Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks: 2 updates 5/20 p. 85

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

Well if I can't convince Jeff we need to go to DL in April, I may be attempting something like that. I'd rather take the gang to Aulani and we could pull it off point wise but the airfare is a bit of a buzz kill.

We did book a couples weekend to san fran in dec last night so that will help grease the skids for an April disney trip. LOL!

I'll check out your TR!

We haven't told anyone, it's a surprise. I may post a clue on my TR on departure day, we will see. They are a riot!! I have one thing to finish up for them and will be making that this weekend.

LOL!

I am planning on working out a couple of times while there, otherwise I will be crabby and go crazy. Nothing extreme though. Probably hit each gym...once.


No, but I've been looking at my budget and am a little concerned about 3 signature dinners, cost wise. Might end up dropping one on the trip...it's cutting into my souvenir funds!

Ok actually my $400 water bill and $200 car tab renewal cut into my souvenir funds...bums me out, seriously crummy timing.

$400 water bill? Is that for the entire summer? I'd be at the corn dog cart for sure. Which signature would you cancel? And bummer about the renewal. They happen every year and they seem to creep up on me.

Airfare to Hawaii is a total buzz kill and what's been stopping us as well. Disneyland in April? We're thinking June. You'll love the GCV. They are amazing. We've had 2 fabulous stays there. Nothing beats being able to run into your villa after getting soaked on Grizzly River and being back inside the park in 15 minutes.

I may walk in the morning but I won't use the gym. I hate the gym on a normal day. I super hate the gym on vacation. You're dedicated and I'm envious.

Tease. Hmm.....a group costume with of all ladies...I'm guessing it's Disney themed.... I do love a good surprise.

Originally Posted by Ms. WDW

This is FANTASTIC!! Love all the pictures of your family!! I can't believe you haven't been to WDW since 2009. I would have sworn you were there last year.

I know you're going to have a fantastic time. You will absolutely love the F&W. You'll be arriving as I leave...boo hoo!!

Well if "we" can't sleep tonight we can always meet up here!

Looking forward to this trip report!!!!

Linda, I'm happy you joined in. Thanks for the kind words. We went to Disneyland last November and in 2010 but haven't been to WDW since May 2009. I can't believe it's been that long either.

I can't wait to read about your time at the BWV. Have you stayed there before? The BWV were in my top 3 choices but my crew was determined to sleep in a treehouse and with the animals. One day though. Please post some pics when you return. And you're so lucky to be able to walk to Epcot.

And we can always meet here. Too bad, we'll barely miss each other.

Originally Posted by sarahk0204

Yay!

I'm glad you've started. After reading your resort threads, as well as the grocery thread, I feel like I am ready for this trip too.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for joining us. I know, I posted so many threads. I gained so much valuable info and believe it or not, I still feel underprepared.

[Misskitty3]

Sounds like you are going to have an incredible trip! Can't wait to see and hear all about it!

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by Misskitty3

Sounds like you are going to have an incredible trip! Can't wait to see and hear all about it!

Thank you and It's nice to see so many familiar names.

[eandesmom]

[QUOTE=rentayenta;46363014]

$400 water bill? Is that for the entire summer? I'd be at the corn dog cart for sure. Which signature would you cancel? And bummer about the renewal. They happen every year and they seem to creep up on me.

Airfare to Hawaii is a total buzz kill and what's been stopping us as well. Disneyland in April? We're thinking June. You'll love the GCV. They are amazing. We've had 2 fabulous stays there. Nothing beats being able to run into your villa after getting soaked on Grizzly River and being back inside the park in 15 minutes.

I may walk in the morning but I won't use the gym. I hate the gym on a normal day. I super hate the gym on vacation. You're dedicated and I'm envious.

Tease. Hmm.....a group costume with of all ladies...I'm guessing it's Disney themed.... I do love a good surprise.

I'd like to go in April. Jeff isn't quite aware of that yet.

Nope, that bill was for 2 months. We have a leak in the sprinkler system.

[Ms. WDW]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

welcome: Linda, I'm happy you joined in. Thanks for the kind words. We went to Disneyland last November and in 2010 but haven't been to WDW since May 2009. I can't believe it's been that long either.

I can't wait to read about your time at the BWV. Have you stayed there before? The BWV were in my top 3 choices but my crew was determined to sleep in a treehouse and with the animals. One day though. Please post some pics when you return. And you're so lucky to be able to walk to Epcot.

And we can always meet here. Too bad, we'll barely miss each other

I've stayed at the Boardwalk many times as I own there and SSR. SSR is the resort I love when I'm with my husband. It's very relaxing and yet still has that "Disney" feel. The Boardwalk now is where we book when it's time for the F&W because of the closeness to Epcot.

Sadely, you and I just miss eachother. My friend Cee and I always miss eachother. We keep saying "One day we'll meet at the F&W".

But for now, we'll all get together and share our amazing stories right here on the DIS!

[ajf1007]

YAY!!! I made it! Can't wait for your trip and to get all the details! I have to say, your TR name is AWESOME!!!! I think it may be my new mantra!

[rentayenta]

I'd like to go in April. Jeff isn't quite aware of that yet.

Nope, that bill was for 2 months. We have a leak in the sprinkler system.

Oh girl, that stinks. I hope you got it fixed. Does your secondary water turn off soon? Ours turns off Oct 15. We had a *leak* in our water heater and our bill went up $30 last month.


When is Jeff going to learn of April? Before or after you make your GCV reservation?

Originally Posted by Ms. WDW

I've stayed at the Boardwalk many times as I own there and SSR. SSR is the resort I love when I'm with my husband. It's very relaxing and yet still has that "Disney" feel. The Boardwalk now is where we book when it's time for the F&W because of the closeness to Epcot.

Sadely, you and I just miss eachother. My friend Cee and I always miss eachother. We keep saying "One day we'll meet at the F&W".

But for now, we'll all get together and share our amazing stories right here on the DIS!

I'm so glad you love SSR. As this will be our first trip back to WDW, technically this will be our first trip home. I'm really excited. DH loved the grounds of SSR. He found it liked you described, mellow with Disney touches.

I'd love to stay at the BWV one day. It's on my list. I'd like to try them all one day.

Did you sleep last night? I finally fell asleep about midnight and started stirring about 5:00. I'll be exhausted by the time we arrive.

You leave so soon. Have a magical trip. Can't wait to read all about it.

Originally Posted by ajf1007

YAY!!! I made it! Can't wait for your trip and to get all the details! I have to say, your TR name is AWESOME!!!! I think it may be my new mantra!

How was your trip? How did your family like it?

You may use the title as your mantra. Isn't it great? And true.

7 days until WDW!!!

Today's photos are of our villa and view at AKV- Jambo. We took our last trip in 2009 with our good friends, pictured in the first few posts- same friends we're meeting this trip and we stayed at AKV with them. DH says that staying DVC with them was the deciding factor for him in purchasing; getting to experience first hand how neat it is. I'll forever be grateful to them for really introducing us to DVC. I'd ordered the DVD and the 2007 beautiful hard back book and had done a little research. By the time 2009 came, I had a fair amount of knowledge. When DH asked if I wanted to take the tour at SSR, I jumped on the chance. Jenna took the kids and away we went.......2 hours later we were elated owners at SSR. They were at the pool at AKV when we came back. Such a fun night.

I'll quit rambling, here are the AKV pics

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Oh girl, that stinks. I hope you got it fixed. Does your secondary water turn off soon? Ours turns off Oct 15. We had a *leak* in our water heater and our bill went up $30 last month.

When is Jeff going to learn of April? Before or after you make your GCV reservation?

We don't have secondary water...that I know of.

As for the GCC ressie.. After is entirely possible. We will see lol!

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

We don't have secondary water...that I know of.

As for the GCC ressie.. After is entirely possible. We will see lol!

Did you call United? that is CRAZY! Is that inbound or outbound?

I swear sometimes I get notified, other times I don't. Incredibly frustrating.

Well I am amazed more at what you are planning to pack/check. Have you weighed your bag? Seems like some heavy things (pasta sauce), breakables and then "big" things (boxes of cereal).

But yeah, I found the bleach funny. I'm way too cheap to buy it to wash whites on vacation. I'd just wash them separately on hot, stain treat if needed and then bleach the heck out of them when I got home.

then again, if you are with someone like my husband...you'd use up all your stain treatment stuff on one ruined pair of shorts that were beyond fixing and then not have any for the rest of the trip.

I'm packing too. Only liquids though.

2 (small) bottles of rum.

Cynthia, I brought your comments from the other report over here. I'm hoping that other thread gets closed. I forgot who the mod is over there to get it closed.

Do you have faucets not attached to your house? All of our secondary faucets are not attached to the house.

The GCV can be a little difficult to get into at 7 months. June was easier than November. Sending lots of pixie dust if you decide to book. I'm dying to go to CarsLand. It looks amazing.

I didn't call United as I don't have an extra 90 minutes to burn. Just getting to a live person takes a good 20 minutes. I emailed though. I'll email again and attach the original email right before we leave. It generally takes more than one attempt to get anyone to email me back. Worst customer service ever. It's our flight coming home from Orlando. Thank goodness. We're flying Southwest to Orlando so I'm not expecting any changes. I've yet to fly SW and have them change. They've ran a little late but nothing major. They're efficient like JetBlue.

That packed bag only weighs 27 lb. I can't believe it. I weighed myself. Then I weighed myself holding the bag. I'm not just a purdy face. I can't stuff another mustard packet in that thing. I'll fold the bag and pack for the flight home as we have to pay $25 per bag on United. I'm trying to fit all of our stuff in 4 checked bags and then check an empty bag for souvenirs. Chloe's best friend has saved all of her babysitting money and has quite a bit to spend. We're giving each of our kids $100. Chloe also has $150 in gift cards and her uncle, whose visiting here from CA, just have her $100 for her bat mitzvah. He missed her service in May. Chloe's also giving her siblings each $50 as Gabby gave them each $50 from her bat mitzvah money during our last trip to Disneyland. It's their "thing". I love that they're generous with each other.

I have to wash my whites in bleach. I'm not a clean freak by any means but they just don't feel clean to me if they haven't been bleached. Joshua is like Jeff, he'd use a bottle of stain remover on one stain.

Only liquids? Rum! You can pack booze? Is it in plastic? Do you out in a ziplock first? How do you pack it? I'm going to pack some rum too.

[DannysMom]

Since I saw a new TR thread, I'm jumping on there! Hope you don't mind my tagging along.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards App, please excuse any typos.

[PrincessInOz]

Enjoy the F&W festival!

I'm flying United to LA and SF in under a month. Booked my ticket a couple of days ago and had issues with the on-line booking system.

Actually, the on-line booking system had an issue with me.


Anyway....the Australian office was closed and because it involved a lot of $$$, I ended up calling the US office to get my issue sorted out.

*Only* took me 8 minutes to get to a real person.

*Only* took them another 5 minutes to sort it out.



My problem? I was paying international call rates for that time.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Cynthia, I brought your comments from the other report over here. I'm hoping that other thread gets closed. I forgot who the mod is over there to get it closed.

Do you have faucets not attached to your house? All of our secondary faucets are not attached to the house.

The GCV can be a little difficult to get into at 7 months. June was easier than November. Sending lots of pixie dust if you decide to book. I'm dying to go to CarsLand. It looks amazing.

I didn't call United as I don't have an extra 90 minutes to burn. Just getting to a live person takes a good 20 minutes. I emailed though. I'll email again and attach the original email right before we leave. It generally takes more than one attempt to get anyone to email me back. Worst customer service ever. It's our flight coming home from Orlando. Thank goodness. We're flying Southwest to Orlando so I'm not expecting any changes. I've yet to fly SW and have them change. They've ran a little late but nothing major. They're efficient like JetBlue.

That packed bag only weighs 27 lb. I can't believe it. I weighed myself. Then I weighed myself holding the bag. I'm not just a purdy face. I can't stuff another mustard packet in that thing. I'll fold the bag and pack for the flight home as we have to pay $25 per bag on United. I'm trying to fit all of our stuff in 4 checked bags and then check an empty bag for souvenirs. Chloe's best friend has saved all of her babysitting money and has quite a bit to spend. We're giving each of our kids $100. Chloe also has $150 in gift cards and her uncle, whose visiting here from CA, just have her $100 for her bat mitzvah. He missed her service in May. Chloe's also giving her siblings each $50 as Gabby gave them each $50 from her bat mitzvah money during our last trip to Disneyland. It's their "thing". I love that they're generous with each other.

I have to wash my whites in bleach. I'm not a clean freak by any means but they just don't feel clean to me if they haven't been bleached. Joshua is like Jeff, he'd use a bottle of stain remover on one stain.

Only liquids? Rum! You can pack booze? Is it in plastic? Do you out in a ziplock first? How do you pack it? I'm going to pack some rum too.

As long as you check it, yep you can pack booze. Hopefully both bottles will be plastic. I've only bought one of the 2 I need so far as the other one was glass. I will probably have to get it though as the options in the 375 ml are limited. I bubble wrap and out in a ziploc.

Nope, no faucets not attached to the house.

Very cool the kids share like that. I actually found $100 to be more ha they needed so we scaled it down on the last trip a little as once they added in money from grandparents they all had a lot to spend, more than they needed. I think we did 60 on the last trip but aren't positive.

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by DannysMom

Since I saw a new TR thread, I'm jumping on there! Hope you don't mind my tagging along.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards App, please excuse any typos.

The more the merrier! This is open for all. I've learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed reading others' reports.

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Enjoy the F&W festival!

I'm flying United to LA and SF in under a month. Booked my ticket a couple of days ago and had issues with the on-line booking system.

Actually, the on-line booking system had an issue with me.


Anyway....the Australian office was closed and because it involved a lot of $$$, I ended up calling the US office to get my issue sorted out.

*Only* took me 8 minutes to get to a real person.

*Only* took them another 5 minutes to sort it out.



My problem? I was paying international call rates for that time.

I'm glad you got through in a short amount of time. DH travels to Africa and international rates are scary. Even with a toll free 800 do you he charged for international? I'm happy you got it sorted out.

Have you been to SF before? It's such a great town. And LA, Los Angeles? Are you going to Disneyland?

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Have you been to SF before? It's such a great town. And LA, Los Angeles? Are you going to Disneyland? [/CENTER]

I can answer this! PIO is a SF expert, she has a whole thread on visiting SF and CA on the Aussie section. In fact she's probably been to more places than me, and I have and I've lived here over 30 years! Her hubby works for a company there so she gets to tag along often.

And you think she is not going to Disneyland????? Who do you think she is staying with for the So Cal portion of her Aussie mad dash! Can you say girls weekend!

As far as packing adult beverages, I've done it for years. I usually pack a couple bottles of wine for a short trip and the longer ones, I've packed some of the Black Box or other wines. I've never had a bottle break or any problems. The only time I had an issue was when I brought some cooking sherry in a resealable container in a plastic bag. That leaked and my Sczechwan Chicken wasn't quite as tangy as I wanted it to be, but if the seal hasn't been broken on the bottle, it's usually fine.

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by franandaj

I can answer this! PIO is a SF expert, she has a whole thread on visiting SF and CA on the Aussie section. In fact she's probably been to more places than me, and I have and I've lived here over 30 years! Her hubby works for a company there so she gets to tag along often.

And you think she is not going to Disneyland????? Who do you think she is staying with for the So Cal portion of her Aussie mad dash! Can you say girls weekend!

As far as packing adult beverages, I've done it for years. I usually pack a couple bottles of wine for a short trip and the longer ones, I've packed some of the Black Box or other wines. I've never had a bottle break or any problems. The only time I had an issue was when I brought some cooking sherry in a resealable container in a plastic bag. That leaked and my Sczechwan Chicken wasn't quite as tangy as I wanted it to be, but if the seal hasn't been broken on the bottle, it's usually fine.

I'm going to have to check out her thread. Michael and Joshua will be going to SF in Dec. for a Raiders game. Michael grew up in Sacto and has been to SF many times but hasn't been in about 10 years.

I figured she's going to Disneyland. I was hoping she'd be going. Are you going too? That's going to be a FUN girls' weekend. Lucky girl!!! Are you ladies doing the Halloween party?

Do I need to pack it in anything special? I'd love to bring some whipped cherry vodka. Of course I'll have to add either Diet Pepsi to my GG order or a 2 liter to my PDS order. I'm generally not a cherry fan but whipped cherry vodka is delicious.

Originally Posted by eandesmom

As long as you check it, yep you can pack booze. Hopefully both bottles will be plastic. I've only bought one of the 2 I need so far as the other one was glass. I will probably have to get it though as the options in the 375 ml are limited. I bubble wrap and out in a ziploc.

Nope, no faucets not attached to the house.

Very cool the kids share like that. I actually found $100 to be more ha they needed so we scaled it down on the last trip a little as once they added in money from grandparents they all had a lot to spend, more than they needed. I think we did 60 on the last trip but aren't positive.

Bubble wrap is a great idea. I'd be afraid my clothes would end up smelling like a distillery if I didn't super wrap it. What kind of rum are you bringing?

No secondary then.

I'd love to scale back and I'm hoping they don't spend it all. Chloe will spend whatever she can get her tiny little fists on. Gabby won't buy Disney stuff but once she's in DTD, it's all over. Joshua would spend his savings account on vinylmation if we allowed it. Funny thing is that they really use/play with all the stuff they buy. That makes it less painful for sure. They've both packed their Sorcerer and Dale hats that they bought from our Disneyland 2011 trip. They're also bringing their Yoda and Yeti backpacks. Gabby won't bring a plush this year but she's all over her pins still.

I gave them all of those eBay pins. They had enough to make them all one full trading lanyard. They had enough to make Mikayla one too.