Nov 25-Dec 2

[handicap18]

This is the one thing about MGM that isn't great. I don't like the TS dinner choices. There are 5 but one of them (Brown Derby) is a 2 credit TS. So that leaves Hollywood & Vine, Mama Melrose, 50's Prime Time and Si-Fi. We did H&V in '05 and we're very impressed. The others don't do a heck of a lot for me either. This time around we're going to try Mama Melrose and get it with the Fantasmic Package. I'm hoping to get an early dinner like 430-5pm, then have plenty of time for Fantasmic. We'll see what they'll do on the weekend for Fantasmic times. Usually during the week at that time of year its only a 7pm show, then on at least 1 weekend night there are 2, 7pm and 9pm.

I was told by a CM at Disney that I can book my ADR's starting May 30th. I'm going the day after you guys, so you can start on May 29. Lines open at 7am.

I don't see any problems getting the times and places you want if you book then. In '05 I believe I made the ADR's sometime in August or Sept and got just about everything we wanted. One I didn't get I just called back every few days and about 3 or 4 weeks later I ended up getting what we wanted. Only thing I could not get at all was the Fantasmic package, that booked up pretty quick so be sure to do that early. Same for CP package.

 

[kelleigh1]

We only decided on 50's because of the "fun factor". We're not really going for the food, and we're looking at going there the night we arrive, so even if we're not impressed with the food, we know we'll get better food during the rest of the week. We had wanted to go to 50's last year, but they were closed for refurbishment the week we went.

And yes, May 29 is the date I have calculated for our ADR's. I think I mentioned that we're going to book Alfredo's at that point and then once they release the CP dinner packages, we'll call and update our reservation.

 

[kelleigh1]

The other thing I need to remember to do is to get a cake for hubby's birthday. I was thinking of just going over to the Boardwalk bakery and picking one out for him, but I'm not sure yet.

His birthday is Dec. 1, so our last full day there, but I wanted to get a cake earlier in the week to just take back to the room...then we could have cake all week.

 

[handicap18]

I was thinking of doing something for DW too. Her B-Day is Dec 6. Our last day is the 3rd, but I was thinking it might be a cool idea at our last meal to have a cake for her. I'd love to do something like you said, but she can't have sweets around, its a blood sugar thing. But blowing of the candles with the CM's maybe at a character meal would be very cool. I'll have to wait until I book the ADR's to really know.

I guess its fairly easy to set up by calling Disney dining reservations. I'll ask them about it when I book.

 

[Tracy Savage]

Our 15th anniversary is Dec. 5. Could someone tell my DH that diamonds are nice!?!

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Our 15th anniversary is Dec. 5. Could someone tell my DH that diamonds are nice!?!

I think the 15th ann. is WOOD. One canoe coming your way.

 

[Tracy Savage]

I think the 15th ann. is WOOD. One canoe coming your way.

More likely a box of tooth picks.

 

[kelleigh1]

Our 15th anniversary is Dec. 5. Could someone tell my DH that diamonds are nice!?!

The 5th is actually six months from our anniversary...although we're only hitting 3 this June, so by the time the trip rolls around it will be 3 1/2. We talked about that yesterday since we'd love to celebrate our anniversary at WDW, but I don't think we'll ever go there in June. Much too hot and crowded.

 

[kelleigh1]

So an old friend emailed me to say that the house I grew up in is on the market again. Here's the listing.

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/Hom...816ADCFC20CC&snumxlid=1074340121&lnksrc=00001

And a picture:

I can not get over the $365,000 price tag. When my parents bought it in 1971, they paid $16,000 for it. They sold it in 2000 (or was it 2001) for $150,000. And now, just 6-7 years later, the price has more than doubled. This is why we can't afford to buy a house in the state that I've lived in my entire life (well, except those first 8 months I live in Texas).

 

[Tracy Savage]

The 5th is actually six months from our anniversary...although we're only hitting 3 this June, so by the time the trip rolls around it will be 3 1/2. We talked about that yesterday since we'd love to celebrate our anniversary at WDW, but I don't think we'll ever go there in June. Much too hot and crowded.

So celebrate a FAKE one!!! My inlaws have a timeshare in St. Augustine and the keep asking us to go, I'd love too but it's in July! I have no desire to be any where near FLA in July. And WDW would be down right scary I'm sure. It wouldn't be enjoyable. Thats why we pull DS out of school for a week. We get his work and he can do it in the car while we drive down and back. We want to be able to see and do everything, not fight crowds.

 

[Tracy Savage]

So an old friend emailed me to say that the house I grew up in is on the market again. Here's the listing.

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/Hom...816ADCFC20CC&snumxlid=1074340121&lnksrc=00001

And a picture:

I can not get over the $365,000 price tag. When my parents bought it in 1971, they paid $16,000 for it. They sold it in 2000 (or was it 2001) for $150,000. And now, just 6-7 years later, the price has more than doubled. This is why we can't afford to buy a house in the state that I've lived in my entire life (well, except those first 8 months I live in Texas).

Nice porch! If you could have someone in the rental all the time it would be ok but who knows. It's amazing how much house prices bounce around. Our area is very stagnant right now. Nothing is moving.

 

[kelleigh1]

Nice porch! If you could have someone in the rental all the time it would be ok but who knows. It's amazing how much house prices bounce around. Our area is very stagnant right now. Nothing is moving.

When they bought it, my parents were only in their early 20's. The apartment was almost always rented, but as they got older, it just got to be too much of a hassle for them to keep it up and to deal with tenants - and they had some doozies. I think they needed a much better screening process, but my Dad just didn't want to deal with it. They now own a trailer in a 55+ trailer park down in Carver, which is right near the Cape. It's a beautiful area and they don't have to worry about tenants.

 

[Tracy Savage]

When they bought it, my parents were only in their early 20's. The apartment was almost always rented, but as they got older, it just got to be too much of a hassle for them to keep it up and to deal with tenants - and they had some doozies. I think they needed a much better screening process, but my Dad just didn't want to deal with it. They now own a trailer in a 55+ trailer park down in Carver, which is right near the Cape. It's a beautiful area and they don't have to worry about tenants.

I grew up in a 3 bd ranch with no basement and 1 living room( fun when dates came over) My brother and I moved out, then my parents built a 5 bd house overlooking Lake Erie. HHHMMMMM

 

[kelleigh1]

Only 275 days to go.


So...we can make ADR's 180 days out, which puts us at May 29. Ok.
Candlelight Processional Dinner Packages are usually announced in late summer. I can work around that.
Park hours and EMH aren't set in stone and are posted about a month prior. Making things a bit more difficult for planning.

Add to that the fact that I'm waiting for Southwest to release late fall/early winter dates (won't happen for several months) and I want to time our Narcoossee's dinner to catch Wishes and the Electrical Water Pageant when I'm finding it hard to confirm what time those events will take place in the winter months, and this planning thing is becoming a challenge.

I know this much. We want to dine at the following:

Chef Mickey's (breakfast)
Narcoossee's
Boma
50's Primetime Cafe
ESPN
L'Originale Alfredo di Roma (Candlelight Processional Pkg)

And then we're going offsite for dinner at Emeril's on Dec. 1 for hubby's birthday.

Emeril's is the only one that has the date already set (although I can't make reservations just yet.) The others will all depend on EMH and other schedules. I wanted to do 50's on our first night and then catch Fantasmic since hubby hasn't seen it yet, but I'm thinking we might be too tired depending on what time our flight is. And I'm not even sure what time they perform Fantasmic in November.

Oh, it's all so confusing.

And in the meantime, we're moving out of our apartment in 2 weeks. So I've got that going through my head at the same time. It's like a circus in there.

 

[handicap18]

Park hours and EMH aren't set in stone and are posted about a month prior. Making things a bit more difficult for planning.

Add to that the fact that I'm waiting for Southwest to release late fall/early winter dates (won't happen for several months)

As of right now, park hours and EMH are posted on disneyworld.com though August. They've been consistant for the year so far. I'm guessing that they'll have the next few months posted pretty soon as MNSSHP tickets and stuff will be available soon too. The last few years at that time of year Fantasmic has been at 7pm with an extra show at 9pm on Sat and maybe Sun.

I know what you mean with Southwest. We're going to fly SW out of Manchester NH, but right now they too only go through August. Which leaves us till sometime in June to book flights.

My sister and BIL are going with us out of New Jersey and Continental has their schedule available for then. No deals yet though. though as of right now from MHT on SW for similar days a few months prior are as low at $150 pp round trip. NICE!!! I believe PVD is the same. Fingers will be kept crossed!!!!

 

[handicap18]

The 5th is actually six months from our anniversary...although we're only hitting 3 this June, so by the time the trip rolls around it will be 3 1/2. We talked about that yesterday since we'd love to celebrate our anniversary at WDW, but I don't think we'll ever go there in June. Much too hot and crowded.

We went in June last year and I was pleasently surprised. Though it was very unseasonably hot. Got in to the mid 90's, though normal temps are usually high 70's low 80's. Went the first weekend in June. Parks were crowded, more so than the week after Thanksgiving, but I never felt it was out of control. Used FP alot, but got to do pretty much everything I wanted. Plus we were able to attend a Star Wars Weekend. We got the last weekend last year. Very awesome, especially growing up in the late 70's/early 80's as a Star Wars nut. Oh how I wanted to be 10 years old again to be able to participate in the Jedi Academy and have a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader.

 

[kelleigh1]

I did some research yesterday and found the "projected" schedule for our times. Basically, it's just last years schedule with 2007 dates. If that holds true, things will be ok. Although one of our dinner plan changes throws things off a bit, but that's our fault. We had hoped to do breakfast at Chef Mickey's on a Morning EMH day at MK, so we could hit the park early and then have a late breakfast. Since we'd be on the dining plan, we wanted to do CS for dinner. In thinking about it, we decided it makes sense to do CS at MK the night of MVMCP since we weren't interested in any of the TS places at MK. If I remember correctly, MK Morning EMH is not on a MVMCP day, so it's looking like Chef Mickey's breakfast won't be on a morning EMH day.

 

[kelleigh1]

Well...it looks like Thursday is the normal morning EMH at MK and there is MVMCP that night, so I think that will be the plan. MVMCP on Thursday and CP on the Tuesday night.

 

[kelleigh1]

Just came in to give us a little boost back up. Where is everybody?

 

[Gerweniel]

Good morning!
My sons and I will be at POP 11/28 - 12/1 then on to the Magic! Hoping for some good package to come out as we are booked just bare-bones now, and we really utilize the DDP to the max. We'd like to upgrade to try Coronado Springs.
It seems so far away!