:lol:

I'd also pay the tabloids lots and lots of money to never mention "Brangelina" ever again.

.... what's the first thing you buy? Me? Hundreds of Disney tickets that never expire. :001_smile: (Close second - lots and lots of dark chocolate).

I cry when I'm frustrated - which drives my husband nuts. We'll be "intellectually engaged" (ie, he's telling me why I'm wrong about something), and I start off laughing - but it's not "ha-ha" laughing. It's "you're-about-to-push-me-over-the-emotional-edge" laughing. And then, sure enough, he crosses the invisible line, and I'm bawling like a baby. The flip side of this, is I laugh hysterically when I'm accused of lying. Nothing more convincing than laughing while defending yourself from false accusations. <------ (You can't tell, but I typed this last part using my "sarcasm font.")

:bigear: How has grammarlogues been? There aren't many reviews (that I can find, anyway), so I'm interested in what you think!

Here's what I would do in your situation... I'd consider renting a car/van big enough for your crew, and drive to and from the park each day. As a guest staying "on property," you will receive a parking pass that allows you to park for free at all the parks. This eliminates the concern of being "too far." Need to get back for a quick nap? Hop in the car. Some of the group wants to stay behind at the park? No problem - they can take the bus back. But, one of the big "perks" of staying on property is the transportation, right? Well, yes and no. Yes - you're not having to drive yourself. No - you have to wait (coming and going), your bus will make multiple stops (coming & going), and your bus stop may not be very close to your villa. For some, the Saratoga/Tree House area seems far, but I think your decision making is sound - each couple needs a room. And in reality, how far can it really be? The property is only so big!! In a given day, you probably drive much further from your home to the grocery store - it's all relative! :D

I second the http://www.allearsnet.com site - invaluable source of information!! I can't speak to the accommodations you're looking at, but I can tell you what we've done in the past to cut down on our costs. I let the kids do extra chores around the house, or extra reading, to earn money for Disney. We (mom & dad) give them $20 each. That's it. If they want to spend more, they'd better earn more. This works well, especially for our son - he loves the Lego store at Downtown Disney (for some reason, it's "better" than our local Lego store. Whatever.). We trade pins, but each child is only allowed to buy 1 pin at the park. The others we bought off of ebay at fractions of the price. CAUTION: Do NOT go for the huge pin lots - they are overwhelming fake, and the cast members (and others) won't trade for fake pins. The $1 aisles at Target and Michaels often have a lot of little Disney trinkets: puzzles, markers, activity books, stickers, etc. We bring in all our own "night-time" glow stuff. The standard break-&-glow bracelets and necklaces are easily found at Michaels. The more elaborate spinning toys, hats, etc can be found several places online. I believe Oriental Trading has some. Get t-shirts, sweat shirts, etc from Disney outlets. Much cheaper. If you have hotel points (Hilton, etc), you can often trade points for gift cards. We traded 10,000(?) points for a $100 card good at Olive Garden and several other affiliates. Restaurant.com has several Disney hotel restaurants on their site - mostly at the Swan and Dolphin. Once a month, they will run a sale - 80% off, I believe. So, for example, for $2, you can buy a $25 gift cert (must purchase $35). Getting $35 worth of food for $12 is a pretty good deal! Several other Orlando restaurants are also available. Sign up for groupon and living social emails for the Orlando area and be watching for good deals. I have seen several for food, and the racing experience at the DW race track. I love me a long-term planner!! :)

Yes. The dining credits are "attached" to your room, not to your tickets. So, if you stay 7 nights, but only get a 6 day ticket, you still get 7 nights of dining points. Ahhh, the dreaded <ahem>, I mean BELOVED character breakfasts. Have you done these before? Obviously the biggie is Cinderella's castle - ADRs there are cut throat, and they are a 2 point meal. And I by "meal," I mean the most average food ever. You might try King Akershus Dining Table in Norway (Epcot) - it's princesses, better food (supposedly - we've never eaten here), less points, and greater availability. I've known people to swear off the Castle forever after eating here. Other character dining options: - Garden Grill (The Land, Epcot) - a rotating restaurant with Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale. Dinner only, 1 point, I believe. Family style, decent food. - Chef Mickey's (Contemporary Hotel) - large buffet style with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy and Donald. Breakfast & Dinner. Food is marginal. - Crystal Palace (MK) - Winnie the Pooh and friends. B, L & D. Not been here personally, but is supposed to be among the best for character dining food. There are also a couple other options at some of the hotels, but I am much less familiar with them, so can't give a thumbs up or down: Jiko (?), and Polynesian. One (or both) of them involve Stitch, who we avoid at all costs! Not character dining, but I HIGHLY recommend O'Hana at the Polynesian. Really fantastic food, and lots of fun for the kids. Plus, when they offer the free dining, and if you are a little late in making reservations, you will (typically) have more success finding open ADRs at the hotels. If you want Le Cellier - you MUST be on the phone by 7 am FL time with all the correct buttons pushed on the 180th day prior to your trip. The reservations will be gone within minutes on that day. I kid you not! Disney also has a new policy regarding ADRs - you will now have to give them a credit card number to make a reservation. People were making multiple reservations a day to "cover their bases" on time, what they felt like eating, etc. Most didn't bother to cancel the reservations and just let them hang. As a result, others couldn't make reservations and the restaurants didn't have reliable data on who was coming so as to allow for walk ups. The credit card deposit holds your ADR, and as long as you cancel by a certain date (say, a day before your reservation - but I'm not sure on the specifics), you will get your $ back. Does that make sense? I strongly recommend you check out either http://www.allearsnet.com or http://www.mousesavers.com. Allears lists every menu on the property and can probably better explain the dining plan and reservations than I have. If nothing else makes sense in my message, please just remember this: if you are going to use the dining plan you MUST plan ahead. You MUST make reservations 180 days in advance if there are places you really, really want to go to. I have watched many sad families who assumed that eating at Disney was like it was in the old days, when you could walk up to a restaurant or make reservations that day. The dining plan won't do you much good if you don't get to use it!

Thankfully they haven't announced free dining for early December yet, which is when we normally go. I don't think I have the fortitude to say no.... Our last trip, though, we did without the dining plan, and (after 5 other trips ON the plan) I think we've decided we like dining on our own a little better. Plus, it's so difficult to get those ADRs during free dining season. BRAG ALERT: Last time we used the dining plan and before Le Cellier bumped up from 1 point to 2, I got 3 (count 'em, 3) ADRs for Le Cellier. Who's da man? I'm da man. I could bathe in their risotto.

Oh, and by the way, you are causing my "we are NOT going to go to Disney World this year" resolve to crumble quickly. Darn you. :glare:

The BC villas would be my first choice again with a young child (having taken my 5 and 3 year olds there many years ago). Here's why: 1. Quick in and out of Epcot - you have a "back" entrance by the World Showcase, and you can walk down to Future World or the monorail. Monorail for us is a must with a stroller. Minimizing the in/out, up/down of strollers is key. 2. Most of the really good meals (at least in our humble opinons!) is at Epcot. The proximity to your hotel after a nice dinner with a tired toddler in a stroller is wonderful! And while everyone else is dragging their tired selves to wait in the long bus lines after the Fireworks show, you're just steps from a comfy bed. 3. We only used the bus transportation once or twice from BC. All other times we used the monorail to the Transportation center. With a young child, I would highly, strongly, and opinionatedly recommend the BC villas, Boardwalk villas or BLT villas.

For what it's worth, we had a big problem with the 2 bedroom BLT villas. We were a party of 8 (9 with a baby), 6 adults, 2 kids, and we chose BLT because of the location and the extra bathroom (2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms). They are absolutely GORGEOUS (and we even had a MK park view!), however, the 3rd bathroom off of the living room doesn't offer any privacy. All the bathrooms have sliding pocket-type doors, but they don't "seal" all the way around. In other words, there is a good 1/4 - 1/2" gap all the way around the door. You can see and hear everything. For the poor couple that had to use that as the bathroom, it was very awkward. None of the bathrooms have courtesy fans either. :glare: I don't know if Disney addressed it or not - this was BIG issue for the DVC members who had bought into BLT, and it's been a couple years since we went. I'd be surprised if they'd spent money to refurb the doors less than 5 years in...

Have you considered looking at the Tree House Villas (by the Saratoga resort)? They sleep up to 9, while the all the other 2 bedroom villa suites only sleep up to 8. In addition, I believe that the T.H. villas have 3 bedrooms - not 100% on that, though. I don't know that the bus service is as convenient. You should look at Saratoga, too. Nice large rooms. The first week of December is a great time to go. 2 things to be aware of: - it is a slightly more crowded week than the 2nd week of Dec b/c of the PopWarner superbowl. Expect lots of pre/teens. And lots of cheerleaders. LOTS. :/ You can't go anywhere without lots of cheering. - They will tape the Disney Christmas parade either the 1st or 2nd Saturday of Dec. MK will be *insanely* crowded that day, fyi. I've never stayed at SoG, so I can't answer a "SoG vs. Key West" type question, but I will say the villas are nice.

:iagree: This is why we use Sonlight. The books are awesome. I tried their LA earlier this year, and didn't like it. Done. I know lots of people are upset about the inclusion of Bible and LA in the core, but until I see *exactly* what has changed, I'm not going to sweat about it, and it is certainly NOT enough to make me change curriculum. Yet. :) As far as the forum access, that is frustrating. It bothered me when they shut down their "used curriculum for sale" threads, but in all honestly - there's nothing on their forum (which I am still a full member of) that there isn't here. So, again, no big deal. Some people think they are expensive. I don't think so, especially when you look at allllll that you get. Just today I was comparing the prices I'd have to pay on Amazon or ebay or half.com, and all of those ending up being more USED than Sonlight was NEW. Plus, there is the "hassle factor" of piecing it all together yourself.

I've heard the same from my husband (about buying the new printer instead of ink), but the hassle of setting up a new printer each time is mind boggling. Costco (or at least, our Costco) has started doing ink refills in house for about $8 each. Is there anything they can't do? I ♥ them.

:grouphug:

It's about to get real up in here... I.. don't.. wear.... makeup. There. It's out. I'm not anti-makeup, and have worn it from time to time, but I can't *stand* how it feels. Which brings me to point #2... I have sensory issues, and Nordstroms gives me panic attacks. The thought of having to sift through rack after rack after rack of stuff give me the sweaty shakes. Literally. It is torture to me (TJ Maxx is the same way). I have to stick to places like The Gap where everything is the same on the rack. I really like this idea (and hadn't thought of it before), but unfortunately the closest Nordstrom is 30 miles away. Oh, yes indeedy - but they're not sold at Nordstroms: books (real, yummy smelly, hold-in-your-hands, paper books), Disney trips, massages, a nanny...

Thank you! I know that I can shop online, but I don't shop for myself (unless it's Target), and cannot bring myself to buy $50 shoes for a child that will outgrow them in 4 months - even if they are "free" because of the gifts cards. It's this mental block I have called "I-wouldn't-spend-that-on-myself-so-I'm-sure-as-heck-not-gonna-spend-it-on-an-8-year-old"-itis. I'm probably the only woman I know who *hates* to shop. Oh, well. :)

My mil gives me gift cards to Nordstroms every year for my birthday, and I never shop there. I know that there are some places online that will "buy" gift cards, but at a reduced rate. Does anyone know of a place to sell or swap cards where I can maximize the value - or make an even swap? I also thought about ebay, but I know I personally would be wary of buying gift cards there...

Costco - exactly what you've described.

I'm not a fan of their LA either, but I don't think it's going to be enough to make me switch to another curriculum. I've already gotten next years, so I guess I'll look at the new IGs at the homeschool conventions before making any decisions...

Lisa Welchel has written a great book that deals with a lot of this type of behavior (which we ALL experience - you're not alone!!) - I believe it's called Creative Correction. She provides several practical suggestions of what to do immediately and long term. Some of the ones that have worked for us involve separating the kids from each other for a whole day - just a day in their own rooms. That will often remind them of how much they really *do* enjoy each other. Also, if they are being rude to each other in public, I will make them hold hands. :) Guess how quickly they are polite to each other then?! Something else I have done (that has worked well for us), is I sit the offender down, and explain that I won't let him/her be rude to MY child. I have found when I take the "possession" away from them (instead of "your brother", "your sister") and remind them of who that person is to ME, it carries a lot of weight. Good luck - it will get better! At least that is what I keep telling myself.... :)

They can practice math: have them help you figure out the change from the snack vendors, how many people are riding the Dumbo ride if each car holds 2 and there are 12 cars, etc... Talk about the science of fire works, the steam engines, gravity and roller coasters. Use Disney themed spelling words. Have them write reports on something they saw or learned. And, of course, the Hall of Presidents. Lots and lots of creative ways to "school" at Disney World!

Secondhand Lions would probably be a good movie choice. Marx Brothers are always good for a laugh, and, of course, any Pixar film.

:iagree: