Here goes, my first PTR.....*UPDATE 9/27* only one day left!!

[MissStitch626]

I was right about the Magic Kingdom days - we'll be there all day on Oct 1 for the 40th anniversay, and we'll be there for a few hours in the morning of Oct 8 before we head back to the airport

 

[PixieMama]

I want to hear more about your Safari Grand Gathering... what exactly is that?

Hope you can get the Dessert Party booked! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

[MARsMama]

Here's a link to the information that I could find on the grand gatherings.....
http://www.wdwinfo.com/Grandgathering.htm#safari
we're doing the safari one

I'm trying to decide which camera I should use on our trip. We have a fuji point and shoot that's waterproof, and we also have a digital SLR Canon 7D. On one hand I think the convenience of the smaller fuji one would be great, but I'm afraid I'll miss having my 'main' camera as I love to take photographs, especially of scenery.....and where better than Disney to capture some great scenic shots?!
Soooo, what type of camera do you take to Disney?

 

[PixieMama]

The Safari Gathering sounds cool! Looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back.

Ahhhh, the great what-camera-to-take dilemma. I have a point & shoot (just a little Nikon Coolpix) that I thought I'd take. But DH has a DSLR, and I've toyed with the idea of taking that one instead. My little Nikon does take good pics, but the DSLR is better. BUT... lugging that thing around (especially in the heat) is not appealing to me! I'll probably just stick with my Nikon.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

DSLR all the way! I will say that if photography isn't a top priority, it's not the end of a world to just bring a smaller camera. Since I'm a photographer, it was top on my list and I only had a couple issues. I gave it to my teenage son to hold when I went on Splash and all the other times I put it in my bag and in the compartment for bags when on rides. We did not, however, go on Kali and I wouldn't have been able to do that with my dslr!

 

[MARsMama]

I am definitely leaning towards taking my DSLR as I love taking photography and taking photos (would love to finish the online photography course I started taking, some day) I think I would miss having it with me. However, we will likely take the smaller one as well, for waterpark days and for the kids to take some photos with.

We've reached Day 50 Time seems to be going by so fast now!! It seems like I still have so much to do. We are heading to my cousins house in ten days, which will be our last time together until we meet up in Disney, and we're going to do some trip shopping!!

 

[exwdwcm]

yeah for day 50!! and congrats on the 9lbs---that is awesome!

love the new plans. the GG should be great fun. We considered one last year, but didn't end up booking one. I can't wait to hear about it. I've only done the Tusker House breakfast, so no help on the dinner. I hope it is great though!

 

[MARsMama]

Wow, I can't believe how fast time is going by. It's been so long since I've updated!! We're down to 34 days now

I have pretty much decided we're going to take both cameras, I know I'll be too disappointed if I don't have my DSLR with me.

We had our last visit with my cousin and her family this past weekend. The next time we're together we will be in Disney!!! We finalized a lot of things and decided to doing another set of t-shirts to wear for our grand gathering safari. So we'll have two sets of shirts, one for MK and one for AK. Now I just need to get the transfers all put on as we finally got all the shirts bought!

The things I have finally picked up are....
*sunglasses for myself and dh
*flipflops for the kids
*park shoes for me (I went with skechers tone ups and they are SO comfortable)
*a swim suit for myself
*sandals for dh
*shorts for dh
*shorts for both ds's
*park bag....I'm opting to use something other than the fanny pack which I didn't much like using last time
*purse for the flight, one that holds my disney binder

Some things I still need to get are.....
*shorts for myself
*sneakers for dh
I'm sure I will have to add to this list the closer we get to departure day!!

In extra exciting news, we were able to get the Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party (Wishes Dessert Party)!!!! We got the date we wanted, Oct. 1, and it's for all 10 of us!! We are so excited as that was the last reservation we had to try to get!

Also, on the challenge news, my cousin's dh and I are narrowly in the lead by .2%!! I am now down 17lbs in total and am hoping that in the next 5 weeks if I keep it up I'll be down another 10!!!

For the next little bit we are going to try to get the t-shirts all done, the Epcot passports made, and the autograph books done up....we'll see how that goes before I add more 'to-do' stuff as I am also preparing to send the kids back to school

 

[PixieMama]

You're getting so close! And you're getting a ton of stuff done

Yay, you're in the lead... and that's awesome that you've lost 17 lbs so far! Keep up the good work, mama!

Glad you were able to get the Dessert Party! It sounds like it will be so much fun.

 

[MARsMama]

You're getting so close! And you're getting a ton of stuff done

Yay, you're in the lead... and that's awesome that you've lost 17 lbs so far! Keep up the good work, mama!

Glad you were able to get the Dessert Party! It sounds like it will be so much fun.

Thanks, Shannon!! I'm hoping to continue losing and staying in the lead, I'm so scared I'll have to go on ToT again!!!
We were so excited to get the dessert party, it was like the 'icing on the cake' of our trip plans

I've got to put the trip planning on hold for the next little bit as I need to get the kids school clothes and supplies all organized and ready as well as get geared up for a new season of figure skating to start (for dd, not me! )

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ooooh, the dessert party will be SO GREAT!!!!!!! I had a little pang there, realizing that we would have been in WDW on Oct. 1st as well, but that night I'll be in St. Louis with Rey celebrating our 20th Anniverary, so it's all good! I'll think of you and hope it's GREAT and you have a good view of Wishes as well!

Congrats on the loss as well! You are rocking!

 

[MARsMama]

Ooooh, the dessert party will be SO GREAT!!!!!!! I had a little pang there, realizing that we would have been in WDW on Oct. 1st as well, but that night I'll be in St. Louis with Rey celebrating our 20th Anniverary, so it's all good! I'll think of you and hope it's GREAT and you have a good view of Wishes as well!

Congrats on the loss as well! You are rocking!

Just think, though, we will be home and I'll be working on my TR and you'll still have your trip ahead of you That and you will still enjoy Oct. 1 celebrating your anniversary

 

[MARsMama]

Well, the kids are all back to school and somewhat settled into a routine! I have been wallowing in my sorrow at having them gone in the day by working on my Disney trip

I can't believe that we're into the teens now, with only 18 days to go Seems like there's a lot to get done, and just a little time left to do it!!

I finished the Epcot passports for the kids, and have made a journal for RT and one for myself. I'm working on finishing up my binder as well as my small booklet I will carry with me at the parks. We've done up a few more t-shirts, but still have a couple left to do, including MJ's birthday one.

This will be the first time we've flown since March of 2001, so we've been checking over the regulations and such, and soon I will start packing

I want to finish off our budget and order our photopass CD. I also need to decide on a cake for MJ's birthday and how to get that ordered.

I am hoping to work on the autograph books for the kids this weekend and soon finish those up, and if time permits I want to do mousekeeping tip envelopes!!

Last night we finally found a video camera and made our final 'large' purchase for the trip. We lost three discs from our last trip, still have the discs, but are now blank The first one we lost the day we got home, we previewed a bit of the disc while in the camera and when dh hooked it up to watch the whole thing on the TV there was nothing there We thought it was a fluke, but since then we've lost two more, we watched them already, so we know they were taped, but when we wanted to watch them a second time for one, and a fifth time for the other, they were blank Hopefully we'll avoid all that this time!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

18 days!!!!!!!!

Where are you going to get a cake done? We had one made for Savannah's bday at Chef Mickey's in 2009 and it was the most amazing cake we have ever had! Chef Brian at Contemporary made it and not only did it look totally unique, it tasted great! Best gift we could have given her b/c she STILL talks about that cake!

 

[MissStitch626]

18 days Well, 17 now I guess

I can't believe how close all of our trips are getting!

 

[MARsMama]

18 days!!!!!!!!

Where are you going to get a cake done? We had one made for Savannah's bday at Chef Mickey's in 2009 and it was the most amazing cake we have ever had! Chef Brian at Contemporary made it and not only did it look totally unique, it tasted great! Best gift we could have given her b/c she STILL talks about that cake!

I think it's the contemporary where I have to call to get a cake for CRT. I'm not sure on that, but I have it written down somewhere. We were at Chef Mickey's for RT's 7th birthday on our last trip and just ordered one there, that was my pre-disboard days and didn't know that there were other oprions. I wasn't very happy with it for the price we paid as it was similar to what we could pick up here at our local grocery store, only smaller and more expensive!! I'm nervous about ordering one as I'm not much for making phone calls, so I think I'm gonna leave that up to dh....after all, he needs to do something to contribute to this trip!

18 days Well, 17 now I guess

I can't believe how close all of our trips are getting!

I know, it is getting down to the wire now. Dh is only off four more days before we go!!!

 

[MARsMama]

I'm stealing this idea from MissStitch since I liked it so much.
Here are my numbers.....

16 - days until we fly to WDW
15 - sleeps until we leave for the airport
14 - how many days we'll be gone for
11- days of school the kids have left before the trip
9 - the amount of days left in our weight loss challenge
5 - how many more pounds I'd like to lose
4 - days dh has off until the trip
3 - how many MNSSHP costumes I have to prepare
2 - the number of t-shirts I have left to do
1 - the amount of pays we have left
1,000,000 - the number of things it seems I still have left to do

 

[PixieMama]

Great "numbers" list! It does seem like there are a million things left to do the closer the trip gets!

 

[cgerdon02]

Love the numbers! Too cute!

 

[MARsMama]

Not too many more days left for updates as we're now into the single digits Nine days from now and we'll be on a flight to Orlando....or so we think
Air Canada is talking 'strike' and we'll know by this Wednesday if it'll happen or not, just one week before we are scheduled to leave and the flight attendants might be striking.....talk about stress!!!!
Trying not to think about the possibility of a strike I am pushing forward with the trip preparations. Working diligently on the kids' autograph books as well are trying to figure out and finalize the costumes for MNSSHP. I also still have a cake to order, which I keep forgetting about.....sounds like I need to get another list started!!
I need to get the last of my journal pages cut and put together as well. Of course, there's still the packing to get started!! Yep, I need to get a list going....