Discovering DVC timandlesley style-A PTR, 19 days TRIP REPORT LINK PG.119!!!!!

[tiggrbaby]

Here in Jersey school isn't out till june 19!!!!

Ha! June 23rd for our area of Jersey!!!!!
Your trip is soooo close, the "escape" happens
very soon for you guys!!! I can feel your excitement!!!
Hope its your BEST trip ever!!!!!

Hey, will you be able to get those ponchos back into those teeny little pouches after you have used them, or did you buy a whole bunch and you are planning on pitching them after each use?

 

[luchamouse]

Lesley, to answer your question, I read your trippie from start to finish on Friday. I loved every minute of it! I have learned so much from you and I always glean some cool new tips when I re-read you.

My fave tip this time is the money in baggies for early character breakfasts. I wouldn't have thought of that and it's a fab time saver.

Of course my heart was in my mouth (again!) when your little munchkin took off on a solo run in the middle of Magic Kingdom. The horror!

Luke was so sweet afterwards.

Anyway, just wanted to compliment your writing skills again and thank you for all the great tips

 

[timandlesley]

Lesley, to answer your question, I read your trippie from start to finish on Friday. I loved every minute of it! I have learned so much from you and I always glean some cool new tips when I re-read you.

My fave tip this time is the money in baggies for early character breakfasts. I wouldn't have thought of that and it's a fab time saver.

Of course my heart was in my mouth (again!) when your little munchkin took off on a solo run in the middle of Magic Kingdom. The horror!

Luke was so sweet afterwards.

Anyway, just wanted to compliment your writing skills again and thank you for all the great tips

You are too sweet, thank you so much. I am glad you enjoyed it and were able to learn a thing of two, glad I could help!

Hey, will you be able to get those ponchos back into those teeny little pouches after you have used them, or did you buy a whole bunch and you are planning on pitching them after each use?

I bought 8 of them because I plan on pitching them after each use. I would have gotten more but they didn't have any more.

So glad you all are okay! Oh, I just love pre disney trip shopping! So fun!

Me too!!!

YAY! You're at 20 days today! You'll be in the teens tomorrow I can't wait to see pictures of your new bedroom. Redecorating is one of my favorite things! We just moved, so I got to redecorate everything Your adventure on Saturday looked like so much fun. Good luck with finishing up school!! You're almost finished

19 today!!!! I am xo excited. I'll post pics of the bedroom after it is delivered on Friday ; )

Wow... that is a HUGE countdown calendar. Can you believe you are actually close to the bottom?!

Love the teensy poncho boxes... I hope you never have to open those things up... of course... you will be there for 18 days, so the odds are good that you'll get rain at least once!


We had some icky storm cells around here that same night... but the tornadoes were pretty far away from us. Glad you are all safe.

I know, the calendar was huge, we couldn'ta wait any longer to make it : ) Thanks, glad you guys are safe too.

Great update Lesley.

Glad you are all ok and safe after those storms, was anyone hurt?

Those ponchos are great and won't take up much room in your bags either.

Off to check your blog now!

No, no one hurt thank God, downed power lines and damaged roofs but that's it. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

Glad to hear you guys are okay after those storms....they were crazy last night!!!! Do you have any special tips on getting low airfare? I need some help, and don't know in which direction to head. TIA!

Thanks, it was a crazy night. For airfare I do Southwest airlines, they are by far the cheapest (out of Indianapolis or Columbus) and we do the stay and fly thing so they keep our car and shuttle to the airport. I also search Kayak.com Good luck!

Sounds like there is alot going on with all the end of year activities. I glad everyone is ok, scary about the tornado though. I love the Mickey poster, really cool addition to your Disney room. the pictures from Lauren's Tea/graduation and your trip to the butterfly garden are so cute.

I just love Target too, and those ponchos will come in handy, but maybe you won't need them much this trip. Can't wait to see the new bedroom.

Your trip is coming up so quickly........

Yes, lots going on! Gotta love the Target dollar bins!

Oh Tornados have become the source of serious nightmares for my 5 year old girl. She invisions them as one eyed monsters even though I've tried to explain what they really are. Hoping to avoid tornados here this season.

I know, Luke has the same tornado issues, so I sympathize!

Sorry to hear about your weather scare. The update was great! I'm going to have to head to Target for some of those ponchos. I have some but after all the rain they got this past month I'm really worried we will get rained on. Of the last 7 trips I've had, it has only rained on us once. I think my luck may have run out. I did pick up small umbrellas from the dollar store today.

Good luck finding the poncho's at Target, they were pretty picked over.

Just wanted to say hello from Connecticut... I am so excited for you and your family.. we had a trip set in April but had to cancel so I have been reading all your exciting updates!!! Hopefully we can get back there soon, I am a stay at home mom of 5 beautiful children but I am missing the mouse, it has been a couple of years since we have been there.. Enjoy the planning and counting down the days!!! It will be here before you know it... My friends just surprised me with Broadway tickers to see Wicked in 2 weeks in NY, never saw it so i am Super Excited!!!!

Hello TO Connecticut ; ) I am sorry about having to cancel your trip, what a bummer, you can live vicariously through us. Have fun seeing Wicked, it is AWESOME!

Woo hoo for 21 days!!!

That is super scary about the storms! I am glad everyone is okay!

Woo hoo indeed!!!!

I found a great bargain area at our Target that I had NO idea about. They had it in the area where they put the seasonal candy and decor. I had a couple of coupons for things and ended up paying $.98 for a stick of deodorant!!
So, congrats on your $ finds!!! What other color did you put with your paint color? I'm ready to redo our bedroom too, but not sure of color scheme yet. Gotta do my girls rooms first, anyway.

I've seen that Bargain area, Target has good deals you just have to look for them. I'll put pics of the bedroom, the color scheme is brown and a light blueish gray throughout.

Ditto on the dollar section at Target... I love their stuff... I got some movie Cars colored pencils there a while back, and the same glow stick bracelets... I have seen these same little black tubes with them in at least three PTRs!!!! We have been considering one of those memory foam beds... they sound great... bedroom redo sounds HGTV worthy

OH my, three days of school left, Wicked , and Disney around the corner. MY goodness! So much to look forward to!!!

Not HGTV worthy but a MAJOR improvement!

3 weeks..that is awesome

Love the dollar section at Target, too!!

Yay for 3 days left of school

YEAH!!!!!!! Almost done!

Here in Jersey school isn't out till june 19!!!!
Your trip is soooo close, the "escape" happens
very soon for you guys!!! I can feel your excitement!!!
Hope its your BEST trip ever!!!!!

So sorry, that is so long! Hope you guys go back in September instead of August!

Are you guys going to give us little tidbits like you did last year? I don't know if I can wait 18-19 days to hear how the trip is going.

Yes, I won't be able to resist: )

 

[Jeanine3kids]

CAn't wait to see what your budget says

 

[MegansMom]

Thanks for all your help Lesley....I will see how it all turns out!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I love dollar bins of any sort. Great finds!

 

[timandlesley]

So……….. today I’m trying to figure out the budget. I called and got the totals for our dining. I plan on getting travelers checks for that so it is separated from our other money – so I’ll go get those this week.
Then I have budgeted $1200 for other miscellaneous spending for the trip (I’ll post the budget later) but that includes money out of pocket for food and snacks (especially for the 12 days we aren’t on deluxe dining), tips for food, Lauren’s BBB ressie, childcare for Luke and Lauren on Tim and my nights out (2 hopefully) , money for our T Rex meal, spending money in the airports to and from, etc.). I am going to put the money for the tips each day in the baggies like I did last year, so for each day it will have the ressie numbers/times and the tip amounts and that amount will be in that baggie – that way we can brainlessly pick up a baggie and go and be set for the day.
So I will get the spending money cash and put it in a marked “spending money” envelope and keep it in the safe so we have no surprises as the trip goes on if that money gets low and it will help us stick to the budget. Then I plan on putting our souvenier money in an entirely different envelope so it doesn’t get mixed in with the other money. We have a Disney gift card that we will carry and use for alcohol this trip.
Questions: When we are dining and using the dining plan to pay for our meal, can we pay for just the drinks on a Disney gift card?? I sure hope so!
Also: This is our first DVC stay- YEAH!!! I am excited for the free internet, anyone know if that is just automatic that it’s free, or is there something we need to do? I just don’t want to be charged for it, that would get VERY pricey!
So, that is my figuring out the budget. I’ll post the particulars so you can see what I was thinking from day to day money wise.
Bad News! Our furniture is delayed AGAIN! Now we won’t have it until NEXT Friday, we are super bummed! So, you’ll have to wait on the pictures, so bummed!
But the good news is …………………… 19 days until Disney. WE ARE IN THE TEENS BABY!!! Also…………………………………………………..guess what………………..
………………………we go to Disney THIS MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

**See below for ANOTHER TR update today, I told you the updates would be fast and furious now that we're in the home stretch!**

 

[stacikristine]

That's so awesome that you're in the teens!!! SOOOO close. Sorry about the bedroom delay again. I can't wait to see the budget--your plans so far sound great. I have a question--do you usually tip 15% or 20%? I'm going to try to get tip baggies also, and I just didn't know what was more the norm.

 

[mouseaddicts]

Hi Lesley
I've been subscribed to your thread for a while now, but haven't had time to read the whole thing ..... that's what happens when you're late to the party, huh?

Anyway --- First, let me say congrats on your DVC membership! Welcome to the club! We've been members since 2006. When I crunched the numbers, it came out to our benefit to join ... ... so we did and haven't looked back or regretted a day of it since!

I wanted to let you know that we will be at BCV the weekend of July 3rd & 4th (before our week @ Vero starting the 5th!) ..... this is our SIXTH trip to WDW for the 4th of July! Yes, it's hot and it's crowded, but it's a BLAST! The fireworks are A-MAZ-ING!!! I hope you find ways to enjoy it. Our trick --- hit the park at ROPE DROP, leave @ lunch for a nap/swim at your resort and head back around dinner time! The parks are open super-late, so you have plenty of time to hit the rides (perhaps cash in on your FPs that you got that morning ) after the sun (and temperature) go down .... and the off-site folks start to clear out. Just my two cents there

Also, in answer to your question about free internet, you just hook the ethernet cable to your computer & *presto* you're online! You MAY have to call down to the front desk, but it should just work. We didn't have any problems on July or December DVC trips!

Okay ..... I'll go back to the corner & lurk some more now ..... I need to read your report and get as caught up as possible .....
(please pardon me if my post was redundant)

 

[tmkinney]

Woohoo for 19 Days!!! Bummer about the furniture.... I am pretty sure you can use the Disney card to pay for the drinks. Are you going to be in Disney for your birthday this year? If so, don't forget to sign up for the $75 gift card!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

We brought a wireless internet router so we can both be online at the same time, it just plugs in where you would plug in your ethernet cable. We have enjoyed visiting with our chat friends late at night and keeping up with the threads during breaks!
Woo Hoo to 19 days!

 

[pmama]

Wow, 19 days!!! I can't believe it. I remember when you started this PTR and it felt like the trip was soo far off. I can't wait to read about your amazing first trip HOME as DVC members!

 

[Trentmom]

Yay for being in the teens


That stinks about your furniture


That is great idea with making a baggie for each restaurant

 

[Charleston Princess]

Woo hoo for the teens!!! That's awesome!!!

You are super organized with your budget and spending money! I am so impressed!!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Hello!
The only thing I can answer for you is this:

Also: This is our first DVC stay- YEAH!!! I am excited for the free internet, anyone know if that is just automatic that it’s free, or is there something we need to do? I just don’t want to be charged for it, that would get VERY pricey!

Our last two trips were at SSR and whenever I logged on to the internet I actually went through the prompt to accept the charges. There was no other way. BUT, when I went to the front desk and asked about this, I actually was not charged for it. It never showed up on my bill.

Hope this helps!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I have to laugh because we have a wireless router we keep in our Owner's Locker! I don't like being stuck to the bedroom on the computer and would prefer to be in the living room of our villa to do the work I need to do.

We brought a wireless internet router so we can both be online at the same time, it just plugs in where you would plug in your ethernet cable. We have enjoyed visiting with our chat friends late at night and keeping up with the threads during breaks!
Woo Hoo to 19 days!

 

[timandlesley]

That's so awesome that you're in the teens!!! SOOOO close. Sorry about the bedroom delay again. I can't wait to see the budget--your plans so far sound great. I have a question--do you usually tip 15% or 20%? I'm going to try to get tip baggies also, and I just didn't know what was more the norm.

I know, I am so excited! Yeah, stinks about the bedroom delay, but I keep telling myself, there are MUCH worse things in life. It varies on the tip. I typically do 10 dollars for morning buffets, 15 dollars on evening buffets, and my typical tip for sit down meals is 20.00 (17.00 for lunch/ 20 for dinner) I hope this helps - it comes out for the 4 of us to around 12-15% for buffets and 18-20% for dinners) I always carry 5 ones on my at all times to add to the tip if I feel it is warranted.

Hi Lesley
I've been subscribed to your thread for a while now, but haven't had time to read the whole thing ..... that's what happens when you're late to the party, huh?

Anyway --- First, let me say congrats on your DVC membership! Welcome to the club! We've been members since 2006. When I crunched the numbers, it came out to our benefit to join ... ... so we did and haven't looked back or regretted a day of it since!

I wanted to let you know that we will be at BCV the weekend of July 3rd & 4th (before our week @ Vero starting the 5th!) ..... this is our SIXTH trip to WDW for the 4th of July! Yes, it's hot and it's crowded, but it's a BLAST! The fireworks are A-MAZ-ING!!! I hope you find ways to enjoy it. Our trick --- hit the park at ROPE DROP, leave @ lunch for a nap/swim at your resort and head back around dinner time! The parks are open super-late, so you have plenty of time to hit the rides (perhaps cash in on your FPs that you got that morning ) after the sun (and temperature) go down .... and the off-site folks start to clear out. Just my two cents there

Also, in answer to your question about free internet, you just hook the ethernet cable to your computer & *presto* you're online! You MAY have to call down to the front desk, but it should just work. We didn't have any problems on July or December DVC trips!

Okay ..... I'll go back to the corner & lurk some more now ..... I need to read your report and get as caught up as possible .....
(please pardon me if my post was redundant)

Well, welcome to the party, better late than never. I've done the online thing at Disney before, just didn't know if it was different so you wouldn't be charged with DVC. We do the same type of schedule, there at rope drop, naps/swim/ then back for dinner and a show, best way to do Disney! : )

Woohoo for 19 Days!!! Bummer about the furniture.... I am pretty sure you can use the Disney card to pay for the drinks. Are you going to be in Disney for your birthday this year? If so, don't forget to sign up for the $75 gift card!

Of course this is the FIRST year in THREE years in a row we've been there for my b-day that we didn't plan a return trip for my bday and they ended up having this promotion, go figure!

We brought a wireless internet router so we can both be online at the same time, it just plugs in where you would plug in your ethernet cable. We have enjoyed visiting with our chat friends late at night and keeping up with the threads during breaks!
Woo Hoo to 19 days!

Very cool. We have a wireless router here for our home use, is it different for Disney? I'll ask Tim, he's good at that stuff! I mainly just go online to upload pics and do University of Phoenix stuff (sigh) when on vacation, we are so busy the rest of the time.

Wow, 19 days!!! I can't believe it. I remember when you started this PTR and it felt like the trip was soo far off. I can't wait to read about your amazing first trip HOME as DVC members!

I know, it is FLYING by!

Yay for being in the teens


That stinks about your furniture


That is great idea with making a baggie for each restaurant

I'll show pics of the baggies in a second.

Woo hoo for the teens!!! That's awesome!!!

You are super organized with your budget and spending money! I am so impressed!!!

You have to be organized, especially with this long of a trip or we'd way overspend.

Hello!
The only thing I can answer for you is this:


Our last two trips were at SSR and whenever I logged on to the internet I actually went through the prompt to accept the charges. There was no other way. BUT, when I went to the front desk and asked about this, I actually was not charged for it. It never showed up on my bill.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, this does help, I would have worried about that, but knowing you weren't charged is great to hear!

I have to laugh because we have a wireless

 

[timandlesley]

O.K, now I KNOW this is going to sound crazy but I just came to a REALIZATION tonight..................................................................
................................................................................................
................................................................................................
...............................................................................................
We're going to be in Disney for NINETEEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had been reading the numbers and I knew it, but when I sat down tonight to stuff the tip envelopes and I kept stuffing, and writing and stuffing and writing and STUFFING AND WRITING, I said to Tim, "WOW, we are going to be there a REALLY LONG TIME!!!!" It was weird for me writing it all out and truly SEEING it, I think it has FINALLY hit me, and I am too excited for words.
I must say, the budget thing is stressing me out today and I have a killer headache as a result. Being there for so long we need to stick to some sort of a budget and there is a LOT to organize. I need souvenier money in one place, dining plan money in another place, Disney gift card for alcohol in another place, tip envelopes in another place, out of pocket money for BBB ressie, child care, meals out of pocket, airport food, etc. WOW! A LOT of organization and planning involved.
So I went to the bank today and tried to get travelers checks for the dining portion and they told me there was a 2% charge (I do NOT remember that last year), that would have been close to fifty bucks So........... instead, we opened a vacation checking account, it will have it's own credit card and that will work out nicely - that way it isn't mixed in with our "non Disney" money which just would add to all this confusion.
So, I withdrew the other money for our trip and got to work (I told you the updates would be fast and furious here in the home stretch)
Here is my "war room" like space on the dining room table tonight:

I should have taken a pic when all the money was spread around, or better yet, the stressful look on my face as I was trying to piece all of this together.
So I put the ressie's and tip amounts on small pieces of paper for each day and placed that piece of paper with the ressie numbers and tip amount AND the tip money into an envelope for each day:

When I was done I had quite a slew of baggies:

I started thinking.... I don't want to put all of those in a carry on because our room probably won't be ready when we get there and I don't want to leave that money unattended, so it will have to go in my Vera Bradley Backpack/purse. So..... what to do about this mess of baggies, well I got out a stapler and stapled them all together:

Not too shabby Now they should fit in my purse no problem.
So: to break it down (PHEW, are you as exhausted as I am thinking about this- now you can see why I have the headache): we have the new vacation account for the dining plan plus about 3/4's of our other budgeted expendeture money in that account so we can use that new vacation check card for the room charges, then the OTHER 1/4 of our spending money I have in cash for us to carry and put in the safe (I like having SOME cash on me, just a little for tipping, etc.) THEN I have a Disney gift card for Tim and my souvie money, another gift card for Luke and Lauren's spending money and ANOTHER gift card to use for alcohol, speaking of alchohol, I need a drink after all of this
HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!
Lesley

 

[Spartangirl]

Wow are you organized! I love how you put your tip money in separate bags for each day......great idea! I think I may have to borrow your idea for our next trip!

 

[dddisrunner]

HOLY CROW, I am exhausted just from reading that! I feel your pain with being there for such a long time and sticking to a budget! It is so GREAT though! I have been working on ours too! I bought a Disney gift card for mine and Bryan's spending money and put extra on it for alcohol, I plan on charging all of that to the room and then using the gift card to pay it off instead of using the gift card each time (does that make sense)? LOVE your baggies and I was cracking up at your explainations of how you tip because it was like your words were coming out of my mouth, great minds again! I am starting to freak out a little bit because everytime I check things off the list and see what else I need to do I tell myself oh, next weekend you can do that WELL there are only 2 weekends left!! So excited to meet up with you guys and we can share our excitement over drinks and swimming (Did you budget for that?)

Diane


PS Sorry about your furniture!