July 2011:Calling all planners-Post your dates & Resort

[sarbah77]

They are absolutely awesome! What I've found is that the later you can stay, the less crowded the EMHs become.

Sweet!!

 

[carrie6466]

I really like the Canon Powershot family the SD series, digital elphs... I have
an older model (bought back in 2007ish I think...)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Canon-SD4500-Brown/14972576

I just bought my DD a kodak easyshare for her birthday but have not given it to her yet so not sure of the quality of it ... got good reviews though!
This is the exact one I got her... http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kodak-C195-Purple/14972628
Sorry you dropped yours

Those are the cameras I was talking about I had a silver one.

We have the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera and have great success with our pics. Bought it in 2009 from Amazon. My DS has one also. They take great pics of our granddaughter. We both have used it on vacations. It fits great in my DH pocket. Sorry you have to go thru the trouble of researching a camera before your trip.

We leave for our WDW trip July 21st. We are going with my DH, DS, DDIL and my granddaughter to celebrate her 2nd birthday. We are staying at the WL. Our favorite resort.

You will be there around the same time as me Birthdays are always fun at WDW


On a side note: I'm now totally and completely freaked out because I don't know for sure how many days are left on my no expire tickets. And, shhhh...my geek is showing... I tried to figure it out from the excel sheet from the trip when I bought them, but no one remembers whether we went to a WDW Park after we got rained completely out at Universal. So I don't know whether we have 7 or 8 day tickets. No, I never delete old excel sheets. They are *my* souviners.

Now I do have old waterpark visits from a previous previous visit, so worst case scenario we stay in the water park all day instead of leaving, going to change and going somewhere for the evening. Only problem with that scenario is where I get an awesome ADR at this point in a restaurant I'd actually want to eat in.

I read on another thread that the number you used to be able to call and check how many days were left no longer is connected. This leaves us being unable to find out until we actually get there. I don't want to disappoint dd by taking her to a park and not going in on arrival day if we don't have enough days, since that's the only night we were winging it. So i think I will leave dd and dh at the hotel and go to the Int'l Gateway to try to find out this info.

Does anyone know if they'd be able to tell me at Guest Services there? Or at the ticket booth? I am trying to sound knowledgable, but actually I don't even know where it is. I've never been to the Int'l Gateway. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

New plan upon arrival at BWV: check in, go check tickets somehow. If we have 8 days left call dh tell him come and meet me. If we have 7, I slink off back to him and we eat cake at the Bakery for dinner and go for a swim and I'll never hear the end of it. It's a BW, for goodness sake, it must have hot dogs or fries or some kind of BW food; right? Cotton Candy? Something?

Someone please tell me anything they know here. Do you think DVC Member Services could check and see how many days are left on my tix, if I call tomorrow? That idea just popped into my head after all the rambling.


Thanks anyone who can help and those who can't if you read all this garbage

 

[disneywatcher]

Those are the cameras I was talking about I had a silver one.



You will be there around the same time as me Birthdays are always fun at WDW


On a side note: I'm now totally and completely freaked out because I don't know for sure how many days are left on my no expire tickets. And, shhhh...my geek is showing... I tried to figure it out from the excel sheet from the trip when I bought them, but no one remembers whether we went to a WDW Park after we got rained completely out at Universal. So I don't know whether we have 7 or 8 day tickets. No, I never delete old excel sheets. They are *my* souviners.

Now I do have old waterpark visits from a previous previous visit, so worst case scenario we stay in the water park all day instead of leaving, going to change and going somewhere for the evening. Only problem with that scenario is where I get an awesome ADR at this point in a restaurant I'd actually want to eat in.

I read on another thread that the number you used to be able to call and check how many days were left no longer is connected. This leaves us being unable to find out until we actually get there. I don't want to disappoint dd by taking her to a park and not going in on arrival day if we don't have enough days, since that's the only night we were winging it. So i think I will leave dd and dh at the hotel and go to the Int'l Gateway to try to find out this info.

Does anyone know if they'd be able to tell me at Guest Services there? Or at the ticket booth? I am trying to sound knowledgable, but actually I don't even know where it is. I've never been to the Int'l Gateway. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

New plan upon arrival at BWV: check in, go check tickets somehow. If we have 8 days left call dh tell him come and meet me. If we have 7, I slink off back to him and we eat cake at the Bakery for dinner and go for a swim and I'll never hear the end of it. It's a BW, for goodness sake, it must have hot dogs or fries or some kind of BW food; right? Cotton Candy? Something?

Someone please tell me anything they know here. Do you think DVC Member Services could check and see how many days are left on my tix, if I call tomorrow? That idea just popped into my head after all the rambling.


Thanks anyone who can help and those who can't if you read all this garbage

One person on this entire board I can think of who might know is Cheshire Figment (not sure if I spelled his name correctly) he's the ticket info guru that's on the Theme Park's Attratctions portion of this board.

 

[whitnicole18]

Staying at the Carribbean Beach Resort 7/30-8/6 with three kids, making us a party of 8! We have all of our reservations done and Ill post those tomorrow!!!

Our third time since last May going, first time for my three nieces and nephews! so excited to take it slower and see it through a childs eyes!!

 

[amy_in_wonderland]

oh my gosh its 19 days away!

Is there any interest in a meet from July 1 -8th???

I'll be there from the 2nd thru the 8th and I would love to have a get together at some point if there are more interested parties.

 

[juliebug1997]

There's a meet on the 10th (MK Dole Whip) and the 20th (Epcot WS). Sadly, both after we leave.

 

[flipflopmom]

Is there any interest in a meet from July 1 -8th???

Hey! I looked back at your posts and it looks like you will be at AK July 6th... that is our AK day too If you see us say hi! We should be there the whole day!

Okay, I'll be there (AK) on the 6th, too! Any interest in setting a time/place?
We'll probably just be there until lunch-mid afternoon... We have ADR's at Tusker at 10:20 for "brunch"..

Does anyone know if they'd be able to tell me at Guest Services there? Or at the ticket booth. Someone please tell me anything they know here. Do you think DVC Member Services could check and see how many days are left on my tix, if I call tomorrow? That idea just popped into my head after all the rambling.

HEY LADY!!!!!! I doubt DVC MS could help, but I agree that Chesire Figment could point you in the right direction. I would head over to theme parks, find a post, (pretty sure there is a sticky about tickets, might be some info there that might help), and then shoot a pm!

I'll be there from the 2nd thru the 8th and I would love to have a get together at some point if there are more interested parties.

I'll be there July 1-9. I just proposed an AK meet on the 6th. Does that work for you?

I should really be working on grad school stuff, but this is more fun!

 

[carrie6466]

Just wanted to say looks like I'm the first one up this morning. Why? I have no idea.

And I can't check my ticket dates until I am down there

Now I'm going to stress over this for the next 30 whatever days. Ugh!

Oh yes, and another thing. Yesterday, dd comes to me out of the blue and starts talking about the Garden Grill and the next time we go to WDW she wants to eat there. She still doesn't know we're going in July. I tried to make reservations there and all I can get is 7:45 PM on 7/20, but that is way to late for her for dinner. She'll fall asleep on the chicken leg!

Nothing else available there for the whole week. I was able to get a Hollywood and Vine breakfast for 8 am on 7/22, if you want to add that. Maybe that will satisfy her Character meal bug.

We're now 3 table service meals over the limit. I swear if I have to add one more meal at someone's offhanded request I am upgrading to deluxe. This is ridiculous. The only meals no one has mentioned is the ones I want LOL

 

[miprender]

Last night we were at my cousin's wedding. It was held at a nice Italian resturant. The room was on the small side for the amount of guests so everyone was pretty much on top of one another. No big deal.

I was getting up to go get a picture of family and was bumped by another guest. I had my camera in my hand and dropped it on the floor.

So now you can guess it doesn't work. My unexpected mishap is now another thing I need to buy before my WDW trip.

I don't need anything too fancy, I nice point and shoot will be fine. I popped over to the photography board but they are more complex and expensive then I am willing to purchase.

Can anyone recommend their camera? I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks so much!

That is too bad. I love my SONY point & shoot. My mom bought us a bigger camera for Christmas and though I like that one too I still really love my SONY. Plus DS5 dropped it last year outside the GF and it still worked

Just wanted to post the link to the tee shirts all finished

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=41454078#post41454078

Love them all, but I really love your 1900 PF set. I can't wait to eat there for breakfast.

 

[kennethsrib]

Been up reading all the posts on this board LOL. I printed out the park hours and circled the ones that concern me LOL. I changed my signature too!

I am all for meeting up in AK on July 6. No ADR's for us, so whatever time works ( probably in the AM, going to try to do the shows in the early PM) before we head back to our hotel for swim and nap ( and lunch LOL)

jan

 

[flipflopmom]

Just wanted to say looks like I'm the first one up this morning. Why? I have no idea.

And I can't check my ticket dates until I am down there

Now I'm going to stress over this for the next 30 whatever days. Ugh!

We're now 3 table service meals over the limit. I swear if I have to add one more meal at someone's offhanded request I am upgrading to deluxe. This is ridiculous. The only meals no one has mentioned is the ones I want LOL

We were posting at the same time! Stinks about your tickets!

I know what you mean about the meals. It's just the 4 of us, and trying to satisfy everyone is stressful, especially considering we did deluxe the last 2 years and I refuse to do it again. Everyone keeps saying "but we have to eat here, we can't miss this one." SHEEZ! If I said "I want to go out for breakfast. Remember that great place we ate one time, it was $100 though" DH would laugh hysterically! But that's what they keep doing! My girls are def. in character mode.. We have 3 meals with Mickey - CM, TH, and Ohana, and Akershus for the princesses. One of our bargaining points to buy DVC was that DH would get Ohana dinner 2 times in 1 week each trip. I wanted CRT, but wouldn't take the TS credits, or pay for it for that matter. LOL. Between his Ohanas, and their characters, doesn't leave much for anything else!!!!!! (2 to be exact!)


With all the talk about park hours, I thought I would add this website in case you guys dont' know about it:http://www.wdwparkhours.com

You can set your parameters, and it gives you a customized calendar of hours. Very user friendly, and I love to access it on vacation!

 

[jimim]

So cool!! Make sure to take lots of pictures! There are those of us who live to see the custom cakes and such things.

Same here. I love looking at those things! LOL We got our first for our DD first trip in Dec. Brian did it from the Contem. He did an awesome job on it! IT was really good too. I thought it was going to just look nice! lol

jim

 

[carrie6466]

We were posting at the same time! Stinks about your tickets!

I know what you mean about the meals. It's just the 4 of us, and trying to satisfy everyone is stressful, especially considering we did deluxe the last 2 years and I refuse to do it again. Everyone keeps saying "but we have to eat here, we can't miss this one." SHEEZ! If I said "I want to go out for breakfast. Remember that great place we ate one time, it was $100 though" DH would laugh hysterically! But that's what they keep doing! My girls are def. in character mode.. We have 3 meals with Mickey - CM, TH, and Ohana, and Akershus for the princesses. One of our bargaining points to buy DVC was that DH would get Ohana dinner 2 times in 1 week each trip. I wanted CRT, but wouldn't take the TS credits, or pay for it for that matter. LOL. Between his Ohanas, and their characters, doesn't leave much for anything else!!!!!! (2 to be exact!)


With all the talk about park hours, I thought I would add this website in case you guys dont' know about it:http://www.wdwparkhours.com

You can set your parameters, and it gives you a customized calendar of hours. Very user friendly, and I love to access it on vacation!

2 Ohanas every trip in exchange for DVC? Done LOL

Our character meals originally were: Cape May breakfast, Ohana b'fast, Akershus b'fast and Crystal Palace dinner. Now I've added H&V. And I got an ADR for Garden Grill on 7/20 at 8:00 pm. But I think that's too late and I'm going to cancel and lie and say I couldn't get it. Cape May and Ohana we're paying OOP for and now H&V, as well. It's totally escalating. And there are only 3 of us going.

I'm thinking if I can get a CRT and do a room service b'fast one day that'll pay for the dxddp and I can be done with all this. I thought I was set a few weeks ago

 

[jimim]

That would be me..."carolfrompa". We live right outside of Philadelphia, but I am very familiar with Old Forge Pizza. I went to the University of Scranton or "da U" as the locals used to say. Small world!!

Awesome. . . da U! i was there last week in the rose garden to take some pictures of Kate (our DD) cause the roses were out in full bloom. U should see the 2 new buildings going up! Crazy big! They just did a new student union building too. They are going to own all the way down to Scranton Prep pretty soon! We are always down in Phili. I have cousins down there and we go to the King Of Prushia alot.

jim

 

[Khokhonutt]

Last night we were at my cousin's wedding. It was held at a nice Italian resturant. The room was on the small side for the amount of guests so everyone was pretty much on top of one another. No big deal.

I was getting up to go get a picture of family and was bumped by another guest. I had my camera in my hand and dropped it on the floor.

So now you can guess it doesn't work. My unexpected mishap is now another thing I need to buy before my WDW trip.

I don't need anything too fancy, I nice point and shoot will be fine. I popped over to the photography board but they are more complex and expensive then I am willing to purchase.

Can anyone recommend their camera? I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks so much!

These days, you don't have to drop a ton on a camera to get something decent. Here's how I'd go about picking a camera:

- Pick your price point. This will help you narrow down the field.

- I assume you already have storage cards. Assuming they are still usuable, pick a camera that uses this the same format cards you already have. This will save you some, but potentially rule out some Sony models (and any other camera that uses a proprietary card). Most Sony's will handle SD cards, but not all, so watch that when you're shopping. One thing to consider, though, is that a newer camera, that will typically take larger pictures, may chew up cards faster. Just something to keep in mind, you may still need new cards.

- I always buy the best optical zoom I can afford and I look for a camera where I can turn the digital zoom off. The optical zoom is the only real zoom you get. Digital zoom simply crops the center out of your pictures, making it look like you're getting real up close. When you get home, most of those pictures end up being quite grainy. Good optical zoom usually means more $$, you have to make the call there, but shop around and see what you can find.

- Don't necessarily run away from proprietary batteries. I used to only purchase cameras that would take AA batteries. My thoughts were, I could buy any rechargable battery and I could always pick up AAs on a trip, to use in a pinch. When we bought my wife's latest camera (Canon SX210IS), I had to go take the proprietary battery to get the size I wanted. All I can say is the new proprietary batteries are awesome. I still bought my wife a spare battery, but she hardly ever needs it. The usage time she gets is very impressive.

- If at all possible, get your hands on the camera you intend to buy. Even if you're going to order online, getting the feel for a camera is important. See how it holds in your hand, look at the menus and see how it functions. Many times I've been set on a camera and when I got my hands on it, one thing or another led me away from that camera, once I had it in my hands.

- In my opinion and research, I wouldn't buy into the hype of a waterproof camera. Most reviews and actual uses shows these cameras sacrifice picture quality for the water resistance. I looked hard at one of these for my wife, but in the end, we don't do enough water stuff to justify sacrificing the picture quality. We'll just carry extra zip lock bags to protect our investment. To me, unless you're a diver or do a lot of stuff at the beach, it just didn't make sense to pay for the waterproof feature over other features.

- Make a list of what's important to you, then use that to compare cameras. In the end, I'm not you and while I may have great opinions (in my opinion ) they may not work for you. It's your camera, pick what makes you happy.

I know this doesn't give you a specific camera to look for, but I hope the guidelines will at lease help you guide yourself to the best camera for you.

 

[juliebug1997]

- Don't necessarily run away from proprietary batteries. I used to only purchase cameras that would take AA batteries. My thoughts were, I could buy any rechargable battery and I could always pick up AAs on a trip, to use in a pinch. When we bought my wife's latest camera (Canon SX210IS), I had to go take the proprietary battery to get the size I wanted. All I can say is the new proprietary batteries are awesome. I still bought my wife a spare battery, but she hardly ever needs it. The usage time she gets is very impressive.

Until your husband loses your charger.

 

[flipflopmom]

Carrie - Have you heard about the new DVC policy with dining plans? You might could work it to get one night of DXDP and use 2 credits then roll them. PM me if you have questions, we've researched this extensively!

We started out straight up DDP. Then decided to go for every other day DXDP, rolling TS's. Well, then we found out that meant every morning checking in and outj(getting new cards), because you are essentially doing DXDP one night, one night room only. NOT DOING THAT!

Then we tried to do blocks. DDP a few days, DXDP a few days, only checking in every second day. Still didn't appeal, couldnt' make it work.

THEN, we added a night to the beginning of our stay at AKL. No park additions, though. Sooo.. another day to consider!

We finally decided to go with DXDP for the 1 night at AKL. This will give us Boma breakfast when we get there, and then Boma dinner that night. We Boma, but it's a pain to get to AKL. AND, we'll have our mugs for the trip, and roll a TS. All in all, worked out cheaper than QS for the day.

So, now we've got DDP for the whole BLT stay, plus 1 rolled TS. AND we still have to pay OOP for 1 TS, IF we keep a H&V. Which we enjoyed 2 years ago, and Sophie's just about to age out of. Don't know. I thought I was done in March!!!!!!!!

Since you are in the BC/BW area, what do you think of ESPN club? We have that down for one evening, since we've never visited the Boardwalk and I think it would be fun. (We ate at Yachtsman last year, it rocked!). It's either that, or try for a Kona dinner so we have more flexibility in our evening plans.....

Why is this so hard???????

Sorry to take over the thread this am!

 

[juliebug1997]

Oh, I forgot!

We're at AK on July 6th. We have a ressie at 9:15 AM and at 1 PM so I'm open for maybe about 11 AM?

 

[tinkerbell60]

On a side note: I'm now totally and completely freaked out because I don't know for sure how many days are left on my no expire tickets. And, shhhh...my geek is showing... I tried to figure it out from the excel sheet from the trip when I bought them, but no one remembers whether we went to a WDW Park after we got rained completely out at Universal. So I don't know whether we have 7 or 8 day tickets. No, I never delete old excel sheets. They are *my* souviners.

Now I do have old waterpark visits from a previous previous visit, so worst case scenario we stay in the water park all day instead of leaving, going to change and going somewhere for the evening. Only problem with that scenario is where I get an awesome ADR at this point in a restaurant I'd actually want to eat in.

I read on another thread that the number you used to be able to call and check how many days were left no longer is connected. This leaves us being unable to find out until we actually get there. I don't want to disappoint dd by taking her to a park and not going in on arrival day if we don't have enough days, since that's the only night we were winging it. So i think I will leave dd and dh at the hotel and go to the Int'l Gateway to try to find out this info.

Does anyone know if they'd be able to tell me at Guest Services there? Or at the ticket booth? I am trying to sound knowledgable, but actually I don't even know where it is. I've never been to the Int'l Gateway. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

New plan upon arrival at BWV: check in, go check tickets somehow. If we have 8 days left call dh tell him come and meet me. If we have 7, I slink off back to him and we eat cake at the Bakery for dinner and go for a swim and I'll never hear the end of it. It's a BW, for goodness sake, it must have hot dogs or fries or some kind of BW food; right? Cotton Candy? Something?

Someone please tell me anything they know here. Do you think DVC Member Services could check and see how many days are left on my tix, if I call tomorrow? That idea just popped into my head after all the rambling.


Thanks anyone who can help and those who can't if you read all this garbage

Carrie, I have some old tickets (pre MYW) that had waterpark options on them, I was able to have them checked at the lobby concierge in the Beach Club a few years ago.

The Boardwalk has plenty of food - there is pizza, corn dogs, fries, etc at a few of the kiosks, plus other restaurants like Big River Grille and ESPN Zone that are easy to get into. You can also walk around to the Beach Club and do Beaches and Cream - they do not do ADRs, all walk ups,but it is sometimes a wait because it is a small place. I think there are also a few places over at the Swan and Dolphin. Check out the menus on All Ears.....if you need the link let me know.

We were posting at the same time! Stinks about your tickets!

I know what you mean about the meals. It's just the 4 of us, and trying to satisfy everyone is stressful, especially considering we did deluxe the last 2 years and I refuse to do it again. Everyone keeps saying "but we have to eat here, we can't miss this one." SHEEZ! If I said "I want to go out for breakfast. Remember that great place we ate one time, it was $100 though" DH would laugh hysterically! But that's what they keep doing! My girls are def. in character mode.. We have 3 meals with Mickey - CM, TH, and Ohana, and Akershus for the princesses. One of our bargaining points to buy DVC was that DH would get Ohana dinner 2 times in 1 week each trip. I wanted CRT, but wouldn't take the TS credits, or pay for it for that matter. LOL. Between his Ohanas, and their characters, doesn't leave much for anything else!!!!!! (2 to be exact!)


With all the talk about park hours, I thought I would add this website in case you guys dont' know about it:http://www.wdwparkhours.com

You can set your parameters, and it gives you a customized calendar of hours. Very user friendly, and I love to access it on vacation!

I love that customized calendar Taryn!! Thanks for the link!!!

 

[Khokhonutt]

Until your husband loses your charger.

I suppose this could be said for about any charger. Just an FYI, I've been able to find spare chargers on amazon.com for fairly reasonable prices. My wife and I like to travel with 2 chargers (one for each battery) on big trips. I got a charger for my camera for $5, plus shipping. We found one for my wife for a little over $15 shipped.