We went last year for our first ever trip and while I did not have a plan written down as far as what ride to go on in what order I did have a plan in my head. From all that I read anyone that has a plan made for them or takes the time to write one down they forget all about after the first ride.

 

[elaine amj]

Just ordered pins off ebay last night!! kids are happy -although DH thinks I'm nuts. Last trip they had so much fun trading just 1 pin each. This trip, they will have 15 pins each - already their minds can't wrap around how you can possibly trade so many pins. Heehee...I'm not telling them about the collectors who have 100s and 100s of pins!

we land at 11am, so I'm guessing we'll be checked in by 12:30 or 1. We will probably grab lunch first, since we'll have been up since 4:30am. Then we'll either hit the pool or head over to the GF to rent a boat. I've never done that and would like to cruise around the Seven Seas Lagoon and see what we can see! We have an ADR at 1900PF at 4:50pm (I'm going to try to push this to 5:30ish if I can, but no luck yet)..

Renting a boat will be FUN!! I'm debating renting a surrey next trip - but don't know if we'll be able to fit it in as we already have so many plans.

Just for fun on a typical evening, I play around with booking adrs...just to see what is open. Can't believe that Le Cellier popped up for dinner...although we didn't book it. I looked into the Wishes Dessert Party and I could have booked Aug 14 or 18. I wanted to double check my plan to see where we planned to go each day and in that time, I lost the chance because they were no longer available. DH wasn't sold due to the cost (almost $100 for the 4 of us) but I was excited to try something new. I guess I will keep on trying!
Aha...just got it! I used 7:00 as a search time...when I put in 9 pm, I got it! We have it booked for Aug 18 at 9:05

wooooohoooooo!!!!!

Is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World worth it? I went to Barnes and Noble tonight thinking I would save money on shipping and buy the book at a b&m shop and it was 2x the price! Online has me spoiled. I was going to get the ebook version but all the reviews say not to because its not formatted correctly for it and graphs are cut off. I glanced through it and seemed like all the information I already knew from online. Then I looked breifly at his touring plans and he basically just says to go to his website (which requires a subscription) for the BEST information because his book could already be outdated. Then goes about with his recommendations.
So I figure my choices are:
a. Buy the book and follow his out of date tour plans
b. just get his website subscription
c. do both
d do neither and just do what we want in the order we want to do it. lol

I am leaning towards D. Since we are two adults and it will supposedly be less busy than peak season I think we shouldnt have an issue fitting everything in.

Meanwhile....39 DAYS!!!!!!!!

I read the book for my first 2 trips. I really enjoyed it to get a sense of everything and how to tour. Warning - I'm a bookworm so all this reading is how I relax so ymmv. I read it multiple times, many times just to amuse myself. Now it's my 3rd trip and I'm not re-reading it. Mind you I also read about 3/4 other Disney guidebooks. I've calmed down on the Disney books. i did get them all from my public library

 

[Reidhome]

OMG! We are SOOO excited!!!
DH and I are going to spring the SURPRISE on our boys TOMORROW MORNING! I can't believe we have managed to keep this trip a secret for so many months...

Our trip to POFQ 8/25 - 9/1 is smack dab in the middle of our boys' 8th and 11th birthdays, so we are wrapping up a GIANT gift box for each for them to open . Outside will be an "Invitation" for them to CELEBRATE their brother's birthday... on 8/25....at.... then they will open the box and have balloons fly out (Mickey Mouse, too, of course!) with a whole bunch of Disney stuff inside.

Now, if they don't absolutely go BANANAS, it will be a huge let-down, of course... DH has been planning this surprise for MONTHS, and wants them to, as he delicately puts it, "absolutely lose their $%&!"

We made our first trip to DW last Christmas and FELL. IN. LOVE!!! None of us has been able to stop talking about it since we got home. When the Free Dining promotion came up again, we jumped on it! Wish us luck (and a little pixie dust!)!

Well... The cat is out of the bag!!! The boys were SOOO SURPRISED and have been excited and telling us about their plans for "must do's" all day!! Will be great to share the anticipation with them the last 6 weeks before our trip...

Wish I could figure out how to post pictures from the reveal!

 

[Emteach]

We will probably check in around 10-11am (we are arrivng in Orlando the night before, and staying over near DTD and starting our Disney vacation the next day). I know our room will not be ready, so we will just drop our luggage off and explore the resort for a little bit. Then it's off to the Magic Kingdom!

This sounds almost exactly like our plan (we are flying in and it will be in the evening so will prob. stay near Orlando airport and then heading to our resort and MK as well!

 

[emmysmommy]

Have any of you fellow August Disers rented boats (or any watercraft) at either CR area or any of the EPCOT resorts? Do you have to reserve in advance? Cost ideas? I'm trying to book an activity that DH will love more than posing with Princesses.

 

[starrPA]

Just wanted to say....my Disney trip is officially paid off! Zero balance as of today!

I am so excited!!

Yay! Bet that feels great! Ours will be on Friday. I can't wait to get that over with...

 

[CRdisMom]

Have any of you fellow August Disers rented boats (or any watercraft) at either CR area or any of the EPCOT resorts? Do you have to reserve in advance? Cost ideas? I'm trying to book an activity that DH will love more than posing with Princesses.

Hubby did the bass fishing a few years back in the afternoon and I think that was like $150 for 2 hours. We did the sea racers at dtd nearly 15 yrs ago and I think that ran us $45 total. Hope that gives you some sort of idea.

 

[mrstomrice]

Have any of you fellow August Disers rented boats (or any watercraft) at either CR area or any of the EPCOT resorts? Do you have to reserve in advance? Cost ideas? I'm trying to book an activity that DH will love more than posing with Princesses.

We have rented a Boston Whaler at the Contemporary a few times over the past few years. We did not have a reservation....we just went to the back of the resort and had no wait either time. I can't recall the cost of the rental...but it wasn't bad at all for a half an hour rental.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Have any of you fellow August Disers rented boats (or any watercraft) at either CR area or any of the EPCOT resorts? Do you have to reserve in advance? Cost ideas? I'm trying to book an activity that DH will love more than posing with Princesses.

We did once from WL and it was great! You can rent by the hour or half hour i think. We went all around bay lake and seven seas lagoon with great views of the resorts and the MK. I'll post some pics do you later.

 

[OneBadApple]

Hey Doylestown...Langhorne here! we got fantastic airfare out of ACY...lots of extra fees, so I need to stay informed, but tickets and seat choices came to $550 for 4 RT!

Wow!!! $550 for 4 is an awesome deal. Here I thought $1000 was a good deal.

Well... The cat is out of the bag!!! The boys were SOOO SURPRISED and have been excited and telling us about their plans for "must do's" all day!! Will be great to share the anticipation with them the last 6 weeks before our trip...

Wish I could figure out how to post pictures from the reveal!

I'm so glad that your surprise went well.

 

[litlpixie]

Zippety-Doo-Dah, Zippety-Ay
My oh my, this is one crappy day!

HOWEVER, the good news is that I am 40 days from WDW!!!!

 

[LifeIsDis]

Zippety-Doo-Dah, Zippety-Ay
My oh my, this is one crappy day!

HOWEVER, the good news is that I am 40 days from WDW!!!!

I'm sorry that it's going to be a crappy day for you But YAY! 40 days until Disney for you! That's good news!

 

[crostorfer]

Zippety-Doo-Dah, Zippety-Ay
My oh my, this is one crappy day!

HOWEVER, the good news is that I am 40 days from WDW!!!!

Way to turn those lemons into lemonade!

 

[littlezar]

Is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World worth it?

It's only $10.99 on Amazon - free super saver shipping if you spend over $25 or free if you have prime. (I have prime and also have no trouble spending over $25, LOL) This year was the 2nd time I've bought the book. I also bought it in '09. If you don't want to buy it, check to see if your library has it. Mine has the current one of that, plus the birnbaum's, fodor's and I think one or two others. Plus they have a couple previous years editions of those and they have the Hidden Mickey book which I bought before our 2010 trip and will take for this trip. My boys didn't complain about riding It's a Small World because they were looking for Hidden Mickeys.

Well... The cat is out of the bag!!! The boys were SOOO SURPRISED and have been excited and telling us about their plans for "must do's" all day!! Will be great to share the anticipation with them the last 6 weeks before our trip...

Wish I could figure out how to post pictures from the reveal!

YAY!! I think you have to have 10 or 15 posts before you can post a pic. You have to put the pic on a site like photobucket and then link to it to share it here.

Well, I feel like I actually accomplished something....I made an appointment for my 6 year old at Pirates League.

On a personal note, I need to figure out a birthday gift for my husband in 9 days and for my soon to be 15 year old in 11 days.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hubby did the bass fishing a few years back in the afternoon and I think that was like $150 for 2 hours. We did the sea racers at dtd nearly 15 yrs ago and I think that ran us $45 total. Hope that gives you some sort of idea.

Thank you, it does give me an idea. I wonder if the bass fishing is catch and release because I can't imagine what you would do with a fish once you caught it.... I'm picturing a school carnival with a gold fish in a baggie but this would be BIGGER fishy!

We have rented a Boston Whaler at the Contemporary a few times over the past few years. We did not have a reservation....we just went to the back of the resort and had no wait either time. I can't recall the cost of the rental...but it wasn't bad at all for a half an hour rental.

Thanks! A Boston Whaler sounds like my kind of activity.. oh, wait, this is for DH! Also good to know that we may not need a reservation.

We did once from WL and it was great! You can rent by the hour or half hour i think. We went all around bay lake and seven seas lagoon with great views of the resorts and the MK. I'll post some pics do you later.

Thank you so much. I'd love to see any photos if you have them!

Happy counting down everyone!