We don't really have anything planned for the summer except a day trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. I mostly using this trip to see what type of rides might scare my DS4. He went to Holiday World and Six Flags when he was 2 and a half, but he wasn't really tall enough to ride much. This summer he is tall enough to ride everything at Holiday World except the big coasters. I'm hoping this will give me a little insight into the things that scare him...like hills, drops, spinning, darkness, sounds or special effects, etc.
I am still waiting on Oct 2011 to get here, but I DEFINITELY want to start thinking about a 2013 WDW trip once Fantasyland is complete!
That's a great idea to do a dry run at a small park like Holiday World. We used to go there once a year when I was a kid. It was just a day trip but it was the only "vacation" I knew. It was called Santa Claus Land back then. When DD sells girl scout cookies she gets to choose between 2 tickets to Kings Island, Holiday World or Indiana Beach. We chose Indiana Beach this year and I bought two more tickets on the Perks website at half off so now I'm just waiting for DH to have a weekday off that we don't have plans for to drive up for the day. DD has been wanting to go to a real sand beach forever.
I'm already thinking of our Christmas trip in 2013. Actually as soon as I heard about the Fantasyland expansion I decided we would go for Christmas in 2013. This Halloween trip was really a spur of the moment watching TV and seeing DD react to BBB. I've always wanted to go at Halloween/Food & Wine and Christmas so now we'll make sure both of those trips happen before the kids grow up on us.
Speaking of that, I thought I would put this question out there to all waiting (patiently and impatiently) for October to get here.
What are your plans for the summer?[/SIZE]
Most of our plans already happened. DS went to boy scout camp. DD went to diabetes camp. Then I'll try to get as many hours as I can to pay for Disney. We'll probably use the neighbor's pool. Visit the library a lot. See some movies (Green Lantern, Cars 2). Then Indiana Beach for one day. That about sums it up.

We do have an overnight coming up at the zoo with our girl scout troop. We get to see some animals after dark and spend the night in the dolphin pavilion.
Sweet mother of pearl! I am SO glad that I bought our plane tickets on Continental back in April. I checked the website this morning to see where fares have gone, hoping they haven't gone down since I booked. Round trip for the five of us, our same flights, has skyrocketed to $6,347.00 from the $1027.00 that I paid!

That's just plain crazy.
That made me run and check our AirTran. We paid $982.32 (with taxes) but just checking the same flights without adding taxes it would cost us $1840 today.
The Disney Parks Blog announced an updated "Eat to the Beat" lineup list which includes some previously missing performance dates
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ampaign=Feed:+DisneyParks+(Disney+Parks+Blog)
Taylor Dayne: 9/30-10/2/11
38 Special: 10/3-5/11
Jon Secada: 10/6-7/11
Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp: 10/8-9/11
Billy Ocean: 10/10-12/11
Starship starring Mickey Thomas: 10/13-16/11
Sugar Ray: 10/17-19/11
The Orchestra starring former members of ELO: 10/20-21/11
Howard Jones: 10/22-23/11
Boyz II Men: 10/24-26/11
Gin Blossoms: 10/27-28/11
Sister Hazel: 10/29-30/11
Hanson: 10/31-11/1/11
The Pointer Sisters: 11/2-3/11
Night Ranger: 11/4-6/11
Air Supply: 11/7-8/11
Richard Marx: 11/9-10/11
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: 11/11-13/11
How exactly do these work? The site says the concerts happen each evening. Do they tend to start at the same time every night? I would love to see some Starship our first night. We are eating lunch at Epcot but have an 8:00PM reservation at the Poly for Spirit of Aloha. I wouldn't mind seeing Sugar Ray or ELO either but not at the expense of an ADR.
Grandma asked DS why we are are going back to Disney. DS response "we have to return the ghost back to his friend in the HM." Everytime something goes wrong around here we blame it on the HM ghost.

I was just thinking it was a great comeback to the, "Why are you going back?" question I'm sure we've all gotten. My bil asked why we were going back and I said because we loved it so much and had a lot of fun. He looked at his kids and yelled, "Did you hear that? They have fun on their vacations!"

I seriously thought he and my sister were going to get divorced the last time they drove to Florida to see his daughter and spent a day at Universal. I think his son would have thought it was a perfect trip if they had chosen HS instead and seen the Lights, Motors, Action! show. Their kids don't even like rides! But I wasn't asked for an opinion. I didn't even know they were going until she called me one night complaining about the awful day they had at Universal. Whoa, I'm getting off on a major rant.
The Disney Food Blog is reporting that the theme of the 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival is "Passport to a World of Flavors" and that three new World Showcase Food Booths will be added to this year's festival. The new booths are Scandinavia, the Caribbean Islands, and Hawaii.
Seriously, I just got a shiver when I read that. I can't wait!
Just got off the phone with a very polite reservation agent, and I asked her if I would have to pay the new ticket prices if free dining or % discount came out for my dates. She said that as long as I keep my ticket selection the EXACT same (meaning no adding extra days, no adding park hopper or no adding WP&M) that I will keep the old original ticket price.
Now...who here thinks she is right?
I've been wondering how it would work if you want to add hopper to the tickets. We don't currently have hoppers and I don't think we'll need it but I know I can add it when we get down there. Will it make the tickets the current price all around or just do a hopper charge? Either way, I'm sure it's a lot and really don't plan on needing that.
Honestly, I hope they don't (don't kill me, everyone lol ). Like I said on Facebook (ya'll join if you haven't.. it's nice having an intimate group to discuss plans with!), I'm all thrown off because they changed the dang EMH days. So I'm debating on switching up my ADRs to get me off EMH days when I thought I was already not going to be in any of the EMH parks. If they add Fantasmic every day, I'm going to have to reconsider my DHS lunch ADR (Mama's) to a dinner ressie and hit the parks later too, b/c I can't see staying there all day. Gah, why couldn't Disney have set the hours and EMH changes BEFORE the 180 day ADR schedule instead of 2 months after.
Don't feel bad. I was thinking along the same lines. I don't want a Fantasmic show on my DHS day. It will make it busier.

Whatever happens will happen though and I will just be glad to be at WDW.
Yikes - a 1 1/2 hour change?

We fly AirTran and they have been notorious for changing their schedules - but so far so good - no changes yet for us! Other than the price, that is...... Luckily I booked in March because the same exact flights would now be almost $1,400 more for the 5 of us!
I was telling my husband about the price changes and that my main concern at this point was the flights being changed. There are three flights that leave MCO over a three hour period that go to ATL and then a connecting flight from ATL that would cover all three leaves shortly after. My TA said they'll do that a lot and if those three flights don't fill up they cancel one or two so everyone will be forced to switch over to the remaining one(s). He told me that I shouldn't stress about it. It's like he doesn't know me at all.
We always take an early flight so we can check-in early and spend our first day at MK! Our tradition has been lunch at Casey's and then IASW......my first-ride tradition since I was a kid!
This year our flight is at 6:30, so we also have to wake up at 3am. The kids get a kick out of it, after all.....
WE'RE TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!
I love getting up early and having lunch in a Disney park. It sure beats leaving the night before and not getting there until dinner time the next day ready to collapse on the floor.