Now the Countdown will really start...

On Sept. 27 we will hit the 45 day mark. That's the time that Disney designates that packages must be paid in full - well, we were paid in full earlier this summer when the discounts came out in abundance and we ended up with free dining. So we've just been sitting here waiting and hoping. Still no two beds in our room, we're still in teh king room. However if we hit 45 days and there's not one to be had we can wait and ask about 5 days out when they do the room assignments and see if we can possibly slip in, but still pay the king price. I don't care if we don't get refunded, that's not why we want the standard room. We just want our own bed lol

All of our dining plans have been made, hotels on the way down and back are set. Tours in New Orleans and San Antonio are planned. All that's left, really, is for me to buy a plane ticket to Seattle. Yes, that's right, still haven't done that one yet, but hopefully soon. PFD is being announced tomorrow so hopefully AlaskaAir will give a sweet deal for trips to Seattle. One can hope anyway, if not it's going to be over two hundred dollars for a one way ticket, which I guess is not that bad, but then they charge for baggage and all these others stupid hidden fees and it just frustrates me.

Oh well, the trip is just around the corner. Final week of work for me started today (yay!) so I am definitely ready for VACATION!

Just a Video

We hit double digits for our trip (starting November 7 when I fly down to Seattle and Erin drives over from Montana) yesterday. In 102 days we will be driving into Walt Disney World properties! Check in at CSR and then head over to AKL for dinner at Boma! YUM! Cannot wait!

Overdue for an Update!

Wow, we've been extremely bad about updating our journal. Not sure what that is about, other than we're both extremely busy working to pay for our obsessive habit of travelling. I can't speak for Erin, but I know that the only thing that keeps me in my job is the fact that I have trips that need to be paid for. I think Erin enjoys her job, though, so lucky for her.

Anyway, we have everything booked except my airfare. Still trying to find the best deal, though, and it's going to be expensive as we are starting in Seattle for the road trip and ending in Salt Lake City. It's a long story as to why - mainly I was not paying attention when I was planning out our days on the road, and so Erin's mom came to the rescue and told us to forget Seattle on our return trip and head for Utah. Thanks Patty! You are a life saver!

We have booked all of our hotel rooms for the road trip both going down to Disney and coming back. And, of course, we have the Disney trip booked and are paying it off each month. If Erin would send her check on time, it'd help a great deal, but can't complain too much I suppose as it's getting done little by little. We have a little over six months to go, and November cannot come soon enough.

Anyway. Here are our Travel Plans.

Day One: Seattle, WA
Toni flies in from Anchorage. 9:50am
Erin drives in from Deer Lodge. 9-10pm
Hotel: America's Best Value

Day Two: Bakersfield, CA
Leave Seattle by 5:30am.
Get into Bakersfield 10pm.
Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn

Day Three: Amarillo, TX
Leave Bakersfield by 6:30am
Get into Amarillo by 9:30pm
Hotel: Travel Lodge Amarillo West

Day Four: Baton Rouge, LA
Leave Amarillo by 6am
Get into Dallas Fort Worth by Noon (meeting up with Shorty and the Nichols! CAN'T WAIT!)
Leave DFW by 4pm
Get into Baton Rouge by 11pm
Hotel: Crestwood Suites

Day Five: DISNEY, BABY!!!
Leave Baton Rouge by 9:00am
Get into Lake Buena Vista by 7pm
Hotel: Coronado Springs Resort!

Then, on the way back....

Day One: New Orleans, LA
Leave Disney :( by 9:00am
Get into New Orleans by 7pm
Hotel: Prince Conti Hotel (French Quarter, Baby!)

Day Two: San Antonio, TX
Leave New Orleans by 10am
Get into San Antonio by 5:30pm
Hotel: Travel Lodge Amarillo/Riverwalk (!!!)

Day Three: Albuquerque, NM
Leave San Antonio by 9:00am
Get into Albuquerque by 8pm
Hotel: Days Inn - Midtown

Day Four: Salt Lake City
Leave Albuquerque by 6pm
Get into Salt Lake City by 4pm
Toni flies away :(


that's all the updating I can do for now!

New Plans...

Still doing Disney, still doing Disney in November...

STILL DOING A ROAD TRIP! Just going in a different direction. Instead of me flying to Montana and going through the mid-west we are now going to drive from Seattle down I-5 down to LA then across the southern states to Disney...

Call us crazy, but we're counting down the days; ha ha!

Dates are November 8 - 24, 2010. Yes, that's right, I fly home the day before thanksgiving lol.

This should give us 10 nights and 9 days in the World. We're going to try out the Dining Plan as we want to do a couple of the "signature dining" spots and this would probably be cheapest. California Grill during Wishes, here we come! <3

So everything is back on and almost as good as planned. Can't wait to book the trip, I might just do it this weekend! ha ha!

Holiday Travels

So Erin spent the week here in Alaska with me. She got in last Saturday and we immediately headed for Kenai. It was my parents' wedding anniversary so we surprised them with a "FedEx" package that was "late in arrival". Mom was so surprised she screamed, through her purse across the room and proceeded to squeeze teh life out of Erin. Hysterical.

Mom was voiceless for three days after.

Spent most of the week down there and travelled back to Anchorage this past Saturday. Roads were good till we dropped down into Portage. Fishtailed quite a bit, but survived (though to hear Erin tell it we nearly died. Whatev.)

Yesterday we saw Disney's A Christmas Carol which was FAB! go see it! and then came back to try to put our Disney vids onto disk and I couldn't find my DVD recorder's remote. We tore my room apart, still no remote, so at 10pm last night we drove all over Anchorage trying to find a replacement DVD recorder... no such luck! So we bought tapes instead and were just going to do that until I could find a DVD recorder... we sit down get halfway through the first tape and out of no where the remote appeared between us! Seriously! the weirdest thing!

So we had a good laugh.

Now we're just transferring the stuff to DVD and sitting on our bums. We didn't go to bed until after 1am last night. Crazy stuff.

erin leaves today and I am sooooooooooo bummed.

Disney Dreamin'

Had my first travel nightmare last night, it's actually why I'm up so stupidly early here in my room. Blah.

It basically started out with Erin and I driving up to the Coronado Springs Resort (so I assume this was, in fact, a dream about our road trip next summer) and unloading. For whatever reason I let Erin take my luggage and her luggage and she went and checked in while I guess I had a valet take her car away ?? Who knows why my brain had it that way. As I'm standing on the curb (why didn't I go in?) I noticed others also arriving and wheeling to their rooms and what not. My brain identified one as DisneyDiana from Passporters (whom I've never met lol) but she really looked like one of my coworkers! Go figure!

Anyway while I'm waiting for Erin to return with our room assignment I realize - I don't have my purse or my camera or laptop... they're back in ALASKA! All I have is a suitcase with clothes. Now, if we were really on the road trip I KNOW I would have figured that out well BEFORE we got to Disney (if I didn't have my purse I wouldn't have gotten on the plane because I wouldn't have an ID! lol), but apparently my brain wasn't thinking clearly [bad pun!].

So I start freaking out and then Erin comes back and says we'll just call my parents and they'll have to FedEx my stuff down. Um, okay, I don't live with my parents how the heck are they going to get my stuff and ship it down? Shouldn't Judy and Gaylord do that?? Then off we went to our room. We were in the Cabanas again, just a different "Cabana" lol... everything was pretty much the way I remembered it (I would hope so)... and then I woke up because I was still freaking that I didn't have my stuff.

*facepalm* is it August yet?

-Toni