****Official August 2014 Thread****

[m2zjj]

Its much more fun to panic with friends .

Yep. It's always a little better when you have others to panic with.

I guess I'm a day late with the QOTD, but I'm going to share anyway

On my kids very first trip the World in 2005, we were walking down Main Street and happened upon CM "Scoop" we stopped to chat with him and he asked where we were from. My DD (aged 6) proudly announced "We're from Canada!!". He told her was just looking for a nice little girl from Canada and asked us to come with him to City Hall!

What happened after that was truly a dream come true - My daughter was named "Princess for the Day", taken to Main Street Emporium, dressed head to tow in Cinderella dress, shoes, crown, gloves (you name it) but 5 "Ladies in waiting", signed ALL of their autograph books (she was a princess after all!), then she was taking behind the scenes with her Prince (her daddy!) to board Cinderella's glass carriage with white horses to carry her in the main street parade! Announced throughout the park was "Hear ye, hear ye, hear, ye - Princess Kylie Mallet from Kitchener, ONtario, Canada is our Princess of the day!!" After the parade we were given front of the line access and private meet & greets with every princess and special treatment every where we went! We will NEVER forget her first trip!!!

How Magical! and how much fun she must have had on that trip.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Lol.. I can see that. Does a countdown app on an Iphone count? Dd17 always has one of those. We just started planning yesterday so we don't have any sort of countdown. When the kids were younger we made all sorts of calendars and sticker charts though.

LOL, if I was totally honest, I might have to admit that DS & DH get a personal countdown each and every day from dear old Mom. I just might have to mention.....once or twice .... how many days left until we leave (wouldn't want them to forget, you know ). Especially after the winter we have endured....that daily reminder of the promise of warmth and sun has been better than a vitamin D supplement .

162 days to go! Time will go so quickly once Easter passes. With the end of school, graduation, etc. the weeks start to fly by. Then when summer hits, its like POOF! All of a sudden, summer's almost over and its travel time!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Yep. It's always a little better when you have others to panic with.

I am always up for a little mass hysteria!

 

[DisMom1981]

Where are the August offers?! I know it's a little early but I'm feeling impatient!

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[DisMom1981]

Ok, I've got a Question Of The Day.. Are you and your family doing anything fun to countdown your trip?? We have a countdown chain. And my daughters and I have a weekly one night sleepover in the basement where we catch up on all out Disney movies in order to get reacquainted. It has been 3 years since our last trip. Tonight is Sleeping Beauty!! Cant wait to hear everyone's stories and tips...

We will make a countdown chain at the beginning if summer and wish our summer away like we did last year! Lol! On each chain we wrote something we want to do on the trip and we saved them as we ripped each one off to read through again before we go. It's good preparation for my kids- they do better when they can have an idea of what's coming ahead of time.

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[WAHkoMom]

I am subscribing to this thread! We are going Aug 16th - 23rd and are staying at AKV for the first time. Going back to read through the posts now.

 

[lovin'fl]

Ok, I've got a Question Of The Day.. Are you and your family doing anything fun to countdown your trip?? We have a countdown chain. And my daughters and I have a weekly one night sleepover in the basement where we catch up on all out Disney movies in order to get reacquainted. It has been 3 years since our last trip. Tonight is Sleeping Beauty!!

Cant wait to hear everyone's stories and tips...

No countdown...like another poster said, it's a bit tough to find a neat way to countdown with 15 year olds.

 

[m2zjj]

I am always up for a little mass hysteria!

Every trip we have taken has been during Hurricane season, Sept 2004 our Honeymoon we panicked over Hurricane Ivan, September 2008 we worried about Hurricane Ike, August 2012 was Hurricane Ernesto, TS Florance, and TS Helene that we were watching. So far we've been lucky but every time I swear we are not going during Hurricane season ever again. Yet here we are planning another August trip.

 

[pigletto]

Every trip we have taken has been during Hurricane season, Sept 2004 our Honeymoon we panicked over Hurricane Ivan, September 2008 we worried about Hurricane Ike, August 2012 was Hurricane Ernesto, TS Florance, and TS Helene that we were watching. So far we've been lucky but every time I swear we are not going during Hurricane season ever again. Yet here we are planning another August trip.

Gina and I have panicked during Hurricane season together a few times now. The more the merrier.

If it makes you feel better, we have gone quite a few times in the winter as well and then you just worry about snow storms. Our May trip was the only time I didn't fret.
It's not the weather while I am there that ends up worrying me. It's always the flights and not being able to get there that has me worried!

And it looks like we'll be staying at the Beach Club for 6 or 7 nights. Got a very good rate quote today. The only way that is possible is if I can save some money by upgrading the 2 day tickets I have leftover from February 2013. That shouldn't be a problem, but they just couldn't get them added to my MDE account last time I tried. It's been awhile so maybe it will be easier this time. They are still on KTTW cards so it complicates things. It keeps us from being able to plan FP+ in advance if we do it this way, but honestly I'd rather save the thousand bucks it would cost me for new tickets. I just don't want to get there and find out it won't work for some reason. I see another long call to Disney IT in my future. I have 2 sets of bands, 2 sets of KTTW cards and 2 sets of ticket media on my MDE account right now from our last trip. Your guess is as good as mine if any of them are those leftover 2 days tickets.

 

[alicat8]

Need some help from the Southwest people...

I've never flown with them before, but since I'm kind of annoyed with my Jetblue options, I'm looking into them.

What does "wanna get away" mean? What are the chances these flights will change drastically in the next 5 months?

 

[pigletto]

Need some help from the Southwest people...

I've never flown with them before, but since I'm kind of annoyed with my Jetblue options, I'm looking into them.

What does "wanna get away" mean? What are the chances these flights will change drastically in the next 5 months?

We always use Southwest or Jetblue, but usually Southwest because it's cheaper from our airport. We really like them. I have never had a major schedule change with Southwest in 10 trips. The Wanna Get Away fare is just their cheapest rate and it has different cancellation rules than the other higher fares. That's the only thing I can think of .

 

[alicat8]

Thanks. Also, my husband is 6'6"...any chance of extra leg room??

 

[mrstomrice]

Thanks. Also, my husband is 6'6"...any chance of extra leg room??

We love SW. The prices flucuate often, so keep your eyes out. The most room you can get is in the first row. You pick your own seats, so unless you are the first on in section A, you'll have little chance of sitting there, unless you separate.

 

[digiMom]

Ok, I've got a Question Of The Day.. Are you and your family doing anything fun to countdown your trip?? We have a countdown chain. And my daughters and I have a weekly one night sleepover in the basement where we catch up on all out Disney movies in order to get reacquainted. It has been 3 years since our last trip. Tonight is Sleeping Beauty!!

Cant wait to hear everyone's stories and tips...

We don't have a countdown that's "official," but there's a ton of things we do as we look forward to our trip. We go through our photos and videos from previous trips, discuss our favorite memories, talk about and plan what we want to do and where we want to eat. We have the four park DVDs (the "Where Dreams Come True" series) that we pull out periodically and, of course, the trip planning DVDs. My favorite is still the 2005 one for the "Happiest Celebration on Earth" with Erin, Dave, Luke and Stacy. That one was the best! (I design and build websites and multimedia-can you tell we're into media ) We also have have family movie night and will sometimes choose a Disney movie. Our last one was "Tangled."

Recently, I'm incorporating getting in shape with my countdown as well. I want to be healthy enough to enjoy our trip. I'm so thankful to those of you that have joined in to create an awesome group. If you haven't joined us, you're welcome to. We're over here: Get in Shape & Lose Weight for August 2014

 

[pigletto]

We love SW. The prices flucuate often, so keep your eyes out. The most room you can get is in the first row. You pick your own seats, so unless you are the first on in section A, you'll have little chance of sitting there, unless you separate.

I was thinking first row, or the Emergency Exit rows? Those seem roomier and the seats in front of them don't recline.

I called Disney ticketing today, and spoke to a very nice man who checked my KTTW cards. He was able to confirm they still have the 2 day tickets on them. So it's only going to cost us $450 to upgrade our tickets. Beach Club here we come. My son enjoys the waterparks but dd and I aren't huge fans. I would take him, but Beach Club has such a fabulous pool we won't need the water parks! Being able to walk to Epcot and DHS or catch a quick water taxi will be wonderful. I am getting really excited! I am even going to try my luck and request a room with a daybed. I know it's not a guarantee but it would be so nice for everyone to have their own bed and not have to share.

 

[DisMom1981]

I was thinking first row, or the Emergency Exit rows? Those seem roomier and the seats in front of them don't recline. I called Disney ticketing today, and spoke to a very nice man who checked my KTTW cards. He was able to confirm they still have the 2 day tickets on them. So it's only going to cost us $450 to upgrade our tickets. Beach Club here we come. My son enjoys the waterparks but dd and I aren't huge fans. I would take him, but Beach Club has such a fabulous pool we won't need the water parks! Being able to walk to Epcot and DHS or catch a quick water taxi will be wonderful. I am getting really excited! I am even going to try my luck and request a room with a daybed. I know it's not a guarantee but it would be so nice for everyone to have their own bed and not have to share.

Beach Club is my dream resort!!!! It's so beautiful!

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[nadira36]

Could be the fact that I'm sick, but these stories are totally making me cry...

Me too! They're great.

Hi and welcome!

This will be our 5th August trip in a row. We tried the afternoon break during our first year when our kids were 6 and 3 but it never worked out for us. Once the kids hit the pool mid afternoon they were in the pool for a few hours and then they were so tired we never made it back to the parks.

Now that our kids are 7 and 10, we like to hit the parks early and stay during the afternoon and head to the pool after dinner, or have a lazy morning, go for a swim and head to the parks early afternoon and into the evening.

Last trip we left the parks around 3 each day, took a nap, went for a swim, had dinner, then a walk/playground, and bed. It was such a wonderful, relaxed trip. We're planning a similar style this trip.

Ok, I've got a Question Of The Day.. Are you and your family doing anything fun to countdown your trip?? We have a countdown chain. And my daughters and I have a weekly one night sleepover in the basement where we catch up on all out Disney movies in order to get reacquainted. It has been 3 years since our last trip. Tonight is Sleeping Beauty!!

Cant wait to hear everyone's stories and tips...

We do a countdown calendar each trip. I have scrapbook Disney paper that I put the calendar on, then we use Disney stickers for each day of the count down.

I guess I'm a day late with the QOTD, but I'm going to share anyway

On my kids very first trip the World in 2005, we were walking down Main Street and happened upon CM "Scoop" we stopped to chat with him and he asked where we were from. My DD (aged 6) proudly announced "We're from Canada!!". He told her was just looking for a nice little girl from Canada and asked us to come with him to City Hall!

What happened after that was truly a dream come true - My daughter was named "Princess for the Day", taken to Main Street Emporium, dressed head to tow in Cinderella dress, shoes, crown, gloves (you name it) but 5 "Ladies in waiting", signed ALL of their autograph books (she was a princess after all!), then she was taking behind the scenes with her Prince (her daddy!) to board Cinderella's glass carriage with white horses to carry her in the main street parade! Announced throughout the park was "Hear ye, hear ye, hear, ye - Princess Kylie Mallet from Kitchener, ONtario, Canada is our Princess of the day!!" After the parade we were given front of the line access and private meet & greets with every princess and special treatment every where we went! We will NEVER forget her first trip!!!

So magical!

We don't. Not because I don't think it would be fun, though.....but because I can't find any kind of countdown that might appeal to an 18 year old .

I can think of a few countdown ideas that'd appeal to an 18yr old…

Where are the August offers?! I know it's a little early but I'm feeling impatient!

I'm really hoping for something really good this year!

Gina and I have panicked during Hurricane season together a few times now. The more the merrier.

And it looks like we'll be staying at the Beach Club for 6 or 7 nights. Got a very good rate quote today. The only way that is possible is if I can save some money by upgrading the 2 day tickets I have leftover from February 2013. That shouldn't be a problem, but they just couldn't get them added to my MDE account last time I tried. It's been awhile so maybe it will be easier this time. They are still on KTTW cards so it complicates things. It keeps us from being able to plan FP+ in advance if we do it this way, but honestly I'd rather save the thousand bucks it would cost me for new tickets. I just don't want to get there and find out it won't work for some reason. I see another long call to Disney IT in my future. I have 2 sets of bands, 2 sets of KTTW cards and 2 sets of ticket media on my MDE account right now from our last trip. Your guess is as good as mine if any of them are those leftover 2 days tickets.

I really want to stay at BC. Next trip, after the august trip, we plan to stay at BC while our family technically still fits.

My DD loves your screen name - it seems to combine her 2 favourite things - pokemon and Disney. It may not have been your intent, but it's very similar to the name of one of the poke on.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Beach Club here we come.

Woo hoo!!! Let the planning begin!

I can think of a few countdown ideas that'd appeal to an 18yr old…

Do share!!! (lol, he's a boy....does they have anything to do with food, girls or sports? )

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So.............

Now that we have had a few new folks (and a few old friends) join us on this thread as their trip dates get finalized, who might be interested in a Dismeet?

Thinking maybe at Ghirardelli's at DTD? Its fairly central to all the resorts and easy to get to.

I am there the last two weeks of August, and could make most nights work. I know Lynne G was up for it. Anyone else????

 

[disneygrl704]

My husband and I went to the Disney Store last night and got some t shirts for ourselves and some surprises for DD. I can't wait to tell her we are going she is going to be so excited! They had lots of clearance shirts, but why do most of them say Disneyland Resort? I didn't see many that said Walt Disney World. We are on the east coast so wouldn't it make more sense to have WDW shirts instead? Just an observation!