It was all started by a towel...

[MinnieMouseMom]

90 days!! 90 days!! 90 days!!

Not that 90 days was good for much, but I DO have TWO ADRs in place now!

Thursday is our 90 day mark for concierge check-in, so hopefully I will have a lovely e-mail from IPO with the rest of my ADRs by the end of the week.

Woohoo!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Huge thanks to AKL IPO!!! Our ADRs are done!! I was worried that we wouldn't get what we wanted, or that there would be weird problems, but things are all set!

I bought DS some new shorts yesterday. Those plaid ones that EVERYONE has? He has been telling me he won't wear them. But they were on sale at Gap. So I bought some. He says he likes them, so we shall see. I will pack them for WDW and he will have to wear them because he won't have a choice.

DH bought a FOURTH dSLR camera. Yes. 4th.
He thought he could hide it from me and I would never know. Bless his heart. I told him to pay his Disney Visa bill on Thursday but he didn't bother. So I paid it on Friday. The balance shocked me, so I did a little research. Hello, what's this? CAMERA STORE! Really, he sucks at being stealthy. I called him and told him he was busted. He said he was sorry. Sorry I caught him, not sorry he bought another camera. Goofball.

The trip is falling into place, but I am tired of waiting. I am ready for school to be out, ready for summer, ready for WDW!!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Huge thanks to AKL IPO!!! Our ADRs are done!! I was worried that we wouldn't get what we wanted, or that there would be weird problems, but things are all set!

I bought DS some new shorts yesterday. Those plaid ones that EVERYONE has? He has been telling me he won't wear them. But they were on sale at Gap. So I bought some. He says he likes them, so we shall see. I will pack them for WDW and he will have to wear them because he won't have a choice.

DH bought a FOURTH dSLR camera. Yes. 4th.
He thought he could hide it from me and I would never know. Bless his heart. I told him to pay his Disney Visa bill on Thursday but he didn't bother. So I paid it on Friday. The balance shocked me, so I did a little research. Hello, what's this? CAMERA STORE! Really, he sucks at being stealthy. I called him and told him he was busted. He said he was sorry. Sorry I caught him, not sorry he bought another camera. Goofball.

The trip is falling into place, but I am tired of waiting. I am ready for school to be out, ready for summer, ready for WDW!!

Great news!

I'm just home from the airport. We had a great time-enjoyed AKL CL! It was HOT!!!!!

What did DH buy? I still haven't mastered my one dSLR.

 

[tinknme]

Huge thanks to AKL IPO!!! Our ADRs are done!! I was worried that we wouldn't get what we wanted, or that there would be weird problems, but things are all set!

I bought DS some new shorts yesterday. Those plaid ones that EVERYONE has? He has been telling me he won't wear them. But they were on sale at Gap. So I bought some. He says he likes them, so we shall see. I will pack them for WDW and he will have to wear them because he won't have a choice.

These are Riley's favorite type of shorts!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Welcome home, Bernadette! Can't wait to see your pics! I am glad you and Joe had fun! DH bought an Olympus E 510. He already had the 410 and the E1.

Janet, DS had been telling me he would NOT wear those shorts, yet when I took them out of the bag he said they are fine. Who knows. I think they are cute.
The Nike website has his favorite shorts for $20 but I haven't ordered any yet. I looked at some Columbia shorts on Amazon but it doesn't say if the waist is adjustable so I didn't buy them. He is SO tiny I don't want to order anything unless we have the identical thing already and KNOW that it fits.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Welcome home, Bernadette! Can't wait to see your pics! I am glad you and Joe had fun! DH bought an Olympus E 510. He already had the 410 and the E1.

Janet, DS had been telling me he would NOT wear those shorts, yet when I took them out of the bag he said they are fine. Who knows. I think they are cute.
The Nike website has his favorite shorts for $20 but I haven't ordered any yet. I looked at some Columbia shorts on Amazon but it doesn't say if the waist is adjustable so I didn't buy them. He is SO tiny I don't want to order anything unless we have the identical thing already and KNOW that it fits.

At least DH won't need to buy new lenses. I don't know anything about Olympus dSLRs. Will he take all 4 to Disney?

I saw TONS of those shorts at Disney! I had Joe try on some Columbia pants at the Columbia outlet and I can't remember if they had adjustments-I think they did not as we didn't get them because they were huge. I did buy Lizzy some girl shorts and they have a drawstring tie at the waist but no button adjustments.

I'm still recovering-have to upload my photos. The heat at Disney was exhausting! 98 some days. I find it easier to take the heat in August when it is 80-90 at home vs going from 50-60 to high 90s.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Bernadette - He will NOT take all 4. He will probably take 2. The 510 is the model that came out after the 410 - it has image stabilization which will make a big difference. I hope we can SELL the Sony before we leave for WDW.

I am glad I didn't order those Columbia shorts. They had an elastic waist, so I bet there isn't even a drawstring to make them tighter.

We have had some days in the 90's lately, but with HIGH humidity so it just feels steamy and gross.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have had this week off from work. Which has been fabulous! Except it has given me WAY too much time to think about the trip. DH knows when I say "I have been thinking..." that some sort of tweaking is about to occur.

I am not sure why I started to think about taking Universal OUT of the plan again, but it makes much more sense to wait and go next year. We will only have enough points for 12 nights in 2010, so if we stay 14 nights we would be paying cash for 2 of them no matter what. It would be better to just do 12 nights at WDW, then move to Universal for 2 nights at the end.

I won a "free" ticket in that Super Bowl contest, but that's not a big deal. The big deal was the 2 tickets I bought for DS & DH. We weren't sure if they would expire. I called Universal. They told me to make a copy of the tickets and fax them to Guest Services. Are they joking? OK, whatever. So I copied and faxed. I actually got a call back today (I just faxed yesterday afternoon) that the tickets do NOT expire!

OK, great! So we are back to 14 nights at WDW for this year. But uh oh! Now we have no ADRs for the 2 nights we were going to eat at Universal! AND those nights aren't covered by the concierge ressie, so I am on my own!

And you know what? Maybe we would like to try out Kidani for those nights that are not concierge!

So I call Member Services. No savanna view at Kidani for our dates. So I waitlist for them.

Now about those ADRs...
I decided to just do CS one night because we are at MGM, and MGM dining does not thrill me. We are already doing quite a bit of dining on the Boardwalk and at Yacht/Beach. The 2nd Universal day I decided would be our Blizzard Beach day, and we would make the former BB day into an Epcot day. OK, fine. I ask for Cali Grill. I do not want to eat at 5:30 PM, so I ask for Citrico's instead. For some reason that causes a Cali Grill spot to pop up for 7:30! Cool! We'll have that! My only concern is that folks will linger over their dinners and we won't get a table until much later. That would be bad. Hopefully we will come back from BB early enough for a nap!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

So I was thinking...

What if we add another night of concierge, then downgrade the front 3 nights to standard view? Maybe then we can do those front nights at Kidani! It would only be one more point!

I called Member Services (they must cringe when I give them my Member ID #). The nice man looked, but of course there are no concierge studios for the date I wanted. Phooey.

OK, well, back to the waitlist for 4 nights at Kidani. Maybe I will call back periodically. There could be a cancellation.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

9 weeks! 9 weeks! We are leaving in 9 weeks!!

Which is lovely. But I bet the next 9 weeks will D R A G!

I ordered DS some prescription sunglasses from Zenni Optical. I am anxious to see how they are. If they ever get here! I would NOT recommend ordering anything from them if you are in a hurry. Beyond that, we'll have to see what the actual glasses are like. They were only $18, including shipping. Of course I ordered them 3 weeks ago, so it would be delightful to actually HAVE the glasses!

I also ordered DS a windbreaker from Online Sports (through Amazon). Like me, DS is always freezing. He has to have a jacket at WDW because he will be too cold in the restaurants to eat anything. It arrived quickly, but it was too small. I called their customer service number and got a return authorization. Paid $3 to send it back. They have already e-mailed that the new jacket (in the next size) is on the way. While I wasn't thrilled to pay another $3 that was the only additional charge I incurred. I must say their service so far has been very good. I hope this windbreaker fits.

 

[PNO4TE]

Elizabeth - I am curious to see how you and C like the sunglasses. Kristin might want to order a pair if they are that reasonable! Nine weeks, huh?? That doens't sound like too long to me!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Thanks, Elin!

I read about Zenni Optical on the Budget Board. When I Googled reviews for the company they were kind of spotty - some people LOVE Zenni, others hate them. We just wanted some cheap sunglasses since DS doesn't have the attachment for his current "normal" glasses. Better for him to be able to see where he is going than to wear plain sunglasses.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

60 days!! 60 Days!!

Still no sunglasses for DS.

Tracking shows his new windbreaker should arrive today.

I am trying to decide if I want to book a resort photo session. If I do, I am trying to figure out what day would be good for that. I am afraid if I wait until Day 10 (which is where it would fit nicely) that I will look like I have spent the past 10 days at WDW with no sleep.

I actually had a flight attendant burst out laughing at me after one trip. She said you can always tell who has been at WDW because they look so exhausted when they get on the plane.

Hmm. Of course I can't find what time we did our photo session last year. It was in the morning, but I can't remember how early. Decisions, decisions...

 

[PNO4TE]

What have you done with the shots from the last photo session? Are they framed and on prominent display?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

What have you done with the shots from the last photo session? Are they framed and on prominent display?

We used some for our Christmas card last year.
I just put 2 in frames yesterday because I happened to think about it. I also put our Chef Mickey photo in a frame because it was in the folder with the resort photos.

DS gets photos 2 or 3 times a year at school, but he is always in uniform so they are BORING. And in the Band pics he is posing with his grimy drum sticks.

We never go tot he portrait studio and have pics taken of the 3 of us, so it is nice to do the resort ones. DH said to book it if I want to do it. (Like he could stop me. ) I just need to pick a day.

 

[PNO4TE]

Then, you ought to do it. Who knows.... you might get the best shot ever taken of the three of you!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The larger windbreaker arrived today and it fits great! Now DS won't freeze every time we go in a restaurant or on a bus.

I got an e-mail that his sunglasses have been shipped, so hopefully those will arrive in the next few days.

 

[PNO4TE]

The larger windbreaker arrived today and it fits great! Now DS won't freeze every time we go in a restaurant or on a bus.

I got an e-mail that his sunglasses have been shipped, so hopefully those will arrive in the next few days.

I am glad you got the windbreaker and it fits! I also know how relieved you are that the sunglasses have been shipped. We want to make certain they arrive before the trip.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I am glad you got the windbreaker and it fits! I also know how relieved you are that the sunglasses have been shipped. We want to make certain they arrive before the trip.

Well, arriving is only half the battle. Then we have to hope they fit, that the prescription is correct, and that he will bother to wear them!

I HAVE TO call our pet sitter! I need to make sure we are on her calendar!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I called our pet sitter and she has us on her calendar. That's good.

DS's sunglasses from Zenni Optical arrived today. He isn't THRILLED with them, but they are fine. They were a little crooked on his face, but the guy at Target Optical was kind enough to adjust them for us. DS says the prescription is fine, he can see as well as he can with his regular glasses. The sunglasses are a little bit larger than his usual ones, and the nose pieces are situated a little different. We may have to have the nose pieces switched out at some point, but really, for $18, they are fine. I have warned DS that they are not high quality eye wear so he needs to be careful with them!