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

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Oh Yeah, does my DD have to actually go on Mission Space to get this educational experience? Cause she will NOT be going on that. Nor will I.

Mission Space the Green Version is pretty tame. DS9 loved it. DS7 (6 then) chickened out right before we loaded. I thought it was okay. I am a little claustrophobic so I didn't like the enclosed feeling, other than that the ride was fine. I would never do the original (Orange) version.

 

[distherapy]

Snowbird friends.... if you don't want to know about how to be sneaky, tell a little white lie, and down right Disney obsessed then you should not read any further....

so here is the scenario.... as you may (or may not) remember from a previous post the evil airline Jet blue cancelled our direct flights from Syracuse. We now leave 1 hour earlier and arrive two hours later... not such a big deal... but that means getting up at 3:30 am to be at the airport at 4:30 for a 6am departure..... okay lets face it... I am a morning person but not that early... I told DH about awful Jet Blue and he says "well see what you can do".... so nice of him to leave the door open.....

so here is my thoughts... I called and left a message for our AAA travel agent ( not the brightest of agents - but very pleasant) I asked her to price out the cost of staying an extra night... ie.. going Saturday, Jan 24th instead of Jan 25th... it seems that Jetblue has a direct flight at 4 pm on Saturday that arrives a little after 7 pm.... you all see where I am going with this.... I realize that means one more night of dining... but not of tickets...

I casually mentioned this to DH.... he didn't think it was such a good idea to leave a day early.... but I didn't tell him the exact times of the crazy flight they booked us on..... so I am thinking if it isn't to much extra money.... like less than $300 I might see if I can get the extra night... calll Jet Blue and have flights switched to Saturday and then (here is where the little white lie comes in).... tell DH that the only flight I could get us switched to was the direct flight on Jet blue on Saturday......

Yes I know... I am bad... and I don't usually lie to DH.,... but I really (insert whining here) don't want to get up at 3:30 am because it will ruin all of SUnday.... instead we could get there Saturday night... rest and be ready to hit the ground running on Sunday...

so what do you think....

You know... if you don't want an extra day of dining, you could do it as 2 separate reservations and have your new night a "room only" reservation. We did that for our last trip. We asked for the reservations to be "linked" so we didn't have to change rooms (although that's not guaranteed). We didn't have park tickets or dining plan for the arrival day, we just rechecked in at the front desk the next morning and picked up our dining info and KTTW cards. It was so easy!

 

[snykymom]

I think it's so wonderful that you are waiting until D comes home to plan. Can you adopt me? My mom doesn't love Disney that much?

By the way, I think Julie Andrews is my soul mate.

Consider yourself adopted! My d, an only child, has always wanted a sister, especially to run around Disney with! (And I can act as Grandma to your little one! ) We'll be there around the same time, too!

I really hope that a January deal is a fantastic room discount and not package upgrades, because I don't want to have to pay for a package in full in December - it will put a crimp in my Christmas shopping. Most of our trip is being paid for by my year-end bonus, which we won't get until right around Christmas. If I suddenly have to come up with a few thousand dollars a few weeks before, then I'll be hitting the wrong bank account!!!

I agree with you there! I've already bought my tickets, and we don't want the dining plan, so I just want a decent room discount!

I found a guy on Ebay selling the free Disney planning DVDs. I aksed him why he was selling something that you could get for free. He never answered me back...wonder why?

That's hilarious! What an idiot!

Actually, I think he's very smart, if he can get people to pay him for something they could get for free! The buyers, on the other hand . . .

Oh I just thought of something I can share. Sorry, it's not juicy WDW codes or anything. The other day we were discussing Halloween costumes for our kids. The adults in our neighborhood also have a party, which is going to be on this Saturday. I usually can't come up with any good costume ideas and this year is no exception.
So I've joined forces with a few others and here's our plan: One of the DHs is bald and is going to be Howie Mandel. About 5 of us wives are going to dress alike and be the Deal or No Deal models! One of them even found these cheap card games that came in the metal looking briefcases, so she bought a bunch and we're going to number them and put $ amounts in each! I have to stop after work and pick up my matching top. The cool thing is the top is something we can all wear again. We are all going to be cruising this winter (not all together) and it's a nice top that we can wear to dinner on the ship. I'm so psyched! And I didn't have to think of any of it myself.

How funny! That's one of the ideas that my d's sorority has floated - don't know if they're actually going to do it. There are some things that she still doesn't tell Mom!

 

[MAGGIED]

I was thinking about doing the two separate reservations... but we are doing California Grill one night and that is a 2 TS so having the extra TS is okay... and with two teenage boys the CS and snacks will be used..... I am just happy that we will not have to spend Sunday exhausted.....

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Okay we are all changed.... now leaving Saturday Jan 24th.... and I called DH at work and told him.... he was fine with it.... I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight.... such a wimp I am..... leaving Syracuse at 4:30 arrving Orlando at 7:22 pm.... should be at the hotel by 9 pm

Ohhhhhhhhhh that means another ADR to make.... YEAH..... anyone ever been to the Cape May buffet??????????????

YAY ~ One more day at CBR is a great thing!! Maybe I'll see you there!

Only been to the Cape May character breakfast. . . The food was decent, the service - not so much. Our waitress was MIA for most of the meal and the characters were just okay, seemed a little rushed. I've heard their dinner is excellent!

 

[distherapy]

I was thinking about doing the two separate reservations... but we are doing California Grill one night and that is a 2 TS so having the extra TS is okay... and with two teenage boys the CS and snacks will be used..... I am just happy that we will not have to spend Sunday exhausted.....

That's perfect! You'll be so glad. We arrived after midnight and not having a full night of sleep threw us for a loop.

 

[pamouselover]

Mary Poppins!!!!!!!!

 

[overthemoon4mickey]

Yeah, the worst part about winter is its length. It's fine until the first week of January, then you're sick of it. When you can get snow from October to April, you need a WDW break in the middle. At least here the snow in late March and April doesn't stay around long. It does drive me nuts that all the Easter dresses don't have sleeves! My girls still want them, it's just covered up with a sweater.

QUOTE]



We have quite the opposite problem here in Houston. Have you ever had to cook a turkey on the grill on Christmas day because it was so hot outside that you just knew the a/c would never cool the house down after having the oven on all day?

Or how about your DD complaining that her Halloween costume, a beautiful Belle dress you bought her and the petticoat you sewed by hand, is way too hot and could she just put on something else. That was the year DH went as the travelosity roaming gnome and he refused to wear the pillow in his shirt because he was sweating buckets. What make me laugh is that the store will stock those heavy fur costumes for little kids and by Halloween those are the ONLY costumes left. Who would buy them?

I'm not saying that I want the snow conditions you are describing but it would be nice to have a little nip in the air or a light dusting of snow anytime before Christmas. We sometimes have a few days (2-3) where it gets below freezing for a few hours overnight but that is not until late Jan. or Feb.



BTW you all have been super chatty I haven't been on since this weekend and I was on page 183......I guess I have a lot of catching up to do!!!

 

[sarbah77]

Good luck with surgery! I know it can take a toll on you, but at least you have great things to look forward too!

Sarbah77 hope all goes well I think from what I have gathered on your posts that we are both going thru similar situations right now. I too see my doctor on mon. Hopefully not to schedule the surgery just a recheck on the cancer thing. yuck

well of to do the great mountains of laundry and housework.

Thanks!!

CHM, mine isn't anything as terrifying as cancer but a painful, difficult nuisence (I spelled that wrong). Though, per standard, they're going to do a biopsy in surgery just to be sure!

Good for you! I think we all need those once and a while.

QOTD:What is your favorite soundtrack to a Disney film? (Hope I said that correctly.)

My favorite is Beauty and the Beast, hands down. But Aladdin is my favorite CD because it was my very first CD!

Does anyone want to do the "under 3 months" dance with me???!!!​

I'm a little late (as always!) but I want in!!



CRUD! There's a party crasher in my midst!

My DH, who I must tell all of you has been absolutely WONDERFUL with my health issues (so so so amazing), announced today that it's "two months, two weeks and, uh, some days before Disney!"

Thanks?

 

[Remmy]

Hello Snowbirds,

Please forgive me, I stopped reading back on page 173, life is getting in the way, so if this has already been posted, sorry. I have signed up for many email up dates from different Disney sources and one just emailed me this today:

Receive a Call from Mickey
Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 23, guests who book their 2009 vacations to Walt Disney World Resort can sign up to receive a call from Mickey Mouse on
Christmas Day, surprising their family with the vacation news. To book, contact your travel agent during the promotion dates.

I thought might be good for all of those wanting to surprise your families.

Again, please forgive me if you have already seen this. Tonight I will catch up on all the missed pages when the little ones are asleep.

Remmy

 

[Pinkdiamond816]

Hello Snowbirds,

Please forgive me, I stopped reading back on page 173, life is getting in the way, so if this has already been posted, sorry. I have signed up for many email up dates from different Disney sources and one just emailed me this today:

Receive a Call from Mickey
Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 23, guests who book their 2009 vacations to Walt Disney World Resort can sign up to receive a call from Mickey Mouse on
Christmas Day, surprising their family with the vacation news. To book, contact your travel agent during the promotion dates.

I thought might be good for all of those wanting to surprise your families.

Again, please forgive me if you have already seen this. Tonight I will catch up on all the missed pages when the little ones are asleep.

Remmy

How cute! They use to have something where you could pay for a character to call you. It was a prerecorded message but it was really cute. It could be for anything they had a whole list....Holidays, birthdays, vacations. Ofcourse, you had to pay for it but it was only 3 or 4 bucks.

Alrighty, time to head home! Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit again tonight. Have a great evening my fellow snowbirds!

 

[steffali]

Does anyone want to do the "under 3 months" dance with me???!!!




​

Im trying to catch up on all th posts but I would love to celebrate
heer2:

 

[drakes]

Hello all,

Boy did we have a busy couple of months. Snowbirds filled up 250 pages and we're already in the 200's again! Yikes !

Anyhow i stopped my planning because it was too much! I know how can it be too much - well with all my regular day to day life, I was too busy!

But as Jan 2009 approaches we need to restart the planning!

I'll try to catch up- but over 200 pages - don;t know if it is possible.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

Hello everyone!!

I am dealing with another migraine tonight I think I'm catching a cold. DS started with it this morning, poor little guy.

At any rate . . . more vacation updates for me. DH was upset that we weren't going to be spending anytime with his sister while we were down at Disney. So, we've added an extra day to our trip. We'll be arriving on Jan. 5 and spending the evening in Wiinter Springs before heading to the Poly on the 6th. I've also moved some of our ADRs around. Sorry Shelly. I'll get into that when I'm feeling better.

You will probably be on Part III by the time I can check in with you all tomorrow night.

 

[steffali]

Hello everyone!!

I am dealing with another migraine tonight I think I'm catching a cold. DS started with it this morning, poor little guy.

At any rate . . . more vacation updates for me. DH was upset that we weren't going to be spending anytime with his sister while we were down at Disney. So, we've added an extra day to our trip. We'll be arriving on Jan. 5 and spending the evening in Wiinter Springs before heading to the Poly on the 6th. I've also moved some of our ADRs around. Sorry Shelly. I'll get into that when I'm feeling better.

You will probably be on Part III by the time I can check in with you all tomorrow night.

Hope you feel better

 

[danceintherain]

I didn't have time to read everything... I got to page 212...

How sweet!! I wanted twins---but didn't get any! My oldest son tells us not to try for #4 because he KNOWS it'll be twins!! He's probably right, he told me about baby #2 before I knew and he knew I was having a girl before I did!! So.....I would loooove twins!!

There's a chance I'll get twins... my Dad's a twin... I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Just saw this on Mousesavers.... its a Disneyland discount... maybe that means something is in the works for us.....

Everyone gets in at the kids' price! Disneyland (California) is offering special vacation packages for arrivals between 1/6/09-4/30/09 that include adult tickets for kids' prices. Plus, stay at least 4 nights and get a $150 gift card!


YUK!!! I hope not... that would only be a savings of about $35 per person in my group..... not what I was hoping for..... and it says that the offer is not good on previously booked rooms....

Yeah... I would not be too happy with that discount either...

 

[Monny2AE]

Hello Snowbirds,

Receive a Call from Mickey
Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 23, guests who book their 2009 vacations to Walt Disney World Resort can sign up to receive a call from Mickey Mouse on
Christmas Day, surprising their family with the vacation news. To book, contact your travel agent during the promotion dates.

I thought might be good for all of those wanting to surprise your families.

Again, please forgive me if you have already seen this. Tonight I will catch up on all the missed pages when the little ones are asleep.

Remmy

Do you know if you have to go through a travel agent? I booked directly through Disney and would love to do this.

 

[crzyred]

Goodness you guys talked a lot today! I wish I could have stayed home and played....!! Not doing too much tonight. Curling up with hot chocolate and watching the baseball game!

QOTD:
What is your favorite soundtrack to a Disney film?

Ok seriously no way I could pick just one. So I'll just start listing some of my favorites....Lilo and Stitch, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King. One of my "current" favorites is Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Pinkdiamond - It is an actual WDW calendar. I got one for 2006 when I went to WDW in Oct. 2005. They sell them in the shops. The last 2 years I have gone in May and they aren't out for the next year yet. . . So I buy them on Ebay. People that live near the parks go and buy a bunch of them and then jack the price and sell them on Ebay. I think I paid $16 plus $4 for shipping. They are $12 at WDW.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-WALT-DISNE...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

aww...those calendars are so cute!!

Okay we are all changed.... now leaving Saturday Jan 24th.... and I called DH at work and told him.... he was fine with it.... I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight.... such a wimp I am..... leaving Syracuse at 4:30 arrving Orlando at 7:22 pm.... should be at the hotel by 9 pm

Ohhhhhhhhhh that means another ADR to make.... YEAH..... anyone ever been to the Cape May buffet??????????????

YAY ~ One more day at CBR is a great thing!! Maybe I'll see you there!

Only been to the Cape May character breakfast. . . The food was decent, the service - not so much. Our waitress was MIA for most of the meal and the characters were just okay, seemed a little rushed. I've heard their dinner is excellent!

I was there for the breakfast too. We basically thought the same thing. We just figured that the characters didn't come by us or interact a lot was because we were all adults, no kids. I would do it again, we still had fun!

 

[dundeehunter]

Thank you all that connected with me and my somewhat lack of excitement this trip. I do get excited everyday when I come to the Disboards. I should be doing the dishes or other chores, but I come to the Snowbirds for support!
We are going to go to LaNouba this January, I just haven't picked the night out yet or bought tickets. I'm also not making ADR's, but I am excited to be on the Dining reviews looking at CS meals....
I will be TOTALLY excited when and if any discounts come out for my 8 days/7 nights at the Pop . I was NOT excited to read a post about finding a 3 foot black snake in the Contemporary! The Contemporary is my Dream hotel...

Thanks all for support. I wish I could meet up with some of you to watch Wishes or to have a Illuminations Cruise..that would be SWEET!
Thanks again!

 

[overthemoon4mickey]

Hi everyone.....Wow I hope I didn't offend anyone while making a comment about everyone being chatty ....So sorry if I did I Love being able to pop in and catch up on everyone's planning. It really helps me get excited and have a Disney outlet for my obsession (this is a surprise trip).


Thanks again Snowbirds for keeping the excitement going! Ya'll are a great bunch!