Hi Michelle, just joining in. So exciting to find people traveling with the exact same dates. I'm with you on waiting a little while and seeing what the economy does to airfare. It's a little pricey at the moment. Gotta go back and read now. Will have to check your December TR too. Planning a future December trip and need all the info I can get.
yeah! yes, still holding out on airfare, i've found airtran to be a bit cheaper, but we would have to connect and get in much later. plus the trip back, there is a direct, but it is like 8pm, which means we are at the parks for a long time, which sounds great, but with a toddler that usually naps, we would be 'homeless' for too long i think. We will see. Yes, check out the Dec TR!
Your plans look great so far! I'm not even attempting that until the hours are released because I don't want to have to re-do our schedule a million times like we did in December.
It will be a little easier this time though since it is just us, we don't have to accommodate anyone else and what they want to do. I'm sure you feel the same way!
What a bummer about the flights.
So expensive! We usually fly SW too because it's the only airline with a direct flight from New Orleans to Orlando. Did you try checking to see if you could save any money booking through a travel site like orbitz or priceline? Or even cheapflights.com? My friend had told me about that one when we were looking for affordable airfare to get to Washington D.C. Getting in early and not having a room to go to until 4 pm does sound rough! Hope you can get something worked out to save you some $$.
i know, isn't it a great feeling to just plan for YOU and only you? i love it. While i love sharing the magic with family and friends, I am really looking forward to it being just us. I so wish SW had direct flights from DFW to Orlando, but no go. Yeah, i've tried the usual expedia etc. and even bestfares.com and will keep checking. I've seen something on airtran that is better, but has a connection going down. We will see. Still holding out, but it is driving me crazy, i usually have my flights booked before 6 months out!
Hooray for small family trips! I would love to convince my extended family to go at that same time but I don't think I could handle the stress since I would be the one stuck with all the planning. Plus, I have enough trouble trying to get my family to rope drop. The closest we ever got was Star Wars weekend. We walked up before rope drop but too late to actually see anything that might have been going on. Although the storm troopers standing on all the tickets booths and such was pretty cool to see.
Planning for a large group is tough, but we made it work. fortunately we didn't try to be together all the time, but almost always for meals. it was rough, but it was still fun. but so looking forward to having the flexibility to do what we want, when we want. Feel like sleeping in and missing our planned RD? we can do it! We do enjoy RD and all the ceremony, but we are perfectly content if we even make it in the park just after RD, if you arrive right at opening at the gate, you might miss the show, but you still get in to beat the crowds.
I really want to try eating here but we just have too many places on our wish list. I love sushi but only get it a couple of times a year when I go out with a friend. My family won't touch it.
I don't eat Sushi either. or seafood in general. 
i am the picky one. however, i do eat hibachi- i am doing the chicken/steak combo!
We went to Cocoa Beach for a day on our Honeymoon. We loved it and actually ended up selling our WDW tickets to one of those stands that used to buy them and use them as rewards at their sales presentations for time shares. Then we ended up getting so sunburned we didn't leave our hotel room for the rest of the trip. The main thing I remembered is the restaurant we ate at near the beach smelled like a nursing home. Meaning it smelled like fish and not in a good way. Sorry, I know that's gross but in the interest of full disclosure.
We personally wouldn't do it again and plan on the kids seeing the ocean for the first time when we take a
Disney Cruise in 2013.
we really have to fit in the beach sometime. looks like it won't happen this trip now as i might meet up some old roomies instead that first day. we will see. lol at the nursing home smell! i am really hoping to do a cruise in the next year or two again, hopefully on the DREAM. i've done DCL once - but with my parents and cousin. DH and Will haven't been yet, they would love it.
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
I really like that shirt. I won't shop at
Walmart though. Too many bad customer service experiences. Plus I work at Target!
i know a lot of people that don't /refuse to shop there. you work at Target- oh my, i would spend way too much if i had a discount. it is bad enough as it is!
I always think of that when the airlines start announcing at the airport that anyone willing to hold off until the next flight will get a voucher. I want to ask the people walking up if they think they'll have any problem using those vouchers.
that's a good question, i don't know......mine were a gift i won at an auction and there are blackout dates for it. i've never even thought of taking the vouchers, but i guess it is a good question if you do! AA is just really bad about restrictions. they make it really hard to use your miles or vouchers.
So I'm all caught up. Lovely to have found a few fellow time travelers. Hope you don't mind if I stalk you.
Seriously though, if I'm looking to book O'hana and planning the same night... why the heck not? Don't be scared, we don't bite.
hey- might as well, right?
not stalkerish at all! we will definitely have to plan a meet! oh but don't count on my plans as posted now, i think they will change- i'll post updates later today!
I'm getting caught up on updates!!
I love the plans so far!
I've been checking for flights for May, June, and July and they are nuts!!! $300+ for all 3 months! It could be because I'm checking on Sat and Sun and typically flights will drop a little if you look at them during the week (which has been proven correct for our past trip!) I'm going to wait until Tues or Wed and then look again to see if they've dropped. We figured if we can't find anything that suits us and a good price, then we'll drive. It's about 15 hrs (2 days) and my aunt lives in ATL so it's a 1/2 way point for us anyways + it's free! I don't think that's an option for you though!!!!
Give it time I guess, you're still sadly several months away! When we booked our March trip in Jan, we got flights for $245, $145 because I used some Delta points. I wouldn't get up hope yet!
I know, it is crazy! i would love to fly out on a thursday or something, as i know rates are lower, but DH just won't miss another day of work. We actually did that on a prior Dec trip- we flew out Thursday night after work and it was great. DH did mention driving briefly, but i just don't want to do that. We are already doing a road trip with the family to the Smokey Mountains in June. That isn't quite as far though. yeah, i am waiting out a little longer and see. But it drives me nuts, i want to have something concrete!
Hello! Found your trip report on the October thread. Love your plans so far! Bummer about the AA vouchers. Looking forward to reading more. We will be there the week before you enjoying
MNSSHP and Food and Wine Festival with our toddler too!
WELCOME!!!
thanks for joining in! yeah, total bummer. not sure when i will be able to use them. I actually had a coworker try and buy one from me months ago to use to visit a dying relative, but once again, it was blacked out and she couldn't. i might see if i can use one to fly DH out to Vegas in august - i have a conference there and figured i would fly him out to join me for a few days after working. yeah on being there the week before me- you can get everything warmed up- right?
I
SO feel your pain with booking your airfare!
It drove me nuts for weeks before I booked - and even now afterwards.....
Last year we booked our package incl. airfare through Disney and got an amazing rate of $179 per person non-stop. This year we topped out at $320 per person with one-stop - and there is 5 of us!
You mentioned that taking an earlier flight would save some money. I know many people dislike such early flights but my family LOVES them! We wake up at 3am, wake the kids at about 3:30am by blasting Disney tunes outside their bedroom doors, and we're off! After all, we're too excited to sleep!
Our flights home are always the last available flight too. We just want to squeeze every last moment into our Disney vacation!
$179 is awesome. $330 is what we paid in December. What airline are you on and out of where? i actually LIKE the early flights too. DH, not so much. Plus, it would mean him taking another day off work. The plan was to have him work at least a half or 3/4 day on Friday and then leave that afternoon. My ideal flight is one on AA that leaves at 5pm and arrives at 8:30pm. They do have a 7am flight too, and it is $100 cheaper. That is the one we took in december and they ended up changing the flight- to almost an hour earlier! ouch! We were up at like 3:30am that day, which he hated. then we couldn't get into our room until right at 4pm. so all of us were tired, grouchy and ready to be in our room. it wasn't a happy day.
So he said no more early flights like that ever again. BOO!!! We will see- i might convince him otherwise, if the options keep being so expensive! but like you, i want to get there as early as I can and stay as late as possible!
I think it looks good! I love all the times mapped out. I'm like you, even if you don't follow them exactly it still gives you a nice guide. 
We are hoping for an O'hana ADR for the same night...but a few hours later! You get to make your ADR's 1 day earlier than me. I hope you get your O'hana ressie and us too! 
We have been looking at flights for June and like I said before they are NUTS!! I did remind my mom that in the past when we've gone in the summer for week long trips (before I became a CM in 2008), we would plan at least a year in advance and would book flights as soon as they were posted but with short notice trips + summer..I think we might end up driving. The best we are seeing is $275 which is crazy and not good hours that we want. We fly Delta a ton bc it's the biggest airline in Cincinnati. My mom, dad and I all have the Delta CC so we get 1st free checked bag which is $25 so RT it saves $50 each!
