<Insert Quip-y Title Here> (An October 2013 PTR)

PeanutButterMom

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:wave2:

OK, so my fellow October 2013 DISers talked me into it (I wasn’t a very hard sell).
Here it is! Almost exactly one year from our very first WDW trip as a family – and believe it or not, our first real vacation at all! We’ve visited family, and gone on short weekender trips, but this will be our first “real” vacation.

I'm sure there will be a lot of :rotfl:, hopefully not too much of :sad: LOTS of :offtopic:, some :blush: (knowing me) and maybe some :cool1:
 
Cast of Characters:

Anyway, first up: ME! AKA slice-o-bread #1. Name is Heather, and Ive actually been to the World twice before, as a kid: once with my mom (stayed at Dixie Landings) and once with my dad and grandparents a couple years later (Wilderness Lodge). I work, full time, in an office, doing office-y things ;). Im also passionate about car safety and have been a CPST (child passenger safety technician) since 2007. I have a love of parenthesis. Get used to it. Im warning you now. Im also a super saver, but terrible at saving money :ROFL: Basically, Ill buy anything for a good deal even if it means blowing my budget. Im trying really hard for this trip though! Im going to try to chronicle my savings in this PTR as well, mostly to keep myself accountable. My life mostly revolves around family stuff.

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Speaking of family...

DH! His name is Chris, and hes, um, not so much excited about the trip. He says hell be PLENTY happy once he gets there (ahem&) but doesnt want to be involved much in the planning process. Like at all. I dont know how Ill survive! Oh yeah, DIS& :D Anyway, my slice-o-bread #2 loves hockey, fantasy football, and Star Wars. He also works as a full-time, in-house contractor for an installation company. Hes also the main housekeeper of the family, as thats not-so-much my thing. And hes not a crowd person. And I may be getting him a Valium prescription for the trip (I kid, I kid& maybe).

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Next up, PeanutButter (better known as PB around these parts). PB is 6.5, so shell be 7.5 for our trip. Shes super smart (gets it from her mother ;) ), into gymnastics (not so much from her mother), and fairly good-natured. Unless shes tired. Or hungry. Or doesnt get her way. Ahem. Shes never been a princess girl, and watched her first one about a month ago. She loves Tinkerbell and all things tiny (Squinkies, Littlest Pet Shop, Calico Critters). When she grows up she wants to be a Vet at Disney World and a cheerleader on the weekends. She is afraid most big rides, has memorized the maps of all the parks, and probably should have her own PTR. Her homework last night was a topic paragraph about Which water park should I go to, Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach? No joke. On a side note, PB was born with a congenital nevi (large hairy mole) on her forehead. After yearly checks and a biopsy, it was removed by a plastic surgeon when she was 4.5. He did a KILLER job (meaning it isnt super noticeable), but we have to be super, super careful about sun exposure. I'm sure more on that will come up later.

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Jelly! Everyones favorite condiment. Hes 3.5 now, 4.5 for our trip. Before kids, when people would say their kid is all boy or all girl I would roll my eyes, because we arent into gender stereotyping and all colors are for everyone and girls can play with trucks if they want to! etc etc etc. Suffice it to say, Jelly is very BOY. Hes loud and fast and loves Cars (the movie) and Thomas the Train, and potty humor. Hes usually the comic relief in the situation. Hes way more physically adept than PB (who got her mothers sense of grace and coordination). He cant wait to start soccer in the spring when he turns 4 and learn to ski this winter. He enjoys digging in the mud and climbing& all the things. Hes very excited to ride all the big rides (basically, all the rides that PB *IS* tall enough for but too chicken) and Ive got all 10 fingers and toes crossed that hell be the magical 40 inches by our trip. Hes kind of a shorty.

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Also joining us for part of this trip (but probably no pictures) is my mom (who is the coolest person I know, pretty sure, and one of my favorite people) and step-dad. They live out of state, though my mom travels up to visit every couple months. Theyve already decided that theyre staying 5 nights and renting DVC points and staying in a one-bedroom at AKV. They LOVE food and they LOVE wine (and most other spirits ;)), and so are most excited about F&WF.
 
My Savings So Far sticky:

10/17/2012: (so far, hum, $50 since I had to rob Peter to pay Paul (AKA daycare) this month...)

1/3/2013: WOW, do I suck at this! :sad2:My New Year's Resolution is to stick to my budget, and keep myself accountable with this sticky page :D

So far, I have $350 paid toward the balance of our stay. I'm paying Christmas bills on my lunch hour today, and after that I should have an idea of where I'm at :cool2:
 

I'm in! Yay...glad you caved to the peer pressure :) Looking forward to seeing your plans :cheer2:
 
Present and accounted for! :cool1: So glad you decided to go for it! :thumbsup2 Subbing now and going back to read...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back from reading your intros...your kids are adorable! :goodvibes

I like how you plan to track your savings on your PTR! Mind if I steal that idea for my own? :confused3 (when I start it) ~ (yes, I love parentheses too!!!) I too am doing my own savings a little at a time. My savings will mostly be for all the "extras" like gratuity, souveniers, etc, but I still plan to save about $1000 if I can. We can cheer each other on! :cheer2:

I look forward to getting to know you for the next year and watching your plans unfold! :surfweb:
 
I am here!!! Yay for starting! Your family is cute and I love all their names!

D~
 
:welcome: :welcome: :welcome: Everybody!!! I have followers! :cool1:

I like how you plan to track your savings on your PTR! Mind if I steal that idea for my own? :confused3 (when I start it) ~ (yes, I love parentheses too!!!) I too am doing my own savings a little at a time. My savings will mostly be for all the "extras" like gratuity, souveniers, etc, but I still plan to save about $1000 if I can. We can cheer each other on! :cheer2:

Sounds good to me! I'm a really, really bad budget-er. I mean, I make one, and then immediately find an "awesome deal!" I can't live without... URGH!

I am here!!! Yay for starting! Your family is cute and I love all their names!

D~

Thanks! I tried to think of something for my mom and step-dad, but I don't think they'd appreciate being a Marshmallow and a Banana (the only other things that go on a PBJ sandwich!)

OK, now I need to write something else for you guys to follow, lol!
 
The Plans (thus far) (subject to change) (by subject to change, I mean I'm sure they will).

Enough parenthesis? OK, great.

SO...

WHEN! October 19, 2013 - October 28, 2013. It's way cheaper to fly home on Monday (actually significantly cheaper than the price of staying an extra day, believe it or not). I could care less about pulling the kids from school: PB is super crazy way advanced (I'm not being "I have a special snowflake" parent here, I'm actually stating a fact in a mostly ridiculous way, lol). Jelly will be in Pre-K so hopefully he won't have to much work to catch up on :rotfl:

WHERE!: POR. This is sort of subject to change, but I'm 95% confident that it won't. I was all set originally for AoA, but 1) *I* feel more comfortable in a Mod (larger beds; both kids will most likely be bunking in my bed :hug:), 2) the pool is better for PB (one of my first forays on the DIS was looking at pool pictures). PB loves to swim, but the sun makes me super nervous. As much as the Big Pool at AoA looks amazeballs, there is NO shading and no way I feel comfortable about it. 3) the walkways also look fairly shady, which is a big plus. 4) I really want to rent one of those 4-people bikes :bitelip: 5) the boat to DTD and the fact that if the bus wait for POR is long we can take the POFQ bus. 6) I don't know, but there probably is a 6.

Anyway, so that's that. I'm planning on 7 park days, with the 19th being a "traveling day" (plane, get in, check out the resort, go to DTD) and the 28th being the "traveling home"day (quick breakfast, get on the ME for a not so bad 10AM-12 flight).

I had assumed park hoppers, but now I'm on the fence. Maybe I don't need them? I'm sure this will come up later in the PTR.

We aren't doing a water park (YES, PB thinks we are. She'll get over it). I'm freaked about the sun, she'll be too tall for the kiddie area and is afraid of slides, and Jelly won't be tall enough for the bigger slides even if she DID want to. It's just not worth it to me.

We are definitely doing 1 (2?) MNSSHP. We already have our costumes decided. I'm planning (hoping) to find them on the cheap after Halloween this year. My FB DISers already know what we're planning. It involves dyeing my 7 year old's hair (which I'm sure I'll do a dry-run of beforehand at home, lol).

I'm planning on surprising PB with BBB and CRT. I have outfits (light up Cindy dress and Charming costume) picked out for it already. CRT will have to be a dinner, because my plan is to do BBB, go straight to CRT, and then for it to be dark-ish when we finish eating that PB can enjoy her princess hair without ruining it with a hat on (PB doesn't go outside without a hat). I'm not sure how we'll do Mickey ears unless I get her some and only let her wear them at night, which I'm sure she'll be sad about).

I should also mention now that my kids, especially PB, know 100% everything about the trip so far (with the exception of CRT). They know that Disney costs a lot of money and we have to save up (this is mostly to keep them from begging every 10 seconds). They know where it is, they've watched the Disney planning DVD about 6,000 times. PB knows what she wants to do and when she wants to do it. She also understands time very well, and knows that it's a year off. YES, it would have been fun to totally surprise them, but I'm too type-A for it. Jelly knows all about it too, but doesn't freak out about it. He's pretty laid back about it, really.
 
OH! I almost forgot. I'm also doing Wild Africa Trek with my mom (leaving DH and SD with the kids) as a combined Mother's Day/Birthday (it's 3 days a part) gift.

I'm also investing in Photopass +, pretty sure.
 
WDW homework??? Amazing.

She's a writer. :confused3 It's funny, because she wrote it in a "stream of consciousness" style (I'll have to see if I can find it and scan it). It went something like:

"Which water park should I go to, Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon? I don't know. hmmmmmmm. I want to go to Blizzard Beach but the slides are too high. I think I will go to Typhoon Lagoon. Sounds good. I will miss you <Insert teacher name> but I will see you when I get home! OK, bye"

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
PeanutButterMom said:
She's a writer. :confused3 It's funny, because she wrote it in a "stream of consciousness" style (I'll have to see if I can find it and scan it). It went something like:

"Which water park should I go to, Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon? I don't know. hmmmmmmm. I want to go to Blizzard Beach but the slides are too high. I think I will go to Typhoon Lagoon. Sounds good. I will miss you <Insert teacher name> but I will see you when I get home! OK, bye"

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Hehe. I absolutely love it.
 
PeanutButterMom said:
OH! I almost forgot. I'm also doing Wild Africa Trek with my mom (leaving DH and SD with the kids) as a combined Mother's Day/Birthday (it's 3 days a part) gift.

I'm also investing in Photopass +, pretty sure.

We are doing pp+, too.
 
OK, on my iPhone, but I need to make a mental note: OMG I LOVE the Dining Plan Punch Cards (that's the title of the thread). I need one of dem!

Anyway, back to planning ;)
 
PeanutButterMom said:
OK, on my iPhone, but I need to make a mental note: OMG I LOVE the Dining Plan Punch Cards (that's the title of the thread). I need one of dem!

Anyway, back to planning ;)

Went looking , those are cool!
 














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