Squeak, Squeaker, Squeakin'.....October 2014 PTR

[Denovagirl]

Hey! Sorry I went missing for a couple of days! I was reading and lurking but did not respond as I was on my phone, in bed, sick!

I think I am past the worst of it now so I am catching up!!

Alright, so LUGGAGE! Awesome deal!!! I am def one to get excited over things like brand-spanking-new luggage! And it's sooooo pretty too!!!

I did watch part of that video on Cabana Bay and it looks lovely!! Are you staying in a suite?

I also saw on Easywdw.com that Josh did a review of it with lots of photos too!! He can be pretty Disney-biased (who isnt!?!?!) though, so he seemed to like it, but obviously, seemed to prefer Disney accommodations better.

And ADR DAY! **WHEW** What a fiasco!! I would have been freaking out if that happened to me!! But glad you kept your cool and still managed to snag BOG! Even if you do just go in for drinks and dessert that's pretty awesome!! All your picks sound yummy and perfect! I know it will be so great for you and the bf!

Any other new news?

 

[MidnightParade]

Hey! Sorry I went missing for a couple of days! I was reading and lurking but did not respond as I was on my phone, in bed, sick!

I think I am past the worst of it now so I am catching up!!

Alright, so LUGGAGE! Awesome deal!!! I am def one to get excited over things like brand-spanking-new luggage! And it's sooooo pretty too!!!

I did watch part of that video on Cabana Bay and it looks lovely!! Are you staying in a suite?

I also saw on Easywdw.com that Josh did a review of it with lots of photos too!! He can be pretty Disney-biased (who isnt!?!?!) though, so he seemed to like it, but obviously, seemed to prefer Disney accommodations better.

And ADR DAY! **WHEW** What a fiasco!! I would have been freaking out if that happened to me!! But glad you kept your cool and still managed to snag BOG! Even if you do just go in for drinks and dessert that's pretty awesome!! All your picks sound yummy and perfect! I know it will be so great for you and the bf!

Any other new news?

Hope you are feeling better! I saw on your PTR that you were down for the count(but yay for Walking Dead!)

I'm pretty happy with the lugagge. I left it in the living room for a fews to admire before moving them to the closest. lol

Yeah, not the funnest first time ADR day for me but I breathed easier when other Dis-ers started to post the same issues. I actually ended up *just* adding Via Napoli on our Animal Kingdom day. So excited for pizza and tiramisu!! Looking forward to your next update! They are always fun to read!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Awesome!!!! I love that luggage! The blue is so pretty (and should be easy to find!!! ) I would have admired it for a bit as well.

Boo to ADR day.....at least you were able to get what you wanted. We didn't get all the times we wanted just right either but mom has been all over it and changed our Akershus to before rope drop......so maybe you'll be able to tweak things if you need to!!!

I am all for a more relaxed trip!!! I mean, it is VACATION after all!!!

 

[MidnightParade]

Awesome!!!! I love that luggage! The blue is so pretty (and should be easy to find!!! ) I would have admired it for a bit as well.

Boo to ADR day.....at least you were able to get what you wanted. We didn't get all the times we wanted just right either but mom has been all over it and changed our Akershus to before rope drop......so maybe you'll be able to tweak things if you need to!!!

I am all for a more relaxed trip!!! I mean, it is VACATION after all!!!

ADR wasn't the greatest, although I saw someone comment that Disney had ruined their day which I just could not understand. It sucks and all but you're still going to Disney and with the exception of BOG not everything is going to be booked up. Okay, be disappointed but don't let it ruin your day! Although I did feel bad for the mom who had to leave to bring her kids to school.

Happy that you guys have been able able to tweak things as well. I'm sure in the next 5 months I'll be making some changes! lol.

I'm trying very hard to keep "relaxed trip" in my head and not over plan. Its not been easy! /lesigh

 

[MidnightParade]

Its been less then a week since ADR's were made and while I haven't made a change I did add something! I had wanted to eat in Italy, at either restaurant, and had been planning on it but Andy wanted to try San Angel(Mexico), and I have as well, so I decided to go with that. And since F&W is going on didn't want to do two Epcot restaurants. But after reading through Simba22's TR and her meal at Via Napoli and her awesome pizza and tiramisu I gave in and booked it for after our Animal Kingdom day. I'm thinking maybe if we do rope drop that day then we can stop at the resort between park hopping?? I may end up playing around with the time, we'll see.

And now rambling ticket talk!

As for tickets... I haven't bought any of our park tickets yet. We have Airmiles up here in Canada, not sure if the are in the US, its just a loyalty point collecting program. $20 spent = 1airmile. So initially I was going to use them on our Universal tickets because we had only been planning on buying 1 day tickets but using the airmiles we could get the 2 day. Now we didn't have the right amount of points yet but we could earn enough before we go to get them. 2550 airmiles for two 2day tickets. We had 2037 airmiles at the time. And then suddenly the Universal tickets went up! Now we need 3100 airmiles. I was afraid it could happen when they increased their prices but thats an extra 550 miles?! Thank you Diagon Alley! /facepalm

Depending on bonus days I guess we could get there but honestly I don't want to stress over it. So instead I'm going to go with using the airmiles to get one of our Disney tickets.

5 Day base ticket = 2500
7 Day base ticket = 2675

We would need to add on the park hopper and water parks option still but we'll still be saving $300 or so. I just don't know which one to get. Thanks to some bonus days we actually have 2498 airmiles right now so I can order the 5 day in a week or so. And we actually only have 5 park days planned but always nice to have the option to hit up a park on a non park day. But we can always add a day I suppose. The upgrading issue frenzy that hit in March though just makes me nervous. But since the tickets were bought through a loyalty program it shouldn't be an issue right?

I think I will just go with the 5 Day cause then i can order it now and also not have the worry about it going up in points/airmiles. And the other ticket I will order through Undercover Tourist. I will probably get the 7 day though for that ticket to avoid any issues if we want to add days. It'll be an extra $18.00 only which isn't so bad. Although I may spend the $$ on the express shipping to make sure they don't get lost or anything. Thoughts? Am I over thinking this?

I'll probably order Universal tickets through Sunwing as I can pay for them in canadian and save money($26) on the exchange. Unfortunately they only sell Disney tickets if you are booking a flight or resort through them ​

 

[MidnightParade]

Cabana Bay Resort at Universal Studios is now booked! Waahoo !
I had just called to see if they could confirm if they had any CAA (Canada's version of AAA) rates and they did!!! The woman I was speaking to seemed like a such a sweet older lady, like someones grandmother, I just decided to go ahead and book it. So a standard room is $149.00 and the Poolside Standard was $164.00. But with the CAA discount I got the Poolside for $147.50 a night! Very excited!

If prices end up dropping I can always cancel and rebook but if they end up going up I'm covered. I love being on the disboards , never would have thought about calling and asking for CAA rates if not for someone elses post. I will need to bring my CAA card with me as proof. I added it on my list of things to bring, but already took a picture of my card to be 100% incase I end up forgetting it.

I believe the room will be on the otherside of the resort, which isn't opening until summer. The US website says its near the lazy river which opens this summer. So I will eagerly be watching and waiting for that to happen and the pictures to start pouring in.

Still haven't ordered any park tickets, Disney or Universal, but I have it almost all figured out what I am going to do and whom I will be ordering from. Just checking one last thing before I do. Not sure what I am going to do once everything is ordered and booked! lol

Hope everyone is having a Happy Easter!

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[MidnightParade]

Can I just say again how excited I am about Animal Kingdom Lodge? When I'm feeling blue I'll google images of it, lol. Feeling pretty blessed that we gotthe chance and opportunity to book it. I did stay there once back in 2004 when my mom visited during my CM days. It was very neat but I think this time I will appreciate it a lot more, especially getting to share it with Andy.

I thought I would share pics of those we are leaving behind this trip. We have two cats who will be staying home. I'm hoping my brother will be staying at our place while we are gone to keep an eye on them. The original plan was to have Rizzo stay with him, that was before we knew we were getting a kitten!

This is Mouse. One day our neighbour knocked on our door and told us about the kitten she had found near dead on the street. She had gotten her to the vet and she was all fixed up, unfortunately the neighbours other cats weren't really taking to her. And this is how we got Mouse. Her name is threefold. We are big Jim Butcher fans and love the Dresden files. Mouse is the name of the main characters dog. Also when we got her I was in the throes of picking our Disney resort! And of course she has big huge ears(which she is starting to grow into a little bit now).

Oh man she is such a handful. No kittens ever again! But she is really super cute and cuddly. And her and our other cat get along pretty well.

This is Rizzo. We've had him for three years now. Got him as a young adult from a shelter. He's a bit more reserved and skittish then Mouse and we were hoping Mouse would help "socialize" him a bit, and i think it has worked a bit. He is named after my favorite Muppet!!

The really funny thing is, they both have bent tails at the tip. Rizzo's is very small and you can't see it, just feel it. Mouse's tail is noticably bent, the vet believes that someone bent/broke it on purpose! But! She is ina safe and loving home now and it doesn't bother her at all.


And I just love this pic of Mouse!

And that is all for now!​

 

[AAshleySEG]

Disney World in October is my favorite time of year to go...not just because my birthday is in October. I go every year at that time! Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, Food & Wine Festival, so much to do! I have not started planning that trip yet, I figured I should wait until I actually get back from the June one to do it Mouse and Rizzo are adorable! I had to take a peek at everything you were planning since you were reading my PTR too...hehe Keep up that planning!

 

[MidnightParade]

Aww! Thanks for stopping by! Any tips or tricks you can provide are appreciated! I'm really looking forward to October and warmer weather(as opposed to our January 2010 trip when it was cold!) Yay for October birthdays! Andy's is on Oct 12 which we will be at disney for. Very excited to get him a birthday button!

I'm so envious of your multiple Disney trips a year! That is pretty awesome!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Aww! Thanks for stopping by! Any tips or tricks you can provide are appreciated! I'm really looking forward to October and warmer weather(as opposed to our January 2010 trip when it was cold!) Yay for October birthdays! Andy's is on Oct 12 which we will be at disney for. Very excited to get him a birthday button!

I'm so envious of your multiple Disney trips a year! That is pretty awesome!

HAHAHA My birthday is on October 12th!! That is when we will be there...ROFL...That is so funny!

 

[MidnightParade]

HAHAHA My birthday is on October 12th!! That is when we will be there...ROFL...That is so funny!

Buahaha!!! That is hilariously awesome! Birthday twins!

We actually leave on the 12th so the birthday celebration and dinner will be on the 11th(Ohana for dinner, all you can eat meat is right up Andy's alley )

Now I really can't wait to hear about your October trip/plans!

 

[BellesLibrary]

I'm jumping in--I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?!

I've only gotten to the second post (about AKL) and already I'm so jealous. 1) You got to work at Epcot!!!!!!!!!! and 2) You're staying at AKL!!!!!!! There aren't enough exclamation points to go around with those two bits of awesomeness.

Off to read more!

 

[MidnightParade]

I'm jumping in--I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?!

I've only gotten to the second post (about AKL) and already I'm so jealous. 1) You got to work at Epcot!!!!!!!!!! and 2) You're staying at AKL!!!!!!! There aren't enough exclamation points to go around with those two bits of awesomeness.

Off to read more!

Aww, thanks for joining in!! Being a CM was awesome, I'm planning on doing a post on it at some point. Will have to dig out some pics and scan them for it first though. And yes! Staying at AKL is pretty amazing, we're pretty lucky and gonna to try to really soak up the experience while we can! AndI can't wait to hear more about your Christmas planning too! Disney at Christmas is spectacular!!

 

[MidnightParade]

Yay its monday! Okay there's really nothing to yay about on a monday unless its a long weekend. lol. But I did finally figure out my tickets and get them ordered! Yay me!

So I had my post conundrum previously over the airmiles tickets, that was me worrying about doing the wrong thing and regretting it later. /lesigh. I'm all straightened out now though! So thanks to an airmiles promotion I should have enough to order a 7 day base ticket by early next month, yay! Still needed to order the other ticket plus our Universal tickets, which didn't turn out the way I was planning it.

So Universal tickets, I had heard that Sunwing sold tickets here in Canada and called them some time ago and they advised they couldn't sell me Disney park tickets without ordering a package or flight through them, okay fine. But they could sell me Universal tickets! It would have been $360 for two 2 Day Park to Park tickets. Which was $7 more then UCT but it was in CAD so no exchange rates to worry about, yay! And then I call them this morning, we're sorry we can't sell them to you unless you order a package or flight with us. Uggggh.

I have now ordered both Universal and the 1 Disney ticket from UndercoverTourist! I was/am a little nervous about ordering from UCT and not using the $30 express shipping (but it would negate any savings on the Disney ticket). I've heard that the express shipping helps unsure it arrives safely(and tracked) and I have had issues with snail mail in the past. I sent a Christmas care box to a friend in Minnesota, years ago, and when she got it it had been opened and the only thing left in it was a lollipop! So the DVD series and book and other things had been stolen. Now it hasn't happened again but still I will always be leery about snail mail from now on. (Thankfully the package had been insured too!)

I know UCT will take care of me if something happens, but one of their methods is arranging replacements for pick up at the parks....doesn't help me when I need to book FP+ 60 days out. But I had read some post, some time ago, that they actually were able to give the ticket number to the person who's ticket went missing/was lost. So I'm just going to stop worrying about it and see what happens. Have to have a little faith sometimes right?

So now I just need the last Disney ticket through Airmiles and we will be good to go! I'm really looking forward to having most of the trip paid off. Well in actuality everything booked/ordered thus far has been paid in full with our Disney fund and by the time we go we should have a surplus for spending.....depending that is how much new clothes I end up buying for the trip!

Hope everyones plans are going well and/or you had a decent monday! (As decent as mondays can be lol)

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[martinmont]

I'm late but I'm following! I love following trips with couple trips as we have no kids, so the trip is more relatable. Your trip sounds like it's going to be amazing! I have not being to the dark side yet, maybe next year

 

[MidnightParade]

Welcome! Thanks for following! You're never late unless we're already back from Disney. lol

Universal is a fun, a different experience from Disney. I definitely recommend giving it a chance next year.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Awesome pre trip report!!! OH MY GOSH YOUR KITTY! I have a black cat as well

 

[MidnightParade]

Awesome pre trip report!!! OH MY GOSH YOUR KITTY! I have a black cat as well

Aww thanks for stopping by!!

You should post a pic of your kitty in your PTR!! Black cats are awesome!

 

[khaleesi]

Had to come read your report because I loved your profile picture!! I LOVE Robin Hood!!!! And I see you're flying out of Buffalo... that's where I live I love our airport. It's small and convenient and very, very easy to navigate!

 

[MidnightParade]

Had to come read your report because I loved your profile picture!! I LOVE Robin Hood!!!! And I see you're flying out of Buffalo... that's where I live I love our airport. It's small and convenient and very, very easy to navigate!

Awww thats for stopping by! Robin Hood is pretty fantastic! He's absolutely on my list of characters I need to find this trip for a pic. I have a pic with King John and Friar Tuck and now I need the rest! I got my profile pic from an icon maker on Livejournal.

Nice to know the Buffalo airport is easy to navigate. I'm so used to Toronto which is still overwhelming as its huge!!