Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Life for We Halloween *2012* PTR has begun!

[TheColtonsMom]

Just be sure you know what you're doing with the food plan. It's not going to be the table service meals where the change thing is a problem, but with the snacks and counter service meals...do your homework so you don't come back sad!

well believe me this is actually the reason we hadn't bought the meal plan in the first place. Figured we would end up with leftover snack vouchers etc and not get our moneys worth. But in this case it kept us from paying the $50 change fee so as long as we pull off using as much as possible hopefully we don't lose much.

We are using the premium for Goofy's, The resort for BB and the 3 character breakfasts, the $15 vouchers will be for cafe orleans, carnation,taste pilot,hungry bear, & Troubador Tavern all of which we feel confident we can easily spend $15 on. The one wild card is the snacks as I am sure we will lose some money there but we will use some of these on places like pooh corner so we will use the full amount probably + some $. Any leftover snack vouchers we will use the last day for things that will hold up in our carry on bags for the trip home.

But as long as we don't end up losing or not using at least $50 then we are ahead. As for coming home happy LOL I will prob be a little sad no matter what as I will be leaving the happiest place on earth.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

You know the weirdest thing I've noticed about Montana this week? Everybody is really excited for us going on this trip and several have offered to go with us but it is Amazing how many adult friends I have here that have NEVER been to DL. So I guess I shouldn't feel so bad about my 8 years away when there are people here in their 70's who have never had the experience. Taking my son on his first trip is a rite of passage from the minute my children entered the world I knew someday I would get to see their expression at their first glimpse of this magical place. Conversely to most of the people who have been here their whole lives we are going on a once in a lifetime dream vacation. So this is me being thankful for growing up in southern CA where almost everyone you knew had at least one DL trip to remember.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

OK this is the pre trip "what we really want" post. It will be interesting to see how this changes due to what we see and the "extra" money we now have due to the changes we made.

BRANT (DH) wants to make his own lightsaber with our son & MUST have a set of create your own mickey ears

COLTON (DS6) wants to make his own lightsaber, make your own or POTC Mickey ears(he goes back & forth on this one) a new set of LEGOS from the LEGO store probably star wars themed

ME (Just Me) want to make my own mickey ears, get a new disney sweatshirt or hoodie and maybe either Duffy or the Rudolph at build a bear (for my Rankin/Bass collection)

So when we return I will have pics of what we got and we will see if we stick to what was important before we changed our ressie now that we have a little more money to spend.

Also all of us are hoping to get our hands on a couple of those candy canes but are those really souvineers or are they treats?

 

[skiingfast]

I really think Colton should get or maybe you should get this for him. A bucket of mixed parts. Wheels, Hinges Swivels and long pieces are the most useful lego pieces and you can shove a little tub full of them at a lego store. Still they are under ten bucks so you might get one and a starwars set too.

Also if you have some leverage on what set he gets. Legos are about 10 cents a piece. So you if you value a set by how many part you get for the price. Just move the decimal place over on the number of pieces and see if the price is below or above what it is at 10 cents per peice.

If the box says it contains 339 pieces the standard price will be $33.99. If it's below this it's a lego deal, if it's above it's an extra expensive set. FYI most star wars sets are expensive, I guess they are extra popular.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I really think Colton should get or maybe you should get this for him. A bucket of mixed parts. Wheels, Hinges Swivels and long pieces are the most useful lego pieces and you can shove a little tub full of them at a lego store. Still they are under ten bucks so you might get one and a starwars set too.

Also if you have some leverage on what set he gets. Legos are about 10 cents a piece. So you if you value a set by how many part you get for the price. Just move the decimal place over on the number of pieces and see if the price is below or above what it is at 10 cents per peice.

If the box says it contains 339 pieces the standard price will be $33.99. If it's below this it's a lego deal, if it's above it's an extra expensive set. FYI most star wars sets are expensive, I guess they are extra popular.

Ya the star wars ones are not cheap. Colton "inherited" a 25 gallon rubbermaid tote full of legos from my high school aged nephew. We have a lot. built a special table for building on in the basement with drawers for all the different colors and the specialty pieces as I hate stepping on them so they got sent downstairs with the train sets and the 8 million hot wheel cars & tracks LOL. All I have room to do in my basement is laundry

He is a bit of a spoiled boy being that most of the other grandkids are grown and his big brother and 2 big sisters + grandparents (and mom & dad sometimes too) spoil him but he is a good kid.

I did see a pic of the ala carte wall of legos and will be getting a few things like wheels etc that he never has enough of but thanks for the price as we had no idea on that so no idea what to budget for the individual ones.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

OMG check this one out my husband's wallet got either lost or stolen. So no ID for the flight. I called TSA and our Airline to find out what we would need to do to get him on the plane Airline says if TSA security passes him he can get on the plane. TSA agent I spoke to said if we don't have his ID there is another questioning/security process we can go through since we have his old DL from AZ. (Good thing I file every thing!) However the people I actually need to talk to at TSA got off early today so I will be up at 5am calling this other TSA division to figure out how we are going to do this. We cannot get a duplicate of his DL as here in Malta we only have Motor Vehicle office open 2 days a month (not tomorrow of course) and the one in Billings (where we are flying out of) doesn't open until 10 am and our flight is at 1045am. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that either someone finds and returns his wallet or that we can get through whatever TSA hoops we need to easily.

 

[mvf-m11c]

OMG check this one out my husband's wallet got either lost or stolen. So no ID for the flight. I called TSA and our Airline to find out what we would need to do to get him on the plane Airline says if TSA security passes him he can get on the plane. TSA agent I spoke to said if we don't have his ID there is another questioning/security process we can go through since we have his old DL from AZ. (Good thing I file every thing!) However the people I actually need to talk to at TSA got off early today so I will be up at 5am calling this other TSA division to figure out how we are going to do this. We cannot get a duplicate of his DL as here in Malta we only have Motor Vehicle office open 2 days a month (not tomorrow of course) and the one in Billings (where we are flying out of) doesn't open until 10 am and our flight is at 1045am. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that either someone finds and returns his wallet or that we can get through whatever TSA hoops we need to easily.

I'm sorry to hear bout your DH DL got lost or stolen. Hope everything goes well when your DH go through security at the airport. I believe everything will go well and you will have a magical time at DL this week.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I'm sorry to hear bout your DH DL got lost or stolen. Hope everything goes well when your DH go through security at the airport. I believe everything will go well and you will have a magical time at DL this week.

Just keep thinking those positive thoughts for us, we are trying to. It is the curse of the Irish nothing is complete without a little Murphy's Law.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care..presents are all wrapped and under the tree. There is a letter from Lannie & Wayne of Disney's Prep & Landing for Colton to open when he wakes up. It is 226am in Montana. We will be having Christmas early so they should all be unwrapped in about 6 hours. Then breakfast and finish the packing for our trip. Just after lunch Colton will get his character phone call to tell him how excited they are that he is coming to visit Disneyland. Then traditional Irish meal for xmas eve dinner - Corned Beef, Cabbage & Red Pototoes. Early to bed so that we can get up at 330 to get ready to head out at 5am for the 3 1/2 hour trek to the airport. Only 1 day 2 hours and 34 minutes and we will be on our way.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Presents unwrapped. Hot wheel tracks set up under the tree, hot wheel cars smashing into each other. Colton (DS6) wore his new chef's apron to help make mickey pancakes, sausage & eggs for breakfast (yes I appear to have another cook in the family he learned to do pancakes before he was 3) and I am sitting here folding the 2nd to last load of laundry. DH is heading out to the store to get a few last munchies for the trip and some dollar store rain ponchos just in case, although according to the online weather services we shouldn't have any rain until wednesday, car is cleaned out in prep for sitting in the frigid long term parking at the airport.
Spoke to TSA and know the drill for getting DH through security with a birth certificate & ss card and aftadavit of identity. Still trying to do online check-in for our flight but the airline's website is being bombarded and it has been loading on & off since about 6am, hopefully it will slow down later.

It has really mostly been a lovely morning. Would love the afternoon to be just as good. only 2 hours until our character call. Colton is going to love it, what a cool service. GO DISNEY! Maybe I can get a nap in after that as I will prob have trouble sleeping tonight as the closer it gets the more excited I will get. .

Countdown clock is now at 0 days 15 hours and 37 minutes.

 

[skiingfast]

OMG check this one out my husband's wallet got either lost or stolen. So no ID for the flight. I called TSA and our Airline to find out what we would need to do to get him on the plane Airline says if TSA security passes him he can get on the plane. TSA agent I spoke to said if we don't have his ID there is another questioning/security process we can go through since we have his old DL from AZ. (Good thing I file every thing!) However the people I actually need to talk to at TSA got off early today so I will be up at 5am calling this other TSA division to figure out how we are going to do this. We cannot get a duplicate of his DL as here in Malta we only have Motor Vehicle office open 2 days a month (not tomorrow of course) and the one in Billings (where we are flying out of) doesn't open until 10 am and our flight is at 1045am. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that either someone finds and returns his wallet or that we can get through whatever TSA hoops we need to easily.

So I realize that time is running out. I once was travelling with an ex who left her wallet on the table of the quizno's in town. Then we drove all afternoon to Salt Lake City. We stayed the night at a friend house before our flight out the next morning. At about 7pm we realized she left the wallet.

We called our police department and reported the ID lost and had the report faxed to us. This along with a copy picture of the ID or maybe a copy of the temp license she had before the ID was mailed to her after she passed the state DL test, got us through security no problem.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Well the time is here. And yes I am still awake and prob will not go to bed until we are in the car. 3 1/2 hours til we leave for the airport. Everyone have a merry christmas or have a happy whatever you celebrate this time of year.

I will likely pop in once or twice while at DLR as we are taking the laptop & my droid.

Goodnight and next time I type I will be at DLR!

 

[TheColtonsMom]

-esterday we had a "run in" with a Disney character befor we ever left Montana, there are our "our adventure with ART" and and the steps involved in dancing at goofys ballroom on Christmas and some weather to tell you about come this weekend hope everyone had a great holiday now off to Disneyland

 

[TheColtonsMom]

A beautiful day in anaheim calif. Off to do our MM as we finally managed to get colton up and moving early enough.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Happy happy rain maybe keep the crowds at bay. Neews says tapering off in afternoon so possibly all shows will go on 2nite as well. Yippeee! I'm feeling some magic coming my way! See ya'll 2morrow.

 

[skiingfast]

Happy happy rain maybe keep the crowds at bay. Neews says tapering off in afternoon so possibly all shows will go on 2nite as well. Yippeee! I'm feeling some magic coming my way! See ya'll 2morrow.

I'll be interested to see how the crowds work out today. Hopefully enough rain to hold off a late day rush.

 

[skiingfast]

I'm curious can you total your dining reciepts and see if the dining plan paid for itself, or saved of cost extra? I haven't heard of anyone doing a true analyisis of it.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I'm curious can you total your dining reciepts and see if the dining plan paid for itself, or saved of cost extra? I haven't heard of anyone doing a true analyisis of it.

I have all our receipts and what / where we ate so I do plan on getting into how this worked/didn't work for us since before we did it I searched every tidbit I could find on it and there wasn't much to find. So in addition to my reg trip report I do plan on doing a thread analyzing how the dining plan worked as well as another one comapring the 4 character meals we went to as I have found most of the reviews of the character breakfasts are based on one family's favorite vs anothers favorite so thought it would be cool to do a comparison based on one family, one week, 4 meals from the same point of view I mean how often do you get to do that many in so short a time I don't think we ever will again but this trip was special. It seems like a lot of families find one they like then never vary or try the others which is a shame as they all have unique things to contribute but we did have a favorite like everyone else of course.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

So I thought I would be posting that we were home and be starting my trip report shortly.

Well due to horrible weather both in Denver, Colorado and Billings, Montana we left SNA this morning as planned but got stuck in Denver so here I am in Denver for now. We will try again to get out on the 815 am flight to Billings.

We had a lovely evening, Airline put us up at the Fairfield Inn bought us dinner & breakfast and gave us a $400.00 credit towards a later flight. We went swimming in their indoor pool and watched the storm rage snow outside the windows while we were in the pool Colton thought this was really cool!

So hopefully we will get out safely in the morning and be home safe in our little town by tomorrow night, although the roads from Billings to Malta were closed all day today we are hoping tomorrow will be different, we will get out of Denver, we won't have to spend another night in Billings before we can drive home. I'm ready to sleep in my own bed.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

So I am finally home! Everyone have a Happy New Year and hopefully I will start changing over from a PTR to a TR tomorrow.