Taking the Leap! My first PTR! TR link posted 11/19

[missangelalexis]

I love your shirts they came out so good!!

 

[dismom9761]

Great shirts

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Those shirts are amazing! I love how subtle, yet completely Disney they are!!! You have crazy talent!

 

[deedee2177]

following along! I love all your shirts...I'm way too nervous to try to make my own.

Oh and btw I am a HUGE chicken when it comes to scary things, but I enjoyed TOT. I hate scary movies and haunted houses (except for HM of course), and I was fine on TOT.

I agree with the suggestions to view some ride videos on youtube. If I got the least bit nervous I just put my face in my DH's back and moved on.

Loving all the plans you have laid out. My DH and I are going in April 2014 with the kids, my Mom, MIL and my sister. I love going with the kids, but I definitely want to go back with just the DH. So, we are looking at a possible trip for the two of us in October 2015...so sad I'm already thinking about a trip 2 years away.

 

[taaren]

Hiya!

Following along from the November FB page. Only a few pages in so far, but I like the way you think! Bacon wrapped meatloaf is our favorite, too. I have WPE planned twice just for that!

So fabulous that you're able to take such a long trip. It makes it really relaxing.

Your trip is so close, only one month away!

 

[kayemgi]

I love your shirts they came out so good!!

Great shirts

Those shirts are amazing! I love how subtle, yet completely Disney they are!!! You have crazy talent!

Thank you all!

following along! I love all your shirts...I'm way too nervous to try to make my own.

Oh and btw I am a HUGE chicken when it comes to scary things, but I enjoyed TOT. I hate scary movies and haunted houses (except for HM of course), and I was fine on TOT.

I agree with the suggestions to view some ride videos on youtube. If I got the least bit nervous I just put my face in my DH's back and moved on.

Loving all the plans you have laid out. My DH and I are going in April 2014 with the kids, my Mom, MIL and my sister. I love going with the kids, but I definitely want to go back with just the DH. So, we are looking at a possible trip for the two of us in October 2015...so sad I'm already thinking about a trip 2 years away.

Thank you! Yeah we are looking at this trip as our probable last pre-kids trip. It's (maybe) going to be a whole new world for us! (Trying not to jinx anything Definitely not sad to be thinking of a 2015 vacation! That's what keeps us going isn't it?

Hiya!

Following along from the November FB page. Only a few pages in so far, but I like the way you think! Bacon wrapped meatloaf is our favorite, too. I have WPE planned twice just for that!

So fabulous that you're able to take such a long trip. It makes it really relaxing.

Your trip is so close, only one month away!

Welcome! I am so looking forward to that meatloaf, I can't even tell you! I should probably lower my expectations at this point, or it will never be able to live up to them!

 

[kayemgi]

Hey guys!

I had been feeling kind of bummed lately; pretty much all of our planning is done, we received Mickey Mail, we customized our Magic Bands, scheduled FP+, my t-shirts were done and I didn't feel like I had anything left to do and we still have a month to go!

But then I remembered I wanted to make some Mousekeeping envelopes for leaving tips in the room! I had seen some really cute examples online of what other people had done, but being a graphic designer by trade, I had to put my own spin on them.

Here's what I came up with. I'm especially proud of the Haunted Mansion one. I loved making them so much too! I think I'm going to make some more generic Thank You envelopes that we could hand out to anyone, like the bellhop, or the Magical Express driver (do people tip the ME drivers?), or just an especially awesome CM (we'd slip a little note inside for that, instead of money).

I also really liked that I was able to say something beyond just Thank You Mousekeeping on Haunted Mansion and Mary Poppins. I just couldn't think of something cute for the other versions I did. I know Mickey's catchphrase is "Oh boy!" but that didn't seem to fit in with a cleaning message. Any ideas for me on making the Thank You messages more themed to the art for Mickey, Ariel and Rex?

What do you guys think?

29 days to go!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Those are amazing! And so creative it!! By far the best I have seen. My favorite is the Mary Poppins one!

 

[missangelalexis]

Those are adorable!!!

 

[kayemgi]

Good morning PTR readers!

If you've been reading along, you'll understand why it was a bit of a surprise when I showed the Mousekeeping envelopes to my husband and he requested that I make some more, specifically for Wall-E and Lion King! Since I had so much fun making the first set, and I'm happy to do anything that makes DH more excited for our trip, I obliged. I decided to make some general Thank You envelopes that could be used to house our tips for the ME driver, the bellhop (arriving and leaving), and our planned table-service meals.

I think they came out pretty well! I had a hard time with the Castle version. I really wanted to emulated the metallic sheen and glow that the words have in the movie intros that that castle is from, but it was very difficult and I couldn't find a tutorial on it surprisingly enough. You can usually find a tutorial for anything these days! But I think my approximation is acceptable.

We also did some test packing. DH wasn't crazy about that idea, but since we usually drive when we make this trip, I was super nervous about having overweight bags. Have you seen the overweight bag fees? They are outrageous. So I wanted to do a test pack to make sure we'd both be under the 50 lb. limit, which thankfully we were! My bag came in at 40 lbs, holding all of the toiletries for both of us, and DH's bag came in at 30 lbs. So we are definitely good flying down and we have plenty of space for souvenirs coming home, especially since I don't plan to bring any of our travel-size toiletries back with us.

I'm also really nervous about my suitcase. The oversize bag fees are just as hefty as the overweight fees. My suitcase is like, exactly at the size limit. If they don't measure it carefully, it could easily look like it's oversized. Especially next to my DH's suitcase, which is at least three inches shorter than mine. I'm wondering if we do curb-side check-in if they won't measure my bag. I'm not trying to get away with anything, like I said, it's exactly the proper size, but if they hold the tape measure even slightly off, it could look oversized. And that could cost us $75 on the way down and $200 on the way back (different airlines). $200! Can you see why I'm so nervous? I keep trying to remind myself that I used this bag to fly to Jamaica for our honeymoon on an airline with the same rules and had zero problems.

What do you guys think? We don't fly very often. Anyone out there who flies a lot who can assuage my fears? Or should I be looking for a new, smaller suitcase? (Please don't say that, I LOVE my awesome pink suitcase!)

23 days to go! I still have to make my lime green Mickey head, my tie-dye tee with Mickey head, get postcard stamps, and of course all of the requisite pre-vacation laundry and Rx refills and stuff like that. It's coming up quick now!

 

[dismom9761]

Love the envelopes.
I have rarely flown so cant help you there.

 

[theparsons]

Good morning PTR readers!

If you've been reading along, you'll understand why it was a bit of a surprise when I showed the Mousekeeping envelopes to my husband and he requested that I make some more, specifically for Wall-E and Lion King! Since I had so much fun making the first set, and I'm happy to do anything that makes DH more excited for our trip, I obliged. I decided to make some general Thank You envelopes that could be used to house our tips for the ME driver, the bellhop (arriving and leaving), and our planned table-service meals.

I think they came out pretty well! I had a hard time with the Castle version. I really wanted to emulated the metallic sheen and glow that the words have in the movie intros that that castle is from, but it was very difficult and I couldn't find a tutorial on it surprisingly enough. You can usually find a tutorial for anything these days! But I think my approximation is acceptable.

We also did some test packing. DH wasn't crazy about that idea, but since we usually drive when we make this trip, I was super nervous about having overweight bags. Have you seen the overweight bag fees? They are outrageous. So I wanted to do a test pack to make sure we'd both be under the 50 lb. limit, which thankfully we were! My bag came in at 40 lbs, holding all of the toiletries for both of us, and DH's bag came in at 30 lbs. So we are definitely good flying down and we have plenty of space for souvenirs coming home, especially since I don't plan to bring any of our travel-size toiletries back with us.

I'm also really nervous about my suitcase. The oversize bag fees are just as hefty as the overweight fees. My suitcase is like, exactly at the size limit. If they don't measure it carefully, it could easily look like it's oversized. Especially next to my DH's suitcase, which is at least three inches shorter than mine. I'm wondering if we do curb-side check-in if they won't measure my bag. I'm not trying to get away with anything, like I said, it's exactly the proper size, but if they hold the tape measure even slightly off, it could look oversized. And that could cost us $75 on the way down and $200 on the way back (different airlines). $200! Can you see why I'm so nervous? I keep trying to remind myself that I used this bag to fly to Jamaica for our honeymoon on an airline with the same rules and had zero problems.

What do you guys think? We don't fly very often. Anyone out there who flies a lot who can assuage my fears? Or should I be looking for a new, smaller suitcase? (Please don't say that, I LOVE my awesome pink suitcase!)

23 days to go! I still have to make my lime green Mickey head, my tie-dye tee with Mickey head, get postcard stamps, and of course all of the requisite pre-vacation laundry and Rx refills and stuff like that. It's coming up quick now!

We travel constantly....and all 6 of our bags are the exact size allowed for Southwest......and NEVER have we had anyone measure our bags. Now, we only use Southwest, so if you're using another carrier, they may be more picky, but realize that the luggage manufacturers work with the airlines to create bags that meet their carry on or checked requirements, so it's not likely that the airlines is really going to go nuts over the fact that with it stuffed full of clothes it bluges an inch.

What they're looking for, in my humble opinion, is the folks carrying cardboard boxes that are bigger than their pre-teen kid, lol. We also see a lot of people with golf clubs, surf boards (yep, really), and other large odd shaped and heavy objects they want to put on the plane. THESE are the ones that are paying those big fees, not the folks who overpack and bulge a few inches.

You're doing great weight wise if you're 10 pounds and hubby is 20 pounds under....just remember that the airline's scales can often be quite different from your home scale (they calibrate their scales daily.....you probably don't calibrate yours ever, lol). And souvenirs are likely to weigh more than the trial size toiletries you plan to exchange them with....so if your bag weighs more than the 50 on the return trip but his is less.....just tell the clerk you want to do some adjusting and rearrange things until they are both under 50 pounds. Most people think they have to just live with it, but if you can fix it there at the airport do it! Also...if you buy enough stuff that you're worried both your bags might be over....consider having Disney ship your stuff to your home....it's definitely going to cost less than $200 to ship (and unless you go crazy buying, should be under the $75 that most airlines charge for a 3rd bag). I've used Disney shipping when it's something fragile...because if Disney ships it and FedEx/UPS/USPS breaks it...Disney will replace it. If I put it in my luggage and Southwest breaks it, I'm out of luck!

Another hint....if your bag is ever pushing the limit, consider using USPS flat rate shipping to send small but heavy items....like toiletries, shoes, etc. They weigh a lot but will fit in the $10 to $15 package....ship it to your hotel/condo. When it's time to go home just ship it back to your house. I put an unused box into my luggage whether I ship something to our destination or not, so if I need to ship something home I have it at the hotel/condo and don't have to drive to the post office. At hotels you can leave it with the front desk for pickup and if the condo is like the ones near Disney that are really resorts not a private condo building, same thing, they'll have a pick up available (call your condo to verify this of course, but we stay at various places using VRBO.com and always have been able to leave it for pick up). So the $20 to $30 round trip shipping is a lot less than baggage fees.

 

[kayemgi]

Love the envelopes.
I have rarely flown so cant help you there.

Thank you!

We travel constantly....and all 6 of our bags are the exact size allowed for Southwest......and NEVER have we had anyone measure our bags. Now, we only use Southwest, so if you're using another carrier, they may be more picky, but realize that the luggage manufacturers work with the airlines to create bags that meet their carry on or checked requirements, so it's not likely that the airlines is really going to go nuts over the fact that with it stuffed full of clothes it bluges an inch.

What they're looking for, in my humble opinion, is the folks carrying cardboard boxes that are bigger than their pre-teen kid, lol. We also see a lot of people with golf clubs, surf boards (yep, really), and other large odd shaped and heavy objects they want to put on the plane. THESE are the ones that are paying those big fees, not the folks who overpack and bulge a few inches.

You're doing great weight wise if you're 10 pounds and hubby is 20 pounds under....just remember that the airline's scales can often be quite different from your home scale (they calibrate their scales daily.....you probably don't calibrate yours ever, lol). And souvenirs are likely to weigh more than the trial size toiletries you plan to exchange them with....so if your bag weighs more than the 50 on the return trip but his is less.....just tell the clerk you want to do some adjusting and rearrange things until they are both under 50 pounds. Most people think they have to just live with it, but if you can fix it there at the airport do it! Also...if you buy enough stuff that you're worried both your bags might be over....consider having Disney ship your stuff to your home....it's definitely going to cost less than $200 to ship (and unless you go crazy buying, should be under the $75 that most airlines charge for a 3rd bag). I've used Disney shipping when it's something fragile...because if Disney ships it and FedEx/UPS/USPS breaks it...Disney will replace it. If I put it in my luggage and Southwest breaks it, I'm out of luck!

Another hint....if your bag is ever pushing the limit, consider using USPS flat rate shipping to send small but heavy items....like toiletries, shoes, etc. They weigh a lot but will fit in the $10 to $15 package....ship it to your hotel/condo. When it's time to go home just ship it back to your house. I put an unused box into my luggage whether I ship something to our destination or not, so if I need to ship something home I have it at the hotel/condo and don't have to drive to the post office. At hotels you can leave it with the front desk for pickup and if the condo is like the ones near Disney that are really resorts not a private condo building, same thing, they'll have a pick up available (call your condo to verify this of course, but we stay at various places using VRBO.com and always have been able to leave it for pick up). So the $20 to $30 round trip shipping is a lot less than baggage fees.

So much good info and advice! Thank you so much for sharing, I really appreciate it. You've put my mind at ease and given me some good ideas in case we go crazy with souvenirs. Thank you!

 

[MrsZ]

You are so talented!!! Those envelopes came out amazing!

Great job girl!

 

[kayemgi]

You are so talented!!! Those envelopes came out amazing!

Great job girl!

Thanks!!

 

[kayemgi]

Hey everyone, how was your weekend? I can't believe we are to the point now where we only have two weekends left before we leave!!

I spent Saturday evening planning out our park days, mostly because I'm unfamiliar with HS and AK, and I wanted to make sure I could time it out so that our FP+ selections weren't causing us to criss-cross the park. I was shocked to discover that the mostly default times I received from Disney totally worked with our plans! Hopefully I timed everything correctly, but I'm not worried about it too much, since this isn't a commando-style plan. I just wanted to get a general sense of our days, and make sure I hadn't selected a FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris while we were likely to be down in DinoLand U.S.A.

Then I was very excited to wake up on Sunday and discover that Disney had extended park hours on our AK and MK days! I wish they had extended for HS too, but what can you do, right?!

So now on our AK day, the park is open three hours later, til 8 pm. How exciting! We had a Sanaa ADR at 7:15, but I was easily able to move it to 8:30. Then I moved our EE FP+ to 6 pm, so we'll be able to ride it at night! I'm so excited. I think we'll pretty much look at that extra time as exactly that -- extra time. We won't change our touring plan, but whereas before I think we weren't going to have time to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch, now I think we will. So we'll just fit that in when it makes sense.

MK extended hours only by one hour, to 10 pm, but that adds a MSEP, which is GREAT news for us! You might remember, I've booked the Wishes Dessert Party as a surprise for my DH. I still really want to see MSEP though. So I was planning for us to watch MSEP at 8 pm in front of the Plaza, and then book it back to Tomorrowland Terrace for the Party as soon as the parade passed. This was going to eat up probably 30 minutes of the Dessert Party. But now, we can go to the Party when scheduled, at 8:05 pm, and see the whole MSEP at 10 pm without missing a thing of either! Such great news. I was extra excited about this, but of course had to pretend I was just regular excited.

I also did updated a few FP+ selections from last time. Here are our new selections:

Animal Kingdom
Festival of the Lion King: 12:05-12:25 pm (same)
Kilimanjaro Safaris: 1:30-2:30 pm (same)
Expedition Everest: 6:00-7:00 pm (new bc of extended hours)

Hollywood Studios (all same)
Toy Story Midway Mania: 3:10-4:10 pm
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster: 5:10-6:10 pm
Fantasmic!: 6:25-6:45 pm

Magic Kingdom (all same)
Enchanted Tales with Belle: 2:10-3:10 pm
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: 3:45-4:45 pm
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: 6:00-7:00 pm

Epcot
Soarin': 10:00-11:00 am (new)
Maelstrom: 6:00-7:00 pm (new)
Test Track: 8:00-9:00 pm (new)

I have a feeling at least a few of those will change on the fly while we are in the parks. Hopefully that will go smoothly! That's all for now. Down to 18 days!

 

[missangelalexis]

That's awesome that they added a second MSEP! I think this will help you out ALOT as the 2nd parade will also be less crowded! And you don't have to worry about missing any of the dessert party!

Your FP+ selections sound good. I think you will LOVE having the Fantasmic one! As you may recall, I did not use my magic bands to schedule FP+ and I had no regrets about it EXCEPT when it came to Fantasmic! They block off all the middle sections for FP+ and Dining Reservations, so those 2 groups get the best view, so hooray for you guys

 

[dismom9761]

Looks good and very similar to our FP+
Yay for longer hours

 

[kayemgi]

That's awesome that they added a second MSEP! I think this will help you out ALOT as the 2nd parade will also be less crowded! And you don't have to worry about missing any of the dessert party!

Your FP+ selections sound good. I think you will LOVE having the Fantasmic one! As you may recall, I did not use my magic bands to schedule FP+ and I had no regrets about it EXCEPT when it came to Fantasmic! They block off all the middle sections for FP+ and Dining Reservations, so those 2 groups get the best view, so hooray for you guys

That's good to hear! I've been reading various reports on the boards that the FP+ section is not being enforced as FP+ only, and other reports where it's roped off and awesome. So I hope it's the latter for us!

 

[kayemgi]

Soooo...anyone been reading the Theme Parks boards lately? It's getting pretty depressing over there. The reports this week of various headliners being completely out of regular FP so early in the morning (10 minutes after opening!), causing inflated standby times is pretty scary. Our park strategy is to rope drop and ride pretty much all of the major rides standby in the first two hours of opening. If this FP "glitch" thing happens during our trip, that probably won't happen for us.

However... I continue to remind myself that we are lucky.

• We have FP+, so we'll definitely get to experience our three most anticipated attractions in each park.
• We've had absolutely zero technology problems (so far) with MDE. (Knock on wood!)
• Even if we can't experience every ride, it's not like we won't experience any rides.

That about sums it up! Keeping it short and simple today. Just a reminder to myself that it's going to be ok. We're going to be on vacation after all! Any day I don't have to go to work is a good day. 15 days to go