Ok, Miss Erin........I've been waiting all day to see if you got free dining for your trip. Would you PLEASE update me!!!! I'll update you on MY news if you update me on YOURS.
I have been checking Southwest flying out of BWI for the past few weeks, but the fares havent dropped yet. Also, Southwest isnt booking for November yet, so I was just looking for one-way flights. Well, on Facebook today, I saw that Frontier Airlines is coming to Dulles Airport and they are celebrating by having a sale today only for $15 for one way flights. I clicked on the article, not expecting to see MCO there, but it was!!! 
Dulles is WAY closer than Baltimore, anyway, and the parking fees are the same, so it was a win-win! But then I checked the fares for October 24th and they were not $15! Ugh! I checked the surrounding dates and Wednesday, October 22nd was $15!!! But, were not supposed to be in Orlando until that Friday! What do I do? Extend our vacation, of course! 
I got three tickets for $89 each, plus the $3 to pick our seats, so a total of $276 for those flights! 
At least we wont be stuck at baggage claim 
and I am on a shopping/vacation planning high! So I will try not to think about this until I get home and I will hopefully resist the urge to book anything else today! I have to redo my vacation budget! Its great to have the flights already taken care of, though! 
Tink-erin-belle said:OMG you guys! I just booked our flights!
I ended up getting one way tickets for the three of us for a total of $54! The extra $9 came from the seats I chose, but that $54 included taxes and fees and everything! The only thing is that they even charge for carry-on luggage! Um…what??? Each person can have a personal item, so I think if we each carry a bookbag, we’ll be OK. I’ll just have to ship our clothes and toiletries to the hotel
So, I thought I would check to see if Southwest was booking flights in November yet. Nope. I went back to Frontier and saw that the return flights were lower than the fares I typically saw from Southwest out of Dulles, so I booked those too!
Hmm… I guess that means we’ll be shipping our stuff back home, too
Get ready for some fuzzy Disney math! Since I saved so much on flights, I feel comfortable adding those two days to our vacation. I think it just about evens out to the same amount as two days in a value resort. In fact, I’m going to see how much it will be to do two days in a Universal Orlando hotel! I know! It is sacrilege to go to UO before WDW, but I really want to go to UO and I know the kids do, too. I’m not looking into it right now because I feel like I have spent enough money today
So I am going to have to upload them when I get home 
In the meantime, I am going to try to catch up on your PTRs and TRs. I think I will have a slow day today at work (I hope I didnt just jinx myself! 
) because I dont have any meetings. Thanks for hanging in there with me! I'm so excited (and jealous) for you Erin!!!!!!! I LOVE MNSSHP!!! and free dining!!!!! and Pop!!!!! and AoA!!!!!!
Im also really excited about AoA!YAY for booking flights!!!! Yahoo!!!!!
Hey stranger!
I come back and you've got cheap flights and free dining and extra days and a side trip to Universal??!!? I am so happy for you! It couldn't have happened to a nicer mom and kids.
We got Coy up and he got ready very quickly. We were hungry, so we headed to the food court at Pop and got three turkey sandwiches and some chips to eat in the car. Once again, it was so weird to have to pay for food at Disney! I missed having a dining plan! Once again, I promised myself that we were staying at the convention hotel the next year! ) OMG the screaming girls! The kids and I had about enough of that within an hour of being there! But the kids had fun because they were really getting a kick out of meeting people that they watched on YouTube. It was just so strange to me that these girls were freaking out every time they thought they saw someone famous. I mean, they are YOUTUBE famous. Not like REALLY famous! Not to take anything away from what the YouTubers do – because it takes talent and not everyone can do it – but they are not Elvis! Come on! You couldn’t tell these girls that, though! Coy thought it would be funny to yell at the top of his lungs, “Oh my god! It’s Joey Graceffa!” but I asked him not to do that! 
I didn’t want him to start a stampede! Trust me, it would have happened! Those girls were totally out of control! I would say the age range was 12 years old to about 21 years old, but mostly in the 15 to 18 range. True didn’t feel out of place because she looks older than her age and she is pretty mature, but I definitely wouldn’t have let her go with just Coy. I was glad I got the Parent’s Pass. Sometimes, because True looks and acts older than she is, I forget momentarily that she is still a little girl. The opposite is true with Coy. He is my first baby and I still see him as a little boy. But he was almost 15 at the time and I kind of forgot that he could have gone off on his own if he wanted to. I think he only went off by himself a few times to look at something, but he’s a responsible young man, so I forced myself not to worry too much 
Anyway, he was taller than most people there, so it was easy to spot him in a crowd when he did walk off. 
I didn’t hear the comment, so True laughed as she said to me, “She thought I had a weave!” I told True that she was just kidding around, so then she thought it was even funnier! I guess True thought she was serious because of how her hair puffed out after I flat ironed it! Oh, the humidity! 
The kids saw Steve Green next, and I wished I had gotten a better picture of him because the kids really like him!
I told the kids what I was thinking later and they agreed that it would have been pretty psycho for me to offer him the Coke Zero! LMAO I can’t help it! I am a generous person! 
See? I can be nice to my ex-husband sometimes! But only sometimes! Finally, there was someone there that I was excited to meet:
Looking back, I shouldn’t have been concerned about anyone thinking it was strange for me to get my picture taken with him, because I truly do enjoy his music and I think he is so funny! If you have the time, look at some of his other videos. They are worth it! Wow, now I sound like a screaming fangirl! As I was taking his picture with the kids, I did tell him that the kids and I really enjoyed his music and we thought he was really talented 
Hello??? Earth to Erin?? Update needed!!! Just sayin......
Shame on me! I'm trying to get better at this, really, I am!
so I will give you a quick update on the plans I have made for the trip. Well, not so much plans, but ADRs. That is all I have had time to plan out! Well be at UO (at a yet-to-be-determined resort) for October 22 and 23, and well be checking into Art of Animation on October 24 with a room-only reservation. So I dont have any official plans for meals until MNSSHP on October 24. Monday, we have a late breakfast at Tusker House because I want to attempt doing rope drop for once at this park! Heres a picture from our 2008 trip: 
I know there is no such thing as Throwback Tuesday, but I think it should be a thing since there is actually Throwback Thursday! Anyway, I know it is late in the day because I am saying weird things
Dont mind my fried brain
Moving on
We have lunch on Thursday at Sci Fi. I am debating doing a Fantasmic dinner that night, but well see. 
and I dont want to unnecessarily snap on someone via email about a silly mistake. Not that I almost did that this morning with one of my vendors or anything
Oh well. The only thing I have decided is that we are going to stay at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort. I havent made reservations yet, but it is the most economical. I think my kids would have also enjoyed Hard Rock and if there is some last minute sale, I might switch but I think well just go there to have a meal or something. Well get the two day park to park passes and we will definitely take advantage of early admission to visit the WWoHP! Yes. Yes, I am! Scary movies are nothing like having a zombie walk up to you and chase you down the street at UO! I remember when I was about 18, I went to a haunted house in Church Street Station with my parents and siblings. The Penguin from Batman walked up to us and scared the living daylights out of my mom! And this was when we were still waiting in line on the sidewalk outside of the building! My mom stayed in the waiting area with my youngest brother while my dad, my other three sibs and I went inside the haunted house. We walked single file with our hands on the shoulders of person in front of us. Basically, conga line style. People/ghosts/monsters were jumping out at us from everywhere as we walked through the house! It was so frightening! I had my eyes closed for the majority of the walk-thru! But I loved it! Did anyone reading ever do this haunted house? Anyway, I know I cant make True go to HHN if she doesnt want to go. Plus, its really only recommended for kids over 13, so she really wouldnt have any business being there anyway. She cant stay in our room alone, so I guess I will have to take her to the hotel child care
Uh oh
I just looked this up and there doesnt seem to be child care at Cabana Bay Beach Resort. Ill have to look into this. Im sure that they will allow kids from that resort to go to another on-site resort for child care. At least, I hope so! I told her that we werent doing that this time, but maybe next time we could stay at Fort Wilderness. I showed her some pictures from allears.net and she fell in love! She is a country girl at heart! She saw the petting farm and she started begging me to stay there for this trip. Um
no. I am not changing resorts for this trip! I did remind the kids that there is horseback riding there and asked if they wanted to do that for this trip, and they did! Has anyone done this before? I know I looked into it for a previous trip but I need to research this again. All I know is that I want to do it early in the morning if possible, so that we can go back to our room and take showers after! You stink of horse! 10 geek points to whoever can give me the source of that quote! Yes, I am still clearly very hyper from the caffeine! ) I still felt a little twinge every time I reached for my money! That wont be an issue when the kids and I check into Pop on this trip, but it will be when we go to UO and when we are at AoA. So, I decided to start stashing cash for the out of pocket food and drinks that I will have to get while not on the DDP. It just takes too much fun out of my day when I am mentally adding up how much I am spending on that stuff! So having the food money already set aside should take the sting out of an $8 snack! I told myself that I was going to design some cash envelopes and tip envelopes this past weekend, but I was lazy Ill get to it! Ill try to have them done by the next time I update! 
Well go to WWoHP that next morning, but Im not sure what the plans are for the rest of the day. The next day, I think we will check out of the resort, pack our stuff into the car and go back to WWoHP. Again, no plans as of yet for what to for the rest of the day. At some point, though, we will check into AoA. Id like to do an early morning check in so that our room will be ready for us after our day of touring at UO, but I need to look into the logistics. Will it really be possible to dash over to AoA before going to WWoHP? Hmm
Im not sure if we can wake up THAT early! Oh, wait! I just realized that we have MNSSHP that night! I think we might only be able to do a half day at UO! Wow! I really need to get on the ball! Saturday is a free day, so we might be able to do the horseback riding that day. Sunday is when we check into Pop and we will have our first full park day at WDW! Just 90 days until the kids and I get to experience The World all over again!
long time - no "talk" ... It's been a bit of a funky 2014 for me ... so...
btw...
(I'm thinking about laying low on the caffeine myself ... after having had probably about 5 cups more or less and I think I have a little bit of the shakes myself...)
g
I come back and you've got cheap flights and free dining and extra days and a side trip to Universal??!!? I am so happy for you! It couldn't have happened to a nicer mom and kids.
You are welcome everyone......it was a good update, wasn't it??!!!!
Actually
keep scrolling for one!!! Hey Erin,
Was so happy to find you are still here and writing-although I think you might want to update... Just saying...
so glad that you are going to the World and so soon!!! what a long, awesome trip you have planned! (I know you will be writing a great TR...)
I think you should win an award for the longest, most entertaining PTR...
Going to check out if Ann and Alysa have anything going
I have to tell you all more about my plans, and I havent even finished with Playlist yet! Shame on me! Thanks for the compliment on the PTR! I think it is definitely the longest one ever! I cant wait to end it and write the TR! I have to go back to read yours. I got an email from Frontier that they rescheduled our return flight! 
Long story short, there was nothing they could do about it, so now the kids and I have to leave WDW 6 hours earlier! Bummer! I was looking forward to doing some shopping at DTD and relaxing a bit before having to get on a plane. Now, we will have to leave the resort at checkout time and go directly to the airport. Oh well. At least we will get back 6 hours earlier and I can get us all settled in at home at a decent hour. We are going to stay at the Cabana Bay from Wednesday, Oct. 22 to Friday, Oct 24 I decided to get the 1 day park to park admission and the meal plan for one day. I considered doing the Royal Pacific, but it was about $300 more and the only real benefit was getting the Unlimited Express Passes. I dont think we will need those because of the time of year and because I am going to use touringplans.com to navigate the parks that day. I only got a one day pass because I think it would be too much to go to the parks on Friday, check out of CB, check into AoA, put on our costumes and go to MNSSHP in time for our 4pm ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern! Whew! No way! 
This is my new baby! Hows that for a cliff hanger?!?
