Bringing our Souvenir Back to the World a Oct 2016 PTR

[starann]

It's been a long time Dis World. The last 2, almost 3, years have flown by. If you followed my last TR you learned what I brought home from our last trip. In case not......here is the old TR
http://www.disboards.com/threads/yo...ey-a-sept-2013-tr-epic-update-8-1-14.3181036/

I will warn you that it is not finished, but I am actively working on it. I started a Word document and have been writing it out so once I get back in the groove of things, I hope do updates at least once a week on it. But enough about that.

Now back to this trip

When: Oct 11 to the 20
Where: BWV (we rented points from a friend of Hubby's)
How: Likely driving from PA. DH wants to fly, I just don't see it in our budget
Why: Does anything really need to go here? I think not!
Who: Wow, ok this is the long part!

Me: Star (really my name), currently 35, will be 36 for the trip. Wife, mom and nurse. I currently work 12 hours on Sat and 12 on Sun as a visiting nurse (I go into peoples homes to treat them). I used to work mon-fri but with the 3 kids daycare was CRAZY so I switched to weekends and LOVE it. I have been to WDW at age 7, multiple times as a late teen then again in 2006, 2008 and 2010. I LOVE it there and would prefer to vacation at WDW over any other place.

DH: Randy, age 42. Randy is a former Dept of Defense firefighter now Mon-Fri building/fire inspector. He is going to be 38 this year. He has 2 antique firetrucks which he enters into car and truck shows and parades. He had never been to WDW before 2006, stating "Why would I want to see some over priced, over grown RAT!" Needless to say he has been in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2013!!! He is a big SW fan.

DS1: Cody is 12 and is in 6th grade. He is a really bright boy, LOVES to read but has Asperger's, anxiety, ADHD and Tourettes. Life with his is sometimes really hard, but often he is a really sweet boy who has tons of empathy (which is not common in ASD kids). He play drums for the school band and is really excited for their trip in May to Hershey Park for Battle of the Bands. He loves POTC and Star Wars. He has been to WDW 4 times now. He can not wait to go back and ride RNR. He will never ever again ride TT, although he did try it once!


DS2: Shane just turned 11 yesterday and is in 5th grade. He is Me Social Butterfly and involved in Wrestling and baseball. He does GREAT in school, no really, straight "a" student without trying too hard He also LOVES Star Wars. He is not much of a ride kid, his favorite attraction is One Man's Dream...so he's going to be bummed!


DS3: Casey He was born Friday May 13th, so that should tell you a lot about him. He is VERY strong willed. He is really sweet and SUPER smart (he knew his alphabet by sight at 2yrs2mo, and I never taught him), but SOOOOOOOOOOOOO darn stubborn. His 1st trip was our 2013 trip when he was 2.5. Sadly it was not a great trip for him as he got really sick toward the end of the trip (you'll read more about that in my TR). He's not much of a Disney freak. I actually question if he is ours, as he said recently "I don't want to go to Disney" WHAT??? He certainly can't be ours!!!! All kidding aside, we found out he is scared of the characters. I told him he could go or stay home with Mema, he said he would go!!!!!! He is in Pre-K 3 days a week and LOVES it. This is his 1st year of school as he was about 4 when he potty trained and no schools around here would take him not trained. He will be in K when we go on our trip.


DD1: This would be our little Souvenir, Josephine Ruth. She will be 2.5 when we go on our trip and she has everyone wrapped around her little finger. Her Birthday is in April and if you do the math of our trip it doesn't make much sense, but she was a preemie (and spent some time in NICU) so now you math geeks can relax. A little TMI. We were DONE with 3 boys. DH finally decided he was brave enough to 'take care of business' but didn't have enough vacation time for our trip and his big "V" so he said "I'll just wait till Jan, when my vacation time renews to have it done" It just proves to us that she was meant to be (and in case you were wondering, DH still went for his surgery in Jan, so there is no chance of that happening this trip!). She is a little on the small side, our ped calls her 'petite' and she is a little speech delayed (but with ASL and time she is getting better). She prefers "Sprout" as her channel of choice, but does know Mickey and Minnie!


That's it, just the 6 of us...no others allowed! We hope to meet up with some DIS friends while down there (which is why our trip was planned when it was) but we will never vacation with other people again as a family. Just. Never.

I can't wait to get to know some of you and post all the fun stuff we hope to do this trip!!!!

 

[starann]

So we know we are staying at BWV, as we rented points. I keep flip flopping on the regular Dining plan. Our older boys are 12 ans 11, so they are Disney Adults, but my 12 yo still eats chicken fingers and french fries pretty often. I hate to pay that kind of money for him to eat like a kid. DH really want to get the DDP as then we don't have to worry about it, I say put the money we would have spent on a CG and be done with it. So here are the places we are pretty set on eating at

O'hana for dinner (we did this last trip and it will be a must do, we all loved it!)
Crystal Palace for a pre-park opening (b'fast, we also did this last time and liked the quiet MK!)
Tusker House B'fast (new to us)
Trails End (may be cut if we need to cut, we've not done it)
Hollywood and Vine Chara Lunch (for our 2 littles, we've done this before for all 3 meals and thought it was decent)
50's Prime Time (likely a lunch, we've never done this either!)
Whispering Canyon Cafe (my family LOVES this place)
9 Dragons (DH is set on going here, I could take it or leave it, but he has enjoyed it in the past)
Norway (we did this last trip and it was soooo good!)
Mexico (we really want to do this as it smells amazing while riding 3 Amigo's but I'm not 100 percent sold
Morocco (this would be new for us as well, but I have to make sure there would be something the kids would eat)
BOG (dinner, DH is foaming at the mouth to go here, we've not been)

The math I did worked out to be $1622.84 (not including drinks or dessert) which means we would need to eat about $792.04 in snacks/drinks/desserts/QS to break even with the DDP. Yes, I did allllll that math.

 

[starann]

Looks like I'll be talking to myself, and that all good until I start replying to myself!

So here is a quick recap of our past trips

We have gone in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Each time we stayed at ASMo, in a Dalmatian building. We then went 2013 and stayed Deluxe at WL.

2006 was the boys and DH's 1st trip. My grandmother had passed away and my dad offered to take us all, all expenses paid, to WDW. It was me, DH, the 2 boys (who were 1.5 and 2.5), my 19yo brother, my 10yo neice, my then best friend (who was a friend of the family) my dad, his wife and their 6mo old twins. We all drove in a 15 passenger van. We did the DDP (my dad is a foodie) and had a nice time. It was a lot hurry up and wait as different people wanted to do different things. But it got my DH to see that 'overgrown, overpriced RAT!' and he had a great time and was talking about bringing his parents back (as they had never been).

2008 we took my inlaws, my neice (she lived with us), me, DH and the 2 boys who were 3 and 4. We rented a 12 passenger van and all drove down together. We had a decent time, but my MIL was happy to stay in the room the entire time, it's like it was a bother for her to be there or do anything with her ONLY grandchildren. This in turn aggravated my DH and made him a little moody!

2010 it was just the 4 of us, the boys were 5 and 6 (almost 6 and 7). We flew for the 1st time and stayed 10 days!!!! We had such a nice trip. I actually came home and felt it was enough for awhile...after all it had to be, I was preggo.

2013 Was a trip with the 5 of us, my Mom, and my niece who was 5 and nephew who was 10. My mom flew to Orlando from Vegas where she lives and We, meaning DH and I with 5 kids, flew from Philly to Orlando. We came home from that trip swearing we would never vacation to WDW with anyone else ever again.

So this trip will be the now 6 of us. We have a lot of ages to contend with, some kids who LOVE rides, some who don't. We will still be using a stroller (and a Tula) so our next trip should be a lot of fun as we will be done with strollers (I hope) and diapers (again, I hope). Next trip!?!? LOL! I haven't even planned this one out and I'm planning the next one! Thankfully it will be only us to contend with, so I think we can handle the different ages and activities.

 

[pigletgirl]

First one!

Your family is beautiful!

To DDP or not? We're renting points for our November trip and so far it's just a RO reservation. I debate all the time as to whether it's worth it. DH mentioned last night that he'd like to do the DxDDP. Holy moly, that's a ton of food. It would be about $2050 for 3 of us (DD2 won't be on it yet) and the DDP is about $1200.

Decisions, decisions!

Happy planning!

 

[starann]

First one!

Your family is beautiful!

To DDP or not? We're renting points for our November trip and so far it's just a RO reservation. I debate all the time as to whether it's worth it. DH mentioned last night that he'd like to do the DxDDP. Holy moly, that's a ton of food. It would be about $2050 for 3 of us (DD2 won't be on it yet) and the DDP is about $1200.

Decisions, decisions!

Happy planning!

WOW, that is a big price difference!!!! And a crud ton of food!!!!!!

And thanks!!!!

 

[DMGeurts]

I just saw this now Star! I am here and following along! Love the title and loved meeting your family!

D~

 

[starann]

I just saw this now Star! I am here and following along! Love the title and loved meeting your family!

D~

Hopefully we can actually meet up!!!!!

 

[starann]

So big news here, I am switching jobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I went to nursing school 15+ years ago, I went with the intent of being a NICU nurse. I'll share what I shared on my FB page to announce to FBland of my career change

Coming full circle
I was just 18 when my life fell apart. Or so I thought. Young love, an unplanned pregnancy, a sick baby, a choice to take his pain and make it mine. I won’t go into the details, because at this point in my life, they are no longer important. For a long time after losing him, I lost myself. Every part of me was a shell of the girl who once inhabited my body. I moved through the motions, but never felt more than the ache, the constant pain that took away my breath, and with it my happiness. This went on for some time before I snapped out of it. And that was simply that. I decided I wanted more for his life and death. I wanted it all to have some kind of meaning, this pain, senselessness of it all. I chose to go to nursing school, intending to be a NICU nurse, knowing I couldn’t save every baby that came through, but maybe I could help their parents with the grief I knew all too well. Along the way I veered in a different direction, I went into oncology/palliative care and helped ease the heartbreak and pain of the patients and families touched by cancer, often at the end of their journeys. It was amazing. Truly inspirational. But it was hard as well, hard to continue to get close to people, only to have to watch them suffer and leave this world. I think nursing is a gift that we give our patients, but also feel as if every day I, too, am getting a gift. A reminder that my health issues are not a big deal, or my bills are not too terrible, or any other of my problems are just that, problems. Not the end of the world, the end of my world. I am forever grateful for those gifts given to me. There are patients and families that I will always remember, that will always be a piece of my heart, of what makes me a nurse. Recently I have found myself unhappy with my current job, I was working every weekend and a few days during the week, feeling unappreciated in every aspect of my life. My time with patients was energizing, but the computer work daunting, the lack of feeling valued by management draining. It began to consume me, taking with it, my happiness. So here I sit, after a phone call and an acceptance of a new job as a NICU nurse with tears of happiness, knowing I have come full circle. What happened 18 years ago was not my life falling apart, but my life coming together.


Guys, I am soooooooooooooo happy. My transfer date, was a sign that it was meant to be, as it is 4/24, which is Josephine's and Christopher's B-day. I will be working 3, 12 hour night shifts a week, with every 3rd weekend working. Hopefully this means we have more time together as a family on weekends. I will be staying on with the VNA (Visiting Nurse Assc) in a reserve position to make some extra money for our trip (as OT at the hospital can be feast or famine).

So what does this mean for our trip? Nothing. We are still going. I'm hoping I will have enough vacation time saved up to take off, or can work a few back to back shifts so I can minimize my PTO needed. DH is now talking about leaving on Sat to go visit family in NC, spending a night or 2 with them and headed down to arrive in Orlando for b'fast on the 11th.

I have been focusing on doing my shopkicks, ibotta, and saving star to get some extra money that I will use for spending money for our trip. So far I'm up to a $50 Target GC from Shopkick (which I will get a Disney GC with), $136 from Ibotta, and $21.92 from Saving Star. Every bit helps and I'm, excited to see how much I end up getting!

Back in January we had a blizzard here in PA and our neighbor had asked for help with shoveling as her DH has cancer. DH isthe type of person who will help anyone out so he and the boys went to help them. He won't take money but the neighbor wanted to do something, so they gave each of the big boys a $25 Disney GC!!! I also have been buying some GC here and there and we are up to $300, plus each kid has GC from my brother and my mother from Xmas!!!!

DH also has a 5 gallon water jog that he has been putting change and some bills into. I can't wait to see how much is in that jar.

Also with me being off most weekends, we can finally do a BIG yardsale. I had hoped to do a consignement sale, but never got around to it, so I may try the local BST pages for the big stuff and a yardsale for the little stuff.

SO what do you do to help offset the costs, have extra money while on vacation????

 

[starann]

GAH I had typed up all of our ADRs with comments and the computer ate it....grrrrrr. I'm off the next few days and hope to update!!!

 

[starann]

I woke up early on our ADR day, not because I was so excited to make our ADRs (well that, too) but because my little souviener decided to be up allllllll night. It was 6am when I finally got back to sleep and my alarm went off right as I was drifting off to sleep...It was time to make my ADRs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fingers crossed I would get everything I wanted........................

Oct 11th...Arrival Day Ohana 9:05pm. We plan on getting to WDW early, so we can each lunch in the Magic Kingdom. We were hoping for a fairly early dinner so we can get backto the hotel and rest up from our travels, but this was the only time they had for a party of 6. I will keep trying as it gets closer, if not we will take this. We did Ohana on out last trip and LOVED it. We were not aware of how much food it was...woah!

Oct 12th...Epcot Day, Nine Dragons for lunch at 12:00. We ate here 2 other times at least and DH really wanted to go back, so this was his pick!

Oct 13th...MGM Day Hollywood and Vine at 12:50 for the lunch buffet. This is for Josie. We have done b'fast and lunch here several time and always enjoy it. I'm not sure why it gets such terrible reviews, it's not the worst place we have ever eaten at and we like that kids can be kids here!

Oct 14th..MK Day Crystal Palace Breakfast 8:20. I was hoping for a prepark opening spot, but of course there are am extra magic house. I may try to move this one up if I can....we will see! We have done different meals here and bfast is our favorite for the pre park opening!!!

Oct 15th..AK day, Tusker House at 8am for pre park opening. This is a 1st for us, we have never eaten anything other than a QS in AK!!!

Oct 16th Epcot Day, Mexico....I think it's San Angel...the one in the ride. It smelled so good the last time we were there that DH REALLY HAS to try it this time. I sure hope they have chicken fingers for the kids!!!!

Oct 17th MGM/MK....We have Prime Time at 11am and BOG at 5:05pm. We have never been to Prime Time or BOG and if we have to cancel 1, it will be Prime time. According the the CM when I called, ours was the 1st BOG she was able to get for anyone and told me I was so smark for making it towards the later part of our trip!!!

Oct 18th we have dinner at 6:25 in Norway. We did this for the 1st time last trip and really enjoyed the food. Not so sure our boys are happy about it!!!

Oct 19th is a free day as in we have no plan for a park that day, we use it to go to so things we haven't done yet, or DTD. We have dinner scheduled at WCC at 6pm

Oct 20th is our last day...boo...hiss. We have dinner ressies at CM with some great DIS friends (16 of us). Some will be in town for a WDW vacation and others are leaving on a cruise. Since my ADR window was opened 1st, they asked me to make the ressie. I think we are doing 7pm at Chef Mickey. After dinner with these great people, we will start heading for SC to see hubby's aunts for a few days before heading home back to PA.

I haven't looked at our plans since I tried typing this up last time, but I think they may need some tweaking, but I'll see.

I'm still torn about doing the DDP or paying cash for meals. DH likes the DDP and how it's all prepaid and the boys are starting to eat more than just chicken fingers now, so we will see. I still have to buy my park tickets....crud.

With me switching jobs, my paycheck is not as beefy as it had been, but I pay off my minivan this month, so that's $400 a month we don't have to spend, and I hope to just buy WDW GC at Target (getting 5% off each one) and pay for our tickets and meal plan that way. Once I have another month in at NICU I may see about going back to VNA as a per diem employee and seeing a few patients the weekends I'm off, if not I'm hoping I can pick up in the NICU once I'm off orientation, but that's only if they need me and not until July/August, which doesn't give me much chance to make extra money. It seems like every time I have a little bit saved, something comes along (I had 294 waiting on $6 to go get a disney GC when one of the cars needed work. being a grown up stinks sometimes!)

 

[starann]

I've started picking up stuff here and there as I see it for our trip...glo sticks, a minnie mouse diaper bag (that doesn't scream Disney), a stroller fan. Oh my Mom was in for a visit this month and started teaching me how to sew, we got 2 outfits made for Josie....they are too cute for words (I'll have to see if I can get them loaded on here). I have many more fabrics and a few patterns, now I just need time to work on them!!!! I worked 12 hours last night, and work 12 tonight, Mon and Tues nights. Thankfully then I'm off for 6 days, but have another project in mind. We have a nice enclosed front porch. We do not use the front of our house for access, so the room has become a dumping ground for any and every thing. I have 2 reasons of motivation to get this project done. 1. is to get it clean so I have a nice place to sew, as the kitchen table isn't the best! 2. Yard sale!!!!!! We have a community yard sale in Early June. Historically we don't sell a ton as there are about 200 houses in town that do it (so buyers are more pickey), so I told hubby I'd rather do another yard sale a few weeks later. He said why not do both!!!! So that is the plan....he keeps saying "Disney Money" so I guess that will be my motivation. But 1st I want the front porch cleaned out (and I'm sure I will find a ton of stuff out there, plus I have a bunch of stuff from consignment sales already in the basement.) which can also serve as a place to stage it all/label it and so on.

 

[starann]

So some updates here....I never got my front porch cleaned out, I never went back to VNA, BUT I did a consignment sale of kids things and so far I have made $200 (the 2nd part of the sale is the middle of this month. We did the community yard sale and made $60. I started a new per diem/reserve job at a home care agency and have been having my paychecks directly put into a separate account so we can get our park tickets and dining plan.

That's right, I finally decided on the dining plan. I did a calculator and it said it would save us about $200, plus we like the idea of having it all paid out for us ahead of time. And the big boys have started ordering adult meals when we are out.

So an update on the kids......

Cody is 12 and started the 7th grade last week. This year he will get a school provided i-pad for class and homework, so this will be 1 more thing to make sure we have for our trip...gah! When we went in to meet his teachers (part of his IEP) I told them about our trip. One teacher gave us a little bit of a hard time, but the others were happy to help with his work.

Shane is 11 and started the 6th grade. Over the summer he was signed up for Phillies Baseball camp (my in laws were paying, as $500 is out of our league). Two days before school let out he fell off his scooter and broke his wrist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was also the same night of Casey's pre-k graduation. And if you have ever been to the ER you know you are there FOREVER. But for once we weren't!!!! I called my step-mom, who works there, told her we were coming and the problem with having to be 2 places at once. When we got there, there was a room ready for us, the nurses and PA came right in and we were out of there in record time and early for Casey's graduation! The downfall to this, is he would miss baseball camp. He was so bummed, poor guy! He is currently doing fall ball. Baseball is his latest passion.

Casey is 5 and started full day K!!!!!!! My baby boy is gone all day long and I miss him. He seems to like it so far, so we will see. I can never get any information from him about what they did, but he keeps wanting to go back, so I guess that's good!

Josie is 2 and a handful. I don't remember the boys being like this. She is at that 2yo whiney stage where she doesn't know all of the words she wants to say. Her latest trick (for the last few months) is taking off her diaper when she goes to bed and peeing all over. GAH!!! We have started to potty train to see if she is ready and get mixed results.

I have been getting stuff for our trip as I can. Glow stick on clearance at Target, little bottles of bubbles. Ponchos from Ikea (they are they best, don't stink like vinyl, and are way better than the $1 store ones and were only $6!). We are 37 days away from leaving, and I have so much to do/save for.

We have our ticket money, now onto the dining plan. DH has some model firetrucks he is selling (as they have been in the box since we moved here 11 years ago), I have been selling some baby stuff (sniff, sniff) and we have paychecks. I recently started "You need a budget' and have been more aware of our money so hoping that helps some as well!

Maybe a lil later I can get the pictures of some of our trip stuff loaded up...including my purse....it is adorable!

 

[DMGeurts]

Wow... I've missed several updates...

First... Dismeet? 16 disers & I don't know about it? Do I know them? Lol

Second... yay for learning to sew! That is so awesome! I hope you'll be able to share what you've made???

And having a place to sew... best gift I've ever received from my family! I hope you get your space soon.

And yay for making some extra cash! That's always helpful!

Sounds like the kids are doing well and keeping you busy... I feel ya! Lol... I always though it would get easier and less busy, not so, yet. Lol

It's so hard to save for trips, I understand... I go through this with every trip, the hardest part for me is the beggining part, the less I have put away, the harder it is for me to save... but even as much as $100 will light a fire under me. I also save by item... food, resort, airfare & so on, so it breaks the cost down a little bit and makes it a little less overwhelming. Just some thoughts... I did a huge budget post in my TR a few weeks ago, I think I copied it to the first page in my TR... if you're interested in reading more in depth...

Ok, I think I am caught up now. . I hope you're having a nice holiday weekend.

D~

 

[starann]

We leave in under a week!!! The plan is to leave PA next Fri night/Sat morning around 2am, which should put us in Richmond VA to have b'fast with friends. Once we leave their house our original plan was to drive straight to Wilmington, NC to stay with our friend who we usually go visit every summer. We still will be staying with her, but we have to make a stop in New Bern, NC to see my Nana. She was admitted to the hospital last week after a fall and will be in a nursing home for rehab. Sadly this may be the last time I get to see her, so I told hubby we had to stop. My Nana is so excited! Once we leave her, we will head to our friends house and will leave her Mon Night/Tuesday morning with the plan to be in MK for lunch.

I am at that excited- yet freaking out part. I can't wait to be there, it feels like forever since we were there. We have nothing packed, the house is a mess (and we have a house/pet sitter coming to the house) and my car needs to be cleaned out so hubby can take it for an oil change Tuesday and on his way home, a car wash (where they vacuum it out and wipe everything down). I work Sun, Mon, Tues and Thurs nights. Wednesday night I have to go get my hair done. I went and had it cut and colored this past week.....lets just say NEVER buy a groupon for a cut and color. Just NEVER. I now have to go Wednesday night to someone to have it fixed and it will cost me $150!!! UGH UGH UGH!!!!! I also want to fit in a pedi and mani, just not sure when that will happen. Oh, and returns to Hobby Lobby and Target and TRU, none of which are close to each other!

All this to do and here I sit on the Dis, updating my trip report. My middle name should be procrastination.

OK, back to scrubbing toilets.....OHHHHHHH CIIIINNNNNNNDDAREEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAA! Oh wait. That's me. Crud.

 

[DMGeurts]

I am so sorry to hear about your Nana... and it's wonderful though that you get to see her - I hope she is better soon and that this is not the last time you will see her.

I love, love, love this time in trip planning... I do better when I have a lot on my plate (I know, I am weird) - so it's times like this - where I have a lot going on that I seem to thrive.

Oh no!!!! About your hair - that is terrible!!!! I am glad that you are able to get it fixed, but yikes - I would be sooo upset!!!

Good luck getting all of your errands done and your packing done - you can do it!!!

D~