Happy Birthday, Dear Dude - A Sept 2010 PTR - 9/22 Trip Report Started p34

[Dancegrl624]

Those invitations are beautiful! So unique!

 

[Marshay]

Ok, trying to get caught up a bit.

1) the book -- Ok, I admit I have a bit of morbid curiousity about those couple of things you didn't say. Not enough to read the book, but if you'd PM me, I'd love to know.

My niece tried out to be a character. She said the experience was like buying a horse. She literally had her face measured, the lady opened her mouth to see her teeth and tongue, etc. In the end, she was too tall to be a princess.

2) DVC.

I personally find DVC to be worth all the money when you can go every year to every other year AND you are getting the 1 BR units or larger. If you would just be planning to get the studio for the most part, why not just keep using your 40% discount codes (when you can get them).

Also, re: timing ... you can work it out to just go every three years for a nice long vacation or upgraded to a nice room or resort.

Here's an example:

Take 2010 points and bank them into 2011.
Borrow 2012 points into 2011.
Now vacation in 2011 using 2010, 2011 and 2012 points.

You now have 3x the number of points.

So then you'd bank 2013 points into 2014; borrow 2015 points into 2014. Vaca in 2014 with '13, '14 and '15 points, etc, etc.

You end up vacationing pretty nice every 3 years.

4) Mousekeeping.

I clean sheets and a clean room. So I thought for sure that I would miss these daily at DVC. All I can say is that I do not.

I like knowing that I can go back to my room at any time and not have to wait until they are done. Esp, with a 1bR unit that we get, it takes them a lot longer to clean the unit. Sometimes we want to sleep in and other times we go to breakfast and want to come back to the room. We are not the "get up early, go to the parks and don't come back until late" type of people, so when in the regular rooms, we'd have at least one or two days each trip where we had the maids in the room. Maybe not a big deal for adults but esp in the late morning/early afternoon when it is nap time for the kids (or me!), not being able to get in our room did become a nuisance.

Of course, not having to put away all the toys and baby stuff and breakfast dishes, etc so the maids could clean is nice too.

For our July trip (10 days), they'll come in one day to just pick up trash and give new towels and another day to actually vacuum and make the beds.

So, I'm guessing this is more of a family thing or small kids things ... or maybe I just like our privacy.

Also, in a 1br unit, we have a W/D, so we will do a load of towels every so often when we want to have clean ones. Throw a load in before the park and dry them when we come back.

5) Your invitations are lovely!! That is so neat how you picked photos through the years. Everyone loves to see how people grow and change.

And she was such an adorably cute kid -- and of course is a beautiful lady now.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

2) Also, re: timing ... you can work it out to just go every three years for a nice long vacation or upgraded to a nice room or resort.

This is how we figured we would use points when we first bought into the DVC. Living in CA and the cost of flying us all out there can get pretty expensive. We would get a 2 bdrm and stay for 10 days. It was FANTASTIC! Now we get a smaller place and visit more frequently. It certainly takes the pressure out of the vacations. We don't have to be comandos and hit the park first thing in the morning, stay all day and then come home after the parks close to do it all over again.

I agree with everyone else, the invitations are amazing! I wish I had known about them when my kids were graduating.

Hope you had a wonderful anniversary dinner and your trip to Chicago went smoothly.

 

[swwake]

One week!

Hope you have a happy anniversary tomorrow! Congrats!

Love the party invitation!

Oh I hope you're having a great vacation. I have been watching Becky's Facebook updates and it's been so fun to live vicariously through her!

Love Katie's invites. So cute!
And she looks so beautiful all decked out for the prom. Love the dress!

Thanks so much!

What beautiful invitations!!!

Thanks! I love them!

Those invitations are beautiful! So unique!

Thanks!

I must admit I got the idea from Trish (cdolta) on the boards here. She did a great invite from the same company for her daughter Katie's French-themed birthday party a few weeks ago. I loved working with this company. They were really good, and fast!

Ok, trying to get caught up a bit.

1) the book -- Ok, I admit I have a bit of morbid curiousity about those couple of things you didn't say. Not enough to read the book, but if you'd PM me, I'd love to know.

My niece tried out to be a character. She said the experience was like buying a horse. She literally had her face measured, the lady opened her mouth to see her teeth and tongue, etc. In the end, she was too tall to be a princess.

2) DVC.

I personally find DVC to be worth all the money when you can go every year to every other year AND you are getting the 1 BR units or larger. If you would just be planning to get the studio for the most part, why not just keep using your 40% discount codes (when you can get them).

Also, re: timing ... you can work it out to just go every three years for a nice long vacation or upgraded to a nice room or resort.

Here's an example:

Take 2010 points and bank them into 2011.
Borrow 2012 points into 2011.
Now vacation in 2011 using 2010, 2011 and 2012 points.

You now have 3x the number of points.

So then you'd bank 2013 points into 2014; borrow 2015 points into 2014. Vaca in 2014 with '13, '14 and '15 points, etc, etc.

You end up vacationing pretty nice every 3 years.

4) Mousekeeping.

I clean sheets and a clean room. So I thought for sure that I would miss these daily at DVC. All I can say is that I do not.

I like knowing that I can go back to my room at any time and not have to wait until they are done. Esp, with a 1bR unit that we get, it takes them a lot longer to clean the unit. Sometimes we want to sleep in and other times we go to breakfast and want to come back to the room. We are not the "get up early, go to the parks and don't come back until late" type of people, so when in the regular rooms, we'd have at least one or two days each trip where we had the maids in the room. Maybe not a big deal for adults but esp in the late morning/early afternoon when it is nap time for the kids (or me!), not being able to get in our room did become a nuisance.

Of course, not having to put away all the toys and baby stuff and breakfast dishes, etc so the maids could clean is nice too.

For our July trip (10 days), they'll come in one day to just pick up trash and give new towels and another day to actually vacuum and make the beds.

So, I'm guessing this is more of a family thing or small kids things ... or maybe I just like our privacy.

Also, in a 1br unit, we have a W/D, so we will do a load of towels every so often when we want to have clean ones. Throw a load in before the park and dry them when we come back.

5) Your invitations are lovely!! That is so neat how you picked photos through the years. Everyone loves to see how people grow and change.

And she was such an adorably cute kid -- and of course is a beautiful lady now.

Thanks for all the tips on DVC! They will really help!

I will have to go back and look up the info from that horrible book!

This is how we figured we would use points when we first bought into the DVC. Living in CA and the cost of flying us all out there can get pretty expensive. We would get a 2 bdrm and stay for 10 days. It was FANTASTIC! Now we get a smaller place and visit more frequently. It certainly takes the pressure out of the vacations. We don't have to be comandos and hit the park first thing in the morning, stay all day and then come home after the parks close to do it all over again.

I agree with everyone else, the invitations are amazing! I wish I had known about them when my kids were graduating.

Hope you had a wonderful anniversary dinner and your trip to Chicago went smoothly.

This does sound like a great plan. Chicago was in-and-out - I was so glad! My next travel will be a vacation!

 

[swwake]

I've been bad about not updating this PTR (or my old TR, for that matter). We've been crazy busy around here with all the graduation planning and festivities.

Chris and I have spent hours and hours going through old family videos. The intent was to find snippets of Katie growing up (which we did), but once we got into it, we got addicted and really had a good time watching.

We put all the snippets on a couple of DVDs and uploaded some pictures (some = ~230 - haha!) of Katie throughout her life. A friend of ours owns a company who will be making a DVD/video/photo collage for Katie's party. I will give her and each close relative a copy to keep. Katie and I also had to select the music for the DVD. We came up with 9 songs to choose from. I think 3 or 4 might make it to the end product.

I have also been preoccupied with anticipation and planning over our upcoming cruise. I can't decide whether I'm more excited about the cruise or our US/AKL trip. But since the cruise is sooner, that's been the focus. Katie and Caitlin are both VERY excited about the cruise!

I've been keeping up with my subscriptions on the DIS. The WWOHP thread is really exciting, as they have been having "previews" for the past couple of days. I am wearing myself out getting so excited about this.

Reading everyone else's trip reports, live trip reports, and PTRs, it is really hard for me to resist planning more of our September trip out (which parks which days, meals, etc.). But alas, I have to resist. It is as planned as it will get. We are hoping to spend lots of time at the resort and CL lounge and to take each day as it comes. Very hard for the planner in me to accept.

Thursday was the Senior awards ceremony. I couldn't go, but Chris went to see Katie win an award from Bama and a scholarship she wasn't expecting ($500 to the college of her choice from her high school for being a Lake Travis Scholar). I was very excited about this - and so proud of Katie!

This week, my dad and my inlaws come in on or before Wednesday. Thursday night is graduation, and Friday is Katie's poolside party. We'll be very busy, but have lots of fun. I am looking forward to it!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Congratulations to Katie for her award and the additional scholorship. How exciting!

Have a fantastic week with all the parties and family!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Congratulations to Katie on her award and the scholarship! That's awesome!

How close is the cruise? It sounds just lovely!

 

[cdotla]

Back up to date!

First off, the Invitation looks amazing!!! I am so happy that you used the same company that I used and also had good luck with them! I have used them 3 times now and I will go back for sure. Your invite is gorgeous and so touching!

Awesome idea with the DVD...I know from experience how time consuming it can be digging through the albums and transferring to digital media and then making a slideshow. I did that last year for my parent's anniversary.

The Mother's Day and Prom photos are awesome! Absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for the tip on the former castmember's book...I won't be even peaking at that one!

And as for DVC - perhaps you should try renting points from someone for awhile. If you don't have to actually own a piece of WDW real estate, (or some facsimilie of it), I think renting points can be far more economical.

And congrats to your daughter on the award and scholarship!!!

 

[Native NYer]

Congrats Katie on the awards!
I hope you do a mini cruise tr.

 

[swwake]

Congratulations to Katie for her award and the additional scholorship. How exciting!

Have a fantastic week with all the parties and family!

Thanks, on behalf of Katie. We are all excited for the family and friends coming to town. I bought some of the snacks today to try my hand at assembling them this week. I only have to work 3 days this week!

Congratulations to Katie on her award and the scholarship! That's awesome!

How close is the cruise? It sounds just lovely!

Thanks, I'll let her know. The cruise is three weeks from yesterday. We couldn't be more excited!

Back up to date!

First off, the Invitation looks amazing!!! I am so happy that you used the same company that I used and also had good luck with them! I have used them 3 times now and I will go back for sure. Your invite is gorgeous and so touching!

Awesome idea with the DVD...I know from experience how time consuming it can be digging through the albums and transferring to digital media and then making a slideshow. I did that last year for my parent's anniversary.

The Mother's Day and Prom photos are awesome! Absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for the tip on the former castmember's book...I won't be even peaking at that one!

And as for DVC - perhaps you should try renting points from someone for awhile. If you don't have to actually own a piece of WDW real estate, (or some facsimilie of it), I think renting points can be far more economical.

And congrats to your daughter on the award and scholarship!!!

I love that invite company! I really like the baby shower examples she has. I'm so glad I heard about her from you!

Yeah, don't read that book!

Maybe next year we can try renting points - good idea!

Congrats Katie on the awards!
I hope you do a mini cruise tr.

Thanks! I hope I can find time to throw together a cruise review. We are very excited!

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm back, and trying to catch up!

Wow, Susan, sounds like you have a busy week ahead of you. Congrats to Katie on that BAMA scholarship. You know, I'm a little partial to U of A!

 

[irishdancer86]

congrats on katie's scholarship!

i've also been potter-watching and thought i saw a post by you...whats your thoughts so far, are you more or less excited now?

i've enjoyed seeing photos from the parks the souvenerirs etc...i was a bit sad to hear that the ride vehicles are quite small and not everyone will be able to ride...Forbidden journey still sounds really exciting to me, but i think i'm getting more nervous about how busy its going to be!

 

[swwake]

I'm back, and trying to catch up!

Wow, Susan, sounds like you have a busy week ahead of you. Congrats to Katie on that BAMA scholarship. You know, I'm a little partial to U of A!

Hey Michelle! Thanks for the congrats. It sure would have saved us lots of money if she'd have accepted it! Whew! We sure have been busy. More on that later.

congrats on katie's scholarship!

i've also been potter-watching and thought i saw a post by you...whats your thoughts so far, are you more or less excited now?

i've enjoyed seeing photos from the parks the souvenerirs etc...i was a bit sad to hear that the ride vehicles are quite small and not everyone will be able to ride...Forbidden journey still sounds really exciting to me, but i think i'm getting more nervous about how busy its going to be!

I probably did post over there, but it's been a couple of weeks so I don't remember. I've also enjoyed watching the activities and anticipation. I was getting a little disenchanted with all of the complaints though. I am not sure what people expected before the grand opening. I was a little disappointed in the DIS podcast about the HP package because it was very negative. I'm like you - getting a little worried it will be ridiculously crowded when we go - but we are going to just take it in stride.

 

[swwake]

Hi everyone! I took a little unintentional break from the DIS over the past couple of weeks. At first, we were just incredibly busy, but then as time went on, I was actually dreading coming on the DISBoards because I have so many subscriptions I felt like I would be compelled to catch up on (and I still do!).

Let's see. We had Katie's graduation on June 4th. My in-laws and a close friend with two of her 3 kids came into town on the 2nd and stayed here at our house. Entertaining them was fun.

June 3rd, my Dad came in and Katie worked that night. We all met at her work (a lakefront restaurant) for dinner. It was a great time! A thunderstorm came while we were there, and we came back to the house to wind down. Katie and her boyfriend went for some pizza after she got off work around 9pm. At 10:20pm I got "the dreaded call". Katie had been in an accident on the slippery streets. So we drove to the scene. The policeman told us that the car in front of Katie had decided to stop at a yellow light and Katie skidded and eventually ran her Eclipse underneath the back of a Volvo SUV. Nobody was hurt and the damage to the Volvo seems to be minor. Katie's (inexpensive) car, however, was totaled.

June 4th was graduation. I took the day off and took Katie and the rest of the ladies/girls for mani/pedis. I took Katie to the ceremony location at 7pm and graduation for the class of 400+ was at 8pm. We didn't get many pictures for 2 reasons: 1) We didn't know they would make Katie remove her regalia and turn it in to get her diploma immediately after the ceremony and 2) The camera we bought a week before, specifically for graduation and our vacations, was taking photos and showing thumbnails, but was broken such that we only were able to retrieve 1/3 of EACH photo (the top 1/3). UGH!!!

June 5th I took another day off and we prepared for Katie's grad party to start at 4pm. We had about 40 people here at the house for the poolside event - family and close friends, burgers and dogs, swimming, some margaritas, and the cutest little mortarboards ever, made of chocolate! Also that day, our friend who was staying with us told us that she had convinced her husband and oldest son (12) to detour South from their Grand Canyon motorcycle trip on the way back to Memphis to come for the party! They arrived around 6pm and stayed the weekend.

We had a video made for Katie's graduation. It is really neat, but not exactly what we had bargained for. The guy who made it plans to re-do and refine it to meet our requests, but here's a link for now, in case you're interested and have about 20 minutes to blow:

Video Link
The password to log in is katie2010.

The Company stayed through Sunday, then it was finally wind-down time for Chris, Katie and me. It took a few days to decompress after all of the activity.

Then, guess what?! Time to prep for the cruise! We had (and still have) a to-do list a mile long, which included shopping for clothes for all of us.

Funny story: When we were pulling together video clips for Katie's video, we quickly noticed that Chris still has (and wears) 90% of the clothes from the videos, dating all the way back to 1994. It got to the point where every time he said "I still have that shirt", I went to the closet and pulled the shirt out and threw it in the Goodwill pile! I insisted that he shop for new clothes for this cruise! After all, he got HUNDREDS of dollars in gift certificates for ExpressMen for Christmas that he hadn't used.

So last Saturday was my day to be the shuttle driver to and from dialysis for Mom and to and from the airport (and birthday parties, etc) for my sister and nephews. Sunday was shopping day. All. Day. Shopping SOUNDS like fun. Not when it's All. Day.

Sunday night we formalized and finalized our packing lists. Monday's Brown (UPS) brought a swimsuit I had ordered very inexpensively from Rue La La. Today's Brown brought a replacement camera from Best Buy for the bad, bad camera we got right before graduation. The camera has been tested and it seems to work. We're good to go!

In the midst of all of this, Katie is registering for her honors classes and submitting final transcripts to CU. Chris and I are both trying to work full days, and Chris is shopping for a replacement car for Katie. Tonight we went to look at a cute little 2000 BMW. We made an offer and hope it works out. If not, a car will have to wait until after the cruise.

Still on the to do list before Friday are setting up international roaming on the cell phones, contacting our credit card companies, and putting together an emergency contact list for the in-laws, who arrive tomorrow.

We are now only 90 days from our Disney trip and very excited. But right now, that's in the shadow of the cruise, which is occupying all of our time and thoughts. I can't wait until Saturday, when I know I won't be resting, but at least can take a mental break!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wow! You have been busy! What a shame about Katie's car -- how scary for her! I am glad she is okay, though! Ugh about the camera! What a horrible time for it to break!

Congrats to Katie on graduating!

Do you leave on your cruise on Saturday?

 

[swwake]

Wow! You have been busy! What a shame about Katie's car -- how scary for her! I am glad she is okay, though! Ugh about the camera! What a horrible time for it to break!

Congrats to Katie on graduating!

Do you leave on your cruise on Saturday?

Thanks for the congrats. We are so proud of our girl!

We leave on a 5:30am flight on Saturday!!!

 

[swwake]

I can't believe my cruise ticker says "2 days..."!!

We are trying to keep our to-do list free of extraneous stuff for the next couple of days so we don't get too stressed. That means we've backed off on looking for a car for Katie, etc.

Our plan is this:
- I work today. Chris works from home so he is working, along with entertaining his visiting parents who will be dog- and house-sitting while we're gone.
- Tonight I will pull out all of our passports, organize the paperwork, check some more things off the to do list.
- Katie doesn't work today. I think she's just hanging out with friends. (What a life!)
- Tomorrow I work 1/2 day. I then have a mani/pedi. I need to run a couple of errands (Fathers' Day cards, last minute toiletries, etc.). We will do a load of laundry tomorrow afternoon and pack our bags.
- Katie doesn't work tomorrow but Caitlin does. I am not sure what time she'll be over.
- I figure we'll all be really excited and unable to sleep tomorrow night. We might go out for dinner. Then we plan to watch the World's Largest Cruise Ship show we recorded last week from National Geographic Channel. Chris and I have already watched it. It's a good documentary on the building of the Oasis of the Seas.
- We have to be "pretty" for our boarding photos at the ship on Saturday, so we will have to "get up" at 2:30am to shower, dress, hair and makeup in time to leave the house at 3:30am and arrive at the airport by 4:30am for a 5:30am flight! Whew! So, I doubt any of us will even go to bed tomorrow night. We will be very tired all day Saturday, but I am planning for us to sleep in a little on Sunday (Nassau day) to catch up on our rest.
- We will arrive in Ft Lauderdale at around Noon on Saturday. The dock is only 5 minutes from the airport. I am hoping we will catch a cab and be onboard by 1pm!

 

[swwake]

We are (almost) home from our cruise! We are at the Ft Lauderdale airport and will be home later tonight. We had an awesome time, and I'll have to post a mini cruise trip report with some photos later this weekend! For now, we're wiped out!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Welcome home! Looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing all about the cruise!

 

[Native NYer]

Welcome back!
I can't wait for the mini tr.