eandesmom
I'm with Beast
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 14,172
Some quick FL updates!
THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY
We leave!
It seems just around the corner. We have an event every weekend, including a 3 day work trip for me this Thursday-Sat, between now and the trip and the time is just flying by!
Although I spent the bulk of my weekend cleaning my house, which really really needed it, I did manage to get all our touring plans into the system.
The system being “tripit” which is an app I use on my phone. It’s wonderful! If you have an android phone, iphone or blackberry (I think), check it out. You can forward all your confirmation numbers from sites they support (aka Disney!) to it and it will add them into your trip for you and then manually add the rest. www.tripit.com
The touring plan app is pretty cool too and it’s loaded and ready to go.
I have gotten my snack and CS pages into my binder, as well as park hours.
But that’s it. I still have to do the rest of the pages, hopefully I’ll have time to do them the way I want to! My goal is 2 pages per park and updated drink pages Even though everything is in tripit, therefore on my phone, the binder pages are fun to look at and a bit easier to read. Things like snack lists, CS options and drink list I don’t have on the phone (yet) and am not sure if I will. Right now I’ve left it to ADR’s, room ressie info, shuttle info and then then daily touring plans.
I was able to layer in most of the entertainment we want to see into the daily touring plans. It did tweak a few things in terms of arrival and departure times but for the most part, we are intact. I am most worried about Tuesday the 17th. We have planned MK for that day, ideally EMH at 8am and rope drop but they are showing a crowd level of NINE for that day and MK as being “worst”. So that one will be interesting…shades of our last trip I fear. I still can’t fit in F! but will keep my ears open if they add a second show or whatever.
I have added in the new pizza place in Italy as a possible lunch option, or as an alternative to Kouzzina if the timing just doesn’t work out right, it would be fun to check it out so we will see on that one. It would be OOP though I think.
I’ve made our first night dinner “priority seating” reservation at Margaritaville for the 19th. It isn’t really a ressie, it just means a reduced wait time so…we will see. Tomorrow I can do the same at Hard Rock for the 20th. I may make a 2nd one at Margaritaville for the 21st. Jeff really wants to eat there at least twice. I have a different place planned but having a backup plan might be a good idea. Though they “say” dinner wait times aren’t anything like Disney.
Still, I am skeptical. The crowd reports for Harry Potter are INSANE! I’m glad we switched the order of the trip. We have a week to get on the right time zone and used to getting up early, we will need that for WWOHP. I’m also glad because theoretically it is value season at WWOHP by the time we get there, meaning crowds should be better (more folks back in school) and FD is going on at Disney so hopefully people are over there. I’m scared about the crowds! Glad I’ve been reading up as that day is going to require some touring strategy for sure.
Shopping wise I am THIS close to being done. My fancy new organic sunscreen arrived so we are almost in good shape there. Worried it’s not quite enough so need to get more but will get back up of something else here. I picked up new shirts for our photo shoot for 5 of us, still have to find one for Kendall. I also got each boy a new shirt for the trip, they both could use another one, especially Eric who just did a HUGE closet purge and has a seriously whittled down wardrobe. I'll toss them at them as they pack, they will love that! I almost bought Snowy (Eric's polar bear who apparently "won" the decision of who got to go to Disney out of all the animals) a new outfit, but resisted. I thought he needed a new swimsuit but he's at least changed into a beach tee and jeans shorts and looks much more comfortable now. He was wearing an Vancouver 2010 Olympic Sweatshirt.
We figured out Sandie’s birthday and this Tink is on her way to her, today, so should be there in plenty of time. I am so excited about this. I had to send the other bag back (well actually, sending it today, haven’t made it to the post office yet lol). It wasn’t our first choice but I think she will like it. When I bought it I asked the seller if it was possible to include a note as it was a gift and we were having it sent direct. She offered to gift wrap it and put a card with it! She’s going to take a picture of the present and email it to me. How incredibly sweet is that!
It isn't as similar in style to mine and K's as I'd have liked but it is Tink, it is the same size and it is very Sandie so that's all that matters. I do have my eye on a Snow White one....like I need another bag.
Other than that we need to deal with shoes for K&T, I’d hoped to do it this past weekend but K’s lack of enthusiasm on the subject wasn’t exactly inspiring. Granted, that’s applying to everything this summer (she is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bored) lol but still. Doesn’t make one inspired to go birthday shopping either and my goodness does she have quite the list of things she wants! Bleh. 14. I swear she’s 2 years behind T. He didn’t speak in 7th grade and she seems to be going through some of the same sullenness. Not attractive at all. I hope she snaps out of it at Disney. I think she will….most of the time. Hopefully we are at the resorts long enough with the daily pool time for the teens to meet other teens there, that will help quite a bit. Otherwise I have a feeling I’m going to have to get my beach volleyball skills up to par, and quickly!
I’ve picked up some glow bracelets and glow in the dark silly bandz, am probably going to get a few more pins. I cannot find the spray mister fan things for the life of me, long gone, so I’ll have to buy one there I guess.
Ouch.
And OUCH is the budget. It’s a frightening amount of money . We have to get into DVC so it doesn’t feel so painful. That’s all I know! Even if we weren’t staying deluxe, the rest of the costs would likely be the same. OUCH. Of course the super long trip aspect does add to it.
I've done a little bit of looking at the HP souvie prices and am concerned the kids souvie budget may fall short but....hopefully grandma steps in.
Car $50.00
Evan OOP food $148.00
1 OOP lunch (T, E2 and J while we are at tea) $30.00
Town Car to Universal/MCO $138.00 (already paid)
Tips $300.00
Drinks $300.00
Universal Dining $1,000.00
Checking luggage! $120.00
OOP CS Breakfasts $180.00
WCC OOP Breakfast $100.00
Cape May OOP Breakfast $161.15
Garden View Tea $51.45
Souvies $450.00
MSB Haircuts $28.00
Garden Grocer $120.00 (already paid)
Illuminations Cruise $175.00
Resort Photo Session $99.95
Photopass CD $99.95 (will pre-order next week)
Mousekeeping $40.00
Refillable Mugs $83.04
Bell Services $36.00
The Kitchen (Breakfast at HRH) $100.00
I would LOVE to add a massage for me at WL…I had one there last year and it was SOOOOO good but….I just don’t see it in the budget.
I have looked into catering for our Illuminations Cruise. Right now our plan is dinner at Kouzzina at 5;10. That’s early for us so I imagine we will all eat on the lighter side. We need to be at the dock at 8, boat leaves at 8:30, fireworks at 9, back around 9:40 I think. I am thinking it would be lovely to have something on the boat. They do provide chips (chips, at night, of all things?) and soda/water. I’m thinking I’m taking all of those back to the room afterwards, we will have bought them with the cruise lol. But other than the water, and maybe soda for the kids, not something I’l l want to have at that hour.
So I got prices on wine, bubbly, beer, cookies, cake or tuxedo strawberries. If we do anything it will probably be cookies and wine or bubbly. Love the idea of the tuxedo strawberries but they are pricey!!!! We can order up to 24 hours before the cruise so we will decide there once we check into the YC and hook up with Sandie. Too bad we can bring our own stuff on board but, oh well!
DCA Day 4 continues....Taxi's and Treats!
THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY
We leave!
It seems just around the corner. We have an event every weekend, including a 3 day work trip for me this Thursday-Sat, between now and the trip and the time is just flying by!
Although I spent the bulk of my weekend cleaning my house, which really really needed it, I did manage to get all our touring plans into the system.
The system being “tripit” which is an app I use on my phone. It’s wonderful! If you have an android phone, iphone or blackberry (I think), check it out. You can forward all your confirmation numbers from sites they support (aka Disney!) to it and it will add them into your trip for you and then manually add the rest. www.tripit.com
The touring plan app is pretty cool too and it’s loaded and ready to go.
I have gotten my snack and CS pages into my binder, as well as park hours.
But that’s it. I still have to do the rest of the pages, hopefully I’ll have time to do them the way I want to! My goal is 2 pages per park and updated drink pages Even though everything is in tripit, therefore on my phone, the binder pages are fun to look at and a bit easier to read. Things like snack lists, CS options and drink list I don’t have on the phone (yet) and am not sure if I will. Right now I’ve left it to ADR’s, room ressie info, shuttle info and then then daily touring plans.
I was able to layer in most of the entertainment we want to see into the daily touring plans. It did tweak a few things in terms of arrival and departure times but for the most part, we are intact. I am most worried about Tuesday the 17th. We have planned MK for that day, ideally EMH at 8am and rope drop but they are showing a crowd level of NINE for that day and MK as being “worst”. So that one will be interesting…shades of our last trip I fear. I still can’t fit in F! but will keep my ears open if they add a second show or whatever.
I have added in the new pizza place in Italy as a possible lunch option, or as an alternative to Kouzzina if the timing just doesn’t work out right, it would be fun to check it out so we will see on that one. It would be OOP though I think.
I’ve made our first night dinner “priority seating” reservation at Margaritaville for the 19th. It isn’t really a ressie, it just means a reduced wait time so…we will see. Tomorrow I can do the same at Hard Rock for the 20th. I may make a 2nd one at Margaritaville for the 21st. Jeff really wants to eat there at least twice. I have a different place planned but having a backup plan might be a good idea. Though they “say” dinner wait times aren’t anything like Disney.
Still, I am skeptical. The crowd reports for Harry Potter are INSANE! I’m glad we switched the order of the trip. We have a week to get on the right time zone and used to getting up early, we will need that for WWOHP. I’m also glad because theoretically it is value season at WWOHP by the time we get there, meaning crowds should be better (more folks back in school) and FD is going on at Disney so hopefully people are over there. I’m scared about the crowds! Glad I’ve been reading up as that day is going to require some touring strategy for sure.
Shopping wise I am THIS close to being done. My fancy new organic sunscreen arrived so we are almost in good shape there. Worried it’s not quite enough so need to get more but will get back up of something else here. I picked up new shirts for our photo shoot for 5 of us, still have to find one for Kendall. I also got each boy a new shirt for the trip, they both could use another one, especially Eric who just did a HUGE closet purge and has a seriously whittled down wardrobe. I'll toss them at them as they pack, they will love that! I almost bought Snowy (Eric's polar bear who apparently "won" the decision of who got to go to Disney out of all the animals) a new outfit, but resisted. I thought he needed a new swimsuit but he's at least changed into a beach tee and jeans shorts and looks much more comfortable now. He was wearing an Vancouver 2010 Olympic Sweatshirt.
We figured out Sandie’s birthday and this Tink is on her way to her, today, so should be there in plenty of time. I am so excited about this. I had to send the other bag back (well actually, sending it today, haven’t made it to the post office yet lol). It wasn’t our first choice but I think she will like it. When I bought it I asked the seller if it was possible to include a note as it was a gift and we were having it sent direct. She offered to gift wrap it and put a card with it! She’s going to take a picture of the present and email it to me. How incredibly sweet is that!
It isn't as similar in style to mine and K's as I'd have liked but it is Tink, it is the same size and it is very Sandie so that's all that matters. I do have my eye on a Snow White one....like I need another bag.
Other than that we need to deal with shoes for K&T, I’d hoped to do it this past weekend but K’s lack of enthusiasm on the subject wasn’t exactly inspiring. Granted, that’s applying to everything this summer (she is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bored) lol but still. Doesn’t make one inspired to go birthday shopping either and my goodness does she have quite the list of things she wants! Bleh. 14. I swear she’s 2 years behind T. He didn’t speak in 7th grade and she seems to be going through some of the same sullenness. Not attractive at all. I hope she snaps out of it at Disney. I think she will….most of the time. Hopefully we are at the resorts long enough with the daily pool time for the teens to meet other teens there, that will help quite a bit. Otherwise I have a feeling I’m going to have to get my beach volleyball skills up to par, and quickly!
I’ve picked up some glow bracelets and glow in the dark silly bandz, am probably going to get a few more pins. I cannot find the spray mister fan things for the life of me, long gone, so I’ll have to buy one there I guess.
Ouch.
And OUCH is the budget. It’s a frightening amount of money . We have to get into DVC so it doesn’t feel so painful. That’s all I know! Even if we weren’t staying deluxe, the rest of the costs would likely be the same. OUCH. Of course the super long trip aspect does add to it.
I've done a little bit of looking at the HP souvie prices and am concerned the kids souvie budget may fall short but....hopefully grandma steps in.
Car $50.00
Evan OOP food $148.00
1 OOP lunch (T, E2 and J while we are at tea) $30.00
Town Car to Universal/MCO $138.00 (already paid)
Tips $300.00
Drinks $300.00
Universal Dining $1,000.00
Checking luggage! $120.00
OOP CS Breakfasts $180.00
WCC OOP Breakfast $100.00
Cape May OOP Breakfast $161.15
Garden View Tea $51.45
Souvies $450.00
MSB Haircuts $28.00
Garden Grocer $120.00 (already paid)
Illuminations Cruise $175.00
Resort Photo Session $99.95
Photopass CD $99.95 (will pre-order next week)
Mousekeeping $40.00
Refillable Mugs $83.04
Bell Services $36.00
The Kitchen (Breakfast at HRH) $100.00
I would LOVE to add a massage for me at WL…I had one there last year and it was SOOOOO good but….I just don’t see it in the budget.
I have looked into catering for our Illuminations Cruise. Right now our plan is dinner at Kouzzina at 5;10. That’s early for us so I imagine we will all eat on the lighter side. We need to be at the dock at 8, boat leaves at 8:30, fireworks at 9, back around 9:40 I think. I am thinking it would be lovely to have something on the boat. They do provide chips (chips, at night, of all things?) and soda/water. I’m thinking I’m taking all of those back to the room afterwards, we will have bought them with the cruise lol. But other than the water, and maybe soda for the kids, not something I’l l want to have at that hour.
So I got prices on wine, bubbly, beer, cookies, cake or tuxedo strawberries. If we do anything it will probably be cookies and wine or bubbly. Love the idea of the tuxedo strawberries but they are pricey!!!! We can order up to 24 hours before the cruise so we will decide there once we check into the YC and hook up with Sandie. Too bad we can bring our own stuff on board but, oh well!
DCA Day 4 continues....Taxi's and Treats!
Call us gluttons I guess, because generally it is fabulous food and wine that gets us every time, especially when we are on vacation alone!!
