Our Family's 2nd Trip to Disney World-Pre-Trippie

Wow, that is super exciting news!! I can't wait to get mine booked too, it will feel much more official! Your plans look great!!! And what a great score to be able to use the AMEX gift card.

So, should I add QSDP to my ressie when I book too? If I don't will they have to rebook the whole if/when free dining comes out?

Hey Pam!!! I am soooo excited!!!!!!

I read on the Disney Mom's Panel that as long as rooms and stuff are available and you book the amount of required nights needed, they can either add it on to your ressie, or adjust what you already have. When I was booking last night, a CM popped on to see if I needed any help, and I had inquired about that and they had said thats it not guarenteed, but they can basically do it if the as long as they arent all booked up (I think they just have to say that because notice the past few years that they've offered it, they announced it ALL summer long. So beings that most kids are in school at that time of the year, I think we will be okay. Plus its been done before). I think you will be fine either way. But if you feel more comfortable doing it- remember you can always add free dining up to 3 days prior to your arrival- and you can make as many changes to your ressie as you want up to 45 days prior to your arrival. Beings that you are doing the QSDP anyway regardless of free dining, I would still book it. Can't wait for you guys to book as well!!!!!:woohoo:
 
:woohoo: for booking!! :woohoo:

I am so glad you were able to book--it makes it real (at least to me!!). Now all we have to do is wait and wish pixiedust: for free DP!!
 
Janine
:yay: on booking and using your $200 AMX GC how great is that!!! :yay:

I like your plan; that is what I plan to do; book everything I want and than make any changes later...I was up in the air about doing a room only or pkg but decided to go with the pkg and change accordingly if any specials come out.

I love all your pictures...thanks for sharing!!!! you have a beautiful family and Austin is just too cute!!!!
:wave2: Connie
 
:thumbsup2 Yay for booking!!!

I also book and then make changes later. My mom books her room with dining plan, etc. and then if it becomes free, we call back and change it. We've also added days without a problem and get the same promotion but like the others said, if it's available. So far, we've been lucky.

Your plans sound great.
 
Janine
:yay: on booking and using your $200 AMX GC how great is that!!! :yay:

I like your plan; that is what I plan to do; book everything I want and than make any changes later...I was up in the air about doing a room only or pkg but decided to go with the pkg and change accordingly if any specials come out.

I love all your pictures...thanks for sharing!!!! you have a beautiful family and Austin is just too cute!!!!
:wave2: Connie

I was soooo excited that I got to do that. I think that booking what you know you want first and changing accordingly as the specials come out is the best way to do it.

And thanks for saying I have a beautiful family- it means a lot :cloud9:. And I definitely plan on sharing more pictures!!!
 
:thumbsup2 Yay for booking!!!

I also book and then make changes later. My mom books her room with dining plan, etc. and then if it becomes free, we call back and change it. We've also added days without a problem and get the same promotion but like the others said, if it's available. So far, we've been lucky.

Your plans sound great.

I am soooo happy that I got it booked- it feels soooo official now. That is great to know that the CM's were able to switch up your ressie for Free dining!
 
So another uneventful day at work :surfweb:. My boss has been on vacation all week, so I haven't really done much of anything- except for the stuff I have to do everyday. What I did do is start working on my spreadsheet with all of my plans on it- hey give me some credit I work in accounting thats what I do all day :lmao:!!!! What I basically put on it is each day acrossed the top of the spreadsheet. Then in the first column I put all of the parks and I put the park hours and EMH, and if I have any dining ressies (which I shouldn't this time around because we are doing the QSDP). Then on the bottom again I list the dates and put into detail what we are doing. However, all of my dates are blank for now because I don't have the park hours or EMH. I did start on our first day because we won't be don't any parks because we will be flying in that evening- but I know you guys want to see my first day plans so here they are:

Monday, September 20:

Grab a quick dinner on the way to the airport
Be at Airport by at least 4:30pm
Depart @ 6:40pm (Spirit Airlines)
Arrive at MCO @ 8:55pm
Hop on Magical Express to Pop Century
Arrive at Pop Century hopefully before 10pm
Check In
Get settled into room
Maybe wander around hotel or take a swim
Get to sleep hopefully before 11pm so we can be up fresh and early the next day.

So heres the deal, I plan on sticking to this plan as long as we get free dining. If not, I will be switching our ressie to 9/21- 9/24. So, beings that you usually need at least a 5 night stay to book for free dining, I booked Monday and we are flying in Monday night. Why? Bill gets off at 2pm and Austin will be starting Preschool. Its probably going to be hard enough to explain to his teacher why I am taking him out for 4 days so early in the year. This will be his first year in school, and he is verrrrrry smart. He should be going into kindergarten, but his birthday is in Oct and the cut off date is Sept 30- you have to be five by that date. Luckily, our town just started with all day preschool this year so I can at least get him into that. It really shouldn't be an issue because it is only preschool and I don't really think it counts or they hold it against you. It is only 4 days right- oh well, it is for his birthday (which is actually 2 weeks after we get back, but we cannot go then because I cannot take of the first week of the month due to our month end close, and I am in my friends wedding the week after) and I am doing it anyway :rolleyes1. So, anyway, we can pick him up from school- Bill will be home, and hopefully I can get someone to drop us off at the airport. I am liking the idea of flying in Monday night because #1. We won't be as exhausted as we were when we took a 7am flight in last time. #2. Beings that we will be staying there that night, we will still have the majority of our QS meals from that day (we may use a few snack credits when we get there) that can be used the last day of our trip, or for an extra meal throughout the week!

So there you have it- hopefully this plan works as well as I hope it does. Hopefully we get some cheap flights because we refuse to drive. We like getting there in 2 hours and not having to worry about stopping, filling up the car, etc.
 
Today we are getting our kitty :lovestruc. Austin and I are going to pick her up a 1pm. We are probably going to stop off and get her some toys first though- I got her litter box and everything ready last night. We are going to name her "Purr"dita (Perdita from 101 dalmations- so its "Purr"dita because she is a cat :lovestruc, and we can call her "Purr"dy for short. Yes it had to be a Disney name!!!!!

Ok, I better go and get ready, I will let everyone how everything went later on!!!!
 
We finally got the kitty!!!! Except- we did not name her "Purr"dita- we named her "Dory" from Finding Nemo. She has these really big owl like eyes like Dory, and is very funny!!! So far she has adapted really well. She is only about a year old, very playful, and verryyyyyyy lovable :lovestruc. She also started using her litterbox right away- so I was very happy about that :cool1:. We went to Petsmart and bought her a bunch of little toys, but she is in love with Austin's Nerf Darts. Austin would shoot them, and she chases after them, and goes running into his room with them. It was the funniest thing :rotfl2:!!!! She basically hung out with Austin in his room all afternoon and evening!!!!
 
Yeah it really is. It is awesome that the Disney company lets us do this- it is so much easier to pay on it slowly than come up with that big chunk of money at one shot! So many more people can take a vacation there because of this :wizard:. Are you and your family still going back in April?


Yes we are!! :cool1: It will be a big surprise the kids don't know about it. This will also be the first time we drive there. It will take us about 11 hours.
 
Yes we are!! :cool1: It will be a big surprise the kids don't know about it. This will also be the first time we drive there. It will take us about 11 hours.

Wow thats awesome- your girls are going to be sooooo excited :banana:!!! Thats also awesome that you only live 11 hours away- I would drive too!!!

According to Mapquest, it would take us 16 hours and 54 minutes to get from my house to Pop Century- thats driving straight through with no food or potty stops, no traffic, and nothing else besides straight driving :scared1:!!!!!
 
Hi everyone- I hope you all had a great weekend. It was pretty uneventful for me. Austin is going through the stage where he drags all of his toys out and doesn't want to put them back :scared1:!!!!!! Now I am a neat freak, so it really bothers me that I have to pick these toys up all the time. So, last night, I cleaned house :laundy:!!!!! I basically went through everything he doesn't need, is too big for, or doesn't play with, or trash. I gave it all to my cousin- who's mother-in-law runs an in house daycare. I worked on it from about 8:30 last night till almost 2am!!!!!! He had sooo many toys (still has quite a bit), so I really had to weed through them. Other than that- not much really!!!!

Anyway, on to the important stuff- Disney of course!!!!! I am still pricing out plane tickets, and I am seriously thinking of adding the park hopper since we probably won't do MNSSHP. I am hoping to do an official Disney night soon, so I will keep all of you posted!!!!

Have a great night!!!
 
Awww, congrats on the new kitty! And how cute that she plays with Austin, he must adore her!

We did our first Disney night of the year today! I will post about it in my PTR tomorrow! We had an Animal Kingdom Safari day!
 
Awww, congrats on the new kitty! And how cute that she plays with Austin, he must adore her!

We did our first Disney night of the year today! I will post about it in my PTR tomorrow! We had an Animal Kingdom Safari day!

Thanks!!!!! Yeah Austin loves her- and she follows him everywhere!!!!

Your Animal Kingdom Safari day looked great- you always come up with the coolest ideas!!!!!
 
So I woke up about 15 times last nights with a dry mouth/sore throat and had a horrible time breathing right :sick:- and when I finally drug myself out of bed this morning to go to work- I took some DayQuil (faithfully throughout the day) and now I feel much better :cloud9:. Bill and Austin just went to pick up dinner- we are having white pizza (yummy!).

It is so funny because I work with this guy that is an absolute disney freak, and whenever we are having a boring or crummy day at work (which happen quite often because we do work in accounting :lmao:- not the most energetic job out there), we say "why don't we just ditch our jobs and become Disney Travel Agents!!!!"-jokingly. You know, that is a job that I think I would really enjoy- not that its ever going to happen though!!!!! I love planning trips to Disney, and I think it would fill that void of when your not there to help fulfill someone elses dream :wizard:.

Speaking of which- I have a friend from work (divorced) who is a single mom to three kids (two boys- 9 and 8 I think, and a little girl-4), and she has a wonderful boyfriend as well. Well, her parents are disney freaks and wants her to take a trip to disney with them, but she has to pay for her, her bf, and the kids. She priced out a trip for the ASMu suites for a week a think, and it ran her like $6,000- and I was like wow thats crazy, I'll bet I can find you a cheaper deal. So that's what I am off to do right now- I'll be back later and let you know how it goes :wizard:.
 
I am glad you are feeling better! Keep taking the meds so you do not relapse!! I am constantly sifting through Lilian's toys too. :goodvibes It makes me happy and she really does not miss things once we sort through things. We also find, for her, switching them around in the house to another location reignites the interest in them.

Is your friend willing to say off site? There are some great vacation homes through http://www.allstarvacationhomes.com/ if she is willing for a FANTASTIC price. I looked at them at one point, to compare only, and boy does it save A LOT of money if you are willing. :teacher:
 
I am glad you are feeling better! Keep taking the meds so you do not relapse!! I am constantly sifting through Lilian's toys too. :goodvibes It makes me happy and she really does not miss things once we sort through things. We also find, for her, switching them around in the house to another location reignites the interest in them.

Is your friend willing to say off site? There are some great vacation homes through http://www.allstarvacationhomes.com/ if she is willing for a FANTASTIC price. I looked at them at one point, to compare only, and boy does it save A LOT of money if you are willing. :teacher:

Hi Stephanie!
Thanks- I just took some NyQuil so I should be in dreamland soon :cloud9:!!!! I like getting rid of old toys once he gets new ones as well, but some of them I have a hard time getting rid of for sentimental reasons :confused3.

Speaking of my friend- I don't know where she came up with the $6000 figure, but I priced anywhere between $2400 to $3000. I think she wanted to stay on property because of the disney transportation- but I will ask her if she wanted to stay offsite- thanks for the tip :thumbsup2!!!!

So how is your planning coming along? I think I am at a standstill a little bit till I find out if free dining comes out- I don't want to book my plane tix until I know for sure if they are having it. If it is not offered, I am knocking two days off of my trip, so I want to make sure that it is being offered because it is like 75.00 pp for Spirit Airlines to make a change to your flight ressie.

Have a great night!!!!:wizard:
 








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