November 2012 Trip planners #4~almost Disney time! Everyone welcome!

[MomofKatie]

Please help me decide- we can either go to the last MNSSHP on 11/2 OR get hopping on our 5 day tickets. DD14 and I have both been to 2 parties before (and the old P&P party), but her BFF hasn't. We will be at ASMu from 11/1- 11/6 with free QS dining.

Party pros:
-special parade and Hallowishes
-being able to stay in the MK until midnight
-possible relatively short lines for attractons
-extra time in the MK during a shorter trip

Party cons:
-DD and BFF might be a little "too cool" for most of the special stuff- I don't see them really being into meet & greets, the Castle Villains show, dance parties, or trick or treating- mostly they would just want to ride the rides
-party will almost certainly be a sellout, so not as uncrowded as we would like
-only day/night scheduled for MK, so we'd miss regular Wishes and any possible soft openings of the new FLE
-loooong day, since we'd get to the park at RD and stay until midnight

Hopper pros:
-girls might want to go off by themselves one or 2 afternoons, and they will have more options with hoppers
-we can visit Epcot several evenings instead of one marathon day/night
-we can check out DHS during the evening EMHs even though we will be at another park during the day
-we can head to MK from another park if we hear of soft openings at FLE
-we get to see regular Wishes and maybe the new castle projection show if it has started
-more afternoon break time because of more available park hours

Hopper cons:
-we won't get to go to the MNSSHP
-traveling between parks will take up time
-we might not get to DTD because of hopping to late closing parks
-we might get tired of all the running around from park to park

So, if it was you, which would you do? Thanks!

 

[luvallprincesses]

Well it only took 3 calls to get someone to figure out what I was asking. . .

But I got our room switch to the 25% discount instead of FD and it saves on the package price $1400. So I now have to cancel some ADRs cause we wont have to eat as much as we were before. Still doing the happy dance. I get to stay delux and hubby gets to pay less

I scanned back through and can't find your scenario...at which deluxe are you staying and when? I was hoping to see a difference of this much by dropping FD!

 

[ireneryan]

Please help me decide- we can either go to the last MNSSHP on 11/2 OR get hopping on our 5 day tickets. DD14 and I have both been to 2 parties before (and the old P&P party), but her BFF hasn't. We will be at ASMu from 11/1- 11/6 with free QS dining.

Party pros:
-special parade and Hallowishes
-being able to stay in the MK until midnight
-possible relatively short lines for attractons
-extra time in the MK during a shorter trip

Party cons:
-DD and BFF might be a little "too cool" for most of the special stuff- I don't see them really being into meet & greets, the Castle Villains show, dance parties, or trick or treating- mostly they would just want to ride the rides
-party will almost certainly be a sellout, so not as uncrowded as we would like
-only day/night scheduled for MK, so we'd miss regular Wishes and any possible soft openings of the new FLE
-loooong day, since we'd get to the park at RD and stay until midnight

Hopper pros:
-girls might want to go off by themselves one or 2 afternoons, and they will have more options with hoppers
-we can visit Epcot several evenings instead of one marathon day/night
-we can check out DHS during the evening EMHs even though we will be at another park during the day
-we can head to MK from another park if we hear of soft openings at FLE
-we get to see regular Wishes and maybe the new castle projection show if it has started
-more afternoon break time because of more available park hours

Hopper cons:
-we won't get to go to the MNSSHP
-traveling between parks will take up time
-we might not get to DTD because of hopping to late closing parks
-we might get tired of all the running around from park to park

So, if it was you, which would you do? Thanks!

My personal opinion, again with the disclaimer of I have never been there yet, but I have been a teenager, and I would say Hoppers. The freedom seems much more worth it to me, especially when you have some teens that might want to do their "own" thing and it might not line up with what you've picked out for the day.

 

[kerriemiller]

I scanned back through and can't find your scenario...at which deluxe are you staying and when? I was hoping to see a difference of this much by dropping FD!

We have a 1 br villa at AKL Jambo, from 11-9 to 11-17 the discount for this time is 25%. So that makes our total go from $6053.14 to $4655.86. So I gave up the FD for the discount. We would rather have the discount then the FD so we are pretty happy. My kids are very small eaters they usually split kids meals and DH and I are really light eaters too.

One thing I learned is that the % that is offered on your check in day is applied to all your stay. Because for our week the 9th and the 10th are 25% but the 11th to the 16th are 30%. I assumed we would get the 30% off the rest of the days as that was the discount for those days. But thats not how that works.

I told him I wasnt going to call and take off the extra days that we can just leave it as is.

 

[luvallprincesses]

We have a 1 br villa at AKL Jambo, from 11-9 to 11-17 the discount for this time is 25%. So that makes our total go from $6053.14 to $4655.86. So I gave up the FD for the discount. We would rather have the discount then the FD so we are pretty happy. My kids are very small eaters they usually split kids meals and DH and I are really light eaters too.

One thing I learned is that the % that is offered on your check in day is applied to all your stay. Because for our week the 9th and the 10th are 25% but the 11th to the 16th are 30%. I assumed we would get the 30% off the rest of the days as that was the discount for those days. But thats not how that works.

I told him I wasnt going to call and take off the extra days that we can just leave it as is.

Gotcha. That's a great savings for you! You won't regret it.

Thanks to all for their thoughts on Dolphin vs WL for us. We are a family of 4 so I can't really justify staying at AoA suites but it looks fun and when DS19 can go sometime while not at school we will definitely go that route. Our main goal this trip was the convenience of being so close to a few parks as a trade off for free dining. To top it off, the same day that I couldn't save money on the discount, USAir cancelled our non stop flight, and put us on one 4 hours earlier (crack of dawn) that has NO SEATS. So we switched to one close to our original time but have a layover in Charlotte, which we were driving 3 hours to PHL to prevent. Aghhh!! Not my Disney week this week.

 

[AquaDame]

Gotcha. That's a great savings for you! You won't regret it.

Thanks to all for their thoughts on Dolphin vs WL for us. We are a family of 4 so I can't really justify staying at AoA suites but it looks fun and when DS19 can go sometime while not at school we will definitely go that route. Our main goal this trip was the convenience of being so close to a few parks as a trade off for free dining. To top it off, the same day that I couldn't save money on the discount, USAir cancelled our non stop flight, and put us on one 4 hours earlier (crack of dawn) that has NO SEATS. So we switched to one close to our original time but have a layover in Charlotte, which we were driving 3 hours to PHL to prevent. Aghhh!! Not my Disney week this week.

Wow, why would they cancel it so far out I wonder? If there were a ton of seats left you'd think there would be another nice flight to put you on instead, I'm sorry they're giving you a rough time!

 

[anjalee6]

C'mon DxDP'ers!!! None of us are coming back 50 pounds heavier, all the energy we expend will cancel out all of the caloric intake automatically!

I just used the DxDP in July for 12 days! We always get it and I love it! I however, only gained 1 lb. so there is hope out there.

i thought what happened in the world stayed in the world...im eating like a pig and coming back a princess lol

Me too!

Okay. I debated about whether to share this with you all since this is a happy thread, but I really need to. My Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's yesterday. It doesn't come as a huge shock of course. There have been signs. But to have it actually confirmed was a bit more emotional for me than I had expected. I moved recently to be closer to my parents, so I will be quite involved with everything. I have one sister who lives in Texas, but that's a good thing. Anyway, I just needed to tell someone...and you all are the someone. Thanks for listening.

On a happy note, my 3 year old granddaughter has been delighting me since Monday evening when they arrived from Virginia. She loves Disney music (and movies) and we have been dancing up a storm together!

Prayers to your family.

I'm 2.5 hrs west of New Orleans. We're supposed to get the "eye" of the storm in a few hours, but it's no longer a hurricane, so i'm not sure exactly what we're going to get... So far just lots of wind, strong gusts at times, and light rain. We've still got power & DirecTV, too! Now if i could just stop myself from wanting to dive into every bit of food in this house!!!

Prayers for a smooth passing from Isaac!

 

[FaerieFire]

Okay. I debated about whether to share this with you all since this is a happy thread, but I really need to. My Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's yesterday. It doesn't come as a huge shock of course. There have been signs. But to have it actually confirmed was a bit more emotional for me than I had expected. I moved recently to be closer to my parents, so I will be quite involved with everything. I have one sister who lives in Texas, but that's a good thing. Anyway, I just needed to tell someone...and you all are the someone. Thanks for listening.

On a happy note, my 3 year old granddaughter has been delighting me since Monday evening when they arrived from Virginia. She loves Disney music (and movies) and we have been dancing up a storm together!

My dad was also diagnosed (officially) in the last year. He'd previously been told he likely had early signs of it (including forgetting where his eye doctor was located after leaving the house in his car to go to an appointment). In the last year, we've seen it go from occasional lapses like that and sometimes forgetting substantive conversations we had with him to having to remind him about conversations multiple times and sometimes having him repeat conversations we just had seconds before, because it didn't "take." It's rough, and I know my mother is dreading further progression. She had to deal with it with her mother some years back, and it got quite pronounced before her death. We also had an older third-cousin we helped care for who had it.

I try not to let it upset me. I've mentioned new medications that are coming out. I bought him a game player and sudoku game to try to keep his brain active. I got him a password app so he only has to remember one password. I installed a remote program for his computer so I can help from 3 hours away when needed. And I assigned him a folder in my cloud storage so that I can find and retrieve documents if something goes wrong on his end.

For now, life goes on mostly as normal for him. But my sister has already encouraged them to consider moving closer to me so they can see their grandson more often, which is something I was sure they'd never do. They still may not. But that decision is a ways off. We can only hope the progression is slow and that we have lots of time.

°o° Lace — Planning our second WDW adventure, 11/1-12 AoA-LM (Sent from my iPad using DISBoards)

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Wow I have missed a lot in a few days Hope everyone is well. Off to read about 20 pages.

 

[aubreysmom09]

Ack. DH school once again has messed things up with the VA for his GI Bill stuff.. Aaaaaahhhhhh.. Ok I needed a good yell.. How much can a school not do their job? I will go to Disney in 88 days.. Ok.. I feel a bit better..

 

[aubreysmom09]

My dad was also diagnosed (officially) in the last year. He'd previously been told he likely had early signs of it (including forgetting where his eye doctor was located after leaving the house in his car to go to an appointment). In the last year, we've seen it go from occasional lapses like that and sometimes forgetting substantive conversations we had with him to having to remind him about conversations multiple times and sometimes having him repeat conversations we just had seconds before, because it didn't "take." It's rough, and I know my mother is dreading further progression. She had to deal with it with her mother some years back, and it got quite pronounced before her death. We also had an older third-cousin we helped care for who had it.

I try not to let it upset me. I've mentioned new medications that are coming out. I bought him a game player and sudoku game to try to keep his brain active. I got him a password app so he only has to remember one password. I installed a remote program for his computer so I can help from 3 hours away when needed. And I assigned him a folder in my cloud storage so that I can find and retrieve documents if something goes wrong on his end.

For now, life goes on mostly as normal for him. But my sister has already encouraged them to consider moving closer to me so they can see their grandson more often, which is something I was sure they'd never do. They still may not. But that decision is a ways off. We can only hope the progression is slow and that we have lots of time.

°o° Lace — Planning our second WDW adventure, 11/1-12 AoA-LM (Sent from my iPad using DISBoards)

My dad is like that. We hope with all the new medicines coming out that the progression will slow down. He normally has a great memory, and is very punctual. Well now he forgets things like his keys. He has never done that. Forgot where his doctors office head to call my mom. The town only has 18000 people. Next week he will see the dr. We will see what happens. I know if he does I will feel guilty for living 1200 miles away, and he will barely have a relationship with his only grand kid. I just hope it's just him getting older,

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Lots of reading

For all those in Issacs path my prayers are with you!

For all those working on changes- congrats if you got a good deal and best of luck if you are still trying. We are staying on points with no dining plan so no options of changing for me.

 

[mamamini]

Okay. I debated about whether to share this with you all since this is a happy thread, but I really need to. My Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's yesterday. It doesn't come as a huge shock of course. There have been signs. But to have it actually confirmed was a bit more emotional for me than I had expected. I moved recently to be closer to my parents, so I will be quite involved with everything. I have one sister who lives in Texas, but that's a good thing. Anyway, I just needed to tell someone...and you all are the someone. Thanks for listening.

On a happy note, my 3 year old granddaughter has been delighting me since Monday evening when they arrived from Virginia. She loves Disney music (and movies) and we have been dancing up a storm together!

Disneychic, I'm so sorry to hear about this for you. Keep your head held high and enjoy this time with your mom and family. It's amazing how resilient one can become when facing diversity. Will be thinking of you and your family often.

 

[TruBlu]

Are any of you guys doing the Candlelight Processional dinner package? Since the week we are going is supposed to be low crowd levels, I'm torn about paying the extra money. We want to see Neil Patrick Harris. Any advice???

We are seeing Neil Patrick Harris! I am sacrificing the 2 meal credits.... if you are doing inexpensive mealse like scifi or 50's or LTT (to name a few) maybe you could pay oop for those and just use 2 credits?

I think the advice mommyof3 gave you is probably about the best option. I think it would be scary even during a "low crowd" time to try and see it without those reservations.

I think especially for NPH it will be hard to get a seat if you don't do the package. He's very popular! If you do decide to forego the package, you'll need to get into line quite early for the standby seating.

Okay... you guys convinced me! We're doing the package for the 6:45 show with NPH!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I was able to get Teppan Edo on the same day we were already planning to eat there, so now we will just pay for Sci-Fi with cash. That works better anyway because we can skip dessert and get something yummy from Starring Roles with snack credits!

 

[ksack]

I don't have an allergy to sweets, but I am finding a distinct intolerance for dairy, which really stinks because I love so much that has dairy in it. I haven't completely been able to pinpoint the exact nature of it, but organic dairy doesn't seem to bother me like non-organic does. I'll likely be avoiding many of the ice cream snacks like Mickey Bars and Dole Whips as a result though.

I don't personally suffer from dairy intolerance problems, but I've been following a dining review where the person has a dairy allergy and uses these drops just before eating dairy... She buys them online and she swears by them...

Ugh!!! I'll have to figure out who it was....

 

[ksack]

C'mon DxDP'ers!!! None of us are coming back 50 pounds heavier, all the energy we expend will cancel out all of the caloric intake automatically!

My theory is and has always been if you break it in half the calories will leak out...

 

[Divaofdisney]

Good Morning everyone!!

Hope everyone is doing well, spoke with my daughter last night in Pensacola and she fared out very well. Had lots of wind and rain and was under tornado warning twice, but luckily no real ill effects. Those in Loiusiana made out far worse and certainly my thoughts and prayers are with them all this morning as they begin to cope with all the after effects! Mother Nature can sure be a beast and carry a heavy burden to us sometimes.

I went ahead just for kicks and priced out the RO discount vs what we are getting with FD and upgrade to DxDP and we fare out so much better with what we have in place already. We will end up saving a ton of $$$$ by simply staying with what we have. With everyone's situation different, I just wanted to be sure we were making the right decision and we most assuredly are!!

To those with loved ones struggling with early onset dimentia/alzheimer's- its really a tough and relentless disease. My grandmother/grandfather-- and dad had it and he passed away NYE last year- it was so hard seeing him suffer in the end but knowing he is at peace now and in heaven gives me comfort. As a nurse I know there are many new drugs out on market and even the older ones like Aricept still work extremely well for those in the early stages. Know you are not alone and that there are so many others that share in your struggle. This is a great forum with many supportive people. We're here if you need us!!

Have lots of work to do today so I am off to get started. I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

 

[kerriemiller]

Gotcha. That's a great savings for you! You won't regret it.

Thanks to all for their thoughts on Dolphin vs WL for us. We are a family of 4 so I can't really justify staying at AoA suites but it looks fun and when DS19 can go sometime while not at school we will definitely go that route. Our main goal this trip was the convenience of being so close to a few parks as a trade off for free dining. To top it off, the same day that I couldn't save money on the discount, USAir cancelled our non stop flight, and put us on one 4 hours earlier (crack of dawn) that has NO SEATS. So we switched to one close to our original time but have a layover in Charlotte, which we were driving 3 hours to PHL to prevent. Aghhh!! Not my Disney week this week.

This is our second trip staying in a villa and with the full kitchen that the villa has we can do breakfast in the room and possibly some snacks light meals cause we always do afternoon breaks. We learned some lessons from our last years trip and will be better able to maximize the use of the kitchen.

Sorry about your flight. We live in MI and drive not because we dont want to fly we just get frustrated with flying. And we are in a position that we can take the extra 4 days to make the drive.

 

[Minnie Mommy Mouse]

This November trip will mark our first big trip as DVC members. We will be in a one bedroom villa at OKW. Any suggestions or helpful hints for us newbies?

TIA!

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Good Morning All!

Those in FL/Loiusiana area or have family in those areas...my prayers and thoughts are with you all. Such an awful thing to go through. HUGS!

Hoping for a better day today and tomorrow work wise. Then heading to the beach tomorrow night. My mini vacation until Disney.