PTR for the planning obsessed....Updated 11/5 We're home now.

[mjaure]

Hey, I'm still here. I'm more of a lurker than a poster. I figure our trip will be about $4000.00. The bulk of that is our package and that will be paid off soon, whenever that stimulus check arrives, hopefully next week!

--Mary

 

[MRYPPNS]

Hey, I'm still here. I'm more of a lurker than a poster. I figure our trip will be about $4000.00. The bulk of that is our package and that will be paid off soon, whenever that stimulus check arrives, hopefully next week!

--Mary

Hi Mary
Are you doing the dinning plan?

 

[mrsksomeday]

We'll be at the Boardwalk area that night....many a place for a cocktail....

I have only been to the Boardwalk once and we were only there for about 15 minutes . I read all the things you said you would do there, sounds like there is a lot to keep you entertained.

After I get my latest TR done I will probably start another PTR, can we say crazy!! Then I will post what is going on then.

 

[mjaure]

Hi Mary
Are you doing the dinning plan?

Yep, DH wanted the Deluxe Dining Plan or no trip! I could have saved quite a bit of $$ right there (or stayed at a moderate) but that was his one request of the trip. We enjoyed the Dining Plan very much last year. We are doing all TS meals, usually 1 credit for breakfast or lunch and a 2 credit for dinner. I have pictures on my myspace page of our trip May 2007 if you are on myspace.
myspace.com/addictedtosims

--Mary

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Heidi,

in between my coughs and blowing my nose decided to get caught up on your PTR.

Never been.
I read some sad/scary stories about River Country in "Realityland: True-Life Adventues at Walt Disney World" by David Koenig (a very good read!). It also gives very good reasons why Skyway(I think that is what it was called) is closed.

Never been to River Country, but I do remeber that Skyway. DH and I remark how the orginal loading building at end of Fantasyland is still there...near the giant stroller parking area, wonder if they'll ever convert it to something?

I just checked the cost of our Southwest flight to Orlando. I paid $95 per ticket...it's now $144 per ticket. I'm so glad I decided not to wait to buy the tickets as round trip. Our returning tickets go on sale June 26th. I'm hoping for no more then $125 each.

Wow that is fabolus ticket pricing, hope the trip back works out for you. Southwest only flys out of Midway airport over here and it's southside, bit of a track for us...but maybe something to consider in the future.

I remember those pants...didn't have them but I'm sure I had something equally trendy. In hte late 80's I had jean overalls that were air-brushed in CT...very hip hop for the Lakes Region in NH! If I can find them I'll take a picture to share....<I promised it will be Disney related >.

Ok I remember in Jr. High having these 2 tone jeans, like stone-washed on one side and dark on the other...man I wore those all the time....

I got one of those big postcard things from EPCOT too. I scanned the best of them.

I know we rode the Engery ride (no Ellen back then) and I know we rode World of Motion but I don't remember it at all. I'll have to check it out on YouTube.

I LOVED the World of motion it was my favorite ride back then and the original Journey into Imagination...I do not like the re-do now

It's time to wrap up 1984.....

Remember when we all used film in our cameras and after vacation we would have to take a few more pictures to "finish the roll of film"? We had so many pictures of the dang cat that way!

Here's those finish up the roll pictures from 1984

I took one of those souvenir loot piles of all our stuff and then 1 for each kid...on this trip...don't you always do that?

And a big welcome home to Scrappie-Do and CP-Jackie...I'll pimp out their TR's here once they get a chance to start them

Thanks for the Welcome home!

How 'bout I get back to posting about my Disney trip!!!!

I typed up my game plan for arrival day....here it is:

Plan of Action for the First Part of Sunday October 26th

• wake up time TBD: _________
• get ready
• get Liam ready
• pack last minute stuff
• leave for airport no later then TBD:_________
• drop Heidi & Liam and luggage curbside
• check luggage with Skycap You won't be able to check in DH w/out his DL and he'll be parking the car....
• John park car and bring car seat Do you have know one who can take you? that would save you time and $$$
• get breakfast
• go thru security
• depart at 7:20 am
• arrive 10:10am Keep those flight delays in mind...and I was so suprised the amount of time it took us once we landed, off plane, potty-break and clothing change for Margaret, to the FM and thru the DME line and on the bus....way longer than I had expectated!
• take fake monorail
• get luggage
• pick out rental car

Decide on one of the following plans before leaving the airport, decision based on what time it is, how hungry we are and the weather.


Love all your plans....good planning for whatever may happen or need to happen

Please let me know if you see any holes in my plans or if you have a suggestion!

Very Fun and useful....the new Hollywood Studio map has the new Block Party Bash parade marked out were it stops for the show....very helpful.

You proabably won't have the sun & heat like us...but I have a few words to say on this one...some good, some bad....look for it hopefully soon in my TR or if you can't wait pm me

I was nearing my savings goal for our vacation money. So the accountant in me decided that I should review and update my budget as needed. I didn’t want to think I was all set and stop saving money for the vacation and then not have enough come October.


Food – Grand Total including tax and tips $992 -- This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and groceries. I re-checked to see if we should do the dinning plan with our current schedule of restaurants but the answer was still no because we would have to each buy a park ticket to get the package and I don’t want to spend the cash if we don’t need to.

Just wanted to let you know the DDP for 5 of us for 7 nights was under $800 and we hardley bought any real extra food for Margaret. Still have to add up the pop expenses on food...but the DDP did work great for us!

The $500 of souvenir money is coming from our Disney Visa rewards…we currently have $274 and from our coin jar.
We had just about the same amount on our DRC too and used it all on souvenir purchases plus some DD the kids had and then pop...need to add it all up still. Margaret got the least amount of stuff...I was proud of myself not over spending on the youngest....

I’ll update our budget again once I book our return flight and our resort ressies.

Glad I'm caught up and plan on having fun "tripping" along w/ you and the family in Oct. it will start flying soon!

Scrappie

 

[DisMomAmy]

Nice budget! You'll have to report back in your TR how close your actual budget comes to your planned budget. I am hoping to be closer to $3000 if we go next year, but that may be unrealistic - our off-site condo will only cost us $150 for the week, but we'll all have to get park tickets, which usually runs $1000. And who knows how high airfare will go by then... I'm thinking I need to take another look at the budget in order to start saving properly.

I know someone has posted this before... but I can't remember... how do you get the list of how many times people have posted? I tried to do it on my TR a while back and couldn't remember how.

 

[DisMomAmy]

OK - I take that back... My budget is over $4000 - I try not to think about it much since it is far off and might not even happen in 2009. But I did go back and check my spreadsheet and here's what I have:

Spring 09 Trip Budget

Airfare 1000
Airport Parking 80
Timeshare 200
Rental Car 400
Park Tickets 1000
Water Park Tickets 150
Special Tickets 175
Parking 77
Stroller Rental 150
Food 600
Mad Money 300
4132

I'm sure airfare will cost more than $1000. Hopefully a rental car will be less - I think we were in the $200's last time. "Special Tickets" are if we do a PPP or something like that. And food will probably be more - I have it planned to eat either late lunches or early dinners in our room when we go back for the mid-day break so we won't be paying for all of our meals. I don't think we'll eat too many TS meals - just a few character meals - the rest will be CS or in the condo. Anyway you look at it - we'll probably be closer to $4500/5000. Ouch!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Hi Heidi,

in between my coughs and blowing my nose decided to get caught up on your PTR.

Get soon quick!....I want you to start your TR

Never been to River Country, but I do remeber that Skyway. DH and I remark how the orginal loading building at end of Fantasyland is still there...near the giant stroller parking area, wonder if they'll ever convert it to something?

I need to look for it in October because I don't remember that building....there have been rumors of a Tinkerbell Meet and greet there

Wow that is fabolus ticket pricing, hope the trip back works out for you. Southwest only flys out of Midway airport over here and it's southside, bit of a track for us...but maybe something to consider in the future.

I really enjoy flying Southwest and not just for the price.

Ok I remember in Jr. High having these 2 tone jeans, like stone-washed on one side and dark on the other...man I wore those all the time....

OMG! I remember that style!

Thanks for the Welcome home!

You're welcome!

You proabably won't have the sun & heat like us...but I have a few words to say on this one...some good, some bad....look for it hopefully soon in my TR or if you can't wait pm me

I'll PM you because that parade is a touring issue for me.

Glad I'm caught up and plan on having fun "tripping" along w/ you and the family in Oct. it will start flying soon!

Scrappie

I have to start doing some crafty things for the trip....but I'm limited because I need to use the color laser printer at work.

 

[ddstratton]

Whew! Took me a little while, but I got all 35 pages read. I am really enjoying your PTR so far. Love the look back at previous trips.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Scrappie Do wrote in RED:You won't be able to check in DH w/out his DL and he'll be parking the car....
• John park car and bring car seat Do you have know one who can take you? that would save you time and $$$• get breakfast
• go thru security
• depart at 7:20 am
• arrive 10:10am Keep those flight delays in mind...and I was so suprised the amount of time it took us once we landed, off plane, potty-break and clothing change for Margaret, to the FM and thru the DME line and on the bus....way longer than I had expectated!

Good catch:Last time DH showed his DL to the Skycap before he went to park. Technically since we can each have 3 pieces of luggage and DS has a full price tickets I could put all of our luggage under mine and DS names.

We like to drive ourselves since it's so early in the morning. Plus when we fly back home we don't like to have to deal with anyone else....little cranky at the end of 10 days....so the $100 is well worth it.

I'm planning on packing the carry on for DS like we are getting stuck at the airport for the day. So I have plenty of snacks and juice. I purposely don't "schedule" a lot on arrival day.

 

[MRYPPNS]

I know someone has posted this before... but I can't remember... how do you get the list of how many times people have posted? I tried to do it on my TR a while back and couldn't remember how.

On the line that has the thread listings under the column that is marked "replies" you can click on that number for the thread you want. It opens up a chart.

OK - I take that back... My budget is over $4000 - I try not to think about it much since it is far off and might not even happen in 2009. But I did go back and check my spreadsheet and here's what I have:

Spring 09 Trip Budget

Airfare 1000
Airport Parking 80
Timeshare 200
Rental Car 400
Park Tickets 1000
Water Park Tickets 150
Special Tickets 175
Parking 77
Stroller Rental 150
Food 600
Mad Money 300
4132

I'm sure airfare will cost more than $1000. Hopefully a rental car will be less - I think we were in the $200's last time. "Special Tickets" are if we do a PPP or something like that. And food will probably be more - I have it planned to eat either late lunches or early dinners in our room when we go back for the mid-day break so we won't be paying for all of our meals. I don't think we'll eat too many TS meals - just a few character meals - the rest will be CS or in the condo. Anyway you look at it - we'll probably be closer to $4500/5000. Ouch!

It adds up when you take the time to include everything....even on mine I'm missing all the money I will spend on new clothes and sneakers before we go. Plus we need a couple new bags. Is your stroller budget with the new prices? $31 for a double for one day?

Whew! Took me a little while, but I got all 35 pages read. I am really enjoying your PTR so far. Love the look back at previous trips.

WOW! Thanks for reading and welcome. Did you use the links or did you plow thru the whole thing. I still have to finish adding all the links.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yikes!! $31/day for a double!! I don't remember what we paid, but it definitely wasn't that much. I think it was $18/day or we paid $16/day by pre-paying for the entire week. (According to the rates published in my 08 UG.) What are the single strollers going for these days? I can't believe they went up that much in 8 months! We'll probably just get a single stroller - the boys rarely rode together and Alex will be at least 8 1/2 next time we go. But I feel the need to have something to cart my crap around in!

 

[Lady Lallie]

On the line that has the thread listings under the column that is marked "replies" you can click on that number for the thread you want. It opens up a chart.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Stroller Info:

Stroller rentals cost (prices current as of April 2008):


At the theme parks and Downtown Disney:

Single strollers: $15/day (no deposit) or purchase $13/day length of stay rental.

Double strollers: $31/day (no deposit) or purchase $27/day length of stay rental.

 

[mousescrapper]

Stroller Info:

Stroller rentals cost (prices current as of April 2008):


At the theme parks and Downtown Disney:

Single strollers: $15/day (no deposit) or purchase $13/day length of stay rental.

Double strollers: $31/day (no deposit) or purchase $27/day length of stay rental.

We never rented a stroller this trip...as we brought Margaret's from home (which did serve as the "carp carrier" underneath and when my back hurt from my back sack. But I think it is more in that $18 range for a single. We almost broke down 1 day and thought we'd need one for tired and cranky Mae, but she managed all 8 days of touring on her own little 5 yr old feet.

AMY I agree in the need for something to carry some of that park tour loot...if you don't think either boy will really need the stroller for tired legs...then why not bring a cheepy umbrella one from home? some you can find with a sm canapy and basket....hey you over 1 year to find the perfect one.

 

[MRYPPNS]

I thought I would be posting that I booked our return flight....nope not yet. Southwest does have the new booking dates out but it looks like they changed the flights. I thought I could get a non-stop departing Orlando at 10am. Nope. It's 11:30am. The next non-stop flight that we would take departs at 4:10pm. Same price for either flight.

Here's my problem: DH gets motion sick (doesn't stop him from much since he's going out on a 42 foot sail boat tomorrow) but he tends not to eat before a flight. Hence why I wanted a mid morning flight....I'm not doing a sunrise flight with a 18 month old from Orlando when we have to pack up and check out. If DH will eat breakfast and take the 4pm flight then we will have until about 2pm to hang out and relax at the resort.

So now I'm suck until DH gets home and we can discuss it. Too bad that won't be until about 8pm tonight. UGH!!

 

[stagemomx3]

I'd go with the 4:10 flight.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Yes, that 4:00 flight sounds good!

Hopefully, DH will feel the same way!

 

[mousescrapper]

I agree too w/ the 4:10 flight too...gives you more time to breathe while checking out and a little last Disney fix too

Hope the conversation and decision goes well!

J-

 

[mrsksomeday]

I agree, I would take the later flight so you can soak up as much Disney as you can before you leave. It would drive me insane to have to wait until after 8pm tonight to talk to him about it.