DIS Dads DDC XXVII: Penguins in Paradise!

[AirGoofy]

Tuesday morning ownage.

Another long travel day to finish off our trip. Left Orlando on a 6 am flight this morning and flew to JFK and then Portland Maine. A quick shopping stop and we arrived gome about 7:30 our time. Not as bad as the first day of the trip but still a long one.

I will do a trip report later, this week should be a busy one at work.

Hopefully, that mean ole boss won't watch you type up that TR.

I wouldn't put anything past him...

True.

It is amazing to realize that I haven't been around here since mid November. I'm sorry to my DDC friends for being a BAD egg.
...

Good to hear from you. Congrats on the business growth and anniversary.

I hope team Sparrow doesn't kick me off the team, but I've been running using the couch to 5K program
!

That's great. James needs someone to run with him.

Had a nice weekend:
~ Skiing with my 5yo DD on Friday.
~ On Saturday went grocery shopping with my youngest and then took both girls to the park after the oldest got done shopping for Communion dresses with DW and MIL. Followed that up with some pizza and beer at a friends while helping them to plan their Disney trip for October.
~ Sunday we did Church, followed by a nice brunch at home and then we were off to the park for over 2 hours! Almost hit 70* in Pittsburgh.

Now patiently waiting for tomorrow to book our October trip through DVC

Sounds busy and fun. Let us know what you get.

Our only stay in DVC was a 2BR at Kidani. It was amazing
If certain things continue to develop we would have no choice but to buy DVC in order to stay within 1 room! All part of my evil plan
:

Great planning idea.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Another long travel day to finish off our trip. Left Orlando on a 6 am flight this morning and flew to JFK and then Portland Maine. A quick shopping stop and we arrived gome about 7:30 our time. Not as bad as the first day of the trip but still a long one.

I will do a trip report later, this week should be a busy one at work.

Welcome home! Hope the trip was a good one.

It is amazing to realize that I haven't been around here since mid November. I'm sorry to my DDC friends for being a BAD egg.

Great to hear from you Stopher! I'm glad to hear the business is growing and you're hitting your goals. And happy anniversary!

Living the dream without the dues

Exactly.

I know you all like the road trips, probably too much hydrogen in the water. Those 1 BRs are amazing. After staying at CBR after values, we bought DVC. After we stayed in a 1 BR, we bought more DVC points. They are just that awesome.

Well, maybe I'll consider DVC some more if we are exposed to more dihydrogen monoxide. You have to watch out for that.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Hi Christopher! The door is always open for you and we keep a clean lawn chair for you.

CJ, would you please ask Crash to finish the job on Paul?

 

[declansdad]

Morning Guys,

Taking a quick break from going through the email. Hope you all have a great day.

 

[declansdad]

Hopefully, that mean ole boss won't watch you type up that TR.

I think he will be good with it once I get caught up.

Welcome home! Hope the trip was a good one.

We had a great time and wish we were still there but at the same time it is good to be home.

 

[mm1971]

Evening guys. Got my race bib for the sandy Hook 5k in the mail today, so I'm all ready for the disdads meet and run next week. Very excited.


Not so excited about Randall's penguins running with us though...

Don't worry, penguins don't run that fast. Good luck in the race! I'll check the schedule and see if I can get down to cheer the dads on.......and maybe hunt a few penguins.

Another long travel day to finish off our trip. Left Orlando on a 6 am flight this morning and flew to JFK and then Portland Maine. A quick shopping stop and we arrived gome about 7:30 our time. Not as bad as the first day of the trip but still a long one.

I will do a trip report later, this week should be a busy one at work.

Glad you made it hime safely. Looking forward to the report.

It is amazing to realize that I haven't been around here since mid November. I'm sorry to my DDC friends for being a BAD egg.

Yes, life has been very, very busy for me. It's all good, and I'm very pleased with it. But it has definitely put a krimp in my board time, to say the least.

My business continues to grow, and we're very, very pleased with that. It's now been a full year and a half since I left Corporate America, and within that time we've not done too badly. For those who remember that time, I mentioned that our grand plan was to be 3 fold, in our "do it for ourselves" venture, and we officially kicked in to phase II in late December, early January. We now have 2 ventures going, and are looking forward to the day that phase III will kick in. Still trying to get my book together, but even that fell to the back burner. I'm trying to revive it now.

The first phase is of course the business of selling fun. I have been working like a dog the past few months, but it is definitely bearing fruit. I have quite a good number of things in the pipeline for the remainder of this year, and throughout 2014. This past weekend I even received my first re-book while onboard from guests on the Dream. It would have been nice to receive others in the past, but I'm pleased with where we are at this time. We beat our initial expectations for the first full year by about 30%, and saw some fantastic growth. I even made the Top 50 Producers list for November and again in December (out of 600 franchisees nationwide). Trying really hard to repeat that again for March.

In other related news I've been certified in a number of areas, including Special Needs, many of the various cruise lines, Universal, and I got Accredited from CLIA the Cruise Lines International Assoc. (which was a lot of time, hard work and effort based on sales volume, training, personal cruise experience and more). Lots of of info has been avaible on my blog if any one is interested ( I know a few of you follow along).

In other news - we go on our first college visit with our eldest in a couple of weeks. Staying local for this one, Butler University. Then later Purdue, Ball State and I.U. We'll see what others he asks to visit. His senior year starts in just a few months...

My middle turned 14, and my youngest turns 9 in about 3 weeks.

And my lovely bride and I turn 19 tomorrow (oh to really be that young again). Starting to figure out what and where we'll go for our 20th. Australia has always been on our bucket list, and now with this business, it seems a bit more feasible. We'll see. For her birthday (in February), I invited her along on the inaugural sailing for Norwegian's new Breakaway (coming up in early May) out of NYC. I'm really looking forward to that one. I love New York! Can't wait to get back there for a couple of nights before we sail.

Between the business ventures, church activities, Scouts (in the midst of Summer Camp season once again planning to take around 95 Scouts and 35 Adults this year), the kids and just doing life... I haven't had much time to even think about these boards. I apologize. I used to really enjoy stopping by daily.
I do think of a good number of you from time to time... and of course those of you on Facebook, I do follow your adventures since I'm on there daily for the business.

Be good! And I'll "try" to pop by more often than once every 4 months! Otherwise, you'll find me on FB...

That's a lot of stuff there. Welcome back.....Happy Birthday to all......Happy anniversary and congratulations on the successful business venture. If I missed anything, let me know. Is it mostly cruises that you do or is it vacations/travel in general? I may be able to send a few unsuspecting travelers to you. Just don't tell them you know CJ.

 

[stopher1]

Thanks guys!

Is it mostly cruises that you do or is it vacations/travel in general? I may be able to send a few unsuspecting travelers to you. Just don't tell them you know CJ.

Just about anything, actually, including the house of mouse and the other place whose name must not be mentioned. Land, sea...multi-generational, just guys, just gals, groups. All over the globe. But I cannot mention specifics on here due to DIS rules. I can speak much more freely on our FB page, or you could connect with me individually. PM me if you need contact info. Any connections are always appreciated.

 

[brettcw23]

Epic post #500 for me!

Just booked our October trip from 10/12/2013 - 10/19/2013
Unfortunately,we did not get the resort we wanted
Booking at the 7 month mark via DVC and making reservations at the time when the Wine & Food Festival is going on makes finding the desired resort difficult.
So I booked us for OKW and have a wait list for BWV. At BWV, 10/13 was available but I can't book that until tomorrow. So I am going to try and re-book tomorrow, keeping our arrival day at OKW and then migrating to BWV.

Oh, well, we'll see.

 

[mm1971]

Thanks guys!



Just about anything, actually, including the house of mouse and the other place whose name must not be mentioned. Land, sea...multi-generational, just guys, just gals, groups. All over the globe. But I cannot mention specifics on here due to DIS rules. I can speak much more freely on our FB page, or you could connect with me individually. PM me if you need contact info. Any connections are always appreciated.

I have not yet gotten connected on FB, do go over to the PUB occasionally. Not as much as I'd like but once in a while. I'll have to get onto the FB group. I'll PM you with the contacts and info for them once they are ready (shot them an email already to let me know when they are ready). We had a short get together a couple of weeks ago and the planning will be starting soon.

I have to plan a trip to France in Summer 2014. I was dumb enough to tell DS we could go as soon as he could speak French. I must have been drinking. He already memorized the bible in about 2 weeks when he was 8. Not sure why I thought it would take him longer to learn another language. Oh well. France is it!

 

[declansdad]

Question:

Is there a DisDads fantasy baseball pool similar to the football pool?

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Question:

Is there a DisDads fantasy baseball pool similar to the football pool?

Really?

 

[declansdad]

Really?

I'm really just looking to find out how to get in the pool

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm really just looking to find out how to get in the pool

Well, we had a Fantasy League last year, and there is a thread about it in the DDC Sub Forum. A few of us have been talking a little bit about it the past week or so, but unless we have enough interest, I don't know if we'll do it this year or not.

 

[DisneyFed]

It is amazing to realize that I haven't been around here since mid November. I'm sorry to my DDC friends for being a BAD egg.

Yes, life has been very, very busy for me. It's all good, and I'm very pleased with it. But it has definitely put a krimp in my board time, to say the least.

My business continues to grow, and we're very, very pleased with that. It's now been a full year and a half since I left Corporate America, and within that time we've not done too badly. For those who remember that time, I mentioned that our grand plan was to be 3 fold, in our "do it for ourselves" venture, and we officially kicked in to phase II in late December, early January. We now have 2 ventures going, and are looking forward to the day that phase III will kick in. Still trying to get my book together, but even that fell to the back burner. I'm trying to revive it now.

The first phase is of course the business of selling fun. I have been working like a dog the past few months, but it is definitely bearing fruit. I have quite a good number of things in the pipeline for the remainder of this year, and throughout 2014. This past weekend I even received my first re-book while onboard from guests on the Dream. It would have been nice to receive others in the past, but I'm pleased with where we are at this time. We beat our initial expectations for the first full year by about 30%, and saw some fantastic growth. I even made the Top 50 Producers list for November and again in December (out of 600 franchisees nationwide). Trying really hard to repeat that again for March.

In other related news I've been certified in a number of areas, including Special Needs, many of the various cruise lines, Universal, and I got Accredited from CLIA the Cruise Lines International Assoc. (which was a lot of time, hard work and effort based on sales volume, training, personal cruise experience and more). Lots of of info has been avaible on my blog if any one is interested ( I know a few of you follow along).

In other news - we go on our first college visit with our eldest in a couple of weeks. Staying local for this one, Butler University. Then later Purdue, Ball State and I.U. We'll see what others he asks to visit. His senior year starts in just a few months...

My middle turned 14, and my youngest turns 9 in about 3 weeks.

And my lovely bride and I turn 19 tomorrow (oh to really be that young again). Starting to figure out what and where we'll go for our 20th. Australia has always been on our bucket list, and now with this business, it seems a bit more feasible. We'll see. For her birthday (in February), I invited her along on the inaugural sailing for Norwegian's new Breakaway (coming up in early May) out of NYC. I'm really looking forward to that one. I love New York! Can't wait to get back there for a couple of nights before we sail.

Between the business ventures, church activities, Scouts (in the midst of Summer Camp season once again planning to take around 95 Scouts and 35 Adults this year), the kids and just doing life... I haven't had much time to even think about these boards. I apologize. I used to really enjoy stopping by daily.
I do think of a good number of you from time to time... and of course those of you on Facebook, I do follow your adventures since I'm on there daily for the business.

Be good! And I'll "try" to pop by more often than once every 4 months! Otherwise, you'll find me on FB...

Yikes...I thought *I* was busy...

Don't worry, penguins don't run that fast.

Yeah, but when they slide on their bellies they're pretty darn quick...

 

[afwdwfan]

Ok, I'm trying to see what kind of interest we have in a DDC fantasy baseball league this year. We have a thread, right here, discussing it.

Chris, Clearscreen, has acted as commissioner in years past, but doesn't have the time to do it this year. I'm willing to act as commissioner, but I'm trying to gauge the interest. If you want to play this year, please head over to the Fantasy Baseball thread and let us know. This goes for everyone, whether you played last year or not.

Pop in, let us know if you want in and we'll see what kind of numbers we have. If there's enough interest, we'll get something done.

Thanks!

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Yeah, but when they slide on their bellies they're pretty darn quick...

 

[BigTikiDaddy]

Afternoon....semi-skimmed through things, been tied up with other stuff, work etc and keeping the girls entertained through March Break

Prayers, Good Luck, and congrats where warrented.

Epic post #500 for me!

Just booked our October trip from 10/12/2013 - 10/19/2013
Unfortunately,we did not get the resort we wanted
Booking at the 7 month mark via DVC and making reservations at the time when the Wine & Food Festival is going on makes finding the desired resort difficult.
So I booked us for OKW and have a wait list for BWV. At BWV, 10/13 was available but I can't book that until tomorrow. So I am going to try and re-book tomorrow, keeping our arrival day at OKW and then migrating to BWV.

Oh, well, we'll see.

Congrats on the 500, hope you get what you want in the end..

 

[BigTex71]

Ok, I'm trying to see what kind of interest we have in a DDC fantasy baseball league this year. We have a thread, right here, discussing it.

Chris, Clearscreen, has acted as commissioner in years past, but doesn't have the time to do it this year. I'm willing to act as commissioner, but I'm trying to gauge the interest. If you want to play this year, please head over to the Fantasy Baseball thread and let us know. This goes for everyone, whether you played last year or not.

Pop in, let us know if you want in and we'll see what kind of numbers we have. If there's enough interest, we'll get something done.

Thanks!

I heard the reigning DisDad Fantasy Baseball Champ is interested in playing again this year. Oh, wait... that's me - I'm interested in playing again this year.

I popped in the other thread also to make it official or something.

 

[Emma's Dad]

Is it FRIDAY yet??

 

[BigTex71]

Well, after planning a possible WDW trip in November, then being told to wait until next year, I have now been told that we can plan a surprise trip for the kids this year at the end of July! I figure we better keep it a surprise in case 'the boss' changes plans AGAIN.

We are looking at staying at one of our favorite resorts: Port Orleans - Riverside. We have stayed there before in The Mansions section (regular room), but this time DW wants to try out the new Royal rooms. I am excited that I will finally get to make use of a good rate!

Now to figure out which table service places we are going to plan on this time. We are thinking of starting off the first night with Hoop-Dee-Do Musical Revue - that never gets old. I am not sure if I can justify lunch at Le Cellier since they got rid of the lunch menu, but I hate to miss that Mushroom Filet while I am in The World.

Another staple for us is the 50's Prime Time Cafe, so we will definitely need an ADR there. Other than those, I am hoping DW will want to go to either 'Ohana or Boma one night.

What are some of the table service restaurants you HAVE to go to every time you are in WDW?

I am giddy that we are going, but it seems so 'last minute'. My coworkers looked at me like I'm crazy when I said I don't have enough lead time to properly plan this trip (only 4.5 months.) They just don't get it.