Celebrating my Un-Birthday Disney Style-April 2010-New 5/3 - The TR has started!

[DisMomAmy]

Hi Everyone! DISing from my phone today... I'll have to get to my replies later- can't wait to sink my teeth into your ticket question Scrappie! And yes we have lost all power, phone, Internet & cable!! But it's not too bad with the generator. Tim did make it back with gas... He passed about 6 gas stations that were closed then waited in a line with about 15 cars before he actually got any. Luckily power is back in the town centers so we have gas, groceries & most important- Fast Food!! The stove & oven are a little too much for the generator so it's been McDonalds for the kids for lunch & Subway for Tim & I for dinner! Everything else has been sanwiches & cereal with a few microwaveable things mixed in.

Word is it could be up to a week without power! I just hope Comcast gets things up & running soon! Alex is obsessed with Deal or No Deal and we had to go find a tv at 4:00 today so he could watch it! Luckily DMIL's cable came back on since she lives pretty much right in the center of her town.

Free Wifi at the hotel we're going to tomorrow night so I should have time to check in!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hey Amy!! I hope you have power by now!

 

[disneyfan61]

Hi Amy. Yeah we lost power about 10pm last night & got it back around 11:30 this morning so we were about 12 hours. We have no generator yet!! So our pump in the cellar was not pumping the water out (no electricity) so we were bailing all night long!! We finally gave up about 6 am this morning & the cellar got very wet but is now drying out. We did not open the fridge at all & we had just gone grocery shopping last night so we had a FULL fridge
I will be thinking of you & hope you get your power back soon!! At least you have the generator but when you go days without everything it gets old very fast!! I think we will be going generator shopping very soon!! We were lucky during the storm of 08. We only lost power for about 14 hours but again a flooded cellar.

Great news on the condo exchange!! Sounds like you will be in a great area.

 

[mousescrapper]

sorry Amy...that sounds very icky. but you seem to be taking it in stride...

good thing you have your iphone

thanks in advance for your help...but take your time...I can wait.

Asked Matt what he thought of trying to find something for the kids to do and he seemed cool w/ it so let's hope my math was right .

J~

 

[KathyRN137]

.....we have lost all power, phone, Internet & cable!! But it's not too bad with the generator.....The stove & oven are a little too much for the generator so it's been McDonalds for the kids for lunch & Subway for Tim & I for dinner!

Word is it could be up to a week without power! I just hope Comcast gets things up & running soon!

Oh no! I hope it doesn't take that long!


Kathy

 

[carissanboys]

Hope the power comes back soon, Amy!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Here's hoping your power is back on soon. I'm sure it's not easy functioning without all the "creature comforts"!

Congrats on the condo exchange! Sounds like you made out very well!

So...how did you find GAD opportunities to do at home? I can't find them when I search my area, but have heard so many DISers mentioning them.

 

[jordanyosh]

Glad the condo stuff is mostly out of the way!!!

It sounds like a great area and resort. I can't wait to hear your review as my cousins are Westin timeshare owners and have thought of staying offsite a few times.....

 

[eandesmom]

oh no, a week?

I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[mousescrapper]

just checking in...hope you all are OK!

J~

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hi Everyone!

We still don't have power, but our phone/internet/cable are up and running!! We called our cable carrier & they had no report of outages... Anyways, after going back and forth with them we, us & our neighbors, have our services back up! They kept insisting we couldn't have services if we didn't have power. We kept telling them that we have generators and that in the December 2008 storm we had cable back days before we had power back. Luckily they finally made things work for us! The kids will be so happy when they get up... especially Alex! We had to go to DMIL's again today to watch Deal or No Deal!

We also had a bit of a snafu with the generator today - Tim turned it off to check & fill the oil and when he turned it back on, only half of our circuits worked! Only lights worked in one room, only outlets in another... it was very strange! And of course our furnace wouldn't work at all! It took almost 4 hours and a bit of stress wondering whether it was the generator or the breaker board (as dollar signs flashed in my head) but it all worked out in the end.

School is supposed to be open tomorrow - they still don't have the power on but I talked to the principal today and he said the power company estimates that they will be able to open all of the schools in the district, except one (not ours).

Hopefully I'll get all caught up this week - it's amazing how far behind you can get in just a few days! It's been a long weekend & a particularly long day so I'll start catching up tomorrow!

Coming up this week: A look back at Animal Kingdom!

 

[KathyRN137]

Whew! Glad you got your major services up and running!

I'll bet the kids are just overjoyed about school!

Sending you a PM, too.


Kathy

 

[eandesmom]

I"m so glad you have a generator to get you through this.

I am about deal or no deal though!

 

[jordanyosh]

Hopefully everything's now back to near normal....

 

[Charleston Princess]

Glad to hear you have phone and cable back! Here's hoping the power is also back soon!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Thank you for all the well wishes regarding our power... Still no power this morning but we're all much happier now with phone/cable/internet back up! Well the kids still don't know yet... but I know they'll be happy. I'm watching the news for the first time in days!

Unfortunately there's no school today - it was supposed to be our first day back after a week off for winter break. Thank goodness it's March! We still get plenty of snow and other wintery weather in March, but it just seems so much springier than February... Speaking of spring... We're going to Walt Disney World next month!

Glad you're happy with the resort and room choice.

Sounds like the United Through Reading program. Chuck is going to be doing it on the ship. He works nights so he's trying to find a time he can have someone record him reading. I know the boys will love getting the DVD. So, thanks to your MIL!

Hi Carissa - Yes... United Through Reading is the program that DMIL did... I'm so glad to hear that Chuck is going to be making a DVD... I thought of you guys when we picked United Through Reading as her GAD choice. I told her about you guys & passed along your Thanks!

 

[DisMomAmy]

yay for the condo exchange being done...

and sorry about the storms going on, hope it doesn't get worse or Tim is driving too far for the gas again.

Is your power out too or just communications? Stay safe and Dry!


ok another GAD question...sure I could dig around for it, but why not ask my in house pro

how long are the vouchers good for? if we find something to do say in the next few months are they vaild for several months for us to use in Nov.


I feel confused enough w/ ordering tickets or upgrading etc, let alone the GAD stuff.

my other concern is...can I actually pre purchase my tickets through Disney (or DVC MS for any DVCr's reading) and still use the voucher at GS upon arrival or do you need to do everything there... If ticket prices go up in say Aug...do they not go in affect till Jan 2011? maybe I don't even need to worry...

I am not quite sure how this would work for us or how much we would save...Ok now I am rambeling on...

Matt & I are getting AP's w/ DVC member discount which I believe would be more than the GAD upgrade...tell me what is your single AP w/ GAD costing?
the reg AP is $489, DVC discount is $389...2 reg priced AP's - GAD upgrade would be $820 and the 2 DVC AP's would be $778


and then I will have to buy a full price ticket for Margaret either way since she is under 6 yrs...so would I get one ticket through UT? Can you do that?

so I am thinking really the GAD would only work for the 3 older kids...

I am looking at purchsing 2 Adult 7 PH for twins Disney price is ($286) $304.59 per kid and then 1 child ticket 7 day PH for Mae at Disney price of
($253) $269.45 I think that is the right price w/ tax?

UT prices are Adult $291 and Child $257

if I do the GAD for the 3 kids... the Adult tickets would be $207 plus tax and Child $185 plus tax...

am I thinking that correctly?

SO...would my passes total be:

2 DVC discount AP's $778
1 Child 7 Day PH (WDW price) $269.45
2 Adult 7 Day PH w/ GAD upgrade $414 + tax
1 Child 7 Day PH w/ GAD upgrade $185 + tax

= $1831.45 (plus some more tax)

Ok Amy I am sorry I have taken up all this space on your PTR dealing w/ my ticket insanity...

I think if I added up WDW direct w/ DVC AP's = $1926.08 and UT tickets for kids plus DVC AP's = $1874.00

so if the GAD is correct I would save another $40 some dollars (on top of $50 from doing UT)

do you see I need help? Or maybe I figured it out and need someone to confirm my math

Should I ask if my InLaw's would want to do a GAD thing? maybe they would save even more money?

thanks

J~

Hi Julie! I've been anxious to dig into this reply...

First - The GAD vouchers are good until December 15th. There are black-out periods, but they appear to only be around Easter and 4th of July.

If you use the vouchers toward tickets, you have to first get the free one-day ticket at Will Call THEN you can upgrade that ticket for a multi-day ticket or AP. You don't want to pre-purchase any tickets if you are using the GAD voucher. The value of the GAD tickets is around $70 for kids & $80 for adults.

My guess is that ticket prices will go up in August - and it takes effect right away - but it's probably not enough to make a huge difference in your budget - especially if you are using GAD vouchers for some of the tickets.

It sounds like your plan is correct... get the 3 kid's (1 actual Disney child/2 Disney adults) tickets with the GAD vouchers - saving $230. Get Margaret's ticket either through Undercover Tourist or upon arrival at Disney. (I'd go with Undercover Tourist to avoid the price increase.)

As far as the APs go... yes the DVC discount is greater - the GAD discount is $80 for an adult ticket. My question would be, can you get both?? Are you able to purchase a DVC discounted AP at a park? If so, it could be possible to upgrade a GAD free ticket to a DVC AP?? I would call or email DVC member services or send an email to WDW and see what they say... Or do a little research on the DVC boards. Post the question because I'm sure someone will have an answer.

This is what the FAQ says:
May I upgrade my free one day ticket to an Annual Pass or multi-day ticket?

Yes, you may upgrade the free ticket to another ticket type of greater value within the applicable upgrade window. However, you are responsible for the incremental cost and the new ticket may only be used by you. No changes or refunds will be given. The value of the free ticket may not be used to combine or upgrade with a separate single or multi-day ticket.

Either way, I would sign up soon... look in your area (when you search you can check off a box so that only opportunities show up that are good for kids). If you don't have any luck finding something in your area and you want to do a Project Linus or something else you can do from home, search around the GAD threads and you'll find some other cities to use in your search.

Even if it turns out that you can't combine the GAD & DVC disounts you should all do the GAD together. You can get the special fastpasses... I know you have a GAC for Michael, but maybe you could use the fastpasses for your mom & daughter outing with Aldine? The only thing about the special fastpasses is that they only give out a certain number of them per day so you would want to get them early in the day, even if you didn't use them until later. Or maybe you could just turn the vouchers in for the "Special Ear Hat figurine with unique trading pins".

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hi Amy. Yeah we lost power about 10pm last night & got it back around 11:30 this morning so we were about 12 hours. We have no generator yet!! So our pump in the cellar was not pumping the water out (no electricity) so we were bailing all night long!! We finally gave up about 6 am this morning & the cellar got very wet but is now drying out. We did not open the fridge at all & we had just gone grocery shopping last night so we had a FULL fridge
I will be thinking of you & hope you get your power back soon!! At least you have the generator but when you go days without everything it gets old very fast!! I think we will be going generator shopping very soon!! We were lucky during the storm of 08. We only lost power for about 14 hours but again a flooded cellar.

Great news on the condo exchange!! Sounds like you will be in a great area.

Glad to hear you guys weren't without power for too long! We have the same problem with the wet basement... we would have waited to start our generator until Friday morning, but we wanted the sump pump to run. Luckily most of the basement stayed dry here. Hope you guys are dried out now. I would recommend getting a generator... when you can find one.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Here's hoping your power is back on soon. I'm sure it's not easy functioning without all the "creature comforts"!

Congrats on the condo exchange! Sounds like you made out very well!

So...how did you find GAD opportunities to do at home? I can't find them when I search my area, but have heard so many DISers mentioning them.

Hi Missy! I read somewhere you are going on a cruise & might be able to squeeze in some Disney time! Just you and DH or the kids too?

You guys should definitely do a GAD project! That would be a great way to visit a park while you are in Orlando... There are some DIS threads that are just about GAD. Go to the "Theme Park Attractions & Strategies" board & then there is a sub-forum for Disney promotions. There is a ton of GAD information there. People have been posting different zip codes where they have had luck finding do-at-home GAD projects. I think we found DMIL's in St. Lous.

Good Luck!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm a little bit confused about these pictures, because Tim & I visited WDW in October 1997. After digging around a bit it appears that AK opened in 1998. So maybe these are from 2002, but my mom & Alex aren't in any of the pictures??

These pictures are from our first visit to AK - whenever it was:

We didn't visit Animal Kingdom on our short 2006 trip.

Here's a look back at 2007:

Up next: Looking Back to 2008 & 2009.