First Time Ever WDW Happily Ever After - a Newbie's Trip Planner

[Austriankrystl]

Hello All,

after writing around asking questions and getting to know some of you, I've decided to make an official "newbie" report of what I have worked out with your help.

Several of you have encouraged me to write a trip report, and at 90 days out (where has the time flown), it's time. This will also help me to organize my thoughts (not a spreadsheet woman here) and hopefully also get some tips, ideas and encouragement.

To get started, let me introduce us:

WHO: Me and my Schatz.

I am an American ex-pat for over 20 years who worked as a teacher and tour-guide in one of the most beautiful little cities in Europe until an amazing man came into my life.

1 1/2 years ago, he convinced me to start-over in Germany (resetting my visa to 0 years/0 benefits). The benefits were: a wonderful man, a "typically untypical" 13-year old young man, and an adorable Bavarian village.

I now work as a translator, technical writer and text editor.

my Schatz (German: treasure) is a typical German in every way (except that whole "lederhosen" and "polka" cliche).

He works in machine development and construction and in his "spare time" is a full-time on-duty volunteer fire-fighter.



Yep, I got me a hero here.

WHAT: We are headed on our first major vacation and honeymoon. We are not planning to celebrate the "big wedding" until after our vacation, but the timing was to good to pass up.

We are having an amazing trip starting with visiting friends for Thanksgiving, heading down to boarding a ship for our first-ever cruise and then spending a magical week at WDW for the first time.

WHERE: Flying into Atlanta, Georgia; driving down through Georgia into Northern Florida, Cape Canaveral, Western Caribbean, WDW!

WHY: Celebrating our Happily Ever After!

WHEN: 26 November -29 December, 2014

HOW: The holidays fall so optimally this year unlike any in the near future--so many National holidays and "bridge days" off that we had to jump at the chance to combine our paid vacation and the holidays and have our once-in-a-lifetime vacation. We come back "early" to celebrate New Year's (and the 2nd anniversary of our meeting) with family and spend a week "recovering" from our vacation before work.

It is our splurge before mortgages, etc. enter our lives and we cannot afford to do this!

To Be Continued...

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

YAY! I am so excited you decided to do this trip report. What an adorable photo of the two of you. Subscribing now!

 

[Austriankrystl]

YAY! someone to read my posts!

I'm so glad you've come over here! Thank you for the compliment. That was our first weekender. I was kidnapped (told to pack a bag for a weekend--no more info) and swept away to Krumlov, Tschechei--it was a magical weekend!

My prince hit the nail on the head and swept me forever off my feet that weekend!

I'll get more up here day by day... Do you have any report I can read?

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Yay!

 

[Austriankrystl]

In an attempt to be organized and in order to help out other newbies who might come along looking for the same information, I'm posting a Table of Contents and links here.

Hopefully, this will help everyone navigate where they want to go easily and quickly.

Introduction
The Basic Plan
Disney in Days
Adventures in MDE
The Other Side of Planning
Red-Letter Week?
Disney Guest Service Announcement
A Wrinkle in Time--Looking back on past planning
Meal Planning - Disney Style
Meal Planning - Disney Style! Take 2!
Let's Make Memories...

 

[Austriankrystl]

Back Story:Why the When and What
When we began planning our vacation in January 2014 (yep, that long ago), the idea was COMPLETELY different. We had found round trip tickets to my "home state" of Oregon for 590€/pp. As my Schatz has yet to gain official approval (heck, he doesn't need it, but tradition says....) or even meet my Dad and his wife or any of the rest of my family (my Mom and her husband visited us a year ago--another story for another day), the logical plan was to "go home" and..........

But then complications ensued, we lost the tickets (couldn't book in time) and by February realized that this wasn't going to happen--ticket prices too high and dates a mess. We cancelled our request for paid vacation and brainstormed other options. We decided we would need another year to put this part of our life story together.

Then my Schatz' department head decided to take his 3 month "parental leave" this summer and we couldn't go on vacation while he was away. That put us back until end of September. Then I couldn't go until mid-October. By then we knew visiting Oregon with family and holiday stress and winter, etc. was NOT a good mix.

I contacted a friend of mine who happened to be a TA and asked her for ideas. The condition: HOT to very warm weather in winter.

She came up with a Caribbean cruise and we could visit them in Atlanta on our way there. And what about WDW on the way back?

It took literally 3 weeks to get things nailed down. We applied for vacation from Thanksgiving day to Christmas Eve. It took 10 min. at work for people to realize what we had done: 5 weeks of paid vacation for the "cost" of 3.

Our requirement: a balance of nature and natural beauty + culture and history + action and adventure + rest and relaxation = fun!

The Basic Plan of Our Happily Ever After Vacation:

1) Arrival the day before Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Georgia.
Drive to friends for my first Thanksgiving in the USA in over 10 years.

Spend the long weekend with them a) getting over jetlag and b) spending quality time together. (r, c, n, a)

2) Drive the scenic route down to Northern Florida. (n, c)

*Open to ideas of where to go and what to see.*

3) Friday, 5 December, Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center. (c)

4) Board the Carnival Liberty for a 7 night/8 day cruise through the Western Caribbean: Cozumel, Costa Maya, Belize, Mahogany Bay. (?, c, n/a, r)

5) 13 December - 20 December, WDW! (a, r)

6) 20 - 29 December, Still to Be Decided

*Open to ideas of where to go and what to see.*

7) 30 December, flight from Atlanta - Munich and home for New Year's Eve!
1 week recouperation before work starts up on the 7 January (r)

To Be Continued...

 

[Austriankrystl]

When the first idea of WDW came up, I immediately went online and did some reading up.

Disney is a kids' thing, right? My Schatz has never been to a theme park. He sees them as large country fairs. Talking to him about the plans was not the easiest. Fortunately, there are 3 people at work who have all gone as adults and loved it and hearing them gush about it has really helped me feel "safe" taking my Schatz there.

He doesn't look really convinced. He just cannot imagine what Disney is. This is a huge leap. Either he will "get it" and absolutely love it or he will go through the motions with me because he loves me. However, he is a kid at heart and being where that is totally normal will be SUCH FUN for both of us.

Because my Schatz is NOT a planner, he is constantly overwhelmed by my actually LIKING this. I have had to learn not to share every step with him--he wants to just go... the arrangements he leaves to me. Now that I have DIS and a FB page, I can write there when I am confused or need advice. This helps greatly!

EMH - Extra Magic Hours

My TA had sent me the list of EMH (which I thought were "early magic hours") which I did not think I would need (we are late risers--and Disney will not change that. Imagine my surprise that there were night ones there, as well.

We (my TA and I) had talked about the pros and cons of EMH days and crowds, etc. We (my Schatz and I) decided we would follow only evening EMH except for Animal Kingdom and as they were not prognosing large crowds and we had decided against Park Hoppers.

You see, to plan your food, you have to plan your days first. 6 months in advance. Hoping things don't change. Knowing they most definitely will.

My planning style is not elegant. It does not involve spreadsheets or flow charts or complicated mathematical equations. It does not take into account the phases of the moon or the nocturnal calls of the wild. It does not have color-coded pages in a 3-ring (2-ring here in Germany, but I digress) binder. There is nothing wrong with those styles and I quite admire them, but I'm too lazy for it.

My style is: write down on one page the EMH of each park. See where they overlap. Plan the ones that are not going to change. It's like a logic puzzle from Harry Potter to me. Not too hard and fairly straight forward:

In our case Hollywood Studios only has one evening EMH the week we are there. That is our day for Hollywood Studios.

Animal Kingdom has 2 EMH (8am) and one collides with the Magic Kingdom and one "stands alone". We chose the "stand alone" as our Animal Kingdom day.

Epcot only has one late EMH and it does not collide with any other park, so there is our Epcot day. Is it a bad choice--quite probably, it's a Friday and the last day of school in Florida. Is it fine for us--yes.

That leaves Magic Kingdom. This one was, is, and will probably continue to be difficult. Originally planned for Monday, Disney threw a wrench in things by announcing the erasing of this late-evening EMH. With the Christmas party (MVMCP) on 3 nights that week, there was no good time for that park and I felt we could almost drop WDW together. But they brought back the EMH we wanted and it is back on schedule.

We have 7 1/2 days (or 8 depending on if we do anything on our checkout day). My plan was to organize 1 park day each. That leaves 3 days to "go with the flow".

Time to make my Disney Days Basic Plan: 15 minutes.

Our Disney in Days:

Sat, 13. December: Arrival, *open day*
Sun, 14. December: Hollywood Studios
Mon, 15. December: Magic Kingdom
Tues, 16. December: *open day*
Wed, 17, December: Animal Kingdom
Thurs, 18.December: *open day*
Fri, 19. December: Epcot
Sat, 20. December: Departure, *open day*

Reading, I thought some other ideas would be to take "unofficial" tours of a) the 7-seas hotels by boat, b) the monorail hotels, as well as c) the bay lake hotels and the Boardwalk, and d) spend time in Downtown Disney. But that is another post for another time....

To Be Continued...

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Time to make my Disney Days Basic Plan: 15 minutes.

Our Disney in Days:

Sat, 13. December: Arrival, *open day*
Sun, 14. December: Hollywood Studios
Mon, 15. December: Magic Kingdom
Tues, 16. December: *open day*
Wed, 17, December: Animal Kingdom
Thurs, 18.December: *open day*
Fri, 19. December: Epcot
Sat, 20. December: Departure, *open day*

Reading, I thought some other ideas would be to take "unofficial" tours of a) the 7-seas hotels by boat, b) the monorail hotels, as well as c) the bay lake hotels and the Boardwalk, and d) spend time in Downtown Disney. But that is another post for another time....

Did you know that you will be there almost the same time we were there last year? We went December 16th (Monday) - December 22nd (Sunday). We spent Friday evening, the last day of school for the locals, at Epcot and it really wasn't all that crowded. I actually remember thinking, I am surprised there aren't more people here. I think you will be good with Epcot on Friday

I also applaud you for keeping open days. What a wonderful way to make sure you don't over stress.

 

[Austriankrystl]

Did you know that you will be there almost the same time we were there last year? We went December 16th (Monday) - December 22nd (Sunday). We spent Friday evening, the last day of school for the locals, at Epcot and it really wasn't all that crowded. I actually remember thinking, I am surprised there aren't more people here. I think you will be good with Epcot on Friday

That is REALLY good to hear! I am was quite conflicted, actually. Especially after finding out the Candlelight Processional had "Speakers" that I didn't know (and whose voices--after I searched for them on YouTube--were not really "great" to me; it's a personal thing).
In my mind I had this "Perfect Day" ending our WDW Christmas with the Candlelight Processional and, I don't know--*dreams* James Earl Jones or someone similar doing the readings. *sigh*

But I love the idea of strolling the World Showcase at night. I hope that it is beautiful then, too. Why did Mother Nature decide that twilight should be so short?

Did you do a trip Report from that trip? I love that you are so encouraging. I'm always looking for more ideas, etc.

I also applaud you for keeping open days. What a wonderful way to make sure you don't over stress.

Thank you for the thumbs up on the plan. This is the first time I've written it down (yes, I'm sloppy). The open days I am hoping to fill with the extra activities and if we want, another day/evening at a park. We'll just add the days on-site for the $10ea. if we want them.

I was considering a day at Universal, but gorsh them tickets are crazy expensive for what we would be doing! We'll see what their Christmas offerings are.

 

[Austriankrystl]

Actually, to be honest, I totally get my Schatz when it comes to planning. I thought this was going to be easy--go online, like 5 things, pick a restaurant and you're done!

My first post was in the "adult section" (doesn't that sound naughty?) literally asking for you pros to "point me in the right direction". I was soooo lost! I was 170 days out and thought I was an early planner! Being new, I promptly lost the thread (it didn't remind me via email and I couldn't remember where I'd posted it.

When I found it 3 days later, there were a lot of posts--the most memorable for this: you're 180 days out--"get in there and MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS!" (freely quoted, emphasis mine).

A mild form of panic began setting in. I taught college writing 3 years and I remember the glazed looks of terror in my students eyes realizing they were going to write a 20 page scientific paper for the first time. Nothing ever fazed me throughout my education, but I am sure I had that glazed look when I read that.

Disney planning is worse than my college thesis! Now that's saying something!

MDE = My Disney Experience

I knew I needed to make reservations. But what the heck was MDE? and how do I do that? (To be fair, my TA was helping me but on her 1 week family vacation and I was not going to interrupt that!) Is MDE Disney? What does it do? Why? How do you sign up when you don't have your Disney hotel reservation number? Can you sign up without it?

Those knowledgable people kept talking about how they were making reservations--without
hotels, without a package, just making reservations "just in case"

So I figured things out. I went to Disney (duh) and there it was, all bright and shiny and superficially easy to use: My Disney Experience. YAY!

However, the prompts when I went to do it myself were confusing at best--it kept trying to force the link hotel issue. I was unaware that I could make reservations without the hotel listed.

I was lost and just kept hearing "make reservations" in my head. The first signs of insanity were setting in.

I read some more--ok a lot more.

I set up MDE, got it working, even got our magic bands ordered/reserved in 10 minutes. I felt so empowered! THIS was real!

My TA got back to me with the magic 12-digit reservation number... which I saved and then promptly lost agan--keep that number safe to your heart, is my only recommendation... safe to your heart! (or at least in that color-coded Disney binder your making.)

I rocked out linking my MDE to our hotel reservations. I was going now! I was awesome. This was a piece of cake! Problems? What problems?

Then I went to make our dining reservations and hit a wall full on high speed without any warning. My MDE went on strike and refused to confirm any reservations. NONE. NADA. NICHTS. NOT ONE. And all because it wouldn't accept my "cell phone number".

To make matters that much more unbearable--it was a reservation for a coveted Be Our Guest reservation! AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! (to quote Charlie Brown)

After working on it here for hours, I bit the bullet and CALLED Disney. This may not seem like a major thing, but I am in GERMANY! I am calling to make reservations 6 months in advance because the computer doesn't believe my phone number is real (after trying every possible option). No wonder my Schatz is frustrated with our planning.

To Be Continued...

* NOTE: To this day I have not been able to see the dining options or make a reservation over MDE. I contacted them again via their "guest services" email I was given by the Cast Member on the phone. Hopefully, Disney will respond. If not, we will do the "show up and hope for the best" method.

 

[Austriankrystl]

Now, I'll admit, I am not friends with MDE. I really like her/him/...it? Just MDE doesn't like me and I don't know why? I mean, I'm a nice enough person. I guess. I may not be the über-fan, but I grew up with Disney and seriously am looking forward to reexperiencing my childhood and bonding again.

Remember, I am bringing a "non-Disney" person to the Greatest Place on Earth and he's already turned off by the serious planning and the hijacking of the planning.

I think, had I been able to show up to him after a day with: "Here, Schatz, look at our reservations! Everything's taken care of! Take a look and see if you want to change something around" he wouldn't be as frustrated and would actually be looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, he has watched me trying to make things (Advanced Dining Reservations) on MDE work and it's getting to him.

He's actually got to the point of saying: "I wish I'd known how much additional planning would go into a "all inclusive" vacation--I would never have agreed."

I'm really very sad about that and seriously almost just cancelled the whole thing several times because of it.

On the other side of MDE planning is the reading, dreaming, thinking and filtering. Oh, we can... oh, we have to watch our budget... it's a rough life!

Finding the DIS has given me a place to find extra tid-bits of information and other ideas. I read trip reports. I started with the "Happily Ever After" forum but couldn't get past the wedding preps and landed everywhere else and finally on the "Disney for Adults page". Finally I basically threw caution to the wind and started reading the forums that interest me most.

I have posted quite a few questions with varying results. This thread is the result of one posted in the "Disney for Adults" thread that quickly veered off course.

 

[ValarDisneyus]

I'm reading, too! I'm also planning a first trip, but mine will not involve passports and visas. Congratulations on your honeymoon; I bet this will be a fun read. Where are you staying when you go?

 

[Pfau]

I'm enjoying this. Thank you! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Austriankrystl]

Yay!

Hi Ms. Princess! Sorry I missed you the first (and second, and third--oh!!!! I'm REALLY bad!) time! Glad to have you here--and WOW! OK, you really know the restaurants here--hope you will critique my plans/ideas. That would be REALLY nice of you!

I'm reading, too! I'm also planning a first trip, but mine will not involve passports and visas. Congratulations on your honeymoon; I bet this will be a fun read. Where are you staying when you go?

Hi Valar! I hope your experiences with MDE have been much more "user-friendly" than mine have been. Seriously--can MDE mob someone? I feel like the kid who didn't get picked for games on the playground!

But that is changing! "I feel a breeze coming...."

Fortunately, we both have passports, etc. and no visas for European Community countries--we're all good there! We are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort (I promise to write a post on that!). Where are you staying?

Oh, and as for fun read... ahem... I was the mousy, serious kid in the back of the classroom. I ain't gotta bone of funny in my body. Now my brother: that's a different story--he was the class clown. But I will do my best not to disappoint. Pinky promise!

I'm enjoying this. Thank you! Looking forward to reading more!

Glad you're enjoying my torturous adventure, Peacock! No, I get you! You're welcome (I think?).

Love your German nickname. It was mine in college (again, another story for another day... hmmm I seem to say that a lot. Where was I again?). May I inquire how you came about yours? "You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

I'd write more immediately and post haste, but my Schatz is tigering around the apartment. It's Friday early evening and I am on the "black box of evil" getting swept away into a world of writing.
Otherwise known as: when are we going to start cooking (our tradition--we cook together every evening) and as he just filled the dishwasher and organized things, I think it's time for some "real life winddown".

I promise to write again very, very soon!

 

[sullymom]

Following!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

There's a learning curve, but you'll get the hang of it and it'll be a breeze! Keep at it!

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Did you do a trip Report from that trip? I love that you are so encouraging. I'm always looking for more ideas, etc.

I did not do a trip report Initially I planned to but I lost my job on December 3rd (less than two weeks before our trip). My boss decided he was going to retire and let the highest paying employee (me) go first and keep the assistant around until papers were finalized. My number one priority became finding a job and I actually had a hard time trying to convince myself I still deserved to take a vacation. I even took two phone interviews while in Disney World and I regret it looking back. Of course I probably regret it since they didn't result in job offers. For the record, the Grand Floridian has a lovely office space you can borrow over in the business center for such events. I timed it during our Christmas resort tour so that the other family members weren't too put out. I think they normally charge for this but I asked the CM working if they had a quiet space I could use for a phone interview and he unlocked a room just for me

In case you are wondering, it took about 5 months but I finally was presented with an opportunity to start my own business so I now am self employed and run my own insurance agency. I full intend for the next Disney trip (hopefully September 2015) to include both pre and post trip reports!

Now, I'll admit, I am not friends with MDE. I really like her/him/...it? Just MDE doesn't like me and I don't know why? I mean, I'm a nice enough person. I guess. I may not be the über-fan, but I grew up with Disney and seriously am looking forward to reexperiencing my childhood and bonding again.

Remember, I am bringing a "non-Disney" person to the Greatest Place on Earth and he's already turned off by the serious planning and the hijacking of the planning.

I think, had I been able to show up to him after a day with: "Here, Schatz, look at our reservations! Everything's taken care of! Take a look and see if you want to change something around" he wouldn't be as frustrated and would actually be looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, he has watched me trying to make things (Advanced Dining Reservations) on MDE work and it's getting to him.

He's actually got to the point of saying: "I wish I'd known how much additional planning would go into a "all inclusive" vacation--I would never have agreed."

I'm really very sad about that and seriously almost just cancelled the whole thing several times because of it.

Join the club. MDE really isn't all that reliable and user friendly. It sounds like he/she/it has a personal problem with you and your phone number too. Maybe Stitch is running the MDE show. It would explain a lot.

I am glad you have stayed on board with your WDW vacation despite your troubles. All the planning is worth it in the end, I promise. It's the Disney Magic that makes it all worth while, nothing else like it.

 

[Austriankrystl]

Following!

Hi, Sullymom! Hope you have more to read soon!

... I now am self employed and run my own insurance agency. I full intend for the next Disney trip (hopefully September 2015) to include both pre and post trip reports!

YAY! So glad that things worked out for you! And look forward to trip reports in the future!

Join the club. MDE really isn't all that reliable and user friendly. It sounds like he/she/it has a personal problem with you and your phone number too. Maybe Stitch is running the MDE show. It would explain a lot.

I am glad you have stayed on board with your WDW vacation despite your troubles. All the planning is worth it in the end, I promise. It's the Disney Magic that makes it all worth while, nothing else like it.

Thank you, Princess, for the encouragement.

Pirate, I truly do believe that Stitch is running things--at least that was the message I got several times. However, these errors were from REAL villians. No messages, just red marks.

I did send an email with the pics and in thee phone call they told me that it should actually require any combination of numbers. My experience was: my German cell didn't work, nor that of my Schatz, nor my Austrian cell, our landline (yes, we still have the dinosaur so that my family can call me cheap if they want), my TA's cell (Atlanta, GA--told you I got a great one), my mom's and dad's cells.... sigh. I truly believe it just wanted to play difficult!

The positive effect was a very nice phone call with a couple very nice cast people (persons?) who did their best to make things work out. Oh, and a wait of.... get this!... a whole 1.5 minutes, yes, no time at all! After what I had read, I was expecting the worst!

My first letter was answered in 2 days. Very nice service. My faith was restored!

 

[Austriankrystl]

Well, let's see. Before I can move on to catching up with this week's Disney adventure or take another travel back in time to get us all caught up, I just wanted to go for a minute.

My Schatz and I are 2 steps closer to closing on our first house! YAY! We are so excited! (And I am still a bit in shell-shock. So much to take in! Seriously, you need a double degree in bank management and housing and development to keep things straight. In case closing on a house wasn't complicated enough, this is a new country for me with new vocabulary for the same thing and different things for the same vocabulary. And this vocabulary flood is difficult at the best of times!)

Here's hoping this all works out for us! Keep us in your thoughts, send us pixie dust, fairy dust, or whatever dust you can (except the generic kind--I hate dusting), cross your fingers, toes, and/or hot-cross buns (whatever rocks your boat). God willing, we will have this settled by our trip!!!! Another reason to celebrate!

This week was a red letter week!
No, I did not win the lottery I always forget and am too stingy to play. Instead, I thinkMDE has decided to be friends with me! YAY! It wasn't difficult at all. As I wrote in the Christmas 2014 facebook site (those who haven't found out that their facebook page should check it out--it only took me 3 months to discover one existed for us!):

1st time up in weeks! FINALLY!!! Thanks for all the help, everyone! reerased all cookies, etc. reset explorer, firefox, and chrome, updated java, did an intensive spiritual cleansing of all things surrounding said computer, rebooted the wlan, held an incense ceremony for said wlan, changed my clothes, my hairstyle, my socks twice and underwear 3 times, made my SO change his clothes too (he believes twice yearly should suffice), took an herbal purifying bath and vital renewal shower and changed again, chanted for 2 hours, walked over hot coals (had to heat up our wood-burning stove for that one) and danced the macarena....
and finally the Disney Gods loved me...
Holding my breath and allowing no sudden movements in our home!​

This was in response to one of the longest threads that yours truly has ever written in her history of facebook (ab)use. It seems that I am not the only one having problems. I know it is odd, but this knowledge made me feel 10,000% better! I didn't get a lot of "well things are fine for me and you are suffering some sort of psychotic break or haven't done your research and prepared enough for life with WDW."
Until then, a large part of me had come to believe that MDE was some sort of "block course with final exam" to weed out the worthy from the wannabes. Instead person after person responded with their own issues or attempt at "repair" that had eventually worked for them in the past.

So, for anyone who may stumble on this thread while having problems with MDE and feeling inadequate: it's not you! There is help! Just follow the steps above (or ask someone for a less complicated series of first tries before using my proven solution).

OH! and Disney customer services finally responded to my 3rd email (once a week). A bit late, but it is summer vacation time. At least they told me that they had been waiting for a response from tech. services, to try changing browsers, as that worked for some (but not all) and that my screenshot had been the source of some deep philosophical or technical meditations. Also, they did state that the system was full of quirks and known bugs, I had found another one, I guess, and that although they apologize, there is nothing for me to do except call when I want to make reservations.
It's not much, but it is something.

So for the past 2 days I have finally been able to access my account and see what I haven't been able to get organized doing and ADRs I cannot get anymore.

The silver-lining I see is that on my phone call I was told that at the 45 day mark a lot becomes open as people decide to move dates around for the last and final time before incurring penalties. I hope that's true!

To Be Continued...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

joining in! I can't even imagine trying to do all this planning and take everything in for the first time when you are in another country, totally different time zone, etc.

I've really enjoyed your report so far - as someone of Germanic roots (I actually did have lederhozen as a kid) I enjoy seeing the use of German in your report as well

best of luck and super glad MDE decided to start behaving. It is a really clunky site even when it is working and is super frustrating when it isn't.

Congrats on closing on the house as well!