Anyway, my mom got the envelope on Tuesday (I was really late sending it out too) and LOVED it. She was sooooooo happy! Actually she only just looked at it today. You see my family lives on the Jersey Shore, and with Irene headed their way everyone has been crazy busy with preparations for the storm. She finally had a spare moment this afternoon to thoroughly look through it and kept sending me adorable texts about how excited she was and how she couldn't wait to see this or ride that.
Just goes to show the unpredictability of these storms... 
Sorry I've been MIA, but things have been pretty crazy and I haven't had the time for an update. Hopefully I make up for it with this update, which includes PICTURES (my first ever posted might I add).
So, here's the story. Each month on the 17th, to keep the excitement going while the wait draaaaaaaaags on, I'm sending my mom a surprise in the mail. This month includes our itinerary, pictures of our hotel, and customized maps I ordered from Disney, as well as our package and flight information.
Check it out here:
And some more pics of the goodies inside:
I ended up finding this really cute Mickey folder at Wal-Mart for only $1.00 and thought it was perfect for holding everything together.
Now I know, I know it's nowhere near the 17th anymore and I'm about 10 days late with this update. But...the semester just started and grad school duties take priority. *Gasp* Something more important than the DIS you say.
Hope you enjoyed this as much as my mom, and if you didn't...well let's just say I don't need those kind of followers.
Now to start planning next months surprise...
Thanks! Things are good back home. My mom and dad only lost power for a few hours between 11PM and 4AM and just had some wind and rain, nothing too bad. Ironically, the two places my parents were considering evacuating to got hit much harder by the storm, even though they were further from the coast - massive flooding, downed trees, no power until late Sunday.
I cant wait to read your trip report
So...about a month ago I mentioned that a first for this trip is that we are only doing 1 table service meal at the Biergarten. In fact, we weren't originally going to eat there, but decided to book the Candlelight Processional Package. Now typically, when my family goes to Disney, we have at least 1 if not 2 table service meals a day. We like the break from the park to just sit down, be waited on, and have a nice leisurely meal.
A few years ago, probably around trip 10 or 11, we tried the dining plan for the first time. We loved it! Of course, this was back when an appetizer was included - along with a meal and dessert, so we definitely got more than our money's worth. Even as the dining plan changed for the worse, we still stuck with it since we love the Disney buffets and we end up saving a little bit of money that way. For the most part, this was our first foray into eating at the quick service places, and we've found some great places that we might not have know about otherwise.
For this trip, my mom and I were going back and forth debating whether or not to upgrade our free QSDP to the full dining plan. We figured for around an extra $60 we'd be able to eat at a table service restaurant every day like we usually do. We started making a list of where we wanted to eat and ended up having a hard time deciding. Then *gasp* I radically suggested that we not upgrade and stick to the QSDP.
One of our favorite things to do is eat around the world at Epcot. In recent years we haven't been able to do this because of the dining plan. However, the QSDP is perfectly suited toward this. Each day we get 2 QS credits and 2 snack credits. This equals 8 total credits (between the 2 of us) to use for this purpose. Which is awesome! Especially since we have 2 Epcot days planned. In addition, we each get a refillable mug to use at Pop Century. Honestly, getting this plan for free really seems like its going to work to our advantage.
Hope I didn't bore you guys with my dining ramblings, but I figured I should add more of my plans to this PTR.
:: So does this mean you are NOT going to Biergraten? We had a Ressie there at one point for my last trip and ended up canceling it, and now Im wishing we didnt. 
) as part of the Candlelight Processional Package. We wanted good seats so figured we can afford the $50 each for a meal and the experience, plus the hopefully reduced wait in line.
