Finally getting to see the lights! Nov '11 Anniversary/Holiday/F&W PTR-New 11/4 p50

[MEK]

You ARE the Southwest master. I thought I was good, but you've got me beat by a long shot.

Great pictures of the boys. So glad you got to the baseball game and how cool to have a son as an announcer.

Your behavior cards are a wonderful idea. Something I needed about ten years ago.

Cool pictures of the lake and the first day of school.

 

[MRYPPNS]

I must have missed a piece somewhere along the way.....why did you need to do all that with your credits? Why couldn't you just book your April flights with the credits as there were?

 

[DisMomAmy]

You ARE the Southwest Master!

Now tell me how I can use the $250 worth of credits I've gathered from this trip, when we are NOT flying again until after they expire in May...

Congats on two months!

Hmmm... I've heard you can pay for an extension. Not sure how that works though...

You ARE the Southwest master. I thought I was good, but you've got me beat by a long shot.

Great pictures of the boys. So glad you got to the baseball game and how cool to have a son as an announcer.

Your behavior cards are a wonderful idea. Something I needed about ten years ago.

Cool pictures of the lake and the first day of school.

Thanks Mary Ellen - I was pretty proud of myself this morning!

The minor league baseball games have become quite a thing for us this summer... we actually drove to Portland Maine today for another one. The drive home wasn't pretty... LOTS of Labor Day traffic!

I must have missed a piece somewhere along the way.....why did you need to do all that with your credits? Why couldn't you just book your April flights with the credits as there were?

We had 8 credits between us & you can only use 3 at a time. Well you can use four forms of payment, but if the flight is more than the credits, one of those four is your credit card. I could have used three for our flights down & three for our flights back, but I'm hoping to avoid using credits at all for the flights down so I don't give them a 5/12 expiration date. I might be able to get some credits for my flight next fall. (Although now I'm realizing that won't work since I'll be booking on 10/3 so any credits will expire before my trip next year... unless I wait it out... and book later in the month... but I probably won't risk that.) Even with all of that, I would have only been able to use 6 of the credits, unless I got into splitting up the flights and booking two of us at a time. I just thought this might be easier than to mess around on 10/3 & risk rates going up on me.

 

[beebeeryan]

Ahh see that's what happened when I called to change to an earlier more expensive flight 2 weeks ago. I had the 2 credits each in there from when I changed the flights before that were gonna expire in Feb and I would never get to use them. Then the flight credit that we were changing that we'd already paid made 3 each. So the only way to do it was to split us all out. I was on the phone for 45 minutes while she split us all into our own booking so we could use all the credits and pay the least amount to change possible. Even gave me a little child discount for the kids since I was now paying the regular fare. Although it's only $15 each. Barely worth the time it took to add that on.
I ended up with 4 confirmation #'s for outbound and she got us split just 2 and 2 on the return. Was crazy confusing at airport check-in. I could only print boarding passes for adults, kids had to be printed by someone at the airport and we had to check luggage.

I told them they made it way too complicated. I felt sorry for the girl, she kept apologizing for it taking so long. But I told her I've worked in airline reservations, I know how unfriendly those booking systems are. They don't made it easy. I would have never had the guts to book and cancel a fake flight, WOW you go girl!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Ahh see that's what happened when I called to change to an earlier more expensive flight 2 weeks ago. I had the 2 credits each in there from when I changed the flights before that were gonna expire in Feb and I would never get to use them. Then the flight credit that we were changing that we'd already paid made 3 each. So the only way to do it was to split us all out. I was on the phone for 45 minutes while she split us all into our own booking so we could use all the credits and pay the least amount to change possible. Even gave me a little child discount for the kids since I was now paying the regular fare. Although it's only $15 each. Barely worth the time it took to add that on.
I ended up with 4 confirmation #'s for outbound and she got us split just 2 and 2 on the return. Was crazy confusing at airport check-in. I could only print boarding passes for adults, kids had to be printed by someone at the airport and we had to check luggage.

I told them they made it way too complicated. I felt sorry for the girl, she kept apologizing for it taking so long. But I told her I've worked in airline reservations, I know how unfriendly those booking systems are. They don't made it easy. I would have never had the guts to book and cancel a fake flight, WOW you go girl!

Exactly! I could have booked us each separately that way but then I would have to book five flights all in a matter minutes the morning of 10/3 (One flight down for all of us plus the four separate return flights). I didn't want to deal with that craziness! Plus I didn't want to book the kids without an adult and deal with the unaccompanied minor mess.

 

[mousescrapper]

huh? it makes sense but crazy sense glad you made it work to your advatage! here's some pre pixiedust for low fares to be released

 

[DisMomAmy]

huh? it makes sense but crazy sense glad you made it work to your advatage! here's some pre pixiedust for low fares to be released

Thanks Julie!

 

[DisMomAmy]

So Tuesday when I went to the mailbox, I found these:

Fellow DISer, DisneyCrafter, made them for me!! She had a little trivia contest on her PTR recently & these were my prizes for participating! I love them & now have one less thing on my to do list! Thanks Rachael!!

While I had the camera out, I took pictures of the rest of the boys' "Helping Me" cards. (I'm sorry they are sideways - I rotated them in photobucket but they are still sideways???) They are the same cards we've used for a couple trips, I just added some modifications with a sharpie.

We've had a stroller on our past trips but I'm hoping to avoid it completely this time around... Intead of making a new card, I just added, "maybe".

Hope you are all having a happy September! We're already through the first week! 59 days until we leave!!!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Way to go with the flights! It made me dizzy just thinking about all you did. I don't know that I could figure all of that out.

 

[mousescrapper]

what a fun surprise in your mail box and the help cards are awesome Amy...great job! (boardmaker right?)

 

[MEK]

Bummer - picked a bad time to check your PTR. Will be back later to check out your cards and surprise mail.

for 59 days!!!!!!

 

[mindyd]

I love the card idea I would have never thought about it. It won't really work for my kids but might suggest them for my sisters.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Way to go with the flights! It made me dizzy just thinking about all you did. I don't know that I could figure all of that out.

It made me a little dizzy doing it!

what a fun surprise in your mail box and the help cards are awesome Amy...great job! (boardmaker right?)

Yup - Boardmaker. Our Boardmaker software is so old so I didn't want to bother trying to update the original cards. Fortunately the boys don't rely on pictures as much & just writing it out works OK.

Bummer - picked a bad time to check your PTR. Will be back later to check out your cards and surprise mail.

for 59 days!!!!!!

DISing at work again?

I love the card idea I would have never thought about it. It won't really work for my kids but might suggest them for my sisters.

Thanks mindyd! The cards have helped a lot in the past. Hopefully they will continue to do so!

 

[KathyRN137]

I absolutely love your social story/help cards!!

I should make some for Billy. For real!


Kathy

 

[DisMomAmy]

I absolutely love your social story/help cards!!

I should make some for Billy. For real!


Kathy

They've been pretty helpful... when we remember that we have them with us...

 

[Colleen27]

Those cards are great, I'll bet they are a big help!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Those cards are great, I'll bet they are a big help!

Thanks Colleen!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I just wanted to pop in & say I'm not abandonning this PTR... you may not see me around much over the next few weeks because we have a TON going on. The craziness has already begun as we are in the middle of our fall PTO fundraiser at school. I've also been running around getting ready for Zach's birthday party this Saturday, then we have our Back-to-School BBQ that I'm chairing on Sunday. Things won't slow down next week as we approach Zach's & my actual birthdays on the 23rd & 24th. The kids also have a ton of activities that weekend between soccer & birthday parties they have each been invited to (Alex's first sleepover! ). Then on October 1st we're having our first yard sale & after almost 12 years in the same house - we need it!! I've been digging through all sorts of stuff down in the basement in my free time.

To throw a monkey wrench into the works, my van started leaking again! But this is actually good news... my van has been leaking water into the side panels and cargo area for two years. Kia has attempted to fix it a billion and a half times. We filed a Lemon Law claim & Kia did a "final repair" last spring. They had my van for four days and basically gutted it, "repaired" 9 leaks & replaced all of the interior. Well last week as I backed down the hill in my driveway, water started pouring into the rear cargo area!! I was so excited I grabbed my camera & flip video! I took it over to Kia & they confirmed (in writing) that it still leaks! They don't get any more chances to fix it & we have an arbitration hearing on the 27th, when hopefully, if all goes as planned, we'll be awarded a refund. And since we've already been paying for the car for almost 3 years, the refund will be significantly more than we have left on the loan, giving us a nice chunk of change to sink into a new van. So on top of all the other craziness that's going on right now, I've been running around for the last two days trying to get all the paperwork copied & shipped to the NH DMV/Arbitration Board.

But I'll be around & have some bigger updates planned for October as we count down the last month until our trip!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Goodness! You are busy, busy, busy! I am glad you are finally going to be able to ditch the van and get a new one!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I feel like a Southwest Master!!

And you are! Wow!!! So glad it worked out nicely for you!

So Tuesday when I went to the mailbox, I found these:

Fellow DISer, DisneyCrafter, made them for me!! She had a little trivia contest on her PTR recently & these were my prizes for participating! I love them & now have one less thing on my to do list! Thanks Rachael!!

Those are ADORABLE! Love them!

Your cards are such a great idea. I hope you are able to skip getting a stroller this trip!

And since we've already been paying for the car for almost 3 years, the refund will be significantly more than we have left on the loan, giving us a nice chunk of change to sink into a new van. So on top of all the other craziness that's going on right now, I've been running around for the last two days trying to get all the paperwork copied & shipped to the NH DMV/Arbitration Board.

I take it you've been wanting a new car? That's great news! I hope it goes through easily and quickly. I cannot imagine all the paperwork that is required for that...yikes!