Labor Day Weekend, a labor of love?

[annmarieda]

Your ridemax plans are truly impressive. Can't wait to try it out myself. Your plans are making me very excited, so I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now.

Thank you. It feels good to get things planed. This way I don't really have to think once we are on the trip. I like the plans too since I can see that we won't have long waits. The only long wait we have is for the tomorrowland speedway. It is projected to be just under 30 minutes. That is LONG. Course, most of the times with ridemax I have noticed when it says 10 minutes or less...it really is the time it takes to walk through the line to the ride...not actually a standing around waiting time. I am hoping that maybe we will still not spend as much time waiting as it is projecting.

I can't wait to read how it goes for you. I hope it works well.

 

[onescgirl]

Your tip envelopes turned out so cute! You are definitely creative!

8/4 ( 4wks from departure) purchased remaining items to complete planner.

8/8. settle on schedule for all days.

8/11 (3wks from departure) complete planner.

8/15 have purchased everything needed for personal bags to go on plane

8/18 (2wks before departure) have purchased everything needed for room (storage, decorations etc.).

8/22 have purchased a cell phone for my mother

8/25 (1wk before departure) have purchased everything needed for girls and I (snacks, clothing etc.

8/27 (5days before departure) have packed personal bags for the trip

8/29 (3days before departure) pick up mom from bus station

8/30 (2days before departure) have packed bags to be checked.

8/31 (1 DAY until departure) have packed carry on luggage.

9/1 DEPARTURE DAY !!!!!

I need to make one of these out ASAP!

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from DVC. "a gift to enjoy on your upcoming trip" The deal was I had to call the number and go through a virtual tour. I did. It was super simple and took minutes. In exchange...I got a $25 gc. It just came via Fed ex.! Now, I know it isn't a huge amount..but anything gets me excited!!

I think $25 free money is a great amount!! I know you were excited!


I've never heard of ridemax.com. That sounds really neat. I'm going to check out the site this week!

 

[annmarieda]

Your tip envelopes turned out so cute! You are definitely creative!

Thank you, but they really were not much at all...

I need to make one of these out ASAP!

I think it has helped me to see just how close we are to our trip.

I think $25 free money is a great amount!! I know you were excited!

As I said, anything gets me excited...but you are right...I think the free money made it that much more exciting!!

I've never heard of ridemax.com. That sounds really neat. I'm going to check out the site this week!

You should take a look. It isn't for everyone, but I like it. To be honest, last trip we really didn't follow it down to the minute...but it still helped to get an idea of what we would be doing and in what order.

 

[annmarieda]

So I am struggling with a thought. I sub to the food porn thread and lots and lots of breakfast pics have been coming through. I only scheduled one breakfast for our trip and that is on the day we head home. I also did not make an ADR for Akershus. We have done this EVERY trip. (one trip we did it twice) It is so special to have the princesses spend time with Zoe...not to mention the picture package that comes with it is great. This time, we thought we wouldn't go here since there are so many other restaurants we want to do and honestly the food isn't great. Now I am starting to have second thoughts. We have enough time that we could fit it in on 9/7. It would be perfect too since we are planning to do Maelstrom first thing that morning. I just don't know... 1. would it be too much food to eat a big breakfast at 8:30 only to turn around and eat at Le Cellier at 2:00? 2. It would be another oop meal or at least another ADR would have to be. 3. At this point, we would have just the one ts credit left..and we would definitely want to use it for Le Cellier. Can you just tell them you want to pay oop instead of using a dp credit? 4. I wonder if spending the morning "sampling" around the world would be better.

Anyone have thoughts? I would love some feedback on this.

 

[annmarieda]

So I think I am back on track... I changed the font color of all that I have got done.

7/18 have supplies purchased for countdown calendar.

7/21(6wks from departure) have countdown calendar finished and start on that day!

7/25 have purchased items needed to make tip envelopes

7/28 (5wks from departure) complete and stuff tip envelopes.

8/1 have purchased and installed ridemax

8/4 ( 4wks from departure) purchased remaining items to complete planner.

8/8. settle on schedule for all days.

8/11 (3wks from departure) complete planner.

8/15 have purchased everything needed for personal bags to go on plane

8/18 (2wks before departure) have purchased everything needed for room (storage, decorations etc.).

8/22 have purchased a cell phone for my mother

8/25 (1wk before departure) have purchased everything needed for girls and I (snacks, clothing etc.

8/27 (5days before departure) have packed personal bags for the trip

8/29 (3days before departure) pick up mom from bus station

8/30 (2days before departure) have packed bags to be checked.

8/31 (1 DAY until departure) have packed carry on luggage.

9/1 DEPARTURE DAY !!!!!

We are definitely getting closer!

 

[annmarieda]

I thought I would share both what they received last week and this week.

These are the hats. Kira's is the purple tink. Zoe's is the pink princess.

It isn't hard to tell which shirt belongs to what girl, but... Zoe got the Tiana and Kira got the Mickey.

 

[annmarieda]

Since I never talk about or post pictures of my handsome sons, I thought I would through some in.

We went to some waterfalls in the area to "oooh and aaah" at them. Zoe was a bit squirrely since I think she wanted to "do" more than just look.

The waterfall.... We had not been up here in quite a while and were kinda sad to see it has totally turned into a tourist attraction. It use to have rugged trails and now everything was paved and made wheelchair accessible.

Zach is one on the left. A side note on him...I forgot to do an update to share that he actually ended up getting accepted into the military. We just go word a few days ago. He gets sworn in next monday!!!

I think Zoe was squirrely at the falls since she thought we were going to "do" something. So a hike was in order. After we left the falls, we went for a little hike. This is a picture I took of her while were were on our hike. She still was antsy...but at least she got to run off some of that energy.

 

[KELLY]

So in spring of 08, the promo that we went to WDW on included a gift card. I just happened to come across it in my drawer. Guess what? I called to see if it had anything left on it...and it does! a whopping 9 cents!!!! Would have been amazed if it had more on it, but was impressed that it was still tracked. I know that in WA gc's don't/cant expire...but I was not sure if that was the case in other states.

just had to share...

Funny thing on the GC. I found a couple of from last year in my disney wallet. I checked on them and they both had small amounts of change as well. Great job on the mousekepping envelopes! I just printed mine off today but just did the mouseforless.com ones. Know I just need to fill them.

I also went to walmart to get the double sunscreen pack and they are gone. So I'm going to have to see if cvs or riteaid will have a special. I can't wait to long since we live in Maine. They won't havve sunscreen out in another month.

Great job on the list. I really need to get a pakcing list together.

 

[annmarieda]

I really need to get a packing list together.

with all my other lists I totally forgot about a packing one!!! Thanks for reminding me!

 

[Joyciemc]

Ok, so our park days also line up on 9/6 and 9/7 great minds think alike!

I can't be of much help for the Akershus breakfast, as we've never been and don't do character meals. But if it is something you really enjoy, and you can fit it in... maybe it's a good idea.

I do know that if you want to pay OOP, you just give them the method of payment you are using, they don't make you use a TS credit just because you are on the DP, so you can choose which ADR to pay OOP.

 

[annmarieda]

Ok, so our park days also line up on 9/6 and 9/7 great minds think alike!

I can't be of much help for the Akershus breakfast, as we've never been and don't do character meals. But if it is something you really enjoy, and you can fit it in... maybe it's a good idea.

I do know that if you want to pay OOP, you just give them the method of payment you are using, they don't make you use a TS credit just because you are on the DP, so you can choose which ADR to pay OOP.

Thanks for the help.. I don't know... I am not sure we totally enjoy it. It is just something we always do...well, lunch or dinner..never the breakfast. That is good to know about the method of payment though...

 

[onescgirl]

Cute hats & I like the red Mickey shirts!
And, handsome sons that you have! You must be proud of your son joining the military, I would be!

I don't think that I would do the extra brkfst, if you have already done it several times & would be paying OOP. I think your idea of eating snacks around the world would be more relaxed!

 

[tinacaplan]

One of the things I love about PTRs actually is all the information we share about our non-Disney lives. Congratulations on your son joining the military. What branch will he be serving in? And the t-shirts and hats were adorable!
I kind of can't believe the amount of Disney stuff you can find all over the place now, for a LOT less than you're going to pay in the parks.

Also...quick question...what's going into your planner?

 

[annmarieda]

Cute hats & I like the red Mickey shirts!
And, handsome sons that you have! You must be proud of your son joining the military, I would be!

I don't think that I would do the extra brkfst, if you have already done it several times & would be paying OOP. I think your idea of eating snacks around the world would be more relaxed!

I am proud of my son. He has had this goal for quite some time. It is nice to see it come to fruition.

Thanks for the opinion on the breakfast. It would cost approx. $100 plus tip at Akershus. I think we can get a pretty good sampling of food for the 4 of us for that. I will miss the photo that comes with the princess dinning. I think it maybe that is the only tradition we have when it comes to WDW but we can still get a photo through the disney visa thing...so maybe that will make up for it.

One of the things I love about PTRs actually is all the information we share about our non-Disney lives. Congratulations on your son joining the military. What branch will he be serving in? And the t-shirts and hats were adorable!
I kind of can't believe the amount of Disney stuff you can find all over the place now, for a LOT less than you're going to pay in the parks.

Also...quick question...what's going into your planner?

Zach is going into the National Guard. He can eventually transfer to Army..but he couldn't go from Army to Guard so we thought this was a good choice.

I found the Ts at Walmart and Target and then the hats at Rite Aid....go figure, eh? You can find Disney stuff EVERYWHERE. You are right about that. I actually took Zoe school shopping today and Old Navy had ts. The ones at Old Navy were super cute too! I did not get the one I wanted to get her though...they were out of her size. It was pink, with Minnie on it.

As for the planner.... This is the first time I have made one like this. (narrow with pockets) I plan to put laminated daily schedules in the pockets. (4 pockets= one for each park) It will be a bit tricky since we are only going to DHS 1 day and technically MK 3. This will make those pockets unbalanced. In the center is the binder part and I plan to put an "at a glace" info sheet. The idea is that we can take a quick look at the binder to see what big events are happening on what day. (like Wishes) Then in the morning of the day, we will just pull out the laminated sheet to take with us. Then again...maybe I will take the whole binder. We will see.

 

[oboedm]

Love the shirts and hats! I was never a "princess" person, but I absolutely love the character of Tiana. I am going to turn into a total dork if I see character greeting area!

I am so glad we got to see pictures of your sons as well! Looks like a fun family outing!

 

[annmarieda]

Just when I had all my daily itineraries printed out....

Someone on the September cancellation thread canceled a dinner one for Le cellier on the day I needed (wanted) one. I got it! Looks like I will be canceling my lunch adr.

 

[tinacaplan]

EXCELLENT! And are plans ever all set? That's excellent you get to eat there one last time before it goes to a signature.

 

[Joyciemc]

Woohoo for Le Cellier! That's the meal I am most looking forward to on my trip.

 

[annmarieda]

EXCELLENT! And are plans ever all set? That's excellent you get to eat there one last time before it goes to a signature.

Nope, plans are NEVER set. I anticipate even being at WDW and changing plans..maybe not a lot but maybe we decide to skip something one day and do it on another... who knows.

As for the signature dinning.. yup, I was excited just to have the lunch reservation for that very reason...but to have the dinner makes me extra excited!

Woohoo for Le Cellier! That's the meal I am most looking forward to on my trip.

I am looking forward to that too! I have been there once...and honestly we were so full from lunch that it was hard to even eat. (I think we had a 4pm dinner after having another TS lunch) I plan on really enjoying this meal! It is a late ADR so maybe we will be starved by the time we eat. We leave the next day so this could be a nice end to our trip. (course we will still have the character breakfast in the morning...but this will have been our last full day in the parks)

I need to cancel that 2pm ADR, so if anyone is going to be looking for one...let me know.

 

[flamestarrdust]

Just when I had all my daily itineraries printed out....

Someone on the September cancellation thread canceled a dinner one for Le cellier on the day I needed (wanted) one. I got it! Looks like I will be canceling my lunch adr.

YAY! I am so happy for you! I have been trying to do the same thing with no luck.