[dizzparkmom]

Random thoughts:

For souvenirs and out of pocket expenses, we’ll be using either our Disney rewards card or Disney Dollars. We’ve been using our Disney Visa card for about 30 months and almost exclusively for the last 6 months, thus, we’ve managed to collect about $250 on our rewards card. We asked for (and received) Disney Dollars for all of our birthdays, anniversary, and Christmas presents over the last couple of years. We’ve also had a couple of garage sales and turned part of the proceeds into Disney Dollars. So, most of our spending money is already set aside and accounted for. We hope to put very little on the credit cards on this trip. Debt is one souvenir I prefer not to bring home from a Disney vacation!

To get to MCO, we’ll be flying on 2 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards tickets and 1 Southwest Ding fare. We were able to save up the Reward tickets over the last several years be putting all of our expenses on our SW Visa and them paying it off each month. Once we were able to earn our 2nd reward ticket (and it was obvious we would be nowhere near close to earning our 3rd in time for the trip), we switched to using the Disney Rewards Visa exclusively. The combination for these two rewards programs have saved us quite a bit of money on our vacation. (Did I mention we saved almost $500 on our vacation package by using a Disney Visa code? )

Packing: Packing has been the hardest part of this trip so far. Because of the time of year we are traveling, we don’t know if it’s going to be warm or cold. In Arizona, it’s pretty consistent from day to day and we rarely have huge temperature changes like they do in Florida. So, we’re packing a lot of clothes so that we’ll be prepared for whatever comes our way. Also, DS and DH are also dirt and spill magnets – so that’s even more. Throw into the mix that DS is only semi-potty trained (he can go days without any accidents and then have one everyday for a week and then back to nothing) so we’ll be bringing a big bag of pull-ups – I don’t think a Disney Vacation is the right time to worry about accidents. I’ve seen lots of trip-reports where people pack lighter and then plan on doing a load or two of laundry. I considered doing some laundry during our afternoon breaks, and then I remembered that I’m going on vacation too and don’t want to do any laundry on my vacation. So, we’ll be hauling lots of bags, loosely packed, along with a space bag or two for the dirty laundry on the way home. Also, we’ll select souvenirs and gifts wisely and if we think something may be an issue, we’ll ship it home from the store.

Counting down - when we decided to go to WDW this December instead of in 2008, we were 185 days out from our departure. It was a whirlwind of activity getting ready to make our ADRs at the 180 day mark in just 5 days. Before I knew it, we were at 100 days, then 75, then 50 and now it is TOMORROW! In order to help DS get excited about the trip and help him understand how long away it was, we made a countdown chain. We brainstormed all the fun things we were looking forward to and looked at picture books with DS. We wrote down all of our ideas on paper rings, hooked them together and stretched them across the living room wall. Each night before dinner, we take one down and that’s what we talk about during dinner. We’ve also got the special WDW programs on DVR so that we can watch them whenever we want. DS’s favorite is “Modern Marvels: WDW”. Every once in a while I try to create some Disney fun for DS by making Mickey pancakes, Mickey pb&j’s, or even Mickey hamburgers (available in the grocery freezer). DS really enjoys when I serve these items on one of the left over Mickey Mouse plates from his birthday party. We make frequent trips to the Disney Store – where I covertly pick up some toys for DS to enjoy on the flight. I’ve been very excited about this trip for a long time, but the closer its gotten, the more and more excitement I see and hear from DH and DS. I’m really looking forward to an amazing time, more importantly, an amazing time together.

Pictures: I pre-ordered the Photopass CD using the discount. I’m still researching how to get the most out of the CD – so any tips of suggestions are definitely welcome.

As I finish typing this last installment, I’m twiddling my thumbs and bursting in anticipation while waiting to check in at the 24 hour mark. I’ve got 15 minutes to go……..waiting, waiting, I guess this is good practice for those lines!

One last thank you to all of you Passporter experts out there who take the time to write up your trip reports and answer all of our questions – what I’ve learned from all of you will be the key to sharing a magical vacation with my family! Thank You!

Next Up: I’ll be back with details about how things actually happened! What worked, what didn’t and how I (as an obsessed, over-planner) coped with it all!