January 2009. . . Calling all Snowbirds ~ Part I !!!

[skjj2009]

Got this news item from the radio --

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/08/big_mistake_wife_sells_dvd_cas.html

The poor guy was trying to stash away money in a DVD case for a surprise Christmas trip to WDW for the family - he had saved up 1,200 dollars!

Then his wife sold the DVD at a garage sale!

Now she's reporting it to news agencies to see if she can recover the money - it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

That is incredibly sad I hope someone turns in the money (fat chance I know but maybe if they hear what happened they will do it!)

From what I can tell it will only be about $50 extra to do DDP, considering that we will not be paying for any meals OOP.

What does a girl do?

I'd pay the $50 bucks seems like the most reasonable cost effective thing to do! Good luck!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I love all this Christmas talk!!

Looks like I will only have to buy half the gifts I usually buy for the kids! We usually sign about half of their gifts from us and half from Santa. So since they will be getting the trip from us, that only leaves Santa gifts!! Which is good anyway, they already have TOO much stuff!!

 

[skjj2009]

I love all this Christmas talk!!

Looks like I will only have to buy half the gifts I usually buy for the kids! We usually sign about half of their gifts from us and half from Santa. So since they will be getting the trip from us, that only leaves Santa gifts!! Which is good anyway, they already have TOO much stuff!!

I ALWAYS overbuy and they get WAY TOO much stuff. I'm going to try as hard as I can to NOT buy as much. I LOVE Christmas and the best part is watching the kids open their gifts and get excited about what's from Santa. But they can never play with it all so I have to cut down on what they get especially since we are going to WDW just a few weeks after.
I'm already thinking about what to buy everyone else in our family. I hate to last minute shop (dh always does ) so I like to get everyone done and have it all figured out by November that way I can enjoy the season rather than scramble around trying to figure out what to buy.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

21 Weeks until Disney!!!




I hope you all don't mind my weekly countdown!!!

 

[Gillettes]

Those poor people!! That happened about ten minutes from were I live. I wish it had been me who bought it so I could return it!

As for Halloween, my girls haven't talked about it too much. They both said they want something scary. I will have to see what Target sells this year and hopefully buy there with my discount. We have already told everyone Christmas is going to be "light" this year. With Disney 16 days after, we need every penny we can get! Plus my DH is taking a buyout from Ford to go back to school full time. Scary what might happen!!

My DD4 had her back to school physical today and the poor thing got 4 shots! Now she is running a fever. So we are chillin today. Might make some cookies. And I think I am going to customize/order my maps. Any one do that yet for this trip?? I did it for our last one. They make nice souvenirs. Well I am off to make some lunch!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I ALWAYS overbuy and they get WAY TOO much stuff. I'm going to try as hard as I can to NOT buy as much. I LOVE Christmas and the best part is watching the kids open their gifts and get excited about what's from Santa. But they can never play with it all so I have to cut down on what they get especially since we are going to WDW just a few weeks after.
I'm already thinking about what to buy everyone else in our family. I hate to last minute shop (dh always does ) so I like to get everyone done and have it all figured out by November that way I can enjoy the season rather than scramble around trying to figure out what to buy.

I am an early Christmas shopper too!! Actually I am usually started by now. Nothing yet this year though except the Disney shirts and sunglasses I got last month. I guess I'm too preoccupied with Disney planning to think about Christmas shopping. We have never gone to Disney so early in the year before!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I love the Christmas talk too!!!! Well, thanks for clearing that up about the ddp--yes we have the regular--I was about to panic.!! So,now I just need to decide what days for which parks and make those ressies!! Since we are having our first park day on the 25th, I am still okay-got today and tomorrow to get it down on paper and check it out--I want to do this once and not be floundering!!!

I asked this on another thread & haven't checked it yet. Where can I get all the parade times? I went to the site for the calendar and it was only park hours.Ex--spectromagic, wishes,,,,where are these listed?

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I love the Christmas talk too!!!! Well, thanks for clearing that up about the ddp--yes we have the regular--I was about to panic.!! So,now I just need to decide what days for which parks and make those ressies!! Since we are having our first park day on the 25th, I am still okay-got today and tomorrow to get it down on paper and check it out--I want to do this once and not be floundering!!!

I asked this on another thread & haven't checked it yet. Where can I get all the parade times? I went to the site for the calendar and it was only park hours.Ex--spectromagic, wishes,,,,where are these listed?

Click on each individual date and the parade and fireworks times will come up for that date!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Thanks Shelly!! I have GOT to get off here and get some stuff done!!! Okay--see ya'll later!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Thanks Shelly!! I have GOT to get off here and get some stuff done!!! Okay--see ya'll later!!

You're welcome! Have a great day!!

 

[peach3es]

I love Christmas too! And this year we'll be able to celebrate with our family back in PA for the first time in 4 years! I'm extra excited about that!

My kids get 3 gifts, like Baby Jesus. That makes shopping easier for us. They get lots of stuff from family and friends, so they are never disappointed. They also get a stocking from Santa. This year I'm going to be making some pictures t-shirts for our trip, and I'll wrap those up from us. Last year I made them a Quillow (fleece blanket that folds into a little pillow) from me and Scot. And since my mom is bankrolling the Disney trip, she won't be buying them anything else.

I did hear a rumor that my little sister is getting them a Wii. Hopefully she follows through on that. I'd love a Wii!

American Girl dolls are something we have no experience with. I remember the books from when I was small, but we've heard nothing about them. I just looked on the website. I don't think my girls will have one. Hopefully they are not big in central PA yet!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

My kids get 3 gifts, like Baby Jesus. That makes shopping easier for us. They get lots of stuff from family and friends, so they are never disappointed.

I have heard of people doing that. The 3 gifts really make sense and would probably make the focus of Christmas more about the true meaning instead of all the presents! I wish I would have thought about doing that right from the beginning. Maybe once they don't believe in Santa we will do that.

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

My daughter was 5 when she decided she wanted an AG. There was no way we were buying one, so we told her to save her money. Well that same week we went to a street fair here in town and she won 20.00! That really spured her on. It took her about 9 months to save up and she bought her own doll! Now she wants everything to go with it! Luckily my mom sews so she has made her clothes and my daughter is not old enough to know it wasn't really from AG.

This Christmas we are really really down playing presents. They will each get a digital camera to use at WDW. Because those are spendy they won't get much else. But I really did not want to buy a bunch of useless disposable cameras again this year. Too many wasted pictures.

It will be hard for me. We don't buy the kids much through the year so I usually buy A LOT at Christmas. But this year I need to try to stick with my original goal!!! SO HARD for me.

 

[Monny2AE]

I'm in need of some DDP advice. We've never used any of the DDPs. We aren't much for sit down restaurants with a 4 yr old and 1 yr old And we are going cheap so we are doing only 2 character breakfasts. Has anyone heard anything about the Quick Service Dining Plan or looked into it yet?

 

[sunshine43]

Hi Fellow Snowbirds been a couple of busy days here but I wanted to make it a point to check in today.

Peaches, where in Central Pa is home? I am in the Poconos and spend my weekends in Wellsboro.



robin

 

[sunshine43]

one of these days I'll get it right

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[skjj2009]

I did hear a rumor that my little sister is getting them a Wii. Hopefully she follows through on that. I'd love a Wii!

American Girl dolls are something we have no experience with. I remember the books from when I was small, but we've heard nothing about them. I just looked on the website. I don't think my girls will have one. Hopefully they are not big in central PA yet!

A Wii would be so cool...I always say I won't be buying my kids those types of things yet we buy the AG dolls I do notice it is really big in places that are closest to the stores (although online shopping is really big ofcourse too). I have some friends that have only heard about the dolls through me because they don't live in CA, Chicago, or NY.

My daughter was 5 when she decided she wanted an AG. There was no way we were buying one, so we told her to save her money. Well that same week we went to a street fair here in town and she won 20.00! That really spured her on. It took her about 9 months to save up and she bought her own doll! Now she wants everything to go with it! Luckily my mom sews so she has made her clothes and my daughter is not old enough to know it wasn't really from AG.

This Christmas we are really really down playing presents. They will each get a digital camera to use at WDW. Because those are spendy they won't get much else. But I really did not want to buy a bunch of useless disposable cameras again this year. Too many wasted pictures.

It will be hard for me. We don't buy the kids much through the year so I usually buy A LOT at Christmas. But this year I need to try to stick with my original goal!!! SO HARD for me.

That's cool that you made her save up for her own doll. What a great lesson for her to learn at such a young age. I try very hard to teach my kids that although we are blessed to be able to afford some of the nicer toys and such not everyone is. We have them help us pick out of their toys to donate at Christmas along with getting new toys for toys for tots. I think its humbling for kids to understand that not everyone is as fortunate as the next.
That's nice that your mom sews! The outfits are soooo expensive. I usually look for the monthly specials and get them cheaper and save them up for christmas or buy some on ebay.
Digital cameras will be cool for christmas! I bet they'll love them! It's always hard for me to stick to my goals too...I'm also going to try really hard this year since we'll be going to disney soon after.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I'm in need of some DDP advice. We've never used any of the DDPs. We aren't much for sit down restaurants with a 4 yr old and 1 yr old And we are going cheap so we are doing only 2 character breakfasts. Has anyone heard anything about the Quick Service Dining Plan or looked into it yet?

We were considering doing the QSDDP and then paying OOP for 2 TS meals. When I figured up the prices it was going to basically cost the same to do that as it would to do the regular DDP. So we went with the regular DDP and we will have 6 TS meals.

If you are going to mostly do CS meals, I think it is cheaper to pay OOP.

 

[Monny2AE]

From the way I figure it, the QSDDP is a deal for my son- 2 CS meals and 2 snacks a day for $8.99 but for the adults price I think I will probably only break even. I'm not sure if the cost of food has risen in FL lately. I guess I should look up the menu's and do a run down of both ways OOP vs. QSDDP.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

From the way I figure it, the QSDDP is a deal for my son- 2 CS meals and 2 snacks a day for $8.99 but for the adults price I think I will probably only break even. I'm not sure if the cost of food has risen in FL lately. I guess I should look up the menu's and do a run down of both ways OOP vs. QSDDP.

Yeah, that's the best thing to do, figure out where you would go and what you would get and do the math!