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

[swwake]

Don't you love ordering Disney guidebooks? I have the Hidden Magic one and really like it! I think I will order the new Passporter at some point.

If you are going in September, you definitely want to pack summer clothes -- when we were there in October it was still hot, and we wore shorts the whole time.

I do love getting the books. I get a "surprise" in my mail soon, I get to study Disney in my spare time, it helps get all geared up and excited for the trip. What's not tolove?

So glad to hear you liked Hidden Magic. I was worried after the first (and a few of the other) review on Amazon. It said there is (gasp!) outdated information in there. It did say you can no longer wake up Tink. I didn't know that.

Thanks for the tip on summer clothes in September. I think I'm going to have to go back and re-read your June '09 TR to hear all about AKL (again). I am not sure when I dropped off these boards and whether that TR was finished by then or not. But I remember reading it!

 

[Native NYer]

Ohhhh I love guide books The Hidden Magic book is great.

You may not need to order extra snacks since you'll have the lounge. It's usually cookies, nuts, goldfish, and gummy worms in the afternoon. The desserts at night are great!

Does the Universal ticket/transportation option pick up at your resort? How does that work?

 

[swwake]

Ohhhh I love guide books The Hidden Magic book is great.

You may not need to order extra snacks since you'll have the lounge. It's usually cookies, nuts, goldfish, and gummy worms in the afternoon. The desserts at night are great!

Does the Universal ticket/transportation option pick up at your resort? How does that work?

I didn't figure we'd need any snacks, but I hate to just order a case of water. Maybe we'll just pay "park prices" for our water.

It looks like the special deal they are running includes RT Mears transport. Mears is 24-hour and will pick up and drop off right at your Disney resort. You schedule ahead when you want to be picked up, and they say it takes 30 minutes to get to Universal. I know that Mears shuttles can sometimes be shared, so I don't know how they can do it in 30 mins with multiple stops, since it supposedly takes 30 mins to get there if you're driving yourself. For the return, you can schedule it, or call them 90 minutes before you want to depart Universal. For 99c, that can't be beat! Now, I'm reading up on these "express" passes (like Fast Passes, but you buy them). But they don't have September pricing yet, and they seem to range from $25 to $60 depending on traffic. Wow!

 

[swwake]

This world is full of crazy people. The building that was hit by a small plane this morning in Austin is less than a mile from our office, along the same highway. We watched the emergency vehicles head toward it and the smoke from the fire from our windows. Our old office building was at 9390 address. Right next door to the building that was struck at 9430. So thankful that we are all ok. Such a sad thing to happen.

 

[Native NYer]

Oh how horrible! And scary

Since you posted about Mears, I'm considering heading over to US.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I saw all the coverage of that crash!!! So scary and tragic!!!

 

[swwake]

Since you posted about Mears, I'm considering heading over to US.

I sure hope the deal is as good as it seems. I keep trying to find the loophole and I just can't. Let me know if you find it!

The biggest issue is that we will be paying for US tickets when we already have that day included in our park-hopper passes at WDW. Though, if I read the cost difference, it's only $6 total (for both of us) to add or take away that day. I think we'll keep it!

I saw all the coverage of that crash!!! So scary and tragic!!!

Crazy, huh? Did you hear all about his suicide note and the surrounding story?

 

[swwake]

So, remember I was asking if there is bottled water in the CL lounge? Well, I just had a "duh" moment. If Chris is renting a car on Thursday to visit his clients, he can pick up a case of water while he's running around. No need for Garden Grocer. No need to pay "park rates". DUH!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Crazy, huh? Did you hear all about his suicide note and the surrounding story?

Yes! Complete craziness!

 

[Native NYer]

So, remember I was asking if there is bottled water in the CL lounge? Well, I just had a "duh" moment. If Chris is renting a car on Thursday to visit his clients, he can pick up a case of water while he's running around. No need for Garden Grocer. No need to pay "park rates". DUH!

Problem solved You'll save a ton of money.

 

[swwake]

I got a text message from Chris on Thursday - "Our Disney DVD is here!" I was so excited to get home and watch it with him. Well, that night I got home around 10pm and was so tired I fell asleep watching it with him.

Chris told me he's very disappointed in this year's DVD. They have taken off many of the features that were included in the 2008 DVD and he couldn't find information about the parks and attractions. Everything just says "refer to our web site".

So last night, I went on the Disneyworld.com website and to the vacation planning page. There, you can make your own video, putting together the pieces of only what is relevant to you. I made Chris a video and we watched it on the computer. Much better than the DVD in the mail.

I wonder if Disney is moving away from the planning DVDs? Although, the packaging was very cool and obviously customized just for us, based on the survey I had filled out when ordering.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

We love watching the planning videos. I'll have to go and play on the website. Does it let you save your video so you can watch it later? That would be so cool to create custom videos for each person on the trip and send it to them to get them all excited.

 

[Charleston Princess]

We haven't watched our new planning DVD yet -- what a bummer that they have changed a bunch of it.

 

[swwake]

We love watching the planning videos. I'll have to go and play on the website. Does it let you save your video so you can watch it later? That would be so cool to create custom videos for each person on the trip and send it to them to get them all excited.

Once your video is made on the site, you have the option to email it to yourself or to someone else. When you do, you (they) get a link back to the WDW website to view it (along with all the advertisements, etc.). So it's not like a freestanding video that you could attach to an email or burn to DVD (at least I don't know how you could, but some techies out there probably know how). You're right, you could customize a video to each family member. When you are assembling it, you can add and remove segments, and preview them. The only thing I couldn't figure out how to do was put them in a different order. Disney is the master of personalized marketing. I think the videos are very cool!

We haven't watched our new planning DVD yet -- what a bummer that they have changed a bunch of it.

It's still fun to watch and gets you in the mood - there just seems to be a lot missing, compared to the one we had in 2008.

 

[Native NYer]

I didn't know you can make your own video. That'll be my new project

 

[swwake]

I didn't know you can make your own video. That'll be my new project

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/di...1856&referrer=wdw&hdrType=default&vcnType=wdw

Hope that works.

 

[dddisrunner]

Just catching up Susan! How very cool that you have decided on AKL and going for Chris' birthday! We LOVE LOVE LOVE the AKL.....it is SO PEACEFUL! I read about that airplane that flew into the IRS building, what a horrible thing! Glad you weren't in harms way!

 

[swwake]

Just catching up Susan! How very cool that you have decided on AKL and going for Chris' birthday! We LOVE LOVE LOVE the AKL.....it is SO PEACEFUL! I read about that airplane that flew into the IRS building, what a horrible thing! Glad you weren't in harms way!

Yeah, we are very excited about AKL. The plane was freaky, but it's weird how the news came and went and "Keep Austin Weird" Austin is back to its weird self. The biggest news lately was the couple of inches of snow we got on Tuesday after a 60-degree Monday and followed by a 60-degree Wednesday.

 

[swwake]

It's been very busy at work this week, so I've just tried to keep up with the few threads I follow here. I guess I can bullet-point what I've been doing as far as vacation planning.

• I've been following a Harry Potter thread watching the pics of all the new stuff under construciton. Very exciting! There's lots of speculation over there about when the HP section of the park will actually open. It's sort of amusing watching all the "Potterheads" argue about something that nobody but Universal (if they, themselves) knows.
• I sent an email to the IPO with the few events that we know we want to reserve: Sunrise Safari Sept 16, Jiko dinner Sept 16 for Dude's birthday, and Typhoon Lagoon surfing Sept 20th (Monday). Don emailed me back and confirmed that my 180-day mark is March 19th.
• Spoke to Don from IPO on the phone to give him my CC number for the ADR and other reservations. What a treat! He acted like he was in no hurry to do anything else but make sure that our trip for 6+months from now is perfect! I found out that he's been happily married for 29 years and they are DINKs. I told him his reputation precedes him, as the people on both the AKL and CL threads sing his praises often. He credits all the others in the AKL IPO office. (But I'm not sure anyone else truly exists there, since the only one I've talked to or emailed with has been Don). So far, this CL experience is so cool! He said he's all set to make my reservations early on the 19th!
• Somehow I have picked up Diane's 15-day TR and started reading it. I'm fascinated. I have spent time reading and looking at the pics every night with Idol and/or the Olympics in the background. I'm only on Day 3 (I think) but what a great experience!
• I have started planning our "other" vacation for this summer. It's the one I SHOULD be spending time on, but for some reason it's much more fun to plan Disney. We are taking Katie to Athens and the Greek Isles after her graduation. Because Chris's main supplier is a UK company, we will also spend a couple of nights in London. We are also hoping to catch the Silverstone MotoGP stop on June 20th if we can schedule around it. Very exciting!! We were supposed to go last year and had to cancel when Mom got sick, so we've been looking forward to this for a long time. It's just so much easier to plan for WDW. I can't find a DISBoards for Europe!
• I'm watching for Southwest to open their fares for September. I am hoping the rates are as low as I am seeing for August right now. We do have 1.5 free round trip tickets that we can use if we want to.
• I used the other one-way free Southwest ticket to book a trip to Atlanta next weekend via Nashville. I am going for my 2nd cousin's 70th birthday party. I get to spend time with my Dad, who lives in Jackson, TN and will pick me up and drop me off in Nashville, as well as with so many other of my extended family who I LOVE!. It will be a nice quick diversion from Busy Season.

On top of all that, I've been working, helping Katie with scholarship applications, and helping Mom with her business and health issues. I am one tired puppy!

 

[AuroraRose]

Just caught up! I'm relaxing after a night of homework for my online classes by catching up on my subscriptions! Sounds like things are coming together nicely! Glad you got it figured out! We won't be doing Jiko this year and I am bummed about that. I really liked it.