Getting in Shape for Disney...Update 6/19, pg. 5

[mylittlebuttercup]

Take the staying the same, no gaining is good. Sometimes our bodies just have an off week.

I love the Wii games you can get, they force you to be active. I love the EA Sports Active games, they track your calories too.

The EA Active games are my favorite--I have both of them...they seem to provide the best workout out of any of the ones I have. Also, I have back problems sometimes, and using the stretchy band seems to help strengthen my back muscles so that they don't bother me as often.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

So not much of an update on the Disney planning front right now, other than the fact that I preordered an iPhone 4, so I will now be able to take video at Disney! I currently have a regular iPhone, but it can't take video, so I am excited about the upgrade. Also, I've been almost out of space on my phone for a while, and this will quadruple my disk space, which means I can download movies for the plane.

Since I don't have many Disney details right now, I just wanted to do a short post about my plans for my upcoming Vegas trip. We leave in two weeks (and about 8 hours). My fiance will be sitting this trip out, as it's a girls' trip with one of my best friends. Here's the plan:

Wednesday:

* Fly out of the Philly airport at around 6 am (can't remember exact time).
* Layover at Minneapolis airport for three hours . I've only had a layover once before, but that was on an international flight, so I was happy for the time to stretch out. For this trip, I would much rather have done a direct flight, but they are hard to come by; plus, this is a budget trip, so we took what we could get for the price. We are thinking of buying a 30-day Sky Club pass to make use of Delta's Sky Club lounges during our layovers, but we're not sure yet.
* Fly out of Minneapolis airport around 11.
* Arrive in Vegas at about 1 pm (their time), as long as there are no delays.
* Once we arrive in Vegas, we will check into our hotel (Harrah's) and then our afternoon is kind of free, but we will probably grab some food and hit an attraction or two covered by our PowerPass. (A PowerPass is a ticket that allows entrance to some of the popular tourist attractions, like Madame Toussaud's, NY NY rollercoaster, etc.)
* That night, we will be going to a 10:30 showing of Zumanity (Cirque du Soleil show.) Hopefully, we won't be too exhausted, because it will be 1:30 EST!!!

Thursday:

* This morning we have a Hoover Dam tour scheduled, which is one of the attractions covered by our PowerPass. This takes the whole morning.
* During the afternoon/early evening, we will tour the city, hitting up more of our PowerPass attractions.
* We are not big gamblers, but we will probably play a little bit on the slots this night or go out for drinks.

Friday:

* My friend declared this "pool day." Since she is currently going through a divorce and needs all the relaxation she can get, I promptly agreed. We might go to Harrah's pool (where we are staying), but it's kind of small and boring, so we might go to another pool instead. All of the Harrah's properties' pools are open to anyone staying at any of the Harrah's hotels, so we have several from which to choose.
* I am figuring by the afternoon we might be done with the pool and hit up a couple of attractions/places we missed the past couple days.
* That night, we have tickets to see The Thunder Down Under, which is an all-Australian male dancing/stripping act. That should be interesting!

Saturday

* Good news: This is my birthday!!! Bad news: We are leaving this day. We only had so much money to spend on this trip, and I didn't want to brave the Fourth of July madness, so unfortunately this had to be our travel day home. Our flight leaves around nine I think, so we'll have to get up bright and early. Luckily, we can sleep on the plane...well I am not sure if that's so lucky...
* This time we only have an hour layover, also in Minneapolis.
* We will (hopefully) arrive home around seven, and if I am not too tired, my fiance will take me out for a nice birthday dinner.

So that does it for my Vegas trip plans. If you have been to Vegas before and have any suggestions for places to go/eat, please share! We are trying to do this pretty cheaply, so any very expensive places would be out.

 

[my2disneyboys]

Hi!! Congrats on the weight loss!! Your vegas plans sound great! I have been twice and LOVE it!!!!! The only place I really remember eating at was TAO and the Bellagio Buffet.... both very expensive!!! Vegas is a TON of walking! Everything looks so close but when you walk it is crazy how much walking you will do! So don't worry too much about gaining any weight.... because I am sure you will walk most of it off!!!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Vegas sounds fun! Hope you win a pile of Disney money!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Your Vegas plans sound like a lot of fun. I've never been so I can't offer any advice or attractions.

 

[Nermel9]

Your vegas trip sounds like fun! I've never been but i want to go someday! I'm sure you will have a great time!

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Vegas sounds fun!! I've never been there!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Sorry that I didn't get a chance to post much this week, but it's the weekend so I finally have some time to sit down for an update.

Yesterday, I decided to go shopping so that I could get some cute tops for Vegas that would mostly work for Disney too. I got four tops at Kohl's and four tops and two pairs of capris at Dress Barn, but unfortunately could only find two of their pictures online. I'm too lazy (and have too much of a migraine ) right now to get out my own camera and take pictures of the others, so here's the ones I could find online:

These two are from Kohl's. The other two I got from Kohl's are a white and black top made out of this satin-like material and a red top with a black design, which might be more of a work top than a vacation top, but it was only $6, so I couldn't pass it up.

At Dress Barn, I got a purple top that is streaked with different colors...that description sounds kind of ugly, but it's actually really pretty. I also got a green top with asymmetrical shoulders. I wasn't sure if I would like it when I saw it on the hanger, because I am not usually big on asymmetrical stuff, but when I tried it on, it actually worked pretty well, especially for Vegas. I also got two pairs of black capris, which aren't really worth describing, because...well...they're just black capris, nothing special.

Moving on...this past Monday, the casino right near our home finally opened up table games, and my fiance and I decided to go and practice my skills for Vegas. I only tried roulette, and while I didn't come out ahead in the end, I was able to make a little bit of money last a much longer time than I can on the slots, so to me, it was worth it and was definitely fun.

Hmm, what else to update about? Oh, right, I almost forgot one of the most important things...we picked out and ordered our wedding rings! Mine is a white gold band with a bunch of little princess cut diamonds. His is a white gold brand with a subtle pattern brushed onto it. For the longest time, whenever anyone asked me how the wedding planning is coming along, all I had to tell them was that we booked the ceremony/reception site, but now I have something else to say!

Speaking of the ceremony/reception site, here's a couple of pictures:

Part of the reception area

Sweetheart table

Outside area

Another outside area

Ceremony site...it's much prettier when the willow is in full bloom, but I can't find any pictures of that right now:

Lastly, as far as weight loss goes, I haven't lost any more , but at least I haven't gained, not even 0.1 pounds! Guess I just need to try a little harder!

How is everyone else who is trying to lose weight doing?

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Cute! I like the jewel tones.

Hmm, what else to update about? Oh, right, I almost forgot one of the most important things...we picked out and ordered our wedding rings! Mine is a white gold band with a bunch of little princess cut diamonds. His is a white gold brand with a subtle pattern brushed onto it. For the longest time, whenever anyone asked me how the wedding planning is coming along, all I had to tell them was that we booked the ceremony/reception site, but now I have something else to say!

Your rings sound beautiful! DH and I need to replace ours because they are so loose they kept falling off until finally he lost his. We're looking at some engraved in Gaelic with "Love, Loyalty and Friendship".

Part of the reception area

Beautiful! Very intimate and romantic setting.

Lastly, as far as weight loss goes, I haven't lost any more , but at least I haven't gained, not even 0.1 pounds! Guess I just need to try a little harder!

How is everyone else who is trying to lose weight doing?

Hey, sometimes not gaining is as good as a loss. At the moment, I have 18 lbs. to lose, which is a couple of pounds down from a few weeks ago. But I keep regaining and losing those two pounds over the past month no matter how good I am with my diet. Maybe all the walking at Disney will break the cycle - or maybe all the eating will send me spiralling up. We shall see!

 

[Nermel9]

Cute shirts! I love Kohl's!

Your wedding rings sound beautiful! And the ceremony/reception site is very pretty!

Congrats on not gaining weight...I still haven't even started trying to lose anything yet. And I definitely have to, I'm not sick anymore so I have no excuses for this week!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Before I get into some Disney-related stuff, I just want to give some quick updates on a couple of things I have been talking about. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that the casino near us just opened up table games, and we went over so that I could learn how to bet on roulette for my upcoming Vegas trip. Well, this past Saturday, we went up there with the intention of practicing some blackjack only to find out that the table minimums were $25 because they were so busy...no thank you! Today, my fiance was going to be getting off work a little late, so I figured I would stop back on my way home and see if they had lower minimums today. I found a couple of blackjack tables with a $10 minimum and watched the game for a bit while I was waiting for a seat to free up. I am happy to report that I won $30! I came in with $40 and left with $70. I thought about staying a little longer but figured I should quit while I was ahead.

Another thing I wanted to update about is my quest to earn Disney spending money. I just cashed out on Quick Rewards the other day for another $25 gift certificate, bringing my grand total earned since April to $150.

Ok, now some Disney stuff. Our first few days (Tues.-Fri.) are pretty much planned out to visit certain parks, but our weekend mornings/afternoons are free until our dinner reservations. Here are some of the things we might end up doing, but we don't want to plan it out for certain until that day; we just want to go with the flow:

• Mini-golf at one of the Disney golf courses
• Visit the Boardwalk
• Visit a water park
• Swim at our resort
• Hit some of the rides we missed
• Go shopping at Downtown Disney
• Rent a water craft or maybe do a water activity if they are taking walk-ups

I feel like I am forgetting some other nifty things we could do. Who has some suggestions? It could be in park or not. Thanks ahead of time!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Cute shirts! I love Kohl's!

Your wedding rings sound beautiful! And the ceremony/reception site is very pretty!

Congrats on not gaining weight...I still haven't even started trying to lose anything yet. And I definitely have to, I'm not sick anymore so I have no excuses for this week!

Thanks! I like how quaint the reception site is. Glad to hear you're feeling better!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Your rings sound beautiful! DH and I need to replace ours because they are so loose they kept falling off until finally he lost his. We're looking at some engraved in Gaelic with "Love, Loyalty and Friendship".

That stinks that he lost his! Being of Irish descent myself, love the Gaelic inscription idea!

 

[Nermel9]

I just signed up for Quick Rewards! The site looks a little...ummm...sketchy, to say the least! But a lot of people on here seem to use it, so I figured it was safe! I just can't really figure it out yet...I keep clicking on surveys to take and most of them tell me the quota has been filled. Do they send you surveys in your email? I created an email address just to use for this so I hope so!

I also tried doing some of the clicks and only one worked! Maybe it just takes some practice! I'd love to get some extra money for Disney this way but it seems complicated!!!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Ok, now some Disney stuff. Our first few days (Tues.-Fri.) are pretty much planned out to visit certain parks, but our weekend mornings/afternoons are free until our dinner reservations. Here are some of the things we might end up doing, but we don't want to plan it out for certain until that day; we just want to go with the flow:

• Mini-golf at one of the Disney golf courses
• Visit the Boardwalk
• Visit a water park
• Swim at our resort
• Hit some of the rides we missed
• Go shopping at Downtown Disney
• Rent a water craft or maybe do a water activity if they are taking walk-ups

Maybe try one of the tours? Some are quite pricey, but they start as low as $16 a person. There's a list here.

Or maybe the Characters in Flight balloon ride?

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Have you played at either mini golf courses? We haven't done either of them and I've always wanted to do it!

I love the tops; Kohls is one of my favorite stores!