My PTR-3 generations of woman-THE 3 P's do WDW!

[debsters41]

Hi!
You have a Dilemma, don't you? Normally I would be "Hello, costs less and an extra hour sleep, yeah baby." but you do have to take into consideration your Daughter's and Mother's feelings on the issue.

I think the tie-breaker for me would have to be to choose whichever option will be the most convenient AFTER the vacation. That is when you gals are likely to be tired and emotionally not in the mood for a lot of ado, KWIM?

Whatever you choose, Have a fabulous time!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Two more things to check off my To-Do list.

1. Went to DD's school this a.m. to get the form for Independent Study. Silly me, I didn't know there was a form. I've never had to take her out of school before to go to WDW. Saw her teacher in the office. She said she had almost everything ready. Wanted to copy a few more pages so DD won't have to take books with her. Also let me know she can contact her by email if she has any problems with her assignments. I think I got lucky with this teacher, she's being very accommodating! I'll probably have to email her to find out how to do some things!

2. Just booked and paid for Early Bird Check in (EBCI) on SW for flight from ONT to MCO (changing planes in Las Vegas). We did this least year and it worked really well for us. They just started offering the EBCI option before we went last year. We did it for both flights, and for the first time ever, we got "A" boarding passes. And I always check us in right at the 24 hour mark. Never got better than "B". Haven't decided if we'll do it for the flight coming home but probably will. I know how booked flights out of MCO can be. But we are leaving on a Monday, so who knows.

Our flight from ONT to Vegas is completely sold out. And the flight from Vegas to MCO has some price levels sold out as well. I told my DM about the ONT to LAS flight being sold out and she's already thinking about offering to give up our seats if we are asked and they offering something good. I would be willing to do so since we aren't going to WDW right away. So if we get to MCO a little later it won't be a big deal. Especially if we get something like free flights!

I just looked at the flights from LAS to MCO and the flight we have is the best flight! Leaves at 8:30 a.m. (we have an hour and a half layover) and flies non-stop to MCO. Arrive 4:05 p.m. A little over 4 1/2 hours in the air. If we end up being bumped from our flight from ONT to LAS we would miss that flight by at least a 1/2 hour (next flight from ONT gets into LAS at 9 a.m.) Then all the rest of the flights for the day are pretty sucky.

The best flight (and it's still horrible) leaves LAS at 10 a.m. and arrives in MCO at 8 p.m. after changing planes in New Orleans. Total flight time just over 7 hours. 2 1/2 hours more than the flight we currently have. And the flights after that are even worse! 2 stops and 2 changes, etc. There is one leaving at noon and arriving about 9 p.m. through Kansas City that isn't too bad. About 6 hours. Change planes once. The flight time on that isn't so bad but we would have to wait in the airport about 5 hours for our flight.

It doesn't look like we'll want to take them up on an offer to be bumped, unless they really make it worth our while. It will add from 4 hours (the least amount) at the minimum up to a possible 8 hours. YIKES!

 

[Dizneydaz]

I'm sitting here with highlighter on my hair working on my computer YIKES! it's been on for 30 minutes instead of 15. Better go rinse it off!

Okay I'm back now, hair looks okay. Didn't leave it on too long, luckily.

I color my hair and until a few years ago I used to highlight it as well (both done at home). But I guess I got a little lazy and haven't been doing the highlights. So right now my highlights are a little more orange than I want but I know that after I shampoo my hair a few more times the orange-nish will fade out. Tomorrow I will be touching up my roots. About a year ago my hair started thinning but it still grows at it's normal rate. If I don't touch up my roots every 2 weeks I would have this horrible gray stripe! My hair grows about 1/4" every 2 weeks. I'm glad my hair is still growing but keeping up with the gray can get bothersome! Oh well, better than being bald!

And in keeping with getting me personally ready for this trip a few days ago I removed the nail polish on my toes. I always have red polish on my toes. I wear open toed shoes (usually my Croc Cleos) and I hate the look of an unpainted toe nail (on me!) Most of the time I just touch up my nails but every once in awhile I completely remove it and start over again. I have been using Mary Kay Red Polish for years now and since MK doesn't make nail polish any more once my current supply runs out I will have to try another brand. Bummer, since I really like the MK reds.

So anyway, I applied one coat of red a few days ago and today I'll do a second coat. I will bring a bottle with me since my toe nails do take a beating what with going to the beaches and water parks while in FL. I don't wear polish on my finger nails. They are just too thin and short to bring attention to them!

The last few days I have been waking up way too early. Yesterday I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and stayed up! I put my time to good use though. On Sunday I made the 3 of us new tye-dyed shirts so yesterday I modified the necks and shortened the sleeves. My DM and I absolutely hate wearing a regular t-shirt neck. I almost always made them into a v-neck. I even do this for the team t-shirts we get for DD's softball team. I also spent some time doing some ironing.

Of course that means I was really tired last night by 9 p.m. So I went to bed early and woke up about 5 a.m. today. On Friday we will have to get up at 3 a.m. to be ready to leave at 4 a.m. for the airport. I do plan on napping on the plane. We'll have 4 1/2 hours from Vegas to MCO.

In preparation for leaving in less than 24 hours, I spent some time this a.m. scheduling some payments online. Don't want any late pays just because I'm on vacation. I know I could pay them while away but I don't plan on being online much while in FL. Especially while at WDW since it costs $9.95 a day to go online. (except for a few of the Disney websites).

It's my DM's 71st birthday today! :bady: mom! Since we had everyone over on Sunday for DD's birthday, today we are just going to take it easy. Just doing a birthday lunch. Still hoping to talk DM into going to DLR for a few hours today to use my DV PP coupons that exp. on 10/3, the day before we get back. Plus I want to get some Halloweentime PP pix taken.

DD has Girl Scouts and softball practice today but she'll be skipping them. She won't have a game until Oct. 9th. So I think she can miss practice today.

Been getting my stuff together to get ready to start packing. Starting doing laundry making sure the clothes we want to bring are clean. Of course, that includes my undies too. So for the next few days I'll be wearing my secondary panties, the ones I don't want to bring with me. (TMI? )

Speaking of panties, have you read some of the tips from people who say they bring their old undergarments and shirts on vacation and then instead of bringing them home, they throw them away to make room in their luggage for souvenirs? I just think that's a little strange. Since we take a lot pictures while on vacation I certainly don't want photos of us in old, worn out clothes. And I really don't want to be wearing old undergarments either! If they are old enough to throw out, I can't imagine how uncomfortable they will feel.

 

[Dizneydaz]

In preparation for possibly seeing a movie while in Florida, I just redeemed some of my Poptarts and Kellogg's cereal codes. I need to enter one more Poptarts code to get another Movie Ticket. And I need to enter the 2 codes from the Rice Krispies boxes in my pantry to get another $5 concession cash. So I will have 2 movie tickets and a total of $15 in concessions cash.

If anyone reading this has any unused PopTarts or Kelloggs codes I would love to have them. Thanks!

 

[debsters41]

I wish we had pop tarts here! I miss them so!! I hope you will have lots of pictures! I would love to see the Tie Dye shirts!

 

[annmarieda]

The old undergarments comments made me laugh! Thanks for the giggle!!!

Happy birthday to your mom!!!

If I had any poptart codes, I would send them your way.

Can't wait to hear how your trip goes. Won't be long until you are there.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Thanks!

No Pop Tarts! Yikes!

Leaving for the airport in less than 22 hours!

Just finished checking in on SW. Interesting little fact-

As you may, or may not know (depending on whether you fly SW or not), SW has an option of Early Bird Check In for $10 each. Instead of being able to check in only 24 hours before your flight, you check in 36 hours before, automatically. Works great, especially when you are at WDW and may not be able to get to a computer at the 24 hour mark.

Since SW allows you to add EMCI to whichever passengers you want this year we decided to add it on to only 2 of ours and leave one off. Saves $10. So the other day I added to DD11 and my ressie. Then this a.m. I went online and checked my DM in right at the 24 hour mark. I logged in a few minutes early and kept hitting the submit button until it went through right at the 24 hour mark.

So, here's the interesting fact. DD and I got "A" boarding passes but so did my DM! Other than last year when we all did EBCI, I have never been able to get an "A" pass. So, was it worth the extra $20? Well, I know that our flight from ONT to Las Vegas is sold out and I just checked and our flight from LAS to MCO is sold out as well!

I got A33 for ONT to LAS and A43 for LAS to MCO.
DD got A34 ONT to LAS and A44 LAS to MCO
My DM got A 46 ONT to LAS and A51 LAS to MCO

So, for the $20 DD and I are 13 numbers ahead of DM and 8 ahead of her for flight from LAS to MCO. But we are all in A. So yes, I think the $20 is worth it. We're probably going to want to do EBCI from MCO to ONT as well. Especially since I won't be online at WDW and while I can have my Dsis check in for us it may be worth not having to go through the hassle of doing that and have at least 2 of us do EBCI.

With both our outgoing flights sold out there's a really good chance they'll ask for voluntary bumping. Every time we fly my DM says if they offer us compensation for being voluntarily bumped, we should take it. But if you read the post a few posts back, if we get bumped on our first flight, we miss our second flight and there aren't many good flights out of LAS to MCO. The only way I would consider it was if they gave us really good compensation. It would mean being laid over in Vegas for up to 9 1/2 hours.

Oh, and guess what happened last night?

Last week I measured a house for an addition and some remodeling. The contractor met with the owner's last night and got a signed contract. Now they want the plans do ASAP. There's just no way I can have the plans ready for plan check by tonight. It's so frustrating! Here I thought I would have plenty of time to get ready today for our trip but now this came up. I'm not even going to meeting the contractor until about 10 a.m. today. This is really stressing me out! I haven't had a new project for awhile now (and can certainly use the $$) so I'm happy for that but this was the first time that we were going on vacation that I didn't have to worry about getting a project ready for a client.

There is one good thing, my DSis (who works with my mom in our house) can complete the plans for me. Not ideal, but at least they'll get done. Of course that does mean I still have some work to do on it myself and I'll have to give my DSis some of the money I'll be paid. Maybe she'll do it for nothing? When she and my DM go on vacation I handle their clients while they are gone.

Time to wake up DD now for her last day at school. She's going to be getting her Independent Study package today. I'm interested in seeing how much work she'll get for the 8 days she'll be missing.

 

[annmarieda]

I haven't flown sw in ages... interesting how they do things. I almost booked my dd and dm on our recent trip (so that they could check all of our bags) I am glad I didn't...but still am very intrigued by the fact they have no bag fees.

Good luck getting the last minute plan done. I know how stressful that can be. Try not to let it set the tone for the trip though...I know for us...I think all the pretrip stress kinda set the tone for the first few days. Course, now it makes me want to go back to make up for it... if only I could convince dh

 

[Dizneydaz]

Okay so it's 12:42 a.m. I need to get up in just about 2 hours to get ready to leave for the airport at 4 a.m. YIKES! What are the odds that I'll get any sleep tonight, I mean this a.m.

I always get a little anxious just before we leave but once we're on the plane all is good! I did get a lot done on the plan I needed to do (and got a nice deposit this a.m. My DSis will finish it up for me and get it ready for plan check. I've done the same for her and my DM.

Gotta go now.....I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting...oh yeah, shoes!

 

[debsters41]

And they're off! I hope you are having a wonderful time! Looking forward to the reports to come after!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Actually still here but leaving for airport in about 2 hours. Plan was to wake up at 3 and get ready to leave but I didn't get to bed! Right now I am copying movies of my SD cards so I can clear them. Then I think it's time to make sandwiches for the flight(s). Oh, and change my message on my work voice mail. And about 20 other little things....

Thanks for the wishes, I'm sure we will have a great time. Now if Hurricane Mathew will just stay away from FLA.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We're in Vegas baby! Flight left on time from Ontario and arrived on time in Vegas. Flight was full but they didn't bump anyone.

Our flight to MCO leaves at 8:30 local time and arrives at 4 p.m. Florida time. Not bad, only 4 1/2 hours in flight.

Gotta go, DD11 wants to play SKIP BO.

ADDED-Here are some pictures.

DD11 relaxing on the plane.

Not our plane but we saw this California one when we pulled up in Vegas.

Playing Skip Bo

(Moderators, this is still a PTR since we aren't at WDW yet)

 

[Dizneydaz]

Had a good time yesterday. Went to Sweet Tomatoes (Souplantation) at Crossroads. Very good. Bummer though, I forgot my coupon in the room.

Then we decided to get a little Disney and first we were going to go walk around DTD but since it was Friday night it was pretty busy. We decided to go walk around the Boardwalk instead. Nice evening, some showers remaining, saw Illuminations from outside the International Gate. Talked to a nice couple who were also watching. The just relocated to the area. The are buying their EPCOT AP next week. He's never been to WDW. They moved from San Diego area where he got to to DLR for the first time. They still have AP to DLR. Told her all about the boards. They've never been here before but he knows about mouseplanet. I told them how great the boards where and she asked me for my disboards name so hope I got another convert!

Gotta go, DM just brought in a little breakfast from the "continental breakfast" at Sleep Inn. Pretty slim pickings. We'll probably have to get some more to eat before going to Aquatica.

See ya real soon!

 

[annmarieda]

Great updates! Have a great time at Aquatica!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Just did a few hours at Aquatica. Pretty fun! Using free internet at Central Florida Tourist Center.

On our way to the Coast. Rain was expected by 3/4 but as of now hasn't happened!

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Awesome trip so far it looks like!

We love Skip-Bo Too! We play as therapy for our daughter when she's getting unregulated. Good stuff!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Thanks Albert. So far so good. We are in Sarasota now. Staying at Country Inn and Suites. We stayed here back in Sept. 04, we think. Before free dining!

Just had a delicious meal from Chick-Fil-A.

Can't wait to start using our DDP credits in less than 2 days!

Aquatica was fun, but not as fun as TL and BB. Though the Roa Rapids (high speed river) was a blast!

Rain never materialized. I was able to use the internet pretty easily today. A lot of places have Wifi. Wendy's, McD, Starbucks, and Country Inn and Suites were a few parking lots we visited today.

 

[debsters41]

I love living vicariously through these updates! Yay for free wi-fi and no rain!

We also love sweet tomatoes and are planning on going at least once next year.

Looking forward for more!

 

[annmarieda]

Thanks Albert. So far so good. We are in Sarasota now. Staying at Country Inn and Suites. We stayed here back in Sept. 04, we think. Before free dining!

Just had a delicious meal from Chick-Fil-A.

Can't wait to start using our DDP credits in less than 2 days!

Aquatica was fun, but not as fun as TL and BB. Though the Roa Rapids (high speed river) was a blast!

Rain never materialized. I was able to use the internet pretty easily today. A lot of places have Wifi. Wendy's, McD, Starbucks, and Country Inn and Suites were a few parking lots we visited today.

We have stayed there before! My dh's grandfather lives in Sarasota. The guys in the family could live off of Chick-Fil-A. (we don't have them here)

Enjoy the rest of your preWDW trip!

 

[Dizneydaz]

We have stayed there before! My dh's grandfather lives in Sarasota. The guys in the family could live off of Chick-Fil-A. (we don't have them here)

Enjoy the rest of your preWDW trip!

Small world, huh!

We drove down to Venice today to see if we could find any sharks teeth. Not an original idea. There were a lot of people there using all kinds of cool stuff to find teeth. We just had our hands until someone lent us his plastic colander. But no luck, no teeth for us today. We may go back to try again tomorrow. The water was really nice tempture wise. So much warmer than the Pacific back home ! It was a little wavier than I like but it was fun.

The inside of my suit looked like I was trying to bring home 1/2 the beach! And guess what? No inside showers in the county where Venice is. One worker suggested we could drive to Siesta Key. I told him my room was closer!

Stopped at Arby's in Venice (drive-thru, no way was I going to order and eat inside!). Love Arby's $1 value mene. I ate at our local one several times while doing the Census. I could get a meal of sandwich, fries, drink and turnover for only $4. What a deal! I love their turnovers but I skipped it this time. Starting tomorrow we can get all the snacks we want, for free!

After we got back from the beach we went directly into the hotel pool. It was lovely! Temp was just right, Jacuzzi was really nice. The pools have saltwater and since it was about 2-3 p.m. no one was using it. I used my new Kodak Play Sport in the pool. Pretty amazing! Here are a few of the first pictures.

me

me

DD

DD

my DM

I have to say I really like Country Inn & Suites. The breakfast today was pretty good. Make your own waffles (I know the trick to get a more down one-just cook it twice! ) I hate a blonde waffle! The bacon was okay, the scrambled eggs were not good at all.

Gotta go now, we have to finish watching "The Proposal" so I can return to RedBox. Picked up 2 movies at home, already returned one.