Updates! Updates! Updates!

Today marks 1 month until our Disney vacation (I will post countdown gift later). There have been lots of things that have happened since my last post. We are excited to try a new resort (for us) and the kids are anxiously awaiting October 23, so they can leave for vacation and also find out where we are staying.

I have received our vacation packets from Disney. Since we have 2 rooms, we got 2 packets on separate days. In the packets are our free luggage tags (we ended up with 10, which is a nice little freebie), our confirmations for Magical Express, confirmations for our resort, and all the free little coupons. We will be using the 1 free round of miniature golf and the free 100 point arcade cards. Last year we used the free souvenir at Planet Hollywood and got a key chain, which is nice but with 3 children and only 2 passes it kind of makes it difficult. I have already logged on to  http://www.disneyphotopass.com/default.aspx  and registered my 2 photopass cards I received. It is nice to go ahead and register these on your account, just in case one gets lost your photos will already be on your account.

I have finally booked our out going plane tickets. I found a great deal on Airtran, hopefully when I am ready to book my flight home I can find another good deal. Right after booking I called Magical Express to book our transportation to our resort. They were very nice. They even told me that if I forget to book our return bus transportation before I leave home that my hotel room telephone has a direct link button to them and I can book during my stay. Our flight arrives in the evening and this will be the first time we can take advantage of the luggage pick up. I will admit I am a little nervous about this and will have to do some thinking before I make the decision to do this. Our flight arrives within a couple of hours of the 10pm deadline and I don't want lost luggage.

I have our luggage out and ready. We have started some packing of shorts and tank tops since it is getting too chilly to wear those where we live. I found these great packing lists for everyone on Pinterest. This is what it looks like:

 I think the kids will like packing their own clothes and it helps me not to have to pack 3 bags. This will also help Catelyn's mom with packing and knowing how much of each thing to bring. I filled it out for them and then they can pack from the list. The link from Pinterest is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brian_sibley/4749817321/sizes/l/  There are somethings on here that we don't even know what they are but I think it will help the kids with packing.

I have also started using this spreadsheet to help with confirmations and such:

This is just a sample and not my actual spreadsheet. The website for this if you would like to use it is http://www.plan-a-magical-vacation.com/disney-vacation-planning-spreadsheet.html This one is quite organized and if you go to the website you can download a blank one and then fill in your info.  In the past I have used this one: 

 It is also very good but I have decided to try the new one instead. This one can be found here:

http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/passporters-club-gallery/123871-free-sample-e-worksheet-vacation-glance.html#post1546365