January Dream Pre Trip it's going crazy lately but we'll get there

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your colleague and friend.

I remember when I still lived in Toronto I got to see the funeral procession of Officer Todd E. Baylis (RIP) while the sadness and loss has to be unbearable, the compassion and support I saw from his band of brothers/sisters was inspiring.

I hope your enjoy your cruise and the relaxation helps speed up your recovery.

 

[Spectrum]

I am so sorry for the loss of your colleague. I live on LI so this has been all over the news here. It is very heartwarming to see the outpouring of donations to the college fund for his daughters.

I am on your cruise with my sister and her kids, DN's ages 10 and 13, DN 17. I can not wait to get somewhere warm.

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Oh man, I am so glad you were able to really get the surprise and then double it with the GParents. Hopefully, your friend can figure something out so your son won't have to hold the secret long.

Great news on the new plans at the Sheraton. I'm crossing my fingers for your whole party to dine together.

17 days left until we leave and it's time to start thinking about our last minute plans or ideas.

Well my friend has decided to just drive to the port and see if the kids catch on we will already be at the port for the big surprise! I hope my son can keep quite, his BFF is having a sleepover on the 7th for his bday so if mine can make it through the night with out spilling the beans we will be golden!

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

I am on your cruise with my sister and her kids, DN's ages 10 and 13, DN 17. I can not wait to get somewhere warm.[/QUOTE]

Well Christmas morning in Fl it was in the low 80's but the last 3 days it has been in only warming up to the mid 60's! We have only had a few cold days here in Fl so I'm hoping we will warm back up in the next two weeks!

 

[LindaBabe]

Can I suggest you try pricing a car for the WEEK? Use some of the codes found on the transportation board - you may find that renting a car for a week, even if you have to pay to park it, and returning it to mco will be substantially less than returning the car at PC and paying for transfers to the airport. You can make that flight easy peasy. I got a car for nearly the same time frame for $117 for 8 days.

 

[princesscinderella]

I usually bid for a car on price line, they only use all the main companies and you can specify the pick up and drop off locations. I typically can get half off of going rates online.

 

[Bytor01]

Wow...are the holidays actually over...I can't believe it. I have been away because of them but now we are back and working towards our vacation in less than two weeks.

The tree is down, the decorations are boxed and will be placed up in the attic tomorrow. But, not before we make some room and bring down our suitcases. Yeah, it's time to start thinking about packing.

I've been checking that long range forecast via accuweather.com and it's looking pretty good. I'm always wary about going down in January as you never know when that pesky little white stuff from the sky is going to make an appearance and just ruin your plans. So far, it's looking good. The closer we get the better I'll feel.

It's going to be a long week...kids back to school, I'm still healing and we still have a lot to do around the house to get ready. But, what's good is that we leave in 11 days. Almost single digits.

I got a nice email reminder from DCL today to complete all my final little tasks. One task that will have to wait is our PALO reservation. It seems it's all messed up. I made a reservation, for what I thought was the three of us, me, DW, and SIL but somehow it only took for me and DW. I did notice it a couple of weeks later that the reservation was only for two. I immediately changed it to three and got a time of thirty minutes later. Something must have happened because after double checking everything this past week I see the reservation for two. That's it...nothing else. So, now I have to get the reservation changed on ship. It stinks but it has to be done. If not, I'll just give the reservation to my DW and SIL.

So I hope everyone's holidays were fantastic and Happy New Year!

 

[Bytor01]

I am so sorry for the loss of your colleague. I live on LI so this has been all over the news here. It is very heartwarming to see the outpouring of donations to the college fund for his daughters.

I am on your cruise with my sister and her kids, DN's ages 10 and 13, DN 17. I can not wait to get somewhere warm.

Yes, thanks for your kind words. The public has been fantastic. Right now the amount raised for his four daughters is approximately 1.7 million. There are still more fundraisers that are going to happen. Obviously, it's just a small consolation and will never bring back Pete but at least their financial worries will be eased.

 

[Bytor01]

Well my friend has decided to just drive to the port and see if the kids catch on we will already be at the port for the big surprise! I hope my son can keep quite, his BFF is having a sleepover on the 7th for his bday so if mine can make it through the night with out spilling the beans we will be golden!

Oh man, I hope your son is as good as you in keeping a secret...

Boy, that will sure be some exciting scene in the terminal if the secret is kept.

 

[Bytor01]

I usually bid for a car on price line, they only use all the main companies and you can specify the pick up and drop off locations. I typically can get half off of going rates online.

Can I suggest you try pricing a car for the WEEK? Use some of the codes found on the transportation board - you may find that renting a car for a week, even if you have to pay to park it, and returning it to mco will be substantially less than returning the car at PC and paying for transfers to the airport. You can make that flight easy peasy. I got a car for nearly the same time frame for $117 for 8 days.

Yeah, I'm kinda stuck because of the minivan that's needed. The Priceline rates or weekly rates are over the $300 range. It's all good. I could get a better rate on a smaller car but I have too many people and need the minivan.

Thanks for the ideas though. Anytime a money saving idea can come up I will definitely take a look at it.

 

[Goldeelox9]

Can't wait to here all about your cruise!!

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Oh man, I am so glad you were able to really get the surprise and then double it with the GParents. Hopefully, your friend can figure something out so your son won't have to hold the secret long.

Great news on the new plans at the Sheraton. I'm crossing my fingers for your whole party to dine together.

17 days left until we leave and it's time to start thinking about our last minute plans or ideas.[/QUO

Well my friend cracked and told the kids -they are so excited. Checked are reservation this afternoon and our request for main dining was granted and we are all together- 10 days to go!

 

[Bytor01]

Oh man, I am so glad you were able to really get the surprise and then double it with the GParents. Hopefully, your friend can figure something out so your son won't have to hold the secret long.

Great news on the new plans at the Sheraton. I'm crossing my fingers for your whole party to dine together.

17 days left until we leave and it's time to start thinking about our last minute plans or ideas.[/QUO

Well my friend cracked and told the kids -they are so excited. Checked are reservation this afternoon and our request for main dining was granted and we are all together- 10 days to go!

Well, one good thing...Now you can ALL look forward and talk about the good times everyone is going to have.

Great news on the main dining for your party.

 

[Bytor01]

So, here we are about 8 days to D Day and I still have not made my decision on how to get to the airport. The last time we vacationed we did something different and drove to the airport and parked in the lot there. Usually we take a limo and ride in style. The cost was a little more for the parking but not so much more. The convenience and speed of getting in and out was much easier.

So, with our party of 6 though a limo would probably be too small with all the luggage. I would probably have to get a van which might be a little more money. My truck can probably fit everyone but it will be tight. It all depends on how much my wife packs and that's the great unknown.

This might go down to the wire....

I did the online check in for our DVC reservation today also. You can check in 10 days prior to your arrival and it just expedites the process a bit. We are getting in around 6pm so we should not have a problem getting our rooms right away. I do find it funny though that while your doing the check in there is a tab for room requests. But, if you press it nothing happens...so you get no room requests. Why have it then?

That's all right, we are only at Bay Lake Towers for two days and are just going to enjoy the sites. What is new for DVC is that when I made the reservation I was transferred to another person who now handles all multiple reservations by a party. This person now links the reservations in a way so the rooms are automatically put close together. If you didn't specify adjacent or connecting in the past the multiple rooms could be put all over. We shall see how this works.

Crazy just keeps on happening...As if I don't have anything more on my plate I was just hired to teach a college course at a local college by me. I'm real excited as this is what I want to do when I retire. Only thing is...school starts on the 19th, the day the cruise docks. Luckily for me, my first class meets on the 23rd. But, now during the next week, I have to get everything done to get ready for our vacation AND start setting up notes to teach my class. It's going to be fun...

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Just in case you forgot, We all board the Ship 1 Week from today. So much to do in that week,,. Wishing you safe travels to Florida, see you at the port!

 

[Bytor01]

Yep, one more week away. We can't wait. We leave on Friday, 5 days, and the packing will commence TODAY! Well, at least some of it.

It's been so busy there has been no time. We've decided one thing though. We are driving to the airport ourselves. We are flying JetBlue and they have a nice new parking garage with their new terminal. At least that's one headache solved.

We love flying JetBlue. They are relatively the least expensive, have newer, clean planes and the most important thing...TVs. It keeps the kids occupied. Although, they are going to probably getting their homework done on the trip down.

Talking about homework...my kids both have book reports due during the time we are away. Both their teachers said they can hand it in after they get back. But, why do I want that headache? It's just another thing that has to get done this week. Thankfully, they are pretty much done reading their books. So, at least, we should be able to get them started today.

Well, let's see...what's left...packing, stopping mail and paper delivery, getting all our paperwork and documents in order and brought with us, continuing getting ready for my college teaching gig, kid's school projects, finish putting all the decorations away, get to the cleaners, get haircuts...ahhh man this list can keep on going...

5 days left, 5 days left...

 

[Bytor01]

Ugghhh why does things keep happening...I can't find my Magical Express luggage tags...

I will have to rip the house apart tomorrow. Well, as long as I have our passports we will be ok.

Our last 4 nighter, I forgot our passports at home. I don't know why I just dropped the ball. I had to call a friend who laid out the money for a locksmith to come over and break into my house. My friend copied and faxed the passports over and we were allowed to board. But, there were some real anxious moments there for us.

At least the kid's book reports are done...sweet...

 

[Bytor01]

Well, today is the day. WE have been running around this morning getting ready and should be leaving within the hour. Flight is at 3pm and we should get to MCO around 6pm.

I will try to update as best I can but you know how the internet access can be in WDW. I definitely won't have the ability to get online on the Dream. So, you'll all have to wait for my trip report for that.