TheNeverEndingPTR! Sept2010...no, November...WAIT! January?Ugh. maybe September 2011!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

All our dreams can come true... if we have the courage to pursue them...

That's what this PTR WAS called when I started it. Now it's just the neverending PTR. I'll finish it when we actually GET back to WDW! *stomps feet defiantly*

Hello all! *big wave* (where's that darn waving smiley?)

My name is Karen, I'm a little sappy, a little snarky, and a LOT OCD. Here I am!

That's my husband (Rey) and I at Boardwalk a few weeks ago celebrating our 18th Anniversary! Yes, yes, I know I don't look NEARLY old enough to be celebrating 18 years...RIGHT?!?!?!?

A little background: We just got back from our first family vacation to WDW in October 2009. We went with my husband's family and stayed offsite, there were 8 of us. I'm actually starting this pretrip report b/c one of my faithful trip report readers suggested it! Here is my report if you would like to read it, it will help you decide if you even want to read more of me for 10 more months!


*~*~OFFFFFFFFFFF with their heads!!!!!! Oct. 19-27th 2009 TR~*~*

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Movie Days are in Teal

Dreaming, planning, and wishing...
The CAST
The CAST continued!

Saving, saving, saving
All Aboard!
Crunching numbers...ouch!

I wanna do the FUN STUFF! Planning days!
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Homeschool Days Info
"I'm good. no, really."
Mini-but valid-update!

More rambling from the land of OCD
I hate waiting.
BOOKED!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be home for Christmas?? (just not Thanksgiving)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
TO-DO LIST
CURSES!!!
Itinerary revision #...
New glass & new princess!

Got my lens!!!
COOKIES. YUM.
HO HO HO
Happy New Year!!!
MORE itinerary changes! Surprised?

to rent a car or no?
Finally got my photopass pics from our Oct. 2009 trip!!!
and more photopass pics...
Disney Movie Day-UP!

Disney's Give A Day, Get A Day!!
A Bugs Life
Got FREE DINING!!!! Kinda...
QS dining-learning to love you.
My new QSD plan!

Monsters Inc.
Haunted Mansion
Ramblings of an obsessed planner...
Upgrading to DDP...I think!!!
Finding Nemo

How MANY trips can a person plan???
Enchanted
PANIC MODE!
What's YOUR favorite??

The itinerary I THOUGHT I might have (see next post)
the itinerary I guess I'll have instead!
The Fox & The Hound
To HOP or not to HOP...

It's a MAD tea pArTy!
To go or not to go, that is the question...
And then there were 4.
A Non-Disney movie day?!?!?!

SWITCHER-CHANGER-ROO...and then there were SIX AGAIN!!!

Oliver & Company
2011 Planning?!?!?
Dumbo
September hours changed?!?!? GAH!
I'm Runnin'
Mulan
Toy Story
Three Caballeros/Cinco de Mayo

POSTPONING trip to November?!?!?! *sob*

IT'S OFFICIAL...THE SEPTEMBER TRIP BECOMES A NOVEMBER TRIP!!

The November Itinerary!!
Aristocats/France Movie Day

All our dreams can come true...but sometimes it takes longer than we wish...

How about January 2011?!?!?!

The NEVERENDING PTR continues...Free dining is calling for 2011
WHY do I keep postponing the trip? And explanation...

2008 Flashback Trip Report!

A NEW PTR FOR A TRIP THAT IS REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!

IF THIS is not enough reading for you, make sure you read Hope's PTR as well! We're going together!
Hope's PRT

Hope & I also started a photography blog to keep us busy when we aren't planning Disney:
The 365 Project

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'll start by saying that I'm starting a Pretrip for a trip that may never happen. I'm hopeful, I'm dreaming, I'm planning, and I'm going to save until I can't save anymore...and what comes of it we won't know until September 2010! Did you know that's about 10 1/2 months from now? Doesn't sound very long when you start crunching dollar signs!!! Money will be our biggest obstacle, we don't have a lot and it's going to take a lot of saving to make this happen!

Sheesh, I had a whole new post typed up and firefox crashed.

Let's see, I guess I better find out how these pretrip reports work or I'll tell you all my plans in the first post! I'm guessing I have to drag it out so you want more, huh?

If you have read my trip report you will know I'm not capable of such a thing, so no worries!

The planning started before I even made it home. We homeschool and have a wonderful group of families that we have a co-op with and weekly playgroups. When I got back and showed them the pictures it took about 5 minutes before they were onboard for a homeschool trip in Jan. 2011. After crunching numbers I realized that Sept. 2010 would save us a LOT of money, so that is what we are planning for.

Free dining is a must if we are to do this right. Rey & the boys love to eat, Savannah is a picky vegetarian, and I'm a vegan (vegetarian on a bad day). This means we spent a TON of money on food this past trip and we were blessed to have MIL paying for it. This time it's on us baybee and when I crunch the numbers, the dining plan will save us...FREE dining will save us even more.

We will have to get a 1 day ticket for all of us to do Free dining (IF they offer it) but we will also be able to get the rest of our tickets through homeschool days. They only have them in Sept. and Jan, so this is another reason for September!

Ok, it seems SO strange not to be posting pictures? Don't you find it boring? If you read my trip report, you know I'm a VERY amateur photographer who is slowly learning and I LOVE taking photographs. LOVE it. I may just have to start adding random pictures in this pretrip report to make it fun!

Here's one of my cats.

How's THAT for random!

 

[njtinkmom]

Great Start!! I promised I would be the first to subscribe and it looks like I accomplished that! I'm in for the long haul (no pun intended for your hubby!) Can't wait for more!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Great Start!! I promised I would be the first to subscribe and it looks like I accomplished that! I'm in for the long haul (no pun intended for your hubby!) Can't wait for more!

Raaahhhahahahahahaaa! I'm glad you pointed out the pun, I'm slow to catch them! I'm glad you talked me into this, it should be fun...and if it's not, I can blame YOU!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hmmmm, I want to do introductions on this report too, it will be hard to not use the same pictures from the trip, but I'll resist!

THE CAST:

Yours Truly! Karen-36 (OMG, I'll be 37 on the trip! eek!)~
A little about me: I'm a homeschooling mom who lives in rural Missouri. I've learned to love it out here, but it's been hard. I'm a city girl at heart, I think, and although I am largely a treehugger, I also love my comfort and when you can't find a Starbucks for 43 miles, there's no comfort in that! Let's see, what else about me?
I can knit, but only do it in the winter, I love to garden, read, do yoga when I'm not being lazy, I'm vegan or raw vegan most of the time, but there are always days off (ahem...like ever since the trip!) I'm a petsitter as well, I go to people's homes and make visits each day to care for their pets while they are out of town. It's not full time, but it helps! You already know I'm OCD, I like to ramble, and I take lots and lots of pictures...
(you don't REALLY need another picture of me, do you?) Grumble...

Rey-my soulmate!:
Rey & I just celebrated our 18th...ok, I already said that, right? You'll soon learn, just as he has in the past 18 years, that I repeat myself. My memory is horrendous, so if I repeat myself, just do what he does and say "uh-huh"...I'll never know! Rey is a truck driver. He's been an over the road truck driver for 14 years now! He just bought his own truck this past spring and although rewarding, it's a financial strain.

Rey is devoted, he's devoted to caring for his family. Sometimes this gets in the way of caring for us emotionally though b/c he forgets that financial isn't everything. I had to sick his mother on him and practically beg to get him to go on this last trip, he didn't think he could afford to take off work. He had NEVER taken off more than a week and never taken a real vacation before this.

Unfortunately, things ARE very tight now that we are home and he's saying things like "I shouldn't have taken a vacation", so I will have to make sure we have enough set aside for this trip that he feels comfortable taking any time off. Until then he'll work himself into the ground. He just got shut down again tonight (no ticket thank goodness!) for having driven too many hours again. I love him, but he never thinks of himself!

I'm sorry, rambling there! Get used to it.

He's not all work though, he's the funniest person I've ever met, if you think I'm snarky or sarcastic just multiply it by 10 and you get Rey. He's a wonderful father and we have a wonderful, fun-filled time together no matter what we are doing. We are almost always just spending time together at home when he's here. He doesn't want to go anywhere when he finally gets out of that truck!
Ok, I've got to use a pic from the trip b/c I rarely get a smile like this JUST for the camera, but I got one for Piglet!

I better post this before I lose it!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

THE CAST (continued!)

Dylan, my oldest son-15 (16 on the trip!)~
My first born, enforcer of all rules (to all but himself!!) and very snarky like his father. He plays the drums, loves talking to his friends (who are ALL girls) online, and giving his siblings trouble! He LOVED Ohana and says we MUST go back, dislikes any rides with ANY kind of drop or gforce, but still immediately said he would like to go back to WDW when asked!

Eli, my stepdaughter-14 (15 on the trip!)~
Eli is a new addition to our trip that hasn't been introduced! It's a long and personal story that I can't really delve into here, but she is a part of our lives that we wouldn't trade for anything! I hope hope hope that we can find a way to get her out of school for this trip, I looked at her schedule from this year and they had teacher conferences at the end of Sept. so I'm hoping she doesn't have to miss much. I'll be honest, I believe that a family trip with her brothers and sister is ABSOLUTELY more important than a few days of school. We haven't gotten to spend much time with Eli in the recent years and I want so badly for her to come on this trip! She has a huge heart and a wild streak, she fits right in our family!

Dallas, my youngest son-14 (15 on the trip!)~
Dallas, my thoughtful, kind, and funny son. He is quiet and likes to watch people but the moment you don't notice, he says something that has you rolling on the floor. He plays guitar, LOVES World of Warcraft, and is my ride junkie. Loves anything fast and furious, couldn't get enough of the rollercoasters at WDW. Someday I'll have to get him to Universal...hmmmm...Harry Potter will be open in Sept, won't it??? Dallas cannot stand having his picture taken but tried to oblige me on our last trip.

Savannah, my baby girl-9 (and STILL 9 on the trip! WOOT!~
Savannah is my heart, she's loving, kind, with a whole lot of spunk thrown in! So opposite of how I was at her age, she's secure and has a self-esteem I didn't know possible in a child her age. She likes herself and it shows. LOVER of Disney (she hates when I call it walt disney world. LOL) but missing her friends on this last trip. She's very social and is going to be over the top having WDW AND her friends at the same time if the homeschool group goes at the same time.

THAT'S US! Did you keep count? SIX. SIX this time, not EIGHT!

But, you know what this means...two rooms! I've priced the Family Suite at ASMU, but I'm concerned about bed space with 3 teenagers, I think 2 rooms will work better at a value, hopefully we can get them connecting?!?!?

Life is calling, I'll be back for more!

 

[njtinkmom]

Raaahhhahahahahahaaa! I'm glad you pointed out the pun, I'm slow to catch them! I'm glad you talked me into this, it should be fun...and if it's not, I can blame YOU!

You can blame me if you want, but it looks like you are having fun already! I meant to tell you that your pix were fabulous! I hope you don't mind, but a couple that you posted of the castle during wishes, well I used them as my background for my desktop. They came out way better than the ones I got in July!

We traveled with 7 this last July, my one step son is in the Marines and could not get leave. Anyway, I priced getting a suite versus two rooms and clearly 2 rooms was the way to go (at a value) We did later upgrade to a moderate after I saved a little more money for it - but still the best way to go. One bathroom is tough to share!!!

Another thought is to book your trip now do they have free dining offered yet for that time frame? Anyway if you book now they will only want a small down payment which is fully refundable for up to 30 days before your trip, and then it is easy to make payments on line whenever you want - so when you get a few extra bucks put aside (like that is soooo easy - not) just throw is towards your balance and you will be paid off in no time! Just be sure to book off their website - the only way to make payments.

On a side note, last year I had only booked for 5 days. Then like 3 months later they came out with buy 4 get 3. So I called to see if I could tack on the extra and also get the reduced rate for only paying for 4. They said no, so I said no problem, cancel my ressie and I'll make a new one - they happily added the extra time - no problem! And actually adding the extra days, with the passess with hoppers and dining for 5 adults and 2 kids only cost $75 extra! My point is that even if they don't have any specials for that time right now, go ahead and book - keeping checking whats out there and you can always take advantage of it later. Wow that was long! Who's trip report is this anyway!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh please keep posting Gina, makes me feel less alone in here!

I didn't realize you could only make payments when you booked online? How do you make those payments? Do you just go online and give them a debit card number each time you make a payment or something?

I was thinking of making room only ressies and then calling up and adding/changing when and if they release free dining. I don't think they let you make payments on room only ressies either? They have been announcing free dining around the beginning of April, not sure how that will work in 2010 with ADRs back to 180 days now (MARCH for SEPT ADRs!).

I can't imagine making ADRs in March!...ok, scratch that! I CAN imagine it, I just can't believe I'll be able to! I already have an idea and I'm starting to figure out least busy days (YES, 10 months out!) Told you I was OCD!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh and I'm totally HONORED that you used my photo for a desktop shot!

 

[njtinkmom]

OK first of all - MY BAD!! I meant to say book by calling the 800 disney number. I never book online because of my OCD I like to talk to someone and know what I am getting, what the options are etc. etc. I always think I am missing something on line! They gave me ressie numbers and sent me confirmation emails and then I logged on to the website and was able to log into my ressie and make payments with a credit card. Sorry for the bad info. It's been a long day! I am not sure if it makes a difference if you book dining plan later or not? I did mine all at the same time. Since my last trip we bought into the DVC so now I book completely differently through them - and I did my July trip last October so it's been a year already! Time does fly! We also started a spare change water bottle and even had the kids putting there change into it! I cashed it in before the trip and had around $1200! It adds up quick and the kids had a blast knowing it was for Disney! They actually started throwing their change in on their own! I have another one started for this July - I can't wait to see what we get up to! Remember every little bit helps!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OK first of all - MY BAD!! I meant to say book by calling the 800 disney number. I never book online because of my OCD I like to talk to someone and know what I am getting, what the options are etc. etc. I always think I am missing something on line! They gave me ressie numbers and sent me confirmation emails and then I logged on to the website and was able to log into my ressie and make payments with a credit card. Sorry for the bad info. It's been a long day! I am not sure if it makes a difference if you book dining plan later or not? I did mine all at the same time. Since my last trip we bought into the DVC so now I book completely differently through them - and I did my July trip last October so it's been a year already! Time does fly! We also started a spare change water bottle and even had the kids putting there change into it! I cashed it in before the trip and had around $1200! It adds up quick and the kids had a blast knowing it was for Disney! They actually started throwing their change in on their own! I have another one started for this July - I can't wait to see what we get up to! Remember every little bit helps!

HOLY COW! $1200?!?!?! We did this and got about 120$. Guess I need to work on that!

Ok, thanks for clarifying, I had thought calling was better than doing it on the website, especially if I'm reserving 2 rooms!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

It has occurred to me this morning after starting to read the myriad of preTR's here at the DIS, that I'm not the only nutcase that starts preTR's a year in advance!

In fact, browsing the preTR area has comforted me quite a bit! I do, however, feel quite inadequate that I don't have a neat theme like the TC3's or pregnancy contingencies like punkin413!

I'll have to work on it. I certainly have time when I wake up at 4am. I have an odd habit of waking unbelievably early, I'm never quite sure if it's a physical thing (insomnia) or the fact that this is the ONLY time I get in a quiet, dark house with no one bothering me.

This morning I'm contemplating how to save. save, save, save! I admit, I'm no good at it. We live paycheck to paycheck most times but when there is extra I have the tendency to buy things we haven't had the money for. Sometimes this is things we NEED like clothing or shoes, but sometimes it's just stuff I feel like I've been deprived of living check to check.

I can't think of anything I've purchased that we didn't need right now b/c for MONTHS that extra stuff I was purchasing was all for the trip (and therefore NEEDED! DUH!) Actually, I purchased WAY more than I needed for our trip. Did I REALLY NEED mickey head shaped mac-n-cheese?

50+ tshirts were probably a bit over the top as well. They didn't even use the passports I made or the pressed penny holders. (ahem...you realize I just found an excuse to post pics!)


...................ok, nevermind! I'm having all kinds of trouble with photobucket lately. Anyone have any other suggestions for where to upload pics? I guess I could use snapfish?

So, since I cannot post pics, I'll have to ramble some more. Should I open a savings account? Hmmmm. OR, I could just book soon and start making payments, that's just as good as a savings, right?

I should also work on ways to cut costs and maybe pick up more clients so that I'm making more money petsitting. I haven't gone to the vets in quite a while to give them my cards. More clients means more money. Of course it also means that it's hard to plan a trip b/c no one wants me to leave town, but I digress...

It is killing me that I can't post any pictures, so I am off to find a different site to upload to. Photobucket is just too flightly lately and I'm in no mood for it. Then I'm off to start my day and TRY to live in the moment and not think of Disney every second.

Do you think it's unhealthy to be thinking of WDW ALL the time while living everyday life? Maybe I should try to leave it here in my preTR when I log off. I doubt I can though, I'm constantly thinking about ADRs, things I missed, and crunching numbers in my head all day long. Is this normal?!?!?

 

[njtinkmom]

Karen -soooo, the big question is..... is Rey on board with this? I know you said he kept saying "when we come back blah blah blah" so I would take it to mean so. Anyway, I would pretend you are booking a trip on the website, I mean go through the motions and figure out the pricing without actually making the reservation. They won't let you book 2 rooms anyway. So then crunch the numbers, divide by the amount of months left till the big day and start the savings!! I am sure you have done this all about 10 times already anyway! Personally I would book the ressie over the phone asap and then start chipping away at that balance when you can. If you put it in savings, no doubt something will come up that you will use the money for and there goes your vacation! Just think of all the extras (50 shirts) that you DON"T have to buy this time and all the money you don't need to spend at DTD cause you already have that Mickey Mouse bottle opener!!! Maybe you can cut back on Christmas, birthdays, etc. and tell the kids their present is going to be the upcoming trip - of course a few little disney items to open could go along with it. Last year I gave my kids scrap book pages that I made them with their princesses, dates of the trip, etc. for Easter - they had no idea I had been planning this since the prior October! Talk about a hard secret to keep! But they were so excited they did not really notice that except for some candy, there were no "big" presents for them to open. Hey every little bit helps! Hey did you see the post about a woman getting $1000 back because she booked her vacation prior to the buy 4 get 3 deal? She called and they refunded her money. Her ya never know! Talk to ya soon - Gina

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Karen -soooo, the big question is..... is Rey on board with this? I know you said he kept saying "when we come back blah blah blah" so I would take it to mean so. Anyway, I would pretend you are booking a trip on the website, I mean go through the motions and figure out the pricing without actually making the reservation. They won't let you book 2 rooms anyway. So then crunch the numbers, divide by the amount of months left till the big day and start the savings!! I am sure you have done this all about 10 times already anyway! Personally I would book the ressie over the phone asap and then start chipping away at that balance when you can. If you put it in savings, no doubt something will come up that you will use the money for and there goes your vacation! Just think of all the extras (50 shirts) that you DON"T have to buy this time and all the money you don't need to spend at DTD cause you already have that Mickey Mouse bottle opener!!! Maybe you can cut back on Christmas, birthdays, etc. and tell the kids their present is going to be the upcoming trip - of course a few little disney items to open could go along with it. Last year I gave my kids scrap book pages that I made them with their princesses, dates of the trip, etc. for Easter - they had no idea I had been planning this since the prior October! Talk about a hard secret to keep! But they were so excited they did not really notice that except for some candy, there were no "big" presents for them to open. Hey every little bit helps! Hey did you see the post about a woman getting $1000 back because she booked her vacation prior to the buy 4 get 3 deal? She called and they refunded her money. Her ya never know! Talk to ya soon - Gina

Gina, he's onboard as much as he's going to be at this point!

When I started talking about actual months, he did crab about going in Jan. 2011 because he wants to go during F&W. Well ok then! Works for me! I love MNSSHP, so I've chosen the last week of Sept. so we can do both!!

Anyway, he knows that I'm planning for September and I have told him that we have to PLAN it and go from there. If we don't plan, we won't go at all, I can't come up with money for a trip overnight and I have to do things like get someone to cover for my petsitting, etc. There's a chance it won't happen, the truck could break or something else, but for now I can't live like I'm not going back, I'll be miserable.

I'm being careful to not talk about it TOO much though b/c he's sensitive about money right now and will just get negative about it. He even knows that I made this PreTR, so that's a good sign!

Oh yes, I've run the numbers on the website, I am hoping to book as soon as possible, right now I'm just trying to play catch up with the bills from the trip we just had!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

It is hard to do a table of contents, I can't decide what to include and I ramble so much in ALL my posts that half my trip info isn't in my main posts!

Ok, so......

Got to talk Disney with one of my friends who is part of our homeschool group going in September! THIS is going to be fun! I think it has something to do with sharing my obsession.

Here's my thoughts on the costs right now, try to follow me, if you can't, I won't blame you! (besides, they will most likely change a bunch as well!)

All Star Music
2 rooms for 6 of us. My dd and I stayed at Pop and enjoyed it when we went in 2008 on our first trip with friends, but I want to try something different. I'm also concerned that Pop is just too big for Rey. He doesn't like crowds (although once in the parks he really didn't seem to mind at all, even when F&W was packed one night???)

but what he dislikes more than crowds are HOTELS. I grew up going to quite a few hotels and I love them! What's better than a place you don't have to make the bed or do dishes that has a pool??

Anyway, I have heard that ASMU is smaller than Pop and seems less busy. If I had the money, a deluxe would be wonderful place for him to go back and relax at, but it's just not going to happen. Even with a 40% pin code we couldn't pull off 2 rooms at a deluxe, so I have to hope that he loves the theming and doesn't absolutely hate it.

To be honest, I don't think it will be much of a big deal. After seeing him go and go and go at the parks and not really want to stop, I don't think we will be at the hotel all that much anyway!

We will have to get 1 base ticket for each of us to do the dining plan (and hopefully free dining!) and then we will get the discounted homeschool tickets. They are 5 day park hopper/WP&M tickets, so that will be nice. 6 park days and probably a waterpark will fill our days to the max...and we cannot forget MNSSHP!

Right now I have priced what it will cost IF it's free dining. I should put my calculations here in case I lose the paper:

ASMU
Room 1 (1 adult, 1 child), 1 base ticket each:
882.06
Room 2 (1 adult, 3 children), 1 base ticket each:
1064.42
Homeschool 5 day hopper/WP&M tickets:
978.00
MNSSHP:
(approx)
330.00

Total: $3254.42
Uh, that is WITH free dining and without air! (another 1200$ at least) Alright Karen, breathe....

So, when I call to book, I have to add the dining plan as well and have a huge bill that will most likely go down or can I not add the dining yet and wait to see if free dining comes out?!?!? Hmmmm.

Also, I think I have to put down $200 on EACH room? Or is it just for one reservation?

Gah, this stuff annoys me, I just want this part out of the way and start planning DAYS and ADRs! THAT's my idea of a good time.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Shew! Last night I started stressing out after adding everything up. I need to take the costs in steps and I think I'll be fine, but when I add it all up it seems overwhelming!

SOOoooooo, what better to do than plan my days?!! I used 2009 calendars/hours to work on this, I know I may have to revise when the actual hours/parties come out, but it gave me a good guideline and I can still use my TGM and UG subscriptions right now to look at best days.

Arrive Saturday 9/25
avoid F&W at all costs as this will be the opening weekend, most likely!
settle in, DTD

Sun 9/26
MK
It's not the best day to go, but not the worst either. We MUST make our first day MK, no if's, and's, or but's! It's a party night, so we'll do something else this evening, no idea what!

Mon 9/27
DHS
This is the best day for this, last trip we went on a Friday when they had added Fantasmic and it was busier and less magical than I would have liked. Maybe we can do Ohana or something for dinner this night? No TS at DHS for us!

Tues 9/28
EP
rope drop, natch. I want to do more of Future World! I've been to WDW twice and still never been in Innoventions, Nemo, and numerous other areas in front.

Wed 9/29
EP again, this time WS. Rey loves EP, so I want to spend lots of time here, but we have to avoid it on the weekend, mid-week will be best. Probably do Biergarten this day, Rey said it was a must when we go back.

Thursday 9/30
AK
This is the best day for AK this week, thinking that in the evening we should do MNSSHP!

Friday 10/1
BB?
I'm having a harder time fitting all the parks into the 7 days we will have (don't think we'll be able to add another day and go 8 days, we'll have to see how well I can save!)
I know Savannah will want to go to BB, so today will have to be the day. Maybe we can do Boma dinner this day? DTD?

Saturday 10/2
We would have to leave this day, but thought maybe we could do Ohana breakfast and then we would still have a park ticket and we could go to MK for a couple hours before leaving. Note to self: make airline ressies later in the day if we are flying!

Hmmmmm....1 more day would REALLY help. AND, I was wanting to go to Harry Potter World at some point on this trip too. I'll have to wait until reviews come out on that to see if it will be worth the extra day and $$$$.

I need a picture in this post! Photobucket is not cooperating, yet again, so I can't upload any new ones this morning so I'll just post a Hallowishes shot:

 

[hmschlmomof2]

I am loving your posts, "twoboysnmygirl". I am curious about homeschool days? Is that something that Disney sponsors? Where can I find more info about it?
We are also homeschoolers (with an OCD mom, that's me), with a DD (10) and a DS (8), we are planning a trip for next Sept. 20 - Oct. 1 (provided DH can take off work that long). Looking forward to our first MNSSHP and F&W!! So, you are absolutely NOT the only one planning a year out!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I am loving your posts, "twoboysnmygirl". I am curious about homeschool days? Is that something that Disney sponsors? Where can I find more info about it?
We are also homeschoolers (with an OCD mom, that's me), with a DD (10) and a DS (8), we are planning a trip for next Sept. 20 - Oct. 1 (provided DH can take off work that long). Looking forward to our first MNSSHP and F&W!! So, you are absolutely NOT the only one planning a year out!

Oh you MUST get the tickets for homeschool days! (they will save you a ton!). Yes, it is Disney sponsored. They usually have 2 days of activities at one of the parks, it changes each Sept. & Jan. There are also special "yes" programs on those days as well which are like classes. We didn't go to those, just purchased the 5 day hopper/WP&M tickets. You do not have to actually attend on the homeschool days, just 7 days before or after. They usually have them the 2nd or 3rd Monday and Tuesday of Sept. Here is the website with info (BUT, it only has Jan. info right now and they will not release the Sept. info until about 3 months out so you have to GUESS when it will be!)

Disney Homeschool Days

Hope that helps and thanks for reading!!!

 

[hmschlmomof2]

Thanks for the link to the homeschool days. It looks like the tickets are a great deal, and my kids might actually want to attend one of the sessions, too. Kind of hard to plan when they don't have the dates out for Sept. yet.

Also, how does one "subscribe" to a thread? Newbie here.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I can tell you that they have been doing it the 20somethingth, Monday & Tuesday, for the last couple times. I believe they will do it on Sept. 20th and 21st in 2010, but this is just an estimated guess at this point! They did it Mon. (9/21) and Tues (9/22) this year.

To subscribe, go to the top of this page and above my first post you will see "thread tools" when you click on that you can choose to subscribe to the thread!