Next trip I'm booking a resort w/out a pool! *Pg 25 Final DxDP numbers & last update!

[Deemarch]

Subbing!!

 

[AKL LOVER]

Wow! I love that mug! What a great purchase. I'll be hoping they still have them on our next trip. All of my Disney coffee mugs got broken when we moved (should never have packed them all in the same box).

It's really funny to read this trip report, because we were at AK, Epcot, and MK all the same days as you. Did you get a flower at MK on Mother's Day? I know they were giving them out when we arrived that morning.

What a that all your Disney mugs broke! But at least it's an excuse to do some shopping on your next trip!

I did get a flower, but had to leave it behind at some point because of our flight that day.

I'm sitting here reading your last installment drinking coffee out of my Mickey mug. Yours however is a must have on my next trip. I just love animal prints and when you combine that with Mickey it's a win-win all around.

Animal prints and Disney--exactly why I loved it! So unexpectedly Disney!

Just so you know, the only place I saw these (all my mug stalking paid off!) were Kidani and AKL, but it's so worth it to make a special trip there just for this mug...and because I LOVE LOVE LOVE AKL. I mean, how can you go to Disney and not visit AKL?

In HH I almost bought Mickey and Minnie mugs (the ones where they look all sleepy and worn out from a rough night out and then an early morning), but Joyce talked me out of it. We already have 9 over-sized coffee mugs AND another 8 or so regular sized coffee mugs, so that's probably already more than TWO people need! They do come in handy though for our NY's party when our house turns into a little refugee camp for our friends and EVERYONE needs coffee and/or hot chocolate the next morning!

But his and her Mickey and Minnie mugs would be sooooo cute!!! You don't need any non-Disney mugs...just get rid of those, then you'd have more room

I loved your PTR and your TR. I do have a question-was CL worth the extra money? I've booked CL at the GF next spring break but don't know if it's worth the extra money.

DH and I also love our adult drinks!

In our case CL was worth it. That's because of the PIN I had--it was actually $20 cheaper for me to book a CL room vs a regular savannah view room. Yes, you read that right! I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't of happened to me personally. My PIN got me more of a discount for a CL room than for a non-CL room (if that makes sense). So we started out ahead beore we even used the CL benefits! We definitely won't be staying CL for every trip, unless I can score another great deal like that. I would say that less than a $100 extra a night would make CL worth it, but over that mark and I would question it's value.

CL at the GF for SB?? (hehe, I couldn't resist!) That sounds expensive. Have you looked at the price difference between a regular room at the GF vs what you are paying for the CL room? If you would spend more than that amount on drinks and snacks, then go for it. If not, I'd say that CL might not really be worth it.

Subbing!!

Thanks for joining! Always glad to have more readers

 

[AKL LOVER]

I loved your PTR and your TR. I do have a question-was CL worth the extra money? I've booked CL at the GF next spring break but don't know if it's worth the extra money.

DH and I also love our adult drinks!

Holy Moly, I just saw your location and we live in the same city!! How funny is that?!?

When in April are you going? It would be even more weird if we were going the same week....

 

[AKL LOVER]

It’s with a heavy heart that I post the last leg of my trip. Sadly, it’s picture less…I mean who takes pictures on the way HOME from Disney? Everyone would have frowny faces and the pics would be no fun to look at later.

I do have a “what not do to if you don’t want the TSA on your a**” story though, so please do read on!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, with magical memories and coffee mug in tow, we headed to MCO.


At security, DH had to put his bag through a second time after the machine flagged it. Turns out it was just a false alarm--Thankfully, DH is not a terrorist. Although I was worried there for a minute that he was trying to smuggle illegal Disney goods across the border! Thanks for the TSA peeps for clearing that up for me


After we made it through security we had an uneventful wait until we boarded the plane. Of course, things were going too smoothly….


Insert old lady who is sick.


She was one row up and across the aisle (so diagonal) from us and she was coughing. Sure, it started out as a little, innocent, old lady cough. But then it just kept going and going. DH and I even commented to each other about it before it got REALLY bad. Finally, it did get so bad, that the people sitting next to her notified a flight attendant…


who got the head flight attendant….


who decided that she needed some oxygen….




**Wait a second. This story sounds like that song about the old lady who swallowed a fly. Except the words to my song would be "There was an old lady who wanted to fly, I don't know why she wanted to fly."....

Anywho, back to my story...we're just getting to the juicy "how to get the TSA on your a**" part!**




By this time the plane was all loaded and we were anxious to get in the air and get home. But the oxygen didn't help and the head FA told the lady they were not comfortable with her flying. They asked her to get off the plane so she could be evaluated by a doctor. And guess what? She refused to get off! Really?!? Who in the world refuses to do what a flight attendant tells you these days?!? You know there was an undercover Marshall on that flight who was secretly hoping to see some action!


So then the pilot had to get in on the situation. He assured her that he WAS NOT taking off with her on the plane. He had to threaten that he would have her removed from the plane if he had to! Finally after 15 minutes of persuading, she got up and got off.


DH was livid. I believe the comment he made to me was somewhere along the lines of “just arrest her already”. I know that sounds harsh, but it was way uncalled for her to hold up hundreds of people…many of us who were trying to make a connecting flight in Atlanta. And with 2 kids who were getting bored and antsy, I was having no sympathy for that lady!


Next we had to wait for a new oxygen tank to be put on board to replace the one they had used....


....then we had to wait for space on the runway to take off because we were 45 minutes late pulling away from the gate....


....then just before take off, we had to pull over on the tarmac and wait because Atlanta didn't have room for us to land when we would get there (since we were late)....


....finally after another 45 minutes of sitting on the tarmac we were able to get off into the air.


Upon landing at Atlanta, it was going to be a tight squeeze for us to make it to our next flight. We had 30 minutes. Cutting it close. Turns our the girl sitting behind us missed her connecting flight altogether. Poor thing! She got on the phone as we landed to call someone to let them know she wouldn’t be flying out that evening after all. I bet she was good and .

Fortunately, the gate we arrived in was right next to the gate that we boarded our next flight. So we walked off the first flight and immediately got in line to board our next one. It was while we boarding our second flight that DH vowed that he would never do a layover on a trip to or from Disney again, no matter what time of day we had to fly or how expensive the flight is. He’s right--it was a huge pain! First and last time we’ll ever do that with 2 kids!


Despite all the trouble getting off the ground on the first half of our flight, the second half was peaceful and smooth.


The kids really were great on the way home despite the threat of a TSA smack down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just like that, another Disney trip comes to an end…

Stay tuned for a day 7 DxDP breakdown and then the big reveal---our final DxDP cost vs. use--was it worth it in the end?!?

 

[JessicaFaye508]

I love all of your souvenirs! So cute! I've never seen that mug before and it is absolutely adorable - so great purchase!
This reminds me of my Mother Daughter trip with my Mom because we had to grab lunch at the Mara quickly before our ME bus arrived. Ahh the memories.
And in August, my ME bus was late too! It was much later than that though... I think it took an extra 30-45 minutes
I always get extra Mickey Rice Krispies to take home! Very nice idea
OMG about that lady. Wow that's crazy! What a weird scenario! I wonder what was wrong with her. How rude of her not to get off the plane... but honestly that could have been really bad if she would have flown. Thank God she finally got off!
Aww I'm sad it's over But it sounds like you guys had a great and magical time! Thanks for writing!

 

[Robinh]

Holy Moly, I just saw your location and we live in the same city!! How funny is that?!?

When in April are you going? It would be even more weird if we were going the same week....

That's too funny... We are leaving April 6th and returning April 12th. I just hope the kids don't have to go to school April 6th (right now it's a snow make up day in Spotsy).

I think we are going to keep the rooms on the CL. DH and I need somewhere to get away during the evenings...and we will enjoy the adult beverages.

 

[AKL LOVER]

I love all of your souvenirs! So cute! I've never seen that mug before and it is absolutely adorable - so great purchase!
This reminds me of my Mother Daughter trip with my Mom because we had to grab lunch at the Mara quickly before our ME bus arrived. Ahh the memories.
And in August, my ME bus was late too! It was much later than that though... I think it took an extra 30-45 minutes
I always get extra Mickey Rice Krispies to take home! Very nice idea
OMG about that lady. Wow that's crazy! What a weird scenario! I wonder what was wrong with her. How rude of her not to get off the plane... but honestly that could have been really bad if she would have flown. Thank God she finally got off!
Aww I'm sad it's over But it sounds like you guys had a great and magical time! Thanks for writing!

I did not even want to THINK about making an emergency landing if she had a medical emergency in the air. That's why I'm glad that they made her get off!

Thanks for reading! I still have 2 more DxDP updates to post. I'm glad to know that people are still following along, especially since I've been so inconsistent recently in my updates.

 

[AKL LOVER]

That's too funny... We are leaving April 6th and returning April 12th. I just hope the kids don't have to go to school April 6th (right now it's a snow make up day in Spotsy).

I think we are going to keep the rooms on the CL. DH and I need somewhere to get away during the evenings...and we will enjoy the adult beverages.

Seriously, are you stalking me???

BAHAHAHA. Because we are going to be there the 7th of April to the 15th!!

I want to go down the 6th too, but I'm a teacher in Spotsy so if it does end up being a make-up day I kind of have to be there!

Same city, same week in Disney...we're like DIS-twins!

And I hear ya' on the adult beverages, especially after a hot day in the parks.

 

[Lidian]

You know .. I've never flown before ... but ... really? Delaying a flight that long? Why didn't they arrest her?? (Honestly, am I missing something here?)

Sorry to hear it was so crappy ... but glad you made it home safely.

Thanks for sharing your trip! Looking forward to finding out if DxDP was worth it!!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Ugh how annoying! People need to just learn to listen to instructions! I'm glad that you made your connecting flight - those always stress me out!

 

[Robinh]

Seriously, are you stalking me???

BAHAHAHA. Because we are going to be there the 7th of April to the 15th!!

I want to go down the 6th too, but I'm a teacher in Spotsy so if it does end up being a make-up day I kind of have to be there!

Same city, same week in Disney...we're like DIS-twins!

And I hear ya' on the adult beverages, especially after a hot day in the parks.

I promise, I am not stalking you! Thinking back to some of your pictures, I think we might live in the same community. What are the odds, right?

Take a personnal day and go on the 6th! I got much better airline rates leaving on Friday vice Saturday.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Gosh, I would be livid if that happened to me, people can be so inconsiderate! I can see how she would be annoyed that her travel plans are disrupted but that DOES NOT mean that she had the right to disrupt the travel plans of everybody else on the plane. Get off the plane lady and work with the airline to get on another flight! I am glad that you made your connection.

 

[AKL LOVER]

You know .. I've never flown before ... but ... really? Delaying a flight that long? Why didn't they arrest her?? (Honestly, am I missing something here?)

Sorry to hear it was so crappy ... but glad you made it home safely.

Thanks for sharing your trip! Looking forward to finding out if DxDP was worth it!!!

I'm looking forward to finding out if it was worth it too! I haven't done the final numbers yet...saving them until the end of my TR to give me motivation to finish

Ugh how annoying! People need to just learn to listen to instructions! I'm glad that you made your connecting flight - those always stress me out!

Yes, I never thought that catching a connecting flight would be so stressful!

I promise, I am not stalking you! Thinking back to some of your pictures, I think we might live in the same community. What are the odds, right?

Take a personnal day and go on the 6th! I got much better airline rates leaving on Friday vice Saturday.

HAHA, seriously? Just keeps getting weirder and weirder!!

I would take a person day in a heartbeat, but personal days directly before or after a holiday break are a big no-no. Of course, if I happen to *cough, cough* get sick that day I wouldn't be too upset

What airport did you book your airline tickets out of and with what airline (if you don't mind me asking)? I've been looking but haven't booked anything yet because everything I've found is WAY too expensive.

Gosh, I would be livid if that happened to me, people can be so inconsiderate! I can see how she would be annoyed that her travel plans are disrupted but that DOES NOT mean that she had the right to disrupt the travel plans of everybody else on the plane. Get off the plane lady and work with the airline to get on another flight! I am glad that you made your connection.

Yes, at first I felt bad for her. But after she kept refusing to leave the plane, those feelings quickly went away!

 

[Robinh]

That stinks about no personal days before a holiday break...

We are flying out of DCA at 7:40 a.m. arriving MCO at 10:07 a.m. on US Airways. Our round trip tickets were only $275 each. Flights were cheaper on Friday vice Saturday. The lowest price I found for Saturday was around $400 round trip.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Day 7 Fuzzy Disney Math


Breakfast at Boma
2 Adults--37.98
2 kids--21.98
Total w/ tax--63.86
Tip--11.00


Snack at Main Street Ice Cream Parlor
Double Scoop cookies and cream--3.89
Double Scoop Vanilla--3.89
Double Scoop Vanilla--3.89
Bottled Water--2.50
Total w/ tax--15.09


Lollypops @ the Emporium to bring back to friends
4 Swirly lollypops--3.95 each
Total w/ tax--16.83

(Yes you CAN use snack coupons for these! And this transaction used up the last of our 4 snack credits!!! )


Lunch at the Mara
Chicken Flatbread--8.19
Cheese Flatbread--6.99
Kids Chicken nuggets--4.99
Kids Chicken nuggets--4.99
Bottle of Smartwater--3.50
Bottle of Smartwater--3.50
Mickey Rice krispie treat--2.69
Mickey Rice krispie treat--2.69
Total w/ tax--39.98
　

Now, here’s where dining on the last day get’s interesting…We still had several meal credits left. Yes, it’s sad but true. This is the first time of our being on the DxDP that we have EVER had credits left over.


So what did I do???




....




.....



　
I did the less than attractive thing of trading in meal credits for snacks that we could take home. I was able to get 3 snacks for what the CM rang up as a ‘Continental Combo’.

Obviously this is NOT the most ideal way to spend your credits, but had I just left them, I would have gotten nothing from them. Glad I had read up on this on the DIS and knew that I could do it!

So I proceeded to buy a bazillion Mickey head Rice Krispie treats to take home with us to beat the Disney blues.


Snacks at the Mara
3 bags of baked pita chips--8.85
13 Mickey head Rice Krispie treats--34.97
2 sides of fries (to go with our lunch)--4.98
Total w/ 51.97

(I’m pretty impressed that I made $52 off of credits that would have gone unused. Getting all those extra snacks really did add up! And yes, I was eating rice krispie treats for a week after we got back, but that was fine by me )



Total for Day 7: 187.73


We fell just short of our DxDP daily cost of $202 this day. Too bad we weren’t staying for dinner that day!


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Upnext--The big reveal --total cost vs. value of the DxDP for this Disney family!

I am so excited to find out how we made out!
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

 

[AKL LOVER]

That stinks about no personal days before a holiday break...

We are flying out of DCA at 7:40 a.m. arriving MCO at 10:07 a.m. on US Airways. Our round trip tickets were only $275 each. Flights were cheaper on Friday vice Saturday. The lowest price I found for Saturday was around $400 round trip.

That's around the price I was finding so I'm glad to know that. We like to fly out of Richmond, but airline prices out of there have skyrocketed the past 2 years so we no longer fly out of there. Back in May we flew out of DCA and I'm thinking that's where we'll go with again...

 

[pinkxray]

Glad they finally got that lady off the plane. I would have been so mad if I missed my connecting flight. I haved taken a connecting flight in 10 years or so, I don't think I could handle with kids. I really want to go to CA but don't love that we can't fly directly from around here.

I'm am anxiously awaiting your totals. Good job getting the snacks and using the $52 that would have gone to waste. I think we are just done with the dining plan in the future, but we'll see.

 

[AKL LOVER]

Glad they finally got that lady off the plane. I would have been so mad if I missed my connecting flight. I haved taken a connecting flight in 10 years or so, I don't think I could handle with kids. I really want to go to CA but don't love that we can't fly directly from around here.

I'm am anxiously awaiting your totals. Good job getting the snacks and using the $52 that would have gone to waste. I think we are just done with the dining plan in the future, but we'll see.

How we make out on our DP numbers from this trip is going to decide if we do any of the DPs on our spring trip. The DxDP worked really well for us before DS was 3. This was our first trip that we had to pay for him and I'm thinking that's the big change that made the DxDP lose value for us.

That and my DH being grumpy which caused us to skip HDDR. Maybe I'll just blame the whole loss in DxDP value on him!

 

[PirateKate]

I'll be eager to see how you came out with the deluxe dining plan! I've never tried it before, but it seems like it would be very freeing to know you had all those credits, to use how ever you want.

Sorry to hear your flight got delayed. I would have been really angry, as I'm sure everyone else on the plane was.

 

[AKL LOVER]

I'll be eager to see how you came out with the deluxe dining plan! I've never tried it before, but it seems like it would be very freeing to know you had all those credits, to use how ever you want.

Sorry to hear your flight got delayed. I would have been really angry, as I'm sure everyone else on the plane was.

It is very freeing. But at the same time it's almost nerve racking. Like you're trying to beat a clock to spend all of your credits before your trip is up. If we don't do a dining plan on our next trip, I'll be interested to see what sort of a difference that makes in our trip.