DIS Dads The DIS Dad's Club VI - Man's Room

[dvczerfs]

We settled on Avon mianly because of its proximity to downtown Indianapolis, where my wife will be working. I hear that it's growing, so as an architect, it might be a good place to find work. It was hard for us to decide between Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel & Fishers, but Avon just seemed like a better fit for us. We are hoping to find something in the north west side of town, but the rental house we like is actually south east. Not that it matters, it will probably be gone by the time my wife gets her final offer.




Feb.? that's wishful thinking, I'm saying October I'll be over it. Remember, where I'm at it's like 77 right now and doesn't usually drop below 80 until December. We will be the butt of all the jokes, wearing heavy sweaters in September, but hey, it's a new adventure, all good adventures come with some pain. There is an old Cuban comedian who would tell a long joke about moving to PA, how he was tired of the sweltering Miami heat, and all the garbage associated with living down here and he finally ups and moves to PA. He keeps a journal, and every day he writes about how happy he was to have moved, then the first snow hits. Still in awe by this event he speaks highly of it, then the second, and the third. Eventually he begins to curse out the plows, and everything associated with snow, or as he called it "White $#!+". Finally, his last journal entry read: "I moved back to Miami!"

It's funny, because I really can't speak of this move in public yet, so my Facebook updates have been very cryptic. Here there is a little more anonymity so when I'm about to burst with excitement or anticipation or something huge happens, I tend to come here so I can get it out before I explode.

I will admit that I am going to miss being so close to WDW, especially with my girls being at such a perfect age, but this way, they won't be saturated with the parks and when we do go it will be a big deal. Growing up, I always loved going, even when it was only MK, but by the time I was 12 or so, we stopped going as often and the magic was no longer there. But I'm really glad that we where able to take that trip in Xmas of '09, it was an awesome trip that was made perfect by much of the advice I recieved on this board. Thanks guys....

there was a joke floating around here that sounds like that. about the snow and the deer. dug himself out everyday other day and hit a deer with his car. by the end of the joke he was calling the deer,beasts and hated the snow. i have two words that will help, body glove!!! its the only stuff that keeps me warm.

 

[dvczerfs]

Dave, I think you guys are getting all the snow we got last year. It seems like every storm is just missing us, and pounding NJ, eastern PA and New England instead. I don't mind missing the shoveling, but I keep hoping for a free day off work...

We got 4 inches last night/this morning but the sun is already out. The wind is picking up and it is going to be cold here this weekend too.

I heard today that the Tuesday storm could be like the one from last week. What's another 30'' of snow right?

thats about what we got last night. closer to 5 inches here in nazareth. they seem to move in around 9-10 at night and gone by 7am. the wind is blown around here like crazy. just getting ready for the 0 degree nights. theres spots in the poconos that they are calling for -10. which for us, we dont get there here to often.

 

[afwdwfan]

That sounds like a similar itinerary to ours this year. We are going to visit Busch Gardens and Clearwater Beach for about 4 days, then drive over to WDW. Congrats!!

We're driving down the day after Thanksgiving, spend Sat & Sun night at a hotel we've stayed at before right on the beach... probably just relax for a couple of days then we head to WL for 5 nights. I'm getting park hoppers just so that I can go do some EMH for the thrill rides while the little man and his mom are in bed. I know that sounds kind of mean, but I'm pretty sure I could go to morning EMH, knock out half a park and be back to the room before she ever knows I left... I definitely didn't marry a morning person.

 

[dvczerfs]

Sorry man, I got nothin'

what, no ice dams and snow build ups in southern georgia???? you get hurricans were you are. im pretty much to far west for the wind part of those things but we do get the rain from them.

 

[dvczerfs]

We're driving down the day after Thanksgiving, spend Sat & Sun night at a hotel we've stayed at before right on the beach... probably just relax for a couple of days then we head to WL for 5 nights. I'm getting park hoppers just so that I can go do some EMH for the thrill rides while the little man and his mom are in bed. I know that sounds kind of mean, but I'm pretty sure I could go to morning EMH, knock out half a park and be back to the room before she ever knows I left... I definitely didn't marry a morning person.

wives just hold you up anyway. i get , your walking to fast, its like you never seen it before, its not going any were, we have 10 days whats the rush. 26 years, havnt listened yet!

 

[DisneyDadC]

thats about what we got last night. closer to 5 inches here in nazareth. they seem to move in around 9-10 at night and gone by 7am. the wind is blown around here like crazy. just getting ready for the 0 degree nights. theres spots in the poconos that they are calling for -10. which for us, we dont get there here to often.

Fire up the heater dave we are in for a cold spell, hopefully it will bring in the big one on tues!!!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We're driving down the day after Thanksgiving, spend Sat & Sun night at a hotel we've stayed at before right on the beach... probably just relax for a couple of days then we head to WL for 5 nights. I'm getting park hoppers just so that I can go do some EMH for the thrill rides while the little man and his mom are in bed. I know that sounds kind of mean, but I'm pretty sure I could go to morning EMH, knock out half a park and be back to the room before she ever knows I left... I definitely didn't marry a morning person.

Wow...that's some serious sleeping in. You can sleep after vacation!

You guys will LOVE the WL...of course, I may be biased on that front.

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow...that's some serious sleeping in. You can sleep after vacation!

You guys will LOVE the WL...of course, I may be biased on that front.

Well, let's see, EMH starts at 8... so I could be back at the hotel by 10.... yeah, that's a typical Saturday morning to her. A 22 month old isn't going to be able to go all day anyway so it might actually work for us.

I had no clue you were biased. Your avatar gives no such indication...

Edit: Peanut Butter! Travel agent just e-mailed to tell me the Standard View rooms are gone. So I guess it is gonna cost $100 more already. Oh well, we're pretty set on WL and looking forward to our one shot at a deluxe.

 

[dvczerfs]

re: DVC stuff:

I always seem to get to that point of looking at the dollar value and see how much I could save by doing out of pocket - with no financing at all. Honestly, that's where I'd like to be and if I had the spare money lying around I know we'd jump on it.

thats the way i looked at it for about 8 years when it first came out. but with the cost of everything going up over the past 11 years. after adding it all up, with fees, intitial investment, for 45 years, it comes to $2300.00 per year. which is alot of money. but, we couldnt go as much,stay as long as we do and stay in the resorts we stay in for $2300. the argument a guy made with me on these boards a few years ago was, i should of taken that 20k and invested it in the stock market and pay cash for my vacations with some of the money i make in the stock market. well, we all know what happened to the stock market and i dont know what ever happen to mr. stock broker but, looks to me like the unedumacated,cant spell,former orphan made a heck of a good investment. we would toss $30 in the washers and dryer while we were there and just the savings on food is alot. we eat one meal out everyday and the rest we eat in the room. but, its all how you vacation. we spend time in the resort. i love sitting on my balcony watching the golfers and enjoying the sun. we have freinds that stay at all star sports. they check in throw there stuff on the beds and head to the parks. come back at night, sleep and do it again all day the next day.for 6 days, they see the inside of there hotel for about 20 min. per day. its a big investment!! but for us, it paid off and saved us alot of money. that being said,i have to admit, it was my wifes idea. i told her she was peanut butter nuts!!!( i didnt use peanut butter!!) she wanted this thing, it was to much!!!! as you can imagine, i hear it evey time we pull up to the sec. gaurd building.at okw

 

[dvczerfs]

Fire up the heater dave we are in for a cold spell, hopefully it will bring in the big one on tues!!!

the cold gets those old boilers popin!!!! hopfully we will sell a few boilers in this weather!

 

[DisneyDadC]

thats the way i looked at it for about 8 years when it first came out. but with the cost of everything going up over the past 11 years. after adding it all up, with fees, intitial investment, for 45 years, it comes to $2300.00 per year. which is alot of money. but, we couldnt go as much,stay as long as we do and stay in the resorts we stay in for $2300. :

mine only averages out to 1400 a year.where could I get a two bedroom villa in Disney for $1400 for 5 /6 nights??? Heck it would cost me $1500 for 5 nights at a deluxe. So with DVC I get the room I need for family !!!without the Villas I always had to get two rooms!!! so it was a no brainer for me.

 

[dvczerfs]

mine only averages out to 1400 a year.where could I get a two bedroom villa in Disney for $1400 for 5 /6 nights??? Heck it would cost me $1500 for 5 nights at a deluxe. So with DVC I get the room I need for family !!!without the Villas I always had to get two rooms!!! so it was a no brainer for me.

carl, what days are you going down this summer?

 

[DisneyDadC]

carl, what days are you going down this summer?

July 23-30th

 

[stopher1]

thats the way i looked at it for about 8 years when it first came out. but with the cost of everything going up over the past 11 years. after adding it all up, with fees, intitial investment, for 45 years, it comes to $2300.00 per year. which is alot of money. but, we couldnt go as much,stay as long as we do and stay in the resorts we stay in for $2300. the argument a guy made with me on these boards a few years ago was, i should of taken that 20k and invested it in the stock market and pay cash for my vacations with some of the money i make in the stock market. well, we all know what happened to the stock market and i dont know what ever happen to mr. stock broker but, looks to me like the unedumacated,cant spell,former orphan made a heck of a good investment. we would toss $30 in the washers and dryer while we were there and just the savings on food is alot. we eat one meal out everyday and the rest we eat in the room. but, its all how you vacation. we spend time in the resort. i love sitting on my balcony watching the golfers and enjoying the sun. we have freinds that stay at all star sports. they check in throw there stuff on the beds and head to the parks. come back at night, sleep and do it again all day the next day.for 6 days, they see the inside of there hotel for about 20 min. per day. its a big investment!! but for us, it paid off and saved us alot of money. that being said,i have to admit, it was my wifes idea. i told her she was peanut butter nuts!!!( i didnt use peanut butter!!) she wanted this thing, it was to much!!!! as you can imagine, i hear it evey time we pull up to the sec. gaurd building.at okw

mine only averages out to 1400 a year.where could I get a two bedroom villa in Disney for $1400 for 5 /6 nights??? Heck it would cost me $1500 for 5 nights at a deluxe. So with DVC I get the room I need for family !!!without the Villas I always had to get two rooms!!! so it was a no brainer for me.

Ours comes out closer to Dave's than Carl's, but still, we go often, and there's no way that we would get away staying as often as we do for anywhere near that amount without DVC. We knew it was for us almost right away, and when we were looking at our eldest sleeping on the trundle bed on the floor in the Alligator Bayou section of POR, with his then legs extending out the length of the bed (they're shorter than normal trundles) - and the rest of us stuffed in to those double beds. Not fun at all. Nor was the thought of getting two rooms. So we went for it, and multiple add-ons later, we're very glad we did.

Oh and just for comparison sake, we recently stayed at VGC at Disneyland in a 2 BR. I was reading on another thread that the rack rates for the villas at the Grand Californian start at about $800 per night for a studio, go up over $1,050 per night for a 1BR, and are around $1,300+ per night for a 2BR - depending on the season, of course, higher at the more popular times of year. So even IF there were a 35% or 40% discount for VGC like they currently have for Deluxe and Deluxe Villas at WDW (there isn't), that would still be $650 per night for a 1BR. Absolutely crazy. My dues on my VGC contracts equal $590 for the year - I can't even imagine spending that for one night when I spent the equivalent of 10 nights in a 1BR for that amount last year. A similar situation exists with our WDW contracts, just different rack rates and discounts, of course.

Another factor for us besides the space, was the relaxing nature that could come with the larger rooms and amenities. Our vacations didn't need to be commando any longer - not there's anything wrong with that - that style just really wears my DW out... and I want her to ENJOY trips to the World, and not resent them. So longer stays with down days filled with relaxing activities or NO activities is an important part of our time at the world now. And we love to cook in the room. Even though we are ON VACATION, doesn't mean we need to eat out every time, and DVC allows lots of flexibility in that area for us. And as the kids age, sadly the boys anyway, are starting to get out of "Disney mode" - and moving more into "hang out mode" - so another added benefit. They still like being there, just not necessarily doing the parks as much. They are enjoying exploring the "other" activities that WDW offers, and that's cool. Not buying park tickets every time isn't a bad thing either. But that's our perspective, and doesn't have to be shared by everyone!

 

[ClearScreen]

Someone might know a trick for this, yesterday I spent 3 hrs hammering ice out of the gutters, was about 8inches thick and was leaking in my window in the living room, after getting all the ice out I found it was not blocked up with leaves or anything, and I can say talking with my friends I was not the only one with this problem. I never had this happen in the 18 1/2 years I lived in the house, but we never really got blasted with that much snow at one time in awhile

So all you guys that get alot of snow, is there a trick to keep the gutters from icing up

I live about an hour and a half north of you and used to have this problem as well. We had those plug-in ice melt wires installed - they have them at Home Depot - and that mostly solved the problem. We get some big icicles now, but no more gutter issues.

No "snow-sensing flame thrower", no calling in precision napalm drops on the gutters, no nothing Fed? Is it to early in the morning for you?

That reminds me of the classic George Carlin routine on the invention of the flame thrower:

"Boy, I'd sure like to set those people on fire over there. But I'm much too far away to reach them. If I only had a device that would throw flame on them..."

Definitely worth a YouTube search of you've never seen it. RIP George - you are still missed.

ClearScreen

 

[GoBucks1168]

I live about an hour and a half north of you and used to have this problem as well. We had those plug-in ice melt wires installed - they have them at Home Depot - and that mostly solved the problem. We get some big icicles now, but no more gutter issues.



That reminds me of the classic George Carlin routine on the invention of the flame thrower:

"Boy, I'd sure like to set those people on fire over there. But I'm much too far away to reach them. If I only had a device that would throw flame on them..."

Definitely worth a YouTube search of you've never seen it. RIP George - you are still missed.

ClearScreen

Nothing like the fresh smell of napalm in the morning!

 

[Disney Commando]

After it snows I use a broom (I think they sell roof rakes to do this too) to remove the snow from the roof. Usually a foot or so beyond the gutter works good. When it keeps melting and the refreezing, any snow up against the gutter forms an ice dam. There's nowhere for the melting snow to go so the water starts seeping into the roof.

Learned this the hard way a few years ago, Christmas Eve with water pouring in everywhere.

hey ron, whaler54 is right!! if you go to one of the home centers, they sell a "heat tape". we sell it also, its a long piece of wire that you run in a zig zag pattern on your roof from the gutter up about 12 inches. plug the heat tape in and it heats up only when it freezes. the insolation on the wire, at 32 degrees,breaks down and the two wires inside the casing, conduct heat. realy cool stuff. but that will keep the ice from damming up at your eaves. the product we have is fron heatway but theres alot of them out there. call your homeowners insurance, alot of polocies cover the damage.

I would also suggest that the next time you have your roof re-done to have them put "ice and water shield" at your roof edge and in the valleys. This is a rubber product that has an adhesive on one side. Have them put enough at the roof edge to go past the point where your wall meets your roof and a minimum of a single layer in the valleys. This stuff is "self healing" (so any nails going through it will seal closed). It is cheap insurance for protection from roof leaks as well as a fairly inexpensive product that will add life to your roof. I'm an architect and put it on all of my projects (including my house).

Thanks for all the idea's, next time I go to Home Depot, or Lowes I'll be checking out the options. I had a 300 sq foot addition put on 7 years ago, and when they did it I had them do the whole roof, they did put the snow shield on, but the part of where the livingroom is it is almost a flatroof (angle is only 10-20 degrees (inside lighting in that area is also not that great since that section has a crawlspace and you can't get to it from the attic) so basicly everything lays there and there is not much installation, pluss you can't get to it from the attic The heating element's might be the way to go, the rest of the roof has more slopes then a ski resort
Luckily there was no big damage since I was sick and sleeping on the couch next to the window.

 

[Bunch24]

I think once the wife and I conquer this mountain of debt from college and newlywed life, we're going to seriously consider buying into DVC.

You guys are helping give me ammunition for the day we have that discussion.

 

[MiJo]

It looks like the Blues will be featured this morning on Speed Channel's "Stacey David and Gearz TV" at 9:00 AM. I don't know how this translates across the various time zones so you might want to check your local listings.

Note: This was filmed a year ago so my son won't be in it.

 

[Wherem I Now]

CRUD, it's been a busy week.

This week marked my last trip in my current position. In a few weeks, I'll begin a new chapter in my career. Still with travel, but mainly just to the Northeast. It's been hectic trying to train my coworkers to take over my responsibilities.

When I returned the rental car to the airport on Wednesday, I noticed a military jet sitting on the opposite side of the runway. Later that day, the whole office got a shake... Turns out that the jet that I saw was number 7 of the Navy's Blue Angels. A coworker is a pilot and happened to be at the airport when the pilot left and got a few pictures and some video of the jet taking off to Chicago. (The pilot said that he would be there in an hour. That's about 600 miles!)

The video showed him taking off but keeping on the deck until he reached the end of the runway, at which time it was straight up and into the clouds. This was followed shortly by the office shaking sonic BOOM!


In other news, there are now TWO Teenage Girls in my house! Let the drama continue.

Today is the birthday celebration for our new teen. A spa day for her and all of her friends. Hair, nails, makeup, Dinner. I'll be running the cameras. At least there will be cake!

I hope to get a chance to read back a bit later. Have a great day Dads!