(Update 9/14!) WDW Sept 2014 Come Hell or High Water...Adults-only trip!

[DexLabDeeDee]

One life updates and one Disney update:

HEEEEEEELLLOOOOOO!!!! My name is Elder....sorry! Can't help myself...I'm so excited....

DH and I got tickets for Book of Mormon in Sept when it comes to Minneapolis!!



Whoooohoooo!!!

We saw it last year and LOVED it. We expected to love it though because we had been listening to the soundtrack for about a year and waited and waited for it to go on tour. I wish we would have had the money and vacation time to go and see it in New York with the original Broadway cast. <sigh>

Now we get to see it again!!

This is how excited I am (almost as excited as I am to go to Disney!):





Beware, though, this is NOT a kid-friendly show. Some people might say it is not an adult-friendly show either though I love it and think it is hilarious!

Sidenote: This is tied to Disney in several ways - one of the main characters, Elder Price, loves Orlando (SeaWorld and Disney and PuttPutt golfing!); in the original Broadway cast, Elder Cunningham was played by Josh Gad who voices Olaf in Frozen (it was really weird to hear Olaf with Elder Cunningham's voice when I first saw the movie, but fun!); and Robert Lopez, who created the Book of Mormon musical with Trey Parker and Matt stone, is one of the songwriters for Frozen.

If you get a chance to see Book of Mormon, I do recommend it. Though there are some shocking elements to the play, it has good heart and a good message. A few of the shocking elements are gratuitous but most of them, sadly, are true things that people do have to deal with every day.
_______________________________________

And the Disney update isn’t something for this trip but something for 2016, which seems so far away!

I’ve decided that as long as I can afford it, I am going to take one flying trip a year, preferably to Disney. I was thinking I would switch off between May (Flower and Garden) and Sept (MNSSHP and Food and Wine). I won’t be going in 2015 because we are taking a family trip to Hawaii.

Buuuuut, in 2016, my mom and I have decided to do the Expedition Everest Challenge!



It’s the first weekend in May and it is a 5-mile obstacle course followed by a scavenger hunt in Animal Kingdom, followed by a post-race party. You can sign up as an individual or a two-person team, which is what we will do. My mom has back problems but she’s a trooper and I know that she can do this. I can help her with the obstacles and we’ll be walking and running. This is more for fun than for getting a really good time or winning. We’ll probably follow up the race weekend with a week at Disney (I hope!). At least I’ll go solo if my mom can’t stay. She works in a school helping kids who struggle with math and reading and I’m not sure what she’ll be able to get off during the school year.

It’s great to have something to look forward to – I’ve long wanted to participate in the EE Challenge!

Oh and we have another wedding under our belt - one of my best friends got married this weekend. We went on a Disney trip together and had a great time. I'll do a mini trip report about our crazy days in Disney - one of these updates!

 

[DISNEY180]

One life updates and one Disney update:

HEEEEEEELLLOOOOOO!!!! My name is Elder....sorry! Can't help myself...I'm so excited....

DH and I got tickets for Book of Mormon in Sept when it comes to Minneapolis!!



Whoooohoooo!!!

We saw it last year and LOVED it. We expected to love it though because we had been listening to the soundtrack for about a year and waited and waited for it to go on tour. I wish we would have had the money and vacation time to go and see it in New York with the original Broadway cast. <sigh>

Now we get to see it again!!

This is how excited I am (almost as excited as I am to go to Disney!):





Beware, though, this is NOT a kid-friendly show. Some people might say it is not an adult-friendly show either though I love it and think it is hilarious!

Sidenote: This is tied to Disney in several ways - one of the main characters, Elder Price, loves Orlando (SeaWorld and Disney and PuttPutt golfing!); in the original Broadway cast, Elder Cunningham was played by Josh Gad who voices Olaf in Frozen (it was really weird to hear Olaf with Elder Cunningham's voice when I first saw the movie, but fun!); and Robert Lopez, who created the Book of Mormon musical with Trey Parker and Matt stone, is one of the songwriters for Frozen.

If you get a chance to see Book of Mormon, I do recommend it. Though there are some shocking elements to the play, it has good heart and a good message. A few of the shocking elements are gratuitous but most of them, sadly, are true things that people do have to deal with every day.
_______________________________________

And the Disney update isn’t something for this trip but something for 2016, which seems so far away!

I’ve decided that as long as I can afford it, I am going to take one flying trip a year, preferably to Disney. I was thinking I would switch off between May (Flower and Garden) and Sept (MNSSHP and Food and Wine). I won’t be going in 2015 because we are taking a family trip to Hawaii.

Buuuuut, in 2016, my mom and I have decided to do the Expedition Everest Challenge!



It’s the first weekend in May and it is a 5-mile obstacle course followed by a scavenger hunt in Animal Kingdom, followed by a post-race party. You can sign up as an individual or a two-person team, which is what we will do. My mom has back problems but she’s a trooper and I know that she can do this. I can help her with the obstacles and we’ll be walking and running. This is more for fun than for getting a really good time or winning. We’ll probably follow up the race weekend with a week at Disney (I hope!). At least I’ll go solo if my mom can’t stay. She works in a school helping kids who struggle with math and reading and I’m not sure what she’ll be able to get off during the school year.

It’s great to have something to look forward to – I’ve long wanted to participate in the EE Challenge!

Oh and we have another wedding under our belt - one of my best friends got married this weekend. We went on a Disney trip together and had a great time. I'll do a mini trip report about our crazy days in Disney - one of these updates!

Wow that is great now you got me thinking of more reason to go to Disney..oh I guess I better become a runner first...

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Wow that is great now you got me thinking of more reason to go to Disney..oh I guess I better become a runner first...

A 5K (3.1 miles) is a great way to dip your toes in! And it's at Disney! AND at night at AK. How fun is that!?

 

[PirateFish989]

I put together a lot of scenarios in a spreadsheet (love spreadsheets!!) to see which ones would be our best options.

I'm in! And I'm even more convinced that we are kindred spirits because I LOVE SPREADSHEETS. And lists. And lists of all my spreadsheets.

I'm excited for you free dining (and ridiculously jealous - do you know how many pancakes at Boma I could eat for FREE?). You're going to have a BLAST!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I'm in! And I'm even more convinced that we are kindred spirits because I LOVE SPREADSHEETS. And lists. And lists of all my spreadsheets.

I'm excited for you free dining (and ridiculously jealous - do you know how many pancakes at Boma I could eat for FREE?). You're going to have a BLAST!

SPREADSHEETS!! I have 11 pages in my Excel workbook right now. And I just deleted one. Sometimes, I just bring up my workbook at work and stare at it between analyses. I even renamed the workbook file so that if you see it on my start bar, you won't know that it's for DISNEY and not for work!

I know!! Free is A LOT of pancakes!! You've totally sold me on Boma breakfast. I am really trying to fit in a breakfast at Boma based on your experience there but I'm not sure how to do it since we are rope drop people. Maybe Mom and Bubbles can do it while we are on our Wild Africa Trek.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Our rental car price just came WAAAY down!

$75 worth! Which might not seem like a lot but it is to us!! We had originally reserved an intermediate from Budget a month or so ago and I just checked it again and it was low. Very excited. We used BCD code Y937800 (from Mouse savers . com). We're still with the intermediate car, which will be fine.

It's still up in the air whether I'm going to go with DMom, Nature Girl, and Bubbles on the DME or if I'll go with DDad in the rental car. DDad insists that I do DME because he doesn't want me to miss out but part of what I remember and love about our first few vacations to Disney is walking out to the parking garage under palm trees to get our car. We would probably beat them to AKL and could check in while we waited for them. But going with my mom and sisters would be fun too. I think I'm going to decide last minute.

I am sad about the change in the DME video. We had really talked up the old one to Nature Girl and how fun it was but now people are saying it's very corporate and a MB commercial. Bummer. So maybe going with my Dad is the best choice. I'll have to find the old one and show it to Nature Girl instead.


I got some Mickey mail a few days ago. I was really excited but it was just a pamphlet reminding me of my FP+ selection day. Normally I am excited for any kind of mail but this was a bit of a letdown. Maybe if I had completely forgotten our FP+ day (yeah, right!) it would have been more exciting. I would post a picture but I don't think it's even worth it. Maybe some of you have gotten it - it's just a pic of people riding TT on the front (not even a good pic) and my FP+ date inside. I knew that they were pushing MBs and FP+ but MAN are they pushing MBs and FP+!! No wonder the standby times are going up if everyone is using FP+.

I know it's not very nice but I liked it better when not everyone was using FP- even though it was everywhere and printed in the map, etc. It just goes to show that you need to slam people over the head with it before the majority will get it. Even at my work, which is full of very very smart people (scientists and engineers, mostly), I will still get questions about some very basic stuff. Part of my job - my "volunteer" time - is to help put on events for technical people to share information and ideas. I'll have sign-ups and promotional emails with all the information there and people will still fill out the forms wrong and ask me questions by replying to the email that has all the answers. I tell ya! It's enough to make you tear your hair out some days!

So please please please please read everything before you ask a question! (The irony is that one would have to read that sentence but as we already know - no one reads! I know I'm preaching to the choir as most of us are Disney planning gurus here and read everything anyway!)

I linked up our MNSSHP tickets to MDE. It went well and I had no problem assigning the tickets to everyone (minus DDad who doesn't have a ticket yet and probably won't be joining us.) I wonder if we'll be able to schedule FP+ for that event. I have them picked out for that night just in case. Otherwise, I've never had problems riding anything I wanted during the party, especially as it gets later in the night.

August is going to be a big month for Disney stuff. I have several projects that I've been holding onto until my work and life schedule slows down a bit, which should happen in Aug. I can't wait to share them with you! I know my PTR has been a bit thin but hopefully I'll make up for it in a month!

TTFN! Next update will be about FP+ selections!

Oh - I know this is not Disney but if you haven't seen How to Train Your Dragon 2 yet, you should - it's great!!!

 

[benji2012]

Love Book of Mormom! It's definitely a show I'd see again.

Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while, working has been a nightmare...but I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Can't wait to hear how FP works for you! I love it, but I'm not the commando type...and I don't usually travel during peak seasons either.

 

[disneyseniors]

Before I go on with my story, I should probably introduce myself.

I am a big Disney World fan, I live with my DH and our cat, Sirius Black. He's a (surprise!) black cat with a tiny bit of white on his chest. The vet thinks he's part Siamese, which would make sense because he has close set eyes and he talks A LOT. He reminds me a lot of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon (from one of the other animation houses ).

I am 32 years old and I work as a chemist for a large company. I've been on several Disney trips, the last being in May 2013 with my youngest sister.

Here I am after I got 999,999 points on Buzz my last trip. As you can tell, I was really excited!

okay, I'm jealous! How did you get all those points on Buzz?????? I've played it a lot, also at Toy story mania, and never got that high. I think I got "squirrel status" at tsm I'm also from Mn and lived through the last nasty winter in Nothern Mn. Brrr!!!! I'm thinking you got one of those hidden huge scores that none of us know about! Please let me know what you did

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Love Book of Mormom! It's definitely a show I'd see again.

Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while, working has been a nightmare...but I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Can't wait to hear how FP works for you! I love it, but I'm not the commando type...and I don't usually travel during peak seasons either.

29 days until Book of Mormon!! Not that I'm counting...but I love countdowns!

I'm glad that you're able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Work has been really crazy for me, too, though it's not as crazy as it was this Spring. I just keep telling myself that I'm definitely earning my Disney vacation!

I'm just about to do an update on my FP+ experience so stay tuned!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

okay, I'm jealous! How did you get all those points on Buzz?????? I've played it a lot, also at Toy story mania, and never got that high. I think I got "squirrel status" at tsm I'm also from Mn and lived through the last nasty winter in Nothern Mn. Brrr!!!! I'm thinking you got one of those hidden huge scores that none of us know about! Please let me know what you did

Hello to a fellow Minnesotan and welcome to the DISBoards!! You were even worse off up North than I was this year, I think. Do you live in the Grand Rapids area or International Falls or Duluth or elsewhere?

Thank you - I was beyond thrilled with my totally unexpected score! I didn't set out to get all those points, though I did know of a few high scoring places.

Most of my points came from the first room, as you leave, you pass an orange robot. If you turn around as you're leaving the room, there is a target on the back of the robot's arm worth 100,000 points. If you can hit that multiple times, you can get most, if not all, of the 999,999 points. I didn't get them all there, the rest of the points came just from playing in the other rooms and from hitting something - not sure what! - in the black tunnel projection room. I was just trying to hit the spaceship as it moves about and then all of a sudden my points skyrocketed and maxed out!

There is also something on the volcano, I think, which has a high score.

If you do get 999,999 points, tell the cast member at the photo ordering counter that you got all those points. Or ask to see your picture with your awsome number of points. You do have to ask or tell someone, they don't automatically give you a button. At least, that was my experience and I've only done it once. I'm hoping to go for it again this next time.

As for TSM, I don't get a ton of points, usually, but I do try to go for the "easter eggs" - the hits that make other, higher score targets pop up. And then I just go for broke on the mining screen with the bats. My elbow definitely hurts after that!

Good luck!!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

So much has been going on that I don't even know where to begin!

I guess I will go chronologically.

So, I found the $75 off of the Budget price. Well, I was checking other places and posting on the Transportation Board and people said that they have had a lot of trouble with Budget. So I checked Alamo and it was another $25 off of the lower Budget price - which means a total of a $100 savings! But here is my dilemma: I have had problems with Alamo in the past and after I told DDad, he was kind of reluctant to go with Alamo but then people are saying that they've had trouble with Budget so....yeah. Right now I have two reservations, one at Budget and one at Alamo. $25 isn't a huge difference, really, though the part of me that is like my mom is thinking that $25 can get you a lot, even at Disney.

We'll have to see if the rates change any more at all.

Next. FP+!!

I did it! I went online at 11pm the day before my FP+ window and I was able to make reservations!! I had heard that the window wasn't always open at 12am ET, that sometimes it was 1am ET but that wasn't the case here! Luckily I am a night owl so staying up late wasn't too hard. And if it's because of Disney, it's no problem!

I'm glad that I had gone on the Touring Plans website and read their "how to reserve your FP+" with screenshots. I think I would have been confused and freaked out a bit at first. Let me tell you - I DO NOT like the system. It is putzy and time consuming. For those of you who don't know, here are the steps once you are in the FP+ Selection portion of the WDW website:

1. Select your party (I selected everyone all the time)
2. Select Park and Day (go for Anna and Elsa first, then 7DMT)
3. Select your 3 experiences (HAS to be three)
4. Select based on the options that DISNEY gives you - this is where I would have freaked out because the options rarely matched what I wanted. What I suggest is choosing that plan that is the COMPLETE opposite of what you want. I'll tell you why in a second.
5. Click on Done. (Ha! Not even close!)
6. Click on "Modify" for the experience that you want to do first.
7. Make sure the correct people are selected and then fiddle around with the time slots to change it to what you want. (This is why you choose the option that is completely different than what you want - so that the slot is open for you to move FPs around. If you had a FP overlapping the slot that you wanted, you'd have to move the other FP and then move this one to the correct time. It's just easier to have everything out of the way and then move the FP to the correct times.) Once the time is as good as it can get, click on "Update".
8. Go to your next experience and then click on "Select new time" and repeat the above step.
9. Change your last FP, if necessary.

10. Do steps 1-9 for each park day and occasionally tear your hair out when you make a mistake.

Hopefully, you don't make too many mistakes. I, did, however, make a stupid mistake.

Luckily it didn't affect me much at all. This is how it went: I went and got the 7DMT first and then went to do the rest of my days. I got to my 5th park day and I had an error that all my FP+ allotments were used. I cocked my head and tried again. Nothing. Frowned and stabbed the mouse pad. Nope. Groaned when I realized the problem.

We have 4 day park passes. Not the 6 that we need because I'm an idiot. I can't believe that I've been thinking about this for so long and I didn't realize that we didn't have enough park passes on our reservations.

Wow.

See, the thing is that we usually just get 4 day passes and then add days as we go just in case we decide not to go to a park that day. We've always done it this way. It doesn't make sense, really, because we always add days and we never decide not to go once we've planned on going to a park a certain day. So, because I wasn't thinking, I could only do four days worth of FP+s.

It wasn't that big a deal because I got the four parks all squared away and I didn't think that I would have a problem with the rest of the days. Still, I felt really, really dumb. I sighed in frustration and just went to bed because nothing could be done until the next day...

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

....so I once again called the Incomparable Susan AAA Travel and told her my sad story. She was happy to help out and get us each 6-day passes. I also asked her to get the 12-digit code so I could do the BOG lunch FP+ reservation around 30 days out and she had no idea it existed! So I was very happy to let her know about it and send her the link to the website. I told her that it was in testing phase and that's why it was on a different website 'cause that's what I heard on the DIS. She reported back that the CM told her that it wasn't a test that this is the way that they always planned to do BOG lunches and it's open to everyone. Susan asked her if it was open to everyone why didn't everyone know about it? The CM didn't have an answer to that. I know that lots of CMs give lots of different information depending on what they've been told and the way that the website looks and the difficulty getting the 12-digit reservation code and the fact that they advertise the h#ll out of FP+ makes me think that it is indeed a test and perhaps they'll roll it out to other restaurants in the future.

Oh, and while I had Susan on the phone....

I PAID OFF OUR REMAINING BALANCE!!!!


YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then, once I got off the phone with her, I made the rest of my FP+ reservations and pretty much got everything I wanted!!

I know that we are going during a low season but TouringPlans is showing that our crowd levels are rising and I figure it's better safe than sorry.

Here is what we got:


Sunday - Animal Kingdom

9:25am-10:25am____Kilimanjaro Safaris
10:30am-11:30am___Dinosaur
11:30am-12:30am___Expedition Everest


Monday - Epcot

9:15am-10:15am____Test Track
10:20am-11:20am___Spaceship Earth
11:30am-12:30am___Maelstrom


Wednesday - Magic Kingdom

9:25am-10:25am____7DMT
10:25am-11:25am___Big Thunder Mountain
11:25am-12:25pm___Space Mountain (Dad, Nature Girl, me)
11:50am-12:50pm___Cinderella/Rapunzel Meet and Greet (Mom and Bubbles)


Thursday - Hollywood Studios

9:25am-10:25am____Tower of Terror
10:25am-11:25am___Star Tours
11:25am-12:25pm___Toy Story Mania


Friday - Epcot

10:25am-11:25am___Test Track
11:25am-12:25pm___The Living Seas
12:25pm-1:25pm____Spaceship Earth

These are of course, subject to change. We're really interested in "clearing the gate" and opening our 4th, 5th, 6th FP+, etc. so I plan on trying to move up our FP+ times as soon as we clear the second Mickey head. AK is going to be our training park for FP+. I know this is potentially over-kill but I want to try it out and see what it's like in a low pressure situation so I'm ready just in case we ever are in a high crowd, high pressure situation. I do realize that this is interal pressure and completely fabricated but we LOVE our E-ticket rides and want to ride again and again and again.

Did I mention I'm an uber-planner? And I over pack because I want to be prepared for anything?? I even practice tilting my head back, closing my eyes and touching my nose just in case I ever get pulled over by the police and they ask me to do that. Not that I would be driving while intoxicated but if they did pull me over and did wonder and did want to do a sobriety test, I want to make sure I pass! I think it's hard to do when you are sober and I'll be super nervous so I can just see myself screwing it up. <sigh> The weird things that run through my head...

Not only did I do FP+, add tickets to my reservation, re-book a rental car, get my 12-digit code, and pay off our balance, I also changed our dining reservations....

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

...but not too much. Just a bit. Here's the story:

I've been reading PirateFish989's TR (what up, Erin!) and she has been RAVING about Boma breakfast. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and I looked at my schedule and just couldn't see where we would fit it in because we are rope drop people and I just didn't want to get up super early after being up later the night before and exhaust everyone just to fit in breakfast but then Boma breakfast sounds really amazing and I think my family would enjoy it but I don't know HOW we are going to fit this in but I want to.....on and on and on it went.

So the only day that didn't have a morning park was Tuesday, the day that Dad, Nature Girl, and I go in the morning to AK for our Wild Africa Trek while Mom and Bubbles stayed at the resort. I thought it would be a nice surprise for them if I booked Boma breakfast for them to enjoy. So I decided to go ahead and do it but when I got to picking a time I wasn't sure what to pick. I wasn't sure how long they would want to sleep in, etc.

I called Bubbles and asked, "Hypothetically, if you were to have a day off and eat breakfast/brunch, what time would you like to do that?" She immediately asked what it was for and I said that it was hypothetical and then she said, "Is this for Disney?" And I said that I would confirm nor deny and she said, "Okay, so it's for Disney. I guess I would pick 11am." I thought this was a bad idea because it would cut down on Bubble's pool time and I know she wouldn't be happy with that so I relented and just told her and then said it was going to be a surprise for Mom. I was right about the pool time so we decided on 9am.

Fast forward a week or two and I'm with my parents at their home and I just couldn't resist telling my mom about Boma because I was excited (wow, aren't I a great secret keeper??). I brought up the Disney Food Blog's review of Boma breakfast and Mom read it outloud and I told her that I had a reservation for her and Bubbles on our "free" day. She shrieked and started reading even more excitedly. Dad looked up from his iPad and asked what it was about and I told him but I said that we would have our breakfast on the tour. He said, "So we're not eating at Boma?" And I said we were for dinner but not breakfast. And he said, "You're teasing, right? We really are eating there." And I said "no" again. And his face just fell. Like he had gotten the worst news in the entire world. It didn't help that Mom just kept going on and on about the neat things to eat.

Again, my dad doesn't ask for a lot of things and he works really really hard at his job so I knew immediately that I had to make this work. I took the computer away from my mom and told her that we had to find a time that we all could go to Boma for breakfast and showed her the schedule. (Note: This is the same schedule that I routinely send to them and routinely mention but none of them remember what is going on when.

We decided to go to breakfast at Boma on our last day, which is our second Epcot day. Dad immediately protested, saying that he didn't want to make a big deal about it and that we shouldn't change his plans just for him. Yeah, right. Not gonna happen after you give me just a look of devastation. Then, because we were eating a big breakfast, Mom wanted to move her and Bubbles's tea to 3:00ish but the only thing we could get was 3:55pm so I've been looking every day for cancellations.

Apparently my family are Boma super fans. I am so glad that I gave into temptation and told my Mom about it. It is way easier to change things around a couple of months ahead of time instead of on the fly. We also got rid of our second Via Napoli reservation for Friday night, which was just a placeholder anyway because we just didn't know what to do this night. We'll eat at the F&W kiosks, which will be great. It's amazing how things just seem to work out and fall into place sometimes.

Here is our dining schedule now:

Arrival Day
DTD - Wolfgang Puck Express (me) and Earl of Sandwich (everyone else)

Sunday - AK
Pizzafari or Flametree
7:00pm Boma

Monday - EP
Kasura Grill or Sunshine Seasons or F&W Booths
7:00pm Via Napoli

Tuesday - MNSSHP
Mara
5:10pm 1900 Park Fare

Wednesday - MK
BOG (hopefully!!)
7:25pm California Grill

Thursday - HS
Pizza Planet
8:00pm Raglan Road

Friday - EP
8:30am Boma
3:55pm Afternoon Tea (Mom and Bubbles)
F&W Kiosks

Leave Saturday - eat at the airport, most likely

We've also decided not to worry too much about using all of our credits. Bubbles is concerned because we were stuffed silly last time and we hit a food wall by Thursday night. We just don't eat that much. So Mom and Bubbles and maybe Nature Girl will share. Jenna doesn't like to share food! (Friends reference, anyone?) So I won't be sharing but I am going to have to work on not eating everything on my plate. If it on my plate and I like it, I will eat it. Even if I am full. Then I get sick later. I think that comes from when I was younger and I didn't have as much control over what I was eating. I was (still am) a picky eater and there often wasn't food that I liked and I would go hungry. So when there was food that I liked, I gorged myself. I have to remember I'm an adult now and I can always find myself something to eat. Dad will for sure just eat everything but I think we're going to encourage him to try and take it easy as well.

All of a sudden, this vacation seems like it's coming fast! There are loads of things left for me to do! I need to make a list! And I spreadsheet! Yay!!

 

[PirateFish989]

I really think you'll enjoy breakfast at Bome! Those M&M mini pancakes, that juice, the scrambled eggs! I want to go back right now!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I really think you'll enjoy breakfast at Bome! Those M&M mini pancakes, that juice, the scrambled eggs! I want to go back right now!

They are the ones with the mini M&Ms! I was wondering. I know you talked about the pancakes and I saw them on the Disney Food Blog and I wasn't sure if that's what you meant. I can't wait to try them!! Also the juice. I looooove to drink juice. Nummmmm.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Getting clooooooooser!! Eeeeeee!! Less than a month away! We're truckin' now!

Once again, our rental car price has gone down. Whoop! Now we are back to Budget. We are down $113 from our original car price way back in May-ish. I'm going to have to check it again today and see what it is.

I need a new bag for Disney with a little more room but not too big, so I've been searching for one. I did find one at REI and it was just about perfect - felt good, had just the right amount of room - not too big, not too small, on sale. The only thing was that this was the ugliest bag known to man. My husband, who does not care about what it looks like as long as it functions well, even said (without me prompting!), "That is a really ugly bag. Is there anything else?" Ugh. So I just couldn't do it. It wasn't super expensive but it was a fair amount and I just couldn't buy something for that price that I didn't really like.

So the search continued. I want a mini-backpack. That's my ideal. Small but with a larger pocket but not too large. Light. Straps don't cut into my shoulders. Somewhat nice looking. I kind of want a one-strap bag but it's harder to find.

I went to Target on Thursday and came home with a bag. But I'm not sure about it. It's bigger but it's really light. It's just a regular backpack but it's kinda cool....



And it lights up and makes noise. I should be thrilled. I love Star Wars. And where else could I wear this backpack?? The only thing is that it is so big. I'm really on the fence. It was on sale and really cheap. I saw some smaller ones that would have been perfect except they were all Spider-man and one very little kid dinosaur. If it was just dinosaurs, that would have been awesome cause I love dinosaurs, however, it was very little kid (think preschool). Argggg!!! I'm so frustrated! Perhaps I'll go to Dick's Sporting Goods today and see what they have. I know I might be able to find something on-line but I really want to try it on before I buy.

The search continues....

But it's not all frustration. Our travel documents have arrived!

Complete with our DME booklet, yellow luggage tags, and AAA luggage tags, which I already have from my trip last year but they are really neat so I don't mind having another one. I put all my Disney luggage tags on my carry-on so they don't break or rip in the bowels of baggage city. My mom was really excited about the tags. She's been coveting them ever since Bubbles and I got them last year.



Also attacked to our booklet was our AAA parking card, which allows us to park towards the front of the parking lots! Though, if we are going to be getting there by rope drop, it might be better to just park regularly since the closest spots will still be open at that time. We're trying to cut down on my mom's walk to the car at the end of the day. I'm so glad that we are renting a car. My mom has injured her leg (in addition to her back problems) so while we're hoping she'll be healed up by the time we go, it'll be nice that she's guaranteed a seat in the car instead of possibly standing while going around turns and curves and getting jostled in a bus.



I have pretty much decided that I will go with DDad to get the car while DMom, Nature Girl, and Bubbles go on the DME. DDad and I will probably stop at a Super Target to get some groceries for breakfasts. Except now that I'm tihnking about that, we probably should wait just in case we get some perishables because our room will probably not be ready....hmmm....

Our MBs are taking their very sweet time to get here. I was expecting them by now. Disney did send me a USPS tracking number but they have been hanging out in Tennessee for quite some time. Perhaps they are having too much fun trying whiskey?? Or perhaps USPS is not updating their website and they'll just magically (pun intended!) show up in my mailbox! Today!

I have some Disney things to do today. Find a backpack! Also, I'm going to try and do some iron-on Disney images. We'll see! And I'm making some cards to help us decide who is going to ride with whom and who is going to sit solo.

Stay tuned!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

So, my day yesterday did not quite go as planned...

Nothing bad but things got shifted around and I didn't have as much time to do what I wanted and things didn't turn out quite right so I have nothing to show you...sorry!

I went for a run in the afternoon. Totally thought that it was going to be fine as it was slightly cooler with a small breeze. WRONG! Very very humid. I was wiped by the time I was done. I ended up taking a bath with Epsom salts with grapefruit and frankincense essential oils. So that took some time.

Then I popped to Sport Authority to look for a bag and some small bicycle-type shorts to put under some skirts I'm thinking of wearing to Disney. Didn't find a bag at all but I found shorts that I liked and I also found a fun, tennis looking skirt with shorts built in. I was excited but when I got to the dressing room I couldn't get them over my thighs! I am by no means a small girl but I'm also not huge either. The size listed in the shorts was 14/16, which is over my usual size but I grabbed the larger size because I did think they looked a bit small but they were very deceiving on the rack. I couldn't believe that they didn't work! I barely got them over my knees. I wanted to take a picture (don't worry, I didn't!) because it was just so ridiculous!

Self-esteem sufficiently wiped out via a very incorrectly labeled sport skirt, I went grocery shopping for dinner at my parents. I do this once every week or so - I go shopping and then my dad and I cook dinner for whomever can come. I had great plans of a steak dinner while watching Swiss Family Robinson and doing Disney crafts with DMom and Bubbles. Ha.

Bubbles called while I was shopping and she had just gotten off work with a terrible shift so she just wanted to veg at home. When I got to my parent's, I started dinner and while we were waiting for the potatoes to bake, DMom and I did some crafts. It did not go well. We need to go to Kinkos and have a professional do it. We didn't get to the iron-on because I was too involved with dinner and then we didn't watch Swiss Famiy Robinson because the Vikings pre-season game was on and my dad wanted to watch that.

So, though I had a nice time at my parents (DH came up to eat, too) and we sort of made some progress, we are still at square one. Oh well. Oh! And I forgot the Mickey mail and tickets, etc, at my parent's house. I have vball near their house tomorrow so it's not really a problem but I must say that I feel a little naked without it. Like I've forgotten my cell phone. Maybe I'm too attached to my Disney planning stuff!!

Sorry for the lack luster update. Hope to have something more exciting next time!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

MAGICBANDS ARE HEEEEEEERE!!!

Hooray! They finally came! A lot later than expected, too. That Tennessee didn't want to give up mah bands!

Here they are!

I am orange. Bubbles is Pink. Nature Girl is Yellow. DDad is the gray band of shame and DMom is the red.

Love the box! I am so keeping it!





Sorry about this next one, it's facing the correct way in PhotoBucket so I don't know why it's turned here...


I love how it says my name on the inside!


I took them over to show DMom and she took her band and hid it because she wanted to keep it. I told her that she couldn't have it until we get off the plane - until then I'm in charge of them. I eventually found it, she had wrapped it around her ankle and put a blanket over her while she was sitting on the couch.

We have/had plans to decorate our bands. I've been stalking the MB decorating boards and I really like some of them. I wanted to put tiger stripes on my orange band. I've seen a couple of those and they look really neat. I was under the impression that you could re-decorate or fix any mistakes on your bands by using nail polish remover. Well, I tried a little bit on my band with some a black paint pen and I used some nail polish remover to get it off and not all of it came off! Most of it did, but you can still kind of see a shadow.

Now I'm nervous that I'm going to screw up and I'm not going to like it and I'll be stuck! I really like how the orange looks just by itself. I may just try and find some fabrics and make covers for mine instead. That way I can switch it up all the time!

I have been looking at the three pack of MB covers that Disney sells at their resorts - the one that has the Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World, and Haunted Mansion patterns.

Tomorrow, Bubbles and Nature Girl are coming over and we're going to decide what we want to do.

We also have to get moving on our MNSSHP costumes! Well, I'm all set but Bubbles and Nature Girl need some work.

Bubbles has been on DisneyBound a lot and has been inspired! Here is her Snow white outfit for our MK day:



She's going to put together a Belle outfit for me - I'm excited! I told her that it stressed me out trying to figure out what to wear and how to find the different components. She says that she loves it and it's like a treasure hunt.

I told her give me schedules, ADRs 180+10, FP+ reservations, and BOG lunches any day. Outfits stress me out. She laughed and said that all that scheduling stuff stresses her out. Good thing we have each other!

AND I finally got the BOG FP+ for lunch! I got up and went to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning of the day that our window opened and I thought, what the heck, might as well just do our FP+ lunch reservations and then just go to bed. Ha! Well, I did get the reservations but I was so excited and thinking over and over again about our trip that I couldn't get to sleep! Was I a wreck for work the next day!

We did the direct-to-table, which I have heard others say is faster, but we'll see. We'll still be able to change our minds about our meals once we get there. Here is what we've decided:

Me: Roast Beef Sandwich with the Master's Cupcake (it has the grey stuff! everyone says they want to try but I'm not sure I want to share! )
Nature Girl: Vegetable Quiche with the Strawberry Cupcake
Bubbles: Quinoa Salad with the Lemon Raspberry Cream Puff
DDad: Braised Pork with the Triple Chocolate Cupcake
DMom: Carved Turkey Sandwich with the Lemon Meringue Cupcake

We also decided to order the French Onion and Potatoe Soups OOP to share.

We all ended up ordering different entrees without even trying, which is great. I'm excited to see how this meal goes.

Oh! Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! We're staying the weekend in the Cities instead of going up to DH's family cabin and I'm really glad. Nature Girl is home for the weekend and we have some fun stuff planned. We already went to the "Great Minnesota Get Together" (aka our State Fair) and stuffed ourselves silly (Dole Whips! and french fries!). Tomorrow is Disney stuff and grilling and then Monday is lunch and then good-bye. But she'll be back next weekend.

AAANNNDDDD Book of Mormon is this Wednesday - WHOO HOO!!! So glad to have something fun while I anxiously await my Disney trip. Getting closer....

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Oh! And I'm going back and forth about getting the Memory Maker.

I love the idea of ride photos and the video from the ToT and character photos and just fun Photopass photos.

I don't like the price. I also worry that we won't get our money's worth. I don't want to have to worry about finding photopass photographers just to feel like we are getting our money's worth.

At the same time, I have had some really good interactions with some photopass photographers and I would have loved to have all the pictures.

I also know that they'll take pictures with your own camera but that's usually only one picture and it doesn't always turn out so well.

I really am leaning towards it but the price! I know I have the option of finding some MM buddies to share the price but that makes me uncomfortable and I don't want to have to deal with others over it.

Any thoughts out there??

 

[benji2012]

This is my first time getting memory maker, and I debated a while but figured for our group there were so many of us it would be worth it. It is pretty expensive if you don't know how much you'll use it though!

Hope all your plans are coming together...it's getting so close!