We love rack rate! Aug 1-17 More NEW pics 9/1!

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Thanks, Marti! DS will be pleased with all of the positive comments!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Thanks!

Bernadette, DH aspires to take pics as good as yours! He is getting better. I was quite impressed with some of his shots this time around!

Thanks...if I go with AKL next trip I'll need to upgrade to a dSLR. I think that would be a great Christmas gift.....

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Thanks...if I go with AKL next trip I'll need to upgrade to a dSLR. I think that would be a great Christmas gift.....

As of last night I think we have decided not to do concierge next summer, so we won't be doing another Sunrise Safari for awhile. But I do think you need a dSLR! Just be sure you know you are happy with the camera you buy BEFORE you sink a bunch of money into the accessories.

DH used the Sony ONE day out of 16, even though he HAD to have 2 lenses and an external flash for it. Now that we are home he is telling me it is because the battery was doing something weird. Of course now the battery is FINE. He really likes the Olympus, but it doesn't have image stabilization. Some of the shots I think would be so easy to get come out really blurry, and that might have something to do with it.

For the pics of IllumiNations he wrapped the GorillaPod around the railing and used the remote control.
He took pics of Wishes 3 separate times and he wasn't happy with any of them. Of course photographing Wishes is all about location. Liberty Square, the tables near Pooh's playground, and our balcony at the Poly all produced mediocre results!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I called this morning and booked the first 7 nights of our August 2009 trip. And I did book concierge. Couldn't resist!

 

[NWOhioAngela]

I called this morning and booked the first 7 nights of our August 2009 trip. And I did book concierge. Couldn't resist!

You go girl!

 

[tinknme]

I called this morning and booked the first 7 nights of our August 2009 trip. And I did book concierge. Couldn't resist!

Let the planning begin!

 

[cjhinch]

Ooh how exciting!! We are debating on when to go next year.....but I don't think it will be August! Way too hot! LOL

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Ooh how exciting!! We are debating on when to go next year.....but I don't think it will be August! Way too hot! LOL

Well, we look at it this way:
Airfare in March is like $1100 per person. June is that stupid "holiday pricing" for meals. July is high season for tour groups. We've been 3 years in a row in August and lived to tell about it, so it can't be THAT bad! DS is in 7th grade so we can't have him missing more than a day or 2 if we go during the school year.
This year when it wasn't raining it was HOT. Hotter than I have noticed it being before. I literally felt like my face was melting off. Not like I was sweating and my make-up was running (that was happening, too), but like the actual structure of my face was dissolving into liquid from the heat. If I had sunglasses on it was almost unbearable. I don't like to wear sunglasses anyway, but my eyeballs were so red on the days I didn't wear them they became a necessity. Still, August at WDW isn't all that bad.

We're hoping to do 2 weeks again in 2010.

 

[tinknme]

Well, we look at it this way:
Airfare in March is like $1100 per person. June is that stupid "holiday pricing" for meals. July is high season for tour groups. We've been 3 years in a row in August and lived to tell about it, so it can't be THAT bad! DS is in 7th grade so we can't have him missing more than a day or 2 if we go during the school year.
This year when it wasn't raining it was HOT. Hotter than I have noticed it being before. I literally felt like my face was melting off. Not like I was sweating and my make-up was running (that was happening, too), but like the actual structure of my face was dissolving into liquid from the heat. If I had sunglasses on it was almost unbearable. I don't like to wear sunglasses anyway, but my eyeballs were so red on the days I didn't wear them they became a necessity. Still, August at WDW isn't all that bad.

We're hoping to do 2 weeks again in 2010.

You are funny Elizabeth

The only place I really felt overheated was at AK. Thank goodness for the big fans with the misting water! I look forward to meeting up with you again next year

 

[dkmjgal]

Elizabeth-

Thanks so much for the AWSOME trip report . Everything about it was great.

I have a question for you - we are DVC at the Beach Club and Saratoga. We've only stayed at The Beach Club and WL. We are thinking about staying at SSR next Aug. or Nov. What are your honest thoughts on the resort? Any tips/suggestions you can make? I'm a little leary being that it is so huge and there isn't a hotel with it like WL or BCV. We've actually done 1 night there in a studio before a cruise so I'm a little familar with the dining options - kind of limited I thought. We usually rent a car - food shopping (mainly large quantities of water) - and we don't like to be tied to the transportation at Disney. Anyway, I'm just looking for some input.

THanks in advance-
Kelly

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

You are funny Elizabeth

The only place I really felt overheated was at AK. Thank goodness for the big fans with the misting water! I look forward to meeting up with you again next year

AK is always hot. I think I noticed it more at Epcot. Especially in the front of Epcot from the turnstiles back to Spaceship Earth.

Elizabeth-

Thanks so much for the AWSOME trip report . Everything about it was great.

I have a question for you - we are DVC at the Beach Club and Saratoga. We've only stayed at The Beach Club and WL. We are thinking about staying at SSR next Aug. or Nov. What are your honest thoughts on the resort? Any tips/suggestions you can make? I'm a little leary being that it is so huge and there isn't a hotel with it like WL or BCV. We've actually done 1 night there in a studio before a cruise so I'm a little familar with the dining options - kind of limited I thought. We usually rent a car - food shopping (mainly large quantities of water) - and we don't like to be tied to the transportation at Disney. Anyway, I'm just looking for some input.

THanks in advance-
Kelly

Hi, Kelly!

The biggest negative about SSR for me was being on the bottom floor and having that patio with NO railing. That completely freaked me out from a security standpoint. We kept the curtains shut tight and put the sofa cushions up against them (we had the sofa pulled out for DS and never bothered to fold it back up).
We had a lot of noisy people there during our stay, but that can happen anywhere.
I liked the studio (the lighting is awesome!). The buses were good most of the time. We thought Grandstand was a nice location. The pool was nice, DH did some laundry while he swam with DS one evening, you can refill your mug at the pool bar but the hours are limited. The walk over to the main hall wasn't bad, but we never walked over there in the middle of the day! We never ate there because we had DxDDP those nights and ate mainly at the parks or other resorts. We liked the boat to DTD, and the front desk CMs were all very nice.
I guess my thing is that we LOVE AKL. I don't think we would have bought into DVC with any other home resort. I like the properties that are all inside one building, not separate buildings. There wasn't anything horrible about SSR, it just isn't AKL/AKV. DH said he enjoyed it more than he thought he would, and I have to agree it was better than I expected. We would probably like to try out some other DVC properties before we went back to SSR, but it wasn't a bad stay at all.

 

[dkmjgal]

Hi, Kelly!

The biggest negative about SSR for me was being on the bottom floor and having that patio with NO railing. That completely freaked me out from a security standpoint. We kept the curtains shut tight and put the sofa cushions up against them (we had the sofa pulled out for DS and never bothered to fold it back up).
We had a lot of noisy people there during our stay, but that can happen anywhere.
I liked the studio (the lighting is awesome!). The buses were good most of the time. We thought Grandstand was a nice location. The pool was nice, DH did some laundry while he swam with DS one evening, you can refill your mug at the pool bar but the hours are limited. The walk over to the main hall wasn't bad, but we never walked over there in the middle of the day! We never ate there because we had DxDDP those nights and ate mainly at the parks or other resorts. We liked the boat to DTD, and the front desk CMs were all very nice.
I guess my thing is that we LOVE AKL. I don't think we would have bought into DVC with any other home resort. I like the properties that are all inside one building, not separate buildings. There wasn't anything horrible about SSR, it just isn't AKL/AKV. DH said he enjoyed it more than he thought he would, and I have to agree it was better than I expected. We would probably like to try out some other DVC properties before we went back to SSR, but it wasn't a bad stay at all. [/QUOTE]


Thanks. I appreciate your feedback. I was a little unsure about staying there but you've help me feel better about it. We love BCV and WL so I've been reluctant to try out SSR. We had already owned BCV and wanted to add some pts so we bought SSR - i would have bought more BCV pts if I could.
Thanks again.
Kelly

 

[heaven2dc]

I have a really stupid question but I've been noticing this abbreviation in some of these posts and have no idea what it means! dxddp? I know DDP stands for Disney Dining Plan.

Thanks!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have a really stupid question but I've been noticing this abbreviation in some of these posts and have no idea what it means! dxddp? I know DDP stands for Disney Dining Plan.

Thanks!

It means Deluxe Dining Plan. It is $70 per day for each adult in your party. It includes 3 meals (TS or CS, your choice) and 2 snacks every day. Each person also gets a refillable mug. The TS meals do include appetizers, which is different than the regular plan. Tip is NOT included. We felt like we lost a TON of money. We ate a buffet breakfast and a signature dinner most days we had the plan - not 3 separate TS meals.

 

[tony609]

Elizabeth!
Your trip report is 'magical'...can't wait to see you soon and have lunch and you can tell me MORE MORE MORE .....I am glad you had a wonderful birthday, you deserve it!!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Elizabeth!
Your trip report is 'magical'...can't wait to see you soon and have lunch and you can tell me MORE MORE MORE .....I am glad you had a wonderful birthday, you deserve it!!!!

Looking forward to it!

I called this morning and secured our ressie for the last 3 nights of our 2009 trip, so we are all set! All the towels I can handle!

 

[Steffy]

Elizabeth, I love, love, love the photos you've added. Give a big high five to both DH and DS!!!!!

And my sister told me to tell you hi.

 

[scottny]

Hi,
Just found your tr tonight and read it all and it looked like a magical (except for the sick part).

You got some really great photos.

Thanks for sharing it.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Elizabeth, I love, love, love the photos you've added. Give a big high five to both DH and DS!!!!!

And my sister told me to tell you hi.

Thanks, Stephanie!
Tell her we said hello! Would love to see you guys again! Maybe in Dec. 2009?

Hi,
Just found your tr tonight and read it all and it looked like a magical (except for the sick part).

You got some really great photos.

Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks for reading!
DH is the photographer (except for the food).