Tink03477
I love my little Disney Bear!
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2003
- Messages
- 737
Cast:
Me, Kim a.k.a. Kiki, (41) Disney fanatic, worrywart, planner and true fan of all things Disney. 6th trip to the Land of Magic and the one place Id truly love to live. Just purchased DVC Saratoga Springs!!!!
DS, Stephen a.k.a. ST, (15), 6th trip as well. Loves the TTA, Contemporary Resort and TOT. He likes the retro feel of the CR. I made us wait until he was 9 before I would take him to Disney for the first time because I wanted him to understand how hot it could get, how long the lines could be, the value of a dollar, that its my vacation too and most importantly, that he could go the distance with me all day and not need a nap! If I say so myself, it was a good plan and he thinks so as well; especially when he sees all the over-tired cranky young children under the age of about 7 and their frazzled parents.
Prologue: I dont make PSs until I check in and so far it has worked out well, even for a Character Breakfast. I wouldnt advise it for a Princess Breakfast of course, that probably wouldnt work. I have used a 4x6 spiral notebook for each trip with all the reservation numbers, phone numbers, flights, dates, packing list, membership numbers, PS choices, things we didnt do last time to do this time,
Things to do I get off the boards that I didnt know about, new events, EMH/EE days and times, restaurants to try with foods to try, not to forget places, etc. Ill tear out the previous vacation and write down the stuff that needs to be noted again so I dont forget and just add the new stuff. This is the last trip for this notebook. Ill have to get a new one. This time I also religiously took notes so I could actually write a trip report. Otherwise I would never remember what we did since there are only 2 of us and as you will soon see, we can cover a lot of territory in 1 day. I usually plan the vacation during the school year since I am one of those parents that would rather go during a less crowded and a more inexpensive time to travel. We usually go May or October, but this wont be happening anymore either. DS has failed Algebra 1 and I guess that I have failed him in this regard. He just started High School, 9th Grade and its a lot harder than we thought it would be. I didnt know until I was seeing the grades, we talked about it and I spoke with his counselor. But, it got worse, not better and now he will be going to Summer School for Algebra. So, I guess we go in April or during the summer from now on. My son is not one of the ones who can handle missing any more school time without it hurting him academically. We both learned the hard way I am sorry to say. He may require a tutor as well for next year, but were re-evaluating after summer school and see how hes faring. Even worse was I could only get early reasonable flights out on a Tuesday to Tuesday and not a Saturday to Saturday like we usually vacation. So he missed 6 days really of school and that is VERY BAD in High School, also which I didnt know. Those handbooks need to be re-written a little more parent friendly. Those things are huge! (and sometimes contradictory) I had received an unexcused letter from the Principal when we returned with the warning that 1 more unexcused absence would result in his automatically failing all his courses for the semester. They dont mess around in High School! (Yep I read the postings on pulling kids out of school, but there were too many mixed responses to get a good feel on what to do. Now I KNOW!)
After much research and confusion, I finally decided to rent a car from National. Its my first time renting a car so I was a little apprehensive, but it worked out fine. I wrote up a Song & National Report on the Transportation Board if you want more details.
Me, Kim a.k.a. Kiki, (41) Disney fanatic, worrywart, planner and true fan of all things Disney. 6th trip to the Land of Magic and the one place Id truly love to live. Just purchased DVC Saratoga Springs!!!!
DS, Stephen a.k.a. ST, (15), 6th trip as well. Loves the TTA, Contemporary Resort and TOT. He likes the retro feel of the CR. I made us wait until he was 9 before I would take him to Disney for the first time because I wanted him to understand how hot it could get, how long the lines could be, the value of a dollar, that its my vacation too and most importantly, that he could go the distance with me all day and not need a nap! If I say so myself, it was a good plan and he thinks so as well; especially when he sees all the over-tired cranky young children under the age of about 7 and their frazzled parents.
Prologue: I dont make PSs until I check in and so far it has worked out well, even for a Character Breakfast. I wouldnt advise it for a Princess Breakfast of course, that probably wouldnt work. I have used a 4x6 spiral notebook for each trip with all the reservation numbers, phone numbers, flights, dates, packing list, membership numbers, PS choices, things we didnt do last time to do this time,
Things to do I get off the boards that I didnt know about, new events, EMH/EE days and times, restaurants to try with foods to try, not to forget places, etc. Ill tear out the previous vacation and write down the stuff that needs to be noted again so I dont forget and just add the new stuff. This is the last trip for this notebook. Ill have to get a new one. This time I also religiously took notes so I could actually write a trip report. Otherwise I would never remember what we did since there are only 2 of us and as you will soon see, we can cover a lot of territory in 1 day. I usually plan the vacation during the school year since I am one of those parents that would rather go during a less crowded and a more inexpensive time to travel. We usually go May or October, but this wont be happening anymore either. DS has failed Algebra 1 and I guess that I have failed him in this regard. He just started High School, 9th Grade and its a lot harder than we thought it would be. I didnt know until I was seeing the grades, we talked about it and I spoke with his counselor. But, it got worse, not better and now he will be going to Summer School for Algebra. So, I guess we go in April or during the summer from now on. My son is not one of the ones who can handle missing any more school time without it hurting him academically. We both learned the hard way I am sorry to say. He may require a tutor as well for next year, but were re-evaluating after summer school and see how hes faring. Even worse was I could only get early reasonable flights out on a Tuesday to Tuesday and not a Saturday to Saturday like we usually vacation. So he missed 6 days really of school and that is VERY BAD in High School, also which I didnt know. Those handbooks need to be re-written a little more parent friendly. Those things are huge! (and sometimes contradictory) I had received an unexcused letter from the Principal when we returned with the warning that 1 more unexcused absence would result in his automatically failing all his courses for the semester. They dont mess around in High School! (Yep I read the postings on pulling kids out of school, but there were too many mixed responses to get a good feel on what to do. Now I KNOW!)
After much research and confusion, I finally decided to rent a car from National. Its my first time renting a car so I was a little apprehensive, but it worked out fine. I wrote up a Song & National Report on the Transportation Board if you want more details.
