March 2012: Spring Break, Here we come! Threadjackers take over the world!

[lovethattink]

I think you should make tie dye shirts! My friend laurabearz has it down to a science. I think she posted a tutoral on how to make Mickey tie dye shirts, here on the DIS! Her family shirts are always impressive!

Well folks, I am off for 2 nights and 3 days of fun at the World. That is, if I can get the guys out of bed and me off the computer. rofl.

 

[sjs314]

Your spreadsheet looks great. I never did update mine after I changed my dates and resort...........I really should attempt to do that but if I keep changing ADRs at the frenzied pace I have been this week there is no use to doing it.

I thought of you this am as I was looking at the Target ad and saw they had 2 canon cameras on sale. I was wondering if one of them might be on your list.

I think I am gonna tell DH about my ADR changes today, specifically dropping the Cap't Grill, he is in a good mood due to the SuperBowl

My DS did the autograph book, bought at Disney. I like the idea of a shirt but a book lasts forever.

I have a shirt I had signed by Garth Brooks and never wore it at all since I did not want to have to wash it and take the chance of the signature fading. Just say'n

 

[Lidian]

I think the cup is a great idea.

Have you read the reviews for the Cameras on Amazon? I would take anything off the list that's 3.5 stars and below. That should narrow it down... maybe even do 4 stars and below?

D~

I haven't read any reviews yet. I haven't gotten that far I suppose. But I take reviews with a grain of salt. I'd really like to narrow down my list before I focus on reviews. They all have similar qualities now (at least the ones I'm familiar with), so I should research cameras in general and understand the specs a bit better. Then I can narrow it down more, and then read reviews.

I think you should make tie dye shirts! My friend laurabearz has it down to a science. I think she posted a tutoral on how to make Mickey tie dye shirts, here on the DIS! Her family shirts are always impressive!

Well folks, I am off for 2 nights and 3 days of fun at the World. That is, if I can get the guys out of bed and me off the computer. rofl.

Fingers are crossed I can do the tye-dye shirts! I'll have to look for her tutorial.

Have fun at POP!!!!

Your spreadsheet looks great. I never did update mine after I changed my dates and resort...........I really should attempt to do that but if I keep changing ADRs at the frenzied pace I have been this week there is no use to doing it.

I thought of you this am as I was looking at the Target ad and saw they had 2 canon cameras on sale. I was wondering if one of them might be on your list.

I think I am gonna tell DH about my ADR changes today, specifically dropping the Cap't Grill, he is in a good mood due to the SuperBowl

My DS did the autograph book, bought at Disney. I like the idea of a shirt but a book lasts forever.

I have a shirt I had signed by Garth Brooks and never wore it at all since I did not want to have to wash it and take the chance of the signature fading. Just say'n

I just checked the Target ad. I originally had both of those Canon's on my list, but the Elph 300 HS got marked off. I don't know why. Now I need to go back and see if I can figure out why I marked it off, because the price tag is right (and it was okay before I marked it off).

Let us know what your DH says between grunts at the TV.

I love the books, then I don't have to worry about fading. But if I do a t-shirt, then it will be worn some, and stuck back into a keepsake box, I'm sure.

 

[mblc14]

Jumping in after catching up. I know I'm lay ego the party with this but Hollywood and Vine was just ok for us. The characters will be great, but the food was the worst we had on our last trip. It was the breakfast buffet thing and we were not impressed. I have however, read lots of good things about it, so maybe ours was just Ann isolated incident. When asking about where to eat, my only instructions from the wife was anything but H&V.

Now back to my super bowl pregame...

 

[Lidian]

Jumping in after catching up. I know I'm lay ego the party with this but Hollywood and Vine was just ok for us. The characters will be great, but the food was the worst we had on our last trip. It was the breakfast buffet thing and we were not impressed. I have however, read lots of good things about it, so maybe ours was just Ann isolated incident. When asking about where to eat, my only instructions from the wife was anything but H&V.

Now back to my super bowl pregame...

I booked it for the characters mostly. And I'm not a picky eater when it comes to breakfast foods. I think we'll be okay. But glad to hear another experience, so we don't go in with high hopes!

We originally booked a lunch in 2009, but I was so ill, I didn't make it. The rest of the family enjoyed it. They said it was okay food, nothing to write home about. DH didn't complain when I told him I booked it, so that's a good sign.

Enjoy your game-thing!

 

[KatMark]

Awesome spreadsheet...must have taken a lot of time.

 

[Lidian]

Awesome spreadsheet...must have taken a lot of time.

Nope, not at all. The longest thing in there is where I kept changing things around.

 

[Lidian]

So I'm finally done collecting data, typing it up, sorting it out, and telling the program to do funny things to it.

The data ranged from 8.6 miles to 4,266 miles. The mean (average) was 1,191.701 miles. The outliers (unusual data) were 2,851.67; 2,928; 3,150; and 4,266 miles. The sample size was 68 responses.

Here are screen prints of the Statistics, Histogram, and Boxplot.

Thank you again for your help!!!!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Great Job Liddy (though I admite I don't know what I am looking at.) I hope you get an A

 

[KatMark]

Awesome job, Liddy! I would give you an A+.

 

[Lidian]

Great Job Liddy (though I admite I don't know what I am looking at.) I hope you get an A

Yay for statistics, right? I hope I get an A, too.

Awesome job, Liddy! I would give you an A+.

Thank you!

 

[NiniMorris]

OK...I have to ask...I've always heard you can make statistics say anything you want. First of all...is that true...and second, what were you trying to say?

(I suspect you were trying to say we all live too far away to invite us for dinner...but I could be wrong!)


Nini

 

[cogero]

very cool statistical charts.

 

[Lidian]

OK...I have to ask...I've always heard you can make statistics say anything you want. First of all...is that true...and second, what were you trying to say?

(I suspect you were trying to say we all live too far away to invite us for dinner...but I could be wrong!)


Nini

Well, true statistics can't be manipulated. But if you take a sample (not a population), you can easily manipulate statistics. A lot of it depends on how the data is collected and much of the data is used. I could have left out some of the data and gotten a totally different result. Or closed out my research earlier with only 40 responses instead of 68.

But based on my experiment, the average person lives about 1200 miles from CBR (which is not necessarily true, since tons of people live closer and MUCH, MUCH further away). But in my data, the average person lives about 1200 miles from CBR. Those who lived really close, and those who lived really far contributed to the data. They actually skewed the results. If I took out the outliers (those who lived more than 2600 miles away), the results would be different. Even if I took out the handful of people who live close (and track them down and beat them out of jealousy), the data would be completely different, too.

So I could have manipulated the data to get the results I wanted (that I live in the "average zone"), but I didn't, and I don't.

But in reality, if this was based on a population, it would take into accounts ALL people and their distance from CBR. Which would be totally different results. So if you're looking at statistics, be sure to check if it's a sample or population (statistic or parameter, respectively). Find out how the data was collected. (Mine was voluntary response, which is usually a bad thing, but was acceptable for the project.)

If you want, I can manipulate the data to show that the average person lives much closer to CBR. Or if you'd feel better, I can manipulate it so that the average person lives 1700 miles. However, I didn't manipulate the data. I used 100% of the responses given.

Does that answer your question? You didn't think you were going to get a Stats lesson today, did you?

 

[Lidian]

very cool statistical charts.

Thank you! Sadly, this is the class I hate the most this semester. Stats and Income Taxes, anyway.

And I think I hate Income Taxes so much because everyone is now calling me for tax return advice. Not to mention, the class rules for Tax class is: Leave your common sense at the door.

Sad, huh?

Did you know that a commercial tax preparer does not have to have a minimum level of education OR competence. Think about that the next time you pay someone to do your taxes. (For the record, the IRS is trying to mandate laws that require commercial tax preparers to pass a test and have a background check. But I think current preparers have until 2013 to become registered.)

 

[Lidian]

Here's a recap of what our park and food plans are for our trip:

March 2nd
Activity: packing and travel
Breakfast: Home
Lunch: Home
Dinner: Home

March 3rd
Park: None, Check into CBR
Activity: Mini Golf or Blizzard Beach, shopping, DTD
Breakfast: continental at hotel in N. FL
Lunch: DTD (WGP Express or EoS)
Dinner: Chef Mickey's @ 5:05

March 4th
Park: Islands of Adventure
Activity:
Breakfast: Old Port Royale
Lunch: Three Broomsticks, Blondie's, or Croissant Moon Bakery
Dinner: Kouzzina @ 6:45

March 5th
Park: Animal Kingdom
Activity: swimming
Breakfast: snacks in room
Lunch: Tusker House @ 11:15
Dinner: 1900 Park Fare @ 6:55

March 6th
Park: Magic Kingdom
Activity: Mini Golf or WP, swimming
Breakfast: snacks in room
Lunch: undecided
Dinner: Crystal Palace @ 6:20

March 7th
Park: Disney Hollywood Studios
Activity:
Breakfast: Hollywood & Vine @ 8:05
Lunch: Pizza Planet, Backlot Express, or Studio Catering
Dinner: 50s Prime Time Cafe @ 6:50

March 8th
Park: Epcot
Activity: DISmeet
Breakfast: snacks in room
Lunch: undecided
Dinner: Akershus Banquet Hall @ 4:55

March 9th
Park: none
Activity: travel home
Breakfast: Old Port Royale
Lunch: on the road
Dinner: on the road


Coming up next, details about our ADRs (the why and our expectations) and Mini TRs.

 

[Lidian]

When I first started sorting out possible ADRs, Chef Mickey's didn't even make my list. It eventually made my list, but there were other places I thought our family would enjoy more. But then I decided I wanted a CM ADR ... but they were all gone.

So after scouting the cancellation threads and checking multiple times, I was able to secure a CM ADR on our arrival day (due to the March ADR cancellation thread).

This isn't a new place to us, but it wasn't very memorable. I remember our server being a jerk. And I remember DS being super happy. But that's really all I remember.

In 2009, I decided to go to WDW. Then mom said she wanted to go. So I booked a room for her. Then she wanted to bring her friend. Who brought her DS who brought his DF. So it turned into a big, crazy experience. I won't get into the actual trip details here, but when I snagged the ADR, it was for 6 at CM's in 2009.

I booked an ADR for the DS and DF at Raglan Road. However, mom and her friend were a bit over the characters and the DS and DF couldn't get enough. So they tagged along with us (which was fine, I grew up with the DS, he was practically family).

We spent the afternoon shopping at DTD. We left in plenty of time, but still managed to be late because we encountered a driver switch AND the bus broke down. I had been texting Wes since they left much earlier to explore the resort. They let the staff know and they were understanding.

When we arrived, we asked to bypass the picture so we could be seated. Immediately, I disliked our server. I explained we were on the DDP, but were in two different rooms, the kids were with us, the DS and DF were on their own. Apparently he couldn't comprehend.

I don't remember much about the food. Not sure if that's good or bad.

But here are some pictures!

Goofy (who is one of my favorites!) came out first. DS was pretty shocked at how TALL Goofy was. He didn't want to get out of his chair.

Then Donald came around, but poor DS was almost hiding behind his chair. He was trying to show Donald his new toy (it was from the Goofy Candy Co., it was a tube of candy with a light-up Goofy plane).

Then Mickey snuck up behind DS. The child screamed (in delight). I thought he was excited to see Donald back on our first day in Mexico ... but Mickey had nothing on Donald this day. DS just went crazy, and Mickey loved DS's excitement! He hugged and tickled and hugged DS! Poor DD was feeling a bit left out, but Mickey just couldn't get over DS's excitement! Just look at that smile!!!!

You can see how fascinated DS was with Mickey!

Then Pluto came around, and we loved his dog collar! The little details is what really makes a difference!

I was super excited to meet Minnie! I just had to get a picture with her! (We hadn't seen Minnie or Mickey all week!!!)

So I'm super excited to go back. I'm hoping for some yummy options, but more or less, hoping the kids love it as much as they did in 2009. The kids do NOT know we are dining at Chef Mickey's. This is a complete surprise to them (they know about the trip and the other ADRs, though). I don't expect high hopes on the food being outstanding ... but I do expect a few yum options. Also, if our server is a jerk this year, I'm complaining to a manager. I won't put up with it this year.

We will probably get the picture package (not 100% decided though). We did end up going back after dinner and getting the picture and package in 2009. We were just late and wanted to be seated quickly.

 

[kittylady1972]

Aw love the photos at Chef Mickey's. This is the one tradition we have kept in all of our years going, at least when it's more than just myself and DH is that we ALWAYS have a meal at CM (usually breakfast) and we ALWAYS buy the photo, so we have a timeline of all of our trips based on the CM photos! It's fun to view them all.

However for the March trip, it's just DH and myself and we won't be doing a CM meal at all. In fact, NO character meals. I used to enjoy Crystal Palace but I haven't even booked that this time around as I've heard the food has gone downhill (we used to go for dinner) and it's just so expensive. I will be hunting down Tigger though (probably at EPCOT as usual) and getting my photo with him at least. That's MY thing to do! Plus I need to make sure DH and I get at least one photo with Mickey.

 

[NiniMorris]

Our FIRST experience with CM was by far our best! We had a last minute addition to our party...doubled in size actually, so the girls went to CM while the guys went to McDonalds! (More their style anyway!)

We arrived early, for our 5 pm dinner. The littles were dressed in their Minnie inspirerd sun dresses....with me and my DIL in our red Mickey tees. The CM's asked us if we would like to be the family of the day...of course we said yes!


It was fantastic! Mickey himself escorted us to our table, after the girls cut the ribbon opening the restaurant! Then Mickey signed our autograph books while the photo pass photogs were snapping away, and then the highlight of my 2 year old grand daughters trip...MICKEY ASKED HER TO SIGN HIS BOOK!!! She was beyond over the moon.She has gone on three trips since then, but this is the first memory she talks about when we start talking about another trip!

Ah yes...that was our best visit to CM...the last one...Not so much!



Nini

 

[dreajoyanne]

Less than one month to go! Can hardly wait