What I'm doing on 11/19/12

This is what I'm doing today....

What I'm eating:

Yummy after school snack!!

What I'm reading:

The Vampire Diaries series on my Nook Tablet (I love my Nook Tablet).
I can't say that I am very impressed with the series but I am reading them because once I start a series I can't stop until I finish the series (I have book issues). There have been 2 exceptions to this: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I only made it to chapter 2 and The Lord of the Rings, the names were just too much (I don't care that "Bill" is the son of "Bob", just say "Bill")
I really like the show but the books are not like it. This is the only time I can think of that I like the TV/movie version better than a book version of a story. There is actual character development in the show, I find myself not caring if Elena lives or dies in the books.

What I'm currently obsessed with:

Gotta love Wade (YUM!!).

She wants Stefan. No, she wants Damon. No, she wants Stefan. 
How can a girl choose just one?

I am a big TV watcher but right now I only seem to have time for these 2 shows and The Good Wife. 

This Months Big Life Changing Event:
For the first time in 12 years, I will NOT be Black Friday shopping. My kids don't want much little stuff so it is pointless. Any cheap movies that I decide to buy will be purchased online. 

Theme parks, children, and hurricanes...oh, my!!

I have been super busy since our return from Disney. It has been a crazy few weeks. The kids don't seem to have any activities but I can't seem to find enough hours in the days to get everything done. 

We had a fantastic trip. Taking my 12 yr old niece was an excellent choice. My kids had so much fun with her and there was no fighting. We had 2 connecting rooms at All-Star Sports in building 6, first floor. We walked 20 yards to the pool and 30 yards to the main building. This resort was quiet in the evenings and had plenty to keep kids busy. We swam in both pools and liked both of them equally. For the better part of an hour we were the only people at the baseball pool, which the kids loved. We were really close to the football section and we felt comfortable letting the kids walk over there to play catch with a little Nerf football Xander won at the arcade on the huge football field. Xander even found a nice soccer match going on with some Europeans and Mexicans. He was in heaven to be able to play with adults and people not of our nationality. He learned a lot (and wore himself out) in the couple of hours he played with them. I highly recommend this resort to people with sports loving children. They can be themselves and not have to worry about being quiet all of the time. 

Here is a breakdown to our vacation:

Day 1 (Tuesday): This was a travel day and our plane didn't arrive in Florida until 7:00pm. We did use Magical Express, as we have before, and still love it. This time we did the luggage delivery and as promised, our luggage was delivered to our rooms within 3 hours. It was very nice not having to carry our luggage through the airport.

Day 2 (Wednesday): This was a swim/relax day. We swam for a few hours and then got cleaned up to go to dinner. We had breakfast and lunch at our resorts food court, which was adequate with choices. We especially loved the grilled chicken sandwich. Our dinner was at Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort. The dinner here was good but I don't think we will ever eat here again. There were a lot of seafood choices but I don't like seafood so there just wasn't much for me. 

Day 3 (Thursday): This was Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure day. 

We are big Harry Potter nerds at our house and we hadn't been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter yet. We started our day by renting a car at the Disney Car Care Center. I didn't this in advance at National.com. The day before I called the car center and set up a pick up time to get my mother and Xander so they could pick up the car. I always send Xander because he is really good at directions and can always help her find her way back to the resort. Eve and I usually don't go because they won't transport 4 or 5 people, 2 is their max. Once at IOA, we went straight to the HP area. It was approx. 20 min after park opening and we only had a 20 min wait for the ride, which is awesome. So, we rode the ride, got our Butterbeer and then walked back around to Eve's favorite area, Cat in the Hat. They kids rode all of the rides in that area and we then moved clockwise around the lake, riding rides as we went. We ate lunch in the Jurassic Park area, and the food was pretty good. When we got back around to the HP area, Xander and Eve wanted to wait at Olevander's to get a wand. The line was approximately 1 hour long. They waited and I went back to a store in the area to do some Christmas shopping. During their waiting time, it started pouring down rain. Most of the people in line for a wand got out of line so that reduced their waiting time to about 15 min. :) Once inside, Xander was chosen by Olevander to do the demonstration, he was so surprised. He ended up buying the wand that "chose him." Eve picked out a wand and while we were shopping for other things in the store, Eve ran into a friend from her 4th grade class. This is such a surprise considering we live in Indiana. I took their picture together and told Eve that she is like an old man, seeing people that she knows when she is traveling. Once we were done with IOA, we set out to return to the resort. On the way, we stopped at one of the outlet malls and shopped at the Disney outlet store. I got Eve a Disney shirt for $4.99. After that we went to the resort and parked our car. It was time for dinner at ESPN club at the Boardwalk Inn. 

Just to set up this scenario   you must know that Eve does not like boats. She LOVES to swim but hates boats (IDK whats wrong with her either, shes silly). To get from resort to resort on Disney property you must take a bus to DTD or a theme park and then bus hop. We usually take a bus to HS and then take the cute little boats to Boardwalk or Beach/Yacht club. Eve wanted nothing to do with it again (we just did that the night before), so we decided to challenge the others in a good old Top Gear (UK version only) race. The plan was for Eve and I to take a bus to AK and then a bus to Boardwalk. The other 3 were to take a bus to HS and then the boat to Boardwalk. Eve and I got picked up first and laughed all the way to AK. Once at AK, I called the others to find out that the HS bus wouldn't take them because it was 6pm and HS was closed. I told them to get on the AK bus and change over like we were. About 15 minutes later they called to say that the AK bus wouldn't take them either because AK closed at 6, as well. So, I had to send them on the DTD bus to transfer to the Boardwalk bus. So, our little race didn't work :(

Eve and I decided to get off at the Swan and walk to the Boardwalk. This was a nice pleasant walk. I highly recommend it. The others arrived at the ESPN about 45 minutes after we did. We had a nice meal and will eat there every year. One thing to be aware of, make sure of any major league or college sporting events. There was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and we had to wait 15 minutes to be seated. Not a problem for us, but it could be a problem for some people. 

Day 3 (Friday): Animal Kingdom in the a.m. and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the p.m. We enjoyed Animal Kingdom but not the Rainforest Cafe. The food was OK but the service was not. None of us were impressed so we have another restaurant for the "NO" list.  MNSSHP is our favorite. It is so much fun. With being able to enter at 4, you can ride the rides that close at 7 for the party. That ride for us is the Jungle Cruise. After that we make our way over to Tomorrow Land and ride some rides there, moving counter clockwise around and then we ended up back at Tomorrow Land. We like Cosmic Rays and ate there again, another tradition for us. I did learn that I cannot do a park in the morning and then the party at night. We were going non-stop from 8am-12am. It was a very long day. In the past we just swam and resort hopped on the party day, I think we will go back to that next year. 

Day 4 (Saturday): This day was VERY cold because Hurricane Sandy was moving in. Blizzard Beach only had about 50 cars in the parking lot. We wanted to swim at our resort but it was too cold, so the kids and I went mini-golfing at Winter Summerland. This course was so much fun. 

I think this might be our Christmas card!!

I am glad we decided on this one. The kids really enjoyed it. Our dinner was at Chef Mickey. We will definitely do this again. The kids didn't like the characters but we all loved the food.

Day 5 (Sunday): Epcot day, my FAVORITE!! 

This was a good day, until the end. The girls did the KidCot stations and enjoyed it. Xander did the Perry the Platypus phone thing and liked it. We have done the KimPossible one before in Germany but now its Perry and we got Japan. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner at Coral Reef. Xander and Mammie said that they got the best steak they have ever had at Disney here. We loved the food, the staff, and the atmosphere. We think we have a new Epcot tradition, although we will miss Garden Grill. 

During the end of our Epcot time I got a call from US airlines saying that my flights were cancelled for Monday and I needed to call and reschedule. We were flying Orlando-Washington DC-Indy. Hurricane Sandy strikes and we lose :( I called and spoke with someone who couldn't get me home on Monday. She tried getting me to Lexington, Columbus Ohio, and Dayton Ohio. There was nothing. The best she could do was Tuesday Orlando-Charlotte-Indy and we had to split our group up. 

This meant another night of hotel stay. I went to the front desk at All Star Sports and told them my situation. The CM called someone on the phone and told them my situation. I explained that I was displaced due to the Hurricane. When she put the phone on hold she said that an extra night would be $82 plus tax and fees. I asked, since I was displaced, if we could put all 5 of us in one room (2 adults, 2-12 year olds, and 1-9 year old) especially since I had to leave at 3 am due to my flight. She said "No" that I couldn't put 5 people in there, even for the night. I thought about it and although it upset me, I asked how much it would be for the 2 rooms for 1 night. She did some math on her calculator and said $372. Are you freakin' kidding me? How did $164 (2 rooms at $82 each) get up to $372? I then told her that I didn't need the dining plan or anything else, just the room. She looked at me like I was crazy and said that it was just the rooms and taxes/fees. That's a lot of taxes and fees. I told her never mind. Disney crushed my magic at that point.

Now we were hotel displaced as well. My mom called around and found a Holiday Inn at the airport that would put 5 of us in 1 room for 1 night for $150.

The next day we had to take the Magical Express to the airport then transfer to the Holiday Inn bus. Once at the Holiday Inn we were stuck with 3 kids and nothing to do. It was too cold to swim and they didn't have a game room or anything. I think they drove us crazy. It was just too much to handle. 

We got home safely on Tuesday and I am thankful that we did. I am also thankful that I don't live in the areas affected and I hope people can get their lives back soon.

On an up note, don't you just love Mousekeeping? We had a great one that kept rearranging our candy, it was funny. She even decorated our window with Eve's sock monkey and sunglasses. One day we came back to find the picture of my parents (mammie and my dad, who passed away May 2011) decorated with a towel heart and a pretty lei. They are so thoughtful!!

Happy Halloween...a little late :)

I can't believe how fast the last few weeks have been. We have been to Disney and back, no thanks to Hurricane Sandy (more about that later) and have had my favorite holiday, Halloween. 

I love the idea of dressing up and people giving me candy. It is fantastic, where else can you get free chocolate? I haven't dressed up in a few years but I still seem to get candy along the way.

This year my daughter went as Katniss Everdeen. She wanted a cool, kick butt costume and loves the movie so we thought it would be a great idea. This costume is one of the best ones I have made over the years, because it was the cheapest, and I have made several (devil, flower fairy, zombie golfer). This costume cost me less than $4, which makes me very happy.

We will start with the top of her and go down. The hair was easy, just a braid across the back of her head and we were done. She wore a black t-shirt, black jacket, and black yoga pants, all of which we already owned. The mockinjay "pin" on her jacket is leftover from a friends birthday party, it was the cupcake topper ring. I had my husband saw the ring part off and we hot glued it to her jacket. The jacket was old, getting snug, and came from Walmart so no big loss. The "12" on both arms is to identify her as district 12 and was white duct tape that we already had and I wrote the numbers on with a Sharpie. The hiking boots are the only thing I had to buy and they were 2 sizes too big (haha) but they came from the Goodwill and cost less than $4. The bow is from a co-worker and the arrows with holder came from a relative. I had looked at Walmart, Dollar Tree, Target, and Meijer for the cheap, plastic toy kind but no one had any so I had to text friends to see if they had any toy ones. No one did but these 2 offered me up the real thing, which helped the costume look more authentic. She got so many compliments, a lot of the houses (that knew the movie) said it was the best costume of the night. She loved it. We only saw 1 more Katniss out and about. The other Katniss was the one from the beginning of the movie with khaki's on and a big black coat. We went with the tribute Katniss, she seemed more kick butt to us.

It was very cold where we live and I am glad that she was able to wear something with pants and a jacket and not mess up the integrity of her costume. We even got Xander to partially dress up. He was already wearing a cool track jacket that said "Epcot" on it so I told him to wear his Disney lanyard and he could be a Disney tourist. He only got candy from relatives and refused to wear his Mickey ears from 4 years ago, but at least he went with us. He is 12 and likes to pretend he is too old for such things. 

I already can't wait for next Halloween. Maybe I should skip going to Disney and have a Halloween party......or maybe not :)

Try new restaurants at Disney

So, every year we attempt to try new restaurants at Disney World. Our top favorite table service restaurants have been (in no particular order):

1. Trails End at Fort Wilderness. It is a buffet and I have heard the menu has changed. We last ate here in 2008.
2. ESPN Club at Boardwalk. Good for sports loving boys/men. There are even TV's in the bathrooms, haha. No reservations required, which is a nice option sometimes.
3. Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge. This is the most kid friendly restaurant I have seen since Chuck E. Cheese. The wait staff is rude (on purpose), ours threw the straws and napkins on the table and slammed the drinks down on the table still on the tray, we had to serve ourselves. You should have seen the looks on the kids faces, priceless. But they do sweet things too, an elderly couple had anniversary buttons on and the waiters had them stand up to slow dance while the entire restaurant sang to them. Make sure your kids ask for ketchup, just to see what happens. 
4. Sci-Fi Dine in at Hollywood Studios. The food here is very good and it feels like you are at a drive in theater. You even sit in cars. Kids love the old movies on the big screen.
5. Garden Grill at Epcot. This is, by far, my favorite character meal. The food is excellent and not a buffet like most character meals. The restaurant rotates slightly so you see different scenery throughout your meal. Request an outer facing booth so your kids can look down and see the ride Living with the Land go right underneath the restaurant. Characters include Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto.
6. Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom. Nothing like breakfast with Winnie the Pooh. We usually book our reservations at the earliest possible. This way you are in the park with the castle right there and NO ONE else will be in your picture :)

We are very picky eaters so we usually go for places that serve chicken, steak, and the like. It is also nice to go someplace to get a $30 steak when you have the dining plan, so you get your moneys worth. When we go during free dining, we found that a free $30 steak tastes the best. I highly recommend the dining plan, whether it is free or not. It makes budgeting so much easier while you are there. It seems simpler that your meals are "paid for" and you can carry less cash. One year I was 3 days into my vacation and the only thing I opened my wallet for was tips. We get the standard plan with 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal, and 1 snack per day. We balance out the lack of our 3rd meal by ordering breakfast groceries from gardengrocer.com. We don't like heavy breakfasts and it is easier to eat a Pop Tart or granola bar while on the move. 

Now on to the restaurants that we will be going to this time.

1. Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom. My kids still like Rainforest Cafe's so, why not?
2. ESPN Club at Boardwalk. I have told my son that this restaurant will become a tradition for us. Sometimes older boys need a break from all of the princesses. The food is good and the atmosphere is fun. 
3. Cape May Cafe at Beach Club. We have had breakfast with Minnie Mouse here before but this time we are doing dinner. It is a clam bake with tons of seafood choices. There is also some choices for this land lubber!!
4. Chef Mickey at Contemporary resort. We have never been here and I am worried that two 12 year olds and a 9 year old with be too old for this but I didn't have many choices. I had it narrowed down to Chef Mickey and 1900 Park Fare, both character meals. I asked my kids, back in May, which they would prefer, dinner with Cinderella and her step sisters (1900 Park Fare) or dinner with Mickey. They both said Mickey, although the step sisters sounded quite intriguing to Eve.
5. Coral Reef at Epcot. Kids love aquariums. This one is huge and you can watch the fish while you eat. 

Disney restaurants are important to my kids. They want to know where they will be eating, just as much as they want to know where we will be staying. So, I have made today's countdown gift a restaurant reveal. I have typed up a paper and added some graphics I found online to give to them. Hopefully, this goes well. 

I highly recommend allears.net for dining choices. They have menues for all of the restaurants so you can weigh the pro's and cons for each. Make sure you book your dining reservations 180 days in advance. I cannot stress this enough. If you even wait until 170 days some restaurants will be booked. My time for Chef Mickey is 7:45p.m. because I waited until a week or so after  my 180 date and all of the earlier times were booked. I had a friend attempt to book Garden Grill at 178 days and the day she wanted was entirely booked. 

3 Days until our Vacation

With only 3 days left we have lots of things to do. I have done TONS of laundry today. It seemed like all of Xander's shirts were dirty. During all of these loads of laundry, I was working on packing. I think Eve is completely packed. Xander and I are getting there. It seems like a slow process. 

Let me start of explaining todays gift with a quick back story. This Disney vacation is on a super tight budget. The hubby is unemployed and after everything it doesn't leave much money for extra fun. Most of the gifts in this countdown are things we would have purchased anyway, like toiletries, gum, candy, travel activities, etc. My mother and I have split costs of most of the gifts because I would be buying for 5 people. I am not heartless, nor am I trying to exclude anyone from anything. Having said this, today's gift was only purchased for Xander and Eve. I didn't want to leave Catelyn out of it but considering the gift was $25 each, it was kind of difficult to add an extra person on to it for me. She is completely unaware of the gift giving process, so her feelings will not be hurt. She lives in a different city, approximately 75 miles away. We have just been keeping her gifts in a huge gift bag and they will be given to her before we leave.

Today's gift is a $25 Disney Gift Card. I know that these can be purchased at Walgreens, Meijer, or CVS but I wanted to order different ones from disneygiftcard.com. There are tons of choices and you even get a cute card with it for free that you can add your own message to. The date on these cards are when I ordered them. There are other greeting cards you can buy but I didn't want to purchase anything extra.  

The gift cards I chose were ones that included Mickey Mouse. Xander's has Mickey golfing, because he loves golf. Eve's card has all of the standard Disney characters on it. The website has so many different choices, probably hundreds, but I wanted standard Mickey. We have purchased gift cards at WDW before and they usually end up with the Muppets (Eve) or Perry the Platypus (Xander) so this time I wanted Mickey.

Sorry this picture is blurry but I had a REALLY hard time getting another picture to load correctly so I took this one. The gift cards were attached to the inside of the above greeting cards and had the gift card amount typed underneath the card. Both of my cards are worth $25 each.

Total for this gift is $50. 

More Disney Halloween fun

Today's Disney countdown gift is a Halloween necklace. It has a red flashing light. I bought this to go along with the glow stix that I purchased previously for the countdown. These will work great for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. They usually sell stuff like this on the carts that the CM's wheel out at dark during the party. The only difference is that these are not a Disney character and I only paid $.97 each. They don't really serve a true purpose, just to make the party more fun and to help with kids always wanting something that you know will end up at the bottom of the toy box in 2 weeks when the novelty has worn off. 

These super cute necklaces were purchased at Walmart. I had to dig pretty far back on the rack to find some that the batteries were still good but I was successful in finding 3 different ones. Hopefully the batteries last through the party.

Total for this gift was: $2.91

More Disney coupons...arcade

We all love those packets that Disney sends us after our reservations are paid for. Some of the coupons are helpful and some I have never used. The one coupon that I have used every time is the arcade coupon. It is for a 100 point arcade card. I usually use the coupon to get 1 free card and then buy my other child a 100 point card. Any more points that they want over and above 100, they have to purchase themselves. We are usually busy at the Walt Disney World Resort every day, whether it be park hopping or resort hopping for dining reservations, but we usually have a few minutes to spare here and there for a couple of video games. One hundred points is not a lot but it is just enough to help when the kids beg to play arcade games. I have tried asking "how can you want to play games when you are at Disney World?" but it didn't work, they look at me like I've just grown 2 heads. I guess I ask stupid questions. 

Last year we went resort hopping on the monorail loop. We decided to get off at the Contemporary Resort so they kids could be on the inside when the monorail goes through. We noticed the arcade and the kids wanted to check it out. While checking it out Eve sat down at a game and found a game card. She took it to the arcade attendant and he told her that she could keep it for being honest by trying to turn it in. When we checked the balance, there were actually some points on it. BONUS!! They took turns playing games on it at Contemporary until we were ready to leave. 

We usually keep the cards in our wallets just in case they find an arcade to play at and they have points remaining. I am extremely thankful that my kids are old enough that they can play in there alone and I can rest on the "parent bench," usually right outside of the arcade entrance. 

My gift for today is a coupon for the arcade. Because Disney sends us their WONDERFUL coupon books, I will only have to pay for 1 arcade card :), this makes mamma VERY happy.  I figure if they are going to play in there anyway, I might as well make it one of my gifts, Mamma is always thinking ahead.

The coupons I have made before here and I keep reusing the envelopes that I explained how to make here. 

Total cost of todays gift is $0 until I get to my resort.