FEBRUARY 2008 WDW travelers post HERE!!!

[bornwiththeears]

We are booked Feb. 1st - 6th. Our rate is approx. $216.00 (tax included - it was $196.00 before tax) AAA rate for Wilderness Lodge, Standard View.

 

[EpcotMatt2]

We are booked Feb. 1st - 6th. Our rate is approx. $216.00 (tax included - it was $196.00 before tax) AAA rate for Wilderness Lodge, Standard View.

I'd love to be able to get that rate, but we're going the week after President's Day weekend. Any idea what those AAA rates are?

 

[bornwiththeears]

That week is going to be more expensive. Go online to AAA.com and ask for a quote. I received mine within hours. You could also use the Dreams Unlimited Travel on this website. I have booked AAA rooms through both. Good luck!.

 

[Poohbear123]

Last Feb. for AKL at $155.00 a night! Hope I luck out this Feb. for my stay at WL!

 

[EpcotMatt2]

That week is going to be more expensive. Go online to AAA.com and ask for a quote. I received mine within hours. You could also use the Dreams Unlimited Travel on this website. I have booked AAA rooms through both. Good luck!.

I have AAA. Just wondering if anyone else has already found out?

 

[callaghan0416]

We are at POR and the AAA rate form the 6th until the 13th is119.20 and the rate on the 14th jumps up to 170.10. We check out on the 15th.

callie

 

[DrmWvr1299]

bornwiththeears, we will be at WL during the same time as you

 

[Sabrina90744]

Thank you!! That is too cute. I may make our own version of it! Ironically- my supervisor(who saves gel bottles for me for decoupaging and cardboards for my kids projects) found some very think nice cardboard for me and saved them. I am the office recycler! (I am an echo tech PRN)
I don't recycle at home, so I guess this is my contribution! We love to make things-anything(even if we can't keep it all-sshhhh!)

Lori

Isnt it the cutest!! I doubt mine will look anything like hers, I am not artsy at all . But anything beats the Mickey Head paint chips just popped on the bedroom door. Post a pic when you are done with yours!

 

[lori1043]

UP TO THIS POST, EVERYONE IS ADDED TO PAGE ONE THAT GAVE ME SPECIFIC DATES!!!

Why am I doing that you ask, besides just so we know who is there at the same time??? Well, I thought it would be nice to know who is there at the same time in case you all wanted to combine smaller parties for any Magical Gatherings that Disney offers. I ,for myself, am not going to know much about that until the last few months. I am sure there are other reasons you will figure out on your own for having that list??!!

Anyway- I like having it and am looking forward to hopefully seeing some fellow New Orleans area Dis'ers dressed in thier Saints/Mardi Gras/LSU gear.

If interested there are several fridge swaps going around on other boards and of course, everyone is looking for flights. February cannot come any sooner for any of us!! Since we have a little downtime looking for all that and the planning is slackin' a bit-Sabrina posted about a coutdown calendar that I am also going to make with my kids. Are there any other crazy planning ideas you all do or have found on the Dis that you really love that you can share? What about you Mardi gras friends-what do you do special in WDW for Mardi Gras? Decorate? We will not be in a park on Mardi Gras and will probably be sleeping in and hotel hopping-possible water parkin' it if it is warm enough(for us southerners it has to be warm). Anyway-thought we could strike up some different planning tips for February friends. My DD's will be getting backpacks of goodys to use in WDW and on the journey for Christmas. IF I can swing it, I'd love to get them those little Nintendo DS lite's. They have nothing like it and haven't asked until thier friends were "texting" each other with these little gadgets at a church function! They are not begging about it but I think if they did get one, it would not be a waste of $$ and helpful for the long trip to Mickey Mouse!! I will be keeping my eyes open for that too.

Something we do is have a pre-Disney party for all the friends we know going at Mardi Gras. We even had people we did not know yet come that mutual friends invited(with our consent of course!) and we caravaned with a few of them. We planned on meeting up at FW and even for Superbowl at our connecting rooms! I plan on this again!

Lori

 

[Sabrina90744]

Lori

The gameboys are great. My kids have had theirs for quite some time now. They keep my kids occupied on long road trips. They can chat with one another, you can buy one game (on certain DS games) and they can play against one another with that one game!!! . There are great non-violent games. I would recommend this over the PSP any day and it wouldn’t be a waste of money, they will get your moneys worth


Now for the room decorations, I would love something easy so that I am not taking scissors tape and all sorts of stuff.

How cool having a pre-Disney party sounds like lots of fun!

 

[Travelmom4]

For all you experienced Mardi Gras vacationers from south LA: We are heading to WDW on Sunday 2/3. We'd like to fly from NO or BR but when I checked the Southwest flights a few days after they came out there were slim pickings. THe only flights left were the full price, fully refundable flights-and not even a great selection of those. I booked some as a backup b/c they are refundable.

Any tips on how to get a decent price on a nonstop? Is there anyone other than SW that flies to Orlando nonstop?

Thanks for your help!

 

[lori1043]

Lori

The gameboys are great. My kids have had theirs for quite some time now. They keep my kids occupied on long road trips. They can chat with one another, you can buy one game (on certain DS games) and they can play against one another with that one game!!! . There are great non-violent games. I would recommend this over the PSP any day and it wouldn’t be a waste of money, they will get your moneys worth


Now for the room decorations, I would love something easy so that I am not taking scissors tape and all sorts of stuff.

How cool having a pre-Disney party sounds like lots of fun!

Thank you- Which are better, the DSLites or gameboys! I have seen ONE game on the DSLite and the kids writing back and forth to each other. The game was totally up DD9's alley- the virtual pupppy game(have NO idea what it is called) but gosh, it looks real!!! I have to say I have been happy about avoiding these little game things-but think it could be fun for them.

As far as decor- I am all for easy! Maybe some purple, green, and gold Mickey heads made of poster to just tape up in our window! I can cut them out and the kids can color(unless I get colored poster boards).
I felt like a thief today taking 22 Mickey paint chips from HD!!! Actually, I took 27-just in case!
We are going to spray paint our countdown calendar-gold probably-b/c DH had some for some prject for Sunday school a month or so ago. I am trying to use what I have although I DID get stickers from Dollar Tree!

 

[lori1043]

For all you experienced Mardi Gras vacationers from south LA: We are heading to WDW on Sunday 2/3. We'd like to fly from NO or BR but when I checked the Southwest flights a few days after they came out there were slim pickings. THe only flights left were the full price, fully refundable flights-and not even a great selection of those. I booked some as a backup b/c they are refundable.

Any tips on how to get a decent price on a nonstop? Is there anyone other than SW that flies to Orlando nonstop?

Thanks for your help!

Someone mentioned a few pages back that AirTran heads from Jackson to Orlando(that is a little farther from us, but do-able). I am in Covington and go to church at St Timothy in Mandeville. Nice to have you!!
Lori

 

[Travelmom4]

I'm in Mandeville at St. Michael's around the corner from you! Can't believe I have been reading about you and your family and you're so close.

I'll check out the Airtran fares-I hadn't considered Jackson. Thanks for the tip.

Gayle

 

[Sabrina90744]

Thank you- Which are better, the DSLites or gameboys! I have seen ONE game on the DSLite and the kids writing back and forth to each other. The game was totally up DD9's alley- the virtual pupppy game(have NO idea what it is called) but gosh, it looks real!!! I have to say I have been happy about avoiding these little game things-but think it could be fun for them.

DSLites are better. DSLites play both gameboy advance and ds games. I would definitely go ahead and spend the extra $30. My kids have the virtual puppy games. They love it, just dont get the ones that say Dogz or Catz or Horsez, DD has those and she says they aren't as fun and the ones with the real dogs on the front, nintendogs I believe they are called.

As far as decor- I am all for easy! Maybe some purple, green, and gold Mickey heads made of poster to just tape up in our window! I can cut them out and the kids can color(unless I get colored poster boards).
I felt like a thief today taking 22 Mickey paint chips from HD!!! Actually, I took 27-just in case!
We are going to spray paint our countdown calendar-gold probably-b/c DH had some for some prject for Sunday school a month or so ago. I am trying to use what I have although I DID get stickers from Dollar Tree!

I will try to get some stuff together.. I heard we can stick magnets on our doors to so maybe I will make some Dis magnets and see what i come up with. I will keep my eye out for your purple green and gold Mickey heads

 

[Sabrina90744]

Lori

I found another cute countdown calendar something that would probably better suit my skills...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1545786&referrerid=&highlight=countdown+calendar

 

[speedyf]

For all you experienced Mardi Gras vacationers from south LA: We are heading to WDW on Sunday 2/3. We'd like to fly from NO or BR but when I checked the Southwest flights a few days after they came out there were slim pickings. THe only flights left were the full price, fully refundable flights-and not even a great selection of those. I booked some as a backup b/c they are refundable.

Any tips on how to get a decent price on a nonstop? Is there anyone other than SW that flies to Orlando nonstop?

Thanks for your help!

Also...Southwest flies from Jackson, MS to Orlando as well.

Another thing to watch is the flights into Tampa. On our last trip, we were able to fly into Tampa for $59 and then fly out of Orlando to come back for $59.

You can rent a car for one day from Tampa thru Alamo or National for around $35 after tax. The car can be returned for no additional charge to the Dolphin Hotel. We flew into Tampa late on a Friday and slept offsite right outside of Disney. We then hit Walmart and ate breakfast the next morning and headed to the resort to check-in.

Returning the car to the Dolphin was easy...the valet takes it and gives you a receipt for your return. You can then walk down the sidewalk a few feet and wait for the bus from the Dolphin to any of the parks or Downtown Disney.

Since we flew out of Orlando to come home, we were able to use the Magical Express service. You can use it to return home even though you did not use the service on your arrival.

Since we are a group of 17 people going during Mardi Gras, we will probably end up driving. But, I am keeping a look out for cheap flights (around $59) again to Tampa or Orlando from New Orleans, Gulfport, Jackson, Baton Rouge.....

Oh...Airtran also flies out of Gulfport....I think direct into Tampa....so, that may be another option since you guys are probably only about an hour or so from Gulfport.

Speed

 

[speedyf]

As for countdown calendars, I'm not very artistic....

I use an Excel spreadsheet that is set up with 100 squares that have the number of days remaining and in a smaller square have the date for each square.

I do this in case we miss marking a few squares, we know which ones to mark up to that date.

We use the little circular labels and I've set up different colored Mickey Heads printed on each label to mark each day. The page hangs on the fridge.

If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet, just PM me with your e-mail address and I can attach it an send it off to you.

I usually print a full page photo on a regular sheet of paper in a watermarked (faded) fashion....then, come back and print the countdown calendar over the image on the same page.

Speed

 

[lori1043]

Gayle - how cool, that is very close!! A friend of mine used to have her kids at St. Michaels for mothers day out/preschool. It was a few years back.
My kids used to be at Abita Springs schools until we decided to homeschool. We have been STUMC members for a little over 7 years-we really love our church family.
A good friend of mine keeps trying to get us to move to Mandeville-she thinks we weill stop HS'ing if we move there!! You cannot go wrong with most schools in our area, but when you feel called to do something, you gotta' try it out. It's nice to "meet" you !

Sabrina-well, I have started the process of the countdown . IT feels WAY to early to make one but the kids want to and I don't mind seeing it daily either. I only have done the links coutdown from themouseforless.com in the past for the last 30 days, so this will be interesting. I spray painted the cardboard last night gold. It is bigger than the example and I am not folding it in half(I don't have room to have it out so we will hang it with those 3M stickies). I am putting the paint chips on a clip, not a chain. Another clip will hold the numbers. I will post it when done. I put purple , green, and gold Mickey heads in a corner since it is for Mardi Gras.My kids will probably decorate it tonight with those stickers I shouldn't have bought!! We have so much around the house, but they called to me(heeheee).

speedy-You're in the same boat I am with flying or not.

Lori

 

[hkruns]

You can put HKruns in for 2/3 to 2/10, staying at POFQ.

This is my first real vacation at DW, but I've stayed at POFQ once for a meeting, and once for the WDW marathon, and I liked it more than Coronado. This time, I'm bringing my three adult nephews (now referred to as Huey, Louie and Dewey) plus their wives and children. We'll have 7 adults, 3 big kids and 2 little ones (including a 5 month old). My AAA agent said that we qualify as a Grand Gathering. Does anyone have experience with these options, or is there another site on the DISboards that would discuss this?

Harriet