Recreating Memories- Surprise Mother & daughter trip

[A's Princess]

What a good kid you are! I'm subbing - sounds like a fabulous trip!

[brookelizabeth]

Haven't read it yet...but wanted to comment and get this on my subscriptsions list!

Going back to read now!

[brookelizabeth]

I love it when I join early enough it doesn't take me 2 days to catch up!

I teared up at your Mom's reaction...so sweet! I LOVE the gifts you got her too-so creative. "Never grow up" - just perfect. This is going to be such a fun trip!

[princess&her4princes]

Originally Posted by A's Princess

What a good kid you are! I'm subbing - sounds like a fabulous trip!

Awwww, thank you!!! It's going to be such a special trip for all three of us!!! Thanks for reading along!!!

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

I love it when I join early enough it doesn't take me 2 days to catch up!

I teared up at your Mom's reaction...so sweet! I LOVE the gifts you got her too-so creative. "Never grow up" - just perfect. This is going to be such a fun trip!

Hi Brook!! Thanks for joining me!!!! Isn't that the truth, when you join a PTR and it doesn't take days to catch up...I always seem to get into those myself, where I'm husing the kids so I can just read one more page!! Only kidding...maybe, sort of, kinda....heehee!!!

Mom was SO excited and kept saying "is this really happening?"....she was beside herself. She hasn't had Jodi & I to herself in 10 years since we've grown up, married, moved away, came back, moved away again, so she is thrilled! And we are, too!!

Thanks for reading along!!!!!!

[Lynn5700]

Hi Kristen!!!! I'm so excited you started this!!!

Girl you are gorgeous and you have a beautiful family

[princess&her4princes]

Originally Posted by Lynn5700

Hi Kristen!!!! I'm so excited you started this!!!

Girl you are gorgeous and you have a beautiful family

Hi Lynn!! You are SO sweet, thank you!!!! I'm so glad you came by and are reading along...hoping to update later today, so stay tuned!!! Big details to follow.....

[princess&her4princes]

Originally Posted by If U Had Wings

Your girls trip sounds wonderful! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Hi! Thanks for joining in..it's going to be so much fun!! I can't believe I'm doing a trip myself (without my DH and kids!!)...it's going to be so different for me and so much fun!!!

Originally Posted by Dylan_&_Blake's_mom

Wow Kristen, I can't believe how much you(now) look like your mom(then) in the old photo. Your mom and sis are beautiful just like you and your wedding photos are really pretty. Can't wait for more.

I know! I get that all of time..now that I'm living back in MA and I run into people where my Mom lives, they will stop me and ask me if I'm her daughter (without her being there or even knowing me...like if they went to high school with her or something!!) it's crazy!!

Originally Posted by lizet313

Am in

Hi!! Thanks for coming along!!!! Glad you found me!!

Originally Posted by kimmylaj

so glad you started this one, almost all the trippies i'm reading are over. i left your old one subscribed so i could find you again, cant wait to hear all about it.

Hi! Thanks for keeping my old TR subscribed too...I kept telling you guys I would start and life got in the way so I just sat down and made myself start and I'm so glad I did...I missed "talking" with you girls!!!

Originally Posted by pmama

How did you get them to unlock your previous thread?

Looking forward to reading more about your upcoming trip. I am so jealous of the increased traffic over here on the WDW threads. Look at all the peeps you've already got.

Yay, you're here!! I had to PM the mod on the board and asked if there was any way she could unlock it for me for one day so I could let you guys know I was starting my PTR and she did!!!!!!!! How is that for Disney magic!! Thanks again Mod!!!!

Im so excited to be writing and chatting with you all again!!!!! The DL boards are much quieter aren't they.....kind of strange since it's pretty popular, too!!! Hmm....

[princess&her4princes]

Hi Everyone! Hoping to update later today (probably when my boys go to bed) so stay tuned! I hope you're all having a great day today..it's nice and sunny here in MA and I can't wait to get out and play this afternoon!! Have a nice rest of your day!!!! ttys!

[princess&her4princes]

So I left you off with us surprising my Mom, it was so exciting to finally have the cat out of the bag, so to speak. My sister, Todd and my Dad have been talking about this for about a month before Mom knew so this now meant, I could FINALLY talk about things!!!!!!! And no one was stopping me....and they still aren't!! LOL! It's a good thing I have you guys, cause as much as Mom and Jodi love Disney, they are not addicts like myself.....but they could be in training, if I work on them hard enough.

We are going early a.m Monday, 9/14 and staying until Friday night, 9/18. It's a quick trip, but we'll make the best of it for sure. My Mom and I are flying out of Boston via Delta and Jodi is renting a car and driving to Orlando from Hilton Head. We should (hopefully) get there about the same time on Monday, Mom and I land in Orlando at 10:30ish and hope to be at POP by noontime, so we can meet Jodi and grab some lunch.

I had booked out trip late January through AAA since it was saving me just over $200 compared to Disney (or anyone for that matter!). I've never had a trip booked through anyone other than Disney so being the control freak that I am, it was bothering me somewhat but with the savings, it was worth it...until MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You see, I heard from my trusty friends here on DIS that Free dining would be coming out soon and it did for Disney Visa holders last Thurday. I was on top of my TA at AAA and told her rumor had it coming out for everyone else on Monday at 7 a.m. I asked her when she would be in to work on Monday and she said 8:30 a.m. That was okay but for me, the control freak, I was freaking out about that....afterall, I was staying at POP, which tends to be the most popular value resort, and since my sister and I are paying for this trip, any help we can get financially we want it! It means we can spend more money while we're there!!! So I was going back and forth with Todd (but mostly, myself!) about calling Monday morning, booking a seperate trip with Disney now and calling for Free dining on Monday....all these different scenarios going on (in my head!). I decided to see what Disney would quote me now for the same package on Sunday night (about 9:30 p.m) and it was only $50 more than AAA now (weird!!!!),so I booked it! So now I had TWO trips to Disney planned for the 3 of us for the same time at the same place...ugh! My plan was to get up early on Monday (as if I have a choice anyways with three little ones at home....lol!) and try my hardest to get free dining....

I was up at 6 a.m. sharp, turned my computer on to see if any codes had been posted by my very special DIS friends, checked out the Disney website and saw NOTHING! But by 6:45 a.m with rumors flying, it was finally out there. I called at 6:49, no answer, again at 6:52, no answer, and then at 6:59 a.m. I was connected,on hold, but connected!!!! Woohoo!! In the meantime, each boy was getting up slowly but surely....uh oh...the house would not be so quiet by the time I connected.....

I got a not very excitable CM on the line (maybe he hadn't had his coffee??) and asked to have free dining applied to my (newest!) ressie, and sure enough, I GOT FREE DINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! I actually let out a scream of delight! We're saving almost $450 by getting this, that's huge!!!! Yay me!!!

So, what did my TA at AAA find out for me? Well, by 10:15, I hadn't heard from her, so I sent her a quick email asking what she found out, she got the same quote as me, as since there were no advantages of keeping AAA now, I asked that that trip be cancelled. I felt kind of bad, but I was saving no extra money by staying with AAA and now I felt more in control of things, especially now that I had free dining and wanted to be sure come the 90 ADR window, I could call myself and get what I wanted or make decisions on the phone instead of waiting to hear back from her. Plus, the last two trips were booked through Disney direct and I'm confident with how things work. So I'm a very happy camper to say the least and for the record, Jodi and Todd are thrilled, too!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned to see what our plan of attack (as of now!) will be....

[Lady Lallie]

I don't think I could give up control of my Disney reservation, which is why I have never rented DVC points either. Good for you for getting Free Dining! That is so exciting, what a great savings too!

[SoonerGirl]

I'm with ya Kristen! I have to have control too, I'd be a nervous wreck letting someone else take care of things for me

Congrats on getting free dining! I have a friend who also called Monday morning and booked her trip, the CM she talked to said that online ADRs should be up and running by the time her 90 day window opened up, so keep an eye out for that. It would be so much easier to make them online instead of having to sit on hold forever, and ever, and ever, and ever........

[princess&her4princes]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

I don't think I could give up control of my Disney reservation, which is why I have never rented DVC points either. Good for you for getting Free Dining! That is so exciting, what a great savings too!

Thanks, LL, glad I'm not the only one with control issues...lol!! I'm psyched that I got FD!! It's a huge savings....the reality of it is, it will most likely go back to Disney one way or another, right? LOL!!

Originally Posted by SoonerGirl

I'm with ya Kristen! I have to have control too, I'd be a nervous wreck letting someone else take care of things for me

Congrats on getting free dining! I have a friend who also called Monday morning and booked her trip, the CM she talked to said that online ADRs should be up and running by the time her 90 day window opened up, so keep an eye out for that. It would be so much easier to make them online instead of having to sit on hold forever, and ever, and ever, and ever........

Thank you!!! Hmm....online ADR's..never heard of that!! How did I miss that? Fill me in when you get a minute...haven't even head of that on the boards...I'm missing out on something good!!!!!!!!!

[SoonerGirl]

Originally Posted by princess&her4princes

Thank you!!! Hmm....online ADR's..never heard of that!! How did I miss that? Fill me in when you get a minute...haven't even head of that on the boards...I'm missing out on something good!!!!!!!!!

I don't know any specifics, I think it's just something Disney has "in the works". I've seen it mentioned a few times on the Restaurants board, although I don't know how it's going to work or when it's going to be up and running. It's something to watch out for though

[Dylan_&_Blake's_mom]

Yay on the free dining. Glad that it worked out for you. Sound like you had a lot going on in your head with the different scenarios like I did. Maybe we an relax a little bit more now and plan all the fun details. Can't wait to hear more about it. Congrats on saving the money...that is a huge difference.

[kimmylaj]

i too am a disney control freak...about 5 trips ago my dh and i booked a trip to disney (first trip my mom didnt book for me) and i went to a travel agent. we booked port orleans well i had just started my true info seeking obsession online and i saw that it was going to be partially closed for renovations (this was right after 9/11). anyway i said if they are doing construction i dont wan to stay there so i started researching and found out that swan and dolphin offered a teacher/nurse discount. since we are both teachers i called to check the rate and they said 109 a night. now i knew it was not true disney but it was a good deal for boat transportation and e ride nights were good there so i went to travel agent and asked her to change ressie. she insistedc there was no such thing. i asked her to look into it and call me back. she did and said it did not exist. i became annoyed and went in with my internet printouts. she said this was rumor and not true. i insisted she call while i was there. she refused and told me that she could no longer handle my travel plans since i was so controlling ( me controlling haha she should see me now with my disboard knowledge) the thing that was terrible is the airfare was still thru them since we didnt want to cancel and pay rebooking fees so when our tickets came in like 3 days before we were to leave the flight was changed from 7:00 am to noon. that was horrible for an overplanner like me i was ballistic. i drove to the airport that day to fight with the ticket agents and convinced them to change me to a flight the night before and not pay a rebooking fee. sure it cost me an extra hotel night but in fuzzy disney math it was more than worth it for a full day in the park. so the moral of this long and very convuluted story is good for you, those of us that are controlling just do better doing it on our own. sorry for hijacking your thread cant wait to hear more