***OFFICIAL*** October 2011 - Updated 10/08/11

[FigmentChick]

Well...in a surprising twist, I showed DS his sister's ear hat, and said he would like to have one of his own with his name on it. He wanted the Mickey pants hat with the stickup tail, but it has not been on the website for weeks-- until TODAY!!! I just ordered it and I cannot wait to surprise him with it on the plane. I just hope I can get the hats through security without the kids seeing them! So excited!

44 days!!!

Cool!!! So happy for you!!!! You'll be able to get through security fine. I make the kids go ahead of me and grab the shoes (among other things) that come through the conveyor belt. Security won't need to open the bag unless there is something in there they need to take an extra look at like lotions or liquids (even hand sanitizer!). The didn't even go through my laptop bag the last couple of times I've flown and I have so many electronics in there that could possible be thought of as something other than it is!

 

[Kathymford]

So I've annoyed my co-workers enough this week, so I thought I would share with my DISers! My countdown has a 3. OMG. 37 days to go for my VERY FIRST TRIP EVER.

I was a little behind on this thread, but I just saw the F! through October announcement. I did notice that the dinner and show reservations online are not up-to-date with this news. Has anyone had any luck booking these by calling?

 

[sjs314]

So I've annoyed my co-workers enough this week, so I thought I would share with my DISers! My countdown has a 3. OMG. 37 days to go for my VERY FIRST TRIP EVER.

I was a little behind on this thread, but I just saw the F! through October announcement. I did notice that the dinner and show reservations online are not up-to-date with this news. Has anyone had any luck booking these by calling?

I was wondering the same thing, I'd rather be able to book it online to see what all might be available incase I decide to switch my DHS day. I am still not 100% sure I want to try and do F!, we were only going to do it if they added a 2nd show. Our time is so stretched now between MNSSHP and F&W since we are only there for a week, I so wish I had 10 days

 

[FigmentChick]

So I've annoyed my co-workers enough this week, so I thought I would share with my DISers! My countdown has a 3. OMG. 37 days to go for my VERY FIRST TRIP EVER.

I was a little behind on this thread, but I just saw the F! through October announcement. I did notice that the dinner and show reservations online are not up-to-date with this news. Has anyone had any luck booking these by calling?

Kathy, I am more than happy to not only listen to you, but jump up and down for joy with you as well. Besides, I think my co-workers (as well as my husband) are about to strangle me anyway. I hit 49 days today and I really can't share it with anyone. Hubby rolled his eyes this morning at me when I mentioned it. Oh, well....that's why I have friends like you!

I'm not sure about F!, like sjs, I'm not even sure we will go this trip. We'll see. As hubby said this morning, this is our 4th trip, we can take our time, let the kids trade pins to their hearts content, and stop for every character. We've got nowhere to be in a rush.

 

[figmentswife]

37 days!!!!!!!

Yesterday I started to really look at our daily plans and with some of the changes to park hours and crowd level changes (could you people STOP booking to go my week!!!) the best park for our first day is AK. Well, leaving here at 5am and arriving at Disney around 3pm doesn't give us any time to go to AK before closing so I am now looking at leaving a day early when DD gets out of school. It will be an early release day so she will be out at 11:45 and we could be on the road around 12 and get to Disney around 9-10pm.

I found our employee rate at Sheraton Safari (down the street from DTD) and we can check into Pop early Sat to pick up our KTTW cards and head to the parks.

Problem solved....so now it looks like we are leaving in 36 days. YAY ME!!!

 

[snykymom]

Just thought i would give an update on our lives since they have been turned upside down this past week. We had all the funeral arrangements done, when DH's brother was admitted to the hospital with pnemia (thats what DS called it). So now the funeral has been moved back until Tuesday. Kate will miss her first day of school and I will be celebrating my 45 birthday mourning a wonderful man.

Again thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

We are off to Corbin, KY for my grandmother's funeral. It is about a 4 hour drive from Nashville. We are planning a celebration, as my granny would kick our a$$es if we did anything else! That is how she would say it, too.

We decided the kids could stay in the hotel for the funeral and just join us for the church supper after. My DS is 14 and DD 8, so he can watch her easily. I gave them the choice, as funerals can be scary/upsetting for kids and I don't want to force them into attending if I can avoid it. I have taken some flack for that decision - why do people want you to raise your kids they way they raise theirs?

Anyway - I have to do something Disney in this post! I am on the fence on a dining plan. On the one hand, I want to try a few of the TS restaurants and the can be expensive. On the other hand, I don't know if I want to be tied to a TS meal every day. Decisions, decisions!

Thinking of both of you in your sorrow. May your memories and your loved ones comfort you.

im4kycats, if it makes you feel any better, I am also of the "give the kids the choice" camp about many things. Funerals are for the living, and the living get to decide.

Regarding the dining plan - we never do it, partially for the reason you mentioned. Even though we usually have at least one TS per day (we're big foodies), if we decide to skip one because we're not in the park, not in the mood, whatever, I don't want to scramble to find something else or lose the money I've already paid. We also will often get appetizers and desserts, no entrees, which doesn't work on the dining plan. We do lots of signatures, so the DDP doesn't have enough TS credits, and the DxDP has too many and too much food! So considering how much each credit is "worth" (weighting more for TS credits and if on the DxDP, for dinner credits), it actually ends up being cheaper even with signatures for us to pay OOP. Also, last trip, one member ended up sick for a couple of days and wouldn't have used any credits - we didn't pay for things we didn't use.

Some people swear by the dining plan. Even if it cost me more OOP (which it generally doesn't), I like the flexibility of ordering what I want, when I want, and not having to count credits, determine if something is "worth" a credit or figuring out how to "maximize" my credit.

You need to do what works for your family.

Let's see if this works, I've never posted a link before.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2789649
this is the "what's new for MNSSHP" thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2788456
this is the merch thread.

It works! Thanks!

And to throw another monkey wrench in:
FigmentChick, could you change my info on the first post? I've switched my reservation from AKV to SSR. Saved almost $700; while I'm not that crazy about SSR, that's a lot of horse feed!

 

[srauchbauer]

So I've annoyed my co-workers enough this week, so I thought I would share with my DISers! My countdown has a 3. OMG. 37 days to go for my VERY FIRST TRIP EVER.

I was a little behind on this thread, but I just saw the F! through October announcement. I did notice that the dinner and show reservations online are not up-to-date with this news. Has anyone had any luck booking these by calling?

I know that DH called last night and booked a F dinner for us. He did get the run around, but finally someone knew what they were doing and booked it.

 

[srauchbauer]

wow we are at 47 days.

 

[lmc318]

Just thought i would give an update on our lives since they have been turned upside down this past week. We had all the funeral arrangements done, when DH's brother was admitted to the hospital with pnemia (thats what DS called it). So now the funeral has been moved back until Tuesday. Kate will miss her first day of school and I will be celebrating my 45 birthday mourning a wonderful man.

Again thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

You are not having a good time of it, are you? Well, I like to think things happen for a reason, so perhaps the funeral being moved to your birthday happened to remind everyone that funerals are meant to celebrate a life. Take the opportunity on the day of your birth to remind everyone else that this should be a day of remembrance and while it is always hard to let a loved one go, you should take the time to remember how full your lives were with him in it. We're thinking of you here and as you're moving through the day, feel us behind you with our lime green Mickeys holding you up and softly singing "happy birthday to you."

We are off to Corbin, KY for my grandmother's funeral. It is about a 4 hour drive from Nashville. We are planning a celebration, as my granny would kick our a$$es if we did anything else! That is how she would say it, too.

We decided the kids could stay in the hotel for the funeral and just join us for the church supper after. My DS is 14 and DD 8, so he can watch her easily. I gave them the choice, as funerals can be scary/upsetting for kids and I don't want to force them into attending if I can avoid it. I have taken some flack for that decision - why do people want you to raise your kids they way they raise theirs?

Anyway - I have to do something Disney in this post! I am on the fence on a dining plan. On the one hand, I want to try a few of the TS restaurants and the can be expensive. On the other hand, I don't know if I want to be tied to a TS meal every day. Decisions, decisions!

I am completely with you on the kids choice thing. When I was 10 I lost my great aunt and had to go to her funeral. It was there that I realized I just don't like being around bodies. I understand death and I can handle the concept, but to this day I do not like being around a body. To me it is not what I should be remembering. The soul is gone. That is not the person I loved. So as far as children go, if they choose to be in the same room, I don't make them go to the casket. If they don't want to go, they don't have to. They should be there and be involved in some way, but they don't have to be a part of the service. It's a service and everyone mourns in their own way. I think you are doing the right thing. We're behind you here, for sure!

I agree, pick out a few TS choices and run them by us and we'll give you some thoughts! Maybe you'll decide it's not worth it, but maybe you'll decide a couple are just the right amount.

I have a little bit of good news - it's not earth shattering news or anything, but still...


I saved another $22 on our rental car today just by checking the Rental Car site - and they were offering a discount until the end of Dec. that they were not offering when I first booked it. YAY!!!

Now I still just have to see if I can figure out something with the stupid shirts.
And I still can't decide about MNSSHP?????

 

[lmc318]

OOOhh, forgot to tell you all I have some fun news to share!! I became an aunt to my new baby niece for the 5th time this morning!! The girls now outnumber the boys in this family 7-5. Woohoo!

[/IMG]

 

[srauchbauer]

You are not having a good time of it, are you? Well, I like to think things happen for a reason, so perhaps the funeral being moved to your birthday happened to remind everyone that funerals are meant to celebrate a life. Take the opportunity on the day of your birth to remind everyone else that this should be a day of remembrance and while it is always hard to let a loved one go, you should take the time to remember how full your lives were with him in it. We're thinking of you here and as you're moving through the day, feel us behind you with our lime green Mickeys holding you up and softly singing "happy birthday to you."

thank you for the wonderful words of wisdom - I passed them along to DH and your thoughts and words brought tears to both of us.

 

[lmc318]

thank you for the wonderful words of wisdom - I passed them along to DH and your thoughts and words brought tears to both of us.

Aw, you are quite welcome. I'm glad if they helped.

 

[FigmentChick]

And to throw another monkey wrench in:
FigmentChick, could you change my info on the first post? I've switched my reservation from AKV to SSR. Saved almost $700; while I'm not that crazy about SSR, that's a lot of horse feed!

Well....I don't know. I mean, that is just soooo much work! Of course!!! It will be fixed uno momento!!!

Lisa, congrats on becoming an aunty again!!! And thanks for sharing the picture. I just love baby pictures. My receptionist just became an aunt and to watch us both going through the *adorable* pictures, you would think I was a member of her family. lol But her nephew is just too cute!

figmentswife - yea you!!!! (did I spell that right? I can't spell...ask anyone). I so imagined you jumping up and clapping your hands. Go for it.....I know if I could get on a flight Wednesday night, I would. Hmmm....maybe I should go and check Southwest!

 

[Mom2micayla]

Can you update me too? I thought I had mentioned it before, but we're staying at SSR too. You have all my info (Oct 11-18), just not the resort.

My thoughts are with everyone that's going through a hard time or has recently lost a loved one.

Lisa- your niece is just precious! Congrats on being an Aunt again. I'll be getting a baby niece myself in late November and can't wait. It's my sister's first daughter (she has 2 sons) so that little girl already has a wardrobe to rival most kids. It's so damn hard to NOT buy those adorable baby girl dresses, isn't it?

Finally got some batteries and stepped on the scale this morning and wanted to puke. Going to have to seriously bust my behind to lose some weight before Disney. Of course, sometimes I wonder why I'm trying to lose weight so hard when I know I'll gain it all back when I'm there. I mean I gain 10 lbs just thinking about all the deliciousness at Karamel Kuche.

 

[lmc318]

Can you update me too? I thought I had mentioned it before, but we're staying at SSR too. You have all my info (Oct 11-18), just not the resort.

My thoughts are with everyone that's going through a hard time or has recently lost a loved one.

Lisa- your niece is just precious! Congrats on being an Aunt again. I'll be getting a baby niece myself in late November and can't wait. It's my sister's first daughter (she has 2 sons) so that little girl already has a wardrobe to rival most kids. It's so damn hard to NOT buy those adorable baby girl dresses, isn't it?

Finally got some batteries and stepped on the scale this morning and wanted to puke. Going to have to seriously bust my behind to lose some weight before Disney. Of course, sometimes I wonder why I'm trying to lose weight so hard when I know I'll gain it all back when I'm there. I mean I gain 10 lbs just thinking about all the deliciousness at Karamel Kuche.

Thanks! And yes, I still buy too many clothes for DD and I've had her for 3 years! You'd think the novelty would have worn off by now!!!

As far as the weight loss goes, I have 2 tips - go on Topamax for migraines, or go gluten free. I'm kidding, of course, you don't want to do either. I went on Topamax back in June, I think, and was diagnosed with Celiac in July and I've lost 14 lbs. Most of it is because of the Topamax. It's a horrible drug, but that's a nice side effect. Although I have to say, I didn't really need to lose 14 lbs. A little less than that would've been fine. And I went to the doc last night and I'm still actively losing, so... And I'm eating, so it's not like I'm trying. When I picked up the Topamax from the pharmacy for the first time, the pharmacist said "Please promise me you will eat." That's never a good sign! They looked into using it as a weight loss drug from what I've heard, but the side effects are WICKED, so they decided not to market it that way. However, I have found that having to go gluten free has probably contributed to at least some of that weight loss. Mostly because I'm new and have no idea what to eat most of the time. Even at home, unless I have a specific meal planned, I don't have much around the house to eat so I don't snack anymore. So, you know, Topamax and gluten free! A winning diet combination!!

Phew! Long story for really no reason at all!

 

[FigmentChick]

OK....now I'm jealous. I have been trying to loose the same 15 to 20 pounds for about three years now. (yes, since I had DS). It won't go away. It goes away slighty when I'm stressed and then it finds me again!!!!

My DH is a personal trainer. Do I listen to him? Heck no!!! I can't have my husband telling me what to do (even if it's about lossing weight). I did notice, though, that when I was doing physical therapy from the car accident it went away. I just have to get my butt out to the office and on the elliptical.

Or pick up some of that Topomax......

 

[Mom2micayla]

As far as the weight loss goes, I have 2 tips - go on Topamax for migraines, or go gluten free. I'm kidding, of course, you don't want to do either. I went on Topamax back in June, I think, and was diagnosed with Celiac in July and I've lost 14 lbs. Most of it is because of the Topamax. It's a horrible drug, but that's a nice side effect. Although I have to say, I didn't really need to lose 14 lbs. A little less than that would've been fine. And I went to the doc last night and I'm still actively losing, so... And I'm eating, so it's not like I'm trying. When I picked up the Topamax from the pharmacy for the first time, the pharmacist said "Please promise me you will eat." That's never a good sign! They looked into using it as a weight loss drug from what I've heard, but the side effects are WICKED, so they decided not to market it that way. However, I have found that having to go gluten free has probably contributed to at least some of that weight loss. Mostly because I'm new and have no idea what to eat most of the time. Even at home, unless I have a specific meal planned, I don't have much around the house to eat so I don't snack anymore. So, you know, Topamax and gluten free! A winning diet combination!!

As tempting as you make that sound, I think I'll do it the old fashion way. You know.. not eating cake for breakfast and chips for lunch. Besides, my mother went on Topamax for her migraines and she mentioned those hellacious side effects to me a year or two ago. When you look up the side effect for Topamax, the list is literally like a mile long. Umm, thanks but no thanks. I'd rather be overweight than deal with that.

 

[FigmentChick]

Mom2micayla, you are all set on the first post now!!!

 

[Mom2micayla]

Mom2micayla, you are all set on the first post now!!!

It's about time. Sheesh. Kidding! Thanks!

 

[lmc318]

OK....now I'm jealous. I have been trying to loose the same 15 to 20 pounds for about three years now. (yes, since I had DS). It won't go away. It goes away slighty when I'm stressed and then it finds me again!!!!

My DH is a personal trainer. Do I listen to him? Heck no!!! I can't have my husband telling me what to do (even if it's about lossing weight). I did notice, though, that when I was doing physical therapy from the car accident it went away. I just have to get my butt out to the office and on the elliptical.

Or pick up some of that Topomax......

Yeah, I had about 10 I wanted to lose before I went on this drug and I ain't gonna lie, I still jiggle, but I am wafer thin - I just don't have the energy to pick up weights! I keep setting my alarm for 5:30 to get up and do some yoga, which I think would help in so many ways, but good Lord, 5:30 AM!!!

As tempting as you make that sound, I think I'll do it the old fashion way. You know.. not eating cake for breakfast and chips for lunch. Besides, my mother went on Topamax for her migraines and she mentioned those hellacious side effects to me a year or two ago. When you look up the side effect for Topamax, the list is literally like a mile long. Umm, thanks but no thanks. I'd rather be overweight than deal with that.

Yeah, I just reduced my dose because of some of those side effects, like joint pain and eye pain. NO GOOD!!! It's a horrid, horrid drug. But it was made for people with epilepsy, so when you deal with seizures all day long and you're told you can reduce or eliminate them, I guess you'll take it. And I went from 3 migraines a week to none, so it's a trade off. I'm hoping the migraines were from the gluten and I can wean myself off over the course of the next few months. What makes me sad about this drug is it makes carbonated beverages taste awful, so no trying any of the gluten free beers out there. Thank goodness it's Food and WINE! It might be Food and TEQUILA for me too! (Food and Rum? Food and Vodka? Just Vodka??? ).