The NEW Official November 2010 Countdown & Planning Thread ~ Come join us! (Part 2)

[michellelovesthemous]

10 more days until we leave!!!! I am so excited for us the next few days are going to be tough!!!!! My one concern is the weather, those of us who are leaving on/b4 thanksgiving have ya'll looked at the weather? Accuweather shows 80 on one day and 66 the next boy do i have some thinking regarding packing!!!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Uggg, I am up sick. It is a stomach thing and I hope it's quick and stays to just me! I am glad it is now and not in 2 days when we are driving. We can't get delayed cause we have to check in Thursday to get the free dining. If we delay we are going to be out a lot of money.

Two trips ago I got the stomach bug on our last night. I was sick all night and the for the start of the drive home. I was sick till Jacksonville when DH said enough and we stopped for the night. We had to get back a day late doing it but we had a day before his meeting at work and DD16's field trip with school so we figured we were OK. But we woke up and while I was OK, my DD11 (then 7) was not. We thought about him leaving us and us flying home but I was scared to be alone in a city by myself with a sick kid and how would we arrane a flight and everything, so we decided to try and drive. Poor kid was sick all the way to Buffalo, like 18 hours when all of a sudden she was fine. As miserable as that was we both sais we were so gald it ruined the drive but not the vacation, here's hoping this is the same or better and doesn't effect either.

I am nervous though, tomorrow we have 3 dentist appointments at 2 different times and 2 orthodontist appointments plus I have a GS leader meeting and a parent-teacher conference and no way DH can take off to take everyone cause he's working on a tight deadline if we are going to leave on time.

It will work out I know, the good news is I got tons done today.

 

[sjs314]

WE'RE BACK TOO! We were also at CBR, what building were you in? We were in 26, garden view, it was fantastic! We actually used the bus stop at Old Port Royale instead of the Martinique stop b/c it was closer. And while I didn't end up with any hotel time, we would have been less than a minute from the "beach" had we been able to get there. (To those who asked a few pages back about CBR, busses, and building requests: we had NO bus issues except for one relating to my w/c which was quickly resolved. That said, Martinque 25 and 26 are awesome locations to OPR, beach/lake, and bus. I wouldn't hesitate to call and request a specific building, and probably will request 26 again in the future.)

Weather last week was absolutely gorgeous. Sunday night when we arrived was quite chilly mostly due to wind, we all needed long sleeves & pants, plus jackets (zip-up hooded sweatshirts), and bought hot chocolate to warm up with while watching Illuminations. Monday was the only other day we did jeans (wore capris or shorts the rest of the week, with jeans for DD after dark on M-W), I did 3/4 sleeve shirts Monday & Tuesday then short sleeves, and DH and DD wore short sleeves the rest of the week with our sweatshirts in the bottom of the stroller for DD and I.

Crowd levels were amazing; the only time we ever felt crowded in the parks was at AK on Friday, particularly around Africa. This could be largely due to park configuration though. As danceintherain said, TSMM fastpasses went extremely fast, and the wait times were posted at 70-90 minutes at times, but we waited to do it after PM EMH hours kicked in, and were able to walk on in about 20 minutes. I don't think we ever had more than a 20-30 minute wait for anything else, most of the time even less, with minimal FP usage.

The only time we really had crowd issues was at DTD on Saturday afternoon; it took nearly 30 minutes for DH to find a place to park, and the stores were crazy! The only reason we drove over was b/c it was our last stop before leaving for home, but next time we'll def. take the bus, even if it does mean hauling lots of bags back. Not sure how much Festival of the Masters was affecting things, but I was def. rushed and didn't get to shop as much as I wanted.

I'll try to start a TR tomorrow (I am absolutely EXHAUSTED) but I wanted to offer one tip for those whose travels are still upcoming: if you're at DHS during PM EMH, head over to the theater used for the Playhouse Disney show. While waiting for a showing of "Voyage of the Little Mermaid", we stumbled upon a walk-in dance party with the characters; it was a BLAST! There were people giving out balloon animals/hats, the music was jamming, bubbles were flying, and DD had such a great time dancing with the characters. She line danced to the Cha-cha slide with Handy Manny, and Mickey took her by the hand to help her "roll" while dancing to Proud Mary! (Sadly, DH was in the bathroom with the camera, but they will be priceless memories for me.) Minnie and Goofy were also there, it was such a wonderful surprise!

You sound like you had a fantastic time at Disney, I can hear the joy and excitement in your words, glad it went so great and will be reading your TR when you get around to posting it.

Uggg, I am up sick. It is a stomach thing and I hope it's quick and stays to just me! I am glad it is now and not in 2 days when we are driving. We can't get delayed cause we have to check in Thursday to get the free dining. If we delay we are going to be out a lot of money.

Two trips ago I got the stomach bug on our last night. I was sick all night and the for the start of the drive home. I was sick till Jacksonville when DH said enough and we stopped for the night. We had to get back a day late doing it but we had a day before his meeting at work and DD16's field trip with school so we figured we were OK. But we woke up and while I was OK, my DD11 (then 7) was not. We thought about him leaving us and us flying home but I was scared to be alone in a city by myself with a sick kid and how would we arrane a flight and everything, so we decided to try and drive. Poor kid was sick all the way to Buffalo, like 18 hours when all of a sudden she was fine. As miserable as that was we both sais we were so gald it ruined the drive but not the vacation, here's hoping this is the same or better and doesn't effect either.

I am nervous though, tomorrow we have 3 dentist appointments at 2 different times and 2 orthodontist appointments plus I have a GS leader meeting and a parent-teacher conference and no way DH can take off to take everyone cause he's working on a tight deadline if we are going to leave on time.

It will work out I know, the good news is I got tons done today.

I hope you get well quickly , it is terrible being sick but especially so when you have so much that must get done.

 

[MagicMomma]

Gotta dash out the door, so will have to catch up opn the chatter later, but I just wanted to say...


Single Digit Dance!!!!!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We're back. The trip was good, but very cold in the beginning. I know 60 doesn't sound too bad (especially for someone from PA!) But that wind was bitter cold. I couldn't believe it. And then of course when the sun went down it was freezing. We sure didn't take enough winter clothes with us. The weather got much better the second half of the trip, but the evenings were still chilly. Same with the crowds - really crowded in the beginning, but it got better later in the week. I probably wouldn't go during the F&W Festival again, it really took away from Epcot - huge crowds and drunk people everywhere. So all in all it was not as great of a trip as last November, but we still had some very awesome moments and a wonderful time and I have plenty to share with you!

We met up with Shawna (Disney Mommy 3) Saturday evening. We all chatted away until it was time for us to get to our dinner. Very nice family, I wish we would have had more time to visit with them. I hope they are having a great time this week!


I need to go back and catch up on this thread and see who has gone and is back and who is leaving soon! I'm so behind!!!

 

[tatorswife]

I cant believe we are leaving Friday!!! 4 more days!!! oh wow!!! Im super super excited!!!

 

[ksueboo]

We got back late Friday night! 8 days of go go go and I was ready to stop! We had a great time, more crowded than I anticipated but using FP we didn't wait more than 20 min for anything.
Make sure you stay for the castle lighting, it was gorgeous! It was 6:15pm on the night we saw it. Another little gem that we tried out and ended up doing 3 times was the drawing class in HS. My 3 older kids loved doing this. It's worth a try!
Everyone have a safe and fun trip!!! Remember to stop and enjoy those little things, sometimes they are the best memories of the trip!

Enjoy!

 

[disneyisawesome]

Uggg, I am up sick. It is a stomach thing and I hope it's quick and stays to just me! I am glad it is now and not in 2 days when we are driving. We can't get delayed cause we have to check in Thursday to get the free dining. If we delay we are going to be out a lot of money.

Two trips ago I got the stomach bug on our last night. I was sick all night and the for the start of the drive home. I was sick till Jacksonville when DH said enough and we stopped for the night. We had to get back a day late doing it but we had a day before his meeting at work and DD16's field trip with school so we figured we were OK. But we woke up and while I was OK, my DD11 (then 7) was not. We thought about him leaving us and us flying home but I was scared to be alone in a city by myself with a sick kid and how would we arrane a flight and everything, so we decided to try and drive. Poor kid was sick all the way to Buffalo, like 18 hours when all of a sudden she was fine. As miserable as that was we both sais we were so gald it ruined the drive but not the vacation, here's hoping this is the same or better and doesn't effect either.

I am nervous though, tomorrow we have 3 dentist appointments at 2 different times and 2 orthodontist appointments plus I have a GS leader meeting and a parent-teacher conference and no way DH can take off to take everyone cause he's working on a tight deadline if we are going to leave on time.

It will work out I know, the good news is I got tons done today.

I am confused about what you mean by "we have to check in by Thursday to get the free dining." Do you loose it if you are not there by a certain time, or are you just saying that you dont want to miss a day of meals? I sure hope you feel better real soon!!!

 

[MagicMomma]

Wow, reading about the trips from those whojust got back is making me even MORE excited! I didn't think that was possible!!

So sorry to hear about all the illness going around... that is always my worst fear for the trip. DD was sick the last day of one of our trips, she didnt' feel well so we left the park, but she threw up on the tram! Luckily I had bought something and had a bag with me... but you should have seen the face of the young guy behind us-and how quickly he slid to the other side of the tram!!

 

[princessmom29]

I am confused about what you mean by "we have to check in by Thursday to get the free dining." Do you loose it if you are not there by a certain time, or are you just saying that you dont want to miss a day of meals? I sure hope you feel better real soon!!!

Thursday is the last day of the GP FD promotion. If you have the rpomotion booked and do not check in on Thursday, then you loose the promotion and must pay for your dining plan. We are checking in on Friday and getting FD, but we got a PIN code the let us do it.

 

[jillyb]

I am confused about what you mean by "we have to check in by Thursday to get the free dining." Do you loose it if you are not there by a certain time, or are you just saying that you dont want to miss a day of meals? I sure hope you feel better real soon!!!

The current free dining offer ends on the 18th and you have to check in on that day to get it.

 

[Trackey79]

We got back late Friday night! 8 days of go go go and I was ready to stop! We had a great time, more crowded than I anticipated but using FP we didn't wait more than 20 min for anything.
Make sure you stay for the castle lighting, it was gorgeous! It was 6:15pm on the night we saw it. Another little gem that we tried out and ended up doing 3 times was the drawing class in HS. My 3 older kids loved doing this. It's worth a try!
Everyone have a safe and fun trip!!! Remember to stop and enjoy those little things, sometimes they are the best memories of the trip!

Enjoy!

We did the drawing class for the first time also! (We only did it twice though.) Did you know that you can ask the artist teaching the class for their picture? My cousins wife told us ahead of time and we got the artist's drawing both times we did the class!

 

[disneyisawesome]

Thursday is the last day of the GP FD promotion. If you have the rpomotion booked and do not check in on Thursday, then you loose the promotion and must pay for your dining plan. We are checking in on Friday and getting FD, but we got a PIN code the let us do it.

Oh, okay. I understand!! Thank you for explaining!!!! Will be crossing my fingers that you all are feeling better by then!

 

[Trackey79]

We are back as well. Had a wonderful time! A few days were a little rough for me, as even Disney could not make me forget the anniversary date I was trying to overcome, but all and all it was a good trip. I did not end up getting to meet anyone but glad to hear of others that did.

Hubby and I will be trying to go again in March for our 15th wedding anniversary!! I have already added a count down just in case!

 

[Pumba's Truth]

Those of you who just got back - was there a bounceback offer in the room that was different than the one out there for the general public?

TIA

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

The only bounceback in our room was Free Dining through September of next year, book by December 20th. . . I'm pretty sure that's out to the public.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We got back late Friday night! 8 days of go go go and I was ready to stop! We had a great time, more crowded than I anticipated but using FP we didn't wait more than 20 min for anything.
Make sure you stay for the castle lighting, it was gorgeous! It was 6:15pm on the night we saw it. Another little gem that we tried out and ended up doing 3 times was the drawing class in HS. My 3 older kids loved doing this. It's worth a try!
Everyone have a safe and fun trip!!! Remember to stop and enjoy those little things, sometimes they are the best memories of the trip!

Enjoy!

The drawing class was one of the highlights of our last trip. We drew 5 characters in one day, the kids loved it so much. We have all our Goofy's framed and hanging in our hallway. It was so fun, can't wait to do it again this trip.

I am confused about what you mean by "we have to check in by Thursday to get the free dining." Do you loose it if you are not there by a certain time, or are you just saying that you dont want to miss a day of meals? I sure hope you feel better real soon!!!

Thanks, I am better, a little weak and tired from a night of being sick and no sleep and then a day full of non-stop appointments with the kids, but now I am skipping getting the stuff for today and tomorrow's dinner and relazing a bit before the afternoon running.

I see others explained why we have to get there. FD saved us over $1500 so we WILL be getting there!

 

[TiggerFan3590]

Two weeks until we leave.... Two weeks one day until we arrive... I am having packing nightmares... what to pack and how much.. UGH........

 

[princessmom29]

Two weeks until we leave.... Two weeks one day until we arrive... I am having packing nightmares... what to pack and how much.. UGH........

I had the same ones!! I ended up with a little of everything, and am letting the chips fall where they may. i have resigned myself to the fact that iti s impossible to know what the end of our vacation will be like, even on the day we leave. November in the south it too unpredictable.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

I had the same ones!! I ended up with a little of everything, and am letting the chips fall where they may. i have resigned myself to the fact that iti s impossible to know what the end of our vacation will be like, even on the day we leave. November in the south it too unpredictable.

I'm trying to convince DW to travel with only a carry-on. It doesn't look like I'm going to win this one as she keeps telling me that she has too many liquids UGH!!!

Oh well, one checked bag won't be too bad I guess. LOL

Hmm .. what to do? What to do? We leave at 5am on Friday