Your children are adorable.
I wish I had taken my kids more when they were younger and had more "freedom". Now 2 of them are in HS and college and it is near to impossible to find time that we all are available.
We are pretty much forced to go in the summer. I would love to see the holiday decorations but that will have to wait!
YAY!! So glad you are doing a PTR!! October is such a great time to go! I love all of the autumn decorations, pumpkins, yellow and orange colors!! We went in October 2008 and had a blast!!
Your little ones are too cute!! Ahhh....the cursed pirate makeup...the guy-liner that doesn't quit!!
Can't wait to follow along with your plans!! I would love to go back for Halloween!!
Sara
Ashley,
I am in and looking forward to hearing all about your plans!
Kelly
The DIS is great for having vacations and never having to travel to get there, through other people's tr's!!!
Connie
subbing in...need to go back and catch up!
looking forward to joining in your fun planning!
Great to put a face with the name, Ashley...you have a beautiful family!
I told Danny about a week ago I would love to plan a trip to disney one year for Halloween...living in the sticks he has yet to figure out what Halloween is really about other than the Baton Rouge "Boo at the Zoo". I just love Noah's spookey pirate pictures...we will definatley have to add that to Ashton's next visit (whenever that may be...I'm working on Danny for a spring trip).
Have a great day!
So, these plans I lay forth are subject to change, many times. We get the front of the line passes for staying there, which is basically being able to go straight into the fastpass line on all attractions that offer it, and the ability to head to the Harry Potter area 1 hour before park opening. Have you been? What was your experience? If you were me would you go to universal and stay at the RPR? I really want to go and think the kids would like it, but it costs $1350 (meals not included) for the two nights and tickets for us four (that does include AP's for dh and me). Staying the two nights at disney would cost us $425 and that would include the regular dining plan. We could add the waterpark option and/or parkhoppers. We could even upgrade Chris and my tickets to annual passes at disney and still it would be cheaper than going to universal. If you are wondering why the ap talk, Chris and I have decided to take a trip sans kiddos next May. We are planning to go to both disney and universal. OK, so that is the info, please tell me what you think!!!
)
DH and I went to WDW during Halloween time once and we LOVED it! You are going to have a ball! We will be going to the WWoHP in December so I am anxious to hear what you think of it! 
Plans sound fun...
we stayed at RPR when we visited Universal (but Danny was sent a 40% off email--still don't know how but be sure to sign up for their emails. We would not have been able to without it). It was wonderful to just walk right up for most attractions. There were some attractions that were not doing the Express passes. Have you checked into the price difference by staying off grounds and buying the Express pass. or maybe just staying one night at RPR your express pass would be good for the day you check in and the day you check out (so you would still get your two days of Express). Harry Potter was not open yet for our last trip but I heard you need the extra hour to visit. But, I do love the parent swap at US/IOA you do not have to go back through the line at the end there is a room where you wait and when you swap you just walk right back into the end of the line!
Lucky you going back for an adult only trip (Danny would never--if I ever go back for a short trip it would be Ashton and I or maybe Dayne would tag along
sounds like great planning so far!
Since we only will have 1.5 days there I want the express pass for sure. It is $20 and up per person, per day if you aren't staying on-site; think I figured it would cost us about $180 for two days. No way!! I have looked at just one night, but that would mean another place to stay on the 23rd night. I like to try new places, but don't know if I want to stay in 4 different places on a 7 day trip. About the discount, I am on the email list but the only thing they are offering for that time period is if you stay 3 nights or more. When we booked they acted like $270 plus tax was a steal, in a standard room!!! Chris and I really want to take the kids to universal so I think we are gonna bite the bullet, just hard when POR is $203 a night with the dining plan included. Universal is milking that Harry Potter ride!
It's been 10 years for us, and all the new rides are looking quite appealing.Hi! I'm subbing!
By the way, your kids are sooo cute!
I'm in! Your trip looks like fun, and your family is lovely! I've never been to Universal, so I can't offer anything for that, but I wish I could 
over! I checked out your ptr too! Thanks!
Chris thinks I am certifiably CRAZY!
I think we are gonna bite the bullet and go with Disney October 17-22, then on to Universal the 22-24. We really have wanted to take the kids to US/IOA and the new WWoHP seals the deal. Now if only I can stick with the plan. We need to pay off both trips in a couple of weeks, so as soon as that is done I will not feel the need to change! These new deals out certainly have peaked my interest, but I don't think we can get a better deal than FREE DINING, atleast in staying at POR. Still I have been playing and pricing out the trip at different resorts. It's fun to do
Now a new question. When we went in April I had planned on doing a trip report when we returned home. Life got in the way (well, and the fact figuring out how to do one scared me). So, now that I have figured out the hard part I am wondering if anyone out there is interested in a cliffs note version of our April trip???? We have 60 days until we leave, so I figure that I could get thru the 10 day trip. I might need a little encouragement though.
If I did a TR from the last time I was there, it'd be a seven month long TR My best friend and her husband and I are going next November for 11 days and I've been the one doing the pricing, so I've been looking at the discounts in hopes that they'll be extended or I'll get a bounceback. Now that I know how much we'd save if we did free dining ($1400!!!), I'm poking at the deluxe resorts, since we were going to stay at a mod But we have over a year to figure it out, not just a couple weeks before final payment is due 
