Share a WDW moment: It’s a Star Wars Weekend! It's today - BUH-BYE!!!!

[SimmerBaggins]

....

And thank you again for the room. You forgot to mention that you were calling me while I was shopping in the worst traffic area of town. Where we live has this mall and I think they let Goofy set up the traffic pattern around it...wait actually through it. Yes, the little road around the mall is also a cut through to get from one street to another and this was Vickie's timing. As you can see since I am here, I survived. Vickie kept apologizing for having to call, I had a good laugh.

Oh, that's right!!! I had to call you about THREE TIMES!! I don't remember what all three were for, but I had DVC on the line, while I called you -- once, for your address! I was thinking: it's just too difficult to find my address book, so I'll just call Melissa!! -- and then, you were in a horrendous traffic situation! What a friend, right? I felt so stupid...

And yes, more on the timing later!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Here it came...:

"We decided we shouldn't let A* go with you," he finished.

Wow! Was that a shocker! As they continued, it became evident that they didn't trust the two of our daughters together, and that they believed Jordan would follow their daughter to whatever mischief, without question.

In some sense, I knew they were right: their daughter had gotten in trouble twice on a cruise ship with them: once with security, and once by making a young man angry because she (and her friend) kept bothering him. I felt like my own daughter wouldn't go to those extremes, but even if she went part-way, it might be too much.

In a sense, I was relieved. Remember those points from that book? I know that I would have had to come down hard to keep them in line...who wants to do that during their vacation?? In a way, her parents were lifting a potential burden, and I wouldn't have to rein in their daughter. My own daughter, by herself, is a quiet, shy, reserved young lady -- anyone could attest to that. Is she easily manipulated? I know she does have her own mind, but all it would take is one "oh, why not?"

Both girls were disappointed, however. I did feel badly about that.

 

[jenniferkeala808]

you like to leave us hanging yeah?? lol!

Well, i'm sooo glad you got them into Kidani villas...that was soo nice of you!! Hope everything works out!!

Maybe your DD's friend not going is for the better...i know when i've travelled with my friends, i always feel obligated to entertain or do what they want to do...that's just my opinion. Something will come up in the future where she'll be able to go with you folks...maybe when they're older? Good luck with everything!!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

you like to leave us hanging yeah?? lol!

Well, i'm sooo glad you got them into Kidani villas...that was soo nice of you!! Hope everything works out!!

Maybe your DD's friend not going is for the better...i know when i've travelled with my friends, i always feel obligated to entertain or do what they want to do...that's just my opinion. Something will come up in the future where she'll be able to go with you folks...maybe when they're older? Good luck with everything!!

Thanks, Keala! I could joke and say, "Sharing is caring!" -- but really, like so many of you do, I love to give what I have to people I care about, especially when I've enjoyed it so much, myself.

I think it is for the best that this first friend isn't going, BUT -- we aren't done with that!!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

After we knew that the BFF wasn't going, I asked Jordan to figure out who else she would like to take with us to WDW, and could go. She thought about it, and realized she had a friend who, in her words, she could be herself with and have a lot of fun with, too. This was Natalie. Natalie had gone to her school a couple of years, but now had transferred to another school, but they still kept in touch and invited each other over occasionally.

Immediately, I was thrilled! This girl was: sweet (kind), cute and bubbly -- fun to be around. This was the girl that fit all the criteria, who I could see I wouldn't have to keep a constant eye on (not that I wouldn't keep a vigilant eye, anyway), and I felt I could trust her and my daughter to be together, not plotting mischief. I told my DD to call and talk to her about it...yes, I was supposed to talk with the parents first, but this was before I had that book!!

Since we put the bug in her (and her parent's) ear, I brought it up to her parents when we got together for Natalie's birthday party in December. Believe it or not, that party was an outdoor park party -- in December. We live in San Antonio.

Her parents were cautiously optimistic...they needed to think about the cost, which was very important to them. I understood.... So, I had to play another waiting game. I told Natalie's mom that we needed a decision by the end of January, because we would need to book the plane tickets by then. We exchanged phone numbers, email, and I promised to look her up on Facebook.

I'm on Facebook... almost every day.

 

[elizablake]

I'm loving your trip report! The suspense is killing me.

We will be there the same week as you. We are staying off-site for the first time.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

oh this sounds promising!!!

Hope she can go!!! I have to admit to a bit of a facebook obsession too!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

I'm loving your trip report! The suspense is killing me.

We will be there the same week as you. We are staying off-site for the first time.

So AWESOME I FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE going AT THE SAME TIME!! Or, rather, you found me!! Thanks for the post, and I hope I can keep up the entertainment value!

We've stayed "off-campus" a few times, and although it's not as relaxing as staying on-property, it's still awesome to be there...and, you can definitely save $$.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

oh this sounds promising!!!

Hope she can go!!! I have to admit to a bit of a facebook obsession too!

I am so glad you are hanging around w/me -- I think of you as Melissa's friend, who she talks about when we get to talking about WDW.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

I didn't bug anyone for an answer over the holidays, even though it was on my mind -- everyone was trying to get through their holidays with enough cash to see them through and to get through the monthly bills...including us.

I had begun putting away about $50 per paycheck away, then I realized it needed to be more like $100 per paycheck. Then, as January began to slip by, I realized that plane tickets were even more expensive than I was hoping for.

Let me explain: last year, my husband had a bunch of airline miles. So many, in fact, that the price of the plane tickets for 4 of us to WDW in July came to about $300, ROUNDTRIP. Yeah. Go ahead -- drool. I'm talking, TOTAL, $300. For four. Guess what. It ain't happenin' this year.


In my spare time, I began to research and realize the cost of the plane tickets, at a MINIMUM, roundtrip per PERSON, was going to be about $250. Hmmm...times 4....

It was at this point that I realized the next deposit for my trip savings needed to be about $150 per paycheck. I stopped telling DH about these deposits.

I rounded up my DD one day, and told her to text her friend that plane tickets were coming up to about $250 pp, so she did. We never heard anything back on this subject.

Well, technically, $250 pp isn't too bad. People pay much more. So would we.

 

[jmskinner]

I am so glad you are hanging around w/me -- I think of you as Melissa's friend, who she talks about when we get to talking about WDW.

Vickie, this is another fantastic Dis member from Scotland, but I think you are thinking of Di and Gordon. I still regret not meeting Scotsminnie and her family when they were here. Actually, they even drove over to Clearwater which is just on the other side of Tampa, so I missed them twice. Scotsminnie, have you planned your next trip?

$250 isn't bad for airfare. And I am so glad Jordan found someone to go with. Too bad about the other girl, but at least she has good parents that know their child. So many would be happy to have some time alone and not worry about ruining the other family's trip.

 

[elizablake]

I stopped telling DH about these deposits.

$250 is not THAT bad. A bit more than $100 though! I've got my fingers crossed that your daughter's friend is able to come. At 13, I'm sure it's very important to her to have a friend join you. My sister and I are very close in age so the whole bringing a friend to a family vacation never occurred to me before. My DD is an only child as well and at 5 she already wants to invite friends to family outings. My niece is close to DD's age and we have always been close to my nieces and nephew so we bring her along for weekend trips. We even took my nieces and nephew to DW with us last June.

Keep us posted.

 

[elizablake]

Have you made any ADRs?

 

[SimmerBaggins]

Vickie, this is another fantastic Dis member from Scotland, but I think you are thinking of Di and Gordon.

oops! sorry...!

$250 isn't bad for airfare. And I am so glad Jordan found someone to go with. Too bad about the other girl, but at least she has good parents that know their child. So many would be happy to have some time alone and not worry about ruining the other family's trip.

Huh. You are right about their being conscientious about their child...I would have done it out of a lot of feelings of obligations and trying to make other people happy, and we all might have been miserable. Wow...good wisdom!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

... My niece is close to DD's age and we have always been close to my nieces and nephew so we bring her along for weekend trips. We even took my nieces and nephew to DW with us last June. ...

I would like to be able to say that I would take my nephew, but at 5, he is even younger than my step DGD (yes, at 41, I'm a step-grandma) and no companion to my DD. I love him to pieces, but we took him about a year ago to 6 Flags Fiesta Texas, and he would not ride rides. Not even baby ones. My sister said it was because he couldn't be in control.

so...I told him no WDW for him until he rides rides!! Is that mean? If he would ride even the kid rides, I'd reconsider...but...?

And, no, we haven't made ADRs. We are thinking we might just get QSDP, instead of the regular DDP -- to save a bit of $$. So...we haven't even DISCUSSED table service dining. This might be a shock to my BFF...

 

[jmskinner]

I was wondering if you were planning on the DDP this time around or not. I'm not upset about. Currently trying to decide if I will renew our Tables in Wonderland card. If we want a sit down dinner, we can always go to ESPN, no ressies and I love their nachos. They have some good drinks also.

 

[SimmerBaggins]

I was wondering if you were planning on the DDP this time around or not. I'm not upset about. Currently trying to decide if I will renew our Tables in Wonderland card. If we want a sit down dinner, we can always go to ESPN, no ressies and I love their nachos. They have some good drinks also.

I'm glad you aren't disappointed -- it's still up in the air, and I know people tend to make ADRs and then cancel, but I'm not to that point. There's nothing that is absolutely BEGGING me to try it, restaurant-wise -- if I have druthers, I'd say I'd like to go back to Boma's, but that's really it. So it really comes down to $$. It's funny, there's even a couple of pieces of information that I built on today for my PTR...every day can be a WDW day!

 

[SimmerBaggins]

As January days began to pile up, I started getting more antsy. I wanted to keep in touch with Natalie's parents, but they hadn't contacted me, even though I had Jordan text Natalie a couple of times to see if they were still "on" for her to go.

I remembered Natalie's mother (Brenda) told me that she had a Facebook account, so I looked her up and found her -- requested to be her friend. Days passed -- no answer.

Meanwhile, I created a spreadsheet that compared costs from different airlines as I looked them up. I was particularly interested in Southwest Airlines, because I've liked the great commercials they've been showing, that bags are free. They like bags. (Perhaps they don't destroy bags?) The only thing was, they were $331 pp!! Total cost: $1,326. Wow, that was even more than I thought it would be...that's the price I'd expect if I had only a month or so out from the date. I decided to keep watch on the prices.

Suddenly one day, while on FB, I saw Brenda had befriended me! Yay!

Another plan occurred to me: we needed to get the kids together more. So, I had Jordan call Natalie to come over for a sleepover. Let's see if the parents mention the trip, shall we? If not, that's okay...there's still time.

Sure enough, it was a go, so her dad said he would drop her off at our house while they were running around town -- another yay! We said howdy-do's at the door when they dropped her off, but I didn't say anything about the trip -- and neither did they. Hmmm...are we still on??

 

[SimmerBaggins]

I mentioned that I did something today that is geared toward our WDW trip...we went to the North Star Mall here in San Antonio this afternoon, and I can't resist going into the Disney store!

Jordan and I pal'd around in there, while I looked for some deals, and found one! I'm always looking for ways to differentiate our luggage from other people's at the carousel, and ran across these tags! I haven't figured out which ones will go on which suitcase, but I THINK I'm going to give one in particular to DH:

They were originally $14.50, and I got them for $5.99...what do you think??

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Vickie, this is another fantastic Dis member from Scotland, but I think you are thinking of Di and Gordon. I still regret not meeting Scotsminnie and her family when they were here. Actually, they even drove over to Clearwater which is just on the other side of Tampa, so I missed them twice. Scotsminnie, have you planned your next trip?

$250 isn't bad for airfare. And I am so glad Jordan found someone to go with. Too bad about the other girl, but at least she has good parents that know their child. So many would be happy to have some time alone and not worry about ruining the other family's trip.

I regret that too. It would have been so good to meet up for a bit. We don't have any trips planned at all. I am taking a year out of earning to do my primary teaching course. There is no way that we can afford to go to Disney for a while. Really sad about that but it cant be helped. I have always wanted to teach so it is all worth it. Come August I will be earning again but will take a while to save up.

Our flights last year came to over £1800. Don't know what the exchange is at the moment I think it is about $3000. Not cheap at all!!!! Lots of saving required!!!!

I am really enjoying keeping up with everyones reports at the moment. Its keeping my disney addiction fed and you actually feel like you are getting to know people on here! Hopefully the next time we come I will be able to meet up with some Disers - hopefully Melissa will still be there too!

Really enjoying this pretrippie. Hoping that your girl's friend is able to come. How exciting for her to bring a friend.