Olivia's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza! DDxP,BBB and PP!Oh my! Our 12/10 TR! **Finished**

[blessedby3]

Let this be a lesson to anyone who is currently pregnant.

DO NOT NAME YOUR DAUGHTER OLIVIA!!!

LOL

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Too funny!

All caught up again - great updates! I love your decorated window! I really wish we'd done lights in ours -- they looked fabulous!

 

[eecteacher82]

Headstrong would be a good word for our Olivia.....SO independent and she gives us the most challenges of our 4 kids
here is our Olivia on our trip this past May...

and here is a picture of all of my kiddos

We were chosen as family of the day on our May trip and got access to the CR conceriege lounge for our whole trip. This picture is of the kids in the lounge--very excited

What a great looking bunch of kids you have! Isn't it funny how people with the same name seem to have so many of the same character qualities? I thin it was discussed in a PTR that we should have named our DDs Cinderella...do you think that would have made a difference?

How great to be the family of the day and have access to the lounge! I'm jealous!

I feel your pain there! I had horrible morning sickness with Jake AND with this one. With Jake, it was from about 7 weeks to 23 weeks... and then came back at 33 weeks for 2 weeks

With this one, it started at like 6 weeks and JUST went away about 3 weeks ago. It was ridiculous! The kids are lucky they're so cute

I was miserable my entire pregnancy! The "morning" sickness started around 7 weeks and lasted all day, every day until the day I had Olivia! I actually got sick pretty much every single day. I was put on bed rest on October 2 and had Olivia on November 11. To say my pregnancy sucked would be an understatement!

Let this be a lesson to anyone who is currently pregnant.

DO NOT NAME YOUR DAUGHTER OLIVIA!!!

HAHAHA! That is great! I'm 100% sure that when I looked Olivia up in a baby name book it said "peaceful one"! Yeah right!

Too funny!

All caught up again - great updates! I love your decorated window! I really wish we'd done lights in ours -- they looked fabulous!

Glad to see you back over here...I thought I lost you!

Thanks, I was pretty happy with our window! I just wish the strand of lights I had was shorter!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

HAHAHA! That is great! I'm 100% sure that when I looked Olivia up in a baby name book it said "peaceful one"! Yeah right!
Maybe that was in reference to when she is sleeping. If they put PITA as a characteristic, nobody would choose the name.

 

[eecteacher82]

HAHAHA! That is great! I'm 100% sure that when I looked Olivia up in a baby name book it said "peaceful one"! Yeah right!
Maybe that was in reference to when she is sleeping. If they put PITA as a characteristic, nobody would choose the name.

Oh so true!!!!

 

[eecteacher82]

I decided that at the end of each day of my TR I was going to do a bit of a recap: breakdown of what we meals cost so I could do a breakdown of the value of the DxDP; what we spent of out pocket for souvenirs and such; and what we did, vs. what my plans had called for.

So, here is day 1:
Meals
Lunch at Yak & Yeti:
Bill $77.17 + $12.00 tip = $89.15

Dinner at California Grill:
Bill $160.16 + $40.00 tip = 200.16

Snacks:
Coke and Smart Water at AK: $6.00
CranApple Juice and Orange juice at CR: $6.00

Resort Mugs:
$28.00

Total for the day (including tips):
$319.31

Total for the day (not including tips):
$267.33

DxDP cost for the day:
About $164.00 inlcuding tax

$164+$52.00 for tips = $216.00

So, after all that, we spent about $216.00 out of pocket, and the cost would have been $319.31...Not too bad.

*We spent no money on souvenirs this day, pretty good!!!

Plans:
We wanted to do (what we actually did is in green):
Tricera Top Spin
Finding Nemo the Musical
Kali River
Maharaja Jungle Trek
Kilimanjaro Safari
Planet Watch
Tree of Life/Bugs Life
Character Greetings
Festival of the Lion King
Jammin Jungle Parade

As you can see, we did nowhere near what I had planned, but I am totally OK with that! We had a great time just enjoying our surroundings and stalking the PP photographers! I think it helps knowing we can go and spend the day whenever we want. I am really happy we just took it easy for our first day.

 

[scott2997]

Love the TR so far.

Very cool Recap of the Day. Really puts the DDP into perspective!

Thanks!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Great reacap!! If I actually had written down all of those $$$ details I could have done that too! I guess I could always do the rides/attractions one but we'll see!

Can't wait for another update! I've been seeing all the pics uploaded on FB but I refuse to look at them to not spoil your TR!

..we're working on a new ticker too!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I love the recap. I really didn't keep track of how much our meals cost because we were on the regular dining plan.

I also have to tell you, I think of you often! Brenda is getting into the whole Zooble thing and I still remember you "selling" me on them in the PTR! You started the whole craze in my house! But I forgive you!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Glad to see you back over here...I thought I lost you!

Sorry Work is annoyingly getting in the way of quality DIS time lately!


Nice recap!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

What a great idea for the recap!!! And love the breakdown of the Disney Math!!

Randy and I SHOULD do California Grill on the 10th Anniversary Trip. Good idea. Especially if we are staying at a monorail resort

Resort mugs...ok we NEVER get these. Do you feel like you used them enough? I'm thinking for our next trip we'll definitely get them but I'm always curious if people feel they are worth it (esp times 3)

Oh I didn't realize that your entire pregnancy sucked. I know we share the whole eclampsia/premature delivery thing but I don't think I realized that you had a rough go of it the whole time. That stinks I was fairly lucky for the beginning of my pregnancy.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

What a great idea for the recap!!! And love the breakdown of the Disney Math!!

Randy and I SHOULD do California Grill on the 10th Anniversary Trip. Good idea. Especially if we are staying at a monorail resort

Resort mugs...ok we NEVER get these. Do you feel like you used them enough? I'm thinking for our next trip we'll definitely get them but I'm always curious if people feel they are worth it (esp times 3)

Oh I didn't realize that your entire pregnancy sucked. I know we share the whole eclampsia/premature delivery thing but I don't think I realized that you had a rough go of it the whole time. That stinks I was fairly lucky for the beginning of my pregnancy.

I drink 1 or 2 cups of coffee each morning, and it is a good souvenir, so to me it is worth the money.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

What a great idea for the recap!!! And love the breakdown of the Disney Math!!

Randy and I SHOULD do California Grill on the 10th Anniversary Trip. Good idea. Especially if we are staying at a monorail resort

Resort mugs...ok we NEVER get these. Do you feel like you used them enough? I'm thinking for our next trip we'll definitely get them but I'm always curious if people feel they are worth it (esp times 3)

Oh I didn't realize that your entire pregnancy sucked. I know we share the whole eclampsia/premature delivery thing but I don't think I realized that you had a rough go of it the whole time. That stinks I was fairly lucky for the beginning of my pregnancy.

In my response, I'm going to show that I'm not only a Disney geek, but a math geek as well. When it comes to the mugs, the way I look at is this:

A mug costs about $13 (varies somewhat by resort).
A single fountain drink costs about $2.

So, if you don't consider the souvenir aspect and you plan on ordering a drink at least 7 times while at your food court, you're going to break even with a mug. We like the mugs as a souvenir so I figure I break even if we use our mugs at least 5 times. If you're on the dining plan, it's probably not worth it since you get a drink with each counter-service meal anyway.

 

[eecteacher82]

Love the TR so far.

Very cool Recap of the Day. Really puts the DDP into perspective!

Thanks!

Glad you are enjoying the TR so far! I will try to keep you entertained throughout the whole thing!

I'm glad everyone seems to like the recap, I was debating on doing it at all. I made sure to save every single receipt for everything we bought, so I could break it all down.

Great reacap!! If I actually had written down all of those $$$ details I could have done that too! I guess I could always do the rides/attractions one but we'll see!

Can't wait for another update! I've been seeing all the pics uploaded on FB but I refuse to look at them to not spoil your TR!

..we're working on a new ticker too!

I really like seeing other recaps that people have done, and it gives me a good idea of things for the next trip: what we may have missed this trip, that we really want to do next time, if I planned too much/not enough....

Feel free to look at the pics on FB-I am only posting them over there one day at a time, and I wait to post new days until I finish that day on here! That was my thought-I didn't want to have people who follow this TR and FB get bored! There A LOT more pictures on FB....I am too lazy to sort through what I want to post, so I just post them all!

Yeah for a new ticker!!!! Can't wait to hear about it!

I love the recap. I really didn't keep track of how much our meals cost because we were on the regular dining plan.

I also have to tell you, I think of you often! Brenda is getting into the whole Zooble thing and I still remember you "selling" me on them in the PTR! You started the whole craze in my house! But I forgive you!

LOL!! I'm glad Brenda likes the Zoobles! Olivia still plays with hers all the time! I like them because they are compact and clutter up her room too much!

Sorry Work is annoyingly getting in the way of quality DIS time lately!


Nice recap!

How dare work get in the way!! Don't they realize the importance of DIS time?!

What a great idea for the recap!!! And love the breakdown of the Disney Math!!

Randy and I SHOULD do California Grill on the 10th Anniversary Trip. Good idea. Especially if we are staying at a monorail resort

Resort mugs...ok we NEVER get these. Do you feel like you used them enough? I'm thinking for our next trip we'll definitely get them but I'm always curious if people feel they are worth it (esp times 3)

Oh I didn't realize that your entire pregnancy sucked. I know we share the whole eclampsia/premature delivery thing but I don't think I realized that you had a rough go of it the whole time. That stinks I was fairly lucky for the beginning of my pregnancy.

I knew I wanted to do the DxDP math and let everyone know what I thought of it. I was constantly looking through threads to find out what people thought of the plan/what the value was, so I figured I should do it to help others out!

Mugs: We LOVE them!!! I know we get our money's worth. We would fill them every morning before we got on the bus (a couple of mornings we filled up twice). We fill when we get off the bus back at the hotel (if we come back for a break, and at night), and then after I get Olivia settled in bed and ready for the next day I go back down for one final fill up. So that is at least 3x a day, but usually around 5-6. We have got the mugs every (we now have quite the collection! Some of them are in Olivia's play kitchen, some are put with summer/beach toys...). So there you have it, my two cents about the mugs.

Yep, my pregnancy sucked! My doctor even commented on how I was one of the most miserable pregnant women he had seen! It was worth it though, to have a (now) healthy, happy princess!

 

[AKL LOVER]

I too enjoyed your DxDP break down--I am currently trying to decide if we want to upgrade to the DxDP for our trip in May. We have done it on our trips before (3 of them) but since we booked CL for this upcoming trip I thought it might be too much to do that w/ the DxDP...but I haven't ruled it out yet!

I was going to do the Disney math for our DxDP last trip but DH threw out the receipts to our first 2 meals, so that idea went right down the drain I am definitely going to do it for our trip this year, no matter which plan we do.

Oh, and we have ADR's for Yak and Yeti for our upcoming trip and we have never eaten there before. I was excited to read your review and am now stoked to eat there!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Love the recap... it gives a realistic view of whatw as planned and what was accomplished

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I drink 1 or 2 cups of coffee each morning, and it is a good souvenir, so to me it is worth the money.

In my response, I'm going to show that I'm not only a Disney geek, but a math geek as well. When it comes to the mugs, the way I look at is this:

A mug costs about $13 (varies somewhat by resort).
A single fountain drink costs about $2.

So, if you don't consider the souvenir aspect and you plan on ordering a drink at least 7 times while at your food court, you're going to break even with a mug. We like the mugs as a souvenir so I figure I break even if we use our mugs at least 5 times. If you're on the dining plan, it's probably not worth it since you get a drink with each counter-service meal anyway.

Mugs: We LOVE them!!! I know we get our money's worth. We would fill them every morning before we got on the bus (a couple of mornings we filled up twice). We fill when we get off the bus back at the hotel (if we come back for a break, and at night), and then after I get Olivia settled in bed and ready for the next day I go back down for one final fill up. So that is at least 3x a day, but usually around 5-6. We have got the mugs every (we now have quite the collection! Some of them are in Olivia's play kitchen, some are put with summer/beach toys...). So there you have it, my two cents about the mugs.

Yep, my pregnancy sucked! My doctor even commented on how I was one of the most miserable pregnant women he had seen! It was worth it though, to have a (now) healthy, happy princess!

Thans for all the thoughts on the mugs. We always do the DDP so that's why we've never gotten them in all these years BUT since we are doing 10 days next trip IN AUGUST...I'm thinking that it might be a "must have" Hydration will be a must!

 

[exwdwcm]

Love the breakdown of the savings- what a deal! I did miss the dining plan this time. And while it could have saved us on a few meals......we over-order and eat at different places than we would have without the dining plan. For example, NOT using the plan, we only ordered dessert at like one meal this trip. but i guess the value of the dining plan is knowing you can order dessert if you really want to, and not worry about the cost- and just splurge. not that i was letting cost hold me back from dessert (often just full), but if i know it is included in the plan, i would usually get it and force myself to eat a few bites, while if i am paying OPP for it, i won't always get it. We tried the TIW card this time and loved it. Using it again for next trip- plus it includes 20% off alcohol. I don't mind the free dining, but since we have to pay for it now when staying DVC, we probably won't use it again. bummer.

I feel your pain there! I had horrible morning sickness with Jake AND with this one. With Jake, it was from about 7 weeks to 23 weeks... and then came back at 33 weeks for 2 weeks

With this one, it started at like 6 weeks and JUST went away about 3 weeks ago. It was ridiculous! The kids are lucky they're so cute

ouch! so sorry, but you are close now! wishing you a happy and healthy delivery!

Let this be a lesson to anyone who is currently pregnant.

DO NOT NAME YOUR DAUGHTER OLIVIA!!!

LOL!!!

What a great idea for the recap!!! And love the breakdown of the Disney Math!!

Randy and I SHOULD do California Grill on the 10th Anniversary Trip. Good idea. Especially if we are staying at a monorail resort

Resort mugs...ok we NEVER get these. Do you feel like you used them enough? I'm thinking for our next trip we'll definitely get them but I'm always curious if people feel they are worth it (esp times 3)

Oh I didn't realize that your entire pregnancy sucked. I know we share the whole eclampsia/premature delivery thing but I don't think I realized that you had a rough go of it the whole time. That stinks I was fairly lucky for the beginning of my pregnancy.

you will love CG! on the mugs- we've used them in the past, but did not on this trip. We stayed at BLT on DVC this time. I only went to the Contempo Cafe one time the entire 8 days (and bought only a coke). We had cokes and water in our room since we had a full size fridge and it was great. So there was no need for the mugs. We used them last Dec at WL a lot, but it was a hassle to walk down to fill them up everyday, of course it was a nice walk though and you got to enjoy the lodge decor. When we used to stay at POR, we used the mugs too- and again, it was a nice excuse to take a little walk (we were usually in AB14 or 15, near the food court) to fill them. I didn't mind too much. I am a coke addict (coca-cola, not THAT kind of coke! ). I don't do coffee and i drink coke in the am for my caffeine on vacation (don't do that at home though!). i found the mugs a good value since we used them so much. Not sure we will ever buy them again since we are DVC now though.

We also didn't mind having the mugs in the past because we had a car.....so we would fill them up, take them in the car with us and drink on the way to the park, then leave them in the car. you can't do that if you are using WDW transportation obviously. plus we could grab them again on our way back in to the hotel and refill as we went back to the room. very convenient that way. i've seen folks carrying their mugs- tied on a backpack in the parks to do that.

 

[Nermel9]

I'm liking these day by day recaps everyone is doing on their TR's now! I'll have to remember that for my next one, I'm already on day 4 in my TR so I'm not gonna bother with it now.

Looks like the DP saved you a lot of money! I'm going to have to give that a try on our next trip, writing it all down and comparing, I'm curious how much it would cost OOP!

 

[eecteacher82]

I too enjoyed your DxDP break down--I am currently trying to decide if we want to upgrade to the DxDP for our trip in May. We have done it on our trips before (3 of them) but since we booked CL for this upcoming trip I thought it might be too much to do that w/ the DxDP...but I haven't ruled it out yet!

I was going to do the Disney math for our DxDP last trip but DH threw out the receipts to our first 2 meals, so that idea went right down the drain I am definitely going to do it for our trip this year, no matter which plan we do.

Oh, and we have ADR's for Yak and Yeti for our upcoming trip and we have never eaten there before. I was excited to read your review and am now stoked to eat there!

I made sure neither one of us threw out any receipt for ANYTHING! I really wanted to see exactly how much this vacation was costing us, and do the DxDP math, so I made sure to tell DH of my plan, and he was really good about not throwing anything away!

Yeah! I'm glad you are excited for Yak & Yeti, I really can't say enough about how good it was! I literally loved every single thing they brought to the table!

Love the recap... it gives a realistic view of whatw as planned and what was accomplished

That is exactly what I thought! It gives me a better idea of what to plan for our next trips! As this TR goes on, you will see that I generally over planned, but I am totally OK that we didn't get to everything (and I knew we wouldn't because we did the DxDP and spent more time eating than normal-which was also OK)!

Thans for all the thoughts on the mugs. We always do the DDP so that's why we've never gotten them in all these years BUT since we are doing 10 days next trip IN AUGUST...I'm thinking that it might be a "must have" Hydration will be a must!

I would say mugs are a definite must have for an August trip! We really didn't mind carrying them with us at the parks each day, we usually just either clipped them to the bag w/ a clip or put them in a plastic bag (brought from home) inside the backpack.

Love the breakdown of the savings- what a deal! I did miss the dining plan this time. And while it could have saved us on a few meals......we over-order and eat at different places than we would have without the dining plan. For example, NOT using the plan, we only ordered dessert at like one meal this trip. but i guess the value of the dining plan is knowing you can order dessert if you really want to, and not worry about the cost- and just splurge. not that i was letting cost hold me back from dessert (often just full), but if i know it is included in the plan, i would usually get it and force myself to eat a few bites, while if i am paying OPP for it, i won't always get it. We tried the TIW card this time and loved it. Using it again for next trip- plus it includes 20% off alcohol. I don't mind the free dining, but since we have to pay for it now when staying DVC, we probably won't use it again. bummer.

I agree that most meals we only ordered dessert because we could, but the real draw of the dining plan for me, is that I know all of our food is paid for ahead of time. I love knowing that I don't really have to bring much extra money for food. I have debated the TIW card for this year, but I think we will probably stick with the dining plans. For me I just feel like I can splurge and order whatever I want with the dining plan vs. paying OOP, I always look for the cheapest thing!

I'm liking these day by day recaps everyone is doing on their TR's now! I'll have to remember that for my next one, I'm already on day 4 in my TR so I'm not gonna bother with it now.

Looks like the DP saved you a lot of money! I'm going to have to give that a try on our next trip, writing it all down and comparing, I'm curious how much it would cost OOP!

I really like the recap! It is a good basis for planning the next trip! Also, after so many updates (my day 1 was 7 updates and took about 2 weeks) it is quick reminder of what went on!

You definitely should do the comparison! I am doing it as I do it on here, so I won't know the final total/savings until I do it for the last post! I am really curious to see how much the DxDP saved (or didn't save), and how much we spent in total for this trip!