Counting Our Nuts Like Chip & Dale, a Financially Aware PTR *Update 4/17 Pg 62 *

[Nermel9]

You should do a solo trip, they are very awesome. Or you should do a girl trip with a friend, those are a lot of fun too and very different from going with your husband.

Actually, my friend from work really wants to go to the Harry Potter thing in Universal, and was thinking of going alone this October, but I told her if she can wait til January, I'd go with her, if we could go to Disney for 2 days, and she said ok! But we'll see if that actually happens! I really want to go with a friend, but I don't have a lot of friends who care that much about Disney! I love going with my DH, but he's getting sick of it!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

My favorite place in MK is the Main Street. I remember watching the grand opening of DL on the tv & my dreams of sometime being able to go to Disney!
I didn't make it until I was grown & WDW came into existence.

My favorite land would be Adventure Land. I, too love history, that's why my DH & I reenact history at events.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I completely agree with you about Southwest this week... I wasn't too happy with what I saw out of Manchester. I was tempted to book JetBlue for our April trip but I'm still crossing my fingers that we'll get something decent with Southwest since we have a $250 credit. We fly into Tampa and can fly home out of Tampa if necessary and those didn't look too bad so we'll see...

My favorite land... Hmmm...

I think I'll have to go with Liberty Square. We don't spend a lot of time there but I love the feel of it. It reminds me of places like Plimoth Plantation & Sturbridge Village.

 

[Megablocks]

Favorite MK land...definitely have to go with you on Liberty Square. I'm a huge history nerd and I just love the theming. I especially love it at night!

 

[sunny_stace]

I love all your reasoning and your pictures, I bet you were a very good student in school.

I like to think I was! Now, if all of my classes had been Disney-related I would have been a major over-acheiver! I liked the question! Tough but fun to answer! I hope there are more to come!

 

[LoriH91]

Ok, I'm joining in!! Didn't want to post until I was caught up. It only took me 3 days!! I'm pretty sure I ended up here from the Tiaras, Tutus & Tie-Dyes thread!!

First off, congrats on the weight loss!! My DH lost about 50 lbs a few years ago & is now addicted to exercise. I have just started my weight loss journey, so we'll see how much I lose between now & our January trip!!!

Second, love that you're doing a financially aware ptr!! Plus, I love all the quizzes/questions!!

Ok, finally my favorite lands in MK (which is my fav park btw). We didn't do it on the first day & I cried when we finally did. It finally felt like Disney!! Needless to say, it will be our first morning. Anyway, I'd have to go with Main Street with the view of the castle with Tomorrowland 2nd. I love everything space/sci-fi. Now to see if I have pics.....

This is one of my favorite ones I took of Main Street. Ignore the lady with the stroller. The tie-dye mickey with a blurry head is my 8 year old. He obviously never stops moving!!

I didn't have one loaded onto Picasa of Tomorrowland, per se, but I love this one. DH, baby Joshua & our princess Emily.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Actually, my friend from work really wants to go to the Harry Potter thing in Universal, and was thinking of going alone this October, but I told her if she can wait til January, I'd go with her, if we could go to Disney for 2 days, and she said ok! But we'll see if that actually happens! I really want to go with a friend, but I don't have a lot of friends who care that much about Disney! I love going with my DH, but he's getting sick of it!

I love going with Marc too but he doesn't understand my need or desire to want to go to Disney twice a year. I've been working on him though and he says that he doesn't mind going once a year so I guess that is a huge concession but I want more! I think he will think more solo trips are a better idea when we buy DVC because I know we are going too...it's only a matter of paying off some of our debt.

My favorite place in MK is the Main Street. I remember watching the grand opening of DL on the tv & my dreams of sometime being able to go to Disney!
I didn't make it until I was grown & WDW came into existence.

My favorite land would be Adventure Land. I, too love history, that's why my DH & I reenact history at events.

I love History, I would love to reenact at events but I have never gotten into it. I think it would be a lot of fun. They have a lot of stuff around here with the Revolutionary War and such.

I completely agree with you about Southwest this week... I wasn't too happy with what I saw out of Manchester. I was tempted to book JetBlue for our April trip but I'm still crossing my fingers that we'll get something decent with Southwest since we have a $250 credit. We fly into Tampa and can fly home out of Tampa if necessary and those didn't look too bad so we'll see...

My favorite land... Hmmm...

I think I'll have to go with Liberty Square. We don't spend a lot of time there but I love the feel of it. It reminds me of places like Plimoth Plantation & Sturbridge Village.

Can you believe I have never been to Plimoth Plantation? I need to remedy that but I just haven't made it down there yet.

I looked again last nigh at Southwest and the thing that gets me is that the prices aren't so bad because I usually buy one way and then hope for a credit to book my return flight but the times are awful! And the first flight has a stop and I am not doing a stop on a 3 hour flight, it's just not worth it. I'm just frustrated figuring out the parking/shuttle thing at Logan. Though the times we are looking at won't be bad to get into the city then we have to pay to park and it is so much more expensive than Manchester.

Favorite MK land...definitely have to go with you on Liberty Square. I'm a huge history nerd and I just love the theming. I especially love it at night!

I need to spend more time at Liberty Square at night, I have seen it but not spent tons of time there.

I like to think I was! Now, if all of my classes had been Disney-related I would have been a major over-acheiver! I liked the question! Tough but fun to answer! I hope there are more to come!

I know!! I would have been top of my class for sure. We have at least 28 more questions!

Ok, I'm joining in!! Didn't want to post until I was caught up. It only took me 3 days!! I'm pretty sure I ended up here from the Tiaras, Tutus & Tie-Dyes thread!!

First off, congrats on the weight loss!! My DH lost about 50 lbs a few years ago & is now addicted to exercise. I have just started my weight loss journey, so we'll see how much I lose between now & our January trip!!!

Second, love that you're doing a financially aware ptr!! Plus, I love all the quizzes/questions!!

Ok, finally my favorite lands in MK (which is my fav park btw). We didn't do it on the first day & I cried when we finally did. It finally felt like Disney!! Needless to say, it will be our first morning. Anyway, I'd have to go with Main Street with the view of the castle with Tomorrowland 2nd. I love everything space/sci-fi. Now to see if I have pics.....

This is one of my favorite ones I took of Main Street. Ignore the lady with the stroller. The tie-dye mickey with a blurry head is my 8 year old. He obviously never stops moving!!

I didn't have one loaded onto Picasa of Tomorrowland, per se, but I love this one. DH, baby Joshua & our princess Emily.

Thanks for joining in!

I would love to be addicted to exercise, I am not quite there yet but I think I will get more and more once I start training for the 5k more.

I love that picture from Buzz! It is very cute.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I looked again last nigh at Southwest and the thing that gets me is that the prices aren't so bad because I usually buy one way and then hope for a credit to book my return flight but the times are awful! And the first flight has a stop and I am not doing a stop on a 3 hour flight, it's just not worth it. I'm just frustrated figuring out the parking/shuttle thing at Logan. Though the times we are looking at won't be bad to get into the city then we have to pay to park and it is so much more expensive than Manchester.

If you have to go out of Logan, try the "Park, Shuttle & Fly" lot. We've always used them (as far back as I can remember - even as a kid) and never had any trouble. They have a coupon on their website too. Tim still uses them when he flies out of Logan for work even though he could go to long-term parking since it's on the company dime. If you have to park somewhere & schlep your luggage, you might as well get a shuttle to the door.

 

[Lady Lallie]

If you have to go out of Logan, try the "Park, Shuttle & Fly" lot. We've always used them (as far back as I can remember - even as a kid) and never had any trouble. They have a coupon on their website too. Tim still uses them when he flies out of Logan for work even though he could go to long-term parking since it's on the company dime. If you have to park somewhere & schlep your luggage, you might as well get a shuttle to the door.

We used them in 2008 and it was good service. I just get worried about having to dig out our car in the middle of the winter. I don't know, I am sorts of confused on what we are going to do. I can't seem to make a decision about this.

 

[Megablocks]

I looked again last nigh at Southwest and the thing that gets me is that the prices aren't so bad because I usually buy one way and then hope for a credit to book my return flight but the times are awful! And the first flight has a stop and I am not doing a stop on a 3 hour flight, it's just not worth it. I'm just frustrated figuring out the parking/shuttle thing at Logan. Though the times we are looking at won't be bad to get into the city then we have to pay to park and it is so much more expensive than Manchester.

I'm not sure how far away Hartford is for you guys, but we had to fly out of there last year instead of Logan, and the long-term parking was pretty cheap -- $69 for the week. That might have been upped since then (this was last February), but I am sure it will still be way cheaper than Logan. Boston is so expensive.

 

[merbobear]

Want to know how I'm spending my Saturday night? Rearranging park days, budgeting for OOP food and being a nervous wreck about my plans. What is wrong with me? I need to chill out.

In good news, we are officially under 6 months, as noted by my ticker down below. Being under 6 months makes vacation seem that much closer.

Okay, so the new plans. First let's talk about my new OOP food budget. We have three ADRs still but they look very different from what I had been talking about before.

*Yachtsman: Approx. $81 w/tip

Escargot (to split)
California Delta Asparagus (Leslie)
Charcuterie Board (Marc)
2 Desserts​

*Kona Cafe: Approx. $70 w/tip

Pick Three (Marc)
Scallops & Shrimp (Leslie)
Cheesecake (Leslie)​

Narcoossee's: Approx. $90 w/tip

Chicken (Marc)
Lobster Spring Roll (Leslie)
Chowder (Leslie)
2 Desserts​

Total: $241ish

I like these three choices, one we have been too and the other are new for both of us. We decided to skip Boma for around $90 for a buffet and us both having a gastric band it is just not worth it. I feel the quality of the food will be better at Narcoossee's and Yachtsman and I'm okay with spending more money at those two places. Of course this is just an estimate for these three meals and we can change what we order but it gives us a good baseline estimate.

We decided that for Counter Service meals we will start out with splitting a full meal or in the case of Casey's we will each get an order of corn dog nuggets. I think at Counter Service meals we will most likely skip any sort of dessert and just go with other offerings later on, I plan to get my peanut butter cup on at Boardwalk Bakery at some point in this trip, not to mention zebra domes!

So for example sake, at Restaurantosaurus at Animal Kingdom the Shrimp Po' Boy ($8.99) is calling my name. Or at Casey's an order of Corn Dog Nuggets is $4.19. I'm guessing we would have about 8 or so counter meals and I'm going to estimate with us splitting a meal and getting two drinks that it would cost about $15 for each one give or take. So that is approx. $120.

Table Service Meals: $241
Counter Service Meals: $120
Miscellaneous Food: $150
Total Food Budget: $511

I'm super happy with this, the dining plan was going to cost us about $515 and I am much happier with these plans.

This brings us to park days aka the thing that I can not plan for this trip. This is what I'm thinking now.

Sunday: Magic Kingdom 9AM - 2AM (EMHs)

Monday: Hollywood Studios 9AM - 10PM (EMHs)
Dinner @ Yachtmans

Tuesday: Epcot 8AM - 9PM (EMHs)
Dinner @ Kona Cafe

Wednesday: Animal Kingdom 9AM - 8PM (EMHs)

Thursday: Magic Kingdom 8AM - 8PM (EMHs)
Dinner @ Narcoossee's

Friday: Park of Choice

Are you sensing a trend? We are hitting parks on all of their EMHs days! I like the flow of park days this way, I'm just not 100% sure I like going on all of the EMHs days. What do you all think? Am I worrying for nothing? I do like the extra hours does give us more park time if we do take breaks which I imagine we will for sure on Epcot and Animal Kingdom days. I think I need to just stop over-thinking our plans.

I'm new to your PTR Just wanted to chime in on this - since the difference in your oop budget is only $4 and you would get 2 resort mugs w/ the dining plan, doesn't it make sense to go w/ the plan? Then you also won't be worrying about staying within the budget while you are there, because it's all paid for. That is one thing that I loved about the DDP - being prepaid and not trying to budget.

The other thing is that Boma is amazing...if you ever get a chance to try it, I definitely recommend it! Though I do understand, with the lap band, it might be a waste to eat at a buffet. I think your idea of sharing your CS meals is great..the cs portions are gigantic!

 

[meeko_33785]

Favorite land? That's an easy one- Fantasyland. I love the theming, all the little details throughout the shops and the architecture, it's home to my favorite ride in the park (Peter Pan's Flight), and it always has some fantastic charracters roaming the land. Plus, since Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid are two of my favorite Disney movies, I think I'll Fantasyland even more once the new areas are built.

Favorite picture is a tough one, but here's one of my favorites from last year. I'm pretty sure that it's right up your alley too.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Joining in! Sounds like your a super planner like me! We're taking my two year old in December. I love the 30 day challenge idea. ( Could you PM me the list? )

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm not sure how far away Hartford is for you guys, but we had to fly out of there last year instead of Logan, and the long-term parking was pretty cheap -- $69 for the week. That might have been upped since then (this was last February), but I am sure it will still be way cheaper than Logan. Boston is so expensive.

It's not super far, I checked it out yesterday after I read your comment and it's more expensive as is Providence. I think we are going to go with Jetblue. Now I just have to decide to buy some flights, I don't know why I'm dragging my feet this time around.

I'm new to your PTR Just wanted to chime in on this - since the difference in your oop budget is only $4 and you would get 2 resort mugs w/ the dining plan, doesn't it make sense to go w/ the plan? Then you also won't be worrying about staying within the budget while you are there, because it's all paid for. That is one thing that I loved about the DDP - being prepaid and not trying to budget.

The other thing is that Boma is amazing...if you ever get a chance to try it, I definitely recommend it! Though I do understand, with the lap band, it might be a waste to eat at a buffet. I think your idea of sharing your CS meals is great..the cs portions are gigantic!

The reason we went with no dining plan is that our ordering is a lot different when we pay out of pocket. I prefer to eat appetizers and such instead of entrees. I think we need the flexibility to just eat what we want and not be forced to order entrees because of the dining plan.

I will try Boma someday I am sure, maybe when I win the lottery.

Favorite land? That's an easy one- Fantasyland. I love the theming, all the little details throughout the shops and the architecture, it's home to my favorite ride in the park (Peter Pan's Flight), and it always has some fantastic charracters roaming the land. Plus, since Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid are two of my favorite Disney movies, I think I'll Fantasyland even more once the new areas are built.

Favorite picture is a tough one, but here's one of my favorites from last year. I'm pretty sure that it's right up your alley too.

Awww, I love that picture!! I think I'm going to adore the new Fantasyland. I feel like they are making it for those of us who grew up when Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast came out. I really can't wait for the construction to be done.

Joining in! Sounds like your a super planner like me! We're taking my two year old in December. I love the 30 day challenge idea. ( Could you PM me the list? )

Thanks!!! I sent you the PM.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

With a family of four, we have never done the dining plan because of the way we do the park. We're commando from sun up till way after sundown. We ALWAYS split CS. The House of Blues was always our biggest/ most TS because we did Disney Quest every night before going to a park.

We found that doing, 2-3 CS a day and splitting say 2 huge Pecos Bill Hamburgers and 2 large fries; we got to do more in the parks, we weren't weighed down from eating a lot of food, and we got eat a lot more variety.

 

[Lady Lallie]

With a family of four, we have never done the dining plan because of the way we do the park. We're commando from sun up till way after sundown. We ALWAYS split CS. The House of Blues was always our biggest/ most TS because we did Disney Quest every night before going to a park.

We found that doing, 2-3 CS a day and splitting say 2 huge Pecos Bill Hamburgers and 2 large fries; we got to do more in the parks, we weren't weighed down from eating a lot of food, and we got eat a lot more variety.

Good for you for being able to go sun up to sun down, I can't do that. I get way too tired.

I'm looking forward to trying some different CS options this time around. I know Marc wants to eat at the CS in Morocco and I really want to go to the place in France again. Not to mention Casey's Corner of course in MK!

 

[Lady Lallie]

This is going to be one of those random all over the place updates. I like those, it's how my brain works most of the time.

First up, I can't believe it but I haven't posted any pictures of my furbabies yet! I am a neglectful Mama.

Ruby.

No more pictures!

Please ignore the weird wood behind her. We have a third level in the house, we rent the second floor and there is an unoccupied third floor. That is our landlord's way of blocking it off, pretty huh?

Sully.

One large cat, one teeny head!

At Walmart today we bought Marc a shirt for the trip. $7.50! It will be perfect for our Hollywood Studios day.

I get my exercise in by walking in the mornings before work, since we have booked this trip I have been slowly adding Disney music to my ipod. I've used the CDs I have but I wanted more. In an effort to be financially aware, I requested some Disney music CDs from the library! I'm very happy with my clever way of saving money!

It's a good mix of music and I am actually looking forward to exercising in the morning.

I've also made a "sorta" trip purchase. I say "sorta" because I need a new pair of Teva Mush flip flops for the summer. The old pair I have, I have been wearing for about 2 summers and various Disney trips so it was time to change them up! So...I will wear them in January but I'm already wearing them so I'm not counting them towards trip expenses.

And the last pictures I have are the feathers I put in my hair yesterday! I love them. I really wanted to go crazy and have purple ones put in but since I work for a bank I decided I couldn't go that far.

I really love them. They add just the right touch of fun to my everyday life.

While I was making my next hair appointment in early October yesterday, I started thinking. Only two more hair appointments until Disney. I'll have one in October and then one in January right before the trip. That thought makes me happy! What weird time increments do you use to countdown until your Disney trips?

And lastly because this isn't all over the place enough...I'm going to do another day for the 30 day WDW Park Challenge.

Day 3: Favorite Attraction in Tomorrowland

Marc: Carousel of Progress

He said Peoplemover was a very close second but he likes Carousel of Progress just a little bit more.

Leslie: Peoplemover

I was going to go with Carousel of Progress but since Marc picked it I went with Peoplemover which is a VERY close second for me. I love taking goofy pictures while riding and I love how much it recharges me when I'm feeling tired.

What is your favorite Tomorrowland attraction?

This week I hope to update on our budget and trip spending so far and also a challenge that I have started for myself.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I have those Teva's! I think they match my Disney ink!
Cute feathers. I think they blend very nicely with your hair. Just perfect for your job. I'm not sure if I'll need to take mine out before school starts or not...

 

[Lady Lallie]

I have those Teva's! I think they match my Disney ink!
Cute feathers. I think they blend very nicely with your hair. Just perfect for your job. I'm not sure if I'll need to take mine out before school starts or not...

I really like the pattern on the Tevas. I usually stick with just black because while I like the colored ones, I won't wear them if they don't exactly match my outfit so I don't really get a lot of wear out of them.

I hope you don't have to take them out!!! I really like yours.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Love the feathers! Do you keep them in and wash your hair normally? Do they take long to put in? They are so cute!

I have to say I'm with you and Marc on your favorite rides in Tomorrowland! Tough choice!!

And cute little furbabies!!!