January 25, 2009 on the WONDER

[samily]

Wow, that is funny!!! We all must be fairly close in age to have the same favorites! I'll have to look for the Witch Mountain dvd's! I love getting my kids into all my old favorites - it's so fun!

We're getting closer - less than 6 months!!! Once school & the holidays start, it will fly by!

Ramon - you should recommend that your friend look into selling the FE's on ebay - there are only a couple of people who do it on there now and they sell seem to sell well.

I just found out I am going to be an auntie again!! However, that also means my DSIL and her family will be pulling out of this cruise as she'll be too far along in January to sail...I guess that means we'll have to rebook another...

 

[tammythetwinsmom]

Congrats Samily on being an auntie again .. I just had a new nephew last month! First one of 5 girls on my side! The last one too whew...

Agewise.. I graduated from HS in 1989... course you do a gen X survey on me and I am old fashioned.. guess it is from hanging around my great grandmother and grandparents a lot!

Anyways.. Happy Friday!

 

[jennyh2829]

I graduated from HS in 1989 also!! We booked the land seperate b/c we are doing it after the cruise. I hope the Super Bowl doesn't affect the crowds too much! Oh well.....

 

[tammythetwinsmom]

Yeah Jennyh2829 we also booked our own land package as the mil has the dvc or whatever condo stuff.. also going after the cruise.. I too am hoping not too bad with superbowl but only staying till saturday so just 2 days.. doing MK and then AK half day and HS the other half..

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[jennyh2829]

I don't know what parks we are doing yet. We are staying through Sun. My MIL and FIL have never been. She broke her hip last summer and I'm not sure how much she'll do. We have mentioned wheelchair or ECV but I'm not sure she's buying it. Also my BIL/SIL/Niece and nephew have never been either but I know they can make it or ride in a stroller. Wasn't going to do a park hopper so was trying to narrow it to 3 parks. Thought about AK after cruise and then eating at a character meal or Ohana or something and trying to catch Wishes on the poly beach?? And MK of course and EPCOT leaving out DS, but I really'd like to try the new Toy Story ride..... Just not sure yet.......

 

[SueM in MN]

My MIL and FIL have never been. She broke her hip last summer and I'm not sure how much she'll do. We have mentioned wheelchair or ECV but I'm not sure she's buying it.

A couple things that might help.............

1) Most people don't have any idea of how much walking is involved in a trip to WDW. Just the distance around the water at WS in Epcot is over one mile!
This will help her to see how much is involved.
Pick out a familiar place to her that is about 3 miles from her home. Ask if she could walk there. She will probably look at you like you have 2 heads and say no. If she says she could, ask if she could walk back (which would be a total of 6 miles). She will probably admit that she could not; show her the map of Epcot and point out that people have posted the average day at WDW is between 3 and 9 miles!

2) Some people (especially older people) think you can only use a wheelchair/ECV if you are totally disabled and they think that wheelchair users get a lot of special treatment (many people assume wheelchair/ECv users get to go to the front of lines) and they are embarrased to think they will get special treatment that they don't feel they 'deserve'.
You can assure her that most of the lines are wheelchair and ECV accessible and that she will be waiting in line with everyone else most of the time. There are situations where the boarding process is different, but that is because something about the 'usual' boarding area is not accessible. It is not to give any special treatment.

 

[mintee]

So were you all shocked that they raised the prices at Disney? I felt like they were high enough to begin with!
That has definilty put a bit of a set back in our trip...We are now looking at doing only ONE day of WDW and one day of Universal before the cruise...I am no longer interested in the 4 day hopper especially when the kids cant do much at MGM and they hated Epcot last time (they were four)
Love those fish extenders that you guys are making! Very creative

Soooo when do we get to find out what dining rotation they have put us on?

 

[samily]

Another 1989 HS grad here! Can you believe next year will be 20 years!!!

So how much have the WDW prices gone up? I guess I haven't been paying attention. I know Universal usually runs some great specials - the last time we did WDW and Universal in the same trip, we got Universal 7 day/2 park passes for just slightly more than a one day WDW pass. Of course I couldn't see spending 7 days there, but I think we got 3 days out of it which was good.

My kids want to do Epcot this trip (for the Nemo ride). I haven't been there in years - do you think there is enough there to keep them entertained for the day? I keep reading comments like Mintee's so I'm getting a little nervous...kids will be 10.5, 7 & 4. Any input would be appeciated

Mintee, we have never found out our exact rotation until check in - only if we have main or late dining. Which dining does everyone here have? We have main, hoping for 6pm.

ps - congrats to you too tammy!!

 

[tammythetwinsmom]

We have late dining and asking for early but doubt we will get it.. If not it will be alright a lot of things the kids want to do during dinner anyways!

Maybe we won't do the park hopper for our 2 day pass.. maybe not worth doing 2 in one day? Thinking of AK and HS in one day and then MK on thursday the day we get in because they have the parade and all that on that night.. whereas they dont' have it on Friday! So that dictated what we did!

Oh well guess I have go redo the ticket prices again and see what is going on!

 

[mintee]

Ummm what to say about Epcot...Well I think it depends how old your kids are...if you are soley going for the Nemo ride, you might be disappointed. We were really excited about it as well...but it did not live up to the hype...(but of course our twins were only 4 at that time). The kids did not appreciate or understand all the different countries that were displayed...they just wanted to go on rides and see their favorite characters...just not enough in that height range that they were
There just didnt seem as much for them to do there as there was at WDW or Univeral or even the new Universal park...AK was great...

We also have the early dinner!

What category room did everyone sign up for? We are in the mystery category 12...I hope we get upgraded!

 

[Pumba's Dad]

Just saw today, prices for Universal jumped to match Disney. However, you can get discounted tickets to Universal via AAA, I believe. We also have a program at work called Universal Fanfare through our HR dept. It's a card you use to get 10-20% off items in the park. I can see if we have extra's laying around and can send them to you. You'll just to pretend to be me.

As for Epcot, we enjoy it. With us having to pull the kids out of school, we use Epcot as the educational portion to make their teachers happy. We take pictures of the kids at each country and we make them learn something about the countries. Epcot also has the Kidcot program where the kids learn something about each country and they get a stamp. Once they collect all the stamps, they get a certificate that they traveled the world. In Japan, the kids learned to write their names in japanese.

Now they would love Soarin, Test Track, and mission space. Those are our favorites there, although Mission Space makes me sick.

So are any of you doing door magnets? I've designed a few to display.

 

[melsherard]

We are doing Busch Gardens before the cruise... we did that last time and had a wonderful time. The ticket prices are so much more affordable than Disney... I think they cost $62 per person, and that is for 2 days.

We booked a cat 6 gty... the last time we had an oceanview, so this time we splurged on the balcony... can't wait! And we have early dining.

I plan on doing door magnets but haven't gotten started yet...

We enjoyed Epcot when we went before... that Soarin ride was my fave out of all of the parks there!

 

[melsherard]

If you guys have already booked your flights, make sure you check them regularly. I had a change in our schedule I wasn't aware of until today.... they left us with a 5 minute connection time in Atlanta which obviously won't work! They fixed it back, but he said I should check it every month from here on out so we can make sure we have the opportunity to fix it.

 

[samily]

Thanks for all the info on Epcot! We're going to try it. I think my older two kids can appreciate it and the youngest just goes with the flow. I like the educational aspect of it too. We've made lunch reservations at Coral Reef.

Mintee, you will definitely get upgraded because the cat. 12's only sleep 3, so you got a good deal!

Melissa, I haven't been to Busch Gardens since I was a kid - how far is it from Orlando?

We have flights going down but haven't booked any coming back yet -just checked & the flight going down hasn't changed - hope it stays that way...

What kind of magnets is everyone doing? I haven't had time to do any - I may get the Mickey head paint samples and do something quick with those. I've ordered my FE, anxious to see how that comes out.

 

[melsherard]

It seems like Busch Gardens was about 1 hour from Orlando. We visited Clearwater Beach in Tampa while we were at Disney World the last time...

 

[samily]

Only an hour - that's not bad at all - we'll have to keep that in mind for next time - it looks fun!

 

[tammythetwinsmom]

I know it's early but has any of your kids decided on what they will be for Halloween? I 'm trying to talk the kids into being pirates then they will have the pirate outfit.. lol... some of the adult ones are pretty revealing more like bedtime outift

I have 2 birthday parties to plan in the next few months and Christmas will be here before we know it.. and I have no ideas for my soon to be 5 and 7 year olds! The just don't "play" with anything besides dress up and sing/dance now with Hannah!! Any ideas?

Well have a great weekend.. hopefully rain free for us finally!

 

[tammythetwinsmom]

Pumba's Dad/ Ramon..

I was wondering your opinion on the Dining plan.. can you tell me what you think the pros and cons are? I haven't looked into it too much.. I don't think the inlaws are worried too much but it seems to me that it would save time some doesn't it? I would like to do a couple table service type places instead of counter service.. how does that work combining the two? Thanks in advance!

 

[Pumba's Dad]

I was wondering your opinion on the Dining plan.. can you tell me what you think the pros and cons are? I haven't looked into it too much.. I don't think the inlaws are worried too much but it seems to me that it would save time some doesn't it? I would like to do a couple table service type places instead of counter service.. how does that work combining the two? Thanks in advance!

We've had the food plan several times and I can say it's worth the cost, unless you're lucky enough to get it free as part of a package. Which we've gotten twice.

Pro:

If you get the basic dining plan: 1 counter, 1 table, and 1 snack, I believe the cost is 40.00 per person. OK now let's say you go to O'hana's for dinner. The cost alone is around $35.00 plus drink. So that meal pays for the cost, plus you still have 1 counter and 1 snack. So you pay 40 and get about 55 worth in food. I'm guessing here.

Con:

If you're use to eatting 3 times a day, then you have to spend money on breakfast or lunch, depending on how you use your credits.

Additionally, now you have to pay tip, which was covered before in the dining plan.


Overall:

I think you get your money's worth in the food by using the dining plan. We drive down so we take breakfast items with us, or stop at Dunkin Donut and get donuts and bagels. Then pick up some drinks and milk and that's breakfast for us. We use the counter credit to get burger and fry and drink and then the big meal with the table credit. Snack is usually a soda in the park or ice cream.

Now Disney is offering several options on dining plans. Like the new 2 counter credits and 1 snack, or their premium plan which is 3 meals and 2 snacks. Our first time using the plan, we had left over credits, so I can't see us using the premium plan, but since I had left over credits that one time, I found a elderly gentleman who had a veteran hat on and I told him I'd pay for his meal. He was surprised and thankful. I figured it was the least I could do, and beside my son and I love to hear stories.

Ok I've yakked enough, but if you want more info, just email me and I'll try to answer your questions.

 

[mintee]

Tammy
Your kids sound like mine...they dont play with any toys anymore...all they do is dress up or sing/dance. We bought them a karoke machine which the absolutely LOVE...also dream dazzler has a light up runway with changing area..and that is what they mostly do...we also bought a cheetah girls dress up clothes box. We have bought so many barbies/polly's ect...and it seems that they always end up just naked laying in the toy chest, not used...It is funny because I would have killed to have as many toys as they do. YOu know it is bad when you go to Toys R Us and they cant indentify one toy that they would want to buy

Do they have a DS yet? We bought that for the birthday.. and it is great for car trips and you can still buy game boy advanced games for it and they are much cheaper than DS games...