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

[Twoboysnmygirl]

My poor PTR, it's not getting any attention as I'm over on Hope's PTR more than my own!

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cold here. Seriously. Cold. Frigid. Mind numbing (and toes too!). I've taken to searching for September 2009 trip reports and reading all about how crazy hot it was! Sounds divine right now (remind me of this when I'm complaining of the heat this summer, please!)

So cold and snowy that Hope and my plan to start walking has been thwarted two days in a row b/c of the road conditions. We live in a really rural area and finally figured out that we could walk in circles around the rec center gym in my town, but then the snow came and Hope has been stuck!

Looks like we will also be doing movie days once a week after our walks...surprsed by this? You must not have been following along! I don't even know if I'll tell Rey and the boys, they are likely to have me committed!

The other day I was telling them about volunteering and I hadn't even mentioned Disney yet and Dallas says, "THIS IS SOME DISNEY THING, ISN'T IT?!?!?!" What? Are you saying I don't do anything that isn't Disney motivated????

Alright, I'm off to chat more on Hope's PTR, there's more action over there!

 

[-Hope-]

My poor PTR, it's not getting any attention as I'm over on Hope's PTR more than my own!

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cold here. Seriously. Cold. Frigid. Mind numbing (and toes too!). I've taken to searching for September 2009 trip reports and reading all about how crazy hot it was! Sounds divine right now (remind me of this when I'm complaining of the heat this summer, please!)

So cold and snowy that Hope and my plan to start walking has been thwarted two days in a row b/c of the road conditions. We live in a really rural area and finally figured out that we could walk in circles around the rec center gym in my town, but then the snow came and Hope has been stuck!

And it STINKS!!! I hate being stuck at home!

Looks like we will also be doing movie days once a week after our walks...surprsed by this? You must not have been following along! I don't even know if I'll tell Rey and the boys, they are likely to have me committed!

Robbie knows NOTHING- I'm sure he'll catch wind of it from the kids but I'm not volunteering any info.

The other day I was telling them about volunteering and I hadn't even mentioned Disney yet and Dallas says, "THIS IS SOME DISNEY THING, ISN'T IT?!?!?!" What? Are you saying I don't do anything that isn't Disney motivated????

ROTFLOL!!

Alright, I'm off to chat more on Hope's PTR, there's more action over there!

Only because I'm BORED!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OMG she's learned to not only quote but respond in color within the quote! A TRUE DIS CONVERT you have become!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

ok, ok....let's see if I can write something so that your ptr won't be lonely.....

ummmm.......

ummmm......

Oh, it's cold here in Maine, too! It will be a whopping 8 degrees tonight! No snow in the extended forecast which is a blessing! I did sign up for the give a day program.....Victoria and I will be making Thinking of You/Thank You cards for soldiers and veterans. We can do this from home, so that will be lots and lots of fun for us being that we love to scrapbook!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

ok, ok....let's see if I can write something so that your ptr won't be lonely.....

ummmm.......

ummmm......

Oh, it's cold here in Maine, too! It will be a whopping 8 degrees tonight! No snow in the extended forecast which is a blessing! I did sign up for the give a day program.....Victoria and I will be making Thinking of You/Thank You cards for soldiers and veterans. We can do this from home, so that will be lots and lots of fun for us being that we love to scrapbook!!!!

Our HIGH here today is 8! How is it that we are farther south but colder?!?!

Making them at home would be great! There weren't any options for at home volunteering, in fact, we are driving 95 miles to do ours! We'll be making paper oragami flowers and cards for elderly in residential homes, it's worth it to get the kids out there (uh...and to get those FP's!)

 

[-Hope-]

OMG she's learned to not only quote but respond in color within the quote! A TRUE DIS CONVERT you have become!

Oh how I wish I could blame this on you too... I spent A LOT of time on a LOST forum a few summers ago and it is just all coming back to me now.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Heehee! I'm so lucky to be planning this trip with Hope! She's making it so much fun!

In addition to our walking 3x's a week, we will be doing Disney movie day once a week after walking! We're watching UP this week and will have a snack/activities that revolve around the movie. I never get to do this sort of thing b/c my boys are too "old" for it and Savannah never has anyone to do it with! I'm so excited! I'll be sure to take pics of our movie day, Hope will as well, I'm sure. Another thing we happen to share a love for is our amateur photography! We bought our camera's within a week of each other last spring and have a wonderful time comparing shots and talking photography.

I've been tweaking our itinerary more, trying to squeeze in as many visits to WS as possible for Rey. He's not too happy that he will only get 1 day at F&W and that it will be opening day and probably packed, but it's just another reason to come back in 2011, right?!?!? (oh yes, you KNOW I've already been looking into it.)

 

[-Hope-]

Heehee! I'm so lucky to be planning this trip with Hope! She's making it so much fun!

In addition to our walking 3x's a week, we will be doing Disney movie day once a week after walking! We're watching UP this week and will have a snack/activities that revolve around the movie. I never get to do this sort of thing b/c my boys are too "old" for it and Savannah never has anyone to do it with! I'm so excited! I'll be sure to take pics of our movie day, Hope will as well, I'm sure. Another thing we happen to share a love for is our amateur photography! We bought our camera's within a week of each other last spring and have a wonderful time comparing shots and talking photography.

I've been tweaking our itinerary more, trying to squeeze in as many visits to WS as possible for Rey. He's not too happy that he will only get 1 day at F&W and that it will be opening day and probably packed, but it's just another reason to come back in 2011, right?!?!? (oh yes, you KNOW I've already been looking into it.)

It is sooo much more fun to plan together!

And I will need to know about these itinerary changes!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh nothing big, I was going to switch our Biergarten ADR for our Park Fare and hit Epcot WS on Sunday evening after Park Fare (so that there was less time eating at WS and more time actually getting to see stuff) but I decided to just let it be and go to WS on Monday night AND Thursday night after Park Fare if we are up to it. AND we'll be there all day Friday...so I'm hoping that's enough time for him. He would stay at Boardwalk and spend the whole trip at Epcot if he could!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh and I decided that we will do a later (7ish) ADR at Chef's on Friday and use our snack credits for lunch at F&W. The later on in the evening on opening day, the busier it will get, so I thought starting off with the F&W stuff and then doing dinner at Chefs later when it's really gotten busy will work best!

 

[-Hope-]

So you're not doing Spectro/Wishes on Monday?!? I guess I can live with that. (Especially since we already decided that we don't have to do that on the same night, lol).

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yes, I'm still doing Spectro/Wishes on Monday! It's Sunday PM, Thursday PM and all day Friday that we'll do WS. I won't miss Wishes and Spectro no matter how badly he loves WS! (actually, he asked if we were going to see that "light parade" a few weeks ago, he liked it!).

 

[-Hope-]

Okay, yay! The kids are getting glow necklaces to wear to the parade in their goody bags on that day and I'm getting enough for them to share with Savannah (and probably lots of other people because they are cheap in bulk on the site I found!)

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ooooh, you think of EVERYTHING! I think I have a few left from last years trip, but I was worried they wouldn't still work after a year!

 

[PixieDustPrincess05]

I made it over!!!!! Your plans sound great so far.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

All of your plans look great so far!! That's so fun that you and Hope get to hang out and plan together! And wow 8 degrees huh? That's pretty cold. It's been in the low 20s here for the high and I think the low last night was 11.

I think i'm going to start looking for some September TRs too! I am waiting for the heat!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I made it over!!!!! Your plans sound great so far.

Hi Janine! I just saw your night time pic on your PTR from 2008, it's so pretty! We only got a couple night shots, once at MNSSHP (when Rey & Dylan weren't with us) and one with Rey & I at Epcot. I'm going to try and remember to get a night shot of us all in front of the castle next time. I'm STILL waiting on the pics. I did a photopass share (never again!) and after emailing her last week saying I was beginning to wonder if it was all a scam, she said it was being mailed. Still haven't gotten it though.

All of your plans look great so far!! That's so fun that you and Hope get to hang out and plan together! And wow 8 degrees huh? That's pretty cold. It's been in the low 20s here for the high and I think the low last night was 11.

I think i'm going to start looking for some September TRs too! I am waiting for the heat!

It was -11 this morning when I went out to petsit!!! And you would think I would have stayed in the car, but I had my camera and the sunrise was so pretty I got out of the car and froze my booty off taking pictures! I'll upload them in a bit to share.

~Karen

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Here are some freezing cold morning pics I took when my car temp was reading -11 this morning. I have no idea what possessed me, but my fingers were ice by the time I got the shots I wanted. Very much enjoyed myself though and the magic hour of the sunrise when the colors are beautiful!

My new friend...he's not mine, just a friendly horse I drive by on the way to a clients house.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Which would you choose? Rental car or WDW buses????

I'm so torn. Money IS an object in this case, but I have this little niggling telling me to add 200-300$ to the budget to rent a vehicle for the trip. This far out it COULD be done, I'm just not sure if it's necessary.

Background: First trip Savannah & I went with my friend and her dd. We flew in and used Disney transport the whole trip. I did NOT really like it. My friend seemed to love it, so I tried to relax and see what all the fuss was about, but it seemed that we were always WAITING (this is a dirty word to me, I'm very bad about waiting) and then we were packed on buses most of the time, standing at night when we were tired, etc. I also felt a little out of sorts and turned around b/c I couldn't tell where we were or where we were headed.

Second trip we drove and stayed offsite. First off, let me tell you, that drive was BRUTAL. We've done road trips to Texas, my husband is a truck driver for cryin' out loud, but 2 days of driving with 3 kids in our SUV that doesn't have comfy seats was horrid. On our way home I remember repeating over and over how our next trip we would be flying. And so we are!

But, staying offsite and having our vehicle was wonderful! I can tell you that it took about the same time or less to drive from the offsite house and get to a park as it did when we were onsite. I loved being able to sit down and relax, I even liked seeing where we were and looking at Disney go by in the car. Lots of people say that there's no magic in it, and no magic in staying offsite and that they get sad when they see that sign each day, but I loved it and it made it seem MORE magical.

I'm rambling. Sorry!

So, why are we even staying onsite you wonder? Well, Rey & the boys have never done it, FREE DINING, and the only issue we had with staying offsite was that the boys did not last as long as us at the parks. Had we been onsite they could have taken a bus back to our resort and we didn't have to drive them back and forth. I think the buses will be great for that this trip.

Have I totally lost you? I'm just not sure if we should shell out the money for a rental or not. It seems to me that staying onsite with a rental car would save SO much money and I'm thinking that by the end of the week Rey will really hate the buses. We did take one just for the fun of it last trip and everyone seemed to like it, but that was just one ride in the middle of the afternoon. They have no idea what the closing of a park is like or standing 20 minutes for a bus when you have an ADR and could have been there already!

I should add that Savannah loves the buses and will be annoyed if we get a car but I'm guessing we will use disney transport some of the time still and she'll be happy with that. Here she is on the last trip when she BEGGED to take the bus from DHS to Epcot instead of a ferry...just for fun.

EDITED LATER TO ADD: I think I've decided what to do. I don't want the extra cost of a BIG rental (since there are 6 of us) to the trip, but I don't want to feel like I'm at the mercy of WDW transport either if I don't have to be. So, I'm going to budget 100$ for cabs. I believe that will be 4 cab rides during the trip and then I won't feel so stuck.

After dinner at Ohana and watching Wishes, I have interest in taking the monorail back to MK and standing in a huge line for a bus, so this would be one of the times that we would use a cab. I think this is a good compromise and if I don't use it all, I'll spend it on souvenirs!!!

 

[Ohiovolfan]

Hi Karen,

Been lurking for a while - read your "Off with their heads" trip report and am now following your PTR. We are planning a family trip to WDW immediately following you guys - 10/2 - 10/9/10.

I read about your dilemma with the MNSSHP dates for 2010 and wanted to share with you what I have learned about the 2010 dates so far. According to the 2010 crowd calendar on the Unofficial Guide's web site MNSSHP is scheduleld for: 9/24, 9/26; 9/28, 9/30 and 10/1.

Now I don't know how "official" or set in stone these dates are - but the Unofficial Guide is pretty thorough and I'd bank that there dates were pretty accurate.

Oh, I also remember reading somewhere that there is usually a "soft" opening for the Food and Wine Festival. Meaning that many ( if not all) food booths will be open and operating several days before the published opening date. So the gal you spoke with on the phone that thought it should still be open on the 24th is probably correct. I'm sure this news will make Rey very, very, happy.

As I said, we will be in WDW in October. Staying off site at Windsor Hills with my 2 ds ages 6 & 10 at that time. First visit for the 6yo - 10 yo visited back when he was 3 1/2 so it will be practically new to him as well!!

Oh - and I can totally understand your OCD trip planning!! I am exactly the same way! I love the planning part! It adds to the excitement and plus - vacations are special and I don't want to waste any precious time trying to decide where to go and when to do it!! Or get home and realized we missed something really cool!