*****Official October 2011 Thread*****

[steviewander]

That desktop countdown is awesome.
Need to get windows 7!

 

[Family Loves Disney]

Hi eveyone! I am MIA again this week. I have been working this whole weekend and tonight is my 4th 12 hr shift, then off a day, then work another 3 days. I am exhausted! I will be back next week. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. See ya'll next week.

 

[braysmommy]

It will be hard to keep the secret from him but he is already stressed and excited about kindergarden. Originally in was going to tell him in September but then decided to go for the surprise
I did tell him prior to our EBTA cruise this past May but this trip will be a surprise! He will be excited but probably won't fully grasp it until we check in.

 

[Topstrup]

Woo Hoo!!! Double digits for us today - 99 days We started at 224 which is small for some but it was very long for us

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all of their posts. I love catching up and seeing what is going on. I'm fairly new to the boards and you have given me GREAT ideas.

Our trip is adults only - Just DH and me But we're still doing it all - Hoop de do, Luau, MNSSHP, Haunted Carriage, Crystal Palace...

I know it's for kids but ... has anyone done the Kim Possible activity at EPCOT? What'd you think?

 

[LJD2143]

Will be surprising my DS when I pick him up from kindergarden the Thursday we fly out!

So fun!

I have always wanted to surprize my family, but I can't contain my excitement or keep a fun secret!!!!!

I'm with you! We surprised our boys in 2008 with a trip to Disney and a Cruise - it was SOOOOO hard!!!! I could never do that again..... We typically start planning for our trip about 9 months in advance and my boys can discuss Disney Planning with me just about EVERY day - it's part of our normal dinner-table discussion.

Welcome to all the new people! Glad to have you here.
We are surprising our kids the day of, too

How was everyone's holiday weekend?

This October thread sure is picking up steam! Wonder if we'll reach the max of 250 pages and have to start a new one?

Good luck with surprising the girls!

Our holiday weekend was awesome - thanks to the weather (finally!!!). It was filled with swimming, boating, parties and parade.

Will you be coming this way for Summerfest? I was supposed to go on Friday, but plans with my girlfriends fell through.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Will you be coming this way for Summerfest? I was supposed to go on Friday, but plans with my girlfriends fell through.

Actually we are going to Summerfest! We are going to see Sugarland Sunday night. I'm really excited, I've lived my whole life in WI and have never been, a sin, I know!

We did lots of swimming this weekend, too. We have local pool passes, so we went every day, Friday to Monday. I managed to not burn until yesterday

 

[stephielela]

I wish I could surprise DS, but he's not really old enough to "get it" especially since we've been a few times.

 

[LJD2143]

Actually we are going to Summerfest! We are going to see Sugarland Sunday night.

Soooo jealous!!! I LOVE Sugarland!!!!!!!!

 

[exwdwcm]

Happy Independence Day all! (And happy Canada Day for those who celebrated on the 1st!)

Well, Airtran has started messing with my flights already. Our flight down got bumped BACK an hour. Our flight home got bumped back as well but only by 15 minutes. What makes me mad is our flight down is now 11:30 AM, but the soonest flight before our is 7AM and the flight after ours is 1:35, so it's not like we have much of a choice to switch. Our 10:30 flight would've been perfect for us! I'm so mad!!

I'm hoping they change it back or bump it up two hours or something before we go. I don't want it bumped back again. We have park tickets that day and I don't want to lose any more time than we already are! Hopefully this won't be a practice that transfers over to SW with the buyout!

AT changed my flight already too. BOO!!!!!!!!!!!! we leave DFW at 12:15 or so, arrive ATL at like 3:15 and were supposed to be on a 4:30, arriving Orlando at 6. Now the connection is bumped back to 5pm (which i guess gives us more time so that we don't miss the connection if the first flight is behind)......and we arrive at 6:30pm- so lost 30 minutes. boo!!! I don't fly AT often, so not used to all the changes like this. I hope there won't be too many more, or they would be earlier, not later!

Hello

I was introduced to this thread by tlenzendorf - Thanks!

We are staying in a 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga from 10/23-10/30, and attending MNSSHP on 10/27. It will be myself, my parents, DH, and our two DDs who will be 5 & 6 when we go.

We have not told our DDs about this trip. We plan on waking them up the morning of, taking them downstairs, and letting them open their HUGE suprise boxes! I have a new camcorder to record their reactions - I'll def. be posting it on here! I can't wait to tell them, and am having such a hard time keeping it a secret!!

Anyone else doing suprise boxes for their little ones? Whats in yours?

Welcome! i am doing a basket surprise for my little guy who will be turning 4 the week after our trip (Oct 30th). So far, i have

• mickey halloween candy corn ears (great travelling Disney warehouse sale last year we caught in Dallas- got on clearance!)
• candy
• flashlights
• light up necklaces
• coloring books
• pens
• having a DIS friend buy a WS passport from Epcot for us prior to trip
• sunglasses
• rub on tattoos and stickers
• new pajamas (yet to buy!)
• maybe a new costume- we have a Peter Pan one he loves, but he just might outgrow it by then!!!
• going to get a few more ideas before then- probably a few t-shirts from the disney outlet nearby (and whatever else fun they might have)

btw- this disney warehouse sale we caught last year was AWESOME! it had WDW and DL merchandise, plus TDS stuff. Bags, clothes, keepsakes, hats, all sorts of cute stuff. Just check the site often and they will post up the locations where they move to. They were apparently in the dallas area for over a month last year (sort of like those halloween or Christmas stores that pop up temporarily). http://www.ams-liquidation.com/ He said they would be back again this year- i hope so! I see they have a Las Vegas location and I am there for 6 nights for work later this month, so i plan to try and hit it up!!!!!

Your list sounds great so far!

Even though all mine are older and don't really have the same excitement that smaller kids would have about WDW, they still love surprises and they still love family vacations and so I try to capitalize on that as much as possible. I have always liked packing extra surprises in their bags so they find them much later on when they are least expecting a surprise. I also would pack in layers since kids usually don't really unpack anything, they just seem to always open it up and root for the pajamas the night of arrival and then pay more attention to their stuff the next day (or if my DS..2 days, lol). Last year I had DD new Tink pajamas, and I packed them in her bag just under what I thought she would want first (swimsuit). She was so surprised, since she thought her backpack of goodies was it for the surprises. This year, to save money from buying outfits at the boutique (OMG...that was a hunka change!), I am going to pack new costumes in my own stuff and then stage it as a surprise while kids are at pool. I like spreading the surprises out...especially for later in the vacation when grumpiness may set in with each other. Amazing how a little surprise like play-doh or a simple little one package art project (Michael's sells great ones for $1) makes them all smiling with each other again.

that sounds awesome! your kids will love it! How old are your kiddos? Heck, i am almost 38 and still love surprises (and my mom still does them for our trips too!)

Hi eveyone! I am MIA again this week. I have been working this whole weekend and tonight is my 4th 12 hr shift, then off a day, then work another 3 days. I am exhausted! I will be back next week. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. See ya'll next week.

don't work too hard!!! happy 4th!!!

 

[disneygal58]

Now my "kids" are technically grown ups (I don't know how that happened when I often still feel like I am eleven.....) but we still love the planning and the prizes. Next weekend I am hosting our official Planning Party with both daughters and one boyfriend - complete with viewing the Planning DVD, other DVR programs, trivia contests (with prizes such as Disney gift cards to be used at Food & Wine Festival, Disney themed water bottles, rain ponchos, travel gear etc...), Disney desserts, choosing restaurants.... I wonder if a pinata would be too much?????
Now if only Disney would come out with the Fall discounts, so that I can possibly upgrade and share that with my excited brood....

Dawn

 

[tlenzendorf]

Soooo jealous!!! I LOVE Sugarland!!!!!!!!

We may actually have an extra ticket, but we wouldn't know until like an hour before the show...

 

[Mom2micayla]

Good morning, everyone.

Love the ideas of "surprises" for the kids. Our kids aren't aware we're going either and I'm hoping to surprise them the morning we wake them up to head to the airport. This will be the first trip for my 4 kids (but we are DLR vets ) and they are going to be soooo excited! I'm thinking about putting together a little goodie bag for the plane/WDW for each of them. My DS4 hasn't been on a plane since he was an infant, so this is going to be doubly exciting for him.

So other than getting some goodies together, I'm totally done. Everything is paid for and I'm just kind of waiting. I'm feeling really anxious without something to do. lol I have been tweaking my ADRs and am very uncertain about one- San Angel Inn. I keep waffling on it, yet can't decide what, if anything, I should replace it with- possibly GFC, Turf Club (we're staying at SSR), Chefs de France? Ugh, I cannot decide on this one!

 

[lmc318]

AT changed my flight already too. BOO!!!!!!!!!!!! we leave DFW at 12:15 or so, arrive ATL at like 3:15 and were supposed to be on a 4:30, arriving Orlando at 6. Now the connection is bumped back to 5pm (which i guess gives us more time so that we don't miss the connection if the first flight is behind)......and we arrive at 6:30pm- so lost 30 minutes. boo!!! I don't fly AT often, so not used to all the changes like this. I hope there won't be too many more, or they would be earlier, not later!

Welcome! i am doing a basket surprise for my little guy who will be turning 4 the week after our trip (Oct 30th). So far, i have

• mickey halloween candy corn ears (great travelling Disney warehouse sale last year we caught in Dallas- got on clearance!)
• candy
• flashlights
• light up necklaces
• coloring books
• pens
• having a DIS friend buy a WS passport from Epcot for us prior to trip
• sunglasses
• rub on tattoos and stickers
• new pajamas (yet to buy!)
• maybe a new costume- we have a Peter Pan one he loves, but he just might outgrow it by then!!!
• going to get a few more ideas before then- probably a few t-shirts from the disney outlet nearby (and whatever else fun they might have)

btw- this disney warehouse sale we caught last year was AWESOME! it had WDW and DL merchandise, plus TDS stuff. Bags, clothes, keepsakes, hats, all sorts of cute stuff. Just check the site often and they will post up the locations where they move to. They were apparently in the dallas area for over a month last year (sort of like those halloween or Christmas stores that pop up temporarily). http://www.ams-liquidation.com/ He said they would be back again this year- i hope so! I see they have a Las Vegas location and I am there for 6 nights for work later this month, so i plan to try and hit it up!!!!!
that sounds awesome! your kids will love it! How old are your kiddos? Heck, i am almost 38 and still love surprises (and my mom still does them for our trips too!)

I'm with you on the AT thing! Our flight ultimately is only 30 minutes later getting in, but still - we have tickets that day! My DH's friend got bumped from a nonstop flight and had to call and get back on a NS for that day. I'm not paying all that money for a NS just to get bumped! Now I see SW rates are actually going down to about what I paid for AT, but how would you have known at the time?? They were so expensive when I bought! I'm almost hoping AT bumps us again so I can call and cancel and buy the SW flight for my original time!!!

The list looks awesome! We have one similar for DD!

Now my "kids" are technically grown ups (I don't know how that happened when I often still feel like I am eleven.....) but we still love the planning and the prizes. Next weekend I am hosting our official Planning Party with both daughters and one boyfriend - complete with viewing the Planning DVD, other DVR programs, trivia contests (with prizes such as Disney gift cards to be used at Food & Wine Festival, Disney themed water bottles, rain ponchos, travel gear etc...), Disney desserts, choosing restaurants.... I wonder if a pinata would be too much?????
Now if only Disney would come out with the Fall discounts, so that I can possibly upgrade and share that with my excited brood....

Dawn

So much fun!!! I want to plan with you all!!!

 

[tlenzendorf]

Rrrrr! My SW flights went down and I keep getting an error message everytime I go in and try to change them. I'm at work so I don't have time to call. Jerks!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Rrrrr! My SW flights went down and I keep getting an error message everytime I go in and try to change them. I'm at work so I don't have time to call. Jerks!

Know ur pain! I kept trying to switch flights last week to an earlier non-stop flight and kept getting an error. Had to call SW and it took the csr almost 30 minutes to get everything changed. The system wouldn't accept our travel funds credits for all 4 of us. She had to seperate DH's ticket and travel funds and give him a new itinerary number before changing everyone over to the new flights. Took 4ever but was SO WORTH IT! Ended up getting a flight arriving 4 hours earlier, non-stop(instead of the 1 stop we had), and it cost $10 less than buying EBCI for the current flight we had(which we needed if keeping that flight because of connections).

 

[tlenzendorf]

Well I finally got thru at lunch time! Got a $25 credit So now we have $40/person in credits. The problem is what to do with them before March? We don't have any trips planned.

 

[LJD2143]

We may actually have an extra ticket, but we wouldn't know until like an hour before the show...

So tempting!.....but we have a baseball tournament out in Dousman this weekend.

Have a great time!

 

[tlenzendorf]

So tempting!.....but we have a baseball tournament out in Dousman this weekend.

Have a great time!

We should swap numbers... then in case you change your mind you could call or text

 

[maddiesmommie]

Just joining you... we are going 10/22-10/29, staying at Wyndham Cypress Palms. So far I have ADR for Le Cellier at 2:45 on 10/26 and Brown Derby 2:50 on 10/25.

We are excited!

 

[baloo's girl]

I just found this thread! We are The Osborne family, Me, Dh, DD 9, and DS 6. We are going to the World October 16th -22nd and staying at WL. This is a surprise trip for the kiddies, they think we aren't going back to Disney till 2013. Dh and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary and what better place to be than Disney World!

We are planning to do MNSSHP on 10/21- I just hope it won't be too crowded.