Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[glennbo123]

What an awesome volunteer opportunity you had! That looked like tough duty (said full of sarcasm). That's great that the boys got to see all of those model trains and learn a little bit about 4H too.

 

[eandesmom]

Wow! Lot's there! I was hoping for some news today on your Give a Day, and it looks like it really worked out to be a fun time. At the very least you learned a little about 4-H, and the E's learned a smidgen about service and volunteering.

I really can't speak into the high school sports thing, but it sure would be nice to save that $400!! Is there ANY way possible, she could follow you a couple days later after her event(s)? She's old enough right??

I think it's great Doug has decided to join up with you, and that it will be apart from from Paul and Sandy. If there's a different sort of dynamic thing going on, even if it's good and ok, some time for them to have that without the influence of the others is a good thing. I know with my sisters and I it is a TOTALLY different feel with my parents there. Not bad, just different.


Not splitting up in rooms is always a good thing. gotta keep the men happy!

Well not sure how happy he can be since we are still sharing a room with kids but at least we can be in the same bed lol!

The HS sports issue is at the end of the trip, the day she has to be back by. Yes, theoretically she could just leave the trip early. We'd prefer not to put her in that position though. IF there are 2 weeks of "training" before the tryouts even start she will miss most of that and we've promised her she'd be back for tryouts to minimize her conflicts. I would LOVE to save the $$ but my gut is that the only way that will happen is if a different promo is released!

Sounds like a great GAD experience for the whole family! I felt like we hadn't "earned" our vouchers too... but my take on it is that our whole family got to participate and we talked a lot about why we were volunteering and who we were helping. I wouldn't feel bad.

I don't know how you can keep track off all the who, when, where of your vacation! It makes my head spin!! I hope it works out and you guys can settle on your dates before FD.

Oh just wait till yours are older....



It's funny though, it really depends on the kid and what they want. Evan and Kendall are crazy busy, by choice. The other 2? Not so much!

What an awesome volunteer opportunity you had! That looked like tough duty (said full of sarcasm). That's great that the boys got to see all of those model trains and learn a little bit about 4H too.

It was rough. Really really rough!



Hopefully something will come your way that you can all do too!

I think the best part is that the kids will know that they earned their DCA day and that we earned it as a family.

They were a little confused about the vouchers and how we'd use them in FL. Evan said "I bet you will use them for Taylor, Kendall, Jeff and you". I think he thought his and Eric's park tickets cost less so assumed the big kids would get "his" voucher.

We straightened them out that it was THEIR ticket. Which of course then they wanted to know if they were good at any park, were they hoppers, etc.
too funny.

 

[carissanboys]

What a really neat experience for you all! I love the idea of the 4H Club and have looked into it a bit. Their motto is so cool!

 

[eandesmom]

What a really neat experience for you all! I love the idea of the 4H Club and have looked into it a bit. Their motto is so cool!

I think it's a great option if you aren't doing scouting, it's not that active right around us as we are more in the "city" but it seems like a really good organization.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Your GAD sounds like so much fun!!! What a great opportunity to spend time together as a family, do something nice for the community, and earn a Disney ticket!

Good luck deciding what to do about TKD! I don't blame you for being stressed out about it!

 

[MaryAz]

Your "Give A Day" event sounded fun. I was in 4H Lots of luck with the possible trip day switching.

 

[eandesmom]

Your GAD sounds like so much fun!!! What a great opportunity to spend time together as a family, do something nice for the community, and earn a Disney ticket!

Good luck deciding what to do about TKD! I don't blame you for being stressed out about it!

It was a ton of fun!

I bit the bullet on TKD Competition team today. My concerns were all about me and not the right reason to "not" do it. Which I knew but the whole thing still stresses me out. I think I waas hoping for a better reason "not" to do it.

Of course I had to buy another uniform for it, an expense I hadn't budgeted for. Bleh! Told him this means a new baseball glove is out and those cleats better still fit! Evan is SO excited and it will be really good for him. Our Dojang has had kids do really well at this international tournament (the one in Chicago) and even go on to Jr. Olympics, and this is great training. I don't expect anything like that for Evan mind you but do think he's earned the spot, deserves and is ready for the extra level of training and, gulp, the extra cost.

As far as Chicago goes, I'll take it a day at a time. It IS optional and there is a lot I don't know yet.

Your "Give A Day" event sounded fun. I was in 4H Lots of luck with the possible trip day switching.

Very cool, it really was a lovely event, run by super cool people!

I'll be surprised if we change dates to be honest. I actually called Disney today just to see if there was a dining pin code under my name as I've heard some folks have had them. To see what was available they had to do a mock reservation. Turns out our current ressie, with the 40% pin code is not even available, so for us to move dates unless there is FD, we'd have to upgrade room category! NOT!



FD wasn't released until 3/26 last year so we do have some time.

 

[All7OfUs]

Well not sure how happy he can be since we are still sharing a room with kids but at least we can be in the same bed lol!

That's certainly gotta count for something.....

The HS sports issue is at the end of the trip, the day she has to be back by. Yes, theoretically she could just leave the trip early. We'd prefer not to put her in that position though. IF there are 2 weeks of "training" before the tryouts even start she will miss most of that and we've promised her she'd be back for tryouts to minimize her conflicts. I would LOVE to save the $$ but my gut is that the only way that will happen is if a different promo is released!

Ah... I gotcha. I thought it was on the front end. And a promise, is a promise.

 

[eandesmom]

That's certainly gotta count for something.....

Ah... I gotcha. I thought it was on the front end. And a promise, is a promise.

Well I'll sleep better! I either need to share with Jeff or sleep alone. Kendall is a flopper and she is heavy! Sharing the double bed at the Fort with her was a VERY long week for me. Another reason we went deluxe, Queen beds lol!

Our room category is gone with the PIN code, so unless the sports scheduling gods and the free dining code gods convene and availability for our room category exists we will be leaving things alone!

We are just trying to NOT put her in the middle although I'll tell you, and I can't believe this is true, VB is actually WORSE for schedules....I don't think I'll ever complain about a soccer schedule again. Vball. Just block out the entire weekend, show up and don't plan to go anywhere, you'll find out your game times when you get there and as the day progresses. It's NUTS!

Makes the contract I just signed for the darn competition team, and that commitment, seem like nothing.

Except he'll get demoted if he misses practice without notice and approval...I don't think they can really do that at his belt level (you can't "take away" an international black belt!) but it put some serious fear into Evan! Which is always a good thing

One very happy little boy tonight. One happy mama who found the 3 pairs of hand me down cleats in a bigger size so she doesn't have to think about buying him new ones for baseball. Now the real question is...can I fix the velcro on this glove!

OMG I think we just bought Taylor a car. It's not a done deal and it's going to sit in our driveway until the grades come up but

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Oh no, sports conflicts, vacation date dilemmas, and you throw a car on top of it? I am so not looking forward to the teen years! Teens driving scares the heck out of me! Although, I bet a car sitting in the driveway will be the biggest motivator every - you'll be seeing straight A's in no time!

The 4-H event looked really fun! A nice way to spend the day together - and the tickets were just the cherry on top. Have you thought about how you'll use the tickets, considering you'll have a package? Just get one less day on your package, or maybe use it at a Disney park during the US part of the trip?

 

[eandesmom]

Oh no, sports conflicts, vacation date dilemmas, and you throw a car on top of it? I am so not looking forward to the teen years! Teens driving scares the heck out of me! Although, I bet a car sitting in the driveway will be the biggest motivator every - you'll be seeing straight A's in no time!

The 4-H event looked really fun! A nice way to spend the day together - and the tickets were just the cherry on top. Have you thought about how you'll use the tickets, considering you'll have a package? Just get one less day on your package, or maybe use it at a Disney park during the US part of the trip?

Well I can hope that the car works on the grades. It's not a done deal but the car is a really good deal and we are leaning towards doing it. If he doesn't get the grades up not only will he not get to drive it, he will get janked out of running start.

We are using the vouchers for the California Trip in April, for our Disney California Adventure tickets.

Personally I'd have liked to use at least one of them for the fast pass option but I was overruled, it does save a ton of money for one day tickets and helps keep that trip as more of a budget trip which we really need it to be!

Currently for the August trip we have 8 day park hoppers and then a 2 park ticket at US that's good for 7 days so I think we are in pretty good shape! The only real question is "water and more" and I think we are going to actually wait on answering that question until we are there. Since we are at SAB, we may not need it. I can't see Sandie or Paul getting much out of it and it is a big extra cost. What I'm thinking might happen is some people really want to go and we just get one day tickets for those folks but we will see. I know I can live without it. When we went to Great Wolf Lodge the kids burned out after a couple of hours. Which is what would happen at TL or BB I think and that's a lot of $$ to spend for a couple of hours! Water Parks stress me out a little...keeping track of the kids...we end up split up, I don't get to ride much and it's kind of a long, draining experience for me.

I know, we'd get Disney Quest too which would be cool but (I guess)....it just all adds up!

We could use the vouchers for TL or BB but it's a better $$ deal to use them for DCA.

 

[All7OfUs]

A CAR??!!! Oh gosh, I am soooo not ready for ANY of that!! I know it's coming... coming very soon, in fact, but I am SO.NOT.READY!

Our (hopefully) new house is in the rural area, and there have been more head on crashes than can be counted! Scares the crap out of me- even for adult, experienced drivers.

But, I do see the convenience of it all. Errands, getting themselves to and from the places they need to be, etc... but expensive (insurance, gas, blah, blah, blah), and scary!

 

[Native NYer]

That is fuzzy disney math at it's best!

All the YC rooms do have a balcony or patio (ground floor) which was a big deal to me, part of why we chose it. So all you get for the upgrade to the Regatta Club is basically the lounge. It is the exact same room, just on a different floor.

Which, while the lounge sounds lovely, even with the PIN it comes out to another $75 pp, per night. We will definitely spend less than that on OOP breakfast and drinks lol.

If I were to upgrade it would be to the pool/water view instead of the club level (the no view club level is more than the pool view of course) but with 2 rooms...I just can't justify it for the full 7 nights. Esp since we upgraded at HRH!

They do have some amazing sounding suites. None of course sleep 9! If I had twice the budget and one less person, I'd go for the turret 2 bedroom suite. But I don't.

So we will just hope for an upgrade at check in and if not, a view that is not of a parking lot! I just need to figure out if we have a better chance of that by checking in "live" or online... either way I plan to be there early on check in day! As a grand gathering it seems, based on the YC thread, that we do have a chance of an upgrade so...we will see (fingers crossed!).

Last time we had both E's on the kids menu so did about half buffets which helped a lot and then chose places that had "better" kids menu's (Kona has fish, etc) and that helped as well.

For CS we will most likely be hitting all new places, going to just let that one go and take it as it comes. I think the only "for sure" CS place we know we will be eating at is Hurricane Hannah's. Beyond that I do want to try CHH, maybe Flame Tree (or do the Picnic in the Park), maybe WPE if we don't eat at Paradiso 37...who knows! With the heat and hopping I need to be flexible so just plan to have a list of the top places in my book and we will pull from that, it's what we did last time and it worked well.

Has the YC been updated? I know the BC has been renovated, but not sure about the YC.

I would upgrade to a water view room over the Regatta Club at the YC also. I hope your group gets a complimentary upgrade at check in

I'd go with in person check-in. Isn't everything just waiting for you with online check-in?

I want to try CHH and Flame Tree also. I agree with being flexible. It's going to be hot hot hot, so sometimes plans don't work out.

Now to read your GAD update

 

[eandesmom]

A CAR??!!! Oh gosh, I am soooo not ready for ANY of that!! I know it's coming... coming very soon, in fact, but I am SO.NOT.READY!

Our (hopefully) new house is in the rural area, and there have been more head on crashes than can be counted! Scares the crap out of me- even for adult, experienced drivers.

But, I do see the convenience of it all. Errands, getting themselves to and from the places they need to be, etc... but expensive (insurance, gas, blah, blah, blah), and scary!

Rural areas can be scary. So can teens with ZERO sense of direction! I can't say he's much help on the errand front but it is nice to not have to drive him places all the time. Not so nice? Being down to one car most weekends while he uses either mine or Jeff's!

Has the YC been updated? I know the BC has been renovated, but not sure about the YC.

I would upgrade to a water view room over the Regatta Club at the YC also. I hope your group gets a complimentary upgrade at check in

I'd go with in person check-in. Isn't everything just waiting for you with online check-in?

I want to try CHH and Flame Tree also. I agree with being flexible. It's going to be hot hot hot, so sometimes plans don't work out.

Now to read your GAD update

Yes! Every room has been updated and I LOVE the new look. Very excited about it. I'm leaning towards in-person as well and getting there early in the am, think it's our best shot. I am really not sure about how room assignments work with online versus in-person. The good news is that being booked as a Grand Gathering puts us at the top of the list for connecting rooms.

I know, it will be so hot, we may skip lunch! It will be interesting to see for sure. My touring plan is basically...CS somewhere, for lunch. Knowing our kids I would not be surprised if Hurricane Hannah's gets hit more than once.

 

[Native NYer]

Great GAD experience. A train show is a fantastic way for the boys to volunteer.

I hope everything falls into place soon so you can settle on your trip dates

 

[Native NYer]

Yes! Every room has been updated and I LOVE the new look. Very excited about it. I'm leaning towards in-person as well and getting there early in the am, think it's our best shot. I am really not sure about how room assignments work with online versus in-person. The good news is that being booked as a Grand Gathering puts us at the top of the list for connecting rooms.

I know, it will be so hot, we may skip lunch! It will be interesting to see for sure. My touring plan is basically...CS somewhere, for lunch. Knowing our kids I would not be surprised if Hurricane Hannah's gets hit more than once.

I need to find pics of the updated rooms. That's definitely a plus to being booked as a Grand Gathering.

I imagine you'll be spending lots of time at SAB.

Ohh how I wish I were in Disney right now instead of the blizzard that's in full force in NYC.

 

[All7OfUs]

I wish we were all there, Jennifer!! Winter is getting really, really old really fast!!

 

[eandesmom]

I need to find pics of the updated rooms. That's definitely a plus to being booked as a Grand Gathering.

I imagine you'll be spending lots of time at SAB.

Ohh how I wish I were in Disney right now instead of the blizzard that's in full force in NYC.

I'll post some, I love the update!!!

I like Happy Dog's strategy for the blizzard. They left town! and where did they go?

ALK.

That's my dream life. Bad storm coming, spur of the moment just decide to run away to Disney World

I can't believe how hard you guys have been hit. We've had nada. Though we had 2 horrible winters in a row so it's really ok with me!

I wish we were all there, Jennifer!! Winter is getting really, really old really fast!!

I had a dream last night about the flower and garden festival. Talk about wishful thinking!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

We are using the vouchers for the California Trip in April, for our Disney California Adventure tickets.

Personally I'd have liked to use at least one of them for the fast pass option but I was overruled, it does save a ton of money for one day tickets and helps keep that trip as more of a budget trip which we really need it to be!

Currently for the August trip we have 8 day park hoppers and then a 2 park ticket at US that's good for 7 days so I think we are in pretty good shape! The only real question is "water and more" and I think we are going to actually wait on answering that question until we are there. Since we are at SAB, we may not need it. I can't see Sandie or Paul getting much out of it and it is a big extra cost. What I'm thinking might happen is some people really want to go and we just get one day tickets for those folks but we will see. I know I can live without it. When we went to Great Wolf Lodge the kids burned out after a couple of hours. Which is what would happen at TL or BB I think and that's a lot of $$ to spend for a couple of hours! Water Parks stress me out a little...keeping track of the kids...we end up split up, I don't get to ride much and it's kind of a long, draining experience for me.

I know, we'd get Disney Quest too which would be cool but (I guess)....it just all adds up!

We could use the vouchers for TL or BB but it's a better $$ deal to use them for DCA.

Oh, I don't know why I forgot about the DCA. I guess I was thinking the Give-A-Day was only for WDW - but that would be silly. Yes, it will definitely save a lot on one day tickets, and you are set for WDW, so you don't need them there.

But the TL or BB idea - I never thought of that. We would like to go to BB for a day, we really enjoyed it last year. I didn't know you could use the Give-A-Day tix on that. I think I need to look into that - it would save us about $200. My parents are like Paul and Sandie, I guess - they wouldn't have much interest in adding on the Waterparks and More, but I might be able to convince them to go for one day. Or heck, they can stay back and do their own thing.

 

[All7OfUs]

I'll post some, I love the update!!!

I like Happy Dog's strategy for the blizzard. They left town! and where did they go?

ALK.

That's my dream life. Bad storm coming, spur of the moment just decide to run away to Disney World

I can't believe how hard you guys have been hit. We've had nada. Though we had 2 horrible winters in a row so it's really ok with me!



I had a dream last night about the flower and garden festival. Talk about wishful thinking!

Maybe I should dream about running away to Disney whenever I want or whenever a storm is coming!! Cuz, it would only be IN my DREAMS!!

Ahhh... F&G. Loved it last time, but did not nearly even scratch the surface of what was there!