Labor Day Weekend, a labor of love?

[chunkymonkey]

I am so bad about it. I am worse prior to a trip buying trinkets or stuff for us to use than I am actually buying stuff while there. I almost never come home with shirts from the park, but before I leave I usually buy a couple. Oddly enough though, I still browse through all the shops while there.

As for the things I Need for the trip, well I usually pick those up closer to the end. It is the "fun" stuff that I gravitate toward now.

I am like that too! I like to shop for vacations and actually shop more before rather than on the trip. I think it's because I know i'll be taking a lot of pictures so I want to wear cute stuff but it also has to be comfortable and functional. And stuff in the parks isn't exactly cheap anyways so I only end up buying just a few things, mostly as gifts for family/friends. But I LOVE browsing the shops. Usually I save my big purchases for the World of Disney store in DTD as my Disney Visa gives me a discount. But sometimes they may not have everything you want. I saw a few things in a park once that I wanted to get but waited until we got to DTD but they didn't have it! So I now know that if I see something I like, I should just get it anyways. Love that they deliver to your resort too!

 

[annmarieda]

Usually I save my big purchases for the World of Disney store in DTD as my Disney Visa gives me a discount. But sometimes they may not have everything you want. I saw a few things in a park once that I wanted to get but waited until we got to DTD but they didn't have it! So I now know that if I see something I like, I should just get it anyways.

Is World of Disney the only store that you can get a discount with the Disney Visa? I just recently got the Disney Visa since I was lucky enough to get the 200 dream dollar offer. Even though, I REALLY didn't need a new card it seemed like a win win situation. Anyway, so I know there are offers for card holders like discounts, but I thought it was for all stores in the park too. No?

Love that they deliver to your resort too!

Ya know, I have never taken advantage of this. Do they do it for everything? (ie, small stuff like just tshirts?)

 

[chunkymonkey]

Is World of Disney the only store that you can get a discount with the Disney Visa? I just recently got the Disney Visa since I was lucky enough to get the 200 dream dollar offer. Even though, I REALLY didn't need a new card it seemed like a win win situation. Anyway, so I know there are offers for card holders like discounts, but I thought it was for all stores in the park too. No?

You know, I am actually not sure exactly where the locations are, but I know the DTD one definitely offers 10% off, but I do believe there are more locations in the parks. That is another thing to find out before the trip! You can see the perks listed here. You do have to spend at least $50 I think so I save all my purchases for this so I can get the discount.

The best perk of the card IMO, is the free photo op every day at Epcot. Located in the Innovations building, you get to take your picture with different Disney characters each day, and you get a free 5x7 pic to take home!! Love it! You can do this every day if you like. Any day we are at Epcot we do this, and since we are at Epcot all the time we have quite a few pics with different Characters. I will post some in my PTR soon.

I actually rarely use this card but since I knew I would be making a few trips to Disney in the next year, I whipped it out as soon as I found out and I charged our trip on it, as well as put our regular purchases like groceries on this card. That way I can get sufficient reward points which translate to gift cards to use at Disney! Yay!

Ya know, I have never taken advantage of this. Do they do it for everything? (ie, small stuff like just tshirts?)

Yes they will do this for small purchases. I bought DH a t-shirt while in DHS and since I didn't want to carry it with me, I had it sent to the Swan. The item shows up at the gift shop at the resort you are staying at so you just pick it up there. It usually arrives a few hours after your purchase, so make sure you don't do this if you are leaving Disney that day!

 

[annmarieda]

You can see the perks listed here.

Oooo, thanks for the link. I will be sure and check it out.

The best perk of the card IMO, is the free photo op every day at Epcot. Located in the Innovations building, you get to take your picture with different Disney characters each day, and you get a free 5x7 pic to take home!! Love it! You can do this every day if you like. Any day we are at Epcot we do this, and since we are at Epcot all the time we have quite a few pics with different Characters. I will post some in my PTR soon.

Do you have to show your dvisa prior to getting your picture taken or is it when you go to the photo place to pick up the 5x7? Sounds like a great perk!

I actually rarely use this card but since I knew I would be making a few trips to Disney in the next year, I whipped it out as soon as I found out and I charged our trip on it, as well as put our regular purchases like groceries on this card. That way I can get sufficient reward points which translate to gift cards to use at Disney! Yay!

The points were what swayed me when it came to getting this card. That initial offer was amazing. I have debated putting other items on it to rack up more points, but given that I have that initial offer, maybe I will just worry about it for our next trip. Do you ever book a bounceback with the card? Funny how this trip is almost 3 months away and I am already thinking about the next one.

 

[annmarieda]

Purchase update #3

I stopped off after work today to try and find some items for the trip. I walked all around Target and found just about NOTHING. Nothing seemed to strick me as a MUST have.

Luckily, next to Target was a Bath and Body Works. I decided to go in and see if they had the pocket sanitizers on sale. They did! They also had cute little holders for them. So I spent some time trying to coordinate colors. I got 5 since they were on sale. One for each of us, and then an extra that I am sure I can use.

Dark Blue = Coconut Lime Verbena
Purple = Grape Glam
Dark Pink = Calypso Berry
Light Blue = Unscented. (my mom hates scented things)
Tye Dyed Pink = Tropical Papya

You can't really tell in the pic, but most of the cases sparkle. The cases look kinda odd, but they loop around so they can attach to things like purses, belt loops etc. I think it will be way more convenient than digging to the bottom of my bag to get one out when needed.

 

[flamestarrdust]

Purchase update #3

I stopped off after work today to try and find some items for the trip. I walked all around Target and found just about NOTHING. Nothing seemed to strick me as a MUST have.

Luckily, next to Target was a Bath and Body Works. I decided to go in and see if they had the pocket sanitizers on sale. They did! They also had cute little holders for them. So I spent some time trying to coordinate colors. I got 5 since they were on sale. One for each of us, and then an extra that I am sure I can use.

Dark Blue = Coconut Lime Verbena
Purple = Grape Glam
Dark Pink = Calypso Berry
Light Blue = Unscented. (my mom hates scented things)
Tye Dyed Pink = Tropical Papya

You can't really tell in the pic, but most of the cases sparkle. The cases look kinda odd, but they loop around so they can attach to things like purses, belt loops etc. I think it will be way more convenient than digging to the bottom of my bag to get one out when needed.

I got one of these for work and love it. Just be careful with them, the sanitizer has a habit of wanting to fall out of the holder if you bump it just the right way. AJ and I both had the experience of losing one, her at school and me at work. Otherwise, it has been great to have. I love the Coconut Lime Verbena scent. I used it as a body wash and antibacterial hand lotion on my last trip to WDW. So now it's become my signature WDW scent. Everytime I smell it, it reminds me of WDW. What are the other scents like? I have never smelled the others. I had the coconut lime verbena, lemon and pomegranate ones for my hand sanitizers. I liked all them a lot. I am actually going this afternoon to get a few replacements since I am down to just one now.

 

[annmarieda]

I got one of these for work and love it. Just be careful with them, the sanitizer has a habit of wanting to fall out of the holder if you bump it just the right way. AJ and I both had the experience of losing one, her at school and me at work. Otherwise, it has been great to have. I love the Coconut Lime Verbena scent. I used it as a body wash and antibacterial hand lotion on my last trip to WDW. So now it's become my signature WDW scent. Everytime I smell it, it reminds me of WDW. What are the other scents like? I have never smelled the others. I had the coconut lime verbena, lemon and pomegranate ones for my hand sanitizers. I liked all them a lot. I am actually going this afternoon to get a few replacements since I am down to just one now.

Thanks for the heads up. I will be aware now...

As for the Coconut Lime Verbena scent.. Guess what I usually get for WDW too? Guess what reminds me of WDW? Too funny. I had the hardest time when I was in the store yesterday finding one. I knew I had to get one since that is the kind I always get. I only found a tester and ONE up on the shelf. Maybe other people have this as their travel scent too? Kira claimed that one as her own the minute she saw it. I will have to settle on one of the others... Actually, the papaya one isn't too bad.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Do you have to show your dvisa prior to getting your picture taken or is it when you go to the photo place to pick up the 5x7? Sounds like a great perk!

The points were what swayed me when it came to getting this card. That initial offer was amazing. I have debated putting other items on it to rack up more points, but given that I have that initial offer, maybe I will just worry about it for our next trip. Do you ever book a bounceback with the card? Funny how this trip is almost 3 months away and I am already thinking about the next one.

Yup you have you show them your visa card when you get on the line for the Meet n Greet in Innoventions West. After the pic, that they give you a voucher for your free 5x7 pic, and you go to the photopass area which is right below Spaceship Earth. It usually takes about at least 45 minutes until your pictures show up at the photopass palce. There, depending on the line, you can pic up your picture in as little as 10 minutes. You can pick out some borders as well free of charge. they will show you on their little screen. Usually the photographer will take a few pics and you can pick the best one out of them.

I have never booked a bounceback before only because this will be my first time staying on Disney property! I hope we will get a bounceback because then I can use it for my sister's 30th b-day celebration in Disney next year!
yay!

Really great purchases at B&BW too! I have to check them out over the weekend. The holders look convenient. I used to love love love the lotion + antibacterial hand cream in the mango mandarin scent. But I think it's discontinued now. boo.

 

[annmarieda]

Yup you have you show them your visa card when you get on the line for the Meet n Greet in Innoventions West. After the pic, that they give you a voucher for your free 5x7 pic, and you go to the photopass area which is right below Spaceship Earth. It usually takes about at least 45 minutes until your pictures show up at the photopass place. There, depending on the line, you can pic up your picture in as little as 10 minutes. You can pick out some borders as well free of charge. they will show you on their little screen. Usually the photographer will take a few pics and you can pick the best one out of them.

Sounds easy enough! We will likely go to Epcot two days, so 2 5x7's?

I have never booked a bounceback before only because this will be my first time staying on Disney property! I hope we will get a bounceback because then I can use it for my sister's 30th b-day celebration in Disney next year!
yay!

This will be my third time on property. I wish I had done a bounceback, but each time I always agreed with dh that it will be years before we go back. Now, I know there will be a trip sooner than later. Kira will go for her honeymoon, so hopefully we will book a bounceback for that.

Really great purchases at B&BW too! I have to check them out over the weekend. The holders look convenient. I used to love love love the lotion + antibacterial hand cream in the mango mandarin scent. But I think it's discontinued now. boo. [/COLOR]

Thanks!

 

[annmarieda]

Ticker Frustration

So I decided to take off the cute little ticker I had. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to be accurate. 82 days is accurate so I will keep that. Everything else was reading 2 months 3 weeks or 2 months 20 days. That makes it off by almost a week. Sadly that means we are just under 3 months now. 2 months, 3 weeks and 5 days.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Sounds easy enough! We will likely go to Epcot two days, so 2 5x7's?

Yay! Maybe one year it'll be my goal to get one everyday. It really is such a nice perk, especially since the prices of the prints are $$ to begin with. So it's the best souvenir ever!

BTW, I went to B&BW yesterday and picked up 5 of the pocket sanitizers as well! The scents I got were: tropical papaya, nectarine mint, the ever popular coconut lime verbena, island nectar, and an apple-smelling one. I also got 3 of the holders, in green, pink and pink sparkle. I am so excited as they are great for travelling and leaving in my purse! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[annmarieda]

Yay! Maybe one year it'll be my goal to get one everyday. It really is such a nice perk, especially since the prices of the prints are $$ to begin with. So it's the best souvenir ever!

BTW, I went to B&BW yesterday and picked up 5 of the pocket sanitizers as well! The scents I got were: tropical papaya, nectarine mint, the ever popular coconut lime verbena, island nectar, and an apple-smelling one. I also got 3 of the holders, in green, pink and pink sparkle. I am so excited as they are great for travelling and leaving in my purse! Thanks for the heads up!

Very cool! I love their hand sanitizers. Good to have for every day use, but just special enough to take on a trip.

 

[annmarieda]

Rewards Card!

I just had to update...and say, yay!!! I got my rewards card in the mail today.

 

[flamestarrdust]

Rewards Card!

I just had to update...and say, yay!!! I got my rewards card in the mail today.

Which rewards card is it? Not sure if you already mentioned it.

 

[annmarieda]

Which rewards card is it? Not sure if you already mentioned it.

I recently signed up for the Disney Visa because it had an offer that after the first use you got 200 points that could then be redeemed for a $200 Disney Rewards Card. As I understand it, it is like a gift card and can be used in the parks. I hope to use it at the restaurants and shops.

You are right though, I had not mentioned it. I guess I should have added it to my PTR since it definitely was a step in my planning (specifically budgeting). The deal with dh was I could make this trip happen if I could pick up extra hours at work (or somehow earn/pull from the budget the extra) to cover anything over what we agreed on could come from savings. I do plan to have a yard sale for spending money still, but in order to cover the trip I needed only 5 hours extra a week at work. Well, my hours have been more like 20 hours extra a week. Additionally, Zoe is not going to require her tuition payments to be in the budget any longer. The idea of getting the dv for the rewards originally was to apply that to the balance of the trip. Now, I don't need to. I had tossed around the idea of even upgrading to a moderate with it. (it wouldn't cover all of the upgrade, but a good chunk of it) However, now I have done so much reading about Pop and even joined a fridge swap that I don't want to jump to a different resort. I decided that an extra TS meal oop would be a better splurge. That is why I booked Ohana. Ohana will cost more than our breakfast at Tusker so even though that is the one I added, I will pay oop for Tusker now and use our TS credit for Ohana.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I recently signed up for the Disney Visa because it had an offer that after the first use you got 200 points that could then be redeemed for a $200 Disney Rewards Card. As I understand it, it is like a gift card and can be used in the parks. I hope to use it at the restaurants and shops.

I decided that an extra TS meal oop would be a better splurge. That is why I booked Ohana. Ohana will cost more than our breakfast at Tusker so even though that is the one I added, I will pay oop for Tusker now and use our TS credit for Ohana.

Wow 200 bucks?!? That is awesome! I remember when I applied for the card many years ago I only got a 25 dollar GC. That is a wonderful reason to sign up for the card. I may have to get DH to sign up for it before our trip.

I think I may have enough points on a rewards GC to pay for a small OOP meal or at least cover part of it. It's nice to know that one part of your vacation is at least taken care of before you get to the parks! Hooray for free dining!

 

[annmarieda]

Wow 200 bucks?!? That is awesome! I remember when I applied for the card many years ago I only got a 25 dollar GC. That is a wonderful reason to sign up for the card. I may have to get DH to sign up for it before our trip.

I think I may have enough points on a rewards GC to pay for a small OOP meal or at least cover part of it. It's nice to know that one part of your vacation is at least taken care of before you get to the parks! Hooray for free dining!

Yes, the $200 was the #1 reason I signed up. The 6 months 0% financing on disney travel was #2. The general perks like discounts and the 5x7 were #3. (although I wasn't completely sure about what the picture was about until you mentioned it. )

Dh isn't going on this trip, but even he realized that the visa was an interesting idea. We both typically carry a rewards cc of some kind. Currently we are looking to drop the airline one since the annual fee went up as did the companion fare. Dh thought he might apply for his own dv and get the $200 offer. On one hand I feel that would be awesome, but on the other... I don't want to push my luck... I feel pretty lucky to have received the offer myself.

 

[annmarieda]

First Attempt at Itinerary

Okay, so I will have to toy around with this a bit more. I do plan on getting ridemax so that help me really narrow down what we are doing.

Here is what I have as of right now.

9/1 fly to orlando: depart 8:45am arrive 5:16pm
Check in to Pop: Decide to unpack, explore or go to MK
Ohana 8:40pm: Hoping to see Wishes during dinner, but if not we will still do that later in the week.

9/2 DHS 9am to 8:30pm
Lunch @ Staring Rolls
mama melrose’s 3:10 Fantasmic Package
8:30 fantasmic show

9/3 Epcot 9am to 12am
Lunch @ Sunshine Seasons
Coral Reef 7:50pm

9/4 AK 9am to 5pm
Tusker House Nemo Package 2pm
4:45 Finding Nemo Musical Show
Dinner: Maybe at Pop or DTD. DTD might be a good option since we don't have a time yet set to go there.

9/5 MK 9am to 1am
Lunch @ Pecos Bills or Golden Oak Outpost or El Pirata y el Perico (as you can see, undecided. Since they are all around the same area, we may all make our choice from somewhere different.
Boatwrights 5pm
Spectromagic 9pm
Wishes 10pm

9/6 MK 9am to 10pm
Breakfast @ Pop
Lunch @ Columbia Harbour House
Kona Cafe‘ 5:05pm

9/7 Epcot 9am to 9pm
Le Celier 2pm
Illuminations 9pm
Dinner: CS somewhere in World Showcase

9/8 AK 9am to 5pm
Donal Safari Breakfast 8:15am
Back to Pop by 3pm
Fly Home: depart 6:25pm arrive 9:33pm

 

[flamestarrdust]

First Attempt at Itinerary

Okay, so I will have to toy around with this a bit more. I do plan on getting ridemax so that help me really narrow down what we are doing.

Here is what I have as of right now.

9/1 fly to orlando: depart 8:45am arrive 5:16pm
Check in to Pop: Decide to unpack, explore or go to MK
Ohana 8:40pm: Hoping to see Wishes during dinner, but if not we will still do that later in the week.

9/2 DHS 9am to 8:30pm
Lunch @ Staring Rolls
mama melrose’s 3:10 Fantasmic Package
8:30 fantasmic show

9/3 Epcot 9am to 12am
Lunch @ Sunshine Seasons
Coral Reef 7:50pm

9/4 AK 9am to 5pm
Tusker House Nemo Package 2pm
4:45 Finding Nemo Musical Show
Dinner: Maybe at Pop or DTD. DTD might be a good option since we don't have a time yet set to go there.

9/5 MK 9am to 1am
Lunch @ Pecos Bills or Golden Oak Outpost or El Pirata y el Perico (as you can see, undecided. Since they are all around the same area, we may all make our choice from somewhere different.
Boatwrights 5pm
Spectromagic 9pm
Wishes 10pm

9/6 MK 9am to 10pm
Breakfast @ Pop
Lunch @ Columbia Harbour House
Kona Cafe‘ 5:05pm

9/7 Epcot 9am to 9pm
Le Celier 2pm
Illuminations 9pm
Dinner: CS somewhere in World Showcase

9/8 AK 9am to 5pm
Donal Safari Breakfast 8:15am
Back to Pop by 3pm
Fly Home: depart 6:25pm arrive 9:33pm

Great Itinerary! Have you tried all the restaurants you have ADRs for or are they new to you?

 

[annmarieda]

Great Itinerary! Have you tried all the restaurants you have ADRs for or are they new to you?

I have tried some of them, but not all.

Tried:
Mama Melrose's
Coral Reef
Tusker (lunch/dinner)
Le Cellier

New:
Boatwrights
Kona
Ohana
Tusker (breakfast)