July 2013 White House Tour Cancelled? To DISNEY!!! NEW 4-8

[teachermommy78]

A little late but you know I'm here!

I'm so excited for you guys to get to go back to Disney so soon! I'm so glad Finn is doing well now. Amazing story about the recovery in his vocal abilities!

Can't wait to hear more!

Yay! One of my favorite DISers! Thanks for joining! Hopefully you can hear Finn's vocal cords for yourself one day!

Hi Stacey! Just stopping by... I don't even know where to begin.

Your family is adorable.

And wow - that had to be so hard to figure out what you were going to do when your were informed about the job switch. I am very happy for you that you were able to find something that you've dreamed of doing and still uses your teaching skills. I hope you still like it.

And Finn... How precious. I can't even imagine how scary that must have been for all of you. So relieved that everything worked out OK, and he is back to normal.

I agree - all of that definately warranted a trip to Disney! I look forward to hearing all about the rest of your plans.

D~

Thanks for joining! These last couple years have been tough, but I made it through, and it could have been much worse, right? And yes..a Disney trip is NEEDED!!!

 

[teachermommy78]

We have really gone back and forth on the Disney Dining Plan for this trip. We enjoy the freedom of the plan. My husband someone who budgets well. He really enjoys the fact that once we are on the trip we won't have to worry about paying for food.

We ended up deciding to try out the quick serve plan. I don't know how I feel about that 100%, but I think it's because we were ruined at six flags last year. We are season pass holders at six flags and go A LOT. It's about 40 minutes from our house, and if we have a free day, we go. Anyway, they had a meal plan last year where you pay around $70 a person and get lunch and dinner for the entire season. We ended up buying 3 meal plans and shared between the 5 of us, which was PLENTY. We got SO SICK of burgers, hot dogs, and chicken strips. I just need to remember that disney has a much better variety. I need to remember Columbia Harbor House, Sunshine Seasons, etc.

We also decided to book one ADR. We originally booked Prime Time. My kids' top three restaurants at WDW are: 1. Whispering Canyon Cafe (we had a superior server last time who made it so fun for us) 2. Ohana and 3. Prime Time. We decided that since we will only be in the park 6 days this time that we would not do a resort meal since traveling to so many resorts last trip took up lots of time. We will definitely hit our favorites on the next trip, though considering we will have 10 or 12 days. Yes. I did say 12!!!! This is also true with the regular dining plan in general. We felt that with 6 days ADRs would take up a lot of time in the parks, even with not going to resorts. I feel ridiculous even saying this since many families only get 6 days for a lifetime trip.

I had been looking for Fantasmic Dining package for awhile, but only looking at the quick serve option. It wasn't available, but I had read that it was a 60 day out reservation. Last night I decided to check again, but accidentally hit "show all." Good thing I did, because I realized that the ADRs were not 60 days out, they were all gone! Actually not ALL gone. I snagged a 12:00 pm Mama Melrose. We hadn't seen Fantasmic since our honeymoon, so the kids had never seen it. We weren't HUGE fans so it hasn't been a priority. However, when we went it was FREEZING. We were in winter coats drinking hot chocolate. And I think it may have been raining. Anyway, we thought the dining package would be best so that we don't have to stress over getting in line super early for a show we may not love. So now I have to cancel Primetime.

We are forever hemming and hawing about dining plan. Chances are, we will change our minds again. There was a new discount for Disney VISA holders yesterday, and our travel agent rebooked us and we saved $300. We were so close to switching to regular dining, but decided to just keep quick serve.

Next time I'll discuss Tables in Wonderland, and choices for our next trip.

 

[ZFamily5]

Yay! One of my favorite DISers! Thanks for joining! Hopefully you can hear Finn's vocal cords for yourself one day!!

I hope we're there the same time next summer so I can meet the kids (and you!)!

I agree, the Quick Service plan is better for a shorter trip. For more unique CS meals, in the Magic Kingdom there is Columbia Harbor House like you mentioned and BOG for lunch. In Epcot there is La Cantina de San Angel which we thought had really good tacos and empanadas and then the Yorkshire County Fish Shoppe. I don't really have suggestions for Hollywood Studios as we usually have Pizza Planet and that's not anything special...At Animal Kingdom we really liked the Yak and Yeti CS place. Just my two cents!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DMGeurts]

I totally understand your struggle with what to do for QS vs. DDP... SUch a hard decision.

I agree about the park time - having TS meals really takes out of that. And if you are leaving the parks to go to a resort - even more so.

I think - if we were going for a shorter trip (and I totally agree that 6 days is a trip of a life time for most people), I think I would make the same decision as you. My only issue is that part of the reason we keep going back is some of the food, and most of that food is at TS restaurants.

Right now, our DDP - among other things - is really putting us over our budget - and I am a HUGE budgeter and a huge believer in not putting vacations on credit. And because Disney is not releasing very many or very good deals this year - something is going to have to give... DDP... Or our amount of days there - something.

I also agree with the pp... there are so many unique QS dining places - that you could still have some really great food.

Boy - I didn't help much at all.

D~

 

[teachermommy78]

I hope we're there the same time next summer so I can meet the kids (and you!)!

I agree, the Quick Service plan is better for a shorter trip. For more unique CS meals, in the Magic Kingdom there is Columbia Harbor House like you mentioned and BOG for lunch. In Epcot there is La Cantina de San Angel which we thought had really good tacos and empanadas and then the Yorkshire County Fish Shoppe. I don't really have suggestions for Hollywood Studios as we usually have Pizza Planet and that's not anything special...At Animal Kingdom we really liked the Yak and Yeti CS place. Just my two cents!

Can't wait to hear more!

I agree. We will be just fine. We are 99% sure we will wait in line for the BOG lunch. It's always a good thing to try things out for the first time. And since it's a shorter trip, if we hate it, we won't have to deal with it for very long.

I totally understand your struggle with what to do for QS vs. DDP... SUch a hard decision.

I agree about the park time - having TS meals really takes out of that. And if you are leaving the parks to go to a resort - even more so.

I think - if we were going for a shorter trip (and I totally agree that 6 days is a trip of a life time for most people), I think I would make the same decision as you. My only issue is that part of the reason we keep going back is some of the food, and most of that food is at TS restaurants.

Right now, our DDP - among other things - is really putting us over our budget - and I am a HUGE budgeter and a huge believer in not putting vacations on credit. And because Disney is not releasing very many or very good deals this year - something is going to have to give... DDP... Or our amount of days there - something.

I also agree with the pp... there are so many unique QS dining places - that you could still have some really great food.

Boy - I didn't help much at all.

D~

I am extremely blessed to be married to a very budget concious accountant. However, our bank account doesn't reflect an accountant's usual salary! He is a pension account for the Evangelical Covenant Church, which is non profit (aka the salary he would be paid for the same job elsewhere goes to the greater good). We feel blessed by his job, as he is generally very happy, and the environment is low stress. Anyway, my point is that we do usually use credit to pay for vacations, but he is so good with the budget, that we pay it off quickly, and the interest is always the best possible. Sometimes I wish we could splurge more often, but I know that we are doing fine, and if we splurged, we'd be feeling it. We ARE going to splurge later in the vacation, but you'll have to wait for HOW!

 

[DMGeurts]

Just stopping by to wish you a...

Looking forward to hear how you are planning to splurge...

D~

 

[teachermommy78]

Just stopping by to wish you a...

Looking forward to hear how you are planning to splurge...

D~

Thank you!!!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Following along !

I'm also a "heart" mom. My son Jayden was born in 2004 with a CHD called Tetralogy of Fallot, Lucky for us though, he was diagnosed before he was born and was able to have surgery soon after his birth. It's scary to think of a child gong un-diagnosed for any length of time with a CHD ! Glad they found your sons and were able to get him the help he needed.
You guys certainly need a fun trip !!

 

[teachermommy78]

Following along !

I'm also a "heart" mom. My son Jayden was born in 2004 with a CHD called Tetralogy of Fallot, Lucky for us though, he was diagnosed before he was born and was able to have surgery soon after his birth. It's scary to think of a child gong un-diagnosed for any length of time with a CHD ! Glad they found your sons and were able to get him the help he needed.
You guys certainly need a fun trip !!

Welcome!!! Usually, the CHD that Finn had is diagnosed before birth. All the doctors we came into contact with were amazed that he made it so long without symptoms. It is certainly scary that he walked around for so long with it. What if we didn't get a blood pressure test? Most doctors don't start the checks until 5! His blood pressure could have just sky rocketed, and then without knowing symptoms, he could of had a stroke or worse. It just terrifies me when I think of it. But those things didn't happen, and he is doing great!!!

How is your son doing? Does he have any restrictions? I'm so glad we live in a time where so many miracles can be done with medicine. Thanks so much for joining!!!

 

[teachermommy78]

We spent the weekend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at my parents' house. It's about a 6 hour drive. On the way up, Scott and I discussed our Disney 2014 trip for literally 5 hours. We decided to do an in depth study on whether or not getting Tables in Wonderland would be worth it with our Annual Passes when we upgrade this year. We have booked 2 ADRs for this 2013 trip, and may possibly add a third. However, we don't know if we will be doing the regular Dining Plan for our 2014 trip, or if we would rather do Tables in Wonderland and pay out of pocket. We are both in agreement that in 2014 we don't want to skimp on meals.

So for 5 hours, we all discussed the 9 restaurants we'd want as a family. Then we went through menus, and crunched numbers. The biggest problem is that Sophie will be considered an adult in 2014 since she's turning 10. She is the epitome of picky, and would likely choose kids meals anyway.

Here are the results:

$1862 dining plan (9 meals)
--------------------------
$1830- 9 days meals with tables in wonderland
$1020 (with 20% off from Tables in Wonderland) (table service)
$810 quick serve and snack
----------------------------
$1566- 6 table service meals (there were only 6 we were diehard on)
$556 for 6 meals (with 20% off from Tables in Wonderland)
$1010 quick serve (this amount is more due to 3 less table service meals) and snack

We are leaning toward option 3, since we really think it would be way cheaper than $1566 in reality. When figuring out the menus, I just chose the most expensive entree and dessert. Scott and I would likely not order dessert. Also, steak is usually the most expensive, and I know we will likely not choose steak every time. In addition, there are days that we didn't even eat the quick serve meal because we were so stuffed from lunch or dinner, and would just get a snack. If we paid out of pocket, we could share quick service, and snacks. Finally, we could then use the Tables in Wonderland to save on this upcoming trip as well!

The more I think about it, the more settled I become.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Welcome!!! Usually, the CHD that Finn had is diagnosed before birth. All the doctors we came into contact with were amazed that he made it so long without symptoms. It is certainly scary that he walked around for so long with it. What if we didn't get a blood pressure test? Most doctors don't start the checks until 5! His blood pressure could have just sky rocketed, and then without knowing symptoms, he could of had a stroke or worse. It just terrifies me when I think of it. But those things didn't happen, and he is doing great!!!

How is your son doing? Does he have any restrictions? I'm so glad we live in a time where so many miracles can be done with medicine. Thanks so much for joining!!!

Thats what I was thinking when I was reading your post .. I was like "Wow, that could have ended up so much worse !". But you're right .. it didn't !! This is why I truly believe there needs to be mandatory testing at birth.

Jayden is great ! He does have limitations .. mainly because he has only one pulmonary valve .. but you would never know it ! He just tires easily and heat gives him problems. But he manages to keep up with his twin.

 

[PirateKate]

Hi Stacey! I'm glad to hear Finn is doing so well. That must have been so scary, having him go through all that so young. Sounds like the perfect time for some fun!

It's always so hard to decide about the Dining Plan for us, too. I always like the idea of it, but then it's kind of nice to just get whatever you want, too, and not feel compelled to order steak and dessert everywhere. TiW sounds like a good plan!

 

[teachermommy78]

Hi Stacey! I'm glad to hear Finn is doing so well. That must have been so scary, having him go through all that so young. Sounds like the perfect time for some fun!

It's always so hard to decide about the Dining Plan for us, too. I always like the idea of it, but then it's kind of nice to just get whatever you want, too, and not feel compelled to order steak and dessert everywhere. TiW sounds like a good plan!

Thanks for joining! Finn's journey was so scary. But he came through it with strength and an odd wisdom. He is an old soul, for sure. I think TIW will be a good choice. We really never eat th dessert, and rarely choose the most expensive anyway.

 

[teachermommy78]

I've been doing some Disney shopping getting ready for the trip! I like to have the kids wearing something Disney related most days in the parks. Finn should be able to move right into Ethan's old shirts, for the most part. I think I'll take a picture of all my Disney purchases and post them on a later post. For now, all our purchases are going into our "Disney Bin" so we don't touch them before our trip. Our Disney Bin is currently literally in a closet that has thrown up summer clothes. I am a classic type A personality. I am generally very organized, and on top of things. However, every once in awhile I can close a door and let a mess expand within a contained area. This is what happened to that closet. The bins of summer clothes for 3 kids can very quickly become a disaster when one is digging for a particular shirt. There's just a mountain of clothes.

Anyway, the Disney Bin is somewhere near the mountain! Once I go through the summer clothes and switch from winter, I will get to my bin and take some pics of the cute stuff I've been collecting!

Speaking of collections, do any of you collect vinylmations? My kids LOVE it. Disney store has had a few lines on sale for $2.99 lately!!! We have picked up 5 for each kid. They are from the fans line, I think? The characters wearing #1 fingers, etc. They also have the Phineas and Ferb line. They are just going to trade them at the parks, so we didn't care about which we got. We got them each a couple, and then grandma got them each 3 for Easter. I'm sure they'll have fun!!!

Next time I'll try to have some pictures of the loot!!!

 

[DMGeurts]

I've been doing some Disney shopping getting ready for the trip! I like to have the kids wearing something Disney related most days in the parks. Finn should be able to move right into Ethan's old shirts, for the most part. I think I'll take a picture of all my Disney purchases and post them on a later post. For now, all our purchases are going into our "Disney Bin" so we don't touch them before our trip. Our Disney Bin is currently literally in a closet that has thrown up summer clothes. I am a classic type A personality. I am generally very organized, and on top of things. However, every once in awhile I can close a door and let a mess expand within a contained area. This is what happened to that closet. The bins of summer clothes for 3 kids can very quickly become a disaster when one is digging for a particular shirt. There's just a mountain of clothes.

Anyway, the Disney Bin is somewhere near the mountain! Once I go through the summer clothes and switch from winter, I will get to my bin and take some pics of the cute stuff I've been collecting!

Speaking of collections, do any of you collect vinylmations? My kids LOVE it. Disney store has had a few lines on sale for $2.99 lately!!! We have picked up 5 for each kid. They are from the fans line, I think? The characters wearing #1 fingers, etc. They also have the Phineas and Ferb line. They are just going to trade them at the parks, so we didn't care about which we got. We got them each a couple, and then grandma got them each 3 for Easter. I'm sure they'll have fun!!!

Next time I'll try to have some pictures of the loot!!!

Can't wait to see pictures of the loot!

I have a closet very similar to yours... It's under our stairs... and it's HUGE... And full to the brim with sports equipment, art supplies, old VCR tapes, snow gear... Anything that really doesn't have a place. And since there is no light in this closet - well... A family member must be notified of your intentions to enter this closet (just in case you don't make it out - we can send in a rescue team)...

We do not collect vinylmations... We do think they are cute - and I have received a couple as gifts - but we haven't really gotten into them yet. We are pin traders through and through though.

D~

 

[PirateKate]

You probably already heard, but they have really cut down on the number of trading locations for Vinylmation these days. I think there's about 1 in each of the 4 parks and 1 at Downtown Disney and that's it. It's been a lot less fun trading since there's so fewer locations, and I thought if your kids really liked trading, you might want to let them know beforehand that there's way less than there used to be.

 

[teachermommy78]

Can't wait to see pictures of the loot!

I have a closet very similar to yours... It's under our stairs... and it's HUGE... And full to the brim with sports equipment, art supplies, old VCR tapes, snow gear... Anything that really doesn't have a place. And since there is no light in this closet - well... A family member must be notified of your intentions to enter this closet (just in case you don't make it out - we can send in a rescue team)...

We do not collect vinylmations... We do think they are cute - and I have received a couple as gifts - but we haven't really gotten into them yet. We are pin traders through and through though.

D~

It's so daunting to have a catch all room! I'm just glad it has a door that I can close! The kids love pin trading too.

You probably already heard, but they have really cut down on the number of trading locations for Vinylmation these days. I think there's about 1 in each of the 4 parks and 1 at Downtown Disney and that's it. It's been a lot less fun trading since there's so fewer locations, and I thought if your kids really liked trading, you might want to let them know beforehand that there's way less than there used to be.

That is good to know! We'll be sure to just bring a few each, then. We have a collection that we really like so far, so it's not like we have a ton we want to trade. Just the new ones they have. If they can't trade them all, we'll just save them for next time and be careful to not buy new ones we don't love.

 

[teekathepony]

Subbing! I giggled out loud at your kittens' names, so cute.

 

[blessedmom4]

Happy Mother's Day!

​

 

[ZFamily5]

Hope everything is going well for you! You're getting so close to your trip!