**UPDATE** Having to cancel- DD is having surgery sooner than expected

[bettyann29]

Im so excited.. I found out at work yesterday that we are getting the day after Christmas off WITH pay.. The day after isnt one of our paid holidays normally, but the company made a decision to give it to us off this year with pay.. so Im super excited!! I guess I will get an extra Disney planning day since I wont have much else to do as my kiddos wont be home.. they leave the day school gets out to go skiing with their dad and come home the Saturday or Sunday after Christmas.. so we wont celebrate our family Christmas until they return.. DH will be working that Friday, so I'll be here all by myself.. yes!!!

This Saturday we are going to Six Flags for my companies family picnic.. so we are all looking forward to that.. other than that, there isnt much going on..

as far as my trip planning...I think I have one of the tours figured on so far.. I'm leaning towards us doing the Keys to The Kingdom tour.. after all the reading up Ive done it seems like this one is pretty neat.. the price looks like a good deal too.. I was listening to the dis podcast today from last weeks show and someone called in talking about the KTTK Tour they just did.. I ended up having to fast forward thru it because I didnt want any spoilers, but what I did hear sounded wonderful!! DH has been wanting to do the Segway Tour at Fort Wilderness but I dont think Im up to that quite yet.. after getting hurt last time, I think Im gonna pass on this one.. Now I just need to find another tour to do.. Im thinking about something at Animal Kingdom.. I would think that would be so cool to get to do something with the animals.. so I will look in that direction next..

Anyone have any other ideas? Maybe a tour you've done in AK??

 

[bettyann29]

Im baaaaaack..

Wow.. what a day! Just so glad to be at home.. Was happy to find out that I am being offered some overtime.. Im happy to report that I wont have to work a part time holiday job as the $$ amount I will make by working overtime at my regular job will more than make up for the extra job I would get since I make time and a half at my normal job.. my boss said that I should have the extra time thru at least November and possibly longer.. so I started working the extra this week already.. so happy that I have the ability to work my overtime at home in the evenings.. I was able to get in 2 hours last night.. and will get in a few more tonight at least..

Really looking forward to Six Flags on Saturday.. its not Disneyworld, but hey its all I have.. at least until January..

I looked at tours again today and still am undecided besides Keys to the Kingdom.. Im thinking about Backstage Safari at Animal Kingdom.. Looks like it would be interesting and I definitely love the animals..

Cant wait til December 1st, because then I can finally say "Im going to Disneyworld next month"

 

[bettyann29]

My head is spinning!! I have been watching the codes thread and its been killing me.. I have been crunching the numbers and did some rearranging this week.. See.. I told you I tend to change my mind ALOT!!

A few posts back I mentioned how I was planning on staying at Allstar Movies Preferred with the AP rate.. I was planning on getting and AP so that I can get that rate.. well then the deal came out with the buy 4 get 3 free and I was thinking that would be a better deal because I wouldnt have to buy an AP and I would get a $200 giftcard to boot! The only snag was that they didnt have any rooms avl with this deal at Allstar Movies.. but they did have one avl for POP in preferred section.. so, being the mind changer that I am, I changed my ressies to Pop preferred.. well today I went online and saw that they had Allstar Movies preferred avl.. So guess what I did?? Yep I changed AGAIN!! Thank goodness at least Im leaving the dates the same or Id really confuse myself..

But I was able to get 7 nights at Allstar Movies with 1 day MYW tickets for me and DH.. we already have 5 day tickets from a past trip left so in total we will have 6 days in the parks.. Since we will be arriving Saturday and taking that day easy I wasnt planning on needing a ticket for that day anyways.. so now we will have tickets for Sunday- Friday and we are leaving on the following Saturday anyways.. My total is $600.54 and I will get a $200 giftcard when I check in!! Cha-ching..

I have put my $200 deposit down so now I only need to pay $400.54 and the trip is paid off!! I figure the giftcard will be used for souvenirs.. Im really hoping for the breakable for my front bay window (((fingers crossed))).. This giftcard will just about cover the cost of it..

I have been working my overtime at work last week and am continuing it again this week.. all this money will go towards paying this trip off.. Before I know it that will be done.. Once I have this paid for then I will start seeing about a cruise.. Im so hoping I can pull that off! I am keeping that as a surprise for DH.. so hoping I am able to do this for him.. he will be thrilled..

Well we went to Six Flags on Saturday and had a nice time.. The weather was perfect! It was me, DH, DD10, DS15, DD17, DSD20, DGD2 and DGD 4 months.. I will get some of those pictures posted hopefully by this coming weekend.. we couldnt help but sit there the whole time and compare everything to WDW.. all it did was make me more homesick for Disney!

Well me and DH are headed to DMIL's for Thanksgiving.. We fly out Thursday morning and will be in Florida around 10:30 am.. we are there til Saturday evening.. She lives about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from WDW.. Our current plan is to drive to Downtown Disney on Friday morning.. I wanted to walk around a bit and do a little Christmas shopping at Disney There was a hoodie that DD10 wanted on the last trip and I didnt get it, so Im hoping to find it this time..

Just wanted to check back in and put all my thoughts down while I was thinking of them..

See ya later!

 

[Khalana]

Hi, I just found your TR! Sounds like you have a great trip planned so far. Don't worry about changing your mind often, I do that all the time too!

I would LOVE to go just me and DH to Disney! I'm sure you guys will have lots of fun! I love the pictures of your DH in all the Mickey ears.

I'm sorry about your friend and your DD... My DD also has/had a heart condition (coarctation of the aorta and a pda) and she had open-heart surgery in 07. She also tends to get lung infections easily. What condition does your DD have?

That's great about Avon, I love Avon products. I think that's one of those things people can do good with because the products are so great.

I look forward to reading more about your plans and your trip!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

That's great on getting the room you want and at a great price.

 

[bettyann29]

Hi, I just found your TR! Sounds like you have a great trip planned so far. Don't worry about changing your mind often, I do that all the time too!

I would LOVE to go just me and DH to Disney! I'm sure you guys will have lots of fun! I love the pictures of your DH in all the Mickey ears.

I'm sorry about your friend and your DD... My DD also has/had a heart condition (coarctation of the aorta and a pda) and she had open-heart surgery in 07. She also tends to get lung infections easily. What condition does your DD have?

That's great about Avon, I love Avon products. I think that's one of those things people can do good with because the products are so great.

I look forward to reading more about your plans and your trip!

Welcome and thanks for joining in..

sorry to hear that about your DD.. not sure what the condition is that my DD has.. Im sure there is a name for it.. but basically when she was born the opening to one of her lungs was not fully developed and she tends to get pneumonia, infections, etc.. very easily.. it has gotten much better as she's gotten older... Im hoping that she grows completely out of it as her dr has mentioned in past..

We do trips with the kids and without and they are definitely different types of trips when we go without them.. certainly more laid back.. but I do love vacationing with them too!

That's great on getting the room you want and at a great price.

Well I was wrong.. we didnt get the room for Movies as I had hoped.. not sure what happened with that.. but when I called back to make my down payment and confirm everything they still had the Pop info .. luckily we are still able to get in on this deal.. we are still happy.. as we are getting the Preferred room for 7 nights with 1 day MYW passes (we already have 5 day park tickets) for $604.. plus we get the $200 giftcard upon checkin .. so basically we are only paying $404 for the room.. I think this is the best we have done so far in all of our trips..

 

[bettyann29]

Thought Id come back this evening and update.. Life has been busy busy busy.. right now me and DH are stuck at the Jacksonville airport.. we spent the best ever Thanksgiving in Florida with DMIL and DH'S grandmother.. we arrived here in FL late Thursday morning.. we had a great Turkey day and then went to Daytona Beach that night.. went down on the boardwalk and had some fun.. then actually slept in on Friday.. this was the first year in about 17 years that I havent been Black Friday shopping.. and I have to admit that it was quite nice!! Friday afternoon we went to Jacksonville to see DH's dad and went to dinner with him then we headed down to Orlando!! Me and DH spent a few hours in downtown Disney I was able to pick up a few Christmas gifts and just walked around.. I loved all the Christmas decorations.. then today we slept in today and made christmas cookies with DMIL.. went to the beach for a short bit.. then went to St Augustine on the way to the airport, stopped afterwards to eat and then came to the airport to find that we are currently stuck here.. Hoping to get home tonight.. at the very least tomorrow sometime.. Im a little worried that we wont be able to find a flight tomorrow if they cant get us out of here tonight..

will update.. as I sit here though I keep thinking about our upcoming Disney trip.. so life isnt all bad..

 

[bettyann29]

well we are still here in Florida

There was bad weather in Atlanta and the plane didnt take off from there on time so our flight was late.. we were to fly to Atlanta and catch a connecting flight home but by the time the plane was to make it to Jacksonville and back to Atlanta we were not going to make our flight.. due to the holiday weekend they said that all flights for Sunday were already overbooked but they could leave us on standby in Atlanta but couldnt guarantee us a flight until Tuesday, so we decided to stay here in Florida til Tuesday and get a guarantee.. so DMIL had to drive 1 1/2 hours back to the airport and picked us up.. then we drove another 1 1/2 hours back to her house and we are here til Tuesday.. We decided we would rather stay here and have a guaranteed bed than to fly to Atlanta and spend the next few days in the airpor hoping to get a standby seat.. the airline said that they wouldnt be paying for any of the hotels if one is needed as this was all caused by weather..

Im kicking myself because we have our non expired tickets back home and if I had those with us we could at least have spent today in WDW.. but thats ok.. now we have a few more days to spend here with her and DH's grandmom..

Just glad to be in the beautiful state of Florida right now..

 

[bettyann29]

we are now home.. We got back home last night..

I was a little bummed that we didnt have our WDW tickets with us as we had Sunday that we could have spent in the parks and at the least Monday evening after I worked.. since we brought the laptop I was able to work from DMIL's house on Monday.. if I didnt put in my 8 hours I would have missed holiday pay for Thursday and Friday.. so I was glad I got to do that..

We were going to call Undercover Tourist and have them fax us a copy of the tickets as they have done this for us before and we could have brought that to the guest services at the front of the park and that would have solved our ticket dilemna.. but unfortunately I caught a cold .. I guess from the weather change and didnt feel like doing anything..

You know Im sick when Im within distance of Disneyworld and I dont go because Im sick..

We actually didnt do anything on Sunday.. I stayed in bed most of the day and then worked Monday and then bed again after work.. Tuesday we woke up and I worked for 4 hours before heading to the airport.. we made our flight and arrived in Atlanta to catch our connecting flight.. we thought we werent gonna make it home as that flight was also overbooked.. they were looking for volunteers and offering a flight home this morning.. they were offering roundtrip tickets, hotel voucher and food vouchers.. If I felt better I would have grabbed that offer! but I just wanted to get home at that point.. so we got home last night and I headed straight for bed..

got up and went to work today..

Im getting so excited for our trip!! I realized today that my bankcard gives me points when I use it as a credit card and realized today that I have some points that I can change in for giftcards.. so Im gonna look around and see what I can get as far as restaurants in that area that we can use for dinner one night while in Orlando..

My trip is almost paid off.. my 45 days is Dec 10th.. so there will be no looking back..

Ive started my packing list.. Im trying to be really organized as I want to have everything in order since I will be working on the Friday before we leave and DH will be off so he will be packing the car.. I want to have everything in bags and totes ready to be loaded in the car that way nothing will be left behind.. Ive started picking up some extras as far as food that I want to bring.. DS has a mini fridge so we are borrowing that for the room and Im about to buy DH a new coffee pot so that I can take his old one with us so he can have his coffee each morning when he wakes up, rather than having to wait til we make it to the food court..

I am still so undecided on the tours but know that I need to get this figured out before long.. Cant remember if I already mentioned or not, but I do want to go see La Nouba while we are there.. We have been wanting to do this for awhile and figured this will be the perfect time..

Well thats all for now.. just wanted to check in..

 

[julezdisney]

Looks like you are all set! I'm excited for you!

 

[bettyann29]

Looks like you are all set! I'm excited for you!

Im getting there.. Thanks..

Well.. Im getting super excited.. We are now down to almost our last 45 days.. our final payment is due by the 10th so I got that paid today.. So now the hotel and tickets are all paid for and we will have the $200 giftcard when we check in at the hotel.

Im trying to keep this trip as budget as I can.. so far I have:

$75 in giftcards for Rainforest Cafe, Yak & Yeti and TRex.. I plan on using my membership card at RFC for a free appetizer and then me and DH will share a meal since I cant eat but a few bites.. I figure at Yak & Yeti and Trex we will buy an appetizer and then one meal to share.. Im thinking the $75 should cover those 3 meals but if not we will pay the difference which shouldnt be much.. I was thinking Id have $100 but I cant quite get that last $25 so I ended up redeeming my points for a different giftcard..

I also have $30 in giftcards for Chilis, so one day we will go there.. I thought I read that there was one closeby.. and I have $30 in giftcards for Olive Garden so we will go there one evening..

There are a few local restaurants I want to try as Ive heard Kevin talk about them on the podcast.. Cant remember the names.. Im going to go back over the podcasts tomorrow so I can get the names of them and write them down so I can look up the addresses.. those few meals will be paid for out of our pocket.. and I figure at least one morning, maybe 2 we will drive over to Dunkin Donuts, as DH loves DD.. I read somewhere that there is one closeby.. so I will also need to look that info up.. I was thinking on our last day we will get up, check out and go eat breakfast at Dennys before we go play miniature golf..

The only must do meals at WDW will be Cosmic Rays at MK which we'll do for lunch.. I love love love that chicken! At HS we have to eat at Primetime 50's.. my favorite there is the potroast.. Those are the only must do's as far as food that I can think of.. All other days we'll just play it by ear.. I figure we'll bring some breakfast items and then we will just plan on eating lunch in the parks each day and then we'll eat dinner out of the parks, since most nights they close semi early except for the few evening EMH.. If we get hungry in between we'll just get a snack or 2..

I really want to go see Yeehaw Bob at New Orleans Riverside.. I checked his website tonight and he doesnt have January hours listed yet, so I'll check back.. I have a feeling DH will enjoy this.. Im leaving this as a surprise for him..

At this time I guess we are only going to be doing the one tour so that we can hopefully see La Nouba.. That might change and maybe we can swing another tour, but we'll see..

I started getting buying extra things this week when I went to the store so that I can get a few things we need for the trip here and there without buying it all at once at the end.. so far we are good to go on our toothpaste, hair stuff and shaving items.. I bought a new coffee pot for the house today and having it shipped so once that comes in I will take the one in the kitchen and put that one back for our trip.. I started putting things in a tub so that I can keep it all in one place.. Cant wait til I can start packing

 

[bettyann29]

Wow.. just wanted to come back and update.. Looks like I will be cancelling the trip.. Things have been so crazy and hectic here at home over the last month..

Earlier I mentioned DD10 (now 11) will be having back surgery.. she has scoliosis.. She goes every 3 months for the dr to keep an eye on the progression of the curvature.. When she went in October the Dr was saying he was looking at doing surgery once school got out for summer so she wouldnt miss any school..

Well she went for her 3 month check this past Friday and he says that it cant wait til summer.. Her back surgery is now scheduled for Monday, March 2nd..

So all plans I had for any trips are off at this time.. I feel bad as I was planning on taking her to Sea World prior to her surgery as she wants to go there really bad and I hoped that the pictures and her thinking about the great time we had would at least help her get by til she is feeling better and out of pain, but there is just no way that I can take any time off work right now since I will be off with her after her surgery..

I did promise her when she is feeling better, later this year that she will have a special trip planned just for her.. I think it will be Orlando as she wants to go to Sea World and she really wants to see the Titanic exhibit (there is one in Orlando, California and I think Las Vegas) and of course maybe we can squeeze in WDW..

We were driving down so luckily Im not losing out on the airfare, but will call in the morning and cancel the trip