Now a Trip Report!!! Will We Stay or Will We Go? A Thanksgiving Pre-Trip/Trip Report

[jillyb]

YAY for a discount.

I have used a AAA a couple of times but she could/would never really look for a discount or be able to apply it. So I use WDW travel now.

I think the agents have a certain number they call and maybe the availability is not there for them. But if you call yourself that TA restriction does not apply.


As for the late check in- Do online check in and they will ask you arrival time. Just put when you think you are getting there. I think they have been using that so if you are early your room is ready. The past few times my room has been ready if I arrive early.

Thursday for lunch?

That makes sense.

I was wondering if I would be able to put a late arrival note on our ressie when I do online check-in so I'll definitely be sure to note that. Need to make our room requests too.

Thursday for lunch is good. 12:00 at Jason's Deli in the Epicenter?

Oh...and something that has me a bit worried. At the end of the call Snyder said we'd have 8 day base tickets. I had to call back not long after talking to him and asked the other CM about it. He said we'd have 8 days/8 nights. Is that right? Are that not counting the 19th (which would make it 8 nights/9 days) since I told Snyder that it would be 11:30 pm...midnight at the latest...before we arrived? When I asked the second CM about it he asked me if I wanted to add a day and I told him "no".

 

[Poolrat]

thursday Jasons at noon Epicenter -- Good for me.

Reservations
8 nights night of 19th - 26 you leave the 27th right ?

8 day tickets from 20th - 27th -

I will go back and check your dates.

 

[jillyb]

thursday Jasons at noon Epicenter -- Good for me.

Reservations
8 nights night of 19th - 26 you leave the 27th right ?

8 day tickets from 20th - 27th -

I will go back and check your dates.

Yeah...we leave the 27th. The ressie with the TA is 7 nights/8 days for 11/20 - 11/27. I was thinking we had a park ticket for that last day. If we don't I'm going to have to add a day because we've got a Coral Reef lunch ADR at 11:30 on the 27th!

OK...I just checked the last e-mail from the TA and here's what she's got:

"Arriving: Saturday 11/20/2010 for 7 nights

Departing: Saturday 11/27/2010
Resort Name: Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside

Room Type Standard View

Park Tickets 8-Day Magic Your Way Base Ticket (will not allow park hopping, will not include water parks or Disney Quest and this ticket will expire 14 days from the first use)

Package Type:Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining (includes one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack per person ages 3 and up, per night)"

So I would think that this new ressie would be for 8 nights with 9 day MYW Base Ticket since we're checking in one day earlier than originally planned.

 

[Poolrat]

You can always choose how many days on your tickets. You are staying with 8 since you will be arriving late on the 19th and will not go to the park that day. You will have enough days on your tickets to go the 20 -27th.
See you Thursday.

I will bring your park maps.

 

[disney<333]

Joining in! I'll be there Thanksgiving week, too. It's a great time to go! I've been that week 4 times before, so if you have any questions let me know.
Barbara

 

[jillyb]

You can always choose how many days on your tickets. You are staying with 8 since you will be arriving late on the 19th and will not go to the park that day. You will have enough days on your tickets to go the 20 -27th.
See you Thursday.

I will bring your park maps.

I think that because he transferred the AKL ressie (which was 7 nights/8 days) that the extra day didn't transfer over. When I go on the Disney site and put in 11/19 - 11/27 it gives me 9 day tickets. As long as I have enought days on my tickets though I'm good! LOL

Looking forward to Thursday! Thanks again for getting the park maps for me.

 

[jillyb]

Joining in! I'll be there Thanksgiving week, too. It's a great time to go! I've been that week 4 times before, so if you have any questions let me know.
Barbara

I'm very excited about getting to see the Christmas decorations. I DVRd the Travel Channel shows about the Christmas decorations and I know the girls and I will be watching them as we get closer to the trip.

I'll definitely pick your brain if I have any questions!

 

[jillyb]

Hope everyone has had a good week! It's been a busy one for our family and the weekend is going to be even busier!

Hannah spent the last two weeks with my Mom. She was going swimming just about every day. She's gotten a very nice tan! Lucky girl is like her Daddy...neither one of them burn...they just get nice and tan. Me...I turn a lovely shade of red! Last Friday when I picked her up her hair was an absolute rats nest. I decided I'd had it with her hair...time for a hair cut. So off to Great Cuts we went and Hannah told the stylist she wanted her hair cut like Lily's (?) on Hannah Montana. Imagine my surprise when the stylist knew who Hannah was talking about! I don't know if she got it cut like that but it's definitely very cute! I'll have to take a picture and post it later.

Hannah's been going to VBS this week. Since I work until 5:00 my Mom has been picking her up at summer camp and dropping her off then we pick her up at 8:30. Poor kid is about worn out! A couple mornings this week she had a meltdown while getting ready because she's tired. Tonight is the last night for that.

Last night Clay's parents, his sister and her 2 girls, his cousin and her baby (who are visiting from Seattle) and Clay's Aunt were all at our house for a get together. I ran to Kentucky Fried Chicken to get dinner. I wasn't cooking for that crew! We had a very nice visit.

We have Alison this weekend. She's camping this week with her Mom and Stepdad so they'll be dropping her off sometime tomorrow evening. We're also going to have Madison this weekend. Still not sure if I have to go pick her up or if my Mom is going to pick her up. On Saturday we're going swimming with Clay's Mom and sister and her 2 girls. That night I'm going to a Premier Jewelry party at a friends house. Sunday afternoon SIL's oldest girl turns 7 and her party is from 2-4 at the Y. (Got to figure out when we can go buy a present!) Then sometime that evening we'll have to get Madison home. Not sure if we're taking her back or if Katie will come get her.

I've decided to do a 100 day countdown calendar. Yeah...gotta make the time to do that! I found some really cool numbers on the DISign forum that I'm going to use. The thing is, since they're separate numbers I'm going to have to make them. And I'm going to have to put them on something (Mickey heads maybe) and then attach it to the posterboard I'm going to use. Then I want to spruce the whole thing up with glitter and Disney stickers. We're at 121 days as of today. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything together before the 100 day mark!

Had a very nice lunch with Poolrat today. It's always nice to spend time with her. Got to hear about her recent trip and she brought some park maps for me. Thank you so much!!! There was even a map for Innoventions! I had no idea there was such a thing but it was a very nice bonus!

What have ya'll be up to this week? Any exciting plans for the weekend?

Oh! Here's a sample of the numbers I found:

Aren't they cute??!!

ETA: I sent an e-mail to the TA and asked her to cancel our reservation because I was able to get a reservation directly through WDW Travel for our dates using the 35% off pin code that we used. I feel bad for doing it but at the same time she didn't really go out of her way to find discounts for us. All I ever got was "your going over Thanksgiving and there are no discounts". Well obviously that's not true!

 

[Poolrat]

Are you recovered from the busy weekend????

For me camp this week again and tired tired tired. Oh Well we are now more than half way done!!

 

[MeMom]

I need all the numbers for my Math bulletin board! Where can I find them? Or where can Jill find them, since she has a color printer?

Sounds like you guys need some time to relax.

It's nice that you got to have lunch with Poolrat and got some Disney goodies!

 

[jillyb]

Are you recovered from the busy weekend????

For me camp this week again and tired tired tired. Oh Well we are now more than half way done!!

I'm somewhat recovered! It really turned out to not be quite as bad as I thought it would. I've just uploaded the pictures I took over the weekend and need to do some editing. Once that's done I'll post an update.

Camp is almost over this week...hang in there! On Sunday it occured to me that we were at 30 days until school starts.

I need all the numbers for my Math bulletin board! Where can I find them? Or where can Jill find them, since she has a color printer?

Sounds like you guys need some time to relax.

It's nice that you got to have lunch with Poolrat and got some Disney goodies!

I found them on the Creative DISigns forum. I can't remember now who made them. I've got them in my Photobucket account and can PM the link and password to Jill so she can print them out for you.

I am definitely ready to do some relaxing! I was telling my boss today that it's been a lonnnggggggg week. LOL

It was very nice having lunch with Poolrat and getting some Disney goodies!

 

[MeMom]

I think they will be perfect for my Math board. I hope she has time to do them before she comes this weekend. I'll let her know you are sending the information. Thanks!

 

[jillyb]

I think they will be perfect for my Math board. I hope she has time to do them before she comes this weekend. I'll let her know you are sending the information. Thanks!

Just sent her a PM with the link and password. You're very welcome!

 

[mousescrapper]

good for you on getting the ressie just the way you wanted it thru WDWT...

can't wait to see your countdown calendar the numbers are super cute

 

[jillyb]

Last weekend was a busy one for us. On Friday, I had to meet Katie to pick up Madison for the weekend, Alison was camping with her Mom and Stepdad and they were dropping her off at 9:00. After getting Madison and dropping her and Hannah off at the house I walked right back out the door to do some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. It was after 10:00 when I left Wal-Mart and I called Clay to tell him I was on my way home. Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Hmmm….maybe he had to pick up Alison for some reason…call his cell phone. Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! GRRRRR OK…where is my family??!! Call the house again. Ring! Ring! Ring! FINALLY Clay picks up and says a very sleepy “hello”. Say what??!!! I’m out late at night and you’re in bed??!!! Yep…they all went to bed and I was left to bring in and put up the groceries by myself. I’m feelin’ the love. So I show them. I sleep late the next morning!

Oh...before picking Hannah up at summer camp I had time to stop at Target to get the stuff I needed for our countdown calendar. Here’s what I got:

On Saturday we were going swimming with Clay’s parents and his sister and her two girls. We got there about 11:30 and, fortunately, it wasn’t very crowded so we were able to get a table. After swimming for a couple of hours we headed back to our house for sandwiches and chips. Everyone got cleaned up and Clay’s parents and sister left. A friend of mine was having a Premier Jewelry party at 4:00 and Alison and I went to that for a few hours. When we got home we all headed to Target to buy a birthday present for the birthday party on Sunday. Whew! I was worried we would be rushed trying to get a present but it worked out well. We were back home at a reasonable time and just lounged around until bedtime. I slept in again!

Sunday was party day! It was at a local YMCA and it was a princess party. All the girls were invited to come dressed as a princess. Sadly Hannah had already outgrown all of her princess costumes and I’d sold them last year when cleaning out her closet. Not to worry! She did have a few “fancy” dresses (as she calls them) that had been handed down from Clay’s other sister so one of those would work well as a princess dress. Fortunately there was one that Madison could wear too. Alison ended up wearing one of my dresses! It was a little big on her but it worked. Hannah is the only one that had any dress shoes to wear with her dress. Oh…and Alison wore a pair of my sandals because her black flip flops just weren’t doin’ it for her.

Here are some pictures from the party

Cinderella!

I got a chuckle when Cinderella came in. The little girls were very excited to see her! She read them a story and helped them with a craft where they all got to make their own princess wands. After those were done there was a princess parade where they all got to wave their wands.

The party was over at 4:00 and I was waiting to hear from Katie about dropping Madison off. The couple they are living with took a spur of the moment trip to the beach for the weekend since they didn’t have to watch Madison and she didn’t know when they were coming home. I finally talked to Katie and she told me to just drop Madison off at her work and her friends would come pick Madison up there. Clay and Alison were staying and Hannah was going to ride with me. Now, I don’t know what it is about Hannah and Madison but I swear those two are like a match and gasoline sometimes! I had barely got out of the neighborhood when all the back and forth started. I had to tell them both to just shush it and not to say another word. Well, I hear all this “whisper” “whisper” going on and I said “That’s it. Hannah I’m taking you back home because I’m not listening to this mess the whole ride.” So, 30 minutes after leaving the house I’m turning around and taking Hannah back home. LOL Madison and I got back on the road and made it safely to Katie’s work. Madison was very happy to see her Mommy and I was happy to have survived the weekend! LOL All in all it wasn’t too bad. While we had a lot of things going on, I never felt rushed. In a weird way it was almost relaxing!

Yesterday I called WDW Travel and added a ticket to our package for “only” $12 dollars more. LOL I know it’s a waste of a perfectly good ticket since we’ll never use it for a park but I’m happy to have the extra dining credits! Plus, I just feel better knowing that our reservation is for 9 days/8 nights instead of the 8 days/8 nights. I know that we had enough for our stay but it was just bugging me! LOL Hmmm…think I may need to do some messin’ around with ADRs now that I’ve got the dining credits to spare!

This weekend is just going to be a do nothing kind of weekend. I need to work on the countdown calendar as it’s going to be 100 days very soon. Woohoo!!! I need to work some more on our itinerary too. Oh! I had a pleasant surprise when checking online banking this morning. The refund for the reservation with the TA was in my account! Yay!! So, I immediately went to the WDW website and made a payment on our current reservation. Can’t wait to have it paid off!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[Poolrat]

Sounds like a fun weekend!

Remember your dining credits go with how many nights you are staying not how many days in tickets you have.

For our "FREE" dining in Sept., I only got the required 2 day base ticket. I have the annual pass so I will save mine to apply to my next annual pass or next set of tickets. I will upgrade my DS ticket to the 6 day hopper when we get there. It comes out cheaper to add all the days and save mine that use the 4 days and add only 2. Since we are staying 7 nights we have 7 table service 7 CS and 7 snacks.

 

[Charleston Princess]

You did have a busy weekend!!! Sounds like this weekend will be a nice change from all that!

Don't you just love adding those "cheap" days to the park tickets? Disney really knows how to make staying longer seem like such a good idea!

 

[jillyb]

Remember your dining credits go with how many nights you are staying not how many days in tickets you have.

ARRGGGHHH! Didn't I tell you I always have trouble with the dining plan?!

You did have a busy weekend!!! Sounds like this weekend will be a nice change from all that!

Don't you just love adding those "cheap" days to the park tickets? Disney really knows how to make staying longer seem like such a good idea!

I do love adding those "cheap" days but from the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like such a hot idea now!

Another weekend with a house full of girls. Hannah, Alison, Madison, Taylor (niece) and I went to see Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore last night. It was a stupid movie but the girls liked it.

Clay and Alison just left to go over to his parents house. His Dad's car broke down Thursday and Clay has gone over to do some preliminary work on it to see what's needed to fix it. I'm taking Hannah and Madison with me to do some grocery shopping and to buy some school supplies for Madison. Clay has to take Alison to get three 3 ring binders. I got two cards for $5 off $25 or more at Staples so that, along with tax free weekend, should help with that.

Tomorrow, Alison and I are going with MIL and SIL to a big consignment sale called Tot Trade. It's in the arena near our house. I don't know if I'll be able to find any clothes for Alison but hopefully I'll find some things for Hannah.

Alison's birthday is coming up on the 28th. We're doing a joint birthday party with her Mom. Those are always fun. The party is supposed to be a surprise for some reason. Clay was asking Alison this morning about a birthday party and she said she didn't want one. Say what??!!! He thinks she was just saying that but I can't imagine why she would say something like that. Kids! LOL

On the trip planning front, when I mistakenly thought I had more dining credits, I made 2 more ADRs. I added a late (10:20) breakfast at Tusker House on our first AK day and a 1:20 lunch at The Plaza Restaurant on 11/26. I also changed the time for our Yak & Yeti dinner from 5:15 to 5:30.

I did more work on our 100 day countdown calendar. I now have 100-70 on the countdown. Woohoo! We're cookin' with gas now! LOL I'm just now getting the feeling back in my thumb on my right hand after all that cutting I did with the scissors! It quickly became apparent to me that I'll probably only be able to get the first 50 days on my countdown so I went to Target one morning before work and got another piece of posterboard, more stickers and more tape. Alison is going to help me work on it some tonight.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I figured that would be the review on The Revenge of Kitty Galore. I think we will pass on it until we can get it at the Redbox.

Do we get to see pictures of the countdown when it is finished???

 

[MeMom]

I did more work on our 100 day countdown calendar. I now have 100-70 on the countdown. Woohoo! We're cookin' with gas now! LOL I'm just now getting the feeling back in my thumb on my right hand after all that cutting I did with the scissors! It quickly became apparent to me that I'll probably only be able to get the first 50 days on my countdown so I went to Target one morning before work and got another piece of posterboard, more stickers and more tape. Alison is going to help me work on it some tonight.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Looking forward to seeing the finished product!