It was all started by a towel...

[tinknme]

Not yet, Elin.

But we will be in...

5 weeks!! In 5 weeks we will be at WDW!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My tip envelopes have been finished (decorated) for quite some time, but I put money in them today.

I am in a quandry as to what to do about paying for the bulk of our WDW purchases (food and other room charges). I was going to take travelers checks like I did last year. Our bank does not charge for them, and they are easy and convenient. Then I thought maybe we would just charge our purchases to get the Reward dollars, and pay it all off when we get home. The thing is, I am reading LOTS of posts about Chase doing really squirrelly things with credit limits. We don't carry a balance on the card, and right now the credit line is reasonable. But other people are saying they paid off their card in preparation to use it on their trip, and then their limit was lowered to some paltry amount ($300 - $600).

I would hate to get to WDW and have to use our debit card because Chase did some weird thing to our limit. OR I would hate to use the Chase card at WDW, get home and pay it off, then have them chop the limit down to nothing. Sure, the Reward dollars would be nice, but how much would they cost us in the long run? Decisions, decisions...

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Ah, dining.

How I love Disney dining! I love to plan my ADRs. I love to browse menus. I love to read dining reviews. I love to anticipate the fabulous meals we will have.

Last year we were lured in by the stupid DxDDP. We lost HUNDREDS of dollars on that plan. Our DS is tiny and prefers kid's meals. He will only eat vanilla ice cream for dessert. Paying $70 per day for the plan (per person) seemed like an OK idea to begin with, but it wasn't a good value. We ate mostly buffet breakfasts and signature dinners, so our tips averaged about $55 per day. $210 for the plan plus $55 in tips is $265 per day on FOOD!! Are you KIDDING me? I know it's WDW and real-world logic doesn't apply. The 3 of us can eat for almost 2 weeks at home on $265. CERTAINLY we should be able to get by on less than $265 PER DAY at WDW.

I thought MAYBE we would get the DDP for the front 4 nights of our stay this year since we aren't in a concierge room those days. I ran the numbers, played around with what we would use credits for and what we would pay OOP. If we were creative about it we MIGHT break even.
OK, so maybe it's the signature dinners throwing us off. Maybe we should get DxDDP for those front 4 nights! Then we'd get more snacks and mugs, too! Ran the numbers for that. We would lose $100. And ONLY losing $100 would require DS to eat an adult appetizer, entree, and dessert multiple times. He never eats that much, so it makes no sense to require him to order that way.

This year there will be NO dining plans. DDE card, yes. Dining plan, no. I bet you we will NOT spend $3700 on food, which is approximately what DxDDP plus tips would be over the course of 14 nights.

Our ADRs are:

Breakfast: Crystal Palace, Boma (x2)
Lunch: Sci Fi, Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, The Plaza
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse (x2), Boma, California Grill, Narcoosee's, Flying Fish, Turf Club, Citrico's, Kona, and Cape May Cafe.

I left 4 nights open for CS dinners because we miss a lot of stuff sitting in restaurants at night.

The majority of our breakfasts and snacks will be in the concierge lounge. Though last year we weren't very good at timing our lounge visits when the "good stuff" was offered. Maybe we'll be better at that this time.

 

[PNO4TE]

I cannot imagine spending almost $4000 on food on a vacation and I LOVE to eat!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I cannot imagine spending almost $4000 on food on a vacation and I LOVE to eat!

For three people, in 2 weeks. Really, how insane is that?

DH loves to eat, but he is just as happy with a burger as he is with filet mignon. DS would prefer not to eat anything, ever. I love Disney dining and I can appreciate a nice meal, but $3700 worth of nice meals crosses some sort of line.

I am eager to see what the grand dining total is this year.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I am in a quandry as to what to do about paying for the bulk of our WDW purchases (food and other room charges). I was going to take travelers checks like I did last year. Our bank does not charge for them, and they are easy and convenient. Then I thought maybe we would just charge our purchases to get the Reward dollars, and pay it all off when we get home. The thing is, I am reading LOTS of posts about Chase doing really squirrelly things with credit limits. We don't carry a balance on the card, and right now the credit line is reasonable. But other people are saying they paid off their card in preparation to use it on their trip, and then their limit was lowered to some paltry amount ($300 - $600).

I would hate to get to WDW and have to use our debit card because Chase did some weird thing to our limit. OR I would hate to use the Chase card at WDW, get home and pay it off, then have them chop the limit down to nothing. Sure, the Reward dollars would be nice, but how much would they cost us in the long run? Decisions, decisions...

I always pay off my Disney Chase card every month and I it seems like they just keep raising my limit.

I wish they would offer double rewards for Disney purchases. I think my JetBlue Amex card offers triple rewards on JetBlue purchases-of course I do have to pay an annual fee for the JetBlue card-I figure I would loose the miles I earn flying without the credit card so it is worth the $50 fee to get at least one free ticket/year.


We won't be doing the DDP. Now that Lizzy is a Disney adult I just can't justify it.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I think I am going to order our APs through the DVC site today so we'll get the Reward Dollars. Then I will pay it off as soon as the transaction hits and see if they suddenly slash the credit line.

That will cut down on the amount of travelers checks I have to drag along, it will give us more Reward Dollars, and it will be a good "test" to see what they will do.

By the way Bernadette, DH is eager to get a look at your new camera!

 

[lovesdumbo]

By the way Bernadette, DH is eager to get a look at your new camera!

Am I allowed to show it to him? I don't think you want him wanting a Nikon.



I have to think about tickets too. I think I'll get just Emma & I AP's since I am committed to taking her for her 7th birthday. I may take Lizzy for my birthday since both Joe & Emma have been for that but I'm not sure it will work out for her & school so I don't think getting her an AP is a good idea. The state MCAS exams are in May. They have never been my birthday week before but if I buy her an AP I wouldn't be shocked to have them occur that week. I have 1 adult & 1 child one day tickets from January. I think I'll upgrade those to AP's and then buy the other 3 tickets from Undercover Tourist. I don't think I'll have any trouble using the 1 day child's ticket on Emma even though the room key has Lizzy's name on it.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

He is welcome to WANT a Nikon.

The tricky thing about all this camera stuff is that we don't have a decent resale option. EvilBay and Craig's list are NOT viable options as far as I am concerned. So DH hems and haws and buys more and more stuff, and it just piles up in the corner. Makes me crazy. Yet he continues with his crusade to buy ANOTHER lens, for $440, even though he can't even seem to decide between Sony & Olympus.

I just bought our APs online. Now if the price goes up we are covered. And we get our whopping $12 Reward Dollars. That will buy, what, maybe 3 Mickey ice creams? 4 bottles of water? One pin? Oh, well. I just hope that transaction isn't the catalyst that makes the credit line on the card vaporize.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I need to decide on a day to do the resort photo shoot. Preferably a day near the front of the trip so I won't have had time to gain weight or start looking like a zombie from lack of sleep.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I just read that Captain Sig from "Deadliest Catch" may be at Epcot during our trip!! I LOVE that show!
He was at Epcot when we went a couple of years ago, but I completely forgot to go back to the Norway pavilion so I didn't get to meet him. A second chance would be fabulous! I will have to make sure I put the appearance on my schedule so I remember to go get in line!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have this urge to add more TS dinners to our trip. I need to NOT do that.

I don't want to have to rush to a TS ADR on our arrival night, I don't want a TS dinner the night of the MK dessert party, I don't want a TS dinner on the day we have a big lunch at Puck's.

But there is this ONE day where I cancelled a Coral Reef ADR. I keep thinking about putting an ADR in there. I cancelled it because we have big dinners for the 6 nights prior. I thought we might need a little break from TS. But that open slot on the schedule is tormenting me.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

30 days! 30 days! We're going to WDW in 30 days!​

Well, that's kind of exciting!

I re-did my planning chart yesterday, so there are no more scribbled out parts. I need to call and book the photo shoot. I guess I can call for that on Saturday?

I am going to cancel our waitlist for Kidani because we already have our Magical Express tags and I don't want to have to call and ask for more tags. Originally they only sent 3 tags so I had to call for more. They sent 3 more, but then they sent another envelope with 3 MORE tags that had the wrong arrival date on them. Weird. I am going to TRY to get by on 4 checked bags. Notice I said TRY. I may end up with 5. So having 6 tags is good.

I need to determine what hours Member Services will be open tomorrow and Saturday. They close for holidays, unlike CRO and Dining, so I need to be 100% certain I don't miss the call date for our 2010 ressies. Of course DH won't know his vacation dates until December, but we can't very well just sit around with no ressies until December, now can we?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I cancelled our waitlist yesterday.

I changed one ADR. Instead of going to Yak & Yeti we're going to have dinner with friends at Turf Club, then more friends are joining us for drinks.

Even though I am opposed to online ADRs I decided to use the online system yesterday. This decision was driven by the fact that I called IPO about 15 times and never managed to get a human - just voice mail. I don't like voice mail. So I booked my new ADR online, then I put in the confirmation for the one I was cancelling and got that squared away. I have to admit I don't hate the online sytem as much as I wanted to.

I just have ONE more little ADR tweak and I will be finished! No, really! I just need to modify the party size for dinner one night and we'll be all set.

I need to book the photo shoot. Of course I also need to choose what we are going to WEAR for the photo shoot. Hmm.

 

[PNO4TE]

Are you telling me you haven't packed the clothes for the photo shoot yet??

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Are you telling me you haven't packed the clothes for the photo shoot yet??

Scandalous, isn't it?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

After 3 trips to the mall in less than 24 hours we now have shirts for the photo shoot.

One less thing on my list of things to do!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Our photo session is booked.
Other than downsizing that one last ADR I think everything is finished!
What am I going to do for the next 4 weeks??

Oh, that's right, I am going to tweak that darn 2010 ressie.

And even though it is 4 weeks until departure, it is only TWO weeks until PACKING!!!

 

[PNO4TE]

Our photo session is booked.
Other than downsizing that one last ADR I think everything is finished!
What am I going to do for the next 4 weeks??

Oh, that's right, I am going to tweak that darn 2010 ressie.

And even though it is 4 weeks until departure, it is only TWO weeks until PACKING!!!

Glad all your ducks are in a row for this trip, Elizabeth.

What was the problem you encountered in booking your 2010 reservation?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Glad all your ducks are in a row for this trip, Elizabeth.

What was the problem you encountered in booking your 2010 reservation?

Well...
If the room you want isn't available for the first night of your trip, you can't have ANY of the nights after that, even if they ARE available.
You can also only book 7 nights at the 11 month mark.

So, because the concierge room wasn't available for my first night I wasn't able to book it for ANY nights. And I was only able to book the first 7 nights of a 12 night stay. I have to keep calling back to add the next 5 nights. Since they are closed today I can add 2 nights when I call tomorrow. Then I get to call Mo, Tu, and Wed to add the rest.

Then there is the question of DH's schedule. I may have to cancel this entire ressie and start all over in December, which means there will be even LESS available. Since I borrowed points I have to make sure any new ressie uses at least as many points as the existing one. Fun, fun...