My Daughter's Know...But NOT My Nieces:)

[kristenrice]

Today opened our 180-day window for ADR's! I was able to help Kim set up her MDE account and "link" it to mine so that she could make ADR's on her own. We decided to break my rule and we booked dinner at Garden Grill for our arrival night. To recap, our flight is scheduled to land at 9:30am so I think we will be safe by booking a dinner reservation. We were given two choices...4:35pm or 7:45pm. We opted for the earlier option since we want to get an early start on Monday. This should give us time to do a little touring around Epcot to ease into the vacation and chill out after a long day of travel. We can fill our tummies at dinner and head back to the room for a good night of sleep.

Monday morning, Kim made a 9:50am ADR for her family at Tusker House. AK has EMH that morning and opens at 8am. The plan is to get there around 7:45 am and try and get EE and Kilimanjaro Safaris out of the way before breakfast. I will probably be taking my girls solo since I doubt DH will want to get up that early. (*I don't blame him...our "rule" is that unless we are checking out or have a pre-paid activity, we don't force each other out of bed in the morning) The girls will either come with me or they can stay back with DH if they prefer. After Kim's family is done with breakfast, they plan on doing Kali and the Boneyard, maybe Dinosaur too. We hope to do Finding Nemo and Flights of Wonder too, if time permits. I haven't heard if Festival of the Lion King will be available yet so that is also a possibility. I'm not sure what we will do while Kim's family is at breakfast. The girls want to do the Wilderness Explorer stuff so that would be a great time to do it.

Since Monday morning will be AK day for us, my family can typically get our fill by early afternoon (1-2pm). Then, we will head over to the Studios where we will eat dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe (DH calls it "Ma's Kitchen"). I made an ADR for 5:25pm. I'm hoping that we will be able to get done in time to get over to Fantasmic for the 7:30 show. We will want FP's for RnRC and TSMM so I don't know if we will be able to get one for Fantasmic too. (Are the FP+ choices tiered at HS?)

That brings us to Tuesday...????

 

[kristenrice]

I made some ADR's for my family today. We are doing the lunch with an animal specialist at Sanaa on Wednesday. My kids *LOVE* animals...all animals...and everything to do with animals. They will be in heaven during this lunch. I had to pay the full amount up front ($176) but at least we have it booked. I think they limit it to 12 people and it is only offered on Wednesdays.

Then, to top of our week, I booked the Sunrise Safari on Thursday morning. Again, more interaction and "interview" time for the girls. They will be missing some school for this trip so I am giving them every learning opportunity that I can afford. That set me back another $300 for the 4 of us but I know it will be worth it.

I may cancel one of these experiences, but I don't know which one. I had not originally planned on doing both since the Sunrise Safari was not initially an option. I am a sucker for those "Member Exclusive" experiences. With this huge dent in the budget, I think we will need to cut back on our F&W splurging. That's OK, because F&W will always be around, but the Sunrise Safari and Lunch with an Animal Specialist might go away at any time.

 

[disney ny]

I am following along~ I just started my pretrip report too and I have been going through all these planning decisions too! Maybe I can get some helpful info. from you and we are going to stay part of our trip at Animal Kingdom Lodge as well.

 

[disney ny]

I made some ADR's for my family today. We are doing the lunch with an animal specialist at Sanaa on Wednesday. My kids *LOVE* animals...all animals...and everything to do with animals. They will be in heaven during this lunch. I had to pay the full amount up front ($176) but at least we have it booked. I think they limit it to 12 people and it is only offered on Wednesdays.

Then, to top of our week, I booked the Sunrise Safari on Thursday morning. Again, more interaction and "interview" time for the girls. They will be missing some school for this trip so I am giving them every learning opportunity that I can afford. That set me back another $300 for the 4 of us but I know it will be worth it.

I may cancel one of these experiences, but I don't know which one. I had not originally planned on doing both since the Sunrise Safari was not initially an option. I am a sucker for those "Member Exclusive" experiences. With this huge dent in the budget, I think we will need to cut back on our F&W splurging. That's OK, because F&W will always be around, but the Sunrise Safari and Lunch with an Animal Specialist might go away at any time.

I was excited to see the Sunrise Safari experience opn up to DVC members too and count me in as another sucker for those "Member only" experiences. My Mom works at the Cincinnati Zoo and she is very into animals so I immediately thought of her but I know our kids are still too little for this so I am thinking maybe in the future. Both experiences sound very cool!

 

[kristenrice]

I love these beautiful, summer days here in Michigan...but they make me wish I was in Disney World.

I thought I'd pop in to review our plans and maybe update a few things.

First off...DD8's knee...According to the doctor, her knee is not healing as well as he would have liked. He is "disappointed" in the results of the surgery. He drilled 6 holes in her femur with the expectation that it would improve the blood flow and that her bone would grow and fill in the lesion. So far, she has had "very minimal" growth. On top of that, she is now having the same pain in her ankle joint on the same side. We went to the orthopedic walk-in clinic Friday night and had some x-rays done. On the bright side, the NP was looking for an OCD lesion (due to DD's history) and she did not see anything on the x-ray. This is a good sign because there was an obvious lesion in her knee when she was first diagnosed. The NP is going to have DD's ortho doc look at it first thing Tuesday morning and give us a call. Until then, DD is weight-bearing as tolerated. She has been about 50/50 this weekend. She tries so hard to play and "walk it off", but then she starts to have pain and back on the crutches she goes. She *REALLY* wants to do the Expedition Everest Challenge next year (and I have to make our room reservations this week!) and we are really hoping that she can heal soon.

Enough of the depressing stuff and on to the fun stuff...

In April, I started "donating" plasma to pad the Disney fund a little bit more. So far, in 12 visits, I've earned $385. I plan to keep going twice a week and, if I'm successful each time, I will earn another $1000 by the time we go. As of today, I already have enough funds on hand to cover our basic budget so from here on out, any additional earnings will be split between "splurges" and the 2015 vacation fund.

When I saw that the Sunrise Safari was ending for DVC members as of October 19, I started looking for our confirmation number since we are booked on the 23rd. I was fairly certain that I was all set since I have already paid in full, but the lack of a confirmation number was bothering me. I called the AKV concierge (even though we are not staying CL) and he was very helpful and found my reservation right away. When I booked our Lunch with an Animal Specialist at Sanaa, I was confused when the CM asked me "What time would you like?" I figured it was a "dining event" and so there would be a specific, scheduled time. She told me to pick a time between 11 and 1 so I picked noon. I was sure that she misinterpreted what I wanted, but she took my payment and gave me the confirmation number. When I spoke to the AKV concierge CM, I asked him if he could clarify what the deal is with that meal. He explained that *I* pick the time and they will send an Animal Specialist to join us for our meal. He said that it will be just our family eating with the CM and they limit each "group" to 12 people, but they don't combine groups. If this is true, I can hardly wait! I'm not holding my breath since it doesn't seem reasonable.

I still check the website every day to see if a 2BR standard opens up at Jambo for those 2 days. I don't think it is going to happen any time soon. I would assume that my best chance is at the 31 day mark when cancellations to prevent holding points will occur. I am also obsessing over the waitlist but I am almost 99.9% sure that it will not come through. I can dream...

That's all for this installment. There's just not that much to report on the Disney front...

Next on the agenda: Booking our FP+....NOT looking forward to this.

 

[kristenrice]

Ugh! DD had an appointment this week with her orthopedic doctor...her knee is only 60% healed. He said it should be back to 100% by now so he is very disappointed in the results of the surgery. She remains on a "no-impact" restriction and she has to stay off of it if she develops pain from overuse. That means no long walks and no "training" for WDW He checked her ankle and saw that she has a problem with her Achilles tendon. Apparently, the time she spent on her crutches cause the tendon to "harden" at the site where it attaches to her heel bone. She has about 75% range of motion in that foot. The good news is that it should heal up with stretching. She now has a roller and does her stretches when she gets up and before bed.

This is starting to have me concerned for our trip, which is now only about 4 months away. Her knee should have been at 100% at 4 months post-op. She is now almost 6 months post-op and she is only at 60%. Right now, there is no way she could handle all the walking in the parks. The doctor said she is to stay off of it completely if/when she has pain. I've started to accept the possibility that we may need to rent a wheelchair for her in the park. She will hate it, but I'm not hauling her crutches down to Florida. We'll have to see how she does this summer. School gets out in...9 more minutes!

 

[kristenrice]

Parking at the airport will be $36 if we park in the economy lot across the street and take the shuttle to the terminal. It isn't ideal, but it is doable and the cheapest option. The next option would be the long-term parking lot which is right next to the terminal. That would cost us $48 for our 6 days of parking.

BUT....what if we rent a car instead?!

Using various discount codes and coupons, I discovered that I can rent an Impala (or similar...Full-Size category) for a total of $52.66.

Here's what I'm thinking...

First, we own 2 SUV's, a 2007 Trailblazer and a 2004 Suburban. We are flying out of Flint and although I have no personal experience, folks I've spoken to always cringe when I tell them. Flint has a reputation for having a lot of crime. My truck (the Suburban) has lost the ability to lock it (long story...involves a child trying to use a twig in the locking mechanism...and it broke off, rendering the lock inoperable) so it is usually empty and unlocked wherever we go. Because it's aging, but still fully insured including comprehensive coverage, this is the vehicle we would take to Flint. This would also allow us to keep the Trailblazer locked in the garage at home instead of in the driveway.

Second, our vehicles get 15-20mpg at best. Renting a "smaller" vehicle should get us 25-30mpg. It's not a huge savings, but it's something.

Finally, by renting the car for each leg, we can avoid the whole issue with parking. We don't have to worry about catching a shuttle or anything since the rental car lot is right next to the terminal. It looks like it is the same distance as the short-term lot.

So, I can rent the car for about $5 more than what it would cost to park my unlockable vehicle in the long-term parking lot. I think we will save at least that much in gas costs so I think this is a win-win situation.

The plan will be to take the dogs to the kennel around 11am (drop off is between 10-12) and then have DH drop me off at the airport on the way back. It is right on the way anyways and only about 10 minutes from our house. I'll grab the rental car and we'll pack it up when I get home. Then we'll head to our hotel in Flint. In the morning, we have a 6:50am flight so I put the car return time as 6am. I'm sure we'll be there before that, but I figured that I'd rather be early than late. I'm not even sure the rental counter is open...I think one site said it opens at 7am so I assume there is some sort of drop box option. On the way home, our flight lands at 4:35pm so I entered a 5pm pickup time. We'll drive home and then drop the car off at the GR airport on Saturday, around noon.

How does that sound? Am I missing some major inconvenience here? I've rented a car exactly twice in my life...once when we went to WDW in 2008 (and I got it for $80 TOTAL for 8 DAYS!!...couldn't turn that down!) and once when my DH hit a deer with my truck and I needed a car right away. I'm sure things have changed (besides the prices) in the past 6 years. The prices are from Budget so it is a major rental company and not a little mom-and-pop operation. Is there anything else I need to know?

 

[kristenrice]

My sister decided that she would really like to take her girls to a character meal inside a park. She opted for a lunch at Crystal Palace. She said she was thinking of a late lunch on Tuesday since the MK closes early that day for the MNSSHP anyways. As much as I wanted to avoid the buffets and AYCE places, I figured that since we have no TS meal planned for Tuesday, we would "suffer" and eat at CP with her. This way, she can take advantage of the TIW discount too. I booked an ADR for 8 at 2:15pm.

Allow me to recap the dining plans for the group...

Sunday (arrival day): All of us are eating dinner at the Garden Grill at 4:35pm
Monday: Kim's family is eating breakfast at Tusker House (9:50am) and my family is enjoying dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe (5:25pm)
Tuesday: We're all eating lunch at Crystal Palace (2:15pm)
Wednesday: Kim's family is getting up bright and early for a breakfast at O'Hana (8:00am) and our family is going to have lunch with an animal specialist at Sanaa (noon)
Thursday: My family is getting up before the crack of dawn so we can do the Sunrise Safari and breakfast (7am). We are all going to eat dinner together at Chef Mickey's (7:10pm) and then head over to the TOWL to enjoy the Hallowishes fireworks to cap off our last night of vacation.
Friday: My family will enjoy our traditional send-off breakfast at Boma (10:00am)...Oops! Our flight departs at 1:55pm which will give us a DME pick up of around 11...I'd better see if I can back that breakfast up to 9:30 or so. I forgot that we will be at Kidani, not Jambo.

Well that's all for now. I have been occupying my time with planning our 2015 trip (and keeping the fingers crossed that DD's knee heals AND that RunDisney decides to keep the EEC going for one more year)

 

[kristenrice]

Today, DD8 (the one with the bad knee) decided she wanted to see if she could handle a "run". We already told her that she needs to be able to maintain a 16:00/mile pace for 3 miles, which is more than a walk, in order to do the Expedition Everest Challenge. Today, we went around the neighborhood and did a 5 minute walk, followed by :30 run/1:00 walk intervals. All total, we did 1.07 miles and she did it at a 14:35 pace. She was so excited because she said her knee didn't hurt at all. She said her legs were "numb" but she was so proud of herself. She even decided to go online and look for new running shoes....Like mother, like daughter.

 

[JessseJ]

That's great news!

 

[kristenrice]

Whoa! Time went from standing still to flying by! The past few months have been that "stale" period where you just wait...and wait..., but now, there is stuff to get done.

Yesterday, after holding off (repeatedly), I finally booked our rental car for the trip to and from the airport here in Michigan. If we'd opted to drive our own car (a 2004 Suburban with no A/C and and no locking mechanism), we would have paid $56 for our long-term parking at the airport. By pre-paying in full and using a couple of coupon and discount codes, I was able to book (2) one-way rentals from Budget for a total of $56.69. I booked the full-size category because it was only $1-2 more than the standard and I wanted to make sure that we have the biggest CAR possible. We are packing light (4 backpacks, a rolling duffel and a couple purses) so cargo space should not be an issue. This should also save us a bit on gas since we have to drive about 110 miles each way to the hotel/airport and my Suburban gets a whopping 15 mpg.

Today, I officially gave up on our BWV waitlist. It was such a long shot anyways so I decided to cancel it so that I could combine our 2 reservations at Kidani into one. This way, we will absolutely not have to check out and check back in and our FP+ should not have any issues. I called Member Services and combined our reservations. I also found out that even though I had booked our DME back when we made our flights, the CM said that there was no flight information listed. I took care of that too so now we are all set.

Next step is our grocery order. Garden Grocer gives a 10% discount if you place your order 60 days or more in advance. Our 60-day countdown begins on August 20. I had planned on placing the order yesterday, but after I booked the car, I realized that there was not enough left in my PayPal account for the entire grocery order, just my half. So now I have to wait until the transfer from my vacation account lands in my PayPal account which will hopefully happen before Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday...I have to make our FP+ reservations! There is ONE, and only ONE, that I MUST have....yup, the Anna and Elsa character meeting. My daughters will disown me if they cannot meet the Frozen girls. We have a lunch ADR on Tuesday at Crystal Palace for 2:15pm so I am going to try for any time that day (well, not between the hours of 2 and 4:30) and I am keeping my fingers crossed. Here's the other FP+ choices I am thinking about...

...Sunday night: Test Track and/or Soarin' (still tiered??)

...Monday night: RnRC and TSMM...and probably Fantasmic.

...Tuesday: A&E for sure...and probably 7DMT...not sure what to do with #3 for that day. I can't remember if that is a MNSSHP night. If it is NOT, should I use my final FP+ for the evening parade? I'm not sure how that works.

...Wednesday: I have NO idea what we're doing. We have lunch with an animal specialist at Sanaa at noon so we'll probably hit up Epcot in the afternoon/evening.

...Thursday: Again...I'm not sure. We are doing the Sunrise Safari at 7am and then we have a dinner planned at Chef Mickey's for 7:15pm, followed by fireworks at the TOWL to cap off the trip.

Right now, the wait is killing me. The excitement is starting to build and it is getting harder and harder for my sister and I to plan without eavesdropping little ears listening in. She is currently in custody of "The Box" (supplies that are getting shipped down ahead of time) and I have to gradually and covertly sneak stuff over to her house so that she can pack it up.

Only 4 more days until we can "check in". I know, it's only the online check in, but still....we're getting closer!

 

[kristenrice]

1) DD8's knee is "significantly improved". The doctor said that he sees no reason why she would not be ready for the 5K in May. Right now, he does not want her to go more than a mile at a time for at least the next 6 weeks. The real test will be how well her knee holds out on the trip in October.

2) Kim rolled the dice on a hotel near Flint and won big time! She went through Hotwire and found a "Hot Deal" (or whatever it is called) where she could reserve a "mystery" 3.5-star hotel for $54! The catch was that it the exact hotel isn't revealed until after purchase. She searched the Grand Blanc area and ended up with the Wingate by Wyndham which has a "best rate" right now of $107! She paid right around $68 for the night and the hotel is 10 minutes from the airport.

3) Groceries have been ordered. We went through Garden Grocer and set up our delivery time for 7-9pm. We figure that since dinner is at Epcot at 4:30, we won't be back to the room much before 7pm anyways. Our flight lands at 9:30am so unless we are assigned a room that has someone checking out REALLY early, our room won't be ready before we'd have to leave for dinner anyways.

4) "The Box" is over half-full. It is currently stationed at Kim's house and she has almost everything that she is sending in it already. We're sending bagels and English muffins so those will be last-minute additions. I am going to order glow bracelets and add them. I am also providing the laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, fabric softener, pancake mix and syrup, and blueberry muffin mix.

School started yesterday so the next thing on my agenda is to meet with the kids' teachers and put together a vacation assignment. I have a lot of ideas but I'm not sure what direction the teachers would like to take. I'm considering an animal-themed research project (science) or maybe something involving the countries in Epcot (social studies), or maybe just focus on African culture since we will be staying at AKV.

It's starting to get real....

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I'm glad your daughter's knee is doing better! I've never been very athletic, but a few of my girl friends and are I training for our first 5K! We are going to drive down to Mobile for the Color Run there in October. We are using the Couch 2 5K app to train with.

 

[ToddyLu]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this pre TR. You, my friend, are one creative planner and I applaud you

I am subbing so I can plan with you and hope that you have a terrific time with your family. We will be at Jambo 10/22-11/1. DH and I do not have children and I am the planner here. My Excel Spreadsheet is almost 100% and DH is waiting for me to email it to him...down the hall to his office.

Sending your DD pixie dust for her knee.

 

[kristenrice]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this pre TR. You, my friend, are one creative planner and I applaud you

I am subbing so I can plan with you and hope that you have a terrific time with your family. We will be at Jambo 10/22-11/1. DH and I do not have children and I am the planner here. My Excel Spreadsheet is almost 100% and DH is waiting for me to email it to him...down the hall to his office.

Sending your DD pixie dust for her knee.

Perhaps we will bump into you! We are doing the Sunrise Safari on the 23rd (Thursday) and we have our traditional send-off breakfast at Boma on Friday, and I know we will be at the Mara at least once for some zebra domes. Even though we are staying at Kidani, we will definitely be spending a bit of time at Jambo.

 

[kristenrice]

I went over to Kim's house yesterday to add a few more things to "the box". I brought two pouches of pancake mix, two pouches of blueberry muffin mix, some hand wipes and disposable muffin tins. We measured the box and estimated that it's total filled weight will be about 35 pounds. Today, I checked the UPS website and found that the cheapest shipping cost will be almost $40!

So, I think that we will just resort to taking an extra suitcase instead of the box. Since we are flying on SWA, we get a total of 16 checked bags for free...we are only using 3 so far, 2 for Kim and 1 for us. The only concern I have is our glow bracelets. We are bringing 300 which are packed in tubes of 100 each. I have a funny feeling that they will show up as "suspicious" on the x-ray scanners. Any suggestions for how to pack them so they are not confiscated? On our honeymoon, DH and I were planning on doing some golfing at WDW so we packed a gallon-size Ziploc bag full of golf balls. We're not that good and knew we'd probably lose a few. The TSA agent that x-rayed our bag asked us to open our bag so he could check it out. He laughed when he saw the golf balls. (This was at the Grand Rapids airport...very small and the TSA agents are super friendly and patient) He suggested that for the trip back, we just leave the golf balls loose in the bag so that they look like golf balls. That's what we did (although we didn't have nearly as many as we started with) and we had no trouble at MCO. We're flying out of Flint and I suspect that their TSA agents will be comparable to the ones at GRR. I plan to have the glow bracelets near the top and will be willing to pull them out if necessary. I am more worried about taking the leftovers through MCO. We will be checking our bags with RAC so what happens if they are "flagged"? Will the TSA just open it up and inspect it without us present? I don't really care since I will have nothing of significant value in our checked bag, but I don't want to cause any trouble or delay. Maybe I could just buy one of those pre-paid, flat rate priority mail boxes/envelopes from the post office and mail the glow bracelets back home. That might be easier all the way around.

The next milestone is the DME tags. We are 7 days away from the 6 week mark. Once we're inside that, those tags can show up any day.

 

[JessseJ]

You should be fine with the glow bracelets! We brought them on trip a couple weeks ago and had no issues. The suitcase with the peanut butter however, was inspected by TSA!

Have fun!

 

[heaven2dc]

I can't believe that I missed your PTR and didn't find it until today! I've read each post and loved how you pulled it all together. Donating plasma?! Now you've given me an idea how to fund my next trip and do something good at the same time

Can't wait until your departure day and the big reveal to the nieces!

 

[kristenrice]

The girls and I each have one of these bags which we are using as our primary luggage.

http://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/...-convertible-junior/241465?productid=10209115

Mine is a special edition orange, Kamryn's is tropical turquoise and Kaedy has eggplant. By using our packing cubes, we should be able to fit almost everything we will need. Kam has a laptop that she is bringing, but I told her she will not be able to take it out on the plane. So, both of the girls needed smaller bags to use as their personal item. They will each have headphones (not earbuds), their tablet and perhaps a book or journal, along with a few snacks. The initial plan was to pack their packable backpacks into the big bag and then just transfer their in-flight diversions into them when we got to the gate. Then, I found these...

http://www.eddiebauer.com/product/t...ssories&previousPage=GNAV&tab=gear&dcolor=551

Kam got this in black and she loves it already!

http://www.eddiebauer.com/product/t...ssories&previousPage=GNAV&tab=gear&dcolor=551

My sister got this one and Kaedy liked it better than the bag I'd picked out for her so I have to go back to the mall and exchange it. Eddie Bauer was having a great deal on these. They were 50% with any purchase plus everything in the store was 25% off so they were both under $15 each.

(Here's the one I picked out for Kaedy...I chose it because the color matches her Weekender perfectly...http://www.eddiebauer.com/product/t...SCAT&cm_sp=BB-_-34-_-CARRYALL&tab=&dcolor=100)

Kim now has custody of the suitcase which we will be using in lieu of "the box". She said that it is only about 3/4 full and we have almost everything in it already. We are also planning on taking our large rolling duffel for our checked bag, but I am still not exactly sure what is going in it. Most of our stuff will fit easily in our carry-on's. I know that when the time actually comes to start packing, I will probably find that I've overestimated the capacity of our bags and underestimated how much I am going to bring.

Oh, since I was playing show-and-tell, this is my "personal item"...

http://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/kalya-town-square/57682?productid=10019411

I don't generally carry a purse at WDW since I can't stand stuff on my shoulders. Yup, I am a fanny-pack girl and proud of it. I'll just pack the fanny-pack in my "mom purse" (A.K.A. the huge bag that holds everything but the kitchen sink) and that way, I will have it handy when we land.

I suspect the DME tags will be coming some time this week. I told DH to be on the lookout for them. Kaedyn loves to get the mail and if she finds them and opens them, she will figure out the surprise. The magic bands ship in THREE days, but they are going to Kim's house so I don't have to keep a weather on the horizon for those babies.

There is so much anticipation going through my head right now...it's making me crazy. Every day, I mentally run through the day of departure (from home) and then the preparations for the airport and the big reveal. Kim and I still have no idea how this is going to play out. We talk about it on the phone almost every day and once we are en route, of course we will have to resort to text-only so the kids don't overhear anything. We are staying at different hotels the night before we leave so the surprise will remain intact until we get to the airport. We are hoping that one of us gets through security and to the gate before the others so that we can capture the moment on video, but if the check-in or security line is too long, we may both end up in it at the same time.

Five weeks from right now...we will be sitting down to eat at the Garden Grill.

 

[kristenrice]

The DME tags came on Monday!

We got two envelopes, which I thought was normal at first. When I opened them, I saw that one of the packets had 8 luggage tags as well as round-trip DME vouchers. The other envelope had no luggage tags and only vouchers for the return trip to the airport. I realized that the second envelope probably stems from the fact that we initially had two reservations and the DME reservation for the return never got cancelled.

Fortunately, the reservation number on the luggage tags matches our reservation number so I am confident that we are all set. When DH and I went last November, we had MB's and didn't even need the vouchers at MCO.

Speaking of MB's...I think they may have shipped out today! Kim is on the lookout for them and hopefully we will have them by next week.

The trip is finally starting to morph from a dream to a reality. I was looking at my work schedule and I only have two more weekends to work before we leave. Every other week, I work four 12-hour shifts in a row and even though it is completely exhausting, it makes the time fly by.

Time to go try a practice pack.....