What do you do when don't have anymore questions to ask the DISers? You write a PTR!

[sersee05]

Well I thought I would make a PTR since I am completely obsessed with this board. I actually cannot think of any more questions to ask! I come here and just keep re-reading all the posts..Is that pathetic? This will be a long babble of my thoughts since I am late in the game getting this done!! And , boy can I babble...IT's a gift.

We are flying down November 1st and staying until November 6th...oh I wish it were longer!!

Anyhow my dh and I went to Disney for our honeymoon back when Port Orleans was Dixie Landings. We loved it and had the best time..not to mention gained 1000 pounds with all the food we ate. Holy poop it was a lot of food! Back then, we were able to walk into restaurants

My Dh and I have three children. I have 2 girls ages 12 and 7..and a little boy who will be 5 by the time we go...if you see a little boy that looks like the child from Jerry Maguire that week...come on over and say hi!

Soooo we went back to Disney when the in-laws lived there...My son wasn't born and we just went to some hotel offsite for three days with dh's parents. It was great..but we didn't spend too much time there unfortunately. I was very pregnant..and miserable! It was July My ankles were 7 times there normal size...that is no exaggeration!!

We got to go back down when friends from Pittsburgh moved down to FLa. We had moved to Maryland and decided to go down and visit them with our other friends from the old neighborhood in Pitt. We went to Universal ..and the rest of it just slips my mind....

So I am so excited to go back down!! My girls don't really remember those trips . We live in South Jersey now...oh no..did I lose you ? We are really not scary people! We are a very nice people.

We were taking our kids to Medieval times a couple months back and dh and I were talking during the 2 hour car trip. We got onto the holidays and how stressful it has become . I was kind of complaining how my dd12 doesn't need anything this year and the other two ask for toys and they either break...never worked<darn those Pixos>..or they just stop playing with them after the first day. I had just given a ton of toys to the Amvets. I mentioned that it was too bad we couldn't just go some place for Xmas and have that be a "family" present to us all.

Well Dh loved the idea and Disney world suddenly became an option!! Yes!! After looking into Xmas week(we were going to surprise our kids)..we were a little flustered at how expensive it was ..and then I found out it was the most crowded week of the year Sooooooooo we went with good Ole Jersey week! Both kids have three days off..so it works out perfectly.

We were going to stay at Port Orleans with a family of five and go for the free dining. My dh and I ate at CRT on our honeymoon and really wanted to do it again. I started coming here to the boards to ask questions and I finally learned what an ADR was!! Do you know how long it took me to figure out all the abbreviations??! But thank goodness for the board because I managed to snag an 11/2 CRT ressie for 7:30..Yay! We planned on getting 3 day base tickets and going to Seaworld one day. My ds is in awe of sharks and whales..just loves them. They have even replaced dinosaurs..which is a close second. It is one of my favorite parks so we just had to go. I found out about T-rex and that is what we will have for dinner after Seaworld. DS will pass out from excitement.

I started having trouble getting ressies since we were more last minute with this trip. I was booking places just to book and after checking out the menu..I became concerned. We are not adventurous eaters. I would order cheeseburgers at every restaurant until I was 21. I am serious. Even at a mexican restaurant..I would ask if I could have a cheeseburger. I finally became more adventurous with the eating..but I just don't care for "exotic". We are not hopping so I felt I was becoming a slave to the dp. FD is so great and would save us a bunch of money...but I started to question it..

Oh and then the dreaded bed bug postings came up...Oh I was so skeeved The whole thought of bed bugs and that were actual reports..I prefer to live in a bubble sometimes. That bed bug post gave me some pause..and then I read the h1n1 post Oh man...bed bugs and swine flu??? What happens if we get both? I had trouble sleeping that night But then it dawned on me..that I have to let this go.. I HAVE to . I won't enjoy my vacation. We will just check the mattress and take our vitamins. I have no control over it..so poop on it!!

Theeeeen I started to wonder about the POR and the 2 double beds with trundle. I knew my son would say "Um no"to sleeping on the trundle.. He gets scared now and then. I knew this was going to be a tight fit with all five of us. My dd12 suffered a concussion last April ...it has been such a long road and very scary..but she is finally doing better. She only gets headaches when she does to much now and can settle them back down by resting..I am hoping she might be perfectly fine by November...but I was concerned about the size of POR . If she is still suffering ..she will need to come back to the room and it could be a big pain.

The Poly fell into my lap. I got a great discount and it was actually cheaper then staying at the POR..but no free dining. Well I was having issues with the fd anyhow..I am saving 100 dollars between the hotel stays..Will we eat more than 100 dollars worth of food? Yep. But it just works better for us..and I am SO EXCITED !!!

I now am drooling over all the Poly pictures and what it has to offer. I can't sleep at night! The Excitement is too much. ....to be continued!

 

[sersee05]

Soooo originally my itinerary was:
Monday 11/2 at Magic Kingdom with a 7:30 ressie to CRT<didn't give that up>

Tuesday 11/3 Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at O'hana then to Epcot or AK..not sure yet.

Wednesday 11/4 DHS- Mama melrose ressie for dinner

Thursday 11/5 Seaworld with a ressie for T-Rex.

We may change Tuesday and Thursday around..I love that I have the freedom to do so!!

ok so we were going to drive...17 hours or so...My dh hates driving...just hates it. Well I told him I would share..Flights were too expensive. We were going to go trick or treating Saturday and then get up at 3 am and head to DW...Well we popped on this past weekend and looked up flights for giggles. And from Philly it was ridiculous...But I popped in Baltimore and holy moly I saw rates down for 84 dollars and coming back at 59! Five of us flying for under 900 bucks? Holy So we decided to fly...

Dh said we could fly in on Monday 11/2 and arrive at 9:30am. Well Monday is a scheduled park day.. I said "What if the plane is late?" I knew we would save 300 dollars, but for me it wasn't worth it. I won So we decided to fly in on Sunday 11/1 and spend the day enjoying the Poly My kids will love the pool and we can catch both the fireworks on the beach and the EWP that night..then be well rested for MK the next day.

Buuuuut the only issue? I am scared to death to fly. Full blown anxiety about it. I can't even go to the website. So I booked our hotel but put off the airplane thing..I didn't even realize I was putting it off. My dh would ask me if I scheduled the flight and I would say "oh yea" Well darn it when I did go to book it ...my 84 dollar flight went up to 99 dollars..so I lost some money there...not too big of a deal..but I booked it...I can feel my heart racing just typing this. My next thing to do is talk to my doctor about giving me something. I just think I will be an anxious mess.

Now I have to plan what to bring and stuff??? I have read some other PTR and everyone is shopping and getting ready..

 

[sersee05]

Well I think I have officially lost it...I was unloading my dryer and I came across some glitter in my lint holder thingy...Welllll my kids do a lot of crafts so it isn't unusual to see this...but tonight as I dumped it in the garbage..I thought to myself..Oh ! it's pixie dust! Omg..everything is about Disney these days..I must have sang to my husband three times tonight ... "we goin to dissssney ..we goin to dissssney".

 

[SnowWhite33]

I'm sorry that you have a hard time with flying. So many times people will give you the facts about how much safer it is than driving, but that doesn't ease the anxiety.

I find that if I focus on it too much I get very anxious about it. I try to concentrate all of my thoughts on our vacation plans and that helps. When flight time comes I always take a puzzle book and a few gossip mags and that helps to occupy me for the 2.5 hours we are in the air. I also find people watching at the airport passes the time. As I get on the plane I always touch the outside of the plane by the door and say a little prayer, sounds silly, but it's my secret ritual and for some reason it eases my mind-my family doesn't even know I do that.

It also helps to know that by flying instead of driving we are getting what equals an extra day at Disney, 14 hours there and back. Oh and I surely do not miss the "joy" of being confined to a car with my hungry/tired/grumpy family .

Good luck to you with this part

 

[sersee05]

You are so right.. My head knows it is safer than driving. My head knows people fly every day and many fly over and over...but it's that anxiety that creeps up. I get it with flying and the dentist.

lol I know also that when I hear "are we almost there"? I can actually say yes!!! instead of "No, we have 13 more hours to go".

I am hoping I can get a handle on it. I had my tooth pulled and I thought I was going to have a heart attack..but I got through it.

thanks for you advice..I like the idea of saying a little prayer at the side of the plane. I will remember that. I never used to have anxiety..but as I get older a little more creeps in.

I went and read your ptr..you have a fantastic attitude!! I hope all the good thoughts and karma you are going to spread comes back twofold!!

 

[sersee05]

Well the big 4/3 deal came out...I was all excited and completely confused. Thank goodness I have a Ta. She explained to me that I would have to stay a minimum of 5 days and have a 5 day base ticket on. Right now I have a 4 day base ticket with 5 nights in the world at the Poly.

But I got that great rate which put my cost at 1060 for the Poly and 982 dollars with discounted tickets. ...so I am under 2000 dollars for the trip. Plus we are going to Seaworld for 325 dollars..I am getting the tickets on Seaworld's website and am paying 64 for the five of us. Then there is the lovely airfare... I actually got Southwest for I think 84 going down and 59 coming back..so a total of around 850 dollars for five round trip!! So I am around 3200 for the entire trip..well minus food.

We are going to eat at CRT..so know that will be a couple hundred. We have Mama Melrose one night and T-Rex another..which are both semi reasonable. Someone told me I need to hit Wolfgang Pucks cafe..which is reasonable..So I think we will be ok.

With the 4/3 deal I got a quote of 2, 964 without dining and 3, 674 with dining plan...and that is only 5 nights..If I extend it out for the 7..with dining it gets to 3900...that isn't included Seaworld and airfare.

So I feel like I did get the best deal I could..

So now I have to find another obsession..oh wait..I know!! My new obsession is the transportation and Me!! I have to figure out how to get everywhere..Maybe I will make maps And maybe I will color code them !! I am thinking my husband will get quite annoyed with me.

He thinks I talk about it too much anyhow!! I was saying I work Disney into every topic. I think dh thinks I need meds..