Operation Disney in December--PTR followed by TR!

[DisneytheKid]

You can add one more person following along who will be going to disneyland around the same time as you! Can't wait!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Welcome DisneytheKid! I'm getting excited for the information for this year to come out... not that it will really help my planning for next year, but more so I can analyze what plan I would have with that info... I know, I am so weird!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Made another payment, $2175 is what I owe now... Can't believe it is September already... We are ever so close to the one year mark, and then I can start looking at flights!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Okay, so I got an offer from Disney Rewards Visa.... a free $200 gift card with any purchase if I sign up for their card. So, I did... $200 toward my food budget done... well, will be done as soon as I get the card, make the purchase, and they send me the gift card. And, since I will be paying off my Mexico trip this summer with our tax return in March, I think I will actually use the card to pay it off, and then pay off the card with my tax return, so I can get more points. We don't usually use our credit cards, just our debit, so I want to rack up some more points before our trip in just under a year and 2 months... so I think this is how I can do it!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

OMG! Got my Disney Visa today!!! $200 gift card after 1st purchase... so check out my math:

Total is: $2575, and the deposit was $200, plus I made an additional payment of $200... balance due on November 5th, 2012 is $2175. And I have to pay for airfare, which will probably run us $600 total. Oh, and I already have a $250 gift card for food. I figure food will run $800, plus I have a couple character vouchers.

If I put the balance of this trip, plus the balance of our upcoming Mexico trip on the card (I'll wait and charge these right before we get our 2 yearly bonuses + our tax return), I'll have another $75 in disney rewards $$, that's $525 toward our food budget that I'll have covered, and only $275 left to save!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Just gotta say I am loving reading all the Christmas stuff on the main forum... and I am soooo excited that we are almost at the 1 year mark, and I really wish it was just a two-week mark... But that's okay...

 

[princesszelda]

Just gotta say I am loving reading all the Christmas stuff on the main forum... and I am soooo excited that we are almost at the 1 year mark, and I really wish it was just a two-week mark... But that's okay...

I know the feeling. I can not wait until next year when we will be in the parks!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I just figured out that I have enough alaska miles to get free tix for all of us! That's a $600 savings! Unfortunately, it means not flying Jet Blue which I love dearly. But I like Alaska second best, so it'll work!

I can't book my tix quite yet... in another week I can... and the Alaska flights are:

12/5 @ 7:15 am PDX-SNA arriving at 9:38 am which means we'll be in the parks around 11 after we check in at the hotel!

Then leaving 12/10 at 2:10 pm arriving at PDX at 4:34 pm, and we'll be all the way home by 6:30 pm which is good, because we all will have work and or school the next day.

Can't believe it's almost time to get my airfare!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Booked my airfare!!

Okay, so I thought I'd be able to get my tix for free with miles, and I could have, if we left to come home on the 6:30ish flight... but with school & work the next day, that wasn't such a good idea.

So, I got hubby's tix for free, and got DD's and mine at a reduced price. Grand total for 3 RT PDX-SNA was $307.

Now, the best deal I have ever scored was on Jet Blue and it was $59 each way... which was $354. And the current actual ticket price for our flights is $682. So I will gladly pay $307. I do wish it was completely free... but I figure I saved $$ anyway.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Well about 7 months to go, and so much news about cars land is coming out and the new Carthay circle restaurant! Now I think we can actually plan on doing princess lunch and c.c. Dinner for the woc tickets. I am sure it will be spendy... Sounds like we'll need to order an appy, 3 entrees, and 2 desserts to get all of us woc passes. But I am sure it will be worth it... I've never really been a fan of the wct menu, but was willing to brave it, so we didnt have to do Ariel's twice (princesses and non princesses) but now that the woc dinner won't be available at Ariel's, I am glad there will be another choice. Oh! And I read about cinnamon churros with chocolate dip at the cones, and I must have those too!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I'm subscribing!!

 

[Escape2Disney]

Hello fellow Oregonian!

I'm following as well! My DD, DMOM, and I will be at DL from December 8th - 13th. Maybe we'll see you there!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Hi guys!

Escape--maybe we will see you there... I usually try and do a LGMH on my backpack, but I rarely notice if anyone else has one... kinda not observant that way when we are in DL!

I got my 1st Disney Rewards magazine thingy in the mail today... the Brave costume looks super super cute. I think my dd will have a hard time choosing between that and Elphaba (from Wicked) this year...

 

[Pesky]

Can't wait to see how your trip turns out. We're going around Christmas time too -- in 2013! So I'll get my preview from yours.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Another Oregonian who will be there in December! We went to WDW last Christmas and loved it so much that we wanted to try DL this December to celebrate me graduating from nursing school! Our dates are December 18th to 18th offsite at Fairfield Inn and then 18th through 21st and Villas at Grand Californian!

 

[ociana]

This must be where the Oregonians check in to say they are going in December!

We are going 12/23-12/28. We booked a deal through Costco and scored pretty nicely with the airfare at only 189rt on Christmas week. It pays to book early. We also picked up the Disney rewards visa...although our Amazon visa has better rewards overall. I plan to use it here and there, but mostly to save 10% at lots of places while we are in the parks.

Oh, Mommy2PrincessAbby I saw your post earlier in the thread about your daughter getting into the charter school you wanted. CONGRATS! My boys did charter school until we moved to Oregon and then a private school through Middle School. I found it to be a wonderful way to get a solid education. My older son just hit high school this year (sadly, public is our only option in Salem) and he is appalled by the classroom and study habits of his fellow students - even in honors classes!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Hi everyone... Guess I should rename the thread Oregonians escape the rain and go to DL in December! Lol

Ociana..it may be too late for your son, but I have it on good authority that a high school charter will be starting in Salem soon. Not sure if there is a website, but it is called proficiency academy of salem-keizer. The plan is for an academically rigorous program, similar to one in bend. I am actually a sprague graduate, and have friends kids that graduated from south... And i hear you!

 

[ociana]

I know all about the proficiency academy! We were at the school board when they voted to proceed and extremely let down when they slowed the process after the arrest of the school head. I am hopeful that things get back on track for 2013-14 for my younger son. My older son is just finishing his first year at Sprague, so I am sure you know what I mean about the student classroom behavior.

In other news, our house was robbed yesterday! Took all our small electronics (xbox, kindle, ipods, laptop, etc) and our lockbox with passports, birth certs, cash and more. The cops dusted for prints and got one that we are hoping isn't just one of ours. Hours of phone calls to close accounts and shut stuff down yesterday, today I get to talk to the insurance claims agent (joy).

Here is a pro tip for everyone: Document the serial numbers of all your electronics somewhere that is not likely to be stolen.

 

[ociana]

Totally didn't mean to kill the thread with my downer news! In better news, the incident did not thwart our trip to Disneyland in any way and all will be well.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

OMG! I didn't even see your reply! So sorry to hear about your break-in!! We were robbed in October last year, they bypassed everything once they found our safe... and made off with my daughter's baby passport (long expired), video cassettes of her when she was little (that we had not yet converted to DVD), our marriage cert, birth certs... uugh.... nothing of value to anyone but us and identity thieves. They did catch the guys, turns out they were a part of a major ring... and trial for them will be starting soon.

Anyhow... while my DL countdown is continuing, and I am anxious to see the kid's menu for Carthay Circle--as well as some 1st hand reports from people with kids how the WOC tickets are dealt with (all that food for the 3 of us sounds like a lot, if we eat have to get an entree plus either and appy or dessert)... I am now within a 2-week countdown to our Riviera Maya (south of Cancun) vacation... So off to the store for toiletries