June, July, August PLANNING thread

[tripplanner2]

Hi Candi: Welcome Home!!!
I was reading about the crazy crowds. Sorry about that. One thing I will say though is Toy Story Mania was the exact same way in August when we were there and there was no line anywhere. So I guess every single person was there. It was fun and all but I was a bit shocked at all the commotion. We even got there for rope drop that day because of everything we read. We were shocked by what went on. CM's actually walk you to the ride because otherwise people would get trampled. Hope the rest of the trip was great. Did you run into MKY and BUG? Wondering how their trip is going.

 

[candizfan]

Hi TP2 - no we did not get a chance to catch up to MKY and Bug. Things were so busy the week before we left, I did not get a chance to set anything up.

Plus with my mom and her friends, someone I use to work with and DD14s best friend being down there, it was a lot to try to organize.

The crowds were insane everywhere we went for the full 10 days. The hotel was sold out too. I think next year we might cruise instead. They can only get so many people on the boat!

Then I think we will go back to stay at the treehouses at SSR next July.

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

Hi Candi ...welcome back !
Sorry the world was so insane crowded while you guys were there,...but... I know you must have had a great time anyway though
Yikes about TSM .....I hope its not that bad this summer

Hoping that MKY and Bug are having a good time....

Well, another weekend over, I spent some time at the DS this weekend getting the Little Prince and Princess a few things for Easter...they had the cutest "Easter Mickey" Plush ...couldn`t resist it for the little prince...(his room is decorated in all "Sports Mickeys"
Got the Princess some "Princess nightgowns" (what else )...and a few dress up princess jewelry items ...

EE22 and TP2- hope you guys had a good weekend !

 

[Minnie]

We are back from the World. I must say the crowds were CRAZY A 10 was probably an understatement it was so busy! All fastpasses were sold out by noon.

It was an incredible 45 minute wait in the FASTPASS line for Toy Story!!!!! 150 minute stand by time.

Wow that is worse than the summer

Hope you enjoyed the trip despite the crowds

 

[Minnie]

We were just checking out the seasons for 2010 and the value season for summer doesn't start until July 18th

The price difference with the deluxe resorts during the different seasons is considerable We are trying to figure out now what to do....

1 - Mod resort for some of the trip - problem is we DO use the balcony as an extra room as we all have different sleep hours...

2 - Stay off-site in a pool home. BUT we like being on-site as mom can join us at the parks later, leave early, ect. And we don't want to use taxis or have more than 1 rental car.

3 - Move our trip to later in July or in August. We can only travel during the mid of each month due to work restrictions.

4 - Suck it up and pay the extra.

Of the choices any suggestions on which to pick?

Thanks!

 

[tripplanner2]

Tomar: Things are good here. Glad you got to enjoy some time at the DS. I wanted to go yesterday but was talked out of it. I don't really NEED anything there, do I?

Minnie: That decision is something we struggle with all the time being a party of 5. Last year we took 2 rooms at ASMu because we wanted the space but also wanted to be onsite. Off site has so many more challenges. We love the freedom of being onsite. We can split up, we can drink our way around Epcot, and of course EMH's. We were talking about staying offsite to save some cash and DH said that the transportation is his favorate part of DW. He said he would never not stay onsite. Maybe move the trip to August. We switched our dates last summer like 3 times to accomodate the airlines and the code schedules.

 

[candizfan]

Minnie - how about looking at renting a DVC room? You would have the balcony and the season does not have that much of an effect on the number of points. I think all of July is the same number of points. I have some to rent if you are interested.

I don't like August as much as July because it is so much hotter!

We did have a good time dispite the crowds. The ladies tired early so the crowds meant we could not get as much done each day and we were at the parks most days near park opening.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Hiya everyone!

Yes, we are back. Rocked spring break 2010. Didn't know I would be still rocking any spring breaks, but that 1st week. OMG!
Candi we did completely different schedules. We slept in and stayed out late. Not necessarily a good plan. It was pretty much total chaos. 20 minute wait in bathrooms. The worse line = space mt. 180 and they meant it. That new line set up was not a great idea as far as the stand by line goes. Seemed like they had more fast passes and you wait till the last cow line > to merge with fastpass line. The weather was fairly cool. We never did the pool. Their where a few people laying out, but for the most part just too cold. 70's and 1 day that hit 80. Somedays in 60's. I really think that is why so much spring breakers where there. It was too cold on the coast's so they came inward. There was also a couple different cheerleading competion's going on, during the 2 weeks. We are seriously re-thinking 2011 march.

Took about 3 days to clear up my asthma, but I got much better. Than the GF did the carpeting in our building and the chemicals really set me off again. This was 3 days before we came home > yes, I am again sick. It was quite a "look" with me holding my breath in the buildings trying to get from our room to the outside. After the carpets where done they OD'D on freebreeze, which I cannot be near at all. Put signs in our room NO FREEBREEZE please. I was spraying Lysol constantly.

Bug, did great with her new brace. It really helps. She says it is easier wearing with shorts too, instead of pants here.

Overall, the trip was interesting. With big crowds and long wait times, you really see the worse in people. We did pretty good in that respect. Until 2 days before coming home, started to notice we where both getting tired and finally pretty fed up. It was time to come home.

The GF, is an interesting place. We had a few issues nothing big. Mousekeeping was fair, but very noisy. Seems people stay about 2 days there? And constantly changing over rooms > makes it pretty noisy. But for our GV room, we where 5th floor big pine key facing pool (dormer room) > we actually got 90% of the fireworks from our room. That was nice.

Did snag a great rate bounceback for October, that was nice. We are staying at the Poly again.

Sorry about all the weather issues everyone had. We only had 1 day of rain and 1 late nite of rain, which wasn't too bad. Dad said it snowed here, so glad we missed that.

Great news, Southwest is doing the luggage thing at the resorts now! That is such a plus.

Candi, I would watch the crowds and see if we saw you and family, but never did. Sorry. Hope you still had a great trip even with the unbelievable crowds.

mky

 

[Minnie]

Minnie - how about looking at renting a DVC room? You would have the balcony and the season does not have that much of an effect on the number of points. I think all of July is the same number of points. I have some to rent if you are interested.

I don't like August as much as July because it is so much hotter!

We did have a good time dispite the crowds. The ladies tired early so the crowds meant we could not get as much done each day and we were at the parks most days near park opening.

I hadn't even thought of DVC.... this could really help our travel plans. I will send you a PM

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

Hi Guys !

MKY - Welcome back !!
Sounds like you did the "Tomar`s" touring this trip ! Relaxing days and EMH nights !
Although this summer will be totally different for us with the Little Prince and Pricess joining us
I am so sorry about the GF Carpet issues ....I thought for sure you`d be all better with the great florida weather...but it was chilly too..so you didn`t get a chance to take advantage of the pool ....Sounds like it was a yucky chemical smell....I can`t take alot of the "smellys" (I call them ) like fabreeze or Glade....I can tolerate the ones from bath and body works though, so Ive been buying those to take with us...

TP2- glad things are well with you guys !! ...There really wasn`t much in the DS, except Princess things and alot of Plush, and tees

 

[tripplanner2]

MKY and Bug: Welcome Home!!!! Those crowds had been reading about them on Touring Plans. Not for nothing, but we were not even on spring break and my neighbor across the street and DD11 best friend were both there. So just in our small bubble, we knew 2 families. Can't imagine. It seemed like everyone was packing up the same day to head down.

I don't get those chemicals either. With all of DD5's issues, I always feel like her lungs are just burning a hole in them when we smell strong stuff like that. Makes you wonder why we have all these health isssues these days.

Tomar: Glad to hear that there was nothing much in the DS. DD9 said she was in the mood to head there today. I talked her out of it though. No reason to go out in this terrible weather.

 

[candizfan]

Welcome Home MKY and Bug!

Yep, it rained and was cool the whole time we were there. It started to break a bit the day we came home.

I have booked us on the Disney Magic for next spring break...guaranteed max number of guests since they can only sleep so many on the ship.

As for the carpet issues, it is too bad they did not buy the carpet with low fumes. But it might have been the glue they use more than the carpet. Sorry it bothered you so much.

Our days were very different - no night life for us this trip. I love the parks at night when they are all lit up but we will be back and it was more important to make sure my mom and her friends made out okay.

My DD14 got a chance to meet up with her friend that moved to Orlando. They met us for the day at Kennedy Space Center so that was a lot of fun.

Minnie, you can email me at jlmcnab@cogeco.ca if you have email and I will give you the pros and cons to renting a DVC room. Then you decide if you want to try it or not...no pressure to rent from me either.

 

[EEyorelover22]

Hi All...life is just amazing right now...work, homework, track meets, college final choices, a graduation, a partridge in a pear tree, laundry...oh MY!!

thinking of all of you!
we went under 100 days and I missed it completely!!

Glad you guys had a good trip even though all the humans on the planet were at Disney! our band was there! That's 7 bus loads just from our area.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Hiya all!

Tomar, I used you guys as an example to bug, while on Vacation. We where feeling a bit guilty for being morning lazy & I told her the Tomar's pool all morning and go later in the day..... So, we did enjoy being a bit lazy. With it so cold in the mornings, 50's I just could not get up and out. I also think the 2 hr time diff. ( 1hr est & 1hr changed to DST) really played us havoc. Or, maybe it was that we normally get up at 5am here 5 days a week & just needed to sleep more.

EE22, Yes, I got an extra week off in July again this year, we are planning a quicky trip (if bug gets the time off) july 16th > 23rd. As for next year, I might try to parlay my March time off and use it in april? or May? We would love to overlap into star wars weekends but, know it is also a madhouse again. I know we would not do the usual star war things, but I would of liked to see the parades and a few things going on.
Good luck with all the college info & work. This last semester will fly by for you guys. But, if anyone can handle it >> you and your family!

TP2, Yep, I never really considered that, I would of had that much of a reaction. I know at work, they are unable to clean carpets with me there, but the next day it is not a problem. This was still there 3 days later and we left it might still be going on? If we had just gotten there I would of had to move to another building or resort. Something to think about for next time. I didn't know touring plans showed all that info? I never really went to that site. Just thought it was touring plans. I have the books so I guess I should take a look.

Candi, glad you had a great time & a nice time to spend with the extended family. Never been to the space center that sounds interesting thou. A cruise, which one? One of the new ships? when do they start? Bug, and I talked about a cruise but decided the thing we liked about it was the island and what we didn't like was almost everything else. Might be a while for us to do that again.

Minnie, good luck with planning. Lots of decisions.

I got cancelled today (on call), my 1st day back. Bug, was livid. She is now on her 2nd day back. So put out our patio furniture, swing, etc.. got some things done. Dad, was yelling "its too early...." I told him, "I want summer and am not waiting any longer". This year winter has been on forever.

mky

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

OK.....We now know how "Noah" felt in the biblical Flood !!! OMG !.......It feels like its been raining for 40 days and 40 nights here in the northeast !!...ICK !....Mr. Tomar and I feel so lucky that our basement isn`t flooding...but I sure feel for the poor folks we`ve been watching on tv....with flooded streets and basements ..some with cars underwater....its been awful here !!

TP2- How are you guys holding up in LI ?....

MKY- Im so glad that you used this vacation as a rest "Catch up" ...You get up so early in the A M..you really needed the down time

EE22- YIPEE....you are under 100 days now !!...I think we follow you on Friday !!
Hang in there....before you know it , it will be the end of the term...and you can sing about .... 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, and two turtle doves

 

[candizfan]

Tomar and MKY - I too like to do some lazy mornings but not with a bunch or early rising elders on the trip.

We booked on the Disney Magic again. The new ship looks incredible and I would love to sail on it (The Dream) but it is not doing week long cruises at that time.

I love the ships and enjoy the boat and the motion and the whole thing.

Even like a little rough seas as it helps me sleep to be rocked nearly out of bed.

I am trying to convince my cousins from Regina SK to come to Disney but I don't know if they can handle the heat of summer. I am working on it. It has been years since we have seen each other but DVC would allow me to help with the hotel costs for them, so we shall see what happens.

Stay dry everyone and keep your fingers crossed for blue sky this week.

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Tomar, we are sending some very nice weather your way, hold on!
I saw the rain on regis and kelly this am, looked wicked. Stay dry in the meantime.

Candi, I enjoyed the rocking of the ship too. We had some nice cabins also. But, the last time our "mousekeeper" used our room more than we did. Everytime we came back to the room she would knock immediately and say "i need to clean"..... .. We had the worse help. Our last cruise we boycotted the main dining rooms. I don't like to seat with strangers. (either did bug). We did palio which was wonderful! then we had room service and buffet. It was actually nicer than having to make small talk. Since we are 2 adults we always got the "honeymooners and annivsary people". Nice, but uncomfortable to sit with. I would of prefered a family with kids. We did bingo faithfully, and seemed the "clubs" where either empty or had a couple of older people in them > kinda boring. Liked the adult pool area. But, they really push alcohol and found a very uncomfortable sight on deck 10 during a "party". Hundred's of kids around and even this couples >> next to me becoming very sexually explict right next to me. They kept sending their own kids away. We left > I didn't want to see how far they would go, but I could not believe this was a DCL. This is a family board so I won't say what else happened. Just they where extremely drunk.
We liked exploring the ship. Walking all around.

Worked tonight comparing the ap rates for july vs. the public code I used. Since we cannot get cr mkv tower with ap rate, will stick with what I got. Even thou we can upgrade to some pretty nice rooms we really want to stay there. Also changed some of our plans and adr's. I need to cancel a few we had, but haven't called them yet. Really had a bad experience at tony's so we dumped that adr.

Happy planning, mky

 

[tripplanner2]

Hi All!

Tomar: So funny you mentioned Noah. This morning when the girls woke they asked what we were going to do today. I said build an arc! What else could we do. We don't have a basement, which is a good thing. If we would have moved, we would be dead. The house we were thinking about had a leak in the basement which DH thought he could fix by adding gutters and rerouting the water but with all this rain, we would have been doomed. Our fireplace is leaking water. Never had that happen. I had to put a huge storage tub in there to collect it all. Our yard has huge puddles everywhere and there is a pond around the corner from us that has overflowed into the street. Ready for it all to stop and get on with the summer.

EE22: Good luck with your busy year. It is coming to an end which I am sure is bitter sweet.

MKY: About DCL. Wondering what happened at Tonys. I will admit that it was not the best Italian food, but for MK it was not a bad break in the day. I like to spend long days in that park so to have an nice place to cool off, sit, and be served is very welcome.

Candi: I totally understand your trip. When we went with my parents a couple of years ago we had similar problems. They liked to sleep in though, which is fine, but they did not want to meet up with us. We had to wait for them. And they wanted a full, sit down breakfast everyday. Not my way to do DW! This year we are trying to do a beach house. Fine with me but I will never do DW again. We keep it to the 5 of us now!

 

[EEyorelover22]

mky, SWW are not bad at all. I would think May would be better. We were there 3 times in Junes. I didn't mind the crowds at all. Very fun!! The only difference we noticed were not many non SW characters in the parks, but they have cut back on those anyway over the years since we first started going.

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

YAHOOOO....the sun came out today for the first time since Last Sat. !!......Im doing the "Keep the sun out dance" so all our back yards can dry out !!

Thank you MKY for sending the "Sun" !!....I heard that we are going to have a WARM Easter ...in the 70`s !!
omg about the pool porn on the DCL ....I wouldn`t worry about that happening to me, since I get sea sick and WON`T ever sail the 7 seas !! ....but honestly, that is really not the way I pictured a "Disney" cruise though !!

TP2- We were really starting to think that we should gather the family together and 2 of each animal that we can find !!
I hope your fireplace drys out soon !!!....We were fortunate that our basement held up...I think it`s because our house sits on a much higher ground in our development...

Candi- we are so very used to doing Disney in the "non Commado" mode since our boys grew up......now that our Princess and little Prince are coming down this year...its gonna be a whole new ball game for me

EE22- Hang in there ....the end of the term is fast approaching !!