Originally I was going to go to Portland for a little reunion with some friends, including Sarah, and Kathe. This last week plans changed so that instead, I'm going to have three of my favorite people ever come to visit me in Chicago. While I would have loved to go to Portland, which is a city I adore oh so much, but the ticket was probably going to be above $400 and I can focus a little more on other trips. It's going to involve a little bit of a challenge as three people from three different states across the country try to coordinate their flights to come to a fourth state, but we'll get there.
Then one of the things I'd done to try and get some free money was that when I signed up for cable (with Comcast), one of the incentives for the particular package I chose was that I got $300 in gift cards. I was going to pay off my credit card with that, only to find out then that I can only do that with a bank account, so instead I decided I'd use the gift cards on things I would have just used my credit card for. Which means travel. So I went ahead and got my ticket for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney World. It's more than I wanted to pay, but it's sort of a bucket list thing and the price goes up the closer you get to Halloween. That's just how it is.
And literally once I got that paid for, I headed over to my mom's, where Nick and I went to plan for our road trip to Philadelphia in a couple weeks. We worked out our timeline, and then bought tickets for Fallingwater. Nick works for an architecture firm, and so it probably shouldn't be a big surprise that we end up going to Frank Lloyd Wright houses a lot. (I've been to Hollyhock House in LA, past Unity Temple in Chicago, SC Johnson and Wingspread in Racine, outside a house in New Hampshire that someone lives in I think but we literally had nothing else to do in New Hampshire so we just took pictures outside, and this will be my sixth Wright building.) We'd wanted to do the in-depth tour, but it was already sold out and we couldn't get anything till June, so we're doing the guided tour for two hours, and that gives us access to the grounds where we can actually take pictures. After that we'll drive over to Philadelphia, which Nick and I have been to but Mom never has. And last weekend she learned that the odds of me going "I'm bored, let's have a Carly Rae Jepsen dance party" are high so she's at least prepared for that eventuality in traveling with us. So we have some idea of things to do in Philly, and some things we didn't get to do last time and get another shot at, and the rest will probably be us deciding what to do last minute.
Been a surprisingly busy day, yo.
Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disney. Show all posts
16.4.16
180 Days
I've talked before about how planning for Disney is an Experience in itself. Well, part of that Experience is that 180 days out from your trip, you're able to book dining reservations for your stay. Guess what day it is!
I don't know how much I like this feature of things. My philosophy of vacationing tends to be more like "Sure, go ahead and make a plan, but it's going to get obliterated before you even get there." That just seems to be the way things go. Maybe your flight ends up delayed or you're just too tired to do a certain thing one day or the timing isn't what you expected it to be or you just changed your mind. Have ideas of what you want to do and how long it takes to get there and what's around it and all, because that's just good planning, but don't expect that how you imagine everything to go is the way it's actually going to happen. And Disney sort of makes you do that. I mean, you could always not book any reservations or Fast Passes or whatever, but it's also the best way to make sure you don't have to waste time in line for hours and if you want to just stop in at a sit down restaurant at Disney World because you feel like it, it's not going to work out so well. It's very weird to be someone like me and to have to kind of plan a vacation out this far in advance. If we're going to go to the Halloween party then we want to get to the park at this time and be somewhere else before then, and what park won't be completely crowded on Saturday in October, and where should we go this one day if we're going to go to a character breakfast here? I sucked at word problems in school but rule at them when it comes to vacation, but I don't necessarily want to have to do it that way.
Which isn't to say that I wasn't geeking out on the treadmill this morning when I saw our reservations on the My Disney Experience app, and I'm sorry to the neighbor that I think I scared with the noise I made. I may not love how we have to do it, but man, does it make it feel more and more real.
I don't know how much I like this feature of things. My philosophy of vacationing tends to be more like "Sure, go ahead and make a plan, but it's going to get obliterated before you even get there." That just seems to be the way things go. Maybe your flight ends up delayed or you're just too tired to do a certain thing one day or the timing isn't what you expected it to be or you just changed your mind. Have ideas of what you want to do and how long it takes to get there and what's around it and all, because that's just good planning, but don't expect that how you imagine everything to go is the way it's actually going to happen. And Disney sort of makes you do that. I mean, you could always not book any reservations or Fast Passes or whatever, but it's also the best way to make sure you don't have to waste time in line for hours and if you want to just stop in at a sit down restaurant at Disney World because you feel like it, it's not going to work out so well. It's very weird to be someone like me and to have to kind of plan a vacation out this far in advance. If we're going to go to the Halloween party then we want to get to the park at this time and be somewhere else before then, and what park won't be completely crowded on Saturday in October, and where should we go this one day if we're going to go to a character breakfast here? I sucked at word problems in school but rule at them when it comes to vacation, but I don't necessarily want to have to do it that way.
Which isn't to say that I wasn't geeking out on the treadmill this morning when I saw our reservations on the My Disney Experience app, and I'm sorry to the neighbor that I think I scared with the noise I made. I may not love how we have to do it, but man, does it make it feel more and more real.
1.2.16
Planning post: Disney, part 1
Planning for Disney World is an experience in itself.
I'm going with some friends in October, and it can be overwhelming. When you say you're going to Disney, people are all too happy to dish out advice and tips and point you towards websites and podcasts that will help. It's actually really cool: even if they're not going, people tend to be excited that you're going. The fun thing is that of my friend group here, all five of my besties and I are going within a year. My roommate just came back, another friend is going in April, I'm going with another in October, and the last is going over Thanksgiving. This means we can give each other tips and share what we find out between ourselves. I'm not what you'd call a Disney person. I have movies I like, and I've been to Disneyland a bunch of times, but I haven't been to Disney World since I was seven and I wasn't really in a rush to do so. And then everyone else started going, and they had so much fun talking about it that I started wanting to have fun too.
And so I'm going to pass on some of what I've learned so far to you.
Resources:
MouseSavers is a great site that gives tips on how to save money at the park, and before you get to the park. It's updated super frequently, so you get good current information.
WDW Info is good for more general info, or if you're looking to try the cruise or Disneyland.
Mad Chatters is a podcast that's basically a couple guys who talk about Disney all the time. I haven't listened to a ton of it yet, but the ones I have listened to are actually really helpful.
WDW Radio is a more of a deep dive podcast, with reviews of places and background info.
And one thing I'm doing to save money is something people keep telling me is a great idea and I feel like someone would have said by now if it was stupid: There are Disney gift cards. Not the Disney Store, but Disney gift cards, which can be used at the parks and hotels. I've had this issue with having emergencies spring up and sucking away money I'd been saving, so to bypass that, once a month I'm getting a gift card. Even if it's only a denomination of $25, that's still $250 by October that will be used specifically for Disney. You can consolidate them online, so that by the end you're only using one instead of juggling a bunch of cards. You can even get discounts at places like Sam's Club and Costco, supposedly. I've read about Costco, but there aren't any at mine. They are at Sam's Club, but by me it's only three-packs. Be aware.
We're waiting on someone to confirm dates and other stuff, but we've narrowed it down to three hotels (Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach Resort, and Art of Animation if we need to go cheaper) and know our dates, and there are a couple of us who absolutely know the sorts of things we want to do AND OUR THIRD NEEDS TO GET BACK TO US ALREADY. We're having debates about whether Memory Maker is worth it and if we really want to do the dining plans, and I'm sending at least a couple emails per week to my own personal Disney Goddess who seems to know everything. It's really easy to get sucked into all of it.
Literally as I type this, my roommate just told me she taped a few shows off the Travel Channel about Disney for me. See what I mean?
If you have tips and tricks of your own, or references you'd like to share, go ahead and drop them in the comments! Every little bit helps, right?
I'm going with some friends in October, and it can be overwhelming. When you say you're going to Disney, people are all too happy to dish out advice and tips and point you towards websites and podcasts that will help. It's actually really cool: even if they're not going, people tend to be excited that you're going. The fun thing is that of my friend group here, all five of my besties and I are going within a year. My roommate just came back, another friend is going in April, I'm going with another in October, and the last is going over Thanksgiving. This means we can give each other tips and share what we find out between ourselves. I'm not what you'd call a Disney person. I have movies I like, and I've been to Disneyland a bunch of times, but I haven't been to Disney World since I was seven and I wasn't really in a rush to do so. And then everyone else started going, and they had so much fun talking about it that I started wanting to have fun too.
And so I'm going to pass on some of what I've learned so far to you.
Resources:
MouseSavers is a great site that gives tips on how to save money at the park, and before you get to the park. It's updated super frequently, so you get good current information.
WDW Info is good for more general info, or if you're looking to try the cruise or Disneyland.
Mad Chatters is a podcast that's basically a couple guys who talk about Disney all the time. I haven't listened to a ton of it yet, but the ones I have listened to are actually really helpful.
WDW Radio is a more of a deep dive podcast, with reviews of places and background info.
And one thing I'm doing to save money is something people keep telling me is a great idea and I feel like someone would have said by now if it was stupid: There are Disney gift cards. Not the Disney Store, but Disney gift cards, which can be used at the parks and hotels. I've had this issue with having emergencies spring up and sucking away money I'd been saving, so to bypass that, once a month I'm getting a gift card. Even if it's only a denomination of $25, that's still $250 by October that will be used specifically for Disney. You can consolidate them online, so that by the end you're only using one instead of juggling a bunch of cards. You can even get discounts at places like Sam's Club and Costco, supposedly. I've read about Costco, but there aren't any at mine. They are at Sam's Club, but by me it's only three-packs. Be aware.
We're waiting on someone to confirm dates and other stuff, but we've narrowed it down to three hotels (Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach Resort, and Art of Animation if we need to go cheaper) and know our dates, and there are a couple of us who absolutely know the sorts of things we want to do AND OUR THIRD NEEDS TO GET BACK TO US ALREADY. We're having debates about whether Memory Maker is worth it and if we really want to do the dining plans, and I'm sending at least a couple emails per week to my own personal Disney Goddess who seems to know everything. It's really easy to get sucked into all of it.
Literally as I type this, my roommate just told me she taped a few shows off the Travel Channel about Disney for me. See what I mean?
If you have tips and tricks of your own, or references you'd like to share, go ahead and drop them in the comments! Every little bit helps, right?
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