It was all started by a towel...

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DH sold his rifles on Monday and actually made more than double the amount he needed for the camera. He ordered it Monday afternoon, and it is due to be delivered today. I REALLY hope he makes it home before the UPS guy shows up. I can't be sure that they won't just leave the camera on the porch, and that would be a bad thing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they take to the leasing office and what they leave on the porch.

I hope he likes the camera. I also hope we are finished buying cameras for awhile!

I am starting to get fidgety about our 180 mark. I know the 180 mark is completely worthless now, but it makes me very nervous. I think I will e-mail IPO and make ABSOLUTELY SURE there isn't anything that needs to be done at 180 anymore.

Changing everything to 90 days is absolutely tormenting me. I am ready to book ADRs NOW. I want them booked and finalized NOW. Not in 3 more months. 3 months from now some of the slackers will catch up, and that will make it harder for me to get what I want.

 

[babytrees]

DH sold his rifles on Monday and actually made more than double the amount he needed for the camera. He ordered it Monday afternoon, and it is due to be delivered today. I REALLY hope he makes it home before the UPS guy shows up. I can't be sure that they won't just leave the camera on the porch, and that would be a bad thing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they take to the leasing office and what they leave on the porch.

I hope he likes the camera. I also hope we are finished buying cameras for awhile!

I am starting to get fidgety about our 180 mark. I know the 180 mark is completely worthless now, but it makes me very nervous. I think I will e-mail IPO and make ABSOLUTELY SURE there isn't anything that needs to be done at 180 anymore.

Changing everything to 90 days is absolutely tormenting me. I am ready to book ADRs NOW. I want them booked and finalized NOW. Not in 3 more months. 3 months from now some of the slackers will catch up, and that will make it harder for me to get what I want.

yeah, 3 cameras SHOULD be enough. I am glad that he was able to get a lot of money from the guns.

I figured the change to 90 days would throw you off.

$480 for a safari?? That's a lot of dough.

How about parasailing??? Or doing nothing "extra"??

 

[lovesdumbo]

DH asked me last night if I had chosen any "special" tours or anything, but I don't have anything in mind. DS is too young to do any of the Segway stuff. The only tour he could do that we haven't already done is the steam train one.
We have been to La Nouba, we have done Lunch with an Imagineer, we have done the Family Magic and the Magical Milestones tours, we have done an IllumiNations cruise. I need to think about what else we might be interested in.

We are going to play mini golf and go to Blizzard Beach but those aren't really special, those are just normal things we have never done before.

I don't see why something new like mini golf & BB can't be "special".

How about horseback riding? Have you ever done a carriage ride?

Changing everything to 90 days is absolutely tormenting me. I am ready to book ADRs NOW. I want them booked and finalized NOW. Not in 3 more months. 3 months from now some of the slackers will catch up, and that will make it harder for me to get what I want.

I'll be at 90 days for my May trip while I'm at the Polynesian so I really ought to have what I want to do to IPO before I leave. If I give the list of what we want to do you could figure out our days for us. That would give you something to do for a few hours........

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

yeah, 3 cameras SHOULD be enough. I am glad that he was able to get a lot of money from the guns.

I figured the change to 90 days would throw you off.

$480 for a safari?? That's a lot of dough.

How about parasailing??? Or doing nothing "extra"??

Oh, I wasn't seriously considering that safari. We'll probably do the Sunrise Safari again.
I have always wanted to try parasailing. But I am worried about hurting my back. I'll give it some more thought. Especially if DH & DS don't want to do another fishing excursion.

I don't see why something new like mini golf & BB can't be "special".

How about horseback riding? Have you ever done a carriage ride?

I'll be at 90 days for my May trip while I'm at the Polynesian so I really ought to have what I want to do to IPO before I leave. If I give the list of what we want to do you could figure out our days for us. That would give you something to do for a few hours........

I don't know. Mini golf & water park just don't seem on the same level as the other special stuff we have done.
I like horseback riding, but in August I don't think it would be a pleasant activity. Maybe a carriage ride.

Your problem is that your trips are entirely too close together. You wouldn't need my help if you spaced them more than 90 days apart!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Your problem is that your trips are entirely too close together. You wouldn't need my help if you spaced them more than 90 days apart!

Well then Emma's 7th birthday trip should be a perfectly planned trip since it is 250+ days apart. BUT...Emma is the one who DEFIES the Color Coded Matrix of Fun. She'll insist it isn't a MK day despite the well laid plans. And Dorinda says she wants to go for Food & Wine fest so maybe I won't last 250+ days anyways.....


So you didn't say if you wanted to help........

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Well then Emma's 7th birthday trip should be a perfectly planned trip since it is 250+ days apart. BUT...Emma is the one who DEFIES the Color Coded Matrix of Fun. She'll insist it isn't a MK day despite the well laid plans. And Dorinda says she wants to go for Food & Wine fest so maybe I won't last 250+ days anyways.....


So you didn't say if you wanted to help........

Well! If Emma does not respect the power of the Color Coded Matrix of Fun she needs to stay HOME! Insolent child! How DARE she challenge the Matrix?

I might be up for helping. Of course I am distracted now by the school situation. And DS's birthday. I'll have to get back to you.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Today is my 180 mark!!​

Not that it matters. Not since they changed the ADR booking window and dashed all my hopes and dreams of booking my ADRs on 2/2. Such a pity.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

So. Here we are.

Our friends have finally decided that they are NOT coming to WDW this year, so that simplifies my planning tremendously. That, plus the fact that group travel makes me twitchy, means that I am happy they made that decision.

I called IPO this morning to see if they will make all of my ADRs for me even though we are not in a concierge room the whole time. No, they won't. That would be an OK answer IF I hadn't read a dozen other posts where people said IPO made ALL of their ADRs for them, even after they left concierge and moved to a Value or offsite or whatever.

So I am on my own for the first 6 nights. Hmph. If I am not able to get my first choice of ADRs I am going to be firing off a not-so-nice letter about the NARROW little ADR window AND the fact that the IPO people all need to get on the same page. I am also thinking I need to be more aggressive in my pursuit of switching those savannah nights to concierge!

 

[MrsHeg]

Those hours from rope drop until lunch are my favorite.
Well, as long as we are not attempting to tour with people who think those hours are good for standing in character lines and stopping to eat.

We like to move expeditiously through the park and get things done during those hours, so stopping and fooling around makes me CRAZY. Then feeling like I am obligated to also stop (and not say anything ugly about it) makes me feel like I am going to explode.

One morning at Epcot DH and DS stopped in the restroom on the way to the turnstiles. I counted how many people walked by (and got in FRONT of us) since they HAD to stop. They know I hate to stop. If the goal is to get into the park then we need to get into the park - no stopping! Other people tend to have a hard time comprehending that. I can't sit on a bench and just stagnate. I have to be moving towards the next thing.

We do take a break at the hotel after lunch. I used to hate to do that, but I have come to accept it. We do have at least one TS meal every day, sometimes 2, and I can sit still for those. I can also stop to look at pin lanyards. Otherwise, no stopping!

Our group knew better than to lolligag, but with a three year old there were definitely character stops with lots of pictures.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Our group knew better than to lolligag, but with a three year old there were definitely character stops with lots of pictures.

Stopping with a preschooler is to be expected. Stopping with a group of adults who should be able to understand delaying character photos in favor of getting to the rides before the lines get out of hand is what irks me!

New in Planning News:

I managed to win a ticket to Universal in that Super Bowl promo they ran during the game. So now we are going to Universal for a couple of days. It will "only" add about $500 to the cost of our vacation to use that "free" ticket! That cost factors in transportation to Universal and back, one night of onsite hotel so we can utilize the front of the line privileges, and 2 more park tickets. I haven't actually booked anything yet, but I have the basic plan in place.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I booked a night at Royal Pacific Resort so we will be able to use the "front of the line" privileges at US/IOA.

I have decided we will eat at Margaritaville one night, and eat at Mythos the next day for a late lunch or early dinner, contingent on when they are open.

I called to modify our DVC waitlist and miraculously I was able to switch 2 more nights to concierge!! Now we are just spending 4 nights in a savannah view. Since 2 of those nights will be the nights we are eating at US/IOA I only have to make ADRs for our first 2 nights, then IPO will make the other 10 nights. Yay!

DH bought a new flash for his dSLR cameras. He is happy. I'm sure that won't last long, because he will think of some other thing he needs.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Stupid trading pins.

My life would be SOOOO much easier if we had never gotten started with the pins. DH, DS and I all have our own collection. If you add them together we probably have about 600 pins.

Last year I bought a ton of pins on Disney Shopping to use as traders. This year the pins sale on Disney Shopping was PITIFUL, so I didn't buy any. I figured we would scale back this year, maybe not trade much, maybe leave the lanyards in the room some days.

That was a good plan. Maybe even a GREAT plan. Then I looked at the new Hidden Mickey pins for this year. Some of them are REALLY cool. We might like to have some of those pins!

I pulled out the traders we had left from the last trip. We have about 100 left. But there are three of us, so 100 pins won't go very far. DH always says he doesn't want to trade. He says DS and I can use his traders. Then he DOES trade, and he screeches that we took all of his traders. That gets old FAST. DS likes to purposely snatch up the pins he knows DH wants, then he holds them hostage. The 2 of them bicker back and forth like preschoolers.

I was going to buy more traders, but now I think we will just have to muddle through with what we have on hand. At some point we need to get past the pinsanity. Maybe this will help.

 

[bear74]

Elizabeth I just realized you had started a trip report.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Elizabeth I just realized you had started a trip report.

Yeah. And it is going painfully SLOW right about now!

In recent planning news:

My plan to cut back on pin trading has been foiled by the arrival of a Disney Liquidation sale here in town. We went on Sunday and bought 115 pins. Combined with what we had left from last year and the pins we pulled out of our books that we didn't really want to keep for our collections we should each have about 100 pins to trade now. That "scaling back on trading" thing didn't last very long, did it?

I found shorts on clearance at Sam's. $5 each for my favorite brand, Jones NY Sport. I need to try them on and take them back if they don't fit.

I still have a pair from Marshall's that I bought last year that are too big. Missed the deadline to return them, can't find the receipt. Guess I will give them to Goodwill and call it a $3 lesson.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I just found your trip report and got caught up. It sounds like you have plans well in hand. I like your rules about things bought for Disney don't count. I would apply that in my own life, but since I am single and live alone, that could get me into budget trouble really fast. I could probably find a way to justify EVERYTHING I want to be for Disney.

I hope your mother is doing well in her battle with cancer. My aunt just came through it last year and a friend just finished her chemo last week. My thoughts are with her and your family.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I just found your trip report and got caught up. It sounds like you have plans well in hand. I like your rules about things bought for Disney don't count. I would apply that in my own life, but since I am single and live alone, that could get me into budget trouble really fast. I could probably find a way to justify EVERYTHING I want to be for Disney.

I hope your mother is doing well in her battle with cancer. My aunt just came through it last year and a friend just finished her chemo last week. My thoughts are with her and your family.

Welcome, Stacy!
Mom seems to be doing pretty well, thanks! She had her last dose of radiation last week so I am hoping she is finished with the really brutal stuff!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I think my ticker is broken. It's going really, really slow.

 

[PNO4TE]

I think my ticker is broken. It's going really, really slow.

And I must be slow or not be paying attention because I didn't know you had a Pre TR! Onboard now!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

And I must be slow or not be paying attention because I didn't know you had a Pre TR! Onboard now!!

Hi, Elin!
Nothing good has happened yet, so you haven't missed anything!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We seem to be accumulating loose ends. Loose ends give me stress.

On Feb. 8 I booked a room at Royal Pacific at Universal. It was supposed to be charged IMMEDIATELY. Here we are, one month later, and it still has not been charged. It's not even pending. I called them and they said my ressie is fine. Great.

My free ticket from Universal hs not arrived, but apparently nobody else who won one has recieved theirs, either.

The tickets I PAID for from Universal have also not arrived. Not a peep from TicketMaster as far as when they will ship, etc.

IPO says I can submit my ADR requests whenever. Hmm. Should I do it now? Or wait? Decisions, decisions...