Welcome almost home! It'll feel god to be back and I am sure certain canines will be hysterically glad to see you!
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Welcome almost home! It'll feel god to be back and I am sure certain canines will be hysterically glad to see you!
Can't wait to see the pictures from your trip. I've been following this thread, just didn't really have anything to say until now.
I'm going to live vicariously through your pictures since I've never been to Disney and I am DYING to go! lol
Have a safe journey home! :)
For sure. LOL Beezer won't want me to go back out to the van to unload. He will be my second skin for a few days. Ill be sure to give him plenty of back scratches and belly rubs. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen
BUT... He was indeed comfortable, eventually, with the house sitter. She sent us a pic of him lying on his back, in all his "glory". It took him a few days to do it, so that means he is OK.
As for Belle, she will be happy to let someone else feed her now. LOL Coondogs.... :rolleyes: :p
Too all who will enjoy sharing our trip via the pics, but have never had a Disney magic experience...
PM Sparks. It does not have to be as expensive as you think it is. And I promise you that you will not be disappointed. I'd bet a great deal on it. Together, Sparks and I have visited Walt Disney World probably over 30 times. 4 trips together as a couple, 3 with Hannah. (I used to live 2.5 hours away, so we would do day trips twice a year or so during my high school and a few college years.) If you can really let go and BE a part of the magic that the place is.... You will never forget it.
Its all about the Disney cast. (They are not employees, they are ALL 'cast members'. You'll see what we mean when you get there.) I tried hard and I cannot think of ONE negative experience with a cast member, ever. They just hire GREAT people. Sparks will tell you all about the EXTRA special ones in the coming, gigantic, thread. IMO, the 'winners' will be the cast members who played Daisy Duck on day one and 'pink' Minnie Mouse on day 4. Priceless memories were created by those two.... And we got it on motion and still video. :)
Oy. I could go on and on. You'll see. :) If you have never gone and you want to, let us know.
When our kids were small we went twice a year, had the deals down pat. That was disneyland of course, I am looking forward to taking my granddaughters now. My youngest lives an hour and a half from disneyland now but hasn't got to go yet but she still loves it.
We stayed at the residence inn and they fed us breakfast and dinner and shuttled us back and forth to disney and gave me a good discount from my job.
We stay on site at Disney world. It's made us snobs lol it's ruined regular motels/hotels for us LOL. Staying on Disney property is an experience all on it's own. constant bus/monorail service to all the parks all day long (every 20 minutes to and from the parks from 6 am to midnight). The atmosphere and little touches are awesome. The cleanliness can't be beat AND there is always a little touch of magic. For example... during this trip we celebrated Hannah's 4th birthday (I know... 4 years old. how did that happen lol) and we came back from the parks on the day of her birthday and there was a birthday card from Mickey, a cinderella trading pin (which we of course did NOT use for trading... it's special lol) and a voicemail from mickey and minnie singing happy birthday.Quote:
Originally Posted by caseysmom
The resort we stayed at this time had a Magic Kingdom view so we woke up and went to bed with a beautiful view of cinderellas castle and got to watch the fireworks over the castle every single night (and of course they had a channel on the TV set up to pipe in the music for the fireworks show right to your room)
I think we are going to try The Boardwalk Villas this time around :)
I always wanted to stay at the disney hotels but it was always the difference of 79 a night to 250 a night...
Its funny because my girls were never into the princess stuff, it was all about the rides, we even put tissue in my youngest daughters tennis shoes when she was four to get her in indiana jones. I think she was under a year when we took her on her first splash mountain haha
I found it interesting following your journey on fb, i can drive hours and hours and still be in california but you were zipping through the states.
Yeah I know what you mean. That's where having the Disney Vacation Club comes in really handy for us. We basically own a piece of property and now we just use "points" to stay on property. we pay our annual dues and we bought in for 150 points a year. for us to stay in a studio room at Old key west or Boardwalk for example will cost us 50 pts in the value season (september, first two weeks of december, January) for sunday through friday. that's not per night... that's for the whole 5 nights. so it really helps us out and makes it manageable for us to stay on property without totally blowing the budget.Quote:
Originally Posted by caseysmom
it's worth it for us since we go so often. We are also thinking of getting annual passes. If we are going to go twice a year it is definitely worth it... expensive but it pays for itself in two visits and will save us money on what it would cost us for 4 day tickets twice a year.
hannah is a princess so she's WAY into the princesses lol but this year for the first time she was really into meeting other characters too like Minnie and daisy ( we met daisy FOUR times this trip hahaha. silly girl) Me I've always been a character lover. I went in 1999 with my dad and siblings (so I was 18 years old lol) and I have photos of me with just about every character available. so I'm thrilled that Hannah is getting more and more into the characters and the characters just ADORED her. Daisy even motioned for us to WAIT so she could spend a little more time with Hannah and do some special poses for the photos... just her and daisy.Quote:
Originally Posted by caseysmom
yeah we cover 7 states to get from PA to FL lol. Georgia is by far the shortest. only 116 miles from one end to the other lol. SC is only about 195 or something like that
Im the money guy. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by caseysmom
You are only factoring in the "hotel". Think about travel time (i'm in the IT business.... Time IS money,) and the VALUE in using the Disney transportation system. Plus, on property, you get the Disney Magic at all times. Remember, on Disney property you get CAST members, not just simple employees of gigantic chain hotels who could care less. I mean it when I say it, cast members CARE that you have that 'pixie dust' experience.
Wait till Tanya tells you about the simple, yet MAGIC moment "Joe", a concierge from Bay Lake Tower gave to Hannah. It brought a tear to my eye. (Yes, I, Puckstop31 the evil, CRIED many times on this trip. Sometimes for my daughter <positive cries>, sometimes for my dad.... Another story.....)
Yes, in pure $$$ terms, staying at Disney properties (especially in California. Ugh. Crazy points/night for Disneyland stays) is expensive. But, IMO, its worth it. Period. Disney delivers on the value you expect for what you pay. Also, being DVC cuts the retail costs you see on the main website at least in half.
Like I always say.... Do your own homework. :) There is usually a better way than that mainstream thought.
I'm not knocking staying at disney just sayen, we got like family with the people at our hotel also, the shuttle drivers all knew us by name and they were very nice. One time even after we had checked out the shuttle driver insisted we go in for the free happy hour since we had gotten rained on.
I will definetely look into staying at a disney hotel with the grandkids my neighbors have always loved it. I'm in IT too....lol, for the state of ca...
Sorry. Lol. I get excited about these things. Im sure there are other great accomodations out there for Disney stuff. But we will never know. LolQuote:
Originally Posted by caseysmom
Maybe I should get a side job in DVC sales. :)