Best graduation present ever! July 2012 PTR

[Chicago Mo]

Oh, I have the Southwest app on my phone. I can just check-in on that, but I can't print the boarding passes. Do you just pick them up at the airport? Or if you check in over the phone, will Disney get the boarding passes and deliver them? This whole SmartPhone thing is new to me. I am still trying to figure out all the neat things I can do with it

Your Funny. I THINK we got them at the airport... I THINK! ugh i am sorry but my mind has just gone BLANK... but then again i am pricing out our next vacation

The smart phone will help you tons. I had all the fun gadgets including paid ones that helped around the park with wait times and such. I didn't think i would use it but it did come in handy!!!

 

[solana131]

Your Funny. I THINK we got them at the airport... I THINK! ugh i am sorry but my mind has just gone BLANK... but then again i am pricing out our next vacation

Next vacation??? To WDW? Or somewhere else?

The smart phone will help you tons. I had all the fun gadgets including paid ones that helped around the park with wait times and such. I didn't think i would use it but it did come in handy!!!

It's so funny because I have to carry two phones right now. I have used StraightTalk for a couple years now and I love them. So easy to just pay $45 a month for unlimited everything with no contract. Their different phones are with different carriers and I have the Verizon one, since it is the only thing that comes in around my home. They have just recently added smart phones, but they have yet to add any with the Verizon towers, so I have my regular phone (Blackberry looking, but with only Mobil Web) and this new smartphone that runs on the AT&T network. I can get service at home and at work, but hardly anywhere in between. So I refuse to give up my other phone. It sucks having to carry two phones, but I only use the smartphone for the apps and as soon as they come out with one on the Verizon network I will switch over. I didn't pay anything for the phone, so it doesn't bother me to just use it for apps. I have downloaded the TP Lines app and the Disney Parks official app. I love all the things Lines can do....with wait times and dining searches. Can't wait to test it out down there

 

[Chicago Mo]

Next vacation??? To WDW? Or somewhere else?



It's so funny because I have to carry two phones right now. I have used StraightTalk for a couple years now and I love them. So easy to just pay $45 a month for unlimited everything with no contract. Their different phones are with different carriers and I have the Verizon one, since it is the only thing that comes in around my home. They have just recently added smart phones, but they have yet to add any with the Verizon towers, so I have my regular phone (Blackberry looking, but with only Mobil Web) and this new smartphone that runs on the AT&T network. I can get service at home and at work, but hardly anywhere in between. So I refuse to give up my other phone. It sucks having to carry two phones, but I only use the smartphone for the apps and as soon as they come out with one on the Verizon network I will switch over. I didn't pay anything for the phone, so it doesn't bother me to just use it for apps. I have downloaded the TP Lines app and the Disney Parks official app. I love all the things Lines can do....with wait times and dining searches. Can't wait to test it out down there

YES BACK TO DISNEY!!!! Next year with 3 adults and my 3 kids. So looking into the Art of Animation buildings!!! YAY!!!!
Very excited!!! around September 2013
these are the apps i have and use: WDW hours. Where is WDW (fun trivia app), What to Ride, Undercover Tourist-Best paid app i own!!! WDW waits and of course the countdown app. Which i cannot wait to get up and running again.
I have two phones too only becuase one is my work phone.. You do get used to it! LOL but a pain.

 

[solana131]

YES BACK TO DISNEY!!!! Next year with 3 adults and my 3 kids. So looking into the Art of Animation buildings!!! YAY!!!!
Very excited!!! around September 2013
these are the apps i have and use: WDW hours. Where is WDW (fun trivia app), What to Ride, Undercover Tourist-Best paid app i own!!! WDW waits and of course the countdown app. Which i cannot wait to get up and running again.
I have two phones too only becuase one is my work phone.. You do get used to it! LOL but a pain.

AoA looks so cool! Dani and I will definitely make a trip over there to check it out. With all my mid-day breaks, I plan on resort hopping alot. Their food court looks yummy, so maybe we will do lunch there one day. My biggest problem would be deciding which section to choose. Nemo is my favorite movie, so it would probably be there, but the Cars outside landscaping and "characters" looks the best. The suites look so big and roomy and cool. You'll have a blast!

I had downloaded the UndercoverTourist app too (just the free one), but it seemed like it did the same things as the Lines App from TouringPlans. So I took it off. I'm just not sure how much I will actually use it. With the crowds all over, I can't picture myself being able to walk and work the stupid touchscreen at the same time. But we will check it now and then for wait times. And I love how the Lines app has the food search feature....I have heard alot about the cream cheese and pretzels and jalapeno ones, so I must try them this trip. I can just enter "pretzel" and hit "search" and it will tell me all the places in the park I can get one and the menu. Really cool At least I only have to listen for one phone because nobody knows the number of the SmartPhone.

 

[Chicago Mo]

AoA looks so cool! Dani and I will definitely make a trip over there to check it out. With all my mid-day breaks, I plan on resort hopping alot. Their food court looks yummy, so maybe we will do lunch there one day. My biggest problem would be deciding which section to choose. Nemo is my favorite movie, so it would probably be there, but the Cars outside landscaping and "characters" looks the best. The suites look so big and roomy and cool. You'll have a blast!

I had downloaded the UndercoverTourist app too (just the free one), but it seemed like it did the same things as the Lines App from TouringPlans. So I took it off. I'm just not sure how much I will actually use it. With the crowds all over, I can't picture myself being able to walk and work the stupid touchscreen at the same time. But we will check it now and then for wait times. And I love how the Lines app has the food search feature....I have heard alot about the cream cheese and pretzels and jalapeno ones, so I must try them this trip. I can just enter "pretzel" and hit "search" and it will tell me all the places in the park I can get one and the menu. Really cool At least I only have to listen for one phone because nobody knows the number of the SmartPhone.

I had the Jalapeno Pretzel last year and loved it. PLEASE take pictures at AOA!!! Yes the apps are awesome!! they really do help newbies like us!!!

 

[disneymomjcs]

I can't figure out how to upload a slideshow, so I just took pictures of my computer screen and uploaded those. So the image quality isn't too pretty, but deal with it people. At least you can sort of make out my daily plans.

These daily plans may be about to change. I thought it would be best to hit the EMHs and take breaks during the day. But I have since heard to skip parks with EMHs because they are always busier. What do you think? Should I stick with my plan, or change things around so we hit parks at opening but not EMH??

I am thinking park opening for all parks. MK 2 days, Epcot one morning to hit the rides and 1 evening for the World Showcase. Last trip we kinda hurried through WS, so I really want to take my time this trip and shop around in all the countries. HS and AK each one day. This will give us one rest day which will be used to resort hop. I really want to check out Coronado and Art of Animation at least. Probably will hop over to AKL since Dani loves animals so much.

OMG I absolutely love the power point.. I must do that for our upcoming trip. I love, love, love it thank you so much for the idea. I have done many surprises and planned so many trips and never thought to do this. Although I must admit, My DD15 taught me last year how to do a power point.....I didn't know how!

 

[disneymomjcs]

Seriously thinking about switching to the Royal Rooms at POR. It is about half the price of the Poly. Buses and breakfast will be an issue, but probably not an $800 issue. I think we can deal, and when else am I going to get to stay in a princess themed room? I have a boy! If I do decide to switch, it won't affect my daily plans or ADRs, so I might decide last minute. I booked room-only, so I don't have to have it paid for 45 days in advance. I'll think a little more about it. I really want to stay POFQ, but I guess I should go for the Royal Rooms if I can this trip. Who knows, I might decide to stay put at the Poly. Time will tell. I like to change my mind

POR love it! Our favorite moderate resort. Bring granola bars, nutrigran bars and pack muffins in your checked luggage. Breakfast on the go. Grab yogurt in the gift shop. Such a great resort bus and boat transportation. I think your very lucky niece will love it there. Its an easy walk over the bridge to the main bus stop. We have stayed many times at almost all the resorts. The POR isn't that far from the Poly easy to get to MK. But quick buses everywhere. About the same amt of time to parks from Poly and POR.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Yeah, I am pretty sure we will stick with FQ. I am sure we will spend quite a bit of time at the Poly with our 2 Kona ADRs and just hanging out there. I loved Captain Cooks, so we will probably get lunch there a couple days.

And its not my DS I am worried about not liking the buses....its DH! He hates to travel, hates heat, and hates crowds. Yeah, he's a joy But he is the one I worry about if we stayed off the monorail trail. DS is fine with anything.


Booked our flights today! I tried to wait for a Southwest sale, but they weren't really that bad anyway. They kept sending me deals every week but they were not for our dates. Finally got one for our time period, and for some reason our flights were not included in the sale But even the sale prices weren't any better than the regular price for those flights, so I booked them anyway. NOW the real sale will come. Oh well....at least we are booked and we got an early flight down and a late flight back so it adds two days to our trip, kinda sorta.

So with the Wishes Dessert Party booked, and the flights booked, I have nothing else to do but wait for 77 days! *hey, where's the thumb twiddling smiley guy?*

Gotta love SWA air you can get a credit if the flight price drops and you can use it within a year. Although one credit will be in your name and one in your nieces. But money no less!

 

[disneymomjcs]

Oh, I have the Southwest app on my phone. I can just check-in on that, but I can't print the boarding passes. Do you just pick them up at the airport? Or if you check in over the phone, will Disney get the boarding passes and deliver them? This whole SmartPhone thing is new to me. I am still trying to figure out all the neat things I can do with it

We have had guest services at MK print ours for us. (We had a problem with our flights and they actually put us in a back room with a computer so we could get it taken care of, so nice) Also the hotel lobby printed ours for us also. You can also get them when you check in at the airport just select print boarding passes. Also RNR goes upside down twice and it doesn't ever stop. I don't like it because it hurts my neck. So I go through the que with my daughter and then use the pass through and wait for her.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Where did you get the font for your power point and the pictures also? Any tips for the power point would be great
!

 

[solana131]

I had the Jalapeno Pretzel last year and loved it. PLEASE take pictures at AOA!!! Yes the apps are awesome!! they really do help newbies like us!!!

I will I'm excited to see lots of other resorts. I want to head on over to Coronado and Carribbean Beach too. And we have dinner at Boma scheduled, so we can check out AKL too. We saw Poly, Contemp, GF, Wilderness, Beach/Yatch/Boardwalk when we were there in Feb, so we will have toured almost all of them after this

OMG I absolutely love the power point.. I must do that for our upcoming trip. I love, love, love it thank you so much for the idea. I have done many surprises and planned so many trips and never thought to do this. Although I must admit, My DD15 taught me last year how to do a power point.....I didn't know how!

Glad to have another reader! This was the first time I had ever used PowerPoint. I think it came out great and I printed all the slides off and put them in a little photo album that she can use after. I wanted to have something to actually give her for her graduation party, but didn't want to spend any extra money since the trip is her present.

POR love it! Our favorite moderate resort. Bring granola bars, nutrigran bars and pack muffins in your checked luggage. Breakfast on the go. Grab yogurt in the gift shop. Such a great resort bus and boat transportation. I think your very lucky niece will love it there. Its an easy walk over the bridge to the main bus stop. We have stayed many times at almost all the resorts. The POR isn't that far from the Poly easy to get to MK. But quick buses everywhere. About the same amt of time to parks from Poly and POR.

I have since found out that POFQ opens at 6, not 7. So we will have plenty of time to get a good breakfast there before heading to the parks. I am really against eating in the room because I just love to eat out. That is a big part of our vacations. So I was happy to know the grill opened up earlier I am sure we will spend lots of time over at POR, but FQ just seemed more my speed with its smaller size and first on/first off the buses.

Gotta love SWA air you can get a credit if the flight price drops and you can use it within a year. Although one credit will be in your name and one in your nieces. But money no less!

She already has a credit through AirTran, but SW was way way cheaper even with that credit! I have seen lots of "Sales" on other flights, but they are not any cheaper than I already got, so I think we are good.

We have had guest services at MK print ours for us. (We had a problem with our flights and they actually put us in a back room with a computer so we could get it taken care of, so nice) Also the hotel lobby printed ours for us also. You can also get them when you check in at the airport just select print boarding passes.

I will just either check in at the lobby the evening before, or use my phone app, then print them off when I get back to the lobby. I just want to make sure we hit it at exactly the 24 hr mark to get the best boarding position. I hate how SW doesn't assign seats...major stress point with me. Not so much this trip since my cousin can take care of herself, but with a little one and a grouchy husband, I like to be stress-free.

Also RNR goes upside down twice and it doesn't ever stop. I don't like it because it hurts my neck. So I go through the que with my daughter and then use the pass through and wait for her.

Good to know. I don't know where I heard that it stopped upside down for a sec. I have since added it to my "Must Do" list Love Aerosmith, so I'm really looking forward to it!


Really really proud of my cousin! Just found out she is the VALEDICTORIAN of her class! Makes even more happy that I am doing this for her! She is speaking at a class night on Friday and I can't wait to see it!

And another side note....Bradey is graduating preschool on Friday! I can't believe he is almost ready for Kindergarten already...where does the time go?!

 

[solana131]

Where did you get the font for your power point and the pictures also? Any tips for the power point would be great
!

Oh gosh, I don't know if I can remember how. I found the instructions somewhere on here. Oooh...found it. This is copied and pasted from jtanddolly on another thread.

"If you want to use the "Disney" font it is called "waltograph" and here is how you can download it for free to your computer:

• Go online to www.dafont.com
• Search, find and open a font called “Waltograph”
• Click on the “Download” button
• Then click on “Open”
• Next you will need to unzip the file. In most computers, a screen will pop up with a box on the left that says “folder tasks” and in the box click on “extract files” Follow the prompts by clicking “next” and “finish” making sure that the final box has a check mark next to “show files”
• A new box will pop up. In this box, copy “Waltograph42” and “WaltographUI”. Do this by holding down your “control” button on the bottom left corner of your keyboard and click each file. Then on the top of the screen click on “edit” and in the drop down box click on “copy”.
• Next click on your computers “Start” button
• Then click on “Settings”
• Then click “Control Panel”
• Then open the file that says “Fonts”
• At the top of the font screen click on “Edit” and then in the drop down menu click on “Paste”
Now the correct font will show up when you open these files. Otherwise, your computer will choose a similar font but it may not be centered or fit the image correctly."

The pictures I just saved off the web. Mostly Google images. I just searched for the particular attractions, pictures I wanted and right clicked to save to my computer. PowerPoint was easy. It pretty much walks you through it. They have slide templates and I just picked ones with both pictures and words and played around until I got it to my liking.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Oh gosh, I don't know if I can remember how. I found the instructions somewhere on here. Oooh...found it. This is copied and pasted from jtanddolly on another thread.

"If you want to use the "Disney" font it is called "waltograph" and here is how you can download it for free to your computer:

• Go online to www.dafont.com
• Search, find and open a font called “Waltograph”
• Click on the “Download” button
• Then click on “Open”
• Next you will need to unzip the file. In most computers, a screen will pop up with a box on the left that says “folder tasks” and in the box click on “extract files” Follow the prompts by clicking “next” and “finish” making sure that the final box has a check mark next to “show files”
• A new box will pop up. In this box, copy “Waltograph42” and “WaltographUI”. Do this by holding down your “control” button on the bottom left corner of your keyboard and click each file. Then on the top of the screen click on “edit” and in the drop down box click on “copy”.
• Next click on your computers “Start” button
• Then click on “Settings”
• Then click “Control Panel”
• Then open the file that says “Fonts”
• At the top of the font screen click on “Edit” and then in the drop down menu click on “Paste”
Now the correct font will show up when you open these files. Otherwise, your computer will choose a similar font but it may not be centered or fit the image correctly."

The pictures I just saved off the web. Mostly Google images. I just searched for the particular attractions, pictures I wanted and right clicked to save to my computer. PowerPoint was easy. It pretty much walks you through it. They have slide templates and I just picked ones with both pictures and words and played around until I got it to my liking.

I am so happy, Thanks again, I just uploaded the fonts. I can't wait to do the power point now. I better do some work and take care of the house first. I have been on the boards too too much of late.

 

[DMGeurts]

Sorry I fell behind, again...

The Powerpoint looks awesome!! I just love how it turned out.

Congratulations to Danni and to Brady!

Glad Molly is doing better!

D~

 

[solana131]

Sorry I fell behind, again...

The Powerpoint looks awesome!! I just love how it turned out.

Congratulations to Danni and to Brady!

Glad Molly is doing better!

D~

Thanks D. Hey, quick question.... I see you often have your refillable mugs in the parks with you. Do they give you ice water in them at the QS spots? Or do you fill them from a fountain? Thinking it might be easier to just bring those and get the free ice water all day. They are light and I've already paid for them

 

[DMGeurts]

Thanks D. Hey, quick question.... I see you often have your refillable mugs in the parks with you. Do they give you ice water in them at the QS spots? Or do you fill them from a fountain? Thinking it might be easier to just bring those and get the free ice water all day. They are light and I've already paid for them

Honestly... The only time we brought them into the parks, we had just finished a meal at the resort, so we topped them off, and brought them with. Once we finished them, we rinsed them at a drinking fountain and put them into one of our bags. To be honest - I hated taking them with us, because if we lost them, I wouldn't have replaced them. LOL Well, maybe I would have?

But now that I've said that - I don't see where there would be a problem with getting ice water in them at the parks. If they don't want to fill your actual mugs, just get a glass of ice water and pour it in?

D~

 

[solana131]

Honestly... The only time we brought them into the parks, we had just finished a meal at the resort, so we topped them off, and brought them with. Once we finished them, we rinsed them at a drinking fountain and put them into one of our bags. To be honest - I hated taking them with us, because if we lost them, I wouldn't have replaced them. LOL Well, maybe I would have?

But now that I've said that - I don't see where there would be a problem with getting ice water in them at the parks. If they don't want to fill your actual mugs, just get a glass of ice water and pour it in?

Oh, sorry, I thought I saw them in a bunch of your photos. Just an AK picture now that I look back. I thought you knew some secret that I didn't We will stick to our water bottles.

 

[Chicago Mo]

48 days????
YOUR UNDER 50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[solana131]

48 days????
YOUR UNDER 50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know! OMG I am soooo excited


My little man graduated PreSchool today! So bittersweet. I am not ready for him to be a big school boy yet! Here's a picture from this morning

Also got to see Dani and talk with her for a while about our trip. She is getting really excited. Next weekend is her graduation, so I will post a pic from that day too. Can't believe my little flower girl is the Valedictorian! So proud of her

Oh, and other good news....we sold our camper this week, so now I have an extra couple thousand $$ to play with down there

 

[KatMark]

My little man graduated PreSchool today! So bittersweet. I am not ready for him to be a big school boy yet! Here's a picture from this morning

Way to go little man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!