Five Years is a long time to wait Day 8 & 9 Plans!

[KatMark]

My goodness...you did have a busy week.

I'm not sure how much snow we got yesterday. Luckily, by the time we got home, Andy and our neighbor had cleared our driveway for us.

for getting all of your ADR's. You did a great job and I like a lot of your spots. In fact, they are making me drool right now.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

First off, congrats on both Art of Animation and Yacht Club.

Haven't had time to fully digest your ADR quest, but I'll try to get back and take an in-depth gander later on.

 

[PrncessA]

My goodness...you did have a busy week.

I'm not sure how much snow we got yesterday. Luckily, by the time we got home, Andy and our neighbor had cleared our driveway for us.

for getting all of your ADR's. You did a great job and I like a lot of your spots. In fact, they are making me drool right now.

Sometimes I feel like life will never slow down! I keep saying this weekend I will relax . Then of course the weekend comes and it is packed from morning to night, because it is my only "free" time to get things done. We are heading into the city this Sunday to visit the MSI and check out the Walt Disney exhibit since February is "kid's free" month.

I am so excited to try some of the new restaurants for us, looks like our vacation will be eating with some walking and attractions on the sides... Your next trip is coming up quickly! I am so jealous of you escaping this weather! When I woke up this morning and saw new white stuff on the ground I wanted to scream! I don't care if it is a dusting, I want nothing to do with it anymore! I know you know what I mean!

First off, congrats on both Art of Animation and Yacht Club.

Haven't had time to fully digest your ADR quest, but I'll try to get back and take an in-depth gander later on.

I just read your update! Not staying on site... shocking... LOL. But honestly it makes 10,000x's more sense financially, especially since your girls are older and the dining plan isn't any savings. Sometimes it crosses my mind that if we dropped the dining plan and stayed off site we might be able to come back sooner or more often... maybe after this trip.

 

[PrncessA]

Seriously!

After finishing my homework last night (which was surprising) I thought about how busy I have been lately and felt like passing out! I need a vacation! The kids ask yesterday where we were going for spring break... I am just hoping that I can take a day off and take a good nap!

We do have two small trips planned for the weekends that sandwich spring break. A small weekend trip to WI to take DD and I to an outlet mall we rarely get to and DS and DH to a Miami Heat game for his birthday. He ask last night if he could go see the Bulls vs. Heat game on March 9 for his birthday, but we can't afford those tickets and still go to Disney. We bought the tickets for Bucks vs. Heat a while ago... and he has no idea.Then the next weekend we will take a long weekend driving trip to Tennessee to visit my family. Somewhere in between I need a nap! A long one!

This past weekend we took the kids into the city to visit the Museum of Science and Industry... sure it was for the kid's and not me... I only spent close to two hours in the Walt Disney Archive exhibit... It was a lot of fun, very packed but fun. It was "Free Kids February" but after extras and parking it was the same cost just to pay for a membership, so that is what we did, so that we can fill up more time on the weekends. Because we have so much of it available.

The Walt Disney Archive exhibit was FANTASTIC. DS loved all of the history and had a great time at the Animators Studio. I was so happy that they were teaching Donald Duck as the next character when we walked in. I took a million photos (all no-flash) but I have been so busy the camera hasn't come out of the bag to download them since we have been home. Soon... I also was lucky and scored a matching platter to my dishes set, a matching coffee cup and a new coffee mug. Did I mention it was the day before DH's birthday.... and I was getting all the gifts. LOL Those I photos of with my phone.








DD had her tooth extracted on Monday, didn't even cry, not at the shot or the extraction. She is tough as nails! I cry every time I get a Novocaine shot, I am a baby! Then DH and I celebrated his birthday with meat... lots of it... with an adults only dinner at Texas de Brazil. YUMM! I am not a big meat eater so I only ate off the bar, but YUMM, it was all delish. DH enjoyed the never ending parade of meats that come around. Also their drink special was to die for! I am hungry right now thinking about all of it...

So what does all of this have to do with the price of tea in China... or my Disney Plans... not anything really...

I did make some changes and advancements on our Disney planning this week as well though.

First, I began buying Disney gift cards with my Target gift card to get the 5/10% off, which raised ???? from the kiddos... so that is now an operation on the DL! Between BBB, Pirate Cruise, souvenirs, and tips we need to stock up on Disney Gift cards. I plan on this trip being complete pre-paid before we arrive, this includes our OOP meal at TRex (with a Landry's gc)!

Second, we are giving up our BOG ADR. I know! They are so hard to get, we have one, and we are letting it GO! Why? Because we really want to do the Wishes Dessert Party and it conflicts. Hopefully they will still be doing the BOG FP lunch when we go, but if not we will be standing in line. Not a big deal.

Third, I booked the Dessert Party! So excited about this! I love me some dessert and on our last trip Wishes was a let down with the crowds, so this is exciting for us!

Fourth, I think I missed the cheapest prices for our airline tickets... I was waiting until March 3, for Southwest fares to come out and now I am worried that if we don't like SW fares or don't want to fly out of Midway that we have passed up the good prices for other airlines. They seem to be going up, up, up...

Here's hoping they go down, down, down...

 

[PrncessA]

So our goal from the first was to keep this trip a secret from the kids... seemed like the fun thing to do but somehow it started to seem more fun for us to tell the kids, so they could share in the planning, anticipation and excitement! So this weekend we were having breakfast out and told the kiddos we had a surprise for them and ask them if they had any idea what it could be. DS couldn't think of a thing... DD said "I wish it was thae we are going to Disney World". So we said "WE ARE". She was so excited! DS didn't believe us, took a good few minutes of details to convince him that we were telling him the truth.

They were shocked that we are staying for 9 nights, to be honest so am I, and DS looked up his calendar on his tablet immediataly to see how far away it was. I think we made the right decision telling them instead of trying to surprise them. DD and I had a blast on Sunday picking out fabric for new princess dresses, something that I would have done by myself if we didn't tell her. Now she gets to help design and pick out fabric for her dresses!

Now that we told the kids it was time to make the trip official, and that means buying the one non-refundable item, airfare! Rates opened today. We had been looking at $350 a ticket plus baggage fees for non-Southwest fares.On top of that I didn't care for the cheaper return flight times. I hate, hate, hate baggage fees! They are such a large expense and if you don't check the bags then you are usually using every available carry-on you can, which is stressful for a family with children. So the fact that Southwest doesn't charge is very appealing!

DH is weary of the fact that Southwest does not assign seats, weary to the point of not wanting to fly with them. But money talks and the cost of fares and baggage fees will determine our course.

So after making my coffee and letting the dog out this morning I set down to check the newly released Southwest fares... drum roll please... $278r/t! Umm yes, I think we will take that! Bonus is that our departing flight will be operated by airTran, meaning we can pay for assigned seats, plus since we book through Southwest, we don't pay baggage fees. The cheaper return flight is a bit earlier than I wanted and operated by Southwest but that is okay since it might help us avoid crazy lines at security. Even with the added cost of assigned seats on the departing flight and early check-in for the return flight, we are still getting a deal on the fares at $308, plus we can check all of our luggage for free saving us at least $100 more, plus headache.

Because of our earlier return flight I am calling Disney today to cancel our ADR for the last day and take a day off of our tickets since we will not visit a park on the last day. It makes me sad to leave early on the last day, but since both DH and I are going back to work the next day and the kiddos are most likely starting school that day, we need some time to get home and settle and rest.

So it is official now! We leave on Friday, Aug. 15 at 6:10pm for our Dream Vaction!! Wooohooo!

 

[PrncessA]

"The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray..." Does that make me sound like I read Of Mice and Men? Or just that I was a huge Lost fan?

Either way as I look back at the last sentence of my last post:

So it is official now! We leave on Friday, Aug. 15 at 6:10pm for our Dream Vaction!! Wooohooo!

I almost laugh out loud. The words "It's official" "Set in stone" "Definetly" "For sure" "Not going to change" should never be uttered by someone in my family. Things they are always a changin'. What a whirlwind week indeed...

Let us start way back at the beginning of the week... Monday. Monday I woke up and bought our "official" airfare for August 15 from SWA. Now buying from SWA is both a good thing and a bad thing in this tale. The wonderful thing about SWA is that there are no change fees... that is also that bad thing. On a normal airline, our trip would be non-refundable, non-changable, and set in stone. Not with SWA! I went to bed Monday night with the calm knowledge that our flight was booked, our trip was paid for and our ADR's were perfect...

Tuesday was our Pinewood derby at church, my best friend was talking to me about how she LOVES SWA because of the no change fees. I didn't thing anything about it... honestly I didn't. I went to bed Tuesday night (after setting the DVR to record some Disney travel shows) with the calm knowledge that everything for our trip was PERFECT!! Only 160 days to go.

Then Wednesday morning happened... DD and I watched some of the Disney travel shows before school. Even DS watched for a while. They were so excited talking about rides they were going to go on, but it was so long away. When I got to work for some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe we should move our trip... not to Christmas as we thought before, but sooner. I know that we cannot do summer, it is just too hot, too crowded, too expensive. Thought about spring break, but that is just too soon, plus we have tickets to a Miami Heat game during that week. So when then? I looked at the calender then I went on the Disney site...

When I booked our trip I was only concerned with the fact that our PIN was only good for 8/17 and after, I honestly didn't even concider the spring deal. But now I looked at it and saw the dates took in to the middle of June. The kids get out of school on June 3, and missing the last couple of days isn't a big deal. I finish in the middle of May... Let's just run the numbers and see what comes up.
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It was less! I double and triple check the numbers... it just didn't seem possible. So I called my husband and he thought I was nuts, but agreed to check the calendar at work for vacation availability. I ran the numbers for the flight change and the increase in the LM room and it still came out under our Aug. trip. DH still hadn't called me back, so I called him of cours. He said that the vacation time was available... but could we talk about it when he got home. Fine... So I close the Disney site and TRY to do my work... The minutes tick by... I get nagging feeling... I open the site back up and put in the vacation again... AND IT'S $500 more than our trip in Aug!

I don't know what I did, but unless there was a fluke with they system and/or they changed the prices, chances are I made a mistake. The most likely reason is that I made a mistake. I know that read and reread the components, but somewhere I missread.

I was heartboken, crushed, and then DH called on his way home and wanted to talk about it. He thought it was fine either way... until he found out about the price increase. Then he found out about the price increase, and August was just fine. He wasn't against the price increase, but it didn't thrill him either.

I had a TON of studying to do that night, since I had a major test on Thursday night. All I wanted to do was run the numbers more and look at more options... I did a bit... but mostly studied... kinda.

Wednesday I went to bed and had a restless night of wondering...

Thursday, all things were against me... first the internet was down at work all morning, then I had to finish studying, then I had a 3.5 hour test, then I felt like passing out after the test. I tried to stay awake long enough to run a few numbers but I was TIRED.

The numbers that I did manage to run on Wednesday and Thursday were crazy!

I thought about AP's, doing two trips (no that won't cost LESS money).

I thought about only doing an AP for me (to get the bigger discount and dining plan) and buying discounted tickets through orbitz... Then upgrading them to 8 day park hoppers at the gate.

I ran the numbers so many ways that they all started to run together. The plain fact was. If we were going in June, then it would be for more money. What was it worth to us? well me?

This morning I woke up, made my coffee and settled down to watch the SAME Disney travel shows for the third day in a row with my kids, without the stress of a test looming over me (which I Aced by the way). I booted up my laptop, went to the Disney site, ran the numbers and nothing had changed...

While we were watching the ToT part, DD looks at me and says as serious as can be... That is going to be the VERY first ride I ride when I get to Disney World. That kid ain't afraid of anything!

Then we were watching the Disney Resorts special, (we have a lot of time in the mornings, because DS has to get up early to take his medicine and DD likes to get up too) and they were showing all of the different amazing Disney swimming pools, and DS looks over and says "I hate pools! I don't like to swim anymore." This from the child who we almost put on the swim team and in a family that vacations at least once if not more a year at the Wilderness Lodge Waterpark in WI. We are water ppl! In that moment I could see all of my dreams of SAB and relaxing time by the pool, drifting away down the lazy river.

The top two reasons we chose, other than wanting to try a new resort, are 1) The close proximity to Epcot and 2) Stormalong Bay. With DS not wanting to swim, SAB isn't a selling point anymore. Our touring plan had been planned around being close to Epcot... but is it the end of the world if we move resorts. But where... back to the Wilderness Lodge of course... ran the numbers and sure enough we are in budget.

So on my drive to work I call DH and explain our options.
We can go in August... keep everything the same.
We can go in June... stay at YC, pay about $500 more.
We can go in June... stay at WL, pay the same as the Aug. trip.

What do you want to do...
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He says what ever you want to do. If I knew what I wanted to do, I wouldn't have called you! What is your preference!! His preference is that we stay at the YC, he is now excited to try a new resort, a month ago he was all sad about not staying at the WL. GREAT! Now do we go in June or August...
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He wants to go in June! Even with the price increase. So of course as soon as I got to work I started running the numbers again. There had to be something I missed. Some way to save more money. Some way to cut the cost down. Something that I haven't thought of yet, but what could it be.

Well first we could eliminate flying in at night since we aren't do a park the next day, and fly in on a early flight. That saves a little less than $200... We're on the right track here... I don't wan to eliminate a day at the end, because now we want to fly home late, and have a nearly full park day. The dining plan, the dining plan is killing us! So I use the dining plan calculator and since we are doing a lot of character meals, the dining plan is actually saving us a lot of money.

So I thought outside the box...
Looked at my ADR spreadsheet...
Saw that the last day I don't have any big meals planned, just snacks and QS, better to spend every last second exploring the park. What if I made our split stay for 3 reservations... 1-2 nights (still unsure) room only at a lower priced hotel (that's right it might not be AoA), 6 nights at YC w/ 8 day park hoppers and DxDDP, 1 night YC room only using the last day of our ticket, but no dining plan, just OOP.

Will this work... TBD.... haven't booked it yet....

About to call... what will happen...

 

[KatMark]

Can I just say that I am totally, utterly ?

Seriously, my head is spinning. I don't know how you are keeping it all straight.

I'll be anxious to hear what you decided on, though.

 

[PrncessA]

I have been so consumed with planning the trip that I actually forgot to update my trip plans here and left with a cliff hanger! Not many posters, but the views increase... so here is what went down.

Friday I waited until DH got home from work, which takes forever on Fridays due to traffic. We discretely discussed our options. He was fine with dropping the dining plan as long as we are able to keep most of the ADRs. Which brings us to the second condition, are we going to be able to score all of our ADRs? Well earlier in the week I had did a few test runs with ADR's and if I found one that I liked, I booked it... just in case. I had searched for CRT and there were plenty available, but I didn't book that, because I didn't want to pay for it. Other than the Dessert Party, I was confident that I could find everything we wanted. Oh and did I mention that I had miss-calculated the # of ADRs we had for our August trip, I had put 24 meals instead of 21. I thought it seemed like too much food, even for the DxDDP! Last consideration was do we drop the first day, which we did.

So all of the questions out of the way, DH said, "Make the call!" So we called Disney and started our process. First order of business, change the 2 nights at AoA to... POR! POR was much cheaper than AoA LM room, and since we are going to spend that day at DTD, POR just made more sense. Wow that was a lot of acronyms! It was still more than one night at AoA, so I paid the difference.

Then we changed our package from 7 nights YC, DxDDP to 6 nights YC, DxDDP and 1 night room only YC. Our CM was having a hard time processing the CC, it kept timing out, so she had to get help. Which gave me time to check our flight costs... Well the cost of flying out on Saturday morning was considerably more than flying out on Friday afternoon. In fact it was actually cheaper to fly in on Friday evening and spend two nights at POR. So when our CM got back, we made that change...

So our plans now looked like this:

Fly out of Chicago, evening flight, May 30.
Spend 2 nights POR
Switch to YC, 6 nights, 8-day PH tickets, DxDDP
One night YC, room only
Fly out Orlando, June 8, late flight

I almost didn't get everything done in time to make it to dinner with a friend. Good thing it was at the Indian restaurant down the street from me! But that meant that I did have to put off changing our flight information through SW, risking a fare increase.

When I got home from dinner, which was delish (I wish ppl in my family liked Indian food), I got online to look at SWA fares. Nothing had changed. I started to change them online but since it was switching the outbound flight to SWA and the Return flight to airTran, I called. Ever see Abbott and Costello "Who's on first?" I felt like I was in it!

So after waiting on hold FOREVER... I was connected to Nancy. I explained that I was a first time Southwest flyer and needed to change my flights. I would have done it online, but since the carriers for each flight were changing I wanted to call to make sure the Early Bird Check-In (now referred to as EBCI) transferred from my Return flight to my outbound flight. About 3/4 of the way through that Nancy interrupted me... "I need the reservation number."

Okay, I get it, you do this all day long, you don't need a big explanation.

We get the dates and the flights fixed, pretty quickly I might add. She mentioned that I had EBCI on my return flight. Where I ask, before the change of flights was completed, if the EBCI fees will transfer to the outbound flight since the Return flight was now operated by airTran. She seemed annoyed and said yes... Okay then.

Fights changed... all good. The cost of the seat assignment from our original outbound flight on airTran will be refunded, and we will need to pay for seats again. Which I knew because I read the faqs!

Moving on... the cost for the EBCI will be $$$$ how would you like to pay for that?

Hold up? What? I thought it transferred.

It does she says, you need to pay for the outbound flight.

But I already paid for it, I say. Why do I have to pay again if it transfers?

Because this is for the outbound flight.

Yes, but I already paid for the fees for the return flight originally.

That is when I realize that she really isn't getting it. I break it down for her. On our original flight we were flying out on airTran, which we are now flying back on, and we were originally flying back on SWA but not that is airTran. So what I want to know is will my EBCI from my original return flight transfer to my new outbound flight, because my new return flight is no longer operated by SWA.

Silence.... Then it was almost like I could hear the light bulb going on in her head. She said she had to check on that, and would be right back.

The rest of the call went smoothly, it did transfer and all was good. So finally everything was set!

I had to go to bed, since I was getting a wisdom tooth pulled the next morning, so the rest of the ADRs had to wait. I attempted to do them on Saturday afternoon, but for some reason I couldn't concentrate, could have been the nice pain killer they gave me.

I pulled it together by Sunday night and studied my plan, reworked the days. Made ADRs, changed ADRs, moved things around. But still no Dessert Party.

After MANY changes this week and calling the dining line back several times to check and change BBB and Pirate Cruise appts., all the while keeping it from the kids that we changed the dates, this is what we have:

Day 1
TREX
Day 2 MK
Bayou Pirate Cruise for both kids (while DH and I head to YC to check in)
BOG for lunch (hopefully)
Narcossees

Day 2 Epcot/DHS
Akershus 8:00am (Although now it doesn't seem as important now that Anna and Elsa are moving to the MK)
Mama Melrose Fantasmic

Day 3 MK/Epcot
Crystal Palace 8:00am (had to work for this one)
Yachtsman


Day 4 DHS/MK
Hollywood & Vine
BBB appts
CRT

Day 5 MK/Epcot
Chef Mickey’s
Berigarten
San Angel Inn

Day 6 AK/Epcot
Tusker House
Via Napoli

Day 7 Epcot/MK
Beaches and Cream
Ohana (want earlier)

Day 8 Leaving unplanned, let the kids decided what park they want to go to.

Now for the surprise... After all the number crunching, I was able to move our trip from August to June (with a smaller discount) for only $75 more! Which I was proud of!

Then I got to thinking... since we have to pay for breakfast on our last day anyway, and since we really wanted to try CL, why not try it out for one night? That got us breakfast for two days, freeing up a dining credit for Yachtsman (which I hadn't booked yet), and if we were going to have to change rooms (at least in my rational) may as well get some top notch service, breakfast and some...

WOW, what just happened at this exact moment surprises me! DD climbed on the couch next to me, and put the remote on my lap, which started sliding. I reacted trying to catch it before it clattered to the floor, in the process knocking my computer off of my lap sending it crashing across the floor, which DH tried unsuccessfully to save. When I picked it up, the screen was a white cloud of static. So we had to turn it off and back on and pray it survived. All I could thing of is the post that had just vanished, . So turn it back on and restore the Chrome screen and beyond all reasoning it is here! Do you believe it? I am in shock! Now on with our regular scheduled PTR!

booze. Seriously that was my last word of the paragraph.

So I booked CL for the last night, and we are all set. The only thing that really changed between the trip were the fact that I could not book a Dessert Party, the BBB was COMPLETELY booked in the morning the entire trip, so we are doing it in the afternoon, and the kids are taking the pirate adventure out of POR instead of the YC, which was available but I thought the Bayou cruise sounded fun. The cost is now about $200 more than our original trip, but I am okay with that.

So now I only have 3 months to get everything ready instead of 6, but I am up to the challenge. I don't know how I will get everything done, but where there is a will there is a way. There is also a grace... Sorry someone once said that joke to me and it cracks me up every time. Seriously!

I will leave you with a couple of photos of my current "project". My semi-homemade Elsa dress that needs to be dyed and sewed correctly. This is all pinned together. Let me tell you, it has been freeing not to search all the online stores for Elsa dresses anymore!

 

[KatMark]

Okay, I'm still exhausted and you amaze me. Great job.

Now for the all important question as I seemed to have missed it: what are your dates?

 

[PrncessA]

Can I just say that I am totally, utterly ?

Seriously, my head is spinning. I don't know how you are keeping it all straight.

I believe that is just how my husband feels. I think after a while he just gave up and said "whatever, just tell me when we leave"

Okay, I'm still exhausted and you amaze me. Great job.

Now for the all important question as I seemed to have missed it: what are your dates?

I think I kind of hid them. We are now going May 30-June 8, and it won't be changing, because I think I would go crazy if I had to change everything again! LOL

I am glad I got all the ADRs planned and everything ready before this weekend. I have mid-terms next week. When I registered to go back to school I didn't think about adding Disney Planning Time into my schedule. I have exactly 2 weeks off of school before the trip and I start my summer schedule the day after we return!

 

[KatMark]

I believe that is just how my husband feels. I think after a while he just gave up and said "whatever, just tell me when we leave"

I can certainly understand that.


I think I kind of hid them. We are now going May 30-June 8, and it won't be changing, because I think I would go crazy if I had to change everything again! LOL

I am glad I got all the ADRs planned and everything ready before this weekend. I have mid-terms next week. When I registered to go back to school I didn't think about adding Disney Planning Time into my schedule. I have exactly 2 weeks off of school before the trip and I start my summer schedule the day after we return!

I will be there May 29 - June 6; we will have to try to set up a hello (this will be my girls trip).

 

[2kids2luv]

I am completely dizzy from all the changes. I don't know how you did all your number crunching, but I amazed at everything you accomplished. Glad everything worked out with the ADRs. The dress looks bearutiful.

 

[PrncessA]

I will be there May 29 - June 6; we will have to try to set up a hello (this will be my girls trip).

Sounds great. I would plan it now, but knowing me about a million things could change before the trip. I am normally a very decisive person, and don't change plans around all that often. This trip is making me a bit nutty... (That smilie says bitelip, but I think it represents how I look when I am planning this trip, a little crazy, lol.)

Right now I am just hoping that we are done with snow around here... yeah right. And I can focus on a few other things, like the surprise birthday party I am planning for my grandmother in TN, ever try to plan a surprise party from out of state? Not as easy as I thought it would be.

I followed your trip through facebook, I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip. The bacon cupcake looked delish! A little break from the winter that never ends around here! LOL

I am completely dizzy from all the changes. I don't know how you did all your number crunching, but I amazed at everything you accomplished. Glad everything worked out with the ADRs. The dress looks bearutiful.

I hope all the dizzying changes are over! I annoy myself a bit, seeing as my goal was to save money, and I spent more. But as much as I want to be, we are not a Disney every year family, so we go all out on our vacations. I would happily scale it back if DH said we could go every year! But he prefers a large fancy vacation every couple of years...

Last night I relaxed while cutting pattern and fabric for a new dress for DD. It was nice to just relax and lose myself in a craft project. I tend to lose track of thoughts and time when I am crafting or sewing and just relax.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Wow, wow and double wow.

I'm amazed you managed to pull all that off! Most excellent DIS planning skills!



Sounds like your trip is going to be mighty cool. Love all of your resort choices and the split stay makes a ton of sense to me. Time to fire up some touring plans and get them FP+ ressies sorted out.

 

[PrncessA]

Wow, wow and double wow.

I'm amazed you managed to pull all that off! Most excellent DIS planning skills!



Sounds like your trip is going to be mighty cool. Love all of your resort choices and the split stay makes a ton of sense to me. Time to fire up some touring plans and get them FP+ ressies sorted out.

Would you believe that I was considering moving our last night at club level to the Poly this morning? It is only $50 more and we could check out a monorail resort. Needless to say I only considered it, telling my DH that we are switching between 3 different resorts might push him over the edge.

Your right... our FP+ time is coming up soon, I am actually hoping that when other ppl start choosing their FP+ options, it will cause some earlier openings at Ohana, we have a 9:20pm ADR, and I would love to get an early on, and watch the fireworks and water parade from the Poly beach.

 

[PrncessA]

Just a small update... because I am about half a page away from finally finishing my midterm essay on the Puritans and I am stuck. All I need is a solid conclusion, my problem is, I am at a complete block mentally. The answer to that of course is to take a Disney break...

This morning I had mentioned that I had toyed with the idea of changing resorts on the last night of the stay and staying at the Poly. It wasn't that much more expensive, but I had already went over budget with the CL at the YC, so I wasn't willing to push it more. In fact I was not really happy with the fact that I went over budget in the first place, and have been trying ways to cut down a few of the costs.

First, I got a nice check from Ebates, (I had forgotten that I had to request a new check from them months ago) and that helps cut the OOP cost down a little. All of that online shopping for Christmas really paid off. If you don't take advantage of Ebates and shop online, you really should! I love it! Then I traded some of our CC points in for some Landry gift cards, so score on the free dinner at T-Rex, although I am going to request not to sit by the aquariums...

I came across the Orbitz thread on the budget board today again, and I just could not figure out how everyone was saving so much money on their room only reservations, until I realized that I had to work their system and only book for two adults, since Orbitz counts the children as adults, and amazingly I am saving money again!

I ended up booking upgrading to a Garden View room at POR (no standards available) and saving $44 off of our direct Disney booking. But there was not an extra discount for the YC CL rooms, making it more expensive to book trough Orbitz. Not a big deal, I saved $44 and money is money right? But just for the heck of it I checked out WL CL and could get a great deal... that's right we are now staying at three resorts!

I am so excited to go back to the WL for one night and enjoy the ambiance there...

That's all for the quick update...

More after the weekend, with photos of DD's new dress I just finished, the results of DS basketball championship game (wish him luck, he is super excited and nervous, they didn't think they would make it past the semi-finals, the team had crushed them the last time they played), and lots of new Disney goodies... our JCPenney is going out of business, so we scored on some Disney T's.

 

[KatMark]

I hope the Disney break helps with the mental block on the paper.

3 resorts; I've done 2, but never 3.

What JCPenney do you live by that is going out of business?

 

[PrncessA]

I hope the Disney break helps with the mental block on the paper.

3 resorts; I've done 2, but never 3.

What JCPenney do you live by that is going out of business?

Thanks, me too, I feel like this paper is never going to end...

I am excited... DH thinks I'm nuts... no wait, he said he knows it... LOL, but he is along for the ride.

The JCPenney at Stratford is closing. I thought it was when I couldn't have a online order shipped to that store, then we stopped by this weekend and confirmed it, everything is 30-50% off. Not huge deals, but we did manage to make away with a few good deals. They look to be a few weeks shy of closing.

Stratford is depressing at times with all the stores closing, and the fake wannabe Disney/toy store in the old Disney Store location.

 

[KatMark]

Thanks, me too, I feel like this paper is never going to end...

I am excited... DH thinks I'm nuts... no wait, he said he knows it... LOL, but he is along for the ride.

The JCPenney at Stratford is closing. I thought it was when I couldn't have a online order shipped to that store, then we stopped by this weekend and confirmed it, everything is 30-50% off. Not huge deals, but we did manage to make away with a few good deals. They look to be a few weeks shy of closing.

Stratford is depressing at times with all the stores closing, and the fake wannabe Disney/toy store in the old Disney Store location.

That's my mall...I live 5 minutes from there. I knew it was closing but I didn't realize it was so soon. The Sears is closing there as well, and the Hallmark closed before we went to Florida a few weeks ago. That mall has become a place for kids to hang out in all night. I'm not a fan of it.

 

[PrncessA]

That's my mall...I live 5 minutes from there. I knew it was closing but I didn't realize it was so soon. The Sears is closing there as well, and the Hallmark closed before we went to Florida a few weeks ago. That mall has become a place for kids to hang out in all night. I'm not a fan of it.

We live very close to each other. I am less than 10 mins away as well, but in Glendale Heights. I didn't know that the Sears was closing as well. I knew that the Hallmark closed, as we got DD's ears pierced at the Peircing Pagoda right outside of it in Feb. It does seem like that mall is going downhill fast. When Burlington closed the top floor and didn't replace it with anything, that was a sign.