My AP-ALOOZA Continues (WE RENEWED!!) ~ NEW TR link posted!

[JulieODC]

Really enjoying your HP pictures (I know, I feel like a broken record), now I see why everyone raves about how realistic it is!!

Looks like a nice room, the Keurig is a great idea. The regular coffee pots skeeve me out for some reason.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ok, trying to think of family costume ideas knowing it needs to be simple or able to be bought and nothing crazy as your husband won't be into it and also not to heavy/warm

They have those t-shirts that kind of look like you are buzz or Woody
links:
Buzz
Woody
so maybe just be different characters from Toy Story? Maybe Aria could be dressed like Po Peep or something. Or you could be Po Peep, and Aria could be a sheep?

You could just do like Pirate outfits or something like that.

Or you could do you as Ariel, your husband as Eric, and Aria as Melody

I'll give it some more thought

************************************

Man, just walking around Diagon Alley and in the shops looks so cool!

Love all those old-timey games .... definitely should be nice little Christmas gifts

Bummer about your room not being ready even by 3pm but at least they found a room for you. Your room certainly looks fine and comfortable but, to be honest, not amazing or anything ... though coming with early entry and express pas makes it look a lot nicer

I heard the new report they are building will come with early entry, but not express pass

oh, forgot to mention in my TR that in the Contemporary the coffee machines were these Jeoffrey pod individual brewers and also came with to-go cups. Not sure if other resorts have that as well but at least looks like a move in the right direction ... I thought the coffee was pretty good too.

 

[Imagineer5]

Really enjoying your HP pictures (I know, I feel like a broken record), now I see why everyone raves about how realistic it is!!

Looks like a nice room, the Keurig is a great idea. The regular coffee pots skeeve me out for some reason.

Hahha I agree! I rarely make coffee in the room for that reason.

HP areas are truly amazing. I wish there were more rides, esp that don't cause so much motion sickness LOL.

Ok, trying to think of family costume ideas knowing it needs to be simple or able to be bought and nothing crazy as your husband won't be into it and also not to heavy/warm

They have those t-shirts that kind of look like you are buzz or Woody
links:
Buzz
Woody
so maybe just be different characters from Toy Story? Maybe Aria could be dressed like Po Peep or something. Or you could be Po Peep, and Aria could be a sheep?

You could just do like Pirate outfits or something like that.

Or you could do you as Ariel, your husband as Eric, and Aria as Melody

I'll give it some more thought

************************************

Thank you so much for the thoughts. I love the Ariel, Eric, and Melody idea - I had actually forgotten about Melody lol. I'm looking at those costumes now, though i did just place an Amazon order for two options:

1) Andrew wears an Olaf t-shirt. I go as Elsa and Aria goes as Anna (she has the Anna dress).

2) Aria goes as Pirate Tinkerbelle, I got myself a Pirate costume and Andrew already has a pirate costume. This was double duty since I wanted a pirate costume for the cruise anyway.


But I love the Ariel idea esp with how much Aria loves Ariel...Eric costumes are pretty iffy though from what I have found & they seem HOT. Maybe I should stop at the costume place near our house today and take a look.

Man, just walking around Diagon Alley and in the shops looks so cool!

Love all those old-timey games .... definitely should be nice little Christmas gifts

Bummer about your room not being ready even by 3pm but at least they found a room for you. Your room certainly looks fine and comfortable but, to be honest, not amazing or anything ... though coming with early entry and express pas makes it look a lot nicer

I heard the new report they are building will come with early entry, but not express pass

oh, forgot to mention in my TR that in the Contemporary the coffee machines were these Jeoffrey pod individual brewers and also came with to-go cups. Not sure if other resorts have that as well but at least looks like a move in the right direction ... I thought the coffee was pretty good too.

No the room really wasnt as nice as the photos I have seen. I am thinking that if I was in one of the better towers though (and maybe if I had just been patient and waited for the room they originally assigned me) it would have been better. But it was fine.

I didn't know they did the pods at the contemporary! BLT was definitely still the pot (so was AKV). I did use it 1 morning at AKV but never at BLT.

Yes, their new resort Cabana Bay doesn't come with express pass. I have seen prices as low as $69 though, so I would consider staying there during low season if it is just Aria & me, since we really didn't need express pass on the kiddie rides. The other negative is that it is across a busy street, so you do have to leave the "bubble" and you CAN walk but it is much longer.

 

[dtr_angel]

I think we are just going to miss you, we arrive on 10/13

 

[Dugette]

Nice that you were able to explore Diagon Alley while Aria napped. I have to admit that I have no idea what anything was, but it still looks pretty fun! (maybe someday I will watch the movies or something... )

Aria is SUCH an awesome napper!

Glad you were able to get into your room and get unpacked. I agree, the room looks a bit small.

I was going to suggest pirates for costumes, as I figured Andrew would probably be on board with that. I like the Ariel idea too. Back when we went, we took the "lazy" route and just wore Halloween/Disney t-shirts and that was fine too (the vast majority of guests are not in costume). I think the only thing you MIGHT need to be careful of is you dressing as Elsa - I could be wrong, but I do think Disney has some sort of rules about adults dressing as characters that meet in the parks (causes confusion, etc.), but I don't know what those rules are, so maybe not a big deal at all. And Aria is a cute little Anna, I know!

 

[dtr_angel]

all caught up! It looks like Aria travels very well and you have really great trips! Are you going to do a June TR? Definitely looking forward to hearing about Izzy and Aria's adventures!

I know nothing about Harry Potter so I can't really comment on any of the Universal stuff, lol. Looks fun!

Gavin loves school buses too. He is either going to private school or he will be home schooled so no school buses for him either.

We are going to the MNSSHP too. I'm not really into Halloween/costumes and since it's going to be so hot, I'm just having some shirts made. I might have made something myself, but since we decided at less than 40 days out, I have to buy something lol.

 

[Dugette]

all caught up! It looks like Aria travels very well and you have really great trips! Are you going to do a June TR? Definitely looking forward to hearing about Izzy and Aria's adventures!

Just chiming in since I'm on here tonight and saw this - I think the plan is to wait until I'm done with my Dec. 2013 TR, then we'll work on the June one together. Though maybe we'll do both August ones first, I don't know. I'm trying to crank out the rest of my Dec. one, but am also excited about doing the August one. Not that June wasn't exciting, of course! But, yes, there will be a TR for June at some point.

 

[dtr_angel]

Just chiming in since I'm on here tonight and saw this - I think the plan is to wait until I'm done with my Dec. 2013 TR, then we'll work on the June one together. Though maybe we'll do both August ones first, I don't know. I'm trying to crank out the rest of my Dec. one, but am also excited about doing the August one. Not that June wasn't exciting, of course! But, yes, there will be a TR for June at some point.

I figured there was a plan. Whenever it happens, I'm excited to read it!

 

[Dugette]

I figured there was a plan. Whenever it happens, I'm excited to read it!

I hope Lauren doesn't mind me taking over her TR on weekends (sorry!), but I couldn't resist sharing this sneak peek hilarious photo from June to tide you over:

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Yes, their new resort Cabana Bay doesn't come with express pass. I have seen prices as low as $69 though, so I would consider staying there during low season if it is just Aria & me, since we really didn't need express pass on the kiddie rides. The other negative is that it is across a busy street, so you do have to leave the "bubble" and you CAN walk but it is much longer.

oh, sorry confusion, I meant the just announced new 5th resort called Loews Sapphire Falls Resort that will be Caribbean themed and planned to be opened in summer of 2016 (or, roughly, when Disney finsished the DTD parking garage )

My understanding is that Cabany Bay will be like their "Value" and comes with no perks, where you stayed is their "Deluxe" and comes with early entry and the express pass, and then this new one will be their "Moderate" which comes with early entry, but not express pass.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I hope Lauren doesn't mind me taking over her TR on weekends (sorry!), but I couldn't resist sharing this sneak peek hilarious photo from June to tide you over:

am I safe to assume they are already planning a Disneymoon?

 

[Imagineer5]

You have been by! We spent the weekend house-hunting (not anytime soon, but we would like to move out of our town). We also had a fun Friday night at a friend's house (Aria's best friend Jake who started Kindergarten so she hadn't seen him since August). And Saturday was Frozen on Ice! SO much fun! I'd go again in a heartbeat, if we can find deal tickets.

I think we are just going to miss you, we arrive on 10/13

Yep we leave 10/12! Boo!

Nice that you were able to explore Diagon Alley while Aria napped. I have to admit that I have no idea what anything was, but it still looks pretty fun! (maybe someday I will watch the movies or something... )

Aria is SUCH an awesome napper!

Glad you were able to get into your room and get unpacked. I agree, the room looks a bit small.

I was going to suggest pirates for costumes, as I figured Andrew would probably be on board with that. I like the Ariel idea too. Back when we went, we took the "lazy" route and just wore Halloween/Disney t-shirts and that was fine too (the vast majority of guests are not in costume). I think the only thing you MIGHT need to be careful of is you dressing as Elsa - I could be wrong, but I do think Disney has some sort of rules about adults dressing as characters that meet in the parks (causes confusion, etc.), but I don't know what those rules are, so maybe not a big deal at all. And Aria is a cute little Anna, I know!

The movies are a lot of fun, I think you and Dug would like them.

Khertz went as Tinkerbelle? I think adults can dress up during MNSSHP, just not during a normal day.

all caught up! It looks like Aria travels very well and you have really great trips! Are you going to do a June TR? Definitely looking forward to hearing about Izzy and Aria's adventures!

I know nothing about Harry Potter so I can't really comment on any of the Universal stuff, lol. Looks fun!

Gavin loves school buses too. He is either going to private school or he will be home schooled so no school buses for him either.

We are going to the MNSSHP too. I'm not really into Halloween/costumes and since it's going to be so hot, I'm just having some shirts made. I might have made something myself, but since we decided at less than 40 days out, I have to buy something lol.

Normally I'd go the shirt route (and I am for DH anyway) but I found something that wouldn't be too uncomfortable. Plus it's my birthday so I wanted to plan it out a bit.

I see Dugette commented about the June TR! Yeah I guess I am waiting for her to finish up with December and then we will go from there lol!

Just chiming in since I'm on here tonight and saw this - I think the plan is to wait until I'm done with my Dec. 2013 TR, then we'll work on the June one together. Though maybe we'll do both August ones first, I don't know. I'm trying to crank out the rest of my Dec. one, but am also excited about doing the August one. Not that June wasn't exciting, of course! But, yes, there will be a TR for June at some point.

LOL yep sounds about right. I'm okay with working on June while August is going on, btw.

I figured there was a plan. Whenever it happens, I'm excited to read it!

I hope Lauren doesn't mind me taking over her TR on weekends (sorry!), but I couldn't resist sharing this sneak peek hilarious photo from June to tide you over:

hahahahahaha this photo was priceless! Though Aria got out of her grump mood pretty quickly after this.

oh, sorry confusion, I meant the just announced new 5th resort called Loews Sapphire Falls Resort that will be Caribbean themed and planned to be opened in summer of 2016 (or, roughly, when Disney finsished the DTD parking garage )

My understanding is that Cabany Bay will be like their "Value" and comes with no perks, where you stayed is their "Deluxe" and comes with early entry and the express pass, and then this new one will be their "Moderate" which comes with early entry, but not express pass.

Ohhhh hmmmm well you're ahead of me then, I hadn't heard anything! LOL! So they will do away with early entry for Cabana Bay then? They currently offer that to guests. Interesting...I'll go look this up!

 

[lilluv117]

I'm looking at those costumes now, though i did just place an Amazon order for two options: 1) Andrew wears an Olaf t-shirt. I go as Elsa and Aria goes as Anna (she has the Anna dress).

I didn't know they did the pods at the contemporary! BLT was definitely still the pot (so was AKV). I did use it 1 morning at AKV but never at BLT.

I don't know much about Harry Potter but your trip looks like so much fun!

We went to a MNSSHP a couple of days ago and someone was dressed up as an exact Snow White replica. We asked to take a picture with her and she said she was told she can't. They told her if she did they'd take her costume away! So I guess you can dress up as a character in the park but not take any pictures with other guests.

I'm at Coronado Springs right now and we have the pods. I'll be moving over to AKV so I can let you know if they've switched over too. I agree, I like the pods better. I haven't tried the coffee yet though. It is Joffrey's.

The car seat idea worked very well! Thanks again. It fit perfectly on my Uppababy Vista. I didn't even have to strap it on to anything or use a hook at all. On the city mini it wasn't as good a fit but we used the latch hooks to secure it on and it did the job.

 

[Imagineer5]

I don't know much about Harry Potter but your trip looks like so much fun!

We went to a MNSSHP a couple of days ago and someone was dressed up as an exact Snow White replica. We asked to take a picture with her and she said she was told she can't. They told her if she did they'd take her costume away! So I guess you can dress up as a character in the park but not take any pictures with other guests.

I'm at Coronado Springs right now and we have the pods. I'll be moving over to AKV so I can let you know if they've switched over too. I agree, I like the pods better. I haven't tried the coffee yet though. It is Joffrey's.

The car seat idea worked very well! Thanks again. It fit perfectly on my Uppababy Vista. I didn't even have to strap it on to anything or use a hook at all. On the city mini it wasn't as good a fit but we used the latch hooks to secure it on and it did the job.

I hope you are having an AMAZING trip!! Can't wait to hear about it. Thank you for chiming in on your MNSSHP experience! I don't plan to do much beyond the cheap elsa dress LOL so I am not too worried about anyone trying to take a photo with me. That is too funny about the Snow White!

Interesting on the coffee. Maybe it was the villas?

Glad the car seat worked out!!

 

[Imagineer5]

This is sort of a random post, but it's something I have been meaning to do! I wanted to look at a few different DVC options, their cost to purchase resales along with annual dues, and compare that with what it costs me to rent DVC points instead.

I looked at my October stay and assumed we were staying 10/3-12 in a 1 bedroom at the BCV, and then did 5 nights in May in a studio at BLT. The total # of points required to take these two trips yearly is approximately 370 points.

Here are some options I came up with, based on my 2 favorite resorts (BCV, BLT) along with weighing those against cheaper by the point resorts (SSR, OKW, VERO).

Option 1 - most ideal - 280 points BCV & 90 points BLT

Option 2 - 300 OKW, 80 BCV

Option 3 - 300 Vero, 80 BCV

Option 4 - 350 SSR

Option 5 - 210 SSR, 175 BCV

Then I calculated the total cost to purchase these resales, plus annual dues from 2015 to 2054.

Next I calculated the cost to RENT the points yearly from now to 2054.

Due to the extremely high yearly dues for Vero Beach I will nix that one, and unsurprisingly, the 350 points at SSR wins. Assuming I have the $26,000 CASH to purchase 350 SSR points (I do not), the cost vs. renting starts to turn around in the year 2024 - i.e. renting has now become more expensive in the long run vs. purchasing DVC.

So, a 10 year wait for that financial "gain".

However since I don't have $26K to plonk down for points, I looked into what sort of loans there are. I found USAA has a 7-year personal loan with a crap interest rate of 9.99%. Since that is lower than the timeshare resale places, I used that number.

So with financing, the cost to purchase vs the cost to rent turns around in the year 2028.

By the year 2054, there is an overall $74,000 cost savings to purchasing DVC vs renting.

This comes with some stipulations though - purchasing at SSR means that we cannot book any other resorts until 7-months out. October & BCV are most likely totally out of the equation.

I haven't taken this any further - maybe looking into a combination of purchasing a smaller point amount and renting points?


This also assumes the October & 5-night may trips happen yearly. I think there will be years when we only visit for a long weekend, but then other years where we go 4 times, so I think this # of points would get us by for quite some time.

I'd love some thoughts if you think my math sounds crazy lol!


ETA: I did an overall average cost per night, which assuming the 14 nights per year that the points are meant for, comes out to $187 per night over the course of 2015-2054. That seems pretty high, though it is for a 1 bedroom at a deluxe resort.

 

[Imagineer5]

When Aria woke up, we headed to the pool! I almost woke her up a couple times because I NEEDED some pool time haha! My first stop once we got there was the “splash pad” area but unfortunately it was just way too rough for a 2 year old and Aria hated it. It was filled with kids with strong squirt guns shooting each other and water just pouring down – I wish they had had a tame area but they didn’t.

So then we went to the main pool which had a zero entry spot and we enjoyed that for a bit before I noticed a fenced off toddler pool area! We headed over to check it out and it ended up being a great idea. I will say the water was bath-water warm (Andrew would have hated it!) but I loved it.

A quick selfie to prove I was there, too! LOL

In the toddler area

This photo reminds me that I should pack some beach/bath toys to bring with us. A family had a huge bag full of random little bath toys, and one floated over to us and they said Aria could play with it. She had a blast with this silly little thing.

Then we took a walk back to the main pool to play with a couple water squirters they had.

Which turned out to be great because we came across a beach ball (they had a ton of them in the pool, but all seemed to be spoken for)

After some fun pool time we headed up to shower and then I had to think about what I still wanted to do that day. I thought dinner at Margaritaville would be fun and then we could head to Universal for a bit so Aria could ride E.T. and Woody Woodpecker’s roller coaster.

We decided to take the water taxi over, which thankfully you can stroll right on!

Looking at the beach of RPR - we never hung out here but it is like Disney where you can't go in the water.

Aria excitedly pointed out all the bridges as we went under them. Coming upon City Walk.

There is only 1 stop for the water taxi, and it is at the other end of the City Walk from IoA (and not-so-conveniently Margaritaville LOL). So IMO it is best to walk to IoA but take the water taxi to Universal. Anyway after disembarking we turned around and walked back towards Margaritaville.

Dinner tonight was a bit rocky. Of course we entered Margaritaville during one of the “storms” so Aria was freaked out. I didn’t want to leave anything in the stroller so I had a ton of bags, including my wand (which I wanted to bring back in order to do some of the interactive wand things) and my hands were full. She was restless when we got to the table so I was a bad mommy and enjoyed my margarita flight while Aria listened to the ipad with headphones on.

Views of the restaurant:

Side note, the last time I was at a Margaritaville was in Las Vegas in 2003 for Andrew's 21st birthday!

Oh they do have Wiki Stix and we had a bit of fun making bracelets before I had to break out the ipad.

Here it is! LOL

continued in next post

 

[Imagineer5]

My margarita flight. The rightmost one was a mango and was my favorite.

I did get Aria a fun drink too - a light up juice. She loved it.

For our meals I got aria the kid’s chicken strips which came with carrots, and she loved this enough that I was able to put the ipad away and enjoy our meals together.

I got the fish tacos which were fine. Not amazing but not bad either. The best part was actually the black beans on the side!

Then we skipped dessert and headed out. Aria spent the second half of dinner in much better spirits thankfully but I wanted to avoid the next storm anyway!

We made the 5 minute walk over to Universal (notice Aria’s outfit? It has Hedwig, Harry Potter’s owl on it!). We first hopped on E.T. which Aria HATED boo, but it is one of my favorite "childhood" rides (going to Disneyland a bunch when I was a kid, I always spent 1-2 days at Universal Studios Hollywood, and E.T. was there).

Then we tried for Woody Woodpecker’s but it was closed due to lightning in the area, and then headed back to Diagon Alley. One thing I wanted to do was to visit Gringotts to get a bank note, so I switched $20 muggle money over to 20 Gringott’s Bank Note. It’s neat that they do this – there is no service fee and you can use the money anywhere in their Harry Potter areas. I only held onto this $20 long enough to make the walk over to the Menagerie! Note - there was a huge line to do this earlier when I was walking back to the stroller to put Aria down for her nap. There was literally no one around now!

Walking photo heading to the back of Diagon Alley.

Aria first wanted to see the snake stuffed animal, but I directed her over to the other side of the store. She saw the Hedwig’s (which we have at home) and then… a Hedwig Backpack!! Once this thing was on she did NOT want to take it off!

I took a quick photo of my Gringotts money before using it in the shop LOL.

We kept looking around the store – I pointed out a really cute unicorn stuffed animal and Aria said “bring home!” and I said she can only pick one.

So she quickly said Backpack and put the unicorn back. I then said, “aw but I really like the unicorn, you should get that one since we already have Hedwig at home!” Aria replied “Ok Mommy like unicorn! you get unicorn, I get backpack!” LOL that backfired. We put the unicorn back and I did get her the backpack. I think her Hedwig outfit did help with the decision.

She wanted to wear it in the stroller too hehe.

It was at this point in time I looked for my WAND to do the interactive wand stuff. Uh-oh. No where to be found! I quickly pulled up Margaritaville's number on my phone and called - they said no one has turned in a wand but I left my phone number just in case. Ugh! I was so upset, but quickly got ahold of myself and thought, well it's only money, and can be replaced.

After that, I decided to stroll back to the hotel and call it a night.

As I was walking, my phone rang...and someone had turned in the wand!!! YAY! So we made a pit stop at Margaritaville, thanked them profusely, and we headed out. I was talking to Aria when i lost the wand about losing it, and she was SO EXCITED to see the wand, it was so cute! She held it the rest of the walk and kept saying "WE FOUND IT!" really loudly. Then she asked where Mommy's wand was, since she had that one in her hands...I told her we were sharing that one and she got even more excited - she is on a super sharing kick!

On that happy note, we watched a little TV and got to bed fairly early! We had a full day ahead of us!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

clearly you should forget all the complicated math and just buy in at the new Polly DVC

That splash area does look a little nuts - too bad that is the only area they had vs. one for big kids and one for little kids. The zero entry area look nice a big though!

Sorry Margarittaville didn't work out better - sometimes you just gotta use the electronics to give yourself a break!

So glad you found your wand and very cute how excited about it Aria was!

Do you have to exchange your money or do the stores accept muggle money and the gringott notes is just for fun?

Man, Aria like lawyered you there! I mean, if you are so hot to trot on this unicorn why don't you get it?

 

[wrestlingchick26]

Loving the trip report. Giving me lots of ideas for my Nov trip. Aria is such a cutie

 

[JulieODC]

Sometimes the ipad is completely necessary for everyone's sanity!!

So glad someone turned in your wand, it's nice to hear that!!