Mom and Me – Another trip to the World PTR – Nov. 24-30, 2012 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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How exciting to see it all come together! I will be overlapping with you for 2 days. We arrive on the 28th, leave on the 3rd. Still working on all of our plans, as we will be traveling with a 2 1/2 month old, and dd and dsil want to spend a day a Universal (I don't, so get the baby!) but haven't decided when yet. I'm very close to my mom and my daughter, so I can't wait to see how your trip pans out with your daughter!
Thanks for reading Denise! Well you will see in an upcoming post or two a couple of fun things my daughter and I will do together. I hope you have a wonderful trip with your family!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Nice dining plans!
Thanks Cheryl!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great plans!
Thanks Marnie!
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Dining plans sound great!
Thanks MayraLR!!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
Great dining plans!
Thanks Cam22!!!
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
I have dreams like that all the time before travelling. You're not alone.
I just have never had vacation dreams before my vacation before and I was puzzled about it. I am glad to know that I am not alone.
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Originally Posted by Kworrell0514
Everything looks great!! We'll be there at the same time as you -- arriving on the 22nd, leaving on the 27th. We're doing 1900 Park Faire for dinner on Thanksgiving! I can't wait!! Hope your trip is fabulous!!
Hi Kristie! Thanks for reading along! How awesome that your going to be at WDW for Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wondeful trip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I have dreams like that all the time before our Disney vacations - you are definitely not alone on that.
Cheryl, I never knew that others had dreams before a Disney vacation. I thought I was an oddball for having them, but glad to know I am not the only one. Thanks!
Let me pull out my magic carpet and get us to WDW!!!
Welcome and thank you for reading along with my PTR. As I stated in our introductions, my daughter and I live on the West Coast; Montrose, California specifically. So I knew flying to Walt Disney World wasn’t going to be a hop, skip and a jump nor cheap either.
When I looked into our first trip to WDW back in 2008, I didn’t know about checking for flights on a specific day to get the least expensive flight. I just went to Travelocity when I had the money available and searched for flights. At the time, the cheapest ones I found were with American Airlines. We flew out of Ontario International Airport in Ontario, CA. We did not have a direct flight; we had a stopover in Houston, TX. Needless to say, we were tired when we got to WDW in the early evening from our day of traveling. The tickets from American Airlines were approximately $869 for two people back in 2008.
Fast forward to Summer 2012, I have since found out that it is better to search for airfare on a Tuesday morning in order to find the least expensive flights of the week. Also with the airlines charging for checked bags, I knew I wanted to fly with Southwest because they do not charge for the first two bags. About early July, I checked the Southwest Airlines website for flights just to get a feel of the prices and found the same flights we took back in 2008 but this time, the total cost for the two of us was $700!!!
I so wished that I could have jumped on that deal, but I didn’t have the available funds for the tickets at that time. On August 7, 2012, when I had enough saved for the airfare, I went directly to Southwest Airlines website and searched for flights. Low and behold, I found a good price for two seats! It wasn’t as low as $700 but it was definitely not as much as I paid for in 2008. When we head out to WDW we will have about a 55 minute stopover in Houston, TX then head to WDW. Yes, we will be tired when we arrive at WDW but on our return flight back, it is a direct flight. I wish we could have had a direct flight heading to WDW, but Ce la vie! The total cost of this airfare for two? $729.40. It is a little over $100 LESS than the airfare cost in 2008! I am a happy camper!!
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Thanks everyone for the congrats on the airfare. I was very happy when I was able to purchase the airfare at that price. Now, let's get to the next installment of my pre-trip report.
I have always been a scrapbooking, stamping/card making, crafty kind of mom. I even have a blog where I post some of my projects that I am working on.
In 2008, I wanted to do so many DIY projects for that trip, but I ended up not doing any at all. I was a bit disappointed in myself, but I made a pact that the next time we return to WDW, that I would complete the projects I wanted to do. So here is my list of the DIY projects that either my daughter and I will be working on or where I will just be working on it.
1) Travel Journal – Worked on by me only.
This is actually a surprise for my daughter. In 2008, I made my daughter a kid’s travel journal complete with journaling pages, puzzles and coloring pages for her first airplane ride. This travel journal was so that she will be distracted while on her first plane ride. Well I created a monster with that first trip and now she wants to go on all kinds of flying trips! This trip, I wanted to create another travel journal, but she is not a kid anymore. She is 14 years old and very much a teenager who test her parents and step-parents patience. At first I thought I would buy one, but after searching long and hard to find one she, a teenager, would like, I decided to make it myself. At first, I decided to buy a small hard-cover binder about 1-2 inches thick and that I would make the cover for it so that is looks a little prettier and more feminine. (I don't know how to sew or use a sewing maching. My mom gave me her hand-me-down maching! Thank goodness for YouTube!!!)
I know that she loves, loves, LOVES Tinkerbell so I decided to use the purple, pink, and turquoise colors that is associated with Tink as the color palate for the cover and the pages inside. I measure the binder and made the pattern. The hard time I had was deciding how the cover would look, what pattern if any that I would use. I am familiar with quilting and decided to quilt the cover and then embroider a design of flowers and butterflies on it. (she loves butterflies) This past weekend I purchased the material, batting, and fusible interfacing for the cover and starting working on the project. Well it wasn't long before I realized that I made it a little too small for the binder and that it wouldn't fit. Remember, I don't know how to sew or use a sewing machine. All of this was done AFTER I made a very pretty embroidery design on the cover! Well instead of trying to make the cover fit the binder I purchased, I decided to make my own book and have it fit the size of the cover. I purchased some cute cardstock that a teenage girl would love and made some of the pages. I also got some harder, thicker cardstock and cut it to fit so that I could use it as the front and back cover of the book. I also decided to use my scrapbooking talents on the pages as well and will be altering them. I think my daughter will love this and I plan on giving it to her on Thanksgiving. I will post the pictures as soon as I can.
2) Tie-Dye T-shirts – Worked on by my daughter and I.
This was a project I really wanted to do back in 2008 but just didn’t have the time or the energy. I have found great ideas and tips for tie-dying shirts online and will do this project this weekend with my daughter. A few weekends ago I purchased the tie-dying kits and extra red and green inks. I also purchased 4 V-neck, 100% cotton shirts for my daughter and I. All four shirts will have a Mickey head on them. Two of the shirts will be red and green and will be worn for MVMCP that we will be attending. The other two, I figured would be our test shirts and we could use any color combo we wanted. I have already warned my hubby of the mess we will be making in the kitchen and that we will be cleaning up after ourselves. (He is the cook in the family and the kitchen is his domain!) Wish us luck that they come out ok!! I will also be posting pictures as soon as I can.
3) Resort Windo Decorating - Done by my daughter and I.
This was another DIY project I wanted to do in 2008 but didn didn’t have the energy or the extra money to buy the decorations. We are a family that really celebrates and decorates for the main holidays. My husband goes all out not only on Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also 4th of July (it’s his grandma’s birthday). I personally love Christmas and love decorating at Christmas time. Since we will be there the day after Thanksgiving, we will be decorating our window and door for Christmas. Although this isn’t normally a DIY project, I have decided to DIY all of the decorations except for our stuffed bears and the window clings that I already purchased from a DollarTree store. My thought is this, battery operated Christmas lights will be hung around the window on suction-cup hooks; paper garland hung with the Christmas lights, window clings will be hung on the outer edge of the window; paper ornaments will be hanging from the Christmas lights with fishing string; on the ledge may be a nativity scene and on a chair in the center of the window will be mine and my daughters Build-A-Bear dolls with mine dressed as Cinderella and my daughter’s dressed as Tink. We will have the curtain closed behind the chair so that the window still has a white background. We will then make a paper Christmas wreath that will be hung on the door with a large magnet hook that my husband has on our fridge. I am using paper mainly because it doesn’t weigh as much as regular ornaments do and it isn’t breakable in the carry-on either. I plan to precut the paper and take it with us with all the adhesive we need. Then when we check in, we will be putting all of the decorations together and hanging them before going to bed. My daughter loves that idea and we both can't wait to complete it. I will be taking pictures of the window and post it when I write my trip report.
So these are the DIY projects that are currently on my list. I will keep you guys updated with the progress of it all and with pictures too.
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I have dreams like that all the time before our Disney vacations - you are definitely not alone on that. 
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I will be overlapping with you for 2 days. We arrive on the 28th, leave on the 3rd. Still working on all of our plans, as we will be traveling with a 2 1/2 month old, and dd and dsil want to spend a day a Universal (I don't, so get the baby!) but haven't decided when yet. I'm very close to my mom and my daughter, so I can't wait to see how your trip pans out with your daughter!
with them.
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