How Early is Too Early to Plan??? - TR Link Added - 12/29

[Disney9.9.10]

Just saying hi! I am horribly behind on many reports right now. I hope that all is well for you and your family!

 

[afwdwfan]

I hope to be back later with a quick update... both real life and trip related. And I might actually get to catch up on a TR or 2 if I'm really lucky.

Nah, I'm not saying that. I am saying to just buy resale at SSR and stay wherever you want for 1/2 the price.

Well, I've considered buying DVC, but yeah, that's a lot of money to lay down at once. I've got other expenses to deal with.

Um.... What?

He's basically saying buy cheap DVC resale and use it to book a DVC room there.

Not that my vote matters, but i'd go with GCH

Your vote does matter. Kind of. Maybe?

Also, wanted to mention this in case you may have overlooked it in your planning. Over at DCA in the Animation Building, there is a ramp to go downstairs to the Sorcerer's Workshop. It's a very fun interactive area for kids going through the Beast's Library where you can get on computer screens to see what Disney personality you have and from there it leads you to Ursula's Grotto where you can choose a Disney song, sing it while it records and you can hear the playback. It's really fun and your kids would enjoy it! It's something a lot of people forget about. Definitely a hidden gem

Yeah, the kids would love that. Thanks for the heads up.

Just saying hi! I am horribly behind on many reports right now. I hope that all is well for you and your family!

Um... yeah... I'm right there with you.

We're doing great, thanks for asking. I hope your family is as well!

 

[afwdwfan]

Almost FP+ Time!!!

I want to start off by apologizing if my comments on TR's are slow to happen or shorter than normal. I've been swamped. It is fall and that means I'm busy here at work during the day, and then putting in long hours on the farm after work. We've had some rain the past couple of days so I've got a little bit of time right now to step back and catch my breath.

First of all, in Disney World related news, our FP+ reservations will have been made by this time next week.

If all goes as planned. We shall see. I'm still not 100% confident in the DME system, but Tuesday is our FP+ day, so hopefully we can get what we want!

We decided due to some scheduling changes that it would work best if we could change some ADR nights or times. Yeah... too many free dining packages. We couldn't even move our Whispering Canyon ADR back an hour or 2. It was either stick with what we had or eat really late. Basically, we're stuck with what we had already booked, which is fine. We did end up canceling our Tusker House breakfast, which for the third trip in a row, has been booked and then cut.

We did this for a few reasons. First of all, it is just more characters that we're going to be eating with elsewhere. Secondly, this is a meal that we were going to pay out of pocket, so it just cuts that much more expense from the trip. And most importantly, we are planning one morning in AK. We had an 8 am ADR and then we would be hitting the park at 9am when it opened. Except they changed some things... and that morning is now appearing as an EMH in AK. We never want to be in a park the first hour it is open if we're going to be sitting in a restaurant. That is prime park touring time!!!!

We ended up changing our AK day, so we'll just get an extra hour of sleep that morning that we intended to go to Tusker House. We were unable to obtain another early ADR on our new AK day.


Moving on to Disneyland...

We have decided on a hotel and booked our package.

We were leaning towards DLH, but you all nudged me to just go for it and stay at GCH. I guess in the end, it will be nice to be so much closer to the parks at the end of the day, and really, for a once in a lifetime trip, I'd say it is worth $300 more over the course of 4 nights to upgrade and do it right.



And I thought I'd share some pictures I have from working on the farm the past couple of weeks so you know why I've been scarce around the Disboards lately.

The Combine in the shop when we were getting it ready to roll.

Some pictures DW took while we were combining near the house.

Some pictures from the drivers seat.

The many monitors we have to control and track what is going on. Top to bottom, a camera mounted to the auger so we can see backing up; a screen that controls some settings for the combine and tracks the auto steer system; a screen that gives live feedback of what the yield and moisture is as we harvest.

An iPad with an app that maps the yield to show where in the field the crop is yielding better or worse. It plugs into the green monitor in the picture above.

And if you're interested... Here is a video I took one evening while I was running beans. The combine has auto steer that makes it drive a straight line controlled by GPS from one end of the field to the other. All you have to do is turn it around at the end and push a button to make it follow your pre-set line.

Anyway... as of now, we're almost done with soybeans. We have about 130 acres left, but we can't get to them until it dries up. Once we can get to them, we should be able to get them done in a day, if we have good weather and can get started early and don't have any other problems.

We have shelled some corn over the past few days. Corn can be shelled when it is wet, as long as the leaves and stalks aren't just soaked. Beans on the other hand, absorb moisture, so we can't get back to them until they dry up a little bit more. The current weather pattern isn't too helpful, but at least we can get a little bit of a start on shelling corn.


My plan is to start trying to catch up on everyone's TRs. My comments might be a little more brief than normal, but be assured that I'm reading and following along the best I can. And with 2 big trips coming up right after harvest season... well, my Dis time might be a little limited for the foreseeable future.

 

[jedijill]

Wow. Farming has really gotten high tech over the last few years. I love all the John Deere green!

Good luck getting your FP+!

Jill in CO

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Love seeing the info on how farming is going these days! That combine is nice!

Yay for picking the GCH! I would have done the same if I were you, the extra $$ would be worth it to be closer and in such a nice place during your stay.

Good luck with the FP+ selections. My window opens 2 weeks from today!

 

[amazingact21]

Life can get in the way sometimes. But no worries, our trip reports aren't going anywhere. Everyone understands that sometimes you have no free time. Don't feel obligated to stay current on everything.



Sounds like one busy time of the year for you. I'll admit, my knowledge of farming extends as far as gardens so some of the info you were giving went over my head. (Except about drying the beans out, I actually knew that!)
The photos from the driver's seat and the ones your DW took were very cool. It looks like an impressive place. I only know beaches and swampland, so I can't imagine seeing all those crops in one place. There was one picture when I thought, "There's so much green!"



I'm glad you were able to come to decision on resorts for DL. I don't think you'll look back and regret picking GCH.



Good luck on snagging FPs. It can be confusing at first, but it tends to get easier the more days you do. And hey, at least that means you'll be at 60 days on your trip countdown.


I've heard some not so great reviews of Tusker House lately, so maybe it wasn't a horrible idea to drop the ADR.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for updating us on what's going on. While I probably only understood about half of what you said (took me a few reads to realize that combine was equipment and not a verb!), its interesting to get insight into a job that is so unfamiliar to me. I hope the weather turns for you and you can get those soybeans harvested and have a substantial crop.

I hope you enjoy the GCH. Its a beautiful hotel. Good luck on FP+. Monday is my ADR day for the April trip so I feel for your anxiety!

 

[LuvEeyore]

Let us know what kind of great fastpasses you getm=.

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow. Farming has really gotten high tech over the last few years. I love all the John Deere green!

Good luck getting your FP+!

Jill in CO

Yes, it is getting more and more high tech all the time. So much so that sometimes I just want to get rid of the technology and take a step back. My 60+ year old dad and uncle don't exactly handle it all that well.

Love seeing the info on how farming is going these days! That combine is nice!

Yay for picking the GCH! I would have done the same if I were you, the extra $$ would be worth it to be closer and in such a nice place during your stay.

Good luck with the FP+ selections. My window opens 2 weeks from today!

Thanks

Yeah, I think GCH is the best in the long run. We really were kind of excited about DLH, but with GCH's location and the fact that it isn't all that much more expensive... well it just makes sense.

Life can get in the way sometimes. But no worries, our trip reports aren't going anywhere. Everyone understands that sometimes you have no free time. Don't feel obligated to stay current on everything.

Yeah, everybody goes through it from time to time. The Dis is a fun time waster, but sometimes there just isn't much time to waste.

Sounds like one busy time of the year for you. I'll admit, my knowledge of farming extends as far as gardens so some of the info you were giving went over my head. (Except about drying the beans out, I actually knew that!)
The photos from the driver's seat and the ones your DW took were very cool. It looks like an impressive place. I only know beaches and swampland, so I can't imagine seeing all those crops in one place. There was one picture when I thought, "There's so much green!"

Sorry. I was trying to throw some descriptions out to help explain some things... but I probably could have worded them better.

I'm glad you were able to come to decision on resorts for DL. I don't think you'll look back and regret picking GCH.



Good luck on snagging FPs. It can be confusing at first, but it tends to get easier the more days you do. And hey, at least that means you'll be at 60 days on your trip countdown.


I've heard some not so great reviews of Tusker House lately, so maybe it wasn't a horrible idea to drop the ADR.

I think GCH will work well for us. But the short walk to the parks was the biggest thing!

I'm nervous about the FP+ thing. I think we may actually try to snag one for Anna and Elsa.

Thanks for updating us on what's going on. While I probably only understood about half of what you said (took me a few reads to realize that combine was equipment and not a verb!), its interesting to get insight into a job that is so unfamiliar to me. I hope the weather turns for you and you can get those soybeans harvested and have a substantial crop.

I hope you enjoy the GCH. Its a beautiful hotel. Good luck on FP+. Monday is my ADR day for the April trip so I feel for your anxiety!

Eh... sorry. I was trying to be descriptive so that I could kind of educate, but I was trying to do it without getting overly wordy. I guess it didn't work so well.
And combine is both a noun and a verb. The machine is called a combine, but you'll also hear someone say things like "I just combined that field."

Let us know what kind of great fastpasses you getm=.

I will! Hoping to score a couple of TSMM FP+, 7DMT and maybe an A&E. Hopefully my goals aren't too terribly lofty?

 

[that's nice]

Nah, I'm not saying that. I am saying to just buy resale at SSR and stay wherever you want for 1/2 the price.

Um.... What?

Not sure how familiar you are with DVC, but resale prices are at around 50% cheaper than buying directly from Disney. We just purchased SSR in January for $60pp. Direct prices are $135-$165. With buying resale your contract is more restricted(can't use points for DCL, can't book the 'Disney Collection', etc) but all non-DVC booking are considered a poor value because of the amount of points that are needed -vs- 'renting' out points.

We are able to book our home resort (SSR) 11 months out and any other DVC resort 7 months out. We just got home from our first DVC stay a couple weeks ago. We stayed at BLT- 1BR MK view. It was great to have the extra room, and a bedroom to put the kids down in.

Almost FP+ Time!!!

I want to start off by apologizing if my comments on TR's are slow to happen or shorter than normal. I've been swamped. It is fall and that means I'm busy here at work during the day, and then putting in long hours on the farm after work. We've had some rain the past couple of days so I've got a little bit of time right now to step back and catch my breath.

No worries... I'm in and out of the DIS all the time. Most of the time work or life gets in the way but sometimes I just cut myself off for a while.

First of all, in Disney World related news, our FP+ reservations will have been made by this time next week.

If all goes as planned. We shall see. I'm still not 100% confident in the DME system, but Tuesday is our FP+ day, so hopefully we can get what we want!

You want Anna & Elsa? Book it 1st for one of our last days in WDW.

We were leaning towards DLH, but you all nudged me to just go for it and stay at GCH. I guess in the end, it will be nice to be so much closer to the parks at the end of the day, and really, for a once in a lifetime trip, I'd say it is worth $300 more over the course of 4 nights to upgrade and do it right.

Take a lot of pictures! Melody was saying she wants to goto DL in 2 years. Hopefully, we can book a few nights at the GCH or in our case GCV.

And I thought I'd share some pictures I have from working on the farm the past couple of weeks so you know why I've been scarce around the Disboards lately.

Great pictures.Lots of technology in those tractors. It's like they almost can drive themselves! (I checked out your video LOLOL)

 

[pkondz]

Yeah... too many free dining packages. We couldn't even move our Whispering Canyon ADR back an hour or 2.

A necessary evil, I suppose.
But we loved free dining.
Wouldn't have done our last trip without it.

First of all, it is just more characters that we're going to be eating with elsewhere.

Now that the DDs are older, I have no intention of ever doing a character meal again.
Unless it's for the food, or strategic park entry.

We have decided on a hotel and booked our package.
We were leaning towards DLH, but you all nudged me to just go for it and stay at GCH.

Wow. That looks great!

The combine has auto steer that makes it drive a straight line controlled by GPS from one end of the field to the other. All you have to do is turn it around at the end and push a button to make it follow your pre-set line.

Thank you! As soon as I started reading this post, I wanted to ask if the combine turned itself or just did the lines.
Now I know.

Believe it or not, this was in the back of mind for years.

 

[KatMark]

I would have cancelled WCC but that's just me.

YAY for having your package booked for DL. I'm going to count on you for lots of info after your trip (even though we've postponed ours for the time being...since we did WDW for Mark's 60th, we're going to do DL for mine).

Love seeing all that John Deere equipment...especially since my daughter-in-law works for a subsidiary of the company.

 

[RGirl]

Okay - I was really trying to make it through the whole PTR and then post, because that would be super-impressive, but well, it isn't happening.

So please know that I am reading through and joining in. I seriously hope to have made it through enough to make an actual substantive comment before you leave on your trip!

Really, I am trying very hard!!!!

 

[MEK]

Yay for FP+ window opening up!

I ate at TH for breakfast last winter. It was just OK, so I won't feel bad about the cut. It was just sort of crowded and claustrophobic in there. I didn't care for the setup, but that might have been because we were at a table for two. You know how those tables can be cramped.

Seriously cool combine. The corn in the field next to my house was harvested this past week. I assure you that the equipment they used was not nearly as cool as yours. Thanks for the inside look into the cab. Very cool tech stuff. Loved all the pictures! More please!

 

[afwdwfan]

No worries... I'm in and out of the DIS all the time. Most of the time work or life gets in the way but sometimes I just cut myself off for a while.

We've noticed.

You want Anna & Elsa? Book it 1st for one of our last days in WDW.

That's the plan. I'm more nervous about having issues with MDE and booking FP+ than anything. I almost always have issues with it when I log on. I figure by the time I get logged in and get to where I can book FP+ they'll be gone.

Take a lot of pictures! Melody was saying she wants to goto DL in 2 years. Hopefully, we can book a few nights at the GCH or in our case GCV.

I'm sure DW will have it covered.

Great pictures.Lots of technology in those tractors. It's like they almost can drive themselves! (I checked out your video LOLOL)

Almost...

A necessary evil, I suppose.
But we loved free dining.
Wouldn't have done our last trip without it.

Yes. We've used it before and I think it is a good thing to have. I just hate that it makes it so hard to schedule or re-arrange ADR's if you need to do it closer to trip time.

Now that the DDs are older, I have no intention of ever doing a character meal again.
Unless it's for the food, or strategic park entry.

Well, TH was more for the strategic park entry than the characters in this case. But when it became a strategically bad idea to be there... well, you know.

I don't know how our kids will be about character meals later. I don't mind them. I could take them or leave them. But I'd say we might limit it to character breakfasts later down the road. And definitely not as many in one trip!

Wow. That looks great!

It does, doesn't it?

Thank you! As soon as I started reading this post, I wanted to ask if the combine turned itself or just did the lines.
Now I know.

Believe it or not, this was in the back of mind for years.

Well, I'm glad that I had something useful and informative to say! Thanks!

Truthfully though, the technology really is there that you could make them drive themselves. It has been done on an experimental basis. The problem is that you still need to have someone in the cab to keep an eye on what is happening and to be ready to make adjustments or fix problems that may occur in the middle of the field, so there's really no point in having it fully automated. But it is definitely nice to be able to let go of the wheel when you're planting or running the combine.

I would have cancelled WCC but that's just me.

I know Kathy. I know.

YAY for having your package booked for DL. I'm going to count on you for lots of info after your trip (even though we've postponed ours for the time being...since we did WDW for Mark's 60th, we're going to do DL for mine).

Well, I'll definitely be giving a perspective on it from a WDW homer point of view. This upcoming trip will be my 9th to WDW followed by my first to DL.

Love seeing all that John Deere equipment...especially since my daughter-in-law works for a subsidiary of the company.

I like the green equipment too. But if our dealer doesn't start acting like they want to deal with us, there's going to be some red or blue starting to show up.

Okay - I was really trying to make it through the whole PTR and then post, because that would be super-impressive, but well, it isn't happening.

If you sat down and read all the crap I wrote all at once, I'm not sure impressive would be the appropriate word for it.

So please know that I am reading through and joining in. I seriously hope to have made it through enough to make an actual substantive comment before you leave on your trip!

Really, I am trying very hard!!!!

I believe you. And don't worry about it. I kind of abandon the PTR at times. I enjoy putting a PTR together so that I can think things through and get feedback on various details, but there are just so many points in trip planning where there's just nothing happening. And the PTR goes stale. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Hopefully the TR will be better.

Yay for FP+ window opening up!

I'm nervously excited about it.

I ate at TH for breakfast last winter. It was just OK, so I won't feel bad about the cut. It was just sort of crowded and claustrophobic in there. I didn't care for the setup, but that might have been because we were at a table for two. You know how those tables can be cramped.

I don't feel too bad about cutting it. I'd still like to try it sometime though.

Seriously cool combine. The corn in the field next to my house was harvested this past week. I assure you that the equipment they used was not nearly as cool as yours. Thanks for the inside look into the cab. Very cool tech stuff. Loved all the pictures! More please!

Thanks. It is definitely a huge upgrade over what we were using just 5 or 6 years ago. The technology has really come a long way. Half of those monitors weren't even in it last year. We added them before we started this year. The fun part is trying to teach my dad and uncle how to use all of that stuff.

 

[Leshaface]

Hopefully you get everything you want for FP+. That's not something i'm looking forward to, but hoping it's easy and smooth for you.

I think you made the right move in canceling TH, especially as it's now an EMH! Good call.

Awesome choice on the GCH! It may seem like a lot right now, but when you get there and see how amazing it is and how close it is, it will be totally worth it.

Very cool to see the view from inside the tractor. We always drive by folks working in their tractors and it's neat to see their point of view.

 

[afwdwfan]

FP+ booked. Stayed up until after midnight to do it. The whole experience caused un-Disney like words to come out of my mouth on more than one occasion. I still don't deny that FP+ and the ability to change FP+ reservations on the fly will be a good thing. But the ordeal of using the MDE website and booking them 60 days out...

We got mostly everything we wanted. As it stands right now, the kids DW and her Mom will be able to meet Anna and Elsa. I will not. I really don't care to meet them, but it is ridiculous that you have to have FP+ just to stand there and see your kids meet a character. Eh... whatever. Only took about 500 trial and error attempts to finally find individual FP+'s for them to have a 20 minute overlapping window together on our 7th and final day. FiL and I each have A&E FP+ too for different times from the rest of them as place holders. I'll see if something opens up for the same time as the kids later. If not, I'm tempted to leave mine unused as a middle finger to FP+.

Really, I'm not a fan right now. Yes, I'm a little bitter about not being able to get the A&E FP+ for all of us together when booking at midnight 67 days out... But more than that, I don't like the layout for picking them and adjusting times. Why can't you just select your time from the very start??? I could have been done in less than half the time it took if the site was a little more user friendly from that aspect. I changed most of my FP+ twice. First to a dummy time to open up the windows I wanted and then back to the times I wanted.

Sorry. Lack of sleep from the past few weeks followed by staying up late to deal with FP+ has me a little edgy this morning. Rant over.

Hopefully you get everything you want for FP+. That's not something i'm looking forward to, but hoping it's easy and smooth for you.

Well, mostly smooth. At least I wasn't locked out of my Disney account or something stupid like that. I just got frustrated with the layout more than anything.

I think you made the right move in canceling TH, especially as it's now an EMH! Good call.

Yeah, I think it was for the best.

Awesome choice on the GCH! It may seem like a lot right now, but when you get there and see how amazing it is and how close it is, it will be totally worth it.

I look forward to spending a few days there. I still want to try to get over to DLH and Trader Sams at some point though.

Very cool to see the view from inside the tractor. We always drive by folks working in their tractors and it's neat to see their point of view.

Thanks.

 

[jedijill]

Congrats on getting your FP+. I'm sorry it was such a hassle. I'm not looking forward to doing it for next years trip and I will just be making plans for 1. I can't imagine doing it for a large family.

Jill in CO

 

[KatMark]

I'm going to be very nice today since you are over the edge. Perhaps I'll hold off until tomorrow doing an update so you don't rant on my TR.

I'm glad, despite the headache, you got the FP+.

 

[that's nice]

But the ordeal of using the MDE website and booking them 60 days out...

Not sure how bust it is going to be when you go, but we found we could adjust times on the fly for every FP we had except 7 dwarfs and TSM.

We got mostly everything we wanted. As it stands right now, the kids DW and her Mom will be able to meet Anna and Elsa. I will not. I really don't care to meet them, but it is ridiculous that you have to have FP+ just to stand there and see your kids meet a character. Eh... whatever.

Hey, at least you got them. Keep checking, maybe something will open up. Don't forget to check just before your 45 day mark when people start canceling.

But more than that, I don't like the layout for picking them and adjusting times. Why can't you just select your time from the very start???

That would make everything go faster. Not sure why it doesn't let you do that.

Sorry. Lack of sleep from the past few weeks followed by staying up late to deal with FP+ has me a little edgy this morning. Rant over.

Go have a drink. You deserve it.