~Snowbird Chat~

[MAGGIED]

Swimming lessons are a good thing Shelly!!!! It is hard for the kids to learn much in a large group... I taught lessons during high school and I know how hard it was to teach them to a big group... you were always watching to make sure they kept their heads above water!!!! YIKES!!!!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hello everyone!!! We've had quite the eventful past few days. My BIL and FIL came up from Florida last Tuesday and they left this morning. Let's just say...they're not the cleanest house guests! I'm so sick of cleaning up after people!!! Anyways....Tony had a great time with his brother, so that's all that matters. I put this on my PTR but not over here....I got braces last Wednesday. They're called 6 Month Smile braces and they are tooth colored brackets and wires (much less noticable than the metal ones). My teeth are finally starting to feel normal again and maybe I'll be able to eat something besides applesauce, mashed potatoes and Frostys from Wendy's today. I wore braces from 7th grade to 11th grade, but I stopped wearing my retainer and my teeth shifted back. So here I am...wearing braces yet again. This time, I will only need to wear them 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 months! That's because they only move the teeth that show when you smile.

Anyways....Madison has a feis (fesh) this Saturday and it's the one that her dance school runs. That means I'll be volunteering in the afternoon when she's done dancing.

 

[danceintherain]

I just realized today that it has been over a year since I've been to Disney.

I'm a little bummed....

 

[crzyred]

I took swimming lessons for about 3 years in grade school. Enough for me to know how to hold my own in water. The classes for me were great. It was a big group but we broke down into groups of 5 kids with an instructor, so each group went at it's own pace.

Meghan, good luck with the braces. I remember having them...I actually had them twice, my teeth were way beyond messed up. At least you only have them on for a few months!!

Busy week here for me. Work all week with a couple dr. appointments in there, off friday for a wedding with friend, work and some baseball stuff this weekend.

 

[Monny2AE]

Hi Snowbirds! We went camping to a different campgrounds this past weekend. It was listed in our AAA book and rated as a 2 star (out of 3 stars). I'd hate to see what a 1 star place is like! We had to leave the pool because all the locals hang out there and don't think to curb their language when kids are present. We took a nature walk and stumbled upon something that 2 adults might use to be "safe" (if you get my drift. Gross.) We still made the best of it and had smore's around the campfire anyway.

Becca- Congrats to you and Logan! Gideon is just adorable!

Sheree- Welcome home! Can't wait to see pics and hear all about it!

Shawna- Your park day plans sound great! Very surprising that you have a day with no concrete plans- I'm sure it won't stay that way for long

Shelly- Hope the boys are doing well with their swim lessons- at least it's hot enough for them to be swimming so early in the day.

Meghan- Glad your braces are feeling a little more comfortable. It stinks when family comes to visit and they make a mess of your house. Can't wait to see pics from Madison's feis!

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

So, is it totally crazy that I want to book a trip already for November, 2011??

Meghan~how much is the dining plan per day, per person?

 

[Kurby]

can i join???

we have taken our LAST fun in the sun trip and SWEAR we're never ever going back to WDW in the late spring summer heat and heading back to January's

 

[Mndisneygirl]

can i join???

we have taken our LAST fun in the sun trip and SWEAR we're never ever going back to WDW in the late spring summer heat and heading back to January's

I'm with you!! We just got back too. Summer in WDW is CRAZY HOT!! I much prefer the escape from MN in winter! Plus crowds are better! I wish I was going back this winter, but I doubt it.

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

Welcome to the Snowbirds!

My sister and her family leave Saturday. Poor them! I refuse to go in the heat and the crowds ever again.

 

[MAGGIED]

Good morning Snowbirds... busy day today... besides work... I have to find some Mickey napkins... we are having a surprise going away party for Maggie on Saturday night and I want to decorate with Mickey and Minnie... I already have black plates... so I was thinking of Mickey napkins... red cups... then making cutouts from construction paper of Mickey heads... putting red bows on some of them and hang them around with red string... some white candles with red/white ribbon....

making some mickey cookies for dessert... and a mickey cake... might just order the cake now that I think of it..lol... gotta plan the menu too... any suggestions... having about 25 people...

 

[Dancegrl624]

So, is it totally crazy that I want to book a trip already for November, 2011??

Meghan~how much is the dining plan per day, per person?

Not at all! Here are the new dining plan prices for 2011:

QSDP- $34.99/adult $11.99/child

DDP- $45.99-47.99/adult $11.99-12.99/child
-The higher pricing is for these dates: Feb 17-26; March 11-April 30; June 3-Aug 13; Dec 21-31

DxDP- $78.99/adult $21.99/child

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Swimming lessons are a good thing Shelly!!!! It is hard for the kids to learn much in a large group... I taught lessons during high school and I know how hard it was to teach them to a big group... you were always watching to make sure they kept their heads above water!!!! YIKES!!!!

Yes, they never got much out of the group lessons. A lot of waiting around. And my kids aren't much for waiting!! So the private lessons are going very well.

Shelly- Hope the boys are doing well with their swim lessons- at least it's hot enough for them to be swimming so early in the day.

The kids did great at swim lessons this morning! DS11 is swimming very well and they started him with some diving today. DS8 - well he likes to do things at his own pace and not until he is good and ready! But he did swim the width of the pool all by himself today. Amazing what he'll do when someone else pushes him, he would not do that for me!!

Hi Snowbirds! We went camping to a different campgrounds this past weekend. It was listed in our AAA book and rated as a 2 star (out of 3 stars). I'd hate to see what a 1 star place is like! We had to leave the pool because all the locals hang out there and don't think to curb their language when kids are present. We took a nature walk and stumbled upon something that 2 adults might use to be "safe" (if you get my drift. Gross.) We still made the best of it and had smore's around the campfire anyway.

Yikes!! Sorry about your camping trip.

So, is it totally crazy that I want to book a trip already for November, 2011??

Nope - not at all!! I just priced out November 2011 Sunday! I just hope I get another pin or something, those prices are high!

can i join???

we have taken our LAST fun in the sun trip and SWEAR we're never ever going back to WDW in the late spring summer heat and heading back to January's

Not at all! Here are the new dining plan prices for 2011:

QSDP- $34.99/adult $11.99/child

DDP- $45.99-47.99/adult $11.99-12.99/child
-The higher pricing is for these dates: Feb 17-26; March 11-April 30; June 3-Aug 13; Dec 21-31

DxDP- $78.99/adult $21.99/child

Did they change anything about the DDP? I had heard that they might do away with the dessert this year. . .

 

[Pluto_fan]

The party sounds fun, Wendy!
When will Maggie find out what her job wil be?

Sarah--or anyone else who's done one--I'm looking seriously at booking a Baltic cruise for next summer. (Too bad Disney isn't sailing in the Baltic next summer...although I'm sure it would be out of our price range. ) Anyway, what ports did you visit, and which were your favorites? Any you would skip? Did you have two days in St. Petersburg, and did you need both? Any input appreciated! Thanks!

Hope everyone has a happy Disney day!

 

[MAGGIED]

The party sounds fun, Wendy!
When will Maggie find out what her job wil be?

Hope everyone has a happy Disney day!

Not until the day she checks in... she did request Animal Kingdom though... so I am hoping she gets that... actually she found out that the three other girls she wants to room with also all requested AK... Maggie is thinking that she might have a good shot at it because she is in a different pool of students... she is in the group that needs "special accomodations" because she has a severe nut allergy. They changed her job already... which she was VERY excited about... and when they did that they asked her what park she wanted to work in... at first she said she didn't care... then I reminded her that MK is sometimes open until 3 am... while AK usually closes by 5pm but 8 m at the latest... she will be taking two online classes so I thought she might do better with a park that wasn't open practically always!!!! We will see when we get there... we leave on Wednesday to drive down but she doesn't check in until Monday the 23rd

 

[sarbah77]

The party sounds fun, Wendy!
When will Maggie find out what her job wil be?

Sarah--or anyone else who's done one--I'm looking seriously at booking a Baltic cruise for next summer. (Too bad Disney isn't sailing in the Baltic next summer...although I'm sure it would be out of our price range. ) Anyway, what ports did you visit, and which were your favorites? Any you would skip? Did you have two days in St. Petersburg, and did you need both? Any input appreciated! Thanks!

Hope everyone has a happy Disney day!

Two FULL DAYS in St. Petersburg a hands down absolute must.
In addition, HIRE A PRIVATE TOUR GUIDE.

Our cruise had 11 people at our dinner table. The other 7 people used the ship excursions and when we compared, we got a HECK of a better deal - in terms of time and what we saw. Price-wise was extremely similar, too!

The two FULL days in St. Petersburg was the hands down highlight of our trip! Gothenburg was a "eh maybe leave it" port, but we arrived on a Sunday at 9am. It wasn't great.

We went to Copenhagen (surprisngly dirty), Stockholm (LOVED it), Helsinki (very nice, small city), two days in St. Petersburg, a day in Tallinn (another gem), and Gothenburg. We had four sea days and we left from Harwich, England. We chose that cruise with the extra sea days so that I have the time to relax and get less grumpy.

So if you're already in Europe, you might look at the cruises that leave either from Copenhagen or Amsterdam. I picked, in addition to the sea days, the cruise that avoided what I called the "easy" ports - like Germany. I feel that a lot of continental western Europe is easy enough to get to on our own and I wanted the cruise to hit the harder to reach spots and I think we succeeded.

Feel free to PM me for more details! There were a lot of kids on our cruise, too, so it's certainly not just for old people. Here's my photo set. It's insanely large, but enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarbah77/sets/72157624338378187/

 

[MAGGIED]

So I did a little shopping for the surprise party... was able to find some red plates and napkins... cute cupcake holders that are red with white polka dots... decided to make red velvet cupcakes instead of a cake... red and white polka dot ribbon... and a cute little Mickey that I will stick in something...oh and some construction paper to cut out the Mickey heads to make decorations...

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Wendy - your party planning sounds great! Wish I could come! Your cruise sounds good too. Again, wish I could go.
I hope your daughter gets a good job - we will be anxiously awaiting word! How long will you be gone and will you have internet access there?

 

[Dancegrl624]

Did they change anything about the DDP? I had heard that they might do away with the dessert this year. . .

Haven't heard anything about that. All I know is that Le Cellier is going to require 2 TS credits for dinner. Lunch is staying at 1 TS credit. That change takes affect in March (pretty sure). I'll be sure to keep everyone posted with any changes I find out about.

I thought the old prices for the DxDP were high, but these new ones? $79/night is just crazy...I could never eat that much food.

We just got back from our local (like 40 min away) amusement park. We went a few weeks ago too. Man, it sure isn't Disney. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, but #1-it's not as clean, #2-people working there are not friendly AT ALL and #3-the rides are not nearly as wonderful. Can't wait to be back in my happy place soon!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We just did the DxDP and we used 3 2 TS credit meals so we weren't running to ADRs all the time. That worked out well, but you still get a lot of food with the app/entree/dessert. I tried not to feel guilty as I left a lot of food on the plates. I just had part of everything. Well except dessert. I usually ate it all! HA!
It did cost $71.99 per day for adults, so it was pricey, but the regular DDP was at a premium price at that time, and would have been $47.99 I think. We knew we were only going for four days, so it wasn't too bad. Some say it's a waste to use 2 credits at CRT or the Luau, but we didn't really analyze it that way. We enjoyed it the way we did it. But I can see how it isn't for everyone. We only used one meal as a CS out of all of them.

I think LeCellier is going to get really hard to get a lunch ADR now that dinner will be 2 TS. How silly. I bet they take the mushroom filet off the lunch menu too.

When we go back, it most likely will be after Sarah turns 10, so we won't use DDP. She doesn't eat much of anything but chicken nuggets and hot dogs. Hardly worth $40 a day! We'll probably pick one or two TS that we really want and just pay OOP as we go. We like the breakfast buffets, and they aren't too expensive anyway.

Need to get going on uploading pictures tomorrow so I can start my TR. I'll have to come up with a title and get going this week!! I will post a link here of course.

Shelly - when you were at OKW, did they share buses? I remember you said that the bus went around and around at OKW. OTher than your room location, was there anything really negative? DH was talking about trying it someday... Even though we have no future trip planned right now...

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I think the whole DDP is too pricey anymore. Especially if you have a child that is considered an adult. I don't foresee us getting it again anytime soon.

Sheree - Nope, OKW didn't share buses with anyone else. The buses just did a lot of backtracking, which took some time to get out of the resort. But it wasn't terrible. Other than our room location we loved the resort! Did you visit it on your trip?