The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever - TR Link is Up! Pg. 164

[amzking]

I print this (and the following few pages) reeeaaaaalllly small, and carry them around in my wallet. My family laughs at my microfiche Master Plan and other pages. Can you believe that?! A lot of you swear by binders, but I just don’t want to carry that around. I have enough park gear already. My system worked for me last year, at least until I took a little trip down the Kali River Rapids.

I do the same thing! My master plan has some different formatting but basically the same info. I make it small and laminate it, that way I have two sides and it is protected from weather and rides! It's right there in my bag in the same pocket at my KTTW cards and passes.

I called it my Disney bible the first time I used it on a trip, and DH wouldn't let me live that one down!

 

[Millie12591]

Mmmmm doughnuts!

That's so funny you guys are bringing up the Simpsons, my DH and I were just talking about how strange it is they've been around for 20 some years. Right? It's over 20 isn't it? Wow!

Bummer!!!!!

of course if we had that movie I'd probably be outnumbered too..

I love me some Princess Bride. I'm surprised you don't have this movie. No woman should be without this movie in their collection.

Ooooooohhh, spreadsheets. Bring it on.

Looks like something I would be interested in doing. I've never made a spread sheet before. I bet my DH could show me. I've lived a sheltered life, haven't I?

It's that scratch and sniff function he has.

Leisa, you crack me up.

I know, right? He is truly meant to be admired for this.

$1 for an apple??!!?? that's crazy...I pay that for a pound of apples, sometimes even less.

Heavens to Betsy! Where do you get your apples so cheap? I think I need to move to where you are! I like cheap produce, I like grown at home best, but in Texas it's hard to grow veggies sometimes. The heat can be a killer.

 

[eandesmom]

[

I love me some Princess Bride. I'm surprised you don't have this movie. No woman should be without this movie in their collection.
[/COLOR]

Oh I have the Princess Bride, VHS and now on DVD (finally!) What I don't have (nor do I want) is the Simpsons.

 

[eandesmom]

It's that scratch and sniff function he has.

Some things are just best left un-broadcast.

you two!

Okay spreadsheet lovers! I will give you a glimpse of my Master Plan. (Why does that sound funny to me? Like something Dr. Evil would say. muhaaha!) Here’s the extent I do my planning. For actual park touring, as in what rides to hit when, I usually make a plan the morning of….while we’re on our way to the park. Scary, I know.

These last two happen to be tabs in the same spreadsheet as the “Master Plan”, but aren’t something I need for the parks…they’re our Garden Grocer order from last year. I know anyone out there thinking about ordering groceries is curious about what other people order, so I’ll post it. This was just about the right amount of food for us last year, where there were 5 of us in a suite for 7 days, but with several meals eaten in restaurants. Caution: you can go broke on apples. And, is that a Pop Tart order I see?

I had to laugh…I was looking at these in Photobucket and there’s a box on the left side of the screen where they try to sell you your pictures on a mug, t-shirt, cards, etc. It’s kind of funny to see my grocery order on a mug!

Nice Sheets!

And a fine job with the export to pdf covert to jpg and yes you are correct about readers limitations!

Your grocery order cracks me up, I had a copy of mine with me too last trip, sure I will again this time! I remember their fruit as being outrageous but the rest not too bad. Though it WAS good fruit.

I can't do a whole "real size" binder, mine's a 4x6 photo book that I convert to a binder thingy.

A day is soon coming (already here?) when we'll have all of this info. on our little hand-held gadgets and phones, and we'll say "remember all the work we did to be able to bring this info. into the parks"?

Already here. I put it all in outlook too. I just like the binder thingy, sometimes printed is easier to read and flip though....especially for the snack list!

 

[Millie12591]

Oh I have the Princess Bride, VHS and now on DVD (finally!) What I don't have (nor do I want) is the Simpsons.

Ooooooh, that makes much more sense. Can't blame you on the last part, they never were my cup of tea.

 

[All7OfUs]

IT WAS A POP TART ORDER!!!!!

And brown sugar and Cinnamon to boot!

OK, here's the deal.... I need, NOT, I must have that show times/entertainment schedule!! Same format!! Enable me; how can I get it!??

PM me if need be.

 

[glennbo123]

The girls LOVE knock knock jokes. Tahli's current favorite:

Knock, Knock

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupting co.....

MOOOOOOOOO!

It was funny the first dozen or so times.

Yes, my kids are famil......

MOOOOOOO!

I say, my kids are familiar wi......

MOOOOO!

familiar with that one too!


Hey, I read some more of your life history (in that "War and Peace" knock-off you call "Biscuit's Grand Adventure") and read that your Plan philosophy is about the same as mine: don't plan too much of the actual park touring, kinda high-level must-do's, and leave some open days. That's good thinking (I think.).

just saw the spreadsheets, lists, etc. i'm super impressed! any sort of organization of anything just makes me happy....it helps to cope with my slight OCD....especially when it comes to disney. good job!

Thanks Dawn. I know you're a "planner", and have helped other people with their trips. I haven't been able to pull that off yet.

 

[glennbo123]

I do the same thing! My master plan has some different formatting but basically the same info. I make it small and laminate it, that way I have two sides and it is protected from weather and rides! It's right there in my bag in the same pocket at my KTTW cards and passes.

I called it my Disney bible the first time I used it on a trip, and DH wouldn't let me live that one down!

Hey, you're new around these parts, aren't you? Well, amzking!

Yes, I like the laminating idea and keeping it with the KTTW cards and passes. Nice

DH wouldn't let you live it down, but I'm sure he appreciated having a tour guide with a Plan! (At least he better have!)

 

[glennbo123]

That's so funny you guys are bringing up the Simpsons, my DH and I were just talking about how strange it is they've been around for 20 some years. Right? It's over 20 isn't it? Wow!

I saw something recently that the Simpsons had an anniversary, but I don't remember which number. 20 years sounds about right. I had a friend way back then who was trying to record every episode. I wonder if he's kept up that hobby?! I'll bet he didn't think he'd be at it so long! He's in Seattle....maybe one of my Pacific Northwest DIS-friends can look in on him and see how he's keeping up?

Looks like something I would be interested in doing. I've never made a spread sheet before. I bet my DH could show me. I've lived a sheltered life, haven't I?

I love 'em, use them every day at work. I make macros to automate stuff. I made a sudoku solver -- some people say it's cheating at sudoku, but I say not if you wrote the program that's solving it!

Nice Sheets!

And a fine job with the export to pdf covert to jpg and yes you are correct about readers limitations!

Thanks, and thanks for your help.

Your grocery order cracks me up, I had a copy of mine with me too last trip, sure I will again this time! I remember their fruit as being outrageous but the rest not too bad. Though it WAS good fruit.

That's kind of what I thought too -- the rest wasn't too outlandish, but the fruit!

I can't do a whole "real size" binder, mine's a 4x6 photo book that I convert to a binder thingy.

Oh, I didn't realize it was 4x6. That's not too bad. Still too big for my pocket though and I'll never carry a man-purse, so it's microfiche printing for me!

Already here. I put it all in outlook too. I just like the binder thingy, sometimes printed is easier to read and flip though....especially for the snack list!

Yeah I know. I don't usually stay on the leading edge of technology....it's cheaper that way.

IT WAS A POP TART ORDER!!!!!

And brown sugar and Cinnamon to boot!

Well.......yeah (as in, of course!).

OK, here's the deal.... I need, NOT, I must have that show times/entertainment schedule!! Same format!! Enable me; how can I get it!??

PM me if need be.

I sent you a PM.

For others, I got the info. from this most informative website: http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/

I looked at it this morning and a lot of the days that performers are there are different from what I posted from last year (not that you could read it!). I've updatd my spreadsheet and will re-post it, in larger print, when I get a chance.

 

[punkin413]

Thanks Dawn. I know you're a "planner", and have helped other people with their trips. I haven't been able to pull that off yet.

my obsession with helping other people with their trips has led to actually becoming part-time travel agent. as my friend mary-margaret said, it's like being an alcholic bartender!

 

[glennbo123]

my obsession with helping other people with their trips has led to actually becoming part-time travel agent. as my friend mary-margaret said, it's like being an alcholic bartender!

I didn't realize that you were a part-time travel agent -- cool! That's quite an analogy!

 

[glennbo123]

Okay, here are updated Epcot Entertainment pages, in a new, improved, larger size!

The second page still has some old data, I recommend checking the website I posted earlier as you get closer to your trip.

 

[All7OfUs]

How did you get this into this format??'

I've been on Steve's site a zillion times (my OCD monster trying to memorize all those times!) but the site is pretty cumbersome broken down into diff. parks and resorts, etc....


Was this a separage page?? Did you cut and paste??

 

[glennbo123]

How did you get this into this format??'

I've been on Steve's site a zillion times (my OCD monster trying to memorize all those times!) but the site is pretty cumbersome broken down into diff. parks and resorts, etc....


Was this a separage page?? Did you cut and paste??

Yeah, I just cut and pasted as text. Then did some editing to clean it up.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Oooo, I like the lamination idea. on the menu copies! Wow, that's more effort than I plan to expend. A day is soon coming (already here?) when we'll have all of this info. on our little hand-held gadgets and phones, and we'll say "remember all the work we did to be able to bring this info. into the parks"?

I think those days ARE already here - we're just behind the times technology wise! But, if I got an iphone and all those cool Disney apps, then I wouldn't need a spreadsheet and note cards, and how would I fill the next 9 months until my trip?

The girls LOVE knock knock jokes. Tahli's current favorite:

Knock, Knock

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupting co.....

MOOOOOOOOO!

It was funny the first dozen or so times.

I love that one! I heard it "impatient cow" but same punchline

I can't do a whole "real size" binder, mine's a 4x6 photo book that I convert to a binder thingy.

Oh that's a good idea! Last year I made my own planner using the plans on the Touring plans website. I think it was about 5x7. But smaller is better - as long as you can still read the print!

 

[All7OfUs]

I think those days ARE already here - we're just behind the times technology wise! But, if I got an iphone and all those cool Disney apps, then I wouldn't need a spreadsheet and note cards, and how would I fill the next 9 months until my trip?

Now ain't that the ever-loving truth??!! I wonder if maroo has any of these apps? Note to self: ask her soon!

Still good to have a visual before going.

Planning= dreaming.

Glenn, thanks a zillion! I have the attachment onto my flashy flashy, and ready for updates!!

 

[glennbo123]

I think those days ARE already here - we're just behind the times technology wise! But, if I got an iphone and all those cool Disney apps, then I wouldn't need a spreadsheet and note cards, and how would I fill the next 9 months until my trip?

Planning= dreaming.

So true!

Glenn, thanks a zillion! I have the attachment onto my flashy flashy, and ready for updates!!

You are most welcome!

 

[glennbo123]

I hadn’t thought too much about airfare before yesterday. Over the holiday break I checked Southwest and everything out of Philly was $150 outbound and return. It didn’t seem like they were ready to start dealing yet. But yesterday afternoon Judy called me at work to say she’s seeing e-mails from her network of PChef friends and they’re getting dings and tweets (and all kinds of other technologies that only a few years ago were mere noises) and snagging great deals. So we took a look at some other airlines, but I know what I’m getting with Southwest, so kind of wanted to stick with them, but they were all still at $150. But then we checked into flying out of Baltimore, which is a little bit further drive for us but still do-able. I pulled up their fares and it was like, “now we’re talkin’”. I was seeing some $107’s, $120’s, and a little gem of a return at $67 (but with one-stop, although no plane change).

Now, I had a few parameters regarding acceptable times. Namely, I’d like to arrive in Orlando around lunchtime or earlier so we can get something in, even if it’s just the hotel pool or some time at DTD. And similarly for our flight out at the end of the trip, I’d like to try leaving later in the day so that we could get something in before we left. Last summer we had an early flight out, so we just got up, caught ME, and went to the airport.

So, within those parameters we had some choices:

Flights out
(all direct flights)
1) A superearly (like leave home at 4am) flight out of BWI, arriving at mid-morning at MCO for $107.
B) A still-pretty-early (leave home at 5:30am) flight out of BWI, arriving lunchtime for $120.
3) A slightly-better (leave home at 6am) flight out of PHL, arriving lunchtime for $150.

Flights back
(all my choices depart MCO around 5ish)
A) Return to BWI, direct-flight, arrive home probably 9pm, for $147
2) Return to BWI, one-stop, no plane change, arrive home probably 11pm, for $67
C) Return to PHL, direct-flight, arrive home probably 9:30pm, for $150

Hmmmm.

I came home from work and asked the kids what they thought about getting up at 3 in the morning to catch a flight to Disney. James was all for it, but the girls, not so much. And I’d do it -- I can never sleep with a Disney trip looming, but I’m planning on catching YeeHaa Bob our first night and I’d hate to fall asleep during the liveliest one-man-show in Disney.

So I stared at them some more last night, and




Pulled the trigger.

I booked choice “B” for the flight out and choice “2” for the return.

Last year I lost $100 or more when I delayed booking the tickets so that I could look up our Rapid Rewards numbers, and the prices went up overnight. And they never went back down. This is Orlando we’re talking about, right after school lets out. I was afraid that $67 fare would get away, and the total for the five of us is a few hundred dollars cheaper than what we paid last year, so I figured I’d better jump on it.

There you have it, airfare DONE! I looked and booked.

Update to my update: Now this morning I went on to peek at the fares again and they’ve reduced my outbound flight to $107. Oh well, maybe we’ll rebook and get a refund voucher. Judy could put it towards her annual trek to the PChef Annual Conference at HQ in Chicago.

Link to next chapter

 

[manntra]

for the awesome flight fares! I love looking for a great deal but then at the same time I want to book because I am afraid there won't be anything better! I am flying on Jet Blue for the first time in May...a direct flight which I am super happy about and it was $250 which I can deal with.
Love all of your spreadsheets and lists! I love all of the planning!

Tracy

 

[aprilisis]

Check with Southwest & see if they'll give you the $$ for the change in fares. Delta has done that for me before. At least your flights are booked- you're one step closer to WDW!!