The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 18

[Tammi67]

Thanks for the post card Vicki. It came today.

Off to look at Elizabeth's pictures.

 

[tinknme]

Anne Marie even though it took almost all day, doesn't it feel good to have the wrapped presents out of the way! I am so glad mine are done. Just a few odds & ends left to wrap for friends.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Ok you can use me as an excuse

Then I bought 4 designs of Jack Skellington. The Jack pins are because Janet wanted me to look at some for her DS and I got sucked in by them!

Well, Tammi is back there blaming me for the photo book album things! Although it doesn't take much for me to get sucked in. There was a thread on the CB once where people listed all the things they bought because they read about them on the boards. It was pretty funny!

 

[Tammi67]

Love the photos, Elizabeth, especially the ones of you all under the lights. I like your red fleece pullovers. Did you get them on disneyshopping?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I must say I am impressed with everybody who has gotten their shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc. done! So far I have not purchased a single present, nothing is decorated, and I still have one suitcase that is full of stuff! I am working tomorrow night so maybe we'll put the tree up on Sunday.

 

[tinknme]

Bernadette sorry to hear about your car problems. I don't think I would put that much money into it either. Good luck looking for a new one!

and...I found out the power steering on my car will cost $1,250 + they told me a bunch of other stuff they think I should do so it would probably be over $2,500. I don't think I want to spend that much on a 10 1/2 year old with 110,000 miles on it. I don't really have the time to go new car shopping. They did add more power steering fluid and the car is running better so I think I have a few weeks or months even. I don't know if I would do better buying one before 12/31 or waiting til Presidents Day.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Love the photos, Elizabeth, especially the ones of you all under the lights. I like your red fleece pullovers. Did you get them on disneyshopping?

They are actually zip front, which was really handy since I took mine off about 15 times every day! I bought them at the Disney Store. We met a family from Houston on the Pop bus who had the same ones, and I saw a few other families in the parks with them. At first DH wasn't too happy about all of us matching, but he ended up enjoying it.

 

[UP Disney]

I must say I am impressed with everybody who has gotten their shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc. done! So far I have not purchased a single present, nothing is decorated, and I still have one suitcase that is full of stuff! I am working tomorrow night so maybe we'll put the tree up on Sunday.

I knew I connected with you when we met! I also have no presents bought, no decorating done, and a suitcase that still has Pal Mickey's clothes in it. I did get all of our clothes washed and put away. Becky & I are talking about buying our tree this week-end. We won't put it up until next week-end. We get a real tree and I like it up from Christmas to New Years. If we put it up sooner than the week before Christmas, it gets too dry before New Years. In the mean time, it stays outside frozen.

 

[UP Disney]

I do have 40 post cards signed, stamped and addressed. I have to get the Christmas letter written so that they can go in the mail. I still have over 150 left to go.

 

[Tammi67]

They are actually zip front, which was really handy since I took mine off about 15 times every day! I bought them at the Disney Store. We met a family from Houston on the Pop bus who had the same ones, and I saw a few other families in the parks with them. At first DH wasn't too happy about all of us matching, but he ended up enjoying it.

Yeah, you all look so cute together.

 

[PNO4TE]

Tammi - did you get the kids their Disney crocs? Do you want a pair too? It seems the crocs website has them available right now and I would order a couple pairs if you were also interested.

 

[Tammi67]

Tammi - did you get the kids their Disney crocs? Do you want a pair too? It seems the crocs website has them available right now and I would order a couple pairs if you were also interested.

No. I checked out the website that was posted earlier, but they didn't have the pink color that Alyssa wanted, and they didn't have anything for me. I think I'm going to hold off and get them closer to our spring trip. I appreciate the offer though!

 

[Tammi67]

Or do you get free shipping if you order so much?

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I posted on the Restaurants board about my experiences with DDE vs. DDP, and how for my family on this trip we did better having the DDE. There is a poster trying to convince me I would have been better off with the DDP. Well, having HAD the DDP on 2 previous trips and knowing how and where we tend to eat I am thinking maybe I am a better judge of that. I didn't claim it works that way for everyone in every situation, just for my family this time. We ate exactly what we wanted. I saved my receipts, and then I calculated out what would and would not have been covered. We ate 3 meals each day, but they weren't gigantic. I prefer 2 small CS meals and a larger TS meal most days, but sometimes we do 2 TS in one day. At any rate, we most certainly WOULD have had OOP meal costs because we would have run out of credits no matter how you look at it. We also would have had to pay more for our room to have the DDP! So I still say the DDE worked better. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Vicki - Did you guys keep your DDP? Did you enjoy it or did you feel like it was too much food?

 

[Tammi67]

I posted on the Restaurants board about my experiences with DDE vs. DDP, and how for my family on this trip we did better having the DDE. There is a poster trying to convince me I would have been better off with the DDP. Well, having HAD the DDP on 2 previous trips and knowing how and where we tend to eat I am thinking maybe I am a better judge of that. I didn't claim it works that way for everyone in every situation, just for my family this time. We ate exactly what we wanted. I saved my receipts, and then I calculated out what would and would not have been covered. We ate 3 meals each day, but they weren't gigantic. I prefer 2 small CS meals and a larger TS meal most days, but sometimes we do 2 TS in one day. At any rate, we most certainly WOULD have had OOP meal costs because we would have run out of credits no matter how you look at it. We also would have had to pay more for our room to have the DDP! So I still say the DDE worked better. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Vicki - Did you guys keep your DDP? Did you enjoy it or did you feel like it was too much food?

Why would you have had to pay more for your room to have the DDP?

 

[UP Disney]

I posted on the Restaurants board about my experiences with DDE vs. DDP, and how for my family on this trip we did better having the DDE. There is a poster trying to convince me I would have been better off with the DDP. Well, having HAD the DDP on 2 previous trips and knowing how and where we tend to eat I am thinking maybe I am a better judge of that. I didn't claim it works that way for everyone in every situation, just for my family this time. We ate exactly what we wanted. I saved my receipts, and then I calculated out what would and would not have been covered. We ate 3 meals each day, but they weren't gigantic. I prefer 2 small CS meals and a larger TS meal most days, but sometimes we do 2 TS in one day. At any rate, we most certainly WOULD have had OOP meal costs because we would have run out of credits no matter how you look at it. We also would have had to pay more for our room to have the DDP! So I still say the DDE worked better. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Vicki - Did you guys keep your DDP? Did you enjoy it or did you feel like it was too much food?

I saw the thread you started but there was only one or two responses when I read it. I was going to go back and check it out in a day or two to see what others had said. I love the way others just "know" what is best for you. There are some people that the DDP works great for and others that it don't.

I did end up using the DDP. It was way more food than we usually eat. I kept all my receipts and plan on going back and doing an analysis. We would have eaten at the same places but would not have gotten all the appetizers and desserts if we had not been on it. I'm sure we saved money on what we got but not sure if we would have saved money if we would have eaten the way we normally do. I'll let you know after I run the numbers.

I'm looking at the DDE for our Feb. trip. There is no way that the DDP would work with Becky, Chuck & I. Becky & Katrina & I end up sharing many meals between us. I probably could have had one appetizer, one entree & one dessert for the three of us.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Vicki - Well you are ahead of me getting things unpacked and washed! But the suitcase with stuff still in it is all CLEAN stuff. I have all the boxes of Christmas stuff out, we just need to get the tree down from the closet.

Shopping is a horse of a different color. DH & I don't want or need anything at all. DS wanted a game for his Game Boy, but we gave it to him last Saturday so he could play it on the plane. Now he really doesn't have anything on his list! He is incredibly lucky to already have just about everything he could want! I guess I will get gift cards for my mom & my sister because I don't want to ship anything. Besides, my mother always returns everything. We don't have extended family to buy for, just our 2 friends who went to Disney with us in August. I'll probably do gift cards for them, too! I'll get Brother & Sister each a small Hanukkah gift but they are 2 more examples of kids who have everything they could ever want. And I just brought them presents from Disney. Of course Sister has a running list of things she wants on hand at all times, so I am sure she will have no trouble with a request.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Why would you have had to pay more for your room to have the DDP?

You can't use an AP room discount if you get the DDP. You have to book it as a package, which pops the room up to rack rate. You can book a package and get a AAA discount on the room, but then the package has to be paid in full 45 days before departure and the cancellation policy is different.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Vicki - That is exactly the point I think so many people miss about DDP. You DO save money, but if it was money you weren't going to spend to begin with then it isn't really that much of a savings. I can't eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert at every TS meal for days in a row. On our very first trip we would have saved about $150 over 4 days, but we would have lost our room discount. Our next 2 trips were each 9 nights, and we saved maybe $250-$300. If you subtracted off the appetizers and desserts that we wouldn't have ordered ordinarily then the savings drops.

I think this trip was probably close to a break even, but that's fine. We came out a bit ahead using the DDE and we were perfectly happy with our dining experiences.

 

[UP Disney]

I'm off to bed to read a book! Talk to you all tomorrow. I'm hoping to get lots done tomorrow. Recycling, grocery shopping, Christmas decorations, more Christmas cards, etc. Have a great week-end everyone!