The Great Leap into Running and DVC Ownership.

[annmarieda]

I was going to say plunge rather than leap, but plunge or dive-in both sound more like swimming. Swimming is not what we do. However running, that is what has become a focus in my life and perhaps my entire family's. So a leap, a leap is what we have decided to do.

Since our kids were all rather young we have gone to Disney at least once a year. Each trip we have declared next year we will do something different. As our older children have become adults though something strange has happened. We (specifically I) have started going more frequently than once a year. So it has been natural to consider and weigh our options. What options? DVC. With a hint of "we will do something different next" for the last couple years after visiting the notion we have decided against. This year was different. Why?

Well, not too long ago i was convinced/coerced and otherwise made to sign up for a RunDisney event. I spent time training and ran my first 10k just about a year ago. The ToT 10 miler was my first RunDisney event and I was sold. I LOVE all running events. In the time since the ToT, I have ran an event almost every month. RD races are the best though...hands down.

With my second RD event being the princess half marathon AND with my dh in tow for that race, the scales were tipped. Now my dh saw our youngest enjoy a RD event. (her second as well) and he was present to see all that the race weekend had to offer. He had been to a couple of my other races, and was coming to the conclusion that he too could be a runner. This helped to push him to see that he would like to do an event too. And so his own training began.

In March he ran his first race (a 5k while I ran a 10k) He didn't do horrible and when April came and he was the first male to cross the finish of the 5k he ran (5th overall), he was ready to commit to a half marathon in WDW.

Well, I knew I would be back for the ToT race for the next few years as well as some others RD events. We then thought about other Disney resorts outside of WDW. Could they be our "some place different"? We ran some numbers and realized that if we could purchase a DVC resale contract for the "right" amount it was now the time to do it!

So as we leap into our training for the half marathon (Steve's first and my second) and our DVC ownership, please follow along. With just about 6 months of planning to get through, I am sure there will be some changes along the way.

Next Up: The Who

 

[annmarieda]

The Who
The Where and When
Changes to Where and When
ADRs
Airfare
1/8
1/9
Revised 1/9
Yet Another Revised 1/9
1/10
1/11
1/12
1/13
1/14
1/15
1/16
1/17
1/18

Recap

Purchases
Park Bag
More Bags

 

[annmarieda]

So I will am the author of this little plan as well as the instigator of all trips we take. My name is Ann.



I find Disney a safe happy place. Just the thought makes me smile. I have no real "favorites" as what I like tends to depend on my mood. I am known to like the pirate movies... but also love old school Mickey cartoons. Princesses? Why yes, who doesn't occasionally want to be one. So you see, I would have a hard time picking a favorite. If it is Disney, it IS my favorite.

I work as an in store merchandiser. I have flexible hours, but no vacation or sick days. I am just lucky that the way that tasks run is cyclic and so I can plan to be busy 3 out of every 4 weeks. The fourth week then I can almost take off. (If I plan properly) This allows me to go on trips in some ways more easily that others since I can take more time off than some (like my dh) who have a fixed number of vacation days. That is as long as my tasks are complete. However it is harder for me than for some in that I can't "schedule" to take time off during a busy week. I can't just say "well, I want to take this week off since it is race week" I have to be flexible. It works for me though.

I have been married to my dh for about 24 years. We were high school sweethearts. So in total we have been together since 1987... you do the math lets just say forever.

So next there is Steve. Steve is like most husbands. He is a reluctant disney lover, but likes to make me happy. If pushed though, he will admit that he can not go on a Disney trip without riding IASM.


Steve suffers from a chronic autoimmune disorder. He sometimes can find himself very ill. Luckily, his condition has been in remission all of 2013. His care provider believes that running helps to keep it in check. So yay running!

Steve is a software engineer and works for a company that sends rockets into space. I don't know or understand much more about it.

We have 4 children and 2 add ons. Not everyone will be joining us, but I like to list my kids.

There are Kira and our son in law, Josh (he is one of the add ons) They have been married just over 2 years. They have known each other since they were ten since their fathers worked together. They started dating when they were 15. This year they will turn 23 on the same day. You see, they are minutes apart in age..literally born on the same date of the same year. Imagine how fun it is for them to go out on their birthday. Now sharing the same last name, they are asked if they are twins. Kira is in school to become a school teacher and works at a doggie day care. Josh works as a car salesmen. The purchased a home last year and moved out of our little town into an even smaller town near by. They will be going during the same time we are, but will not be staying with us. They also will not be dinning with us at each meal.



Next is our son Zachary and his fiance, Kimberly. They have been together now for just over a year. The both are in the military and met while in training. Kimberly's dad is also in the military and is in Zach's group. (sorry, I probably will never get the company..squad..brigade..thing all broken down right, so I just say "group" Kimberly and Zach are in the same big "group", but her dad and Zach are in a smaller "group" together. Their wedding date is not firm yet. Could be as early as next May or as late as fall in 2015. Kimberly is also in school to become a teacher. Zach works at a steel plant. Not entirely sure what he does... other than he is in management there. . Aside from school, and military, and cheer. Kimberly works at the same company I do and is in the same group as I am. (we each have our separate territories and work alone though) It is unlikely they will be coming with us.

Then there is Alex. He is my quiet, not much said or done sort of kid. He doesn't get into trouble and he rarely leaves the house. He doesn't date. He is a great big brother to Zoe and takes care of her while I am at work. He will be 18 at his next birthday. He didn't come with us on our last trip to WDW. However, since we will need someone to stay with Zoe while Steve and I run he IS going with us on this trip.



Finally, there is Zoe. She is our youngest. She is going to be in the 3rd grade this year. She is 8 years old. She has health issues, but for the most part you would never know it. (although, if you read any of my reports you are sure to hear me complain about it) She joined a dance group this year and has been performing at various functions this summer. Another activity she does is her schools running club. She of course will be going with us and she too would like to participate in race weekend. She wants to run the Mickey Mile. I am just not sure if I am comfortable her running it alone.


Next UP: The Where and When

 

[momabaarjo]

Whoop Whoop...I am first....

My gosh...I even learned some new things about you and your family. I did not know that both Kira and Kimberly are going to be teachers...they should not talk to me on one of my vent days! LOL Zoe is taking dance? How did I miss that one?

YAY...Alex is going!!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Looking forward to keeping up with ALL your TRs and PTRs!! Yay for the DVC ownership! Hope to see you this fall!

 

[dizneeat]

Caught it while it is still on page one!

Now going back to read!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Yay caught page one as well!!!!!!

 

[swwake]

I'm in!

 

[eandesmom]

I'm here

 

[annmarieda]

Whoop Whoop...I am first....

My gosh...I even learned some new things about you and your family. I did not know that both Kira and Kimberly are going to be teachers...they should not talk to me on one of my vent days! LOL Zoe is taking dance? How did I miss that one?

YAY...Alex is going!!!

Kira didn't set out to be a teacher. Her goal was vet. Then she worked at a vets office and that changed. Also being married changed things. She doesn't want to have kids and a husband and need to work holidays... or summers.

Kimberly too changed her major. She was going to be a nurse. She is a medic in the army. However, she loves kids and again... getting married means probably some kids..and summers off would be nice.

Zoe has been in a dance crew this year. She LOVES it. I LOVE that it isn't the ballet troup. The ballet studio in town is crazy serious. Zoe's instructor makes it about fun... not about being perfect. It is great.

I am excited for Alex to come. I just hope he comes out of the room a bit now and again.

Looking forward to keeping up with ALL your TRs and PTRs!! Yay for the DVC ownership! Hope to see you this fall!

So glad you are here! And thank you! DVC ownership never seemed to be the right thing. It does now though. And as for this fall, yes!!!We definitely have to figure something out!

Caught it while it is still on page one!

Now going back to read!

I haven't got very far, I am afraid. I am so glad you are here though!!!

Yay caught page one as well!!!!!!

Yay!

I'm in!

So glad to have all my princesses showing up!

I'm here

yay!!!

 

[annmarieda]

Even though it has now been a couple months since Steve and I registered for the Donald, we only recently booked a room. This put us at a disadvantage in getting a room, but we had to wait.

Why? Well, because we were purchasing a DVC contract via a resale. Here on dis there are just a few recommended agencies. I first began my journey through the main one. What I found was a tad bit of frustration. You see, things are on the rise. Prices per point are almost as high now as if you were to just buy direct. We needed a special number of points for a special amount. Each offer we made was met with a bit of "well, I suppose I could offer the seller that" We never even saw counter offers. The sellers were offered full price by someone else and took it. Things were being snatched up. I decided to question another agency about their listings. Well, I got a very early call from Sharon at Fidelity and before I knew it, she was putting together an offer for me that once awake, I had to ask "what just happened" She was AWESOME. She knew what we needed and found the right seller to make it happen for us. Fidelity is the only place that in addition to their other fees, charges and admin fee. It was more than worth it to pay!!! Not only did I get a good price per point, but she convinced the seller that since we were not able to use our contract for half the year that we should not have to pay all of the maintenance fees for the year. (even though all of the 2013 points will hit the account in December so using them prior to that would have meant borrowing any way)

The process start to finish was about 3 months, and there were moments where I was maybe a bit impatient at how fast (or slow) things were moving. It took FOREVER for our deed to record. I saw many people on dis post that their deed recorded within a day or so from when closing was done. Not ours. However, all of the interactions with fidelity and the title company were amazing. All people involved were very patient with me and willing to answer any and all of my silly questions.

However as we sat waiting to book on points, I was reading about how availability was becoming less and less. I knew this was going to be an issue for Steve. I knew that he was going to say something along the lines of "you mean to tell me I paid how much for something that I cant actually use?" And he did in fact end up saying it. However, it wasn't a total loss. I was able to book using the points I had budgeted for this trip. It just wasn't possible to get a room for the most important part of the trip - race weekend.

You may be wondering why I had not booked a regular room while waiting for the dVC transaction to be completed. Well, life has been busy and I really didn't want to call. The online system was not ready to make reservations into 2014 (until today). Once I had the DVC room booked though, I needed something for that weekend. If for no other reason than to make ADRs (in just a few days now)

So before I ramble too much more... We are staying

1/9 to 1/12

We currently are booked in a

That could change though if Kira and Josh want to stay together in a

and for our first DVC stay, we will be staying

1/12 to 1/18 at

Did I mention that OKW is our home resort? I am very excited to stay there. I booked us in a one bedroom

Next UP: ADRs

 

[dizneeat]

Ann, you are going to love OKW! The space can't be beaten, your veranda will be huge (round table and 4 chairs and room to spare!

I knew about your "ordeal" of buying into DVC, but reading about it again made it no less stressful.

So glad your PTR is on the way .......

 

[momabaarjo]

The more I look at OKW the more I like it. I thought it was over by SSR...but its not...gonna have to look into next time I rent points to stay there!

How is Alex gonna like a Mermaid Room? That may be the trick of getting him out the room! Great thinking mom.

 

[annmarieda]

Ann, you are going to love OKW! The space can't be beaten, your veranda will be huge (round table and 4 chairs and room to spare!

I know I had seen your pictures before of the one bedroom, but after watching youtube videos, I was sold!!! I just wish we were staying there over race weekend.

I knew about your "ordeal" of buying into DVC, but reading about it again made it no less stressful.

I didn't mean to complain as much as I did. It really wasn't so bad and in the end seems to have been pretty easy. I did have a moment or two during the process though when I may have freaked out a bit. The seller being a non us citizen made me worry unnecessarily. There was this odd tax stuff. Basically, uncle sam couldn't tax the seller... so we get the tax burden... but the tax comes from the seller... then is deposited into our "tax account" Oh my! My head was spinning. The title company walked me through it though and it all made sense and was easy enough. Really though, other than the time it took for the deed to record and the tax issue it was easy. I did find out that the seller was a widower. It makes me sad. He and his wife owned the dvc together and it had to be noted why she was not signing on the deed transfer. I suspect that he sold because he didn't have her with him. It kinda breaks my heart. I told Steve and he said he would do exactly the same thing if something happened to me. I told him he had to let the kids use it rather than sell it. He still thought it would be too painful a reminder to continue owning it.

So glad your PTR is on the way .......

Slowly... I need to decide meals so that I can make ADRs on Saturday!

The more I look at OKW the more I like it. I thought it was over by SSR...but its not...gonna have to look into next time I rent points to stay there!

The thing I like about it is all the rooms (I believe) are larger than at the other resorts. The studio is the only one to have two queens instead of a queen and sofa bed. As Karin mentioned the veranda is HUGE in the one bedroom. It is not just a small table and a couple chairs. I am definitely excited about this and hope to eat a meal or two out there.

How is Alex gonna like a Mermaid Room? That may be the trick of getting him out the room! Great thinking mom.

Yeah... I mentioned LM and he made a face. BUT he is happy to be along for the ride. He would really like to stay at AK...as would Zoe. So we will see... After all the playing around with scenarios we have done for fall, I have not been too excited to start that up with this trip. I wanted us to stay in a value oop one night. Then over race weekend in the 1bedroom and THEN switch to a different one toward the end of the trip. POFQ is always high on my wish list. It will be interesting to see where we end up.

 

[eandesmom]

You will love love LOVE the OKW 1 bedroom. Are you booked at HH or non HH? I actually prefer the non as those 1B's have a different bathroom access. The HH ones everyone has to walk through the master to get in. Non HH has 2 entry points. One through the laundry room. A bit odd and confusing but better than people walking through my bedroom!

AoA would be a blast I think, I would love to stay there for a night or so but wherever you end up (with however many people it is) will be great!

Sent you a FB PM, your in box is full again

 

[annmarieda]

You will love love LOVE the OKW 1 bedroom. Are you booked at HH or non HH? I actually prefer the non as those 1B's have a different bathroom access. The HH ones everyone has to walk through the master to get in. Non HH has 2 entry points. One through the laundry room. A bit odd and confusing but better than people walking through my bedroom!

AoA would be a blast I think, I would love to stay there for a night or so but wherever you end up (with however many people it is) will be great!

Sent you a FB PM, your in box is full again

We are booked in a non HH. Sounds like we lucked out! I had seen HH..and figured that would be the better room. (I assume closer to the front) Then when I finally went to book it was gone...but the regular 1bedroom was there. I will far prefer having a second bathroom entry

I cleaned out my inbox! Wonder how long it takes till I fill it up again.

 

[annmarieda]

As with most of my PTRs, I often post things that are going on. Life happens and life affects planning and trips...thus I feel it relevant. Plus, it helps you all to get to know me a tad, right?

Today was a full day. Once Zoe and I were up and ready, we left for a very fun dismeet.

eandesmom lives somewhere not too terribly far from me. Well, everything is far from me here cause I live in the middle of nowhere...but both of us are in the same part of the state...and I believe the same county? I think really we both live in what most places (including the east side of the state) would just call Seattle.

So when I was headed north we made plans to meet up at the Disney store! Honestly, we didn't stay there long before we grabbed some drinks from starbucks. We sat and chatted until I had to get on the road. I honestly could have sat and talked to her for much longer. (as could have Zoe... she talked Cynthia's ear off )

So the proof taken by Zoe (so such a flattering angle)...



We hugged and parted ways...way too soon. I really hope that we can fit another dismeet in sometime in the future.

Then Zoe and I were on our way up to Children's Hospital. Due to one reason or another, I had almost been avoiding taking her up this last year. I say almost because she has been doing quite well. I also say almost because if I am honest, I knew what the doctor would suggest. Add in a change in primary care and a change in insurance... yeah... I just was kinda avoiding.

Since it was summer though, and my hours have been cut with work I figured it was time to see what we were headed towards. So after we left Cynthia, we hustle up there and made it within minutes of her first appointment. I wasn't too worried though cause it never fails... there is ALWAYS something that has them running behind and sure enough, her appointment that was scheduled for 1:30 ended up that we didn't even get back to until 2:30.

Then she was to have a visit with her specialist at 2pm. Yeah.. since we didn't get out of the ultrasound until 3pm, we were more than a tad late. He was kind enough to stay a bit late for us though and saw us after hours. (he goes home at 3:30)

The wonderful news is that her right kidney that was once struggling has now grown to normal proportions and thriving!!! This is a reflection of the lack of infections she has had this year. A true testiment to how good she is actually being in keeping everything clean. (even though we wonder at home just how clean everything is... I mean... truely at times. )

Her bladder looked great too. Nothing inside that shouldn't have been. This is also again testament to how good a job she is doing at cleaning things out.

The bad news and the news I knew we would hear is that this temporary solution that we have made fairly a permanent solution... can't continue. The doctor started talking to Zoe about how he would like to do another big surgery and move things around again. Well, I am not a fan of this idea...and really this is why we have the temporary fix to begin with. You see. (for those of you just tuning in) Zoe has a stoma... a mitrofinoff channel. Think of it like a pierced ear. Some of us have no problem leaving ear rings out... the "channel" remains open and an ear ring can be inserted at any time. Then there are some of us who find that once we take that ear ring out... it is hard to get the next one back in. Well, this is Zoe only with her stoma. So we have a sort of place holder in round the clock. Currently the placement of her stoma is discreet and in theory...if she didn't have the "placeholder" in and the scars from her surgeries... you would not know that it was there. (belly button hides things well. ) So his recommendation is to move it out of that belly button to a new location. My opinion on this is that she will still be prone to the " pierce ear" scenario no matter where her stoma is.

Now, in the past she has had a couple revisions. The last one was very superficial, but that one seems to be that has held. So my recommendation was to try a deeper revision and see if that holds. He agreed that it might work and was worth a try. This takes it from a major surgery with weeks in the hospital to a day surgery.

So now when is the question? Ideally before school since she will go home with various tubes. However... specialists and especially ones of his caliber... are busy. First time just happens to be right before I leave for my fall trip!

So the plan... she will have the surgery... go home with tubes and the day before I fly to florida for the girls trip I will remove her tubes rather than take her in for an appointment to have them removed. Then... Steve will be on his own with her while I am gone. I may worry just a tad while I am gone.


So all in all, a good day!

Let see how tomorrow goes since Steve is getting over pneumonia.. I have a cold.. and we have a color run. I am all but sure we are walking it!

 

[momabaarjo]

A dismet and I know how much you need those face to face times.

I had almost forgotten about Zoe's medical issues, it has been do long since she has had problems. Hmmm....do you really want to have the surgery right before we go? I am thinking that really is not a great idea...don't want you to worry the entire time that Steve is attending to business at home with her!

 

[eandesmom]

Today was a full day. Once Zoe and I were up and ready, we left for a very fun dismeet.

eandesmom lives somewhere not too terribly far from me. Well, everything is far from me here cause I live in the middle of nowhere...but both of us are in the same part of the state...and I believe the same county? I think really we both live in what most places (including the east side of the state) would just call Seattle.

So when I was headed north we made plans to meet up at the Disney store! Honestly, we didn't stay there long before we grabbed some drinks from starbucks. We sat and chatted until I had to get on the road. I honestly could have sat and talked to her for much longer. (as could have Zoe... she talked Cynthia's ear off )

So the proof taken by Zoe (so such a flattering angle)...



We hugged and parted ways...way too soon. I really hope that we can fit another dismeet in sometime in the future.

Such a nice angle...you can almost see up my nose! Nice golf tournament logo wear, bleh! LOL! She was cracking up too while taking them, it was funny.

It couldn't have worked out better, I had an almost all day event 5 minutes away but I didn't need to "be" there the whole time so it worked out perfectly. I was at my event from 6:30 until about 10, hit REI for an item for my DVC Central Christmas in July gift exchange (speaking of...random question...do you know anywhere they have the little "single serve" biofreeze packets? I'd love to put one in there) hit a different Starbucks to get a proposal done and out and then met up with you.

I still can't believe how much nicer that Disney Store is than the one by me!

I could have chatted for hours and Zoe is so adorable, so much fun! I loved all of her trivia, reminded me so much of my Eric in that way! I am going to tell them about the cool Disney Minecraft stuff she was mentioning and may ask you for more details.

After we met it was back to the tournament lunch, and then to yet another Starbucks after the tournament lunch to finish it up and submit it, but I still made it home by about 5:15 and that included detours to UVillage to check out new sports bras at Athleta and socks at Lucy lol!

So bummed it took so long for you but gosh, can't say I'm surprised. While we haven't had to be at Children's much, both boys have had a few things looked at over the years and it is always LONG.

Then Zoe and I were on our way up to Children's Hospital. Due to one reason or another, I had almost been avoiding taking her up this last year. I say almost because she has been doing quite well. I also say almost because if I am honest, I knew what the doctor would suggest. Add in a change in primary care and a change in insurance... yeah... I just was kinda avoiding.

Since it was summer though, and my hours have been cut with work I figured it was time to see what we were headed towards. So after we left Cynthia, we hustle up there and made it within minutes of her first appointment. I wasn't too worried though cause it never fails... there is ALWAYS something that has them running behind and sure enough, her appointment that was scheduled for 1:30 ended up that we didn't even get back to until 2:30.

Then she was to have a visit with her specialist at 2pm. Yeah.. since we didn't get out of the ultrasound until 3pm, we were more than a tad late. He was kind enough to stay a bit late for us though and saw us after hours. (he goes home at 3:30)

The wonderful news is that her right kidney that was once struggling has now grown to normal proportions and thriving!!! This is a reflection of the lack of infections she has had this year. A true testiment to how good she is actually being in keeping everything clean. (even though we wonder at home just how clean everything is... I mean... truely at times. )

Her bladder looked great too. Nothing inside that shouldn't have been. This is also again testament to how good a job she is doing at cleaning things out.

The bad news and the news I knew we would hear is that this temporary solution that we have made fairly a permanent solution... can't continue. The doctor started talking to Zoe about how he would like to do another big surgery and move things around again. Well, I am not a fan of this idea...and really this is why we have the temporary fix to begin with. You see. (for those of you just tuning in) Zoe has a stoma... a mitrofinoff channel. Think of it like a pierced ear. Some of us have no problem leaving ear rings out... the "channel" remains open and an ear ring can be inserted at any time. Then there are some of us who find that once we take that ear ring out... it is hard to get the next one back in. Well, this is Zoe only with her stoma. So we have a sort of place holder in round the clock. Currently the placement of her stoma is discreet and in theory...if she didn't have the "placeholder" in and the scars from her surgeries... you would not know that it was there. (belly button hides things well. ) So his recommendation is to move it out of that belly button to a new location. My opinion on this is that she will still be prone to the " pierce ear" scenario no matter where her stoma is.

Now, in the past she has had a couple revisions. The last one was very superficial, but that one seems to be that has held. So my recommendation was to try a deeper revision and see if that holds. He agreed that it might work and was worth a try. This takes it from a major surgery with weeks in the hospital to a day surgery.

I am so glad things looked so clean and you can just try a deeper revision that is less invasive!!!! Overall seems like VERY good news! Is this something that changes as she grows?

Let see how tomorrow goes since Steve is getting over pneumonia.. I have a cold.. and we have a color run. I am all but sure we are walking it!

A color run, those look fun! Are you all doing it? It's a lovely day, enjoy!

You may worry a bit but It does seem like she takes her care seriously and will be in very good hands with Steve. But you are taking out the tubes? Wow! I bet you are used to it though.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

eandesmom...



Looking at biofreeze.... never a bad thing to have around in single packets.

http://www.massagewarehouse.com/products/biofreeze-pain-relieving-products/