October 20th 2007 Western Magic Part 2

[JLDSMD]

Jeff is usually on bright and early but looks like he spent too much time doing taxes last night.

So, Karen, plz explain. UK'ers don't do their own income tax returns? Your employers do them for you? I wouldn't trust mine to get them done on time. Very lacksadaisikle around here. (Lacksadaisikle...now there's a word. )

I was up until 4 this morning doing taxes. I slept on the couch downstairs so I wouldn't hear Suz get up. But then my internal clock went off and it was 7 and I was concerned she didn't get up with the alarm. I laid down there until I heard her, dosed off a little longer and was up by 8. 4 hours of sleep. I was on the phone with the IRS by 8:30.

 

[A fat english gent]

Chris - what parks do you actually want to go to? Will you have time for Busch and wet n wild? These tickets always seem a great deal, but I find you dont actually use many of the parks/days if you're doing Disney aswell.

You might find it cheaper to price up the parks you actually want to go to rather than having a lot of others thrown in that you might not use. I know Ryan and Rosie are 13 so they'll like the bigger stuff by now. Are they on adult price tickets now? I know Universal are doing "get a kid ticket free when you buy an adult", and sea world were doing adult tickets for kids prices.

Try www.Orlandoticketdeals - I always use them and they will price match too. Excellent service - might be worth checking them out.

We are definitely getting sea world tickets (I have to get my fix of Shamu every time we go) and we cant make our mind up about Universal. We did it when Ellis was tiny - 18 months old, but have been back since. Its not so much fun for us riding the coasters on our own and doing parent swap with Ellis, so we didnt do universal last time cos its mainly coasters. I know there's the kiddie area with one fish two fish etc, but I'm gonna have to research what else is there to see if its worth it.

This darned cruise is throwing all my planning. We have 7 days before and 3 after, so really we need a 21 day pass each even though we can only use about 8 days of it.

Thanks for that Karen my heads in bits with all this....

Sunday=Universal

Monday=sea world AM/Universal pm

Tuesday=Busch garden (never been there and were desperate to ride the coasters there)

Wednesday,Thursdays and Friday we'll use the Disney passes we have left over from the last time.

Must go heads in melt down....

 

[JLDSMD]

Well the big snow storm we had didn't seem too bad yesterday. I still made it home from work in 1/2 hour. It was a heavy wet snow. I think it'll be gone by the weekend.

Any other Wisconsinites care to comment?

I did see a few cars in the ditches and a few little fender benders but nothing serious. Then again I wasn't on the interstate either. Chuck said he saw quite a few accidents yesterday on his way back from Madison. One verrrrry serious one too. A baby car seat was laying on the road and the car was covered with a tarp. That means there was probably a death involved or something awfully gruesome.

Wow..I sure can bring the room down can't I? Are you sorry you wanted to play Karen?

I want to know where the 5 to 8 inches were. They were saying we were in that area, but I would say we got no more than 2-3 inches.

The roads were awful though.

It will be gone by the weekend for sure.

 

[goofyfreak]

Sorry to butt in but... Here's some info on us
Me= Lori 33
Husband= Scott 38
DD= Alex 10
DD= Julia 4
DS= Harrison 1

We live in Virginia. I work very close to Quantico. I can't remember who is moving there but welcome to VA!!!!!! Let me know if I can help with any info. i work with 2 ladies who's husbands are there.
Has anyone picked out excurisions yet? We are having a tough time finding ones the Julia can go also. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

 

[JLDSMD]

Nancy I am REALLY not the best person to ask. Someone will come along and explain it for you but we pay tax as we earn it through the year. Well, I dont cos I dont earn anything

We pay as we earn as well here in the US. If they had us pay it all at one time, people wouldn't have the money and I think if everyone had to pay a bill that high at one time, the political make up in Washington would be much different.

There are a slew of things that get added to your income as well as a ton of deductions. A simple flat rate would be much easier.

I have a client in another state and he has a local tax that is a percent. His employer withholds it every check. Even though the tax is based on the wages and it is a percent, it still never matches up.

 

[JLDSMD]

Sorry to butt in but... Here's some info on us
Me= Lori 33
Husband= Scott 38
DD= Alex 10
DD= Julia 4
DS= Harrison 1

We live in Virginia. I work very close to Quantico. I can't remember who is moving there but welcome to VA!!!!!! Let me know if I can help with any info. i work with 2 ladies who's husbands are there.
Has anyone picked out excurisions yet? We are having a tough time finding ones the Julia can go also. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

That would be Paige (disgrits). I think she is moving early this summer.

 

[JLDSMD]

Its a bit like people still measuring in feet and inches over here. We've been metric for donkeys years, but I'm still 5'3" - no idea what I am in metres?

I think you would be 160 cm tall.

 

[JLDSMD]

Geez - Just noticed I'm 16 posts away from 1000 - dod I really post that much

I think Iwas only up to about 20 before I joined this thread - that means you poor things have had me blabing on for over 950 posts

Geez - you all need a medal for putting up with me - have a big hug instead - so this is for all you Konkers out there that put up with my rubbish

Darn, you will get to 1,000 post before I do. Although my 1,000 is on this thread only. I need a life.

 

[dizneycrazy4]

COLOR="SandyBrown"]I want to know where the 5 to 8 inches were. They were saying we were in that area, but I would say we got no more than 2-3 inches.

The roads were awful though.

It will be gone by the weekend for sure

Up north where we live, we got 8 inches, and a town alittle north yet, they got 10.

The roads were awful, school was delayed 2 hrs to clear off the drifting.

 

[Karen Mouse]

Thanks for that Karen my heads in bits with all this....

Sunday=Universal

Monday=sea world AM/Universal pm

Tuesday=Busch garden (never been there and were desperate to ride the coasters there)

Wednesday,Thursdays and Friday we'll use the Disney passes we have left over from the last time.

Must go heads in melt down....

Are you staying at a Universal hotel? Guests get a special pass like a fast pass that gets them to the front of the lines. Someone on the Dibb was saying that the lines for everyone else are horrendous cos those with a "fastpass" get off the ride then cut straight back to the front of the line so the queue barely moves forward Maybe Oct wont be so bad but its that that put us off going last time too.

Is Universal more busy on weekends? There is a site where you can check which parks are busiet on which days but I dont have a link at the moment. If you need it let me know.

Seaworld - have you ever seen the night time fireworks? - I didnt even know they had them til recently.

Busch - great park for coasters. It takes about an hour and half to get there from Disney area. Straight easy run. Dont expect the staff to be like castmembers - they arent. They obviously arent rude but they dont have disney pixie dust for breakfast.

I have just ordered the Universal dvd - you have started me thinking now - maybe we should give it a try this year. I just worry about those guests with the priviledge passes.


Maybe if we did the Universal parks at the end of the hol and Seaworld we could just get a 7 day pass fo disney, or Universal at the start, then seaworld then a 14 day pass which gives us enopugh days left when we come off the cruise? - oh for god sake - I'm even more confused now thean when I started typing! - thanks Chris

 

[A fat english gent]

Are you staying at a Universal hotel? Guests get a special pass like a fast pass that gets them to the front of the lines. Someone on the Dibb was saying that the lines for everyone else are horrendous cos those with a "fastpass" get off the ride then cut straight back to the front of the line so the queue barely moves forward Maybe Oct wont be so bad but its that that put us off going last time too.

Is Universal more busy on weekends? There is a site where you can check which parks are busiet on which days but I dont have a link at the moment. If you need it let me know.

Seaworld - have you ever seen the night time fireworks? - I didnt even know they had them til recently.

Busch - great park for coasters. It takes about an hour and half to get there from Disney area. Straight easy run. Dont expect the staff to be like castmembers - they arent. They obviously arent rude but they dont have disney pixie dust for breakfast.

I have just ordered the Universal dvd - you have started me thinking now - maybe we should give it a try this year. I just worry about those guests with the priviledge passes.
Maybe if we did the Universal parks at the end of the hol and Seaworld we could just get a 7 day pass fo disney, or Universal at the start, then seaworld then a 14 day pass which gives us enopugh days left when we come off the cruise? - oh for god sake - I'm even more confused now thean when I started typing! - thanks Chris

Now BOTH are heads our in bits dear....Yes we are staying at Universal,the Hard rock if memory serves me right at a cost of $310 a night ...

ps...Has anyone noticed what i do about my "are" and "our"?.....i guess....

 

[dizneycrazy4]

Now BOTH are heads our in bits dear....Yes we are staying at Universal,the Hard rock if memory serves me right at a cost of $310 a night ...

ps...Has anyone noticed what i do about my "are" and "our"?.....i guess....

Not sure how long you were staying after the cruise, we went there beginning of December, if I remember correctly Mondays were kinda crazy, as the weekend. We have been there earlier in October, and that also can be hectic. Go early before the crowds.

 

[dizneycrazy4]

Where is everyone?

 

[Lindy Loo]

We stayed at the royal pacific ( a universal hotel ) for 3 nights last year, we hopped to Hard rock as well, as you can use all 3 hotels if staying in one. The Front of Line Access for people staying in the hotel was great, wew did do ride after ride after ride ! .................. the queues were bad, and I did feel a bit sad to be riding again on spider man, as others were still queing, ( but not that bad! ) Karen if you get to the parks before 12 you are fine, but after that it does get crowded. The weekends are busier than the week days, as locals often come for the weekend as their APs are a very good deal. Rememeber Stay and Scream, their MNSSHP but for ADULTS only... we stayed for that last year.... lots of underage or out of control drinking... .not disney finned at all !

Chris Hard rock is lovely , the pool is good and not deep at all. The Kitchen does great food their, we ate with Scooby doo there!

I can book my ADRS this Sat, so Im planning like crazy!

 

[goofyfreak]

We have stayed at Hard Rock and Royal Pacific. We love both but prefer the pool at Hard Rock. The kids especially love the slide!!!!! DH loved the volleyball.
We have done Universal by staying there and by staying outside. The standby lines can be long but I agree with getting there early. The pass to the front of the line is awesome though!!!!! I never felt guilty walking past bystanders. I paid alot of money to do that!!!!
We will be coming to Disney For a day at the park on Fri before the cruise. and also going back to a park after the cruise. Not sure what we are exactly doing since it looks like the Halloween party is not going to be on the Fri night before the cruise. We were really hoping to do that again!!!!

 

[oybolshoi]

We love FOTL (Front of the Line) at Universal - there's nothing like walking right onto a ride while the masses wait...and glare at you for making their wait even longer.

We've onlly stayed at Portofino Bay, which we love. We figured Hard Rock was a little too edgy for us and Royal Pacific smelled too much like cocoa butter the one time we visited. Besides, the Mandara Spa is located within Portofino so why would we stay anywhere else?

 

[kaitiebear]

we also stayed at the hard rock it was really cool and fun. where are you guys staying this time around we are staying at the yaht and beach club before the cruise and the wilderness dvc suits after the cruise it is soooooooo fun i cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[goofyfreak]

We are staying at Pop Century before and after. We are not DVC members, so we take the cheap way out. We feel we are not in our room very much the night before or after so we prefer to spend our money on the cruise!!!!!
We love to vacation and try to get the best deals so we can go more often and squeeze the life out of every moment of our vacation!!!!!

 

[oybolshoi]

I have to admit it... Jay and I are hotel snobs - as far as our income and vacation budget will allow. We've been spoiled by DVC, that's a fact!

But even I can only spend so much - we actually got really good deals the two times we stayed at Portofino Bay, or we wouldn't have been able to stay there.

Champagne taste on a micro-brewery beer budget - that's us!

 

[GOS]

We are staying at Pop Century before and after. We are not DVC members, so we take the cheap way out. We feel we are not in our room very much the night before or after so we prefer to spend our money on the cruise!!!!!
We love to vacation and try to get the best deals so we can go more often and squeeze the life out of every moment of our vacation!!!!!

Know what you mean. We've always had the same idea. Now we have DVC, we will be staying 'at home'. We will consider staying at Universal one day, to save our points at the weekend.

Heather