I'm Ordering a big BLT for Thanksgiving 2010 NEW 12/3 started TR! see link

[DisMomAmy]

So I got my first piece of Mickey Mail....from the DVC for the trip!

confirming our ressie change in adding the last night.

so it shows our complete DVC stay at BLT Ded. 2BR Bay Lake View

Arrivial Saturday Nov 20, 2010 Departure Sunday Nov 28, 2010

Number of Guests 6 (for now till we confirm w/ the IL's for sure they are staying w/ us, but I'm pretty sure this will be the case)...


YAY! Gotta love those letters from Disney


Hope to try and work on my next planning post over the weekend...but in the meantime

Happy New Years All! ​

J~

For Mickey Mail!!

for DVC Mickey Mail!!

 

[ladybugmom]

Whoo hoo for Mickey Mail!!!

 

[Marshay]

Oh, how great that you can invite your ILs with you!!

yeah for Disney mail!!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Julie,

Happy early New Year!... I wish for you that you and your whole family have a very happy, healthy New Year! (Hoping everyone in your family is on the upmend...)

I'm so happy that you were able to work out your dates...I was spinning there for a couple of minutes reading...

I think there is something very special about having a multi-generational trip to Disney...We will be with my inlaws for Em's bday in October also...

 

[ladybugmom]

Happy New Year, Julie!!

 

[Native NYer]

Yay!!! Mickey mail is the best kind of mail.

Happy New Year!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Happy New Year!!

 

[mousescrapper]

NOW I can say....

I'M GOING TO WDW this YEAR!!!!!!!!!​

For Mickey Mail!!

for DVC Mickey Mail!!

Whoo hoo for Mickey Mail!!!

Yay!!! Mickey mail is the best kind of mail.

Happy New Year!

thanks for the dancin and cheers for my Mickey Mail!

Oh, how great that you can invite your ILs with you!!

yeah for Disney mail!!

Yes, I'm glad that they want to come...we haven't been on a trip w/ them since 2007 down to Panama City Beach FL and we haven't been a trip w/ them alone (w/out some of my family) since 2000, so this should be nice to share some of the MAGIC w/ just them...my MIL is such a big kid at heart

Hey Julie,

Happy early New Year!... I wish for you that you and your whole family have a very happy, healthy New Year! (Hoping everyone in your family is on the upmend...)

thanks for the NY wishes...and yes we are sorta all better...the little girls still have some residual coughs and unfortunately Michael and DH have started up w/ some colds...but I don't think it will turn into anything bad...I hope we are all healthy soon too...I don't want this to become the MouseScrapper Family sick report...

I'm so happy that you were able to work out your dates...I was spinning there for a couple of minutes reading...

yes it was bit but I think we are good to go...now just the painstaking waiting till we can book our airfare...

I think there is something very special about having a multi-generational trip to Disney...We will be with my inlaws for Em's bday in October also...

Happy New Year, Julie!!

Becky...thanks for the well wishes and you too!

well soon it is time to start watching the Rose Parade....fun! Have a good day all!

J~

 

[mousescrapper]

Happy New Year!!

whoops...you snuck one in there...

Happy New Year's Amy....

only a few more mornings of my morning helping of the DIS ...then back to reality when school begins...

 

[DisMomAmy]

whoops...you snuck one in there...

Happy New Year's Amy....

only a few more mornings of my morning helping of the DIS ...then back to reality when school begins...

I know... I've been getting quite a bit of DISing in this week. It's funny how frantic and busy everything is until Christmas, then things slow down. We've been in pajamas until late in the day almost every day.

Getting past Christmas has really made our trip seem a lot closer. Like you said, we're going to Disney World this year!! This week has given me a chance to organize my PTR - I've organized all the pictures, scanned, uploaded them to photobucket, etc. Hopefully that will help me stay on top of my report over the next couple months.

Back to reality on Monday... Assuming school starts Monday morning as planned - it's supposed to snow here all weekend. I hope it stops Sunday afternoon/evening so there's time for clean-up!

I'm off to watch the Rose Bowl Parade now too! I wish HGTV still did the "Behind the Scenes" special they used to do every year... I miss that!

 

[mousescrapper]

I wish HGTV still did the "Behind the Scenes" special they used to do every year... I miss that!

yes that was a cool show...


last night we finally watched the behinds the scenes show of getting WDW ready for the Holidays...I can't wait to see most of that in person!

 

[DisMomAmy]

yes that was a cool show...


last night we finally watched the behinds the scenes show of getting WDW ready for the Holidays...I can't wait to see most of that in person!

Wasn't the WDW holiday special awesome!! I thought of you guys when I watched it.

I just noticed that Kathy is dreaming of a trip at the same time as you! That would be so cool!! I'm jealous...

 

[irish dancer]

Well, I'm a little late to the party but I'm so glad I found your PTR! We're very likely to be in WDW at the very same time as you!! We haven't made any ressies yet though. We're using all our 2010 points for our HHI stay in March so we are trying to decide whether to add-on, pay cash, stay off-site or we're also toying with going to DLR.

Sorry I missed all the drama about the ressie, glad you've got it all straightened out.

Welcome to the neighborhood, while we're not "neighbors" as we're AKV owners you'll love DVC!!

With regard to your ticket issue, have you ever gotten your tix from Undercover Tourist? We've used them and have had great service, you'd then have them in-hand when you arrive in FL. Personally I prefer to have the tix separate from the KTTW especially when using the DDP. I'm the official keeper of the FPs and that way I hold all the tix but DH can have his KTTW to get a snack, etc. whenever.

We've done split stays and moving is a breeze. Bell Services will pick up your luggage and it will be at your new resort waiting for you. You can also check in VERY early, we've checked into OKW at 7a before heading to RD at MK.

Hope you're all feeling much better soon! Looking forward to following along with your planning.......

 

[KathyRN137]

NOW I can say....

I'M GOING TO WDW this YEAR!!!!!!!!!​

Yeah!!

Happy New Year, Scrappie!!!


Kathy

 

[mousescrapper]

Wasn't the WDW holiday special awesome!! I thought of you guys when I watched it.

it was very fun...you kinda know there is this whole behinds the magic team working every night but that is beyond crazy how they decorate everything in a matter of 2 nights...I love decorating for Christmas...can I get a job doing that?

Well, I'm a little late to the party but I'm so glad I found your PTR! We're very likely to be in WDW at the very same time as you!! We haven't made any ressies yet though. We're using all our 2010 points for our HHI stay in March so we are trying to decide whether to add-on, pay cash, stay off-site or we're also toying with going to DLR.

Sorry I missed all the drama about the ressie, glad you've got it all straightened out.

Welcome to the neighborhood, while we're not "neighbors" as we're AKV owners you'll love DVC!!

With regard to your ticket issue, have you ever gotten your tix from Undercover Tourist? We've used them and have had great service, you'd then have them in-hand when you arrive in FL. Personally I prefer to have the tix separate from the KTTW especially when using the DDP. I'm the official keeper of the FPs and that way I hold all the tix but DH can have his KTTW to get a snack, etc. whenever.

We've done split stays and moving is a breeze. Bell Services will pick up your luggage and it will be at your new resort waiting for you. You can also check in VERY early, we've checked into OKW at 7a before heading to RD at MK.

Hope you're all feeling much better soon! Looking forward to following along with your planning.......

irishdancer

very cool....I think it slipped my mind you were DVC too...and were also Chicago Suburb neighbors...we need to meet one of these days

I was running some more #'s yesterday and looked at UT and saw that they may just be the best deal... I'm sure I'll have a few more questions as it gets closer to the time to purchase them...I hope to do so before August to stay in the current price.

That would be very cool if you came down around the same time as us! but HHI...aHH a week at the beach sounds great...I can't wait to do that too...or have enough points to do that AND a WDW trip!

thanks for being here.

Yeah!!

Happy New Year, Scrappie!!!


Kathy

YEAH!!!!!! KATHY's in the HOUSE!!!! :

 

[mousescrapper]

Scrappie’s Planning Tools…​

Let me introduce to you some of my fun, crazy, OCD, and organizational planning tools for my upcoming trip…

First thing first before any trip is to clean out the old and prep materials for the next…which of course I started pretty much right after we got home from the last trip in early April ’09….still on my DISNEY high and not experiencing the mega Disney blues like after the June ’08 trip…I got to work after I was done re-capping the Spring Break trip to all of you in my last TR (feel free to peek, the link is below in my siggie)

I decided since I had A LOT of time before the next one I could take my time doing some new things before the real planning began just the past month.

We already knew our dates (minus the add on of going home on Sun. 11-28) and knew where we were going to stay BLT..so what is a crazy DISNEY planning nut like me to do now…

I think I checked out the Unofficial Guide to WDW 2009 book from the library to scan thru that in comparison to the 2008 one my Mom had bought the previous year.

I tried to find as much as I could about BLT on the boards…looking for people’s PTR/TR’s who would be staying there…looking on the DVC threads and reading up about the room/view layouts, other people who bought into BLT and other misc things, plus saw lots of great pictures which got me super excited!.

In August of last year when the new prices for passports and the DDP came out I began jotting down all that info to start getting a feel for what this trip would cost us.

Also thanks to MRYPPNS I got the link to the Operating Hours of the parks for Nov. 2009 and the entertainment schedule as well…

I began to compare the dates of my week in 2010 to the same week in 2009 just basically bumping the days of week up one to start formulating a pre-pre itinerary.

I also found out about the 180 day release of park hours and re-do for booking ADR’s would be in affect for my trip this year.

If that stays true the 180 day out for Park Hours for November should be out approximately 5/5/10 and my 180+10 ADR window will begin on 5/23/10…now I do think since our DDP (yes we are buying this but that will be discussed in a later post) is tied to our BLT portion of our trip and we checkin on Nov. 20, my window will begin one day later on 5/24

How do I organize all my fun stuff?​

Couple main things:

1) My pre-pre-planning notebook (which I’ll need to buy I new one for the future trips it’s getting full of notes)

I use this, divided into sections Resorts/DVC and Travel (DME and airfare), Tickets and Dinning, Vacation itineraries, and Misc which includes packing, things to buy, things already bought, etc

Thru my research of various sites mostly here on the Unoffical Guide, the forums, WDW main site, various ticket dealers, allears.net, I jot down notes of things I want to remember for when I begin the more detailed and final planning.

I have notes about

*What’s included in a 2BR room at BLT

*Restaurants at CR and what meals they serve

*How to get into the Top of the World Lounge

*Monorail rotations

*What things you can do at BLT’s Community Hall

*More misc info about BLT

*Point breakdown of our stay and various room view options

*BBB and Pirate League info and prices

*Info on our 1 night ressie at POP

(oohhh notes on my solo friend trip for sometime in 2012)​

*MVMCP info and pricing (don’t think we will do this time, guess another excuse to come during the Holidays again)

*Park passports/ticket pricing

*Dinning price breakdown

*Various lists of TS and CS places we like at the 4 parks

*Food allergy info (my youngest Margaret has several food intolerances)

*Online ADR info and tips

*Beginning notes of possible dinning plan options for this trip

*1st list of potential TS choices, price breakdown of these

*ADR calendar

*2nd list of potential TS choices

*OOP eating for Day 1) arrival day on 11-19

*Thanksgiving TS options

*TiW info

(ooohhh starting the list of TS potential choices for the 15 yr anniversary trip in 2011)​

*Extras…

*Tips for each of the 4 parks, Photo Pass special pictures list

*Musts for the parks, when to do, when to have GAC as our back-up (we use a GAC for our son Michael (autistic))

*1st itinerary for the 9 days

*Thanksgiving Day Tips

*Hidden Magic lists

*Disney Shirts list

*Grocery info, 1st list of food needs to buy and bring from home

*1st DVC room packing list

*List of DVC discounts

*Other Fun stuff…custom gift baskets for the girls b-days

*Shipping ahead info

*Holiday sightings

*Bay Lake Marina info


2) My Official Planning Binder…yes I’m a Binder Gal!

The picture on the front is a drawing Mae made about a yr ago and I slipped it in here…and it’s just so cute, I can’t replace it. Also in my loads of free time I made a cool photo collage page for the back, of the last 8 trips I have taken to the World…

pic

1984/5 (the year is still a mystery to me) Summer: The One w/ my Childhood memories…my first and only trip as a child off-site at a Days Inn (I think)

1994 and 1995 April and August (the ’95 trip was my 21st b-day trip and I had my first drink at the now debunk 8 Trax bar on PI): The One(s) that started it all….the two trips before DH and I were married (1 w/ just my Mom and 1 w/ my parents) on site at CBR both times

1998 Sept: The one w/ all the RAIN! DH and I were now married went w/ friends on site at AS Sports (Surf’s up) Also found out days later upon our return I was pregnant and days after that found out we were expecting twins!

2001 Sept: The One we never made it to… (should be noted) on our way down in a plane on 9-11 this would have been the twins first trip and w/ my parents, we never made it…but were safe

2005 May: The BIG one…13 people gathered over the course of 10 days to surprise the twins and celebrate their 6th b-day on site POR

2008 June: The One w/ all the Heat…could it get any better, first taste of Deluxe…first family trip of “6” and my Mom came w/ on site Poly

2009 March: the One planned in less than 60 days… the bounce back, Spring Break and Mom’s b-day onsite CSR my Dad came too on this one

Now inside my Binder:

Divided into 10 sections…

Includes misc WDW travel stuff, place to put Airport and DME info

Budget Savings chart

Includes POP and BLT ressie confirmation papers, place to put any important resort info I need for later

Includes all my DVC membership stuff

A Packing section

Includes packing lists for in parks, resorts, master list, etc

The DDP section

Includes restaurant info, print outs of the costs of the QSDDP and reg DDP, any important tips or other info needed

Includes what you think printed menus of possible TS and CS places we want to dine

Also after this pocket page I have some of my new custom organization pages

Overall dinning plan worksheet broken down by day, what park we’ll be at, B, L, & D plus which meals are OOP or DDP (I’m on to my 2nd possible list)

ADR Wish list and Planning Chart for me to write down my final TS choices, days and times when I call or go online to make my ADR’s and then a spot to add in my ADR confirmation #’s

As well I have a print out from DVC member services of the grocery order list I can choose from for BLT

The Park Touring Plan (or TPTP) section

Which will include all final itineraries which I plan to make again using touringplans.com, maps, tips, park tickets pricing, info etc. Another new custom page I created is 1 for each park day:

A place for me to jot down final notes of must see’s, if time (things to do), EMH info, events and parades info, dining choices and notes

For now I have the crowd chart from touring plans and their cheat sheets for each park in this section

Later I plan to fill out my fancy Crowd Reports chart I made when I can get the ’10 dates/charts.

As well in this section as I finalize up each day I am creating custom DAY pages on the computer…I haven’t printed or finished any yet…but here is a peek at Day 2) (sorry if image is stinky)

It includes a spot for the date, our main activity, our proposed wake up time, expected weather, meals and plans for the day split into morning, afternoon, and evening

My final sections are for

Extra Stuff

Misc Memory Pages to add into the custom journals I’ll make when it’s closer to the trip

And Mousecellanous and Notes section and things concerning the Dis.

The final thing in the binder is my BLT book…

I think for the first week after we bought in, I looked at this book every night before bed…


(PLEASE note…several of the new custom pages I borrowed the concept from a fellow Diser’s planning spreadsheets that she made and posted here on the DIS…I know I wrote her name down…so once I find it I’ll mention her again. Some of the pages are sorta dup’s of what she created and other’s are inspired by her’s)

So what is next in the planning stage and what other things do I have to do?​

This list is no where near everything but it’s what I know off the top of my head…

Broken down by month:

TRIP to do’s…​

JAN: not much to do…come up w/ a few fun posts to do in the PTR, work on past Disney trip stuff to share on my BLOG

FEB: sorta the same as Jan…but start typing out and transferring my needed notes from the planning notebook to my binder

MARCH: ditto from the last month (and my brother is getting married this month)

APRIL: hoping SouthWest has November airfare schedules out soon to start the booking process…. Start finalizing my itinerary as the Park Hours and my ADR window will begin later in May…on the TR let’s talk FOOD!

MAY: take time to post about Michael, traveling w/ Autism in mind (he and his twin sister turn 11 this month) ADR Month!

JUNE: plan out the extra fun stuff and begin to order any custom things I need

JULY:

*Start posting favorites from past trips, must do’s and lessons learned for each park: DHS

*As well the end of the month is my deadline to have most to all of the money saved up to pre-purchase the kids tickets for the parks on the current ’09 price (my guess is the ’10 price increase will go affect sometime in early Aug) and add on the DDP to our BLT ressie now I think?

*Make the kids custom autograph books

AUG:

*post about EPCOT

*Make custom (add pictures in later) b-day/memory books for the little girls

*Start the master packing list

SEPT:

*post about AK

*Start working on kids and my journal books

*Finalize up all touring plans and print out pages for compact travel folder

*Make custom special event/dinner invites on computer (got idea from another Diser)

*Go thru Disney Box and other already bought items and make final “to buy list”

Here is a pic of my Disney Box already….

OCT:

*post about MK

*Make new WDW guidebook for Michael to carry w/ him, re-stock and re-use older big one from ’09 for other stuff and make behavior/story cue cards to hang on lanyard

*Finish journal books and have DH bind the journal books

*Make new id cards for each kid and new Mouse Scrapper tag (same as ’09 but need to re-print my name w/ a better space so I’m not mistaken as Mouse Crapper) have DH laminate everything.

*Create a 30 day countdown calendar activity something for the kids/family to do

*Start packing the end of the month…

NOV:

*Finish up any projects needed for the trip

*Post our TOP 5 and my Wishes for the TRIP

*Final TO- DO list

*Finish packing

*10 –days of DISNEY countdown

GO!!!!!!!! ​

Sounds like alot of FUN...huh

Up NEXT: some other fun stuff... (there may not be many posts in the next weeks due to minimal planning and that I'll be busy w/ getting ready for the Wedding Shower my sister and I are hosting for our future Sis in law and my DBro plus I have some serious Scrappin and Projects to get caught up on...I will be posting about some of that on my BLOG during the month....)

thanks for reading,

Scrappie J~

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow!

I can't even read all that right now - my head is spinning!! I need to start pulling together my planning tools soon, so I'll definitely read that post again and take notes, when my brain can absorb it! I may be begging you to email me some of those planning pages too.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Holy Organization Batman! I'm VERY impressed.....when to you find the time woman???? Do you sleep??

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Wow!

I can't even read all that right now - my head is spinning!! I need to start pulling together my planning tools soon, so I'll definitely read that post again and take notes, when my brain can absorb it! I may be begging you to email me some of those planning pages too.

Holy Organization Batman! I'm VERY impressed.....when to you find the time woman???? Do you sleep??

ummm...what they both said...
I love Mae's drawing... &
exactly how much coffee have you had today...?

 

[mousescrapper]

Wow!

I can't even read all that right now - my head is spinning!! I need to start pulling together my planning tools soon, so I'll definitely read that post again and take notes, when my brain can absorb it! I may be begging you to email me some of those planning pages too.

Holy Organization Batman! I'm VERY impressed.....when to you find the time woman???? Do you sleep??

Ok it took me 3 days to pull this post together...

typing, taking pictures and putting it all together...

But seriously alot of that stuff has taken me months to create and gather the info on..you know I love it.

so I'm giggling over your comments when DH is asking me a question and then I hear out of context from him "I couldn't sleep last night" as I was mentioning about all the time I spent on preparing my planning post and then he jokes w/ me...

"yes, I couldn't sleep last night cause I was so worried you wouldn't be able to get it done..."

Mr. Smart-alec

then after I read him the post...his version would be

AUG: call the travel agent (um honey I am the travel agent)

NOV: 3-days before put stuff in a bag...(har har) you know he really appreciates it.

J~