IT'S OFFICIAL!!!****OCTOBER 2014****...ROLL CALL!! Join the party!

[amg35]

I love your bag! I need a new one.. where did you get it? I hope you do not mind me asking...

Certainly! It's a Baggallini and I just bought it on Amazon! There's a whole bunch of colors (and different styles too), some are on sale, some are not. Mine was on sale and the color is Mulberry.

 

[amg35]

I have read through everything to this point and I am joining in!

I am taking my DS9 from October 21-31 and we will stay at CBR! I do plan on 2 days at Universal as we are big Harry Potter fans. I am also working on taking my Mom with us for at least part of the time. I know she would just love to go...final plans on that to happen this weekend

I have only been to WDW once when I was 16 for a high school band trip (color guard for me) and my DS has never been! We went to the Dells twice last year staying at a waterpark resort and I surprised him both times. He made me promise the next time we go on a vacation that I don't surprise him...lol I think he will love all the planning just as much as I do. On that note, I do not plan on telling him until maybe August. I seriously cannot handle the "are we going yet?" questions constantly. I will plan a countdown chain of some kind and hopefully that will help.

I was a little squirmy about taking him out of school (4th grade) but really, this kid is awesome and he deserves it. His dad has never been in the picture and my whole world revolves around him. He's a good student and we just need the time away together.

I started a new job in September and my income almost doubled. I have been still living on the old job amount and putting the rest away...waiting for something to spend it on. I found it! I was looking at one of the All Stars at first but I decided to splurge and do CBR. It just looks beautiful and he will LOVE the sand beaches to play on and the playground on the island in the middle. I have been gutting my house to find things to sell on FB and my goal is $600 to make up the difference between the All Stars and CBR.

I am a spreadsheet nerd and severe planner, so please go easy on me

Looking forward to hearing from all of you as well!

Welcome!!

We're there almost the exact same dates!

 

[amg35]

Allriiight!!!! (said in the voice of Linda from Bob's Burgers)

Lot's more joined, so a lot more to talk about!!

 

[jcyoung]

So, 261 days! It seems like forever! I have the basic plans down...I just have to wait for park hours. We are not hoppers, so I really want those hours to post so that I can finalize what parks we will visit each day!

One question...has anyone ever done the Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian? I think it would be fun to have a fancy tea with my mom, mother-in-law, and daughter. But I'm wondering if it is worth the time and money. Any thoughts???

 

[MidnightParade]

So we are officially booked!! Eeeeiiiii!!!

And I managed to talk the BF into leaving a day early so we will actually be going to Universal first for one day. And then it will be all Disney. So excited! I even have a spread sheet going now to plot out the days. Honestly the planning and plotting is a good part of the fun.

This trip we plan to take it easy and not be gogogo which I am trying very hard to keep in mind!

Ugh, 8 months to go still though! Time to save up more spending money but so far away. After this crazy winter really don't want to wish the summer away but...

 

[amg35]

So, 261 days! It seems like forever! I have the basic plans down...I just have to wait for park hours. We are not hoppers, so I really want those hours to post so that I can finalize what parks we will visit each day!

One question...has anyone ever done the Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian? I think it would be fun to have a fancy tea with my mom, mother-in-law, and daughter. But I'm wondering if it is worth the time and money. Any thoughts???

It does seem like a long time, but it will be here before we know it!

In the meantime we're doing some redecorating...looking good! And we have a list of places I want to eat and things I want to do this summer, concerts, neighborhood fests, art fairs, etc. And, what I'm most excited about, Chicago (where I live) is doing a festival for the anniversary of the great Chicago fire!! Sounds like it's going to be awesome.

So quite a few things to keep me busy in the meantime.

 

[amg35]

So we are officially booked!! Eeeeiiiii!!!

And I managed to talk the BF into leaving a day early so we will actually be going to Universal first for one day. And then it will be all Disney. So excited! I even have a spread sheet going now to plot out the days. Honestly the planning and plotting is a good part of the fun.

This trip we plan to take it easy and not be gogogo which I am trying very hard to keep in mind!

Ugh, 8 months to go still though! Time to save up more spending money but so far away. After this crazy winter really don't want to wish the summer away but...

Yeah!!! I'm excited for you!

We're going on a RC cruise next year, so we're going to fly down two days early and stay at Universal to see Harry Potter. I've been a Harry Potter geek for soooo long, but have not been there. It will be fantastic I'm sure!

 

[MidnightParade]

Yeah!!! I'm excited for you!

We're going on a RC cruise next year, so we're going to fly down two days early and stay at Universal to see Harry Potter. I've been a Harry Potter geek for soooo long, but have not been there. It will be fantastic I'm sure!

I'm excited for Harry Potter too! When we went in 2010 it was still being built. Eager to try some Butter beer. They had some at the local rib fest during the summer and it was waaaay too sweet(and I like sweet!) and butterscotchy and ended up throwing it out. Hoping they get it right along with the pumpkin juice! (I'm going to spend sooo much money buying all the candies i just know it!)

I'm driving the BF crazy with the planning so its awesome to have this venue to flail and squee with all of you!

 

[DisneyMagicMomma]

I'm officially joining this party!!!!! October 9-18 Beach Club Villas!!! Me, the hubs, and our two little princesses (they will be 7 & 4) I'm already in full force planning mode and my hubby says I have Disney brain... Ahhhh )))

Hey there! You're from my side of the world. I am WNY as well.

 

[Dismomof2boys]

Well, our TBD has now been determined. We will be there from Oct 17th - 25th.

 

[sheilan]

We have 2 rooms booked at POP Wed 10/22 to Fri 10/31! We are used to staying at a moderate resort. However we need to keep the budget friendly this year as we are taking an extra kid! We are looking forward to the Halloween party, the Food and Wine Festival, and our first time at the water parks! I have a list of places that we hope to eat as well. October can't get here soon enough!

 

[lovelygirl1975]

Hello DH and I will be there Oct 25-31. Staying at CSR, this will be out first October trip and we are very excited.

 

[weswife]

Gone to check it out! Thanks!!!

 

[spiritsim]

So, 261 days! It seems like forever! I have the basic plans down...I just have to wait for park hours. We are not hoppers, so I really want those hours to post so that I can finalize what parks we will visit each day!

One question...has anyone ever done the Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian? I think it would be fun to have a fancy tea with my mom, mother-in-law, and daughter. But I'm wondering if it is worth the time and money. Any thoughts???

I have never done the tea but I followed a trip report from a foodie and they went after reading about it I put it on our list of must dos

 

[Ferrentinos]

I'm not sure if we "count" for this thread but we are arriving on Oct. 31! We're staying through "Jersey Week" as we booked WL CL with a 35% discount!! YAY! We will be at WL CL from Oct. 31 - Nov. 8th! Hoping to catch a MNSSHP and a MVMCP as well! That is a dream of mine! Now just to wait for flights to come out... we love to fly Jet Blue but they haven't released them yet... I know flying from New Jersey will be expensive but hoping that if we leave late on Oct. 31 we should get a good rate going down at least... coming home... well, that will be expensive!

 

[AJ1983]

Booked our flights tonight, got a great deal on Orbitz-cheapest prices we have seen and we were able to get the exact flights that we want. We'll arrive in Orlando on October 14th at 11:58 am, and depart October 28th at 1:20 pm.

Hotels and flights booked-feels very real now and I'm getting very excited!

 

[maa]

I got online to check hotels for the last week of Sept. through first week of Oct. this morning and had a hard time finding an open room! I had to move my dates around a little. Besides Food & Wine, does anyone know what might be causing the lack of availability? I was looking at BC/YC.

 

[amg35]

Booked our flights tonight, got a great deal on Orbitz-cheapest prices we have seen and we were able to get the exact flights that we want. We'll arrive in Orlando on October 14th at 11:58 am, and depart October 28th at 1:20 pm.

Hotels and flights booked-feels very real now and I'm getting very excited!

Yes, we booked our flights already too, got a great price! Got my Mickey Mail today with the Dumbo magnet showing our reservation dates.

We are very, very excited!

 

[amg35]

I got online to check hotels for the last week of Sept. through first week of Oct. this morning and had a hard time finding an open room! I had to move my dates around a little. Besides Food & Wine, does anyone know what might be causing the lack of availability? I was looking at BC/YC.

The first week of October at BC/YC are booked for something called Gartner Symposium? Doesn't affect crowd level in parks, but does make it hard to find a room in the Epcot area. Also, the first part of October is now fall break for a lot of schools.

 

[AJ1983]

Yes, we booked our flights already too, got a great price! Got my Mickey Mail today with the Dumbo magnet showing our reservation dates.

We are very, very excited!

I can't remember how long it took to get Mickey Mail last year..when did you book?