Laissez les bon temps Rouler...Feb 2010 2/20 MK Last part of the Night updt 9/70 pg65

[vamassey1]

Once she started doing the slide she didn't want to stop.











After awhile Dennis came to find us so we could get cleaned up to head back to the park. We had a dinner reservation for Tonys and some fps to use.

Sorry this was such a short update. Michelle is back from New York and want to share her pictures with me. I also need to do a trip update on our plans for Mardi Gras 2012. Lots of exciting changes.

 

[MeMom]

Our room was right across from that fountain, ground floor on the corner. This is such a pretty, peaceful place.

Once she started doing the slide she didn't want to stop.

It was the same with Brooklynn. She loved that slide, only someone had to be at the bottom of it to catch her. She would have done it a hundred times if Jill had stood there that long!

I'm glad Danielle got some swim time. That's one of the very favorite parts of a vacation for kids.

 

[englishrose47]

Looks like Danielle had a good time in the pool!!! I know what you mean about Cosmic Rays , I like it but CHH is always calling me !!!

 

[vamassey1]

Our room was right across from that fountain, ground floor on the corner. This is such a pretty, peaceful place.

The grounds are just beautiful! I'm looking forward to exploring Riverside's grounds too.

It was the same with Brooklynn. She loved that slide, only someone had to be at the bottom of it to catch her. She would have done it a hundred times if Jill had stood there that long!

I'm glad Danielle got some swim time. That's one of the very favorite parts of a vacation for kids.

Danielle was so trilled to finally use the pool. It hard to get pool time in the winter. Sometimes I think kids would be just as happy with unlimited pool time. Parents like park time.

Just staying up with all my threads this weekend !1I am almost to the Single Digit Dance !!!

You ninja posted me! Congrats on getting so close. Before you know it you'll be single digits for your October trip too.

Looks like Danielle had a good time in the pool!!! I know what you mean about Cosmic Rays , I like it but CHH is always calling me !!!

I'm hoping to get to CHH in Feb, but since we'll only be there one day I think I'll be out voted. For Danielle and I CHH would be our choice.

 

[glennbo123]

Those are really cool photopass pictures with the fireworks going off behind you.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Michelle landed in New York City this morning. She and her boyfriend will be there until the 5th. Today they caught a Yankee's game.

I hope she had a fantastic time! The weather has been lovely for touring - not too hot, but not too chilly either.

Love the Photopass pics with the fireworks behind you!!!

 

[vamassey1]

Those are really cool photopass pictures with the fireworks going off behind you.

Lucky chance to catch such a great background. It just screams Disney!

I hope she had a fantastic time! The weather has been lovely for touring - not too hot, but not too chilly either.

Love the Photopass pics with the fireworks behind you!!!

They had a great time. The did lots of neat stuff. This was their second trip this year. She's so lucky, I've never been.

 

[khertz]

I don't think we had ever eaten at CHH until December when we ate there as part of our KTTK tour. Now I can't wait to get back there for lunch!! We ate upstairs both times, and it was so quiet up there. We could watch all the people out the window and it felt so secluded from the park. I loved it there.

The pictures from the pool are great, especially Danielle coming down the slide. Looks like fun! We never did try out the pool & slide when we were there on our honeymoon, but I wish we would have. It looks fun!

 

[vamassey1]

I don't think we had ever eaten at CHH until December when we ate there as part of our KTTK tour. Now I can't wait to get back there for lunch!! We ate upstairs both times, and it was so quiet up there. We could watch all the people out the window and it felt so secluded from the park. I loved it there.

The pictures from the pool are great, especially Danielle coming down the slide. Looks like fun! We never did try out the pool & slide when we were there on our honeymoon, but I wish we would have. It looks fun!

I'm really hoping to get to eat at CHH again. Sitting upstairs is the best!

Danielle was trilled to finally get to try out the pool. I wasn't as willing to brave the cold.

Now you have to go back and stay there just to try the pool.

 

[MEK]

So glad you finally got a day where it was warm enough to go swimming. Danielle looks like she is having a blast!

Can't believe its your last day!

Great PP pictures!

 

[khertz]

I'm really hoping to get to eat at CHH again. Sitting upstairs is the best!

Danielle was trilled to finally get to try out the pool. I wasn't as willing to brave the cold.

Now you have to go back and stay there just to try the pool.

We might end up doing just that...We are trying for a Mommy & Daddy getaway trip in February, and thinking of staying there instead of Bonnet Creek if we can get a good discount. Hopefully if we do, we'll have one day warm enough to swim!

 

[vamassey1]

So glad you finally got a day where it was warm enough to go swimming. Danielle looks like she is having a blast!

Can't believe its your last day!

Great PP pictures!

Thanks Mary Ellen!

I just hate it when the last park day come along.

 

[vamassey1]

We might end up doing just that...We are trying for a Mommy & Daddy getaway trip in February, and thinking of staying there instead of Bonnet Creek if we can get a good discount. Hopefully if we do, we'll have one day warm enough to swim!

If you go for Mardi Gras and arrive on the 18th you can get free dining.

 

[vamassey1]

I tried to post this last night but my internet went out.

So it's official we're going back to Disney! Of course it's only going to be a short trip. In my mind I'm already calling it "A Taste of Disney" since we'll only be there a few days. My ideal trip has us in each part 2 days, my compromise trip has 2 days at MK and Epcot and a day and a half at AK and DHS. On this trip we'll only get 3 1/2 days in the parks. But of course I'll take what I can get.

Back at the end of school we went to a meeting for Danielle's school. It was for the Disney Club. Every year they take 20-30 kids to Disney to do the educational program. It's not open to just anyone. The kids have to have good grades, they have to be suggested by at lest 3 teachers and of course be willing to pay. In the end I think we'll pay about $1000 for her to go. Hopefully some fund raisers will help off set some of the cost. The trip takes place over Mardi Gras since the kids have time off from school. In the past they have had Monday and Tuesday, but this year it will extend to Wednesday too. Normally the group spends 4 nights in a hotel and does the program at all 4 parks. This year to save on costs they will only do 3 classes and stay only 3 nights. The plan is for them to leave around 2 am and drive straight through to Disney. The will spend part of a day at Epcot and start their classes on Sunday morning.

So after the meeting we starting talking about going too, just Dennis and I. I would tag along with Danielle but they don't allow any chaperons except for the sponsor teachers. We figured we could take a short trip down there by flying. Our plan was to fly out Saturday morning out of New Orleans and fly back Wednesday. Danielle and her group would leave for home Tuesday after leaving the park and drive straight through. She'll get home before we do, but we were just going to have Michelle pick her up. Since it was just Dennis and I we decided to go Moderate. This is really amazing because for years we have stayed Value due to the price and the fact that we're never in the room anyway. In 2010 we stayed at our first Moderate POFQ (this trip I'm writing about) due to the stay for 4 get 3 free. At the value it was only stay for 5 get 2 free. So which Moderate to stay at? We have always wanted to take another trip with just the 2 of us and have always been drawn to Port Orleans Riverside. So this was the choice for the trip. I booked it in July as soon as they opened up booking for 2012 with hopes of some kind of discount. In 2004 we got a discount on the room at this time and since we got a discount in 2010 I was fairly sure something would come out. Of course what I really wanted was free dining because I've never had it. You can not imagine my excitement when I read the rumors of free dining last Tuesday. And it was perfect because we would be arriving on the day the dining ended, Feb 18th. Although I didn't have to be at work until 9 I was up at 5:45 to get ready to call. Right after 6 I made the call and spent 2 1/2 hours on hold waiting. It was really weird because once I finished the phone prompts and went on hold there was nothing but silence. I was so scared that something had gone wrong. I used Danielle's phone and called again. I have a phone to each ear, but the same thing happened. So I waited in silence. Eventually I had to get ready for work so the phone went with me too. Finally at around 8 I got some music and eventually I got a person. I was on pins and needles while Albert did his search to see if I would get free dining. I was really worried since I had heard that POR sells out fast. But finally I heard the magic words "You got it"! Of course if need be I would have changed resorts to get free dining. I had saved over $400 on our short 4 night stay. We're still more than 180 days out so we have a few things to work out.

On Tuesday Danielle has orientation for school so I ambushed the Disney club sponsor to try and get some more details. I need to know what parks they will be in each day so we can make our ADRs. Unfortunately she doesn't know. The only thing we know for sure is 2/18 they will be at Epcot. Disney doesn't give them their set schedule until about a month out. So what to do? Any suggestions? I'm thinking I'll make 3 reservations a day. I'll make a lunch reservation each day for where I want to eat at for MK, an early dinner reservation for where we want to eat at in DHS and a late dinner reservation for where Kona. I'm not going to budge on Kona for our AK day. We've done 'Ohana several times and I really want to try Kona. It makes sense for our AK since it closes early. Of course I won't keep all these ADRs, as soon as we find out where we'll be I'll cancel the extras. I feel a little guilty but I don't want to miss out on getting an ADR for each day. We didn't buy hoppers since we'll be there for such a short time. We're hoping to meet up with Danielle and do a few rides with her at each park and share a CS meal each day. They will have vouchers for CS meals.

I've been checking on flights out of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. In the past we've flown Southwest out of New Orleans. For some reason the flight out of New Orleans on 2/18 is way high. The lowest price is $240 per person. The return flight would be $147, with the fees that puts it at over $800 for the two of us. After reviewing this with Dennis I knew he would suggest driving. But I told him I would be willing to drive but only if we could leave on Friday afternoon and get part the way there so we could have some park time on Saturday. He was willing to do this but now I'll have to arrange for Danielle to stay with one of the other girls going so they could put her on the bus in the middle of the night. I really don't like driving but $800 is just too much for 2 tickets. In 2004 we flew 4 for under that.

Since we have free dining and we have decided to drive my head started doing some more planning and plotting. Free dining really helps cut down on the price of a family. Extra people would only have to pay for their passes in the park and one meal a day. I have a niece who has never been and asked us after our last trip if she could go with us. It's really hard to bring an extra person since we already have 4 in our family. But on this trip we don't have Danielle in our room. This would be the perfect trip to take someone extra. It's a short trip but that also means it's not as expensive to take more people. So Friday night while we were out eating with Michelle and without Danielle (she was at a party) I suggested this to both Dennis and Michelle. Dennis agreed at once but Michelle wanted to know what the cost would be first. Once we were home I priced out the tickets and it was under $300. I called my niece Chelsea and she couldn't believe it. By the end of the night they were both in, but Danielle wasn't so trilled. She wants to take the trip with her school friends but she also wants to do our traditional family trip. We can't do both and this works at great for taking an extra person. We all love to bring someone to Disney for the first time. Danielle has gotten use to the idea. She's excited about Chelsea getting to go too.

So now the trip has gone from just the two of use flying, to a family trip with us driving. I'm going to have to ask Tasha, my sister to pick up Danielle on Wednesday or my nephew. I'll probably ask my nephew to house/dog sit too while we're gong. Michelle was suppose to do this for us. We still have to plan out meals. We'll also have to have a game plan each day so we can make sure to hit the highlight to show Chelsea but also do some of our favorites and try to do some with Danielle. We're hoping to all get together on Friday to plan. I'm so excited to share the Magic but to also get to spend some time in my favorite place.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

So it's official we're going back to Disney!

Congrats on scoring free dining!

Looking forward to readnig all about it!

The Photopass pics turned out great.

We never ate at Cosmic Ray's, but we did stop in for drinks. It's a nice place to enjoy some AC and was surprisingly empty during Evening EMH.

 

[vamassey1]

Congrats on scoring free dining!

Looking forward to readnig all about it!

The Photopass pics turned out great.

We never ate at Cosmic Ray's, but we did stop in for drinks. It's a nice place to enjoy some AC and was surprisingly empty during Evening EMH.

Hey GB! It so good to "see" you again. I also see you have a ticker. Are you going to do a pre-trippy? I can't wait for your next report. I need details of when and where.

 

[englishrose47]

Great news , what fun !!! I remmber the last 2 years being on pins and needles to see if the girls cheerleading group got to go to Disney !!They were 1 place away both years !!!!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Hey GB! It so good to "see" you again. I also see you have a ticker. Are you going to do a pre-trippy? I can't wait for your next report. I need details of when and where.

If there is a PTR, it will be a while. I wrote the first installment, then realized I won't have anything else to say about it for several months.

I'll probably look at starting one around Feb or March. Since I tend to write ahead 6-7 installements at a time, I should have an idea by then of about how many actual postings it will take to complete. If lit looks like I'll need more time, I may post a bit earlier than that.

 

[jillybeene71]

I hear you on the flights...Im trying to get tickets for Thanksgiving and they are high...I remember when we started going to Disney in 08 one way trips were 79.00 out of New Orleans. Now I dont see them going under 124.00 one way, Baton Rouge and Lafayette are more. Its making it harder and harder to get to my happy place

 

[vamassey1]

Great news , what fun !!! I remmber the last 2 years being on pins and needles to see if the girls cheerleading group got to go to Disney !!They were 1 place away both years !!!!

I remember you waiting! You're just days away from your trip now.

If there is a PTR, it will be a while. I wrote the first installment, then realized I won't have anything else to say about it for several months.

I'll probably look at starting one around Feb or March. Since I tend to write ahead 6-7 installements at a time, I should have an idea by then of about how many actual postings it will take to complete. If lit looks like I'll need more time, I may post a bit earlier than that.

I want to be in from the start. Please PM when you get started. I love your reports.

I hear you on the flights...Im trying to get tickets for Thanksgiving and they are high...I remember when we started going to Disney in 08 one way trips were 79.00 out of New Orleans. Now I dont see them going under 124.00 one way, Baton Rouge and Lafayette are more. Its making it harder and harder to get to my happy place

I would much rather fly, but we'll drive if we have to. Now that we're taking Michelle and Chelsea it's the only way we'll go.