The Year of Disney is Over...But We're Going Back Anyway! (Oct. 2011) ~ Updated 10/20

[jeni16]

We always take the early moring Delta flight out of Minneapolis. We normally take the direct flight to Orlando though. We normally try for a nap on the plane. And, when we arrive, we're so excited to finally be back there, we don't ever notice any lack of sleep. I think you'll really enjoy having the whole afternoon/evening to spend at Disney. We sure do!

I know what you mean about month end too. I'm an accountant as well & I'm always trying to schedule our vacations around month end, payroll & taxes.

 

[Dugette]

I know exactly what you mean about month end stuff! All of my vacations get scheduled around it.

I know what you mean about month end too. I'm an accountant as well & I'm always trying to schedule our vacations around month end, payroll & taxes.

I love that I've gathered the accountants here! Finally, people who understand! If you look at the dates of our trips in my signature, you can see that they were all mid-month-ish, so as not to impact month-end. We actually really wanted to go to WDW on our actual anniversary, which is October 1st (coincidentally the same as WDW's anniversary), but there's no way I could get off work ON our month-end date. Instead, I'll be getting the financials out, vacationing, then jumping right into sales tax returns when I get back. Oh, well, at least I finally get a vacation!

I hate layovers, but it seems like you guys have enough time when you're there. I can't believe you don't have Popeyes by you! I love me some Popeyes.

Your plan about sleeping on the hammocks is pretty cool. I would totally do that too!

Technically, there's one Popeye's in Minneapolis, but that's not really convenient to the part of the Twin Cities we're in, so we've never been there. We've only been to Popeye's when we've been traveling out of town. Good stuff, though!

I hope the weather cooperates and there are hammocks available!

We always take the early moring Delta flight out of Minneapolis. We normally take the direct flight to Orlando though. We normally try for a nap on the plane. And, when we arrive, we're so excited to finally be back there, we don't ever notice any lack of sleep. I think you'll really enjoy having the whole afternoon/evening to spend at Disney. We sure do!

I wish we could have snatched up that direct flight. We would have arrived at MCO at the same time (roughly), but could have gotten to the airport here 2.5 hours later. Oh, well. I can probably sleep on the plane, but Dug has a harder time with that. I'm hoping that we'll be so excited to be there that the early morning won't take a toll on us. But we do have crazy ambitions of Epcot EMH until midnight that night, then Magic Kingdom EMH at 8am the next morning! We do, however, have naps penciled in each day. I am looking forward to that 1/2 day at Disney when we arrive. By the way, fellow Minnesotan!

 

[Dugette]

Well, it's been an exciting few days around here! A couple days ago, this came in the mail:

Looks like WDW really is going to let us come stay there! Silly, I know, but it still doesn't seem entirely real yet.

This morning, I decided to look for that blue Mickey necklace that I misplaced. I think I only mentioned this in my TR: Dug got me a necklace on our last trip and I lost it before wearing it (but after we got home). So, I grabbed a bag in the closet that looked promising (other Disney-trip-related things were in it) and...it was there! Bingo! So, now I can wear this on our trip:

(By the way, September is not my birthstone, I just like blue sapphires!)

Then, today in the mail, this came:

The same neat-o luggage tags that I just saw in Nermel9's PTR this morning! Hard to tell in the picture, but they are printed in 3D.

I also have a dilemma that I could use some input on. I have two Mickey Halloween shirts, but only one Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party to go to (we chose not to do costumes, but thought special shirts might be nice). What happened was: I ordered one on the Disney Store website, using a couple of discounts (and got a shirt for Dug too). Then, the next day, I ran across a thread on the Dis saying that there were super cute Mickey/Minnie Halloween shirts at Target. So, I ventured out to look. 3rd Target was the charm and I found one (for less than the Disney Store one). Well, today the shirts from the Disney Store order arrived. And I like both shirts. Dug said that I could just wear one another day, but it's not like we're going on or near Halloween, so that seems strange to me. And changing halfway through the party also seems silly. So, which one do I keep and wear?

This is the one from the Disney Store:

For what it's worth, I'm not a big vampire fan or anything (at all), but they just didn't have a ton of options. Hard to tell in this picture, but the bats and cape are sparkly:

The Target shirt, I'd been warned, is probably a Juniors shirt. I think I can still pull off the look, though--at least Dug seems to think so. It's Mickey and Minnie trick-or-treating:

Notice the Mickey necklace works with that one, by the way.

I don't know what to do! Any comments?

Also, Dug's shirt came. Or did it? They actually sent a COMPLETELY different shirt than the one I'd ordered. Correct size, but not the one listed on the packing slip. There weren't many choices for Dug, but I'd picked one that we both thought was okay-ish:

That glows in the dark, by the way. The one they sent is nothing like it. But it would still work for Halloween, we think. It's a Pirates shirt. Strangely enough, I can't find it at all on the Disney Store website, so I don't know if it's new (or old) or what. Here's the shirt:

Any opinions on those? Dug likes the pirate one because he can wear it to more places (like working out).

One other (possibly awesome) thing today. We stopped at Target and happened to notice that they have $50 Disney Park gift cards on sale there. I asked the cashier if Target discounts apply to them, but she didn't know. So, I got home and searched the Disboards, of course. And found a testimonial that Target discounts DO work to purchase these. Between the Target discounts I'm eligible for, I can get nearly 20% off. Here's the kicker. Our trip is paid in full on my Disney Visa. I called WDW to see if it was possible to refund the Disney Visa and use gift cards instead. And they said YES. This could save us $225 off of what we already paid! And even more off of OOP expenses that we'll have on the trip. And our MNSSHP tickets, since we haven't purchased them yet. And maybe we can have an anniversary dinner at Artist Point, which we wanted to do, but didn't think we could fit into the budget! How awesome is this?!?! Nearly 20% off of our whole (already bargain) trip! Of course, I'm trying to not get my hopes up until I actually obtain the gift cards at a discount (challenge #1) and then get my payment changed from Disney Visa to gift cards (challenge #2). If all that goes smoothly, Artist Point, here we come!!!

Hope everyone's having a great Labor Day Weekend!

 

[jc040404]

Awesome deal at Target! I had no idea anything like that was going on. Yay for being able to save even more. You seem to do pretty awesome at this bargain trip stuff! I hope everything works out how you're planning!

I like the second shirt that you have best, and I reeeeally loved that Mickey shirt Dug didn't actually get. How weird is that?? I can see his point on being able to wear the second one more, but I'd probably just wear the first one all the time anyway.

Sooo glad you found that necklace, too! Love it!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Following you over from your Christmas TR

So exciting to go to F&W. Would love to go for that sometime!

I like the Mickey vampire shirt...super cute!

That is SOOOO strange about the completely different shirt Disney Store sent you. I order tons of stuff from there and have never had that happen.

Cute Mickey necklace!!

 

[reelmom]

I like both of your shirts. Either one would be great to wear to the halloween party. That is so weird about Dug's shirt. I wonder how they got the two mixed up. Its not even close. I do like the Pirates shirt though. I hope you are able to get the Target deal. That would be some awesome Pixie Dust.

 

[Nermel9]

Wow you got Mickey Mail so early!

LOL, I bought that same Trick or Treat shirt at Target! I haven't tried it on yet though, it seems really small, and I bought the biggest size they have! Stupid Juniors section!

I love the Mickey vampire shirt! I think I'm going to wear my evil queen shirt to MNSSHP and maybe look for a Halloween shirt while I'm there, they don't have much to choose from at the Disney store this year!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I'm subscribing!

That is amazing about the Target discount!! An extra 20% off goes a long way to cover other OOP expenses that you might want. Fingers crossed for you that it works out.

I like all of the shirts, but I like the shirt from Target (for you) better than the vampire one. Also, I like the pirate shirt for him, because he sounds like he plans on wearing it more than once.

I think that it will be a long first day for you, but if you schedule in a nap then I think you will be fine. We always seem to have a long first day, considering we fly from West coast, but once you get into the park it seems like you will get a second wind. I just wouldn't plan anything too early for the next morning.

 

[Dugette]

Hey, all. I'll respond to all the comments separately, but a general response here: thanks for the feedback on the shirts! I'm still undecided, but leaning towards the Target one (Mickey/Minnie one). I bought the vampire Mickey one from the Disney Store (.com), but I know that I can return it to the Disney Store in person and get a refund. Those who are more familiar with buying stuff from the Disney Store, will I have any trouble getting a refund since I bought this as part of a "buy 2 for $$" promotion? I'm thinking I'd still get half back if we keep the other shirt, but not sure. Dug's thinking of keeping the Pirate shirt, unless any of you knows where he could find a "Star Wars Disney Halloween" shirt, which is what he would ideally want. I'm thinking that may be tough...

In other news, 2011 continues to throw lousy things our way. Not really a surprise, I guess. Got a call from my dad on Sunday that my grandpa (that you saw earlier in this PTR) was not doing well and the staff at the long-term care facility didn't think he had much time left. He's 94 and has been dealing with a form of skin cancer in his arm. The radiation he completed wasn't effective enough, so he's having some complications from the cancer. Sunday, he had very low blood pressure and needed oxygen. The staff urged family to come visit ASAP.

My uncle drove up (to Kansas) from Texas. My dad and step-mom drove down from Minnesota. I loaded the dog up in the car (Dug is away at a conference this week) and drove the nearly 11 hours down to Kansas yesterday (which is where I am now). This was BY FAR the longest trip Bailey's ever been on, but she did pretty well. I sure got to see a lot of rest areas with her along.

Anyway, Grandpa did recover from the blood pressure and oxygen issues he had Sunday and he's been pretty stable since. Not very talkative and very sleepy (and on morphine), but stable. The nurses seem to think he has less than a week. We ran into his doctor today, though, and he seems to think that he could hold steady in this condition for awhile, as there is nothing immediately life-threatening about the cancer drainage stuff. It's more that his immune system will be weaker and he could get pneumonia or something. And he's not eating and drinking a whole lot. Anyway, we're really on a wait and see basis. My dad is staying in KS for the week. My uncle went back to TX until next weekend. Me, my step-mom, and Bailey are driving home tomorrow. And we'll see how Grandpa does.

When we got married almost 6 years ago, I was very lucky to still have all four of my grandparents (though none could travel to the wedding). I've lost two since then. It sounds like soon my Wisconsin grandma will be the only one left (she's the youngest of them, but a cancer survivor). I'm so grateful for all the time I've had with them, but it's still tough.

And, for any of you who read about the last-minute changes to our trip last December (due to Dug's Nana's passing), you know that I'm a little worried that it might happen again. I don't want to have to reschedule ANOTHER WDW trip because of a funeral. I know we've still got a few weeks before our trip, but Grandpa has been quite a fighter through some rough times before, so who knows?

Sorry for such a depressing update. But I'm sitting here alone in my grandparents' house (well, with a sleeping dog) and Dug's busy with his conference, so I've gotta share with somebody!

Hope to be back to more exciting updates soon!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa. We had a similar situation with my Grandma over our last trip. But she fought and pulled through. I hope that your Grandpa does the same.

 

[jc040404]

So sorry you're dealing with all of this right now. I've always had a weird belief about odd numbered years being rough and it's really proving true for you. It does sound like he's a fighter and I'll keep you all in my thoughts.

 

[Dugette]

Awesome deal at Target! I had no idea anything like that was going on. Yay for being able to save even more. You seem to do pretty awesome at this bargain trip stuff! I hope everything works out how you're planning!

I hope so too. I haven't gotten the Disney gift cards from Target yet, since my extra 5% off certificate that I'm expecting was a bit delayed, but soon I hope! I did do a test run on one of the gift cards with guest services to see if my discount applied and it did!

I like the second shirt that you have best, and I reeeeally loved that Mickey shirt Dug didn't actually get. How weird is that?? I can see his point on being able to wear the second one more, but I'd probably just wear the first one all the time anyway.

Sooo glad you found that necklace, too! Love it!

Yeah, that was bizarre that they sent Dug such a different shirt. Maybe they were spying on us and knew that he wasn't exactly sold on the other one.

Following you over from your Christmas TR

So exciting to go to F&W. Would love to go for that sometime!

I like the Mickey vampire shirt...super cute!

That is SOOOO strange about the completely different shirt Disney Store sent you. I order tons of stuff from there and have never had that happen.

Cute Mickey necklace!!

Glad to see you here! Food and Wine is great; I'd definitely recommend it. If you time it right, like we did last year, you can go during the end of F&W and some of the holiday stuff (Osborne Lights; MVMCP, etc.) is already going.

I like both of your shirts. Either one would be great to wear to the halloween party. That is so weird about Dug's shirt. I wonder how they got the two mixed up. Its not even close. I do like the Pirates shirt though. I hope you are able to get the Target deal. That would be some awesome Pixie Dust.

I like both of my shirts too. I keep trying to figure out when I could wear both of them, but I'm not coming up with much. Oh, well.

Wow you got Mickey Mail so early!

LOL, I bought that same Trick or Treat shirt at Target! I haven't tried it on yet though, it seems really small, and I bought the biggest size they have! Stupid Juniors section!

I love the Mickey vampire shirt! I think I'm going to wear my evil queen shirt to MNSSHP and maybe look for a Halloween shirt while I'm there, they don't have much to choose from at the Disney store this year!

Yeah, the Disney Store didn't have many options. I bet there will be a lot more once you arrive. I agree on the sizing of the Target shirt...it is very snug. I can get into it now, but I'm not sure if it'll fit after several days at F&W! Maybe I need to keep both shirts just for that reason!

I'm subscribing!

That is amazing about the Target discount!! An extra 20% off goes a long way to cover other OOP expenses that you might want. Fingers crossed for you that it works out.

I like all of the shirts, but I like the shirt from Target (for you) better than the vampire one. Also, I like the pirate shirt for him, because he sounds like he plans on wearing it more than once.

I think that it will be a long first day for you, but if you schedule in a nap then I think you will be fine. We always seem to have a long first day, considering we fly from West coast, but once you get into the park it seems like you will get a second wind. I just wouldn't plan anything too early for the next morning.

I'm glad you made it over here! That's good to know you guys get a second wind on your travel days. And we do have that hammock-nap scheduled. But you're saying we might need to re-think our plan for 8am EMH at MK the next morning?

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa. We had a similar situation with my Grandma over our last trip. But she fought and pulled through. I hope that your Grandpa does the same.

Thanks, I hope he does too. Problem is, there's nothing they can do to get rid of the underlying problem, so they're starting hospice care tomorrow. But nobody really knows how long he can hold on for. Like the doctor told us, there's nothing life-threatening right now. It's just a tough situation. The nursing staff is all so sad, since they just love him. They said they wished they could clone him!

 

[Dugette]

So sorry you're dealing with all of this right now. I've always had a weird belief about odd numbered years being rough and it's really proving true for you. It does sound like he's a fighter and I'll keep you all in my thoughts.

Thanks! I'm kinda with you on the odd-numbered years thing--I remember, back in 2010, thinking that 2011 just sounded weird. But, then again, I was born and married in odd-numbered years and those turned out okay! So, who knows? 2011 has just been a disaster, though. I haven't even gone into detail on a lot of it, but there's been a lot of bad stuff (mostly medical and life/death). I keep thinking that 2012 better be a great year! (and not the end of the world, of course)

 

[reelmom]

I am so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. It is always so tough to see a loved one hurting and to be so sick. I wish him well.

Have you ever thought about making shirts for the Halloween Party? The Creative DISigns boards have some awesome stuff. You could even request a Star Wars Halloween themed one if you can't find one. Many designers will even personalize designs if you would like. Just print the design out on iron-on transfer paper and iron on. If you do this, make sure you wash the t-shirt first and then DO NOT use fabric softner when you dry it. It will cause the transfer to not stick.

 

[Dugette]

I am so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. It is always so tough to see a loved one hurting and to be so sick. I wish him well.

Have you ever thought about making shirts for the Halloween Party? The Creative DISigns boards have some awesome stuff. You could even request a Star Wars Halloween themed one if you can't find one. Many designers will even personalize designs if you would like. Just print the design out on iron-on transfer paper and iron on. If you do this, make sure you wash the t-shirt first and then DO NOT use fabric softner when you dry it. It will cause the transfer to not stick.

Thanks, I had a good visit with Grandpa. Glad I stopped in to talk to him before leaving on Wednesday (I'm back home now). He was much more talkative yesterday than he'd been the day before, so we had some nice moments together.

Thanks for the info on the shirts. I've heard of the Creative DISigns boards from other TRs, but haven't looked into it. I should do that; thanks for explaining how it works!

 

[Dugette]

The bad news: Grandpa passed away today at 1:44pm in his sleep. My dad was there with him (and the hospice nurse). Funeral arrangements are being made, but I think it's safe to say that they shouldn't conflict at all with our WDW trip, so that is good! It's a sad day, but I just wanted to share some pics of happier times.

Grandpa's younger days (and some of Grandma, who passed away almost 3 years ago):

At their 60th anniversary party a few years back, we had them re-create this old photo:

Grandpa loved his breakfast and coffee:

Me and Grandpa:

Really low-quality, old picture, but I love it. A sight I saw many times--Grandpa and Grandma waving goodbye:

We'll miss you, Grandpa!

Onto the good news: My Target Disney Gift Card discount plan worked perfectly!!! I got my extra 5% coupon I'd been waiting for (in addition to the two discounts I already had worth 10% and 5%), so I made a couple of Target trips yesterday. On the first, my test run, I bought one Disney card ($50 value) and one Chick-Fil-A card ($15 value), as I figured we'd use it for a meal or two at the airport. And it worked! Paid $52.79 total! So, during my afternoon break at work, I went back and bought 23 more Disney gift cards. $1150 value, only paid $934.04. When I got home from work, I called up Disney and hoped for a patient CM. Got a very nice one who took my 24 gift card numbers one at a time, then put in a refund request to my Disney Visa for the $1198.24 I'd paid previously. Awesome! Here's what that stash of gift cards looked like:

So, for anyone keeping track (and since I like math ):

We are paying for 7 nights at Pop and two 8-day PH tickets with free CS dining. The price of this was $1490.24. The dining plan, which we are getting for free, was $35/each per day ($490 value). We used $292 in Disney Visa Rewards and paid about $973 for the gift cards, which paid the rest. So, essentially, we're taking a nearly $2k trip for under $1k. I'll take it! And we even will have probably another $30 or so in Disney Visa Rewards available to use by the time we go!

After getting off the phone with Disney, I headed back to Target to pick up additional gift cards for our out-of-pocket costs: MNSSHP tickets, OOP F&W items, dinner at Artist Point (yes, we can afford to do that now!), La Cava, Fantasia Gardens, souvenirs, and Christmas gift shopping for family. Here's what that looks like:

We should be under our $1400 trip budget, excluding the Christmas gifts, which are coming out of the gift budget. I think we'll pay for most things with our KTTW cards, then use the gift cards to pay off that balance. That way, we won't have to lug valuable gift cards around with us. Again, all of these additional gift cards cost me only $40.61 for each $50 card. Woo hoo!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I need this hopefully-magical trip right now! And I'm so excited to have a real anniversary dinner at AP!

 

[reelmom]

I am so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. But know that he has been reunited with your Grandma and they are probably waltzing around Heaven now. What a glorious day!

Congratulations on all the savings. That is incredible! We used gift cards last time and it was a lot easier to keep track of our spending.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm very sorry to hear about your Grandpa. It's good to know that he went in his sleep though.

I am very impressed with your discount craftiness. That's great to save that much money.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Awww, I am so sorry to hear about your grandpa. I am also very lucky to have 3 of my grandparents alive and they are in the 87 - 93 range. What a blessing to get so much time with him before he passed. I am also glad he passed in his sleep so that it was peaceful.

As for your Target cards, I can not believe that it actually worked out! That is amazing that they let you buy so many cards at a discount. Woohooo for a cheaper trip and woohoo that you get to go to Artists Point now!!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

So sorry for your loss. The old pictures were great! Love the pp, thinking he is now waltzing in heaven with his true love!

I'm so curious how you got the target discount, please share!!