Oh, The Horror…of Food & Wine & Lumiere's Challenge! Nov 2017 PTR-Updated 9/22-FOP Fastpass!

[buzzrelly]

Hi all! I just started planning another trip and what better way to plan than to start a pre-trip report?!

Actually, I've never written a PTR but, as you can see in my signature, I've written three Post-trip reports. I love writing them because it allows me to relive the memories and look back at my pictures. I'm excited to write this to plan along with whomever feels like joining me, and also because this trip will be a little bit different as I will be traveling with just DH and he's really not into all the planning details so this will hopefully be an outlet where I can share my excitement!

So, let me start by introducing us…

I'm Kelly, a NICU Nurse and crazy-Disney-fanatic! I can't find even one halfway decent picture with just me in it, so here is me and DD on The Dream last April…

She is, obviously, the much cuter one on the right


My absolute favorite Disney character is Minnie. Most days, I have some sort of Minnie on my clothing, even if it's just my socks. Sometimes, I think people must think I'm nuts…I'll walk into a store wearing a Minnie shirt, and pull my Vera Minnie wallet out of my Dooney & Bourke Disney bag to pay with my visa that has Mickey & Minnie on it! Oh, well! Life is too short to worry about such things I'm a proud Disney fan-Girl…errr…woman? Lady? Whatever!

As far as my favorite movies go, if you had asked me three months ago I would have said, "Tangled!" However, I have become a bit obsessed with Moana in the past couple months. I went to see it with the kids in November and then I made them go with me again over school break. I also downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes and listen to it all the time in my car! I can't wait for the DVD to come out because I'm sure I'll be watching it all the time!

So, who is joining me on this trip?

Usually I travel with my squad...Sadly, they will not be joining me this time.




But joining me is the unlikeliest of characters, my DH Mike...


He is NOT a Disney fanatic. If you ask him what his favorite Disney movies are he'd probably say Star Wars or Captain America. He does love Marvel so Disney REALLY hooked me up by buying them out a few years ago. But he also loves Up and all the Toy Story movies. Now that I'm thinking of it he really likes The Incredibles and Ratatouille also. So maybe he actually IS a Disney fan…in disguise Just don't tell him that…

We actually got married on the Magic out of NYC in June 2012. That was before I wrote trip reports and for the life of me, I can't find all the nice photographer photos digitally. But here are a couple from that trip…

I literally took a picture of a picture, so excuse the poor quality...





And one more, because you cannot get married on a Disney cruise ship and NOT wear your ears…



It was a great trip…but 8 nights was a little long. I recently went on a 4-night on the Dream and that was perfect!

We actually had another cruise booked for all five of us (me, DH, DS, DD and DSS) for June of this year but we ended up cancelling it because we recently moved to a bigger house (long overdue!) and we pretty much decided that we hate all of our furniture and need ALL new stuff. Well, we aren't billionaires so something had to go. That, plus our new house has a lovely inground pool and I just can't see why we'd want to open the pool for the summer and then go away of 10 days!

So why the heck am I writing a pre-trip report then? Well, as I mentioned earlier, DH isn't a huge Disney fan but he LOVES all things horror and scary.

I, on the other hand, could do without scary stuff but I have been wanting to do another rundisney race since I ran the Star Wars 10K last April. If you read my TR from then, you would know that while the race itself is fine, I was supposed to run with my DS who, after 4 nights staying up until 1-2 am, could NOT wake up for the race and I ended up having to leave him sleeping and running it by myself To rub salt in the wound, DS awoke at some point and thought I just left him and didn't bother to wake him up and he was fuming mad That was a rough day, but in hindsight was really bad planning on my part. Live and learn.

So I was on the DIS one morning and I happened to see a post about the Food & Wine run coming up in November. So as was reading this, the wheels in my mind started to turn and I approached Mike with my offer…

"How would you like to go to Universal for Halloween Horror Nights, and then go to Disney for the Wine & Dine half-marathon?" He seemed somewhat interested, so I went in for the kill, "Oh! And there's a food and wine festival going on at EPCOT." Well, that just sealed the deal. Mike may not love Mickey and Minnie, but he LOVES both food AND wine! Score!

He agreed and I was on the phone with DVC before you could say bibbity-bobbity-boo! I called asking about making a cash reservation with my DVC discount for the Beach Club, the Boardwalk or the Poly. Neither the BC or BWV was available so I booked the Poly for 5 nights, November 1-November 6th… I stayed here last April for the four nights prior to our cruise and I absolutely loved it! I knew Mike would love it as well since it has such a laid back and relaxing vibe!

Some pics from last April…I cannot wait to see THIS again…




While I was on the phone with DVC member services, she told me the registration had already begun for DVC members, so as soon as I hung up with her, I asked Mike which race or races we should do. I REALLY wanted to do the half. The Star Wars 10K last April was my first race EVER and I really thought it wasn't bad. He was up for either. After a brief discussion, we decided to sign up for BOTH the 10K AND the 1/2..Lumiere's Challenge! Ack! What are we doing?? We aren't huge runners and we are getting closer to over the hill than under it! But, oh well! What the heck?! We aren't getting any younger and it's something I've always wanted to do! And it'll be nice to actually run WITH someone this time

I hopped on the computer right away and went through the DVC website and sure enough, the registration was open. Luckily, my information was already in Active so I added Mike's and voila! We were signed up! Easy peasy!

I didn't really start running until about 10 or so years ago. When I was young, I was the LEAST athletic person in my class. I was always picked last for gym and I actually had to take "special-gym," because I was so uncoordinated. Think about this..they actually pulled me out of my academic classes to take extra gym

I really discovered that I love running when I read (on these boards, of course!) about Jeff Galloway and his run-walk-run training method. It changed my thought process and made me feel like less of a quitter/loser for walking. I went from running a max of maybe three miles to my current max of 10 miles. I did that a couple of years ago though when I thought I was going to sign up for a different half that never happened. I can now do pretty much up to about 6 miles without too much effort and I'll be working on extending that over the next few months. Planning this trip and thinking about the Wine & Dine half is super motivating to me. In fact, just yesterday when I was on the treadmill, I came up with the title of this PTR! Planning and thinking about all of this makes that hour go by much quicker…especially on a treadmill, which I find super boring. But I won't be running outside here for a couple of months because, well, New England sucks and it's cold and I'm a big baby about running in the cold My current pace is about 11-12 minutes per mile…don't judge. I won't be starting in Corral A, but I won't be seeing the balloon ladies (I hope ).

Here's me looking lovely after finishing the Star Wars 10K, fanny pack and all...


Mike was a runner many, many years ago. He still runs a bit at the gym on the treadmill, but it's been a long time since he's done 6 miles. I told him to download Jeff Galloway's 13.1 app, but he's kind of stubborn and wants to just do his own thing, so I'll let him

Okay, so where are we at?

Poly booked

Signed up for Lumiere's Challenge

Start researching Halloween Horror Nights

I still have to book a Universal hotel but I already know that we are going to go October 29-November 1 and we want to stay at Hard Rock Hotel. More to come about that! Just writing this has taken me way longer than I thought!

So, if you feel like you'd like to join me as I plan for this trip, welcome! And I'd definitely love for you to say hello if you'd like!

Be back soon!

 

[buzzrelly]

Plans:

October 28 to October 31, 2017-Hard Rock Hotel @ Universal Orlando

October 31 Bay Lake Tower @WDW 24/7

November 1 to November 6, 2017-Polynesian Villas @ WDW

ADR date: May 4, 2017

FastPass+ Date: September 1, 2017

LINKS TO THE NEXT CHAPTERS

MIKE WON'T FLY, AND THE BIG SALAD
ADDONITIS, CHANGING DATES, AND MNSSHP
FLIGHT DOWN AND THE DELUXE DINING PLAN DEBATE
SOME THOUGHTS ON RUNNING
PLAYLIST
ADRs, MNSSHP TICKETS

 

[misstheworld]

While I can't say the running part sounds fun (I really, really hate running), the F&W and Poly sound amazing. Have you done F&W before? DH and I did it this past November for the first time and while we loved a lot, there were a few things we really didn't enjoy. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[buzzrelly]

While I can't say the running part sounds fun (I really, really hate running), the F&W and Poly sound amazing. Have you done F&W before? DH and I did it this past November for the first time and while we loved a lot, there were a few things we really didn't enjoy. Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for joining in!

This will be our first time doing F & W. I'm curious to hear what you didn't like about it?

 

[Soontobegoodsell]

I will be and I'll be running that weekend too!! We should catch up together! Also, if you want to join our Fish Extender, click the link in my signature!

 

[misstheworld]

We had issues with all the people. ALL THE PEOPLE. Dang. I should say that prior to this visit, we've always gone in "off" times...first week of December or early January. This time was the last week of F&W, so early November. Between all off the food booths, plus the special merchandise booths, and the tables, it was ridiculously hard to navigate the World Showcase. Particularly in the dinner hour and in the bottom half of the circle (from about China counter clockwise past France). So maybe a little past halfway. So many freaking people. And just standing around, not waiting in a line or doing anything. It was really frustrating. We agreed that we'd love to go again, but wouldn't be doing it the first week or the last week.

Oh wait! You're running!! That's the weekend we got there. Headed to Disney Springs on Saturday night and it was insane. We tried to get into Earl of Sandwich at about 8:30 p.m. and there was over an hour wait. For a sandwich. Um...no. That being said, just be prepared to wait. And then wait some more. But, this is Disney, so I'm guessing that's not a surprise.

Oh! But the food was AHHHHHHMAZING!! If they still have it, you really do need to try the beer braised beef with smoked gouda mashed potatoes in the Belgium booth. And the pork belly from Brazil. Holy guacamole, Batman.

Thanks for joining in!

This will be our first time doing F & W. I'm curious to hear what you didn't like about it?

 

[buzzrelly]

I will be and I'll be running that weekend too!! We should catch up together! Also, if you want to join our Fish Extender, click the link in my signature!

I would love to join your FE group, but I'm not going to be on your cruise I wish I was though! Maybe we'll see each other at the race!

We had issues with all the people. ALL THE PEOPLE. Dang. I should say that prior to this visit, we've always gone in "off" times...first week of December or early January. This time was the last week of F&W, so early November. Between all off the food booths, plus the special merchandise booths, and the tables, it was ridiculously hard to navigate the World Showcase. Particularly in the dinner hour and in the bottom half of the circle (from about China counter clockwise past France). So maybe a little past halfway. So many freaking people. And just standing around, not waiting in a line or doing anything. It was really frustrating. We agreed that we'd love to go again, but wouldn't be doing it the first week or the last week.

Oh wait! You're running!! That's the weekend we got there. Headed to Disney Springs on Saturday night and it was insane. We tried to get into Earl of Sandwich at about 8:30 p.m. and there was over an hour wait. For a sandwich. Um...no. That being said, just be prepared to wait. And then wait some more. But, this is Disney, so I'm guessing that's not a surprise.

Oh! But the food was AHHHHHHMAZING!! If they still have it, you really do need to try the beer braised beef with smoked gouda mashed potatoes in the Belgium booth. And the pork belly from Brazil. Holy guacamole, Batman.

Ahhh…ok. Makes sense. I'm okay with crowds because once they get crazy we can leave an go somewhere else. We actually would like to spend some resort time just relaxing, so that'll be a nice excuse to do so!

I'll add that to my list to try!

 

[buzzrelly]

Look what came in the mail already:



I'm so excited! And it's got my girl, Minnie on it which makes it even better!

Just for a little more background planning info…I still have to book our hotel for Universal. I showed Mike all three hotels on youtube videos, and he thought he'd most like to stay at Hard Rock. I am fine with any of the three hotels that give the EP, so we'll just go with that. I am most likely going to buy annual passes for both UO and WDW since we will be going back to both in April 2018. I am hoping that UO has an AP discount on the hotel when we are going. From what I understand, they don't release those too far in advance so I will be booking soon at rack rate and then praying for the discount. The nice part is that with just two of us, we can be super flexible where to stay so if HRH doesn't work out we may end up switching that.

Southwest hasn't released their fares for October as of yet. I'm sure that will take a couple of months. Here's the crazy part of this trip…Mike has a phobia of flying. No matter how much I've tried convincing him, enticing him with Xanax, booze, nothing. He just won't fly. We actually drove to WDW a few years ago and then this past summer drove to Hilton Head, SC. Driving from CT sucks. I can't even describe to you how much I hate it. I have super major anxiety driving, not because of myself, but I literally don't trust anyone else on the road, and I HATE those HUGE tractor trailers. Also, I really don't even trust Mike's driving so locally, I always drive. I know this sounds nutty, but it works for us! But that also means that when we are driving to SC or FL, I pretty much do MOST of the driving and I hate it! When I literally can't drive anymore and I let him drive, I am SUPER anxious and can't relax! Soooooo…when we decided to do this trip and he asked if we were driving, I was like, "No!" Not angrily, but emphatically! Our compromise is that he is going to take the train down a couple days ahead and stay with his mom in Summerfield, FL and I will fly down on October 29th. At that point, he may borrow his mom's car and pick me up at the airport or I can uber or take the UO shuttle…we haven't decided yet.

Anyway, since this post doesn't have enough pictures in it, here is a fun story of "The Great Salad Controversy of 2013." Mike and I went to WDW by ourselves in August 2013. We stayed at The Beach Club and loved it and had a great time:


On our DHS day, we had lunch at Pizza Planet (I know…everyone hates it, but I still miss it! I'm hoping I like Pizza Rizzo just as much):

I can't remember why, but somehow Mike seemed to think I got the "big" salad out of this meal It ended up being a joke for the whole trip, and we still talk about it to this day! I'm hoping to recreate this meal when we go in November and will definitely give Mike the "big" salad this time

 

[lovingeire]

Dropping by to say hello! I'm also running Lumiere's (or whatever they've renamed it to be) Challenge. I did the inaugural last year with my BFF and the half of a half the year before with my hubby. I love Food & Wine. And the Christmas party. The only thing that would make it better this year is if they'd magically do a Halloween party on the 1st so I could do both! We check in on the 1st as well through the 7th and are staying at BWI.

Random note, my husband hates flying. Well, not really flying so much, but having to deal with TSA. So he insists on driving. And we just moved from FL to PA. I need to move back. I can't handle driving from PA to FL. That's ridiculous. But as a family of 5 it will definitely save us money when we do a family trip. At least I can fly to my hearts content for runcations since they're girls trips for me with my bestie!

And your'e brave for doing HHN! Those scare the you know what out of me...you couldn't get me near them! I'll stick with Mickey!

 

[ariane37]

I had no idea you started this, so glad I found it!!
Um this may be mean and I apologize, but I'm at "special gym". I'm surprised they never put me in that and I definitely would still belong there today!
HHN is something I'm dying to do (no pun intended ) as I love horror. Hard Rock Hotel is awesome! I will say though that when I did the Universal TA training last month we took tours of all the hotels and my favorite of the 3 that offer EP is the Royal Pacific, which is gorgeous and kind of reminds me of the Poly.
Can't wait to read more about your plans!

 

[buzzrelly]

Dropping by to say hello! I'm also running Lumiere's (or whatever they've renamed it to be) Challenge. I did the inaugural last year with my BFF and the half of a half the year before with my hubby. I love Food & Wine. And the Christmas party. The only thing that would make it better this year is if they'd magically do a Halloween party on the 1st so I could do both! We check in on the 1st as well through the 7th and are staying at BWI.

Random note, my husband hates flying. Well, not really flying so much, but having to deal with TSA. So he insists on driving. And we just moved from FL to PA. I need to move back. I can't handle driving from PA to FL. That's ridiculous. But as a family of 5 it will definitely save us money when we do a family trip. At least I can fly to my hearts content for runcations since they're girls trips for me with my bestie!

And your'e brave for doing HHN! Those scare the you know what out of me...you couldn't get me near them! I'll stick with Mickey!

Thanks for joining in! How are you feeling about the challenge? I am starting to have cold feet and wondering what the heck I've done! I have never done a half marathon, let alone run a 10k one day and then a half the next… Mike and I will probably take it really easy for the 10k so we save some energy for the half. We're old and we only can do so much!

I was hoping the same thing about the Halloween Party on the 1st! I'll need a little, "not-so-scary" after the crazy horror at Universal!

What is it with men and flying?! At least your drive is slightly closer than mine…not by much, though! Those southern states take FOREVER to get through! I agree that the money savings is a nice plus, especially when traveling with the whole family. But when it's just the two of us, it makes no sense whatsoever!

I had no idea you started this, so glad I found it!!
Um this may be mean and I apologize, but I'm at "special gym". I'm surprised they never put me in that and I definitely would still belong there today!
HHN is something I'm dying to do (no pun intended ) as I love horror. Hard Rock Hotel is awesome! I will say though that when I did the Universal TA training last month we took tours of all the hotels and my favorite of the 3 that offer EP is the Royal Pacific, which is gorgeous and kind of reminds me of the Poly.
Can't wait to read more about your plans!

Hello! Thanks for joining in! I haven't really advertised this too much because I was feeling a little self-conscious about starting this PTR. I've never done one before and was thinking nobody was going to be interested in reading it!

That "special-gym" story is a favorite among my friends The sad part is that my daughter got her gym skills from me and every day she comes home complaining about gym and how awful she's doing. She has A's in everything else, but is getting a C in gym! She told me the other day that her gym teacher actually recorded her group playing soccer because he told them, "when your parents call me to complain about your grade, I'm going to show them this." How awful is that?! I could care less about what grade she gets in gym…I think it's ridiculous that it's actually graded, as opposed to being pass or fail. That apple obviously didn't fall too far from the tree

We stayed at RPR in 2015 and I thought it was beautiful. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. I hope I'm not disappointed in HRH. I think Mike thinks it's the most manly option


Hopefully I'll have more to post soon! Southwest opens their fares for our dates on March 16th

 

[lovingeire]

How are you feeling about the challenge? I am starting to have cold feet and wondering what the heck I've done! I have never done a half marathon, let alone run a 10k one day and then a half the next… Mike and I will probably take it really easy for the 10k so we save some energy for the half. We're old and we only can do so much!

This will be my fifth challenge so I feel ok about it. The fact that I likely have a stress fracture right now is kind of stressing me out though. But that's mostly because I'm running Dark Side next month, as well as a local 10K. And of course the only way for it to heal is to stay off of it. I've found that with the challenges I just take my races easy. I stop for pictures and focus on PR'ing in fun. I will say that we normally take it very easy after the 10K and minimize our park time so we are well rested for the half. Or at least we try. I was in the best shape for Glass Slipper last year and we did too much park time still after the 10K and before the half so I learned from that. You'll have a great time!

 

[buzzrelly]

This will be my fifth challenge so I feel ok about it. The fact that I likely have a stress fracture right now is kind of stressing me out though. But that's mostly because I'm running Dark Side next month, as well as a local 10K. And of course the only way for it to heal is to stay off of it. I've found that with the challenges I just take my races easy. I stop for pictures and focus on PR'ing in fun. I will say that we normally take it very easy after the 10K and minimize our park time so we are well rested for the half. Or at least we try. I was in the best shape for Glass Slipper last year and we did too much park time still after the 10K and before the half so I learned from that. You'll have a great time!

Yikes! I give you a lot of credit for running with a stress fracture! I think I'm going to struggle with no broken bones!

I did the Dark Side 10k last year. It was my first race ever and when I finished, I knew I could have kept going. That's what made me think I'd be okay to do the half. I don't know what I was thinking signing up for the challenge though! I was just talking to Mike about it this morning. I think we will take it easy that day after the 10k, but definitely not take a nap even though we will be up early, so we will be nice and tired and will head to bed early the night before the half. It may not sound it, but I really am looking forward to the races!

 

[lovingeire]

Yikes! I give you a lot of credit for running with a stress fracture! I think I'm going to struggle with no broken bones!

I did the Dark Side 10k last year. It was my first race ever and when I finished, I knew I could have kept going. That's what made me think I'd be okay to do the half. I don't know what I was thinking signing up for the challenge though! I was just talking to Mike about it this morning. I think we will take it easy that day after the 10k, but definitely not take a nap even though we will be up early, so we will be nice and tired and will head to bed early the night before the half. It may not sound it, but I really am looking forward to the races!

I have stayed off of it now for a little over a week. I might try the elliptical this week for my "maintenance" and then attempt 4 miles this week. Fortunately it was so cold skipping my long run this past weekend wasn't hard! LOL! I also did some reading and they said to work on core strength and yoga in downtime. I guess sitting on the couch isn't actually the best way to recover and bounce back! I think after Dark Side (where I am running all 3 races) I'll have to get an MRI and a boot and seriously take some time off prior to W&D. Which stinks because I hate having all the momentum built up and then having to start from scratch again! But it should give me time to hopefully heal.

My first races ever were the 5K and 10K Princess weekend '15. When I signed up for them I was literally a couch potato who had had a couple babies and needed to lose weight. I was the girl that couldn't run a mile in high school (which was a long time before that! LoL) . But I felt the same way after the 10K...like I could have done the half if I had trained for it. and that shocked me. I signed up for W&D in 2015 to be my first half and Glass Slipper in 2016 to be my first challenge. Since the half was shortened Glass Slipper ended up being my first half, but I was very well trained and had a great weekend. You can do it. Just trust the training!

I do nap after the half normally, but we don't nap after the 10K either. But we'll take it easy. Normally we go to a park and will ride a couple rides, but we also grab Starbucks or a snack and find a great place to sit and people watch so we can rest our feet. And then early dinner and back to the hotel to put our feet up and relax before we try to sleep. Normally I'm tried from early mornings and running that I'll fall asleep ok that night. You guys will be fine and have a great time I'm sure!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I'm a newbie to runDisney, but I've been stumbling onto some great TRs and PTRs for upcoming events, so here I am Your wedding pictures on the cruise are beautiful!! We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a vow renewal at the Grand Floridian. Disney Fairytale Weddings just does a phenomenal job, don't they?! I want to do it again already!!!

 

[JaimeAyers]

Signing on to hear more! Oct/Nov are my ABSOLUTE favorite months to visit Disney...F&WF is DH and my FAVORITE Disney event!

 

[buzzrelly]

I'm a newbie to runDisney, but I've been stumbling onto some great TRs and PTRs for upcoming events, so here I am Your wedding pictures on the cruise are beautiful!! We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a vow renewal at the Grand Floridian. Disney Fairytale Weddings just does a phenomenal job, don't they?! I want to do it again already!!!

And thank you for joining in! I've only been to WDW in October once and the weather was just gorgeous! My kids were little at the time so we didn't spend a lot of time at F & W, so that's something I'll be able to enjoy more on this trip. Happy Anniversary!. The Grand Floridian wedding pavilion was a dream, but alas, just too expensive for us. It just made more sense for us to do the whole cruise/honeymoon/family vacation in one shot. It was really amazing though

Signing on to hear more! Oct/Nov are my ABSOLUTE favorite months to visit Disney...F&WF is DH and my FAVORITE Disney event!

Thanks for joining in! I'm hoping my DH loves it as well! This might be just the trick I need to convert him to a Disney
fanatic

 

[JaimeAyers]

This might be just the trick I need to convert him to a Disney
fanatic

That's how I got mine hooked! LOL!!

 

[buzzrelly]

March 10, 2017:

Well, I finally have a little bit of an update and I am dying to share it! But first, I need to backtrack a little bit and fill you all in on some details and changes that I made earlier on.

After I made the cash reservation at the Poly for the five nights, I started thinking, "jeez…for not that much more than I am paying for this room, I could just ADD points onto my DVC (because this is what I am ALWAYS thinking about! It's actually a well-known medical condition called addonitis…I know this because I'm a nurse ). I talked to Mike and we decided to go ahead and do it. This food and wine thing had really peaked his interest and it seems like something we can enjoy together for many years (not so sure this is true about the running ). So before you knew it, I called my guide and added on a 50 point Poly contract, which technically isn't an add-on because my other contract is at BLT. I even ended up changing my use year for this one because my BLT use year is December and since I was purchasing this mostly for Mike and I to travel in the fall, it made more sense to purchase a new contract with a September use year. Sorry if this sounds confusing, I'm trying to give y'all the abridged version. After I had this all squared away, I booked a reservation at the Poly for the same nights using the points, and cancelled the cash reservation I had previously made

Welcome, to my new home




Anyway, I have been thinking about our trip (duh!) and I was kind of hoping that they would have a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on November 1st. I have only been to that one time and absolutely loved it! I was a little sad that I would most likely be missing the party by one day because, in all likelihood, the last party would be on 10/31.

Soooooo…yesterday I got the great idea to move the whole trip up by one day and still do 3 nights at Universal (October 28, 29, and 30), BUT THEN…head to WDW on October 31st for the final MNSSHP of the year!! Once I got this brilliant idea, I went onto the DVC website and started checking availability for that night and since it's still far enough in advance, there are plenty of options. Since I had used most of my PVB points already, I ended up booking a single night (10/31) at BLT in a Lake View studio. That one night was 18 points and what I am hoping is that at the 7 month mark, if there is availability at PVB I will change it over to add the 6th night there which is also 18 points. If not, then it's no big deal…we'll have to suffer through staying at BLT the first night and then move over to PVB on 11/1.

Now, when I sign into my account, I get to see this:


I am so beyond excited, and I've been over reading the MNSSHP thread and just cannot wait to see all of this again:






These were from October 2010…when I was still taller than my kids

So that's it for now. I should be able to book my Southwest flight on Thursday, if only for the way down, and then I'm going to start thinking about ADRs. Thanks for reading!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I am ALWAYS thinking about becoming a DVC member, but have never been able to fully wrap my head around how it works. Trying to follow along with that was confusing, but still has me thinking I. WANT. IN. I love when what I like to call "Disney Math" has me adding on extra days and feeling like it's not costing me that much