You know it's time to start a PTR when......Update 1/12 Leaving in 10 hours!!!!!!!!!!

[gellybean]

I need to really look at both of our plans again and see if we overlap anywhere.

Poor Dash with strep. Strep is really awful, hopefully he's feeling better today.

Awww thanks! Dash is feeling better. He really was feeling better Saturday. It was the weirdest case of strep I've ever seen. He must be one of those kids that isn't affected by it much. Unlike Jack-Jack who got Scarlet Fever from it last year. I never knew that Scarlet Fever was just strep with a rash until Jack-Jack got it. I also never knew that not everyone can get Scarlet Fever. You have to be allergic to the toxins that your body produces when you have strep, to break out in the Scarlet Fever rash. The rash is actually an allergic reaction to Strep! Who knew! So we are watching Jack-Jack VERY closely now that his brother has had a confirmed case of strep. Don't wanna mess around and let him get Strep and not nip it in the bud quickly!

LL- Let me know if we overlap. A DIS meet would Rock!!!! I know we didn't overlap when I last checked your plans, on your last PTR, but haven't really thought to look again with your new PTR!

To make it easier on you, here's our plans-short version:
1/12 - arrive at AKL early afternoon, MK evening
1/13 - Epcot all day, DTD evening
1/14 - Epcot all day and evening with afternoon break at AKL
1/15 - DHS all day, evening at AKL
1/16 - AK day maybe, AKL evening
1/17 - Epcot all day, with afternoon break at AKL
1/18 - MK all day, with afternoon break at AKL, evening at Poly
1/19 - departure day, AKL til noon-ish



Mini-update:
And on a PTR note- Guess what I got in the email yesterday while waiting to take Dash into the doctor?


A PIN code!!!


Seriously?!

Why do I always get them when I already have a trip planned, so I don't really need an incentive to take a trip, and while a general discount is going on that actually is better for us than a PIN and WHY do I get them to my email address but they are in my mom's name, who ISN'T going on the trip this time!?!




Good thing I didn't need it yeah?

For those that are curious, it was the 30/35/40% off for dates throughout most of 2010. The good news is, my mom, who it was 'addressed' to CAN use it! She and her best girlfriend are planning a trip in April/May so I'm hoping she can get some good out of it!

I'm getting things crossed off my list! I've gotten all the scanning done for my MIL's gift, mailed my SIL and BIL's gift, got my Disney 'area' cornered off so I can start setting trip stuff aside.

Dash will return to school tomorrow, then he has 2.5 days til Christmas Break. It'll be Christmas the following week, then bowl games and New Year's, more Bowl games, then return to school on January 5th! Dash'll have ONE week back at school before we leave!!! It will be here before we know it! I love planning trips in January because all the holiday activity in the weeks leading up to the trip, make these last countdown days go by so fast!

I'm about to update my spreadsheet for ADRs, crunch the numbers on the DDP yet again, and figure tip amounts if we decide to add DDP. We were planning on adding DDP the last week in December, to give us another CC billing cycle to pay it off and we may still do that. However, I just checked the 2010 DDP brochure and some of our restaurants still haven't confirmed their participation. I KNOW it can take a while for the negiotiations and that most of the restaurants will jump on board, but the late date is worrying me a little. So I need to decide if we'll still do the DDP if the restaurants we want don't all participate. I may wait to add the DDP til January 1, which should still be plenty of time to not interfere with our package, but give the DDP list a chance to finalize.

I am going right now to take pictures of all my loot and will upload them tonight!!!

 

[gellybean]

Sorry the pics are huge!!! I spent forever trying to resize them in photobucket and everytime I would tell it to apply and then go back and copy the image again, it would default back. I promise I will figure something out for the sizing before the TR!!!!!!!!!



My Disney Store Online Loot:

The boys' matching shirts from the Disney Store Online:

Front

Back

The ebag

ME Tags:

Package info/freebie vouchers:

Close up's of customized maps without our last name showing-sorry if that made them look a little wonky!

Stickers they send so you can add more Favorite spots

My mom's Tink sweatshirt that she bought two trips ago. MIL has one too. I'm borrowing it this trip.

Tush Tink

Hoodie I bought last year! I love it but it hasn't held up to all the washings. Next one won't be white. Not that I can't get the stains out, because I can, but the washings have worn it more than I wanted! Especially for a $60 hoodie!

Cute inside of the hood

Back of the hoodie

Cont in next post!!

 

[gellybean]

Continued from previous post!




Cute messenger bag I bought back in 2000!!!!

Bag I bought last trip. Love it! It's burnt orange and Mickey Mouse! My two favorite things!! Hook 'em!!!

Pottery Barn Kids Backpack/Diaperbag that I took last trip. It will most likely come along for this trip too!

Size comparison

Inside of backpack

Lots more room for extra clothes etc

Glow sticks for the boys!

Travel-size loot! Even though it'll all be checked and need not be under 3 ozs!! I still fall for the cute little $1 stuff

Close up of tiny stuff that make me buy it

Other close up- Anyone know why I get those lines on some of my pics?!

Cute travel size of my favorite lotion that I keep refilling from my big jar! They discontinued this stuff a few years ago! I bought out Ebay's supply (ok not literaly but I have several back ups) and am gonna be when I'm finally out of it!

Our poor doxle puppy had surgery today. He's gonna be wearing this cone for 10 days! He looks so miserable!

So there ya go!! Will try to post Day 8 and DDP decisions tomorrow!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Look at all of those Disney goodies! I have the Minnie and Tink shirts!

 

[gellybean]

Look at all of those Disney goodies! I have the Minnie and Tink shirts!

We match!! As soon as I get around to dying my hair blonde!


Kidding. a) I'm not THAT stalker-ish. Honest. and b) I've never EVER never dyed my hair.

And now an update!!!​

Change o plans!
I was reading on the Dining reviews boards and found out that the menu is changing for the LTT lunch with the character meal change over from CP. Some of you may be saying ... well DUH BUT in my defense I called and talked to someone back when I booked the reservation in October and was told the menu would not change, just the characters were back. THEY WERE WRONG! (I just said that in Ron White's voice if any of you were interested in knowing that)

I called WDW Dine back today after reading Dis-Yoda's review of LTT and lamentation about the menu changing for the next trip in Feb, and sure enough the meal will all be family style, very Thanksgiving-y. NO Celebration Salad and NO STICKEY TOFFEE PUDDING-Y CAKE-Y Dessert.


Considering that we were over our TS credits by 1 credit anyway.... it was an easy decision to cancel this one. I will jump online and cancel our lunch for Monday January 18th at LTT here in a bit. We'll probably eat lunch at CHH that day or sleep in and have a late breakfast. Cus the likelihood of us getting to MK early with MIL is slim to none anyway. Might as well sleep and take it easy on our last day. Course a lot of this depends on how much we covered on our first night in MK. If we did a lot then I won't be such a stress bucket about getting to the park early. We could always go in early and come back to get MIL around noon... or after early afternoon nap. Or something to that affect.


Departure Day 8 Itinerary-


Tuesday, January 19th:
Wake up normal time
Finish packing as much as possible
Walk downstairs
Breakfast ADR @ 8:50am at Boma
Return to room, pack up last minute stuff
Say bye to MIL
Catch ME around 10:30am I'm guessing.
Flight out of MCO at 1:20pm


Thoughts:
Another reason I'm soooooooooo happy to be staying at AKL. To be able to walk down to Boma buffet breakfast on your last day is great! Any other departure day there'd be no way we could get over there and back and get packed up and make our ME bus time of 10:30am. We may try to get down to Boma a little early and try to get in around 8:30am. This reservation is made for 3 adults 2 kids but MIL may not make it down in time, which is fine.

And that's it!!!! All our plans!!!! It's right around the corner!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

So on to the where.....


I know y'all are all dying to know.






When we first started planning this trip, I looked at a lot of options. As I always do. As if the Poly is magically going to cost what a value does if we stand on one leg while checking in on the fifth Thursday of the month.

But alas, the prices were still way out of our budget. Even with the 4/3 v. 5/2deal difference. I started looking at Pop Century, the resort I stayed at the last two trips I've taken. $1200 for the 3 of us as Jack-Jack is still 'free', which included 7 nights and 7 day base tickets. I seriously did consider booking Caribbean Beach. For our family, it would have meant an additional 200$ for the entire 7 nights. REALLY tempting. I mean when would we ever get to upgrade from Value to Moderate for that small of a difference.

And we probably would have upgraded. Except for MIL. Not that she wouldn't like to stay at CBR. I'm sure she'd love it. But for her room, for only 3 nights, without a room only discount (yet...?) it would be 300$ more to upgrade to CBR for just her 3 nights! So in fairness to her, how could I ask her to double her hotel budget to upgrade to a moderate? So I booked the MYW package for us and a room only for her for Pop Century.

We paid the deposits and were all set.


Til I had a dream one night.

Literally...... I woke up one morning and remembered my dream and thought I've got to call MIL and see if this will work!!

You see, Jack-Jack is FREE! Meaning he's under 3 and doesn't count toward the room maximum. Which means...... we could have say THREE adults, one child and one infant in ONE room at CBR!!

Hot dog!! I figured out a way to upgrade!!!!

So I texted Mr. Incredible first. Had to make sure that he was ok with his mother bunking down with us for 3 nights. I mean same shower, same room, etc. That's a lot to consider. Again, love my MIL but ittttty bitty living space.

Mr. I said it didn't matter to him either way, but he'd doubt that MIL would go for it. She's a pretty independent lady with definite ingrained habits that he felt would mean she'd insist on her own room. And in all fairness, she had previously told me she would never bunk down with her daughter and son-in-law. That she would never do that to her son-in-law. So I knew it was a long shot, but figured what the hey... ask anyway!

I called her and she said SURE!! If y'all don't mind, sounds fine with me! I was floored! But super excited. I mean I know this could make for an interesting 3 nights, but really it's just 3 nights, one of which will be a late date night for Mr. I and I and we'll be in the parks the majority of the time. And us four all sleep like the dead. So she'll be able to get up earlier than us and start getting ready and we'll most likely never hear her. Besides, I don't sleep that late when at Disney. I wrote up TR notes to the light of a muted Stacey many an early morning last trip.

I asked her if she would have a preference between CBR, CSR, or POFQ, explaining the theming differences and location etc. She said she'd like the island theme best, and since that was the one mod I was leaning towards, we were golden.

Until I looked up the rate again and no standard rooms were left.... The whole point of upgrading to Mod was to use the money MIL was going to be paying for her own room, and put it toward the upgrade. Remember it was a 200$ upgrade and her room at Pop would have been 300$. So she was actually going to be saving 100$.

The cheapest view was standard pirate or water view. 400$ difference from Pop.

Well, I got to thinking.... let me tell you, my husband generally cringes when he hears those words.

If we were willing to upgrade to Mod and it cost us 200 more, just exactly how much more would it be to upgrade to hmmmm let's say AKL?!?!?!?!?

I checked. And there were standard rooms available at AKL and with the 4/3 upgrade and MIL's 200$ contribution (cus I had already told her I'd save her 100$ and I wasn't gonna go back on that) upgrading to AKL was an extra 400$ for us.


I have priced a many a trip to WDW in my 30 years and correct me if I'm wrong here, but I've never seen an upgrade from Value to Deluxe for 7 nights that would only cost 400$ more. So I txted Mr. I immediately.... and got the response.... "$400 is a big jump baby."

To which I txted back "But just think... we could walk down to Jiko for our date night, and not feel bad about staying late since we know they are just down the hall, and we can go to the lounge at night and have a cocktail, and we can try Boma for breakfast and we could have Zebra domes EVERYDAY"

To which I got the following reply "You should be in marketing."




See we had been to AKL last January for a date night to Jiko and we both AKL. Which honestly surprised me. I'm not one to like zoo's, AK is my least favorite park, you'd never catch me wearing animal print, mostly because the stripes NEVER go the right way.

But we loved that resort. The dark wood, the squishy giraffe print carpets, Jiko, the bridges, the gift shop, the sitting areas, the rocking chairs, the firepits, the winding water stream from Jiko to Mara..... Loved it!! We had actually booked it for our couples only trip that we had to cancel. So getting to stay at AKL was a dream for both of us.

I had thought, since I was 13 and first toured Deluxe resorts for fun, that my dream stay would be WL. Just goes to show you never know until you try something new! I would have never in a million years thought I'd pick AKL over WL! Who knew!


And I knew when I got that last text that I had convinced him that it was worth 400$. Santa may have to shop at the Dollar Store. We may have to eat a lot of beans and rice between now and January, but it's gonna be worth every single gas pain.

I called MIL to make sure she wouldn't mind a safari themed hotel, and explained why CBR had ended up being more costly to upgrade to than I had said it would be and we were able to swing the upgrade since it was a once in a lifetime upgrade to a deluxe resort. I don't know that she fully understands what the difference in value and deluxemeans.... she's never been to AKL. She visited 'Ohana with us so she saw the difference in Pop and Poly... so maybe she's a little bit excited too. But she was with it.

I called Disney and asked the one question I was scared would bring all these thoughts of mine to a screeching halt. Can you have a guest for 3 nights without them being on the same package? And if so, how much for an extra adult? His first answer was ... yes you, can declare a guest for a partial stay and they do not have to be on the same package. But AKL would not allow 5 people in a room.





Wait!! I said. One of those people will be under 3. Oh! He says, then sure no problem!




I feel sorry for people that call and are clueless. Cus he totally didn't pick up on what I said said originally about knowing the child under 3 didn't count. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he was trying to pull one over on me. Just didn't catch all the details. Thankfully I already knew that if we were ever going to have MIL stay in the same room as us, without upgrading to a 'deluxe room' at a Deluxe hotel, it would have to be this trip before Jack-Jack turns 3!


That minor scare out of the way, and with the knowledge that it would be an extra 25$ a night for the three nights MIL would be there due upon her cking in, the CM was able to make the upgrade, with the 4/3 code, cancel MIL's room only ressie and we got to keep the same confirmation #. Let me tell y'all, I was walking on air the rest of the day!!!!


Total package with MYW base tickets, for our party of 4 = $1815

Minus the deposit, minus MIL's 200$, we owe $1415 by Nov 28th. We would have owed $996 for the Pop stay.

So the Where is...... Animal Kingdom Lodge!

The When is .... Jan 12-19th, 2010

The Why is.... because we love it and my 3 boys birthdays are within 3 days of each other in January.

The Who is.... definitely Mr. I, myself, Dash and Jack-Jack for 7 nights, MIL for 3 nights, and potentially BIL and SIL at some point.

Transportation to the World... SW Airlines non-stop flights out of Austin


So now that you know all of that information....

Stay tuned for the What in the World are we gonna EAT!!!! ​

Gelly, I am loving your resort evolution... You just went from Value to Deluxe in one foul swoop!! Don't you love how we justify these things? Not to mention the SACRIFICES we make. I mean, you are going to be sharing a room and a bathroom with your MIL! You are either A. a saint, or B. extremely efficient in the bathroom (since your MIL, like mine, is NOT) or 3. a real animal lover to make such a sacrifice.

Seriously, though - that is going to be so AWESOME!!! Can't wait to hear how much your little dudes love that resort!! I have never even been there!

Ta ta, fellow Austin-ite! Oh, and Gig 'Em!! (jk - you know I could care less)

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

:

He does not like the cone of shame.

 

[gellybean]

Gelly, I am loving your resort evolution... You just went from Value to Deluxe in one foul swoop!! Don't you love how we justify these things? Not to mention the SACRIFICES we make. I mean, you are going to be sharing a room and a bathroom with your MIL! You are either A. a saint, or B. extremely efficient in the bathroom (since your MIL, like mine, is NOT) or 3. a real animal lover to make such a sacrifice.

Seriously, though - that is going to be so AWESOME!!! Can't wait to hear how much your little dudes love that resort!! I have never even been there!

Ta ta, fellow Austin-ite! Oh, and Gig 'Em!! (jk - you know I could care less)

I think St. Gelly has a nice ring to it, doncha think?





Seriously I am pretty much no muss no fuss when it comes to getting ready on vacation. So that does help! And MIL will wake up much earlier than we will, so she can get herself beautified. So that was part of the justification too.

Glad you found me!!!! and

I can't wait either. It's gonna rock. I can't tell you how many times I've talked myself into and out of calling and upgrading to Savannah view. I keep reminding myself that we already made the jump up from Value AND that the price of upgrading to Savannah is half of our DDP cost fo the 3 that are old enough to eat. Someone really should tell Jack-Jack he can't eat this trip.

So I'm not gonna call and upgrade.

I


am



not!


Honest!


But a girl can hope for a little right? So I'm crossing my fingers for one of those magical free upgrades.

That being said, I could have a view of a ditch and broom closet and we'd all be ecstatic just to be there!!!! I mean if you think about it, I'd be paying 300+ dollars for a view of a Giraffe's butt and a bunch of animal poo?? A ditch and broom closet sound pretty good in comparison if you think about it like that.


@ Gig'em!


Our poor puppy does look pretty pitiful doesn't he? Notice my Ikea shelves in the background. You might know where I picked those up from. Our old entertainment center is still sitting in the living room- its been a week. *sighs* Mr. I claims it's too heavy for him to move without a dolly. Does anyone else see the irony in that sentence? His name is MR. INCREDIBLE and he can't move an armoire?

Just saying.


Hopefully we'll be renting a dolly this weekend so he can get it out of my living room!!!!

 

[gellybean]

Ho Ho Ho everyone!


I sat down last night and looked at the DDP more closely, cancelled LTT and figured up money for tips. As of right now, two restaurants that we have reservations for aren't on the DDP list. I'm hopeful they will get their contracts finalized in the next 15 days or so. So as of now, we're going to plan on adding the DDP in the first of January. If we have to pay OOP for all our meals, it'll be ok. On one hand we may end up spending more money, but on the other hand we'll have more flexibility in our ordering, will probably end up sharing more desserts instead of each having our own, ordering water instead of a soda, etc. I think it will work out in the wash. I'll continue to check the DDP list and make the final decision to call and add DDP right after New Year's.

I have all the meals worked out, we're using exactly the # of credits we're given with some snack credits left over for unplanned eating urges. I now have the amount I need for tips, though I don't think I'm going to do pre-determined tip envelopes. Just gonna make sure we have plenty of cash on us, in various of denominations. Because Mr. Incredible is in the restaurant business, we tend to tip well, however, we do tip based on service, not just the meal price. We RARELY ever tip below 15%. We understand all too well how the kitchen can influence a server's performance and that anyone can have a bad day. However if the service is really great, we want the option to bump up the tip and I won't have quite that flexibility with pre-tipped envelopes. We're weird, I know!

I am heading out of town this weekend. Gonna do some shopping at the outlet malls and see my best friend's baby for the first time finally!! He's nearly 4 wks old. I've tried to make it down there twice before now, it's only about an hour and half's drive. Had to cancel both times, so I'm determined to make it down before the kid is sitting up! Course the fact that I'll pass the largest outlet mall in Texas on the way, is just an added bonus! I'm bringing two of my nephews back with me tomorrow, so they can catch a ride with their other aunt to my parents house for Christmas break. Gotta love logistics! Thankfully most of us Dis'ers are pretty good at logistics. We have to be to make all these Disney plans work!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! Christmas is right around the corner!!!!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Ok, so the last time I did the full on DDP (rather than the QS) tips were included. Even still, I just don't see how I could do the pre packaged tips.. Good for you!! That is the kind of activity that makes me want to hack off a limb and beat myself with it. I guess math was neevr my forte!! I do see the value in it though... DH and I NEVER carry cash so we are no good about controlling it when we have it! Our tip money would be gone in the first two days... A cookie here, little trinket there... besides, we never really know what we'll get at a restuarant until we're in the seat. We might want water, or Coke, or something a bit stronger!

Have fun at that outlet mall.. I"m already eyeing my calendar to choose a day when I can go....

 

[brookelizabeth]

Well, I had a nice long response and then the boards went down last night!

I'll sum it up at this - your plans are looking great! And, I couldn't do the pre-packaged tip thing either....we always decide after the meal what the tip should be, then charge it to the room, works slick, and that way we aren't carrying extra cash. Though, those tip envelopes from the DISigns board are very cute!

 

[gellybean]

17 More Days!!!!!!

 

[gellybean]

Ok, so the last time I did the full on DDP (rather than the QS) tips were included. Even still, I just don't see how I could do the pre packaged tips.. Good for you!! That is the kind of activity that makes me want to hack off a limb and beat myself with it. I guess math was neevr my forte!! I do see the value in it though... DH and I NEVER carry cash so we are no good about controlling it when we have it! Our tip money would be gone in the first two days... A cookie here, little trinket there... besides, we never really know what we'll get at a restuarant until we're in the seat. We might want water, or Coke, or something a bit stronger!

Have fun at that outlet mall.. I"m already eyeing my calendar to choose a day when I can go....

Thanks!! Got a new black bag! Love it! The coupon wasn't necessary. They were passing them out in bulk. Who knew?! BUT thank you so much forwarding it to me!
I drove back by on the way home from San Antonio on Saturday, thinking I'd run in and grab the matching ponytail scarf to tie on the bag... the doors were CLOSED because they were at capacity. There was a line waiting to get in, and they were manning the doors, letting them in as someone would leave. NUTHOUSE! So I came on home. Didn't need the scarf that badly!
Let me know what you think of the outlets in SM once you go!!

We never carry cash either!! BUT thanks to Brook, I just realized we can charge tips to the room!! DUH! Why didn't I think of that?!

Well, I had a nice long response and then the boards went down last night!

I'll sum it up at this - your plans are looking great! And, I couldn't do the pre-packaged tip thing either....we always decide after the meal what the tip should be, then charge it to the room, works slick, and that way we aren't carrying extra cash. Though, those tip envelopes from the DISigns board are very cute!

Don't ya hate when you lose long posts???

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I would have never THOUGHT to just charge the gratuity back to the room!

 

[gellybean]

Just checked the participating DDP list again and all the restaurants that were missing are on their now. So I'll be calling and adding DDP tomorrow!

This'll be our first time using it. Here's hoping we like it!

On a sadder note, we had to put our 12 wk old Chihuahua puppy to sleep Christmas eve. My brother has a much bigger dog and we were all at my parents house for Christmas. Bella was out pottying and the bigger dog decided he could use her as a ragdoll. I blame myself, because I should have stayed outside with her while she pottied. Hard lesson to learn. It definitely put a damper on our Christmas. We had only had her for 5 wks but we were all in love with her already. She will be missed deeply. I am trying to keep my perspective about things, though it's hard. I KNOW I am blessed beyond measure and was so thankful that Jack-Jack was healthy this Christmas, with the memories of his Scarlet Fever from last Christmas still fresh in my mind. It was nice seeing how much more he appreciates gifts and opening presents now that he's so close to 2.

I can tell you that this Disney trip is a God-send more than ever. Knowing that I'll be in my laughing place in 17 short days is keeping my focus off of losing Bella mostly. Though I know I need to let the grief hit me, because if I don't, when we get back from vacation it'll hit even harder, the post-vacation blues!

There's not a lot of planning left to do, though I'll be sure to update as we start the packing process, and the weather forecast comes into play.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I am so so so sorry about Bella.

 

[gellybean]

I am so so so sorry about Bella.

Thank you Leslie!

Dash came back from his Dad's yesterday, and asked where she was. He had forgotten. I had to tell him .... again.

So sad. But we're dealing... slowly.

 

[gellybean]

So I get this text from Mr. Incredible this morning...

"Ops meeting scheduled company wide for the 12th and 13th in Dallas. Got permission to only go the first day. "




Ummm hello.... we LEAVE on the 12th. 10:20am on the 12th! So I'm freaking out. I mean, yes it's not as bad as cancelling the whole trip, and yes he could have to go both days and lose TWO days of vakay but still!!! They wait and plan this mandatory meeting NOW?!

I'm re-working the whole intinerary in my head, trying to figure out if I can switch his flight to leave a day late, if we'll all leave a day later. If the boys and I head down by ourselves, how am I going to handle both of them in the airport, etc. My mind is racing. I try calling Mr. I to get more details, he doesn't answer. I'm txting tell him to call me asap etc.


Finally, after about 10 txts it occurs to me that he has the WRONG dates!!!!!!!! Coulda killed him. Ops meeting is the 11th and 12th, so he'll have to drive to Dallas on Monday, and drive back that evening after the meeting. He won't have to stay the night Monday night and attend the second day of meetings, thank God. He'll be back in plenty of time Monday night to help pack up his stuff ( I try to have most of his stuff laid out and sorted, so his packing is minimal. He just likes his stuff packed his way and I like my stuff packed my way. )

Crisis averted, though let me tell you I was ready to thortle him for scaring the poo out of me thinking that he was going to have to be at a meeting on Tuesday, the day we were supposed to be leaving for vacation!


There was a manager a few months ago, that had a vacation planned, well ahead of time, and then the company called one of these meetings and the manager chose his vakay over the meeting and they terminated him!!!! So IF the ops meeting had been on the 12th, Mr. I would have had to have gone!


Checked the weather the last few days and I swear it's swinging by 10 degrees each day that I check! One day Sunday is showing a high of 75 the next day it's showing Sunday to be a high of 65. Definitely gonna have to wait til closer to the trip to get an "accurate" forecast. Oxymoron anyone? Unlike the Disers that live in the North, ( Brook! ) we can't pack our clothes and wear our winter clothes in the mean time. Our climate is about the same as Florida's so we'll be packing last minute regardless of the weather and just packing more layers if the weather forecast is showing cold-ish weather.

Still haven't called and added the DDP. Guess I need to do that tonight!!

Hope everyone is getting geared up for a fabulous New Year's eve!! We keep it pretty boring around here. Just tv and family time. Mr. I will have to work that evening but he should be home well before midnight.


Here's our family pic from Christmas Eve night. I think Jack-Jack was trying to do Hook 'em horns with his fingers. One of my nephews was probably flashing it behind the camera to get him to look at them. LOL Let me know if y'all think this size is too small!! Still playing with photobucket and want to get it right before I start the TR!!

 

[gellybean]

I've really been thinking alot about our time crunch on Monday, Jan 18th to get from MK after Wishes to our 8:55pm 'Ohana reservation. I recently read a TR that said that the resort loop took 30 mins! So if you factor in the great rush of crowds leaving the park, and the line at the monorail and then the loop time to get around to Poly... it's the middle stop right? .... the chances of us making our ADR are slim. And while I know I said that I had a back up plan to watch Wishes from the beach at Poly, and yes I do I love watching Wishes from the beach at Poly, BUT I'd rather watch the fireworks in person, under the castle for our last night.

I had checked for later times before and always got the little message about your party may be split, and I just wouldn't do that to MIL. And I realize that the likelihood of this happening is prolly slim, we could always pull up a chair, etc. I just never switched it.

Well, I just happened to think to try again and voila I got a 9:30pm dinner ressie without the little blurb about having to seat your party separately!


I'll cancel our 8:55pm ressie. This will give us 35 more mins to get over there, and if we check in early so be it. It'll only be 8:30 our body block times and we're all late eaters anyway. So BONUS!

Because we cancelled LTT for lunch, I have no clue what this day will entail. I know we have MK planned at some point our last day. Whether we get up early and hit MK, then return to AKL for a nap and then back to MK for Wishes and then Poly for Dinner, or we sleep in and hit MK later in the day remains to be seen. A lot of it depends on how tired we are by that time, how Jack-Jack has been doing... is he taking naps in his stroller, sleeping well in the room during our attempts at afternoon breaks, how early is MIL managing to get up.... etc

As long as I get to MK at some point on our last day, as long as I get to see Wishes.... please please no bad weather that day!! and as long as we get to finish our night off at 'Ohana capped off with their yummy bread puddin', I don't think I could ask for a better last day of vacation!


I did call and add DDP! So that's D O N E done! They had to do some finagaling and get a manager involved since the code I used... buy 4, get 3 free wasn't active anymore. But they got it done. $671 to add for the three of us and Jack-Jack will eat off of my plate most likely. I'm very anxious to see if we're really gonna come out ahead using the DDP. I know we'll have to do some out of pocket eating for adult bevs, a few choice appetizers (soup at Le Cellier, calamari at Tutto ) and Jiko will be entirely OOP. So we'll see how it comes out in the wash, as my momma would say!!


Hope everyone has a fabulous day tomorrow!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

WOO HOO on getting the later 'Ohana ADR. I think that will be much better as far as time goes.

I've only done the dining plan when I went for free dining. I don't think I'd come out ahead if I paid OOP for it but I know a lot of people get their money's worth on it.

 

[gellybean]

for my only reader, Leslie!!!