Less than 1 week, I think I might pee myself!.......a PTR

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Star, Airtran charges for checked bags. It is $15 for the first one, and $25 for the second one per person. And they can't weigh more than 50 lbs. each. They also charge if you want to choose your seat. The drawback to NOT choosing ahead of time is that you may end up with your family scattered about the plane. You can decide if that would be good or bad.

SW does not charge for checked bags. They have a new thing where you pay a fee to board first, but they do not have assigned seating available. If you check in for your flight right at the 24 hour mark you may not need to pay the additional fee. They board in groups - A, B, C, and D. If you are in group A you will definitely get seats together. I *think* they also do some sort of boarding for families with young children between group A and group B, but they may have stopped that. Maybe check the website.

On American they charge for bags, but they do not charge for choosing a seat. They charge for snacks, headphones, and WiFi in flight and they are "cashless" so you HAVE TO use a credit or debit card to buy anything on board.

 

[starann]

We booked air travel today.

We leave Phillly Sept 25 at 8:15a on AirTran, arriving at Orlando at 10:49a. We will be taking DME to ASMo.

We leave Orlando Oct 4 at 6:18pm and arrive in Philly at 8:42pm.

Air for all 4 of us was $921.60. Plus $15 a bag/pp then whatever the cost is to 'pick' our seats. I was a little disapointed with the price, but the Disney agent said that it was a pretty good price and doubts we will find it lower....Gosh I hope not, as I am a bargain shopper and hate paying the higher prices.

I have printed out all the menus at allears for our ADRs so I can estimate tips. DH asked me today how much the trip was completely costing us, and how much our tax return was.....I told him and his response was "You better start working some overtime!" Deep breath, Star, deep breath. I am currently on 'light' duty since I injured my knee so OT is out of the question. How about you get a second job there dear!!!!!

Little does he know how much in GC I have squirrlled away (about $465 right now for WDW, plus Build a Dino and Landry for T-Rex). HEHEHEHE I may not tell him about that and hold onto it for some Xmas shopping while in WDW! Although now, we have to watch our luggage amounts. We will pack the 2 big suitcases with clothes for DH and I, 1 of the smaller ones for the kids to share and another smaller one for glosticks, pool stuff, snacks and such, which will also serve as our souvie suitcase! Then we get 4 carry on bags....I'm not worried about storage!

I looked on AT site and strollers are gate checked for free, so I might be bringing it....when we told the kids yesterday they had to walk Disney, their eyes bugged out of their heads!!!! I hear Orlando is a BIG airport, as is Philly and I don't want to hear the boys whine or god forbid, lose one!

 

[starann]

Look at flight prices once you book non-refundable plane tickets

We booked Air Tran for about $1000 once all is said and done with bags and paying to pick our seats (which really kind of us to our fellow fliers, as that will NOT want to be sitting with my kids!).

Today I get an email form SW for round trip tickets leaving about the same time the 25 and coming home a bit earlier on the 4th for $550!!!!! UGH UGH UGH UGH. And that includes 2 checked bags per person. UGH, UGH, UGH!

Lesson learned....don't look at something you can't have!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Look at flight prices once you book non-refundable plane tickets

We booked Air Tran for about $1000 once all is said and done with bags and paying to pick our seats (which really kind of us to our fellow fliers, as that will NOT want to be sitting with my kids!).

Today I get an email form SW for round trip tickets leaving about the same time the 25 and coming home a bit earlier on the 4th for $550!!!!! UGH UGH UGH UGH. And that includes 2 checked bags per person. UGH, UGH, UGH!

Lesson learned....don't look at something you can't have!

Oh, I would be so mad too.

 

[starann]

........the wait for Free Dining is going to push me over the edge (which really isn't too much of a push!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I am not a Disney Visa holder, DH does not like credit cards (burned by an exwife), so we only use our debit cards. Fine by me, but damn, today I really wish I had a DV!

DV Card holders are able to book free dining. General Public is rumored to be able to book on Sun or Mon. I will go absolutely bonkers waiting, fearing I am missing out on a GREAT deal. Our travel days are not flexible as we already booked our stupid airfare (did I mention I really don't want to fly? and we paid about $450 more with AT than SW cause my husband wanted to book right away).

I am a bargain shopper and HATE that I have missed out on cheaper airfare (after all, that is less money I would have had to save for spending money) and I may miss out on FD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Either way we will be going, it just would be nice to only have to pay another $1400 on our trip rather than $2300....that's another nice chunk of change (i e more spending money).


OK I'm done whining...that is until I find out my dates/resort are sold out!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Star, how much would it cost you to cancel the AirTran flights? $300? And then you get the difference back, buy the SW tickets, NO bag fee, and you still come out ahead. Or did I miss something somewhere?

The Disney Visa offers always come out about 3 days ahead of general public. Did you check the "Kids Stay, Play and Dine for Free" offer? Since your boys are both younger than 10 it might save you some money.

Good luck getting it all sorted out!

 

[starann]

Star, how much would it cost you to cancel the AirTran flights? $300? And then you get the difference back, buy the SW tickets, NO bag fee, and you still come out ahead. Or did I miss something somewhere?

The Disney Visa offers always come out about 3 days ahead of general public. Did you check the "Kids Stay, Play and Dine for Free" offer? Since your boys are both younger than 10 it might save you some money.

Good luck getting it all sorted out!

VERY true, never thought of canceling and rebooking, I will run it by DH tonight to see what he thinks. Knowing him (he is not as budget minded as me) he will say jsut to keep what we have!

I will have to run the numbers on kids stay and play and eat free....you are right...............hmmmmmmmmmmmmm off to do some math... and I HATE math!

I know FD never works out for you (and how much that puzzles you!). I am all about the numbers as well!

 

[starann]

Did the math....pretty quickly I might add, and was able to keep my shoes on!

Kids Free will save us about $475.....

FD will save us about $900....

at least now I have a backup plan should we not be able to get FD. Thanks Elizabeth!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Did the math....pretty quickly I might add, and was able to keep my shoes on!

Kids Free will save us about $475.....

FD will save us about $900....

at least now I have a backup plan should we not be able to get FD. Thanks Elizabeth!

You're welcome!

We did have free dining one year, and it saved us about $500. And that was back when appetizers and tips were included! Ever since DS became an "adult" by WDW standards, we lose money with dining plans. Of course now we do the hotel with DVC points so we wouldn't qualify for free dining anyway.

 

[starann]

Again I am falling behind....sorry to my 2 readers!!!! LOL!

At the end of March I slipped at work and hurt my knee. I actaully sprained the outside muscle, which, according to the orthopaedic surgeon is probably healed by now...BUT since it kept me from walking normaly it has ripped up some other stuff in my knee and has caused a floating kneecap! Weeeee Fun! NOT! The pain has really been depressing me (along with some other family drama). My house is a disaster, I have not been getting home most night until 7pm after my physcial therapy, my kids ask me to play and I feel like a terrible mommmy cause I am not spending time with them becuase when I get home from work I have used all energy I have.

I saw the ortho dr today and he told me it's a long process (well no duh! It's been how many weeks already) and a frustrating one he can do a surgery and fix it, I just need time. Hmmm YAY more time with walking with a limp, in pain, and a house that is a mess. However he did give me an injection into the knee. I am still on work restrictions for 6 more weeks (they are going to love me at work....not) and in PT for 12 more weeks. Since the injection I have had nothing but pain, but the dr assured me that it will be better tommorrow.



OK I'm done whining now!


Monday I called WDW at 7am and was SO happy I called from my phone (thanks GOd for Rollover!) and was able to drive to work while on hold....for a total time of 50 minutes! But a savings of $977 was well worth it! We upgraded to the Regular Dining Plan. So everything is booked and planned.

Now what?

OH I suppose I can start packing? Cause my new luggage came!!!!

This is the set, but mine is a black/grey with big tropical flowers in a grey color

http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/lug...PRD~487246/Prodigy+Hudson+5pc+Luggage+Set.jsp

Of course the site doesnt have it listed now.


So this weekend will be making a packing list, organinzing my Princess binder and maybe taking some photos of it.

Speaking of photo's Mother's Day is this weekend and my stepmom, who raised me, is going to WDW the end of the month with my brother and his girlfriend. I was going to get her a Disney GC so she could by herself something, but while in Target today I found a Kodak Easy Share camera for $45, it was 50% off!!!!!! SO I called her and asked her which she wanted...the camera or the GC and she picked the camera and was THRILLED! She is not a techie type person, this will be a nice easy camera for her to learn on and get her own pictures.

Now if only I can figure out what to get my other mom...... yeah, got none!

Well that will be all for tonight, hopefully this wekend will produce some photos?

 

[starann]

This weekend consisted of doing a whole lotta notta! And Boy did I need it! We (and I mean me) did get the boys room clean and dusted, new curtains hung, the hallway/office room dusted and swept and some dishes done. We leave in 11 day for OBX and the neighbor boy is coming over to cat and turtle sit (the dogs are going to the vet to be boarded) so I want to make sure the house is cleaner than usual! Not that a 14yo boy will really care if my house is dusted, but I don't want his mom to see I don't usually dust!!!

So I also orgainzed my Disney Binder!!!!! I have been wanting to do this for awhile now, but finally sat down to do it while the boys and I watched Avatar (beautiful colors, but basically the story of the American Indians but in the future). I updated our "Saving for Mickey Page" as we now have $500 in GC to play with! I put in all the menus from allears so DH can see what there is to order ahead of time, so we go in ready! I made a "Rides" list and printed a calendar sheet to put our ADR times and what park what day. I also printed the park hours, but a good friend looked up the crowd levels for the days we are going so I went by that as far was what park/what day, but it is nice to have to park hours in there too. I printed out our flight info as well. I have most of this info on my iphone, but don't want to risk something happening to the phone and being lost! I am an old fashioned gal when it comes to things like that. I have had a computer since I was 8 and know that things can get lost!

I booked an earlier 'Ohana, our original ressie was for 8:50, the new one if for 8:35. Not much of a difference, but I figure DH will not be so annoyed with the time if it is earlier. Hopefully I can work it up to 8pm! I also added a celebration to a few of our ressies.....When we go to CP for dinner, there will be 4 generations there, which I think is something to celebrate (esp if other people are celebrating b-days several months away..not judging). I also added a celebration of Too Cool for School for both boys as they will now be in the "Big School."


Now onto my Target rant......
In prep for OBX and the summer I was looking for a new digital camera. We have a cannon Powershot that we got in 2006 before our trip to Disney (my dad got it for me as a late B-day gift, we did end up replacing it when Cody ripped the lense cover off!). It has been a decent camera, but summer usually means DH and I go to different events and we both want the camera. My solution is to buy a new one!

So I looked around online today and see this

http://www.target.com/Canon-PowerSh...et_com_primary_color-bin,display_size_derived

I look around at other sites and see the price is about the same, but Targets comes with a camera card and a case! Bonus! I look at the "Find it at a Target Store" and WAHOO my local store lists is as available.....any Target shopper can tell you where this is headed......so I drive the 20mins one way to Target, kids in tow, to be told by the sales kid that they had it at Mothers Day but they had no more in stock. WHAT?!?!? The website said that it was available. He told me the site was wrong as it usually is. I thanked him for his time, as I know it is not his fault and came home and ordered it online, paying $6.23 for shipping!

So I emailed Target to let them know I am annoyed that I wasted gas money ($2.78/gal currently) and time to drive to a store that listed this item as "available" not even "Limited stock". We'll see how far I get.

Although as a bonus, I ended up paying $167.xx because orders over $125 got an additional 15% off, so with tax and shipping I ended up getting it cheaper, but I am still annoyed that 1.I wasted time and gas money to get something that wasn't there and 2.I want to play with my new camera NOW!


I'll be sure to post some picts when I get it! Hopefully it comes on a day when I get home before DH so I don't have to hear about it!

 

[starann]

"Dear Star,

I'm sorry that the store availability information listed on our website for the Canon PowerShot digital camera was incorrect.

I've passed this information to the right team and will make sure that we get it taken care of as soon as possible.

Please keep in mind that, shipping charges are an unavoidable part of using a mail-order service, but we know that they can seem a nuisance.

That's why we're always working to keep our shipping costs as low as possible.

At Target.com, shipping and handling charges are based on the following:
• The delivery option you choose
• The weight, size and dimensions of your items
• Your shipping preferences

We know you count on more than just great products from Target.com, and that having a reliable website is just as important. It's disappointing to hear about this error, and I'm sorry we let you down.

Thanks for your patience while we fix this problem."


So my waste of time is worth nothing, as is my gas money. Had I ordered the camera 1st I would have thought nothing of paying the shipping charges, but I drive to the store and wasted time and gas to find out they didn't have it, which is what I am most annoyed about. Oh well, looks like Target will not be my 1st stop anymore!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I would have been mad about the camera, too! But I also wouldn't have learned my lesson after 1 Target. We have 3 Targets and a Super Target within reasonable distance, so I would have probably gone to all 4 before I gave up. And then I would have been REALLY mad!

I hope you enjoy your new camera!!

 

[starann]

I went to the Target by work today and guess what, they had 2 of the cameras!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH! Oh well, I still got a better deal with shipping by getting it online.

 

[starann]

We just got home this past week from OBX!!!! We had a great time, although I just about cried leaving. I did NOT want to come home! At least I have Disney in 114 days! Not sure what I'll tell myself when I leave WDW!

While we were on vacation I got an email (gotta love the i-phone) stating Air Tran changed our flight. I had been warned about this and thankfully it is nothing I can't live with.

Our original flight was leaving Philly at 8am, they moved it up to 7am. Now I will HAVE to go back to the resort for a nap, as the boys will be beyond tired waking up early enough to get that flight.

The flight home was moved up to 4:30p, it had been 6:30, so 2 hours earlier. Not that thrilled about that one, as it means we have to leave earlier....boo!

I went to make a payment on the website tonight and I'm not sure if it went thru or not....I guess I will wait until tomorrow to see if I get and email confirmation. It won't be a big deal if I pay it twice as it was a small payment, but I'll wait to see.

I am still on half days at work due to my knee injury. I see the Ortho dr on the 17th, so hopefully I'll be released to full duty so I can get back to working OT at the hospital and picking up per diem visits at the VNA. DH asked me about when my appt was as he knows we have about $1000 left to pay on our trip, plus spending money and knows I can't get extra money at work until I am off restricted duty. I have just over $500 in Disney GC, but I want to hold onto those for shopping and such!!!!

Usually the summer is a busy time for the VNA. From the end of June to the end of August we have the maximum amount of nurses off every day of the week (which means no one else can take the day off, unless they call in sick). So there are usually extra patients that don't have a nurse assigned, which opens them up as per diem visits and we can pick up extra visits.

Currently we have SEVERAL nurses out for various reasons.....

1 nurse is out due to a broken wrist....she has started PT but still can't bend or turn her arm

1 nurse out until the middle of this month, at least, as her 49yo husband passed away unexpectedly last month. We aren't even sure if she will be back then

1 nurse is out due to a broken neck. He was in a car accident in Oct while working, they did PT and injections and he was still having pain. They FINALLY sent him to a neuro sx and his C6 vertebrea was broken! They sent him in for surgery the next day and he will be out for awhile longer.

1 nurse went in for surgery Fri to have a pre-melanoma tumor removed from her leg. She will be out a minimum of 2 weeks then goes on vacation.


So with those nurses out, plus the nurses out for vacation, the probability of extra money is good! Well good for me, not them.

I do love the fact that DH told me *I* have to pick up extra shifts and patients.....yet I don't see him looking for a 2nd job! This has long been a battle with us. I make more than him (he is salaried so no OT for him) and can make 3x as much as he could with a part time job (hourly OT as a nurse is pretty good pay) so the deal was I would do the extra work, but he would pick up the slack at home, cleaning and such. You can see where I am going here.....I would work all the extra hours and come home to a messy home because he didn't want to clean as it will just get messy the next day So stalemate! I think I will have to have a reminder discussion with him about this.

Well it is late and my bed is calling. WE still haven't unpacked from vacation and the kitchen is a mess. The playroom is and DH has already said it will get cleaned tomorrow. I tried to beg my mom to come over to help clean it (it is THAT bad) but no dice! She doesn't want to drive from NY to help. Imagine that!

I will try to post some picts of OBX.....all taken with the new camera. I have been happy with the auto setting, now I will have to play around with the other settings! I SO want a digital SLR, but that won't be until after WDW (plus with all I have to carry, it will just be too big). So for now, the new Cannon will do!


Night!

 

[starann]

Even though there are a lot of other things I should be doing now, and no one is reading, I am going to post the picts from OBX as promised!

The boys on the ferry to Okrakoke Island

I love this one of Cody....up in the air!

Shane the cute lil guy!

I ma trying to upload more to photbucket, so it will take awhile. The trip was GREAT! I took around 309 picts and was only in 1 of them, so I am thinking of getting the photopass CD, so on our Disney trip I will actually be in a few of the pictures!


The kids have become little change-hounds, looking for change anywhere they can to put in the Mickey Bucket!!!! I've been throwing in bills, usually small ones (any big ones I put in, DH takes when he needs a few $$ UGH!) and the change for spending money. Yesterday my mom came over, she was in WDW Before Memorial Day, to give us the goodies she got for us. She got me a MM Rice Krispie Treat head...which was gone by this morning. She got each of the the boys a light up Mickey light saber type toy. Hopefully they don't break before our trip and I remember to pack them! And she gave us 2, $1 DD!!!! And even better, a $25gc!!!!! She said she didn't use it!!! I asked her if she was sure, and she said she didn't see anything that jumped out at her, so she gave it to us!!!

I am off to make some hostess packets. I have booked a ton of Fantasia Parties lately All money for vacation! II may come back later to post some more of the pictures from OBX!

 

[starann]

So I'm watching "Walt Disney World Resort: Behind the Scenes" that I DVRed the other day!!!!!! So I thought I would post some goings ons here.

The last few days I have felt CRUDDY.....tired, lightheaded, hot, headaches and just not feeling well. I had one of the nurses at work check my BP and it was a bit high (140/98). The next day I woke up feeling better, but as the day progressed I started feeling the same way. I made an appt yesterday with my family dr and she checked my BP, again it was high (130/104 ). So she started me on BP meds and ordered a slew of bloodwork.

I jsut took my 1st BP med, as today I felt the same way again. I am hoping tomorrow will be better because this is NO fun!


So onto trip stuff...............

I took the kids to Walmart to get some things for the house and found a mini water fan. Most DISers know they have the $7 fans that are rather big and cumbersome to carry. I found this one for $4 and while it is smaller and doesn't hold as much water, it is smaller which means easier to carry in my backpack!!!!!


I realized I haven't posted our 'plans' so away we gooooooooooooooooooo


Sat Sept 25th...Leave home at some early hour to get to my in laws house so FIL can drive us to Philly airport for our flight at 7am. Orginally we booked an 8am flight, but Airtran changed that for us We should arrive in Orlando at around 10:30. We will take DME to ASmo which will be our home for the duration of the trip. With luck our next trip we will be a family of 5 which mean this is the last year we can stay at a value without getting 2 rooms.
Hopefully we can do an early checkin and get into our room. If not, then we will drop off our stuff and head to MK. We had asked the boys what ride they wanted to go on 1st and they both said Buzz. We have 6:30 ressies for WCC as the boys wanted to eat at the place with the Lincoln Logs! I imagine we will be heading back to the hotel after dinner as it will have been a long day for us.

Sun Sept 26...plan is to go to AK during the day, eating counter service for lunch and maybe a nap back at the room before heading to Epcot for dinner at Nine Dragons at 7. We ate lunch there last trip and DH wanted to try dinner as lunch was pretty good. After dinner back to the hotel since EP closes at 9

Mon Sept 27...is another MK day. We wil be meeting up with my Nana and Papa as well as my mom. I am so excited for this! 4 Generations in 1 park!!!! WE have dinner ressies for 5:55 at CP. This is a new place for us but I felt a buffet offered everyone a choice of what to eat. My Nana is very, lets say, picky about the foods she eats. My hope is the buffet will make everyone happy. We will spend the entire day in MK, hopefully seeing the parades and fireworks.

Tues Sept 28 is MGM day. That's right, I said MGM.....it will always be MGM to me! This will be another 'split' day as we will be going to EP for dinner at Coral Reef. My plan is to do as much as we can before lunch at MGM and hop over to EP for lunch or just after. None of us a huge thrill riders, so TOT, RNC do not appeal to us. We really wanted ot do Star Tours as the boys are HUGE SW fans, but it will be closed We will also have a day there later in the week to finish up what we want to. We have dinner ressies at Coral Reef for 7.

Ok, I will post the rest of the vacation plans after a little break. Time for dinner!

 

[starann]

Ok dinner has been over for hours and the kids are in bed (although Shane has come downstairs 3 times now for his normal stalling tactics).


Wed Sept 29 is another MK day in the morning, lunch at LTT at 1:30. Then the evening is open somewhat. I booked CMC, another new one for us, for dinner at 7pm. This might be a good night to go swimming back at the resort before or after dinner....not too sure. I want to leave some 'free' time for us to relax from our vacation, maybe resort hop?

Thurs Sept 30...early morning for us as we are off to CM for 8:15am ressies, then over to one of the water parks. DH really wanted to try the Water Parks, so we added them onto our park passes to make him happy. Not sure which one we are going to. I can't imagine staying there ALL day (they close at 5) so I made surprise ressies at T Rex for us! We will then do some DTD shopping. The boys have done nothing but talk about the Lego Store! I better pack lightly as they will no doubt be wanting TONS of legos!

Friday Oct 1.....Epcot in the morning till after lunch then over to AK as they have PM EMH until 8pm...this is the only time during our trip they have PM EMH here and from what I have seen, it is something to see. Then dinner at Kona at 7:55. Again Kona is new to us this trip.

(Shane came down for the 4th attempt at stalling bedtime)

Sat Oct 2 we have MGM planned most of the day. Depending on what we get done we may park hop or go to the hotel for some pool time. Dinner at O'hana at 8:35.

Sun Oct 3......last full day at WDW....nothing planned for the morning. I have some ???s on my master copy calendar so it might be a day to do things we missed or want to do again. We go back to CM at 6:30 for dinner. We did b'fast in the past, but DH wanted to try dinner!

Mon Oct 4......gonig home day.............BOOOOOOOOOOOOO........ WE have Ohana scheduled at 8:20 for b'fast, but may cancel that (more below). Our flight doesn't fly out of Orlando until 4 so we have some time to do something. DH really doesn't want to go to a park and get all sweaty, but I don't want to sit around doing nothing on our last day. Our flight should get in around 6:30 so with anyluck we will be home, in our house by 10pm. The boys will go toschool tues, but I have taken the day off to get things back in order before going back to work.


If you add up all those ADR you will see we have 12. We have TS for 9 (it goes by the number of nights you stay). Our T Rex will be OOP as they don't accept the DDP, but I have GCs for it. So that leave 2 we are paying OOP. I added up the 'guesstimate' prices and most places will cost us about the same. The dinner at CP will be 7 of us, and Papa may pick up the check (not banking on it, just trying to do some ADR math!) and if he does that only leaves us with 1oop, which is acceptable. If not, we will cancel Ohana our last day. I did it last trip with my DN and the boys and it was ok, but expensive! SO we will have to wait and see.


ok, off to relax some more, hopnig Shane stays in his room the rest of the night!

 

[DrMomof3]

Hi Star!
Your boys are very cute!!!

Amanda

 

[starann]

Thanks Amanda!

(And thanks for popping over to post!) I have your PTR subbed so I can catch up...I read the 1st 4 pages and the last 2. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people who read the last page of any book!