My family joins me in Disney for the first time in 15 years!- time to go!

[librarygeek]

Hello again!

I'm joining in on this one too. I've got a family trip coming up in July in which I'm the planner so I'll be starting that PJ soon. I definitely understand how you feel about your brother backing out of a trip. I've been to DW 5 times already and my brother has backed out of every one of our family trips. I love my brother dearly and we are very close but it sucks that I feel like an only child when it comes to any sort of family vacation. I'm hoping he will actually make this one this year but I try not to keep my hopes up

Thanks for joining in! I'm so sorry to hear that your brother has backed out on trips as well My brother and my mom both don't really like to travel, which is how I ended up with a father/daughter trip when I was in high school. Hopefully he will come around and join you one of these days

 

[librarygeek]

So I haven't updated in awhile... there has been a lot going on in our lives! DH and I recently signed papers to purchase a condo! So we've been going through that whole process, and we'll be moving at the end of May so we have to start packing too. I've also started tutoring a lot more hours than I was previously, so it's just been crazy and I can't wait to get a week off in Disney!

In terms of trip news, all of the things that I ordered have now come in: photopass plus, universal tickets, and the Landry's cards. I think the last official thing I have to do is find a rental car. I've checked out numerous sites and it seems like Dollar is going to have the best rates. Right now I've found a car for $280 for the week including all the extra fees, but I'm hoping it will go down a bit more. I'm thinking after Easter I will check rates again and book around the beginning of April.

We are less than a month away, which also means that I will start thinking about packing soon! Granted, we're packing up our whole apartment, but I'll have to do my Florida packing too

 

[taaren]

So I haven't updated in awhile... there has been a lot going on in our lives! DH and I recently signed papers to purchase a condo! So we've been going through that whole process, and we'll be moving at the end of May so we have to start packing too. I've also started tutoring a lot more hours than I was previously, so it's just been crazy and I can't wait to get a week off in Disney!

In terms of trip news, all of the things that I ordered have now come in: photopass plus, universal tickets, and the Landry's cards. I think the last official thing I have to do is find a rental car. I've checked out numerous sites and it seems like Dollar is going to have the best rates. Right now I've found a car for $280 for the week including all the extra fees, but I'm hoping it will go down a bit more. I'm thinking after Easter I will check rates again and book around the beginning of April.

We are less than a month away, which also means that I will start thinking about packing soon! Granted, we're packing up our whole apartment, but I'll have to do my Florida packing too

Congrats on the condo! Moving is insane ... your trip is getting close, though. For my trip Dollar ended up being the best price, I got a 9 days for $206 or so fees included. I'd just book whatever, then you can always make a new reservation if it goes down.

 

[librarygeek]

Congrats on the condo! Moving is insane ... your trip is getting close, though. For my trip Dollar ended up being the best price, I got a 9 days for $206 or so fees included. I'd just book whatever, then you can always make a new reservation if it goes down.

Thanks! Moving is going to be a little crazy, but luckily we'll have a full month that we have both the apartment and the condo, and they're only 20 minutes apart so we'll be able to take our time with moving. I also had a job interview so I'm waiting to hear back from that!

And thanks for the rental car advice... as you'll see from the next post, that's another thing off of my list!

 

[librarygeek]

Rental Car

The last major thing I needed to do (aside from packing!) is done! I booked our rental car through Dollar. They had the best deal that I could find. Right now we're paying $192 for the week. I actually booked it yesterday at $196 and saw it was slightly lower today. They make modifying your reservation ridiculously easy so I was able to adjust it right away. So I'll be keeping my eye on it for the next three weeks to see if we can get it any lower!

Aside from figuring out what I have to pack, I also want to print a list of all of the Flower and Garden food stands and what they offer so that I won't have to wander all around the World Showcase to find what I want. can't wait for that!

 

[taaren]

Thanks! Moving is going to be a little crazy, but luckily we'll have a full month that we have both the apartment and the condo, and they're only 20 minutes apart so we'll be able to take our time with moving. I also had a job interview so I'm waiting to hear back from that!

Good luck on the job interview.
It took me close to 13 months to get a position I really wanted after I graduated, and that was with 5 years experience working in a library (though only the last year was as a librarian, the previous 4 I had been an assistant and tech). Its still a super tight market where you have to beat out a ton of competition (there were between 60-400 people at every test I took for the positions I interviewed for!), so its just a matter of persistence til you find a system that's the right fit for you, and not giving up. At least your trip will distract you from the nail biting while you wait!

 

[librarygeek]

Good luck on the job interview.
It took me close to 13 months to get a position I really wanted after I graduated, and that was with 5 years experience working in a library (though only the last year was as a librarian, the previous 4 I had been an assistant and tech). Its still a super tight market where you have to beat out a ton of competition (there were between 60-400 people at every test I took for the positions I interviewed for!), so its just a matter of persistence til you find a system that's the right fit for you, and not giving up. At least your trip will distract you from the nail biting while you wait!

Oh I know, it's absolutely crazy out there! Especially since I don't have any experience as a librarian (though I've worked in a library before - kind of a Catch-22 in a way since I couldn't work as a librarian here without a masters, but now I can't get a job because I haven't worked as a librarian!). I'm lucky in the fact that I really enjoy my tutoring job I have now, so I can at least try to be patient in finding the right library job for me. My current boss at my tutoring company is also on the board of trustees for a library and said they might have a position opening up soon, so with her on the board I have a bit of an in there too. It's definitely nail biting, I just have to trust that it will all work out in the end - and go to Disney to distract myself!

 

[gtpoohbear]

Rental Car

Aside from figuring out what I have to pack, I also want to print a list of all of the Flower and Garden food stands and what they offer so that I won't have to wander all around the World Showcase to find what I want. can't wait for that!

OH that's a good idea, I should do that too! I think I've convinced DH to make a lunch out of the F&G snack stands, and goodness knows us DISers have to be prepared, lol!

 

[danceintherain]

Rental Car

Aside from figuring out what I have to pack, I also want to print a list of all of the Flower and Garden food stands and what they offer so that I won't have to wander all around the World Showcase to find what I want. can't wait for that!

Good idea. One of the things I hate most is trying to find something to eat and not knowing what is available places. During my last trip with my parents, I was convinced that we could get burgers at Casey's in the Magic Kingdom, which of course only has hot dogs.

 

[librarygeek]

OH that's a good idea, I should do that too! I think I've convinced DH to make a lunch out of the F&G snack stands, and goodness knows us DISers have to be prepared, lol!

Good idea. One of the things I hate most is trying to find something to eat and not knowing what is available places. During my last trip with my parents, I was convinced that we could get burgers at Casey's in the Magic Kingdom, which of course only has hot dogs.

Yeah, especially since we want to minimize the walking! My mom had some knee problems and doesn't want to walk too much, so if we have an idea of where we're going and what we'll find there I think it will help a lot

 

[librarygeek]

We leave in 1 week!! I can't wait. As for updates for the trip... one of my friends that lives down in Orlando is going to meet up with us for our dinner at the Rose and Crown, so I'm excited to see her!

I've also decided to cancel our reservation at Cape May for breakfast the day that we leave. Our flight is a little earlier than I was hoping and I think it will just be cutting it too close. Plus we'll have to pack up and all that so we won't have to be running around like crazy that morning. I also had booked it when we were thinking about driving down, so I thought we could just eat and then take off.

Finally, I'm trying to get stuff together at work before I go. I'm a tutor, and my boss thought it would be easy enough to get some of the other tutors in the company to cover my students for me while I'm gone. Well, it turns out they all have really packed schedules too (and one of them is away the same week), so I'm having trouble trying to arrange everything. It's stressing me out as my boss hasn't given me any indication about what I should do if the other tutors aren't available! Hopefully it all works out soon so I can take off to Disney without worrying

 

[librarygeek]

4 days til we leave!! And only 3 days til we leave for Long Island, where my parents live since we'll be flying out of the airport near them on Sunday. I haven't even started packing yet, which is crazy for me since normally I pack a week or so ahead of time! I've been really busy with tutoring and with rehearsals for the play that I'm in right now. Hopefully tonight I can get started on the packing!

I've almost got my tutoring students all straightened out - just one left that I need to get coverage for. My company really needs to hire another tutor or two, since it's kind of crazy that almost no one was available to help me out. Everyone just has really packed schedules :/

 

[taaren]

Its so exciting to have your trip looming so close! I'm getting serious Disney envy one of my girlfriends decided to take an impromptu trip to DLR this week and I've got 7 months to wait before my next trip!

Glad you were able to get work (mostly) sorted out!

 

[librarygeek]

Its so exciting to have your trip looming so close! I'm getting serious Disney envy one of my girlfriends decided to take an impromptu trip to DLR this week and I've got 7 months to wait before my next trip!

Glad you were able to get work (mostly) sorted out!

I know, it still hardly feels like we'll actually be in Disney in two days!

 

[librarygeek]

We leave for Disney in two days, and take off for Long Island tomorrow morning! I'm finishing up packing now, but of course wanted to update here one last time Here's my outfits I have planned for the trip:

Sunday for DTD and the airport, jeans with this shirt:


Monday Magic Kingdom day is a good day to wear my retro MK shirt!


Tuesday Hollywood Studios:


Wednesday Epcot:


Thursday for Islands of Adventure - my blue and silver striped shirt in honor of Ravenclaw!


And Friday Animal Kingdom... I got this skirt for my birthday and thought it had a fun AK feel to it!



This will probably be my last update til we get back!!

 

[shalom]

I particularly like that LOVE t-shirt and the Animal Kingdom skirt. Although not together. I like seeing what people wear to WDW. I got special t-shirts for the kids last trip, but half of them never came out of the suitcase. Since we're in a condo, I do laundry so often that the kids just keep switching back and forth between their two most favorite.

When they were littler I'd assign them clothes for each day; now they're teenagers not worth the effort. I'm looking forward to having grandkids I can decorate at will.

 

[rebeccaariel]

I love your outfits!!! My favourite is that vintage Magic Kingdom shirt. Too cute!

 

[librarygeek]

I particularly like that LOVE t-shirt and the Animal Kingdom skirt. Although not together. I like seeing what people wear to WDW. I got special t-shirts for the kids last trip, but half of them never came out of the suitcase. Since we're in a condo, I do laundry so often that the kids just keep switching back and forth between their two most favorite.

When they were littler I'd assign them clothes for each day; now they're teenagers not worth the effort. I'm looking forward to having grandkids I can decorate at will.

I know what you mean, I like observing people's outfits too. Without kids I really don't have anyone to dress but myself - I did make my husband wear a Mickey t-shirt one day, but it took some convincing

I love your outfits!!! My favourite is that vintage Magic Kingdom shirt. Too cute!

Thank you!! I actually found that shirt in the Disney outlet store a few years ago. I thought it was a good find at a great price!

 

[librarygeek]

So I'm backkk!!! The trip was absolutely amazing - it went almost perfectly, pretty much as good as I could have hoped. Everyone had a great time and I'm so excited to share everything with you all! I'm hoping to do both a dining review and a trip report, so I'll be sharing links to those when they're up. Hopefully I'll get started in the next day or two. Tonight I'm working on unpacking and uploading my photos!

 

[taaren]

So I'm backkk!!! The trip was absolutely amazing - it went almost perfectly, pretty much as good as I could have hoped. Everyone had a great time and I'm so excited to share everything with you all! I'm hoping to do both a dining review and a trip report, so I'll be sharing links to those when they're up. Hopefully I'll get started in the next day or two. Tonight I'm working on unpacking and uploading my photos!

Glad you had a great time! Looking forward to the TR and DR!