*** The Official August 2019 thread ***

[Tomh]

JereMary: Aug. 4-9 SSR/Vero/SSR

You've been added to the Roll Call. Hope you have an amazing trip!

Please add us
ILovemyDVC Aug 23 - 31 OKW

You have also been added to the Roll Call. Hope you have an amazing trip as well!

 

[Trinity88]

We don't check in until the 24th! But I'm excited to hear about all the earlier Aug trips

 

[donan1212]

How old are your kids? Mine are a bit older and I'm still working in mid day breaks.

They are 8 and 9 - so not too young, I just have no idea how they're gonna do. This is our first "REAL" vacation.

 

[Funfire240]

Single digit dance day!!! But of course nothing ever goes as planned so adding on to school shopping this weekend and packing, looks like I may be adding car shopping in! Not something I planned on right before vacation. And I pretty much have to be packed by next Tuesday because Wednesday is my DD's crazy dance night with extra time added on for what she's missing while we are gone then Thursday the 1st I'm working 1/2 day until DH picks me up to head to the airport!!!

 

[Bama Mom]

Single digit dance day!!! But of course nothing ever goes as planned so adding on to school shopping this weekend and packing, looks like I may be adding car shopping in! Not something I planned on right before vacation. And I pretty much have to be packed by next Tuesday because Wednesday is my DD's crazy dance night with extra time added on for what she's missing while we are gone then Thursday the 1st I'm working 1/2 day until DH picks me up to head to the airport!!!

I have to say I don't miss the crazy extracurricular things all my kiddos did while they were younger. Especially cheering during basketball season. Our daughter would cheer four nights a week, some nights at 4 games a night, so many times she would have cheered at 16 basketball games in one week. It was exhausting. But she loved it and she never let it get in the way of her academics so she continued on. She started cheer when she was 3 years old and didn't stop until she graduated high school.

 

[omniscientmommy]

They are 8 and 9 - so not too young, I just have no idea how they're gonna do. This is our first "REAL" vacation.

My boys are 5 and 8. Even though ds8 could keep going he does better going back to the room and resting. Not a nap but just chilling in the a/c. The last thing anyone wants is heat exhaustion on vacation.

 

[Funfire240]

I have to say I don't miss the crazy extracurricular things all my kiddos did while they were younger. Especially cheering during basketball season. Our daughter would cheer four nights a week, some nights at 4 games a night, so many times she would have cheered at 16 basketball games in one week. It was exhausting. But she loved it and she never let it get in the way of her academics so she continued on. She started cheer when she was 3 years old and didn't stop until she graduated high school.

That's how DD is with dance! She is 11 and dances competitively. She has classes 3 nights a week and tumbling on 1. On top of it, she maintains her A's and is in the gifted/talented program in our district. DS9 just plays a variety of rec sports depending on the season, and right now so he has a break with baseball ending. He has a mini football camp 3 nights this week at the high school but won't start his flag league until after Labor Day. I laugh that I'm so used to not being home much with working full time and running everywhere in the evenings that when this is all done I will be completely lost!

 

[Bama Mom]

That's how DD is with dance! She is 11 and dances competitively. She has classes 3 nights a week and tumbling on 1. On top of it, she maintains her A's and is in the gifted/talented program in our district. DS9 just plays a variety of rec sports depending on the season, and right now so he has a break with baseball ending. He has a mini football camp 3 nights this week at the high school but won't start his flag league until after Labor Day. I laugh that I'm so used to not being home much with working full time and running everywhere in the evenings that when this is all done I will be completely lost!

LOL That's how I was but it was definitely nice having our evenings back, especially friday nights after football season.

 

[dnllmz]

We don't check in until the 24th! But I'm excited to hear about all the earlier Aug trips

We arrive on the 22nd and I'm also excited to hear about the early August trips.

They are 8 and 9 - so not too young, I just have no idea how they're gonna do. This is our first "REAL" vacation.

It's really hard when it's your first trip and you don't really know how your kids are going to do with the touring. It took us a couple of trips to figure out what works and even then we adjust it every time we are down there. You'll figure it out.

I have to say I don't miss the crazy extracurricular things all my kiddos did while they were younger.

That's funny because I'm always telling myself that one day I'll miss it. That thought keeps me going but maybe I won't miss it that much.

I laugh that I'm so used to not being home much with working full time and running everywhere in the evenings that when this is all done I will be completely lost!

Me too! I won't know what to do with myself. Right now dd6 has Acro and Musical Theater but DS9 is off for a month from sports. I was able to do some reading last week and it was really nice. I haven't made the time to read in years. So I guess I'll find more things like that to do which would be nice.

 

[The13thLetter]

New(ish) parent question (I may also post this as its own thread somewhere but wanted to ask the august family first):

Little man will be about 16 months for this trip. Last year he was almost 5 months so we brought his infant car seat/carrier thing, bought him his own seat, and just buckled the car seat in, it worked beautifully. This time we also bought him his own seat (we feel bad sticking a 3rd non-related person in a row with us haha) but he obviously doesnt use that infant car seat anymore. My wife wants to bring (and buy) an extra lightweight "travel"car seat (we need to buy an extra one really anyway for my parents to have here at home) but I am reluctant because we literally have no other use for it except for the plane (not renting a car) and it seems like a huge inconvenience. I am researching other options (maybe a booster seat that we can buckle down with the seat belt like we did the infant car seat last year) but wondered what you guys have all done? If bringing the extra car seat is the best option I will 100% suck it up and travel with it, but I am thinking there might be a better way.

Thanks!!

 

[The13thLetter]

It’d be nice for him to get there fast but doesn’t need to be uber fast. Just know that at FW he has to get off ME to get to FW bus to get to boat. Wasn’t sure if there was a quicker way. Thought that since we will have already dropped off stuff at FW he might not have had to stop there first. No big deal though.

I mean i suppose he could always just ask at the ME check in desk. Have them scan his band but let them know he is trying to get to MK as quickly as possible to meet his family and see if they will let him onto the Contemporary bus. It cant hurt, especially since he has no luggage with him.

 

[luvmy2babies]

New(ish) parent question (I may also post this as its own thread somewhere but wanted to ask the august family first):

Little man will be about 16 months for this trip. Last year he was almost 5 months so we brought his infant car seat/carrier thing, bought him his own seat, and just buckled the car seat in, it worked beautifully. This time we also bought him his own seat (we feel bad sticking a 3rd non-related person in a row with us haha) but he obviously doesnt use that infant car seat anymore. My wife wants to bring (and buy) an extra lightweight "travel"car seat (we need to buy an extra one really anyway for my parents to have here at home) but I am reluctant because we literally have no other use for it except for the plane (not renting a car) and it seems like a huge inconvenience. I am researching other options (maybe a booster seat that we can buckle down with the seat belt like we did the infant car seat last year) but wondered what you guys have all done? If bringing the extra car seat is the best option I will 100% suck it up and travel with it, but I am thinking there might be a better way.

Thanks!!

We started traveling when my son was 10 months so I understand your frustration. Booster seats that require the use of a seat belt are not approved for airline use. Depending on his height and weight, you may be able to use a CARES harness. It's basically the harness portion of a car seat that you slip over the back of his airplane seat. It does have a minimum height and weight on it and my son didn't reach that height and weight until he was 2. They are pricey but I just rented one because we don't travel by plane much. It was a dream after our previous two trips dragging a car seat.

https://www.amazon.com/Airplane-App...t=&hvlocphy=9009669&hvtargid=pla-720827696593
If he isn't big enough for the CARES, the Cosco Scenera is a good inexpensive car seat. This was the seat we kept in my mother's car and the one we used for travel until he was big enough for the CARES harness.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cosco-Scenera-NEXT-Convertible-Car-Seat-Otto/41126739

 

[luvmy2babies]

Almost down to the 3 week mark. Seems so far from when we first started planning this trip. Still no Magical Express tags. I can see the reservation in MDE even though I can't see it when I look at our reservation on my laptop. I can also see it in the email I got after our final payment was made. Not fond of retrieving luggage in MCO so I'm going to give them a call. Seems like we should have had the tags by now.

 

[dnllmz]

I just made my final payment. I always find it painful to part with that money. It's worth it but still hurts.

 

[LibbyG]

Add me! 15th-22nd staying at Pop for the first time. Can't wait to set my eyes on the castle again!

 

[MimiMoments]

Long time lurker but want to join the August party! We will be at Pop 17th -24th. It will be just me and Mr. Hubs. We haven't been since 2011 and never in August. Can't wait!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I just made my final payment. I always find it painful to part with that money. It's worth it but still hurts.

Yeah, it's a mixed bag. It's great to have it paid for; but the final payment can sting sometimes. This year I planned further ahead and had it planned out at a certain amount per paycheck but had some stuff come up that caused me to miss a couple which left a larger payment at the end than planned. Ended up going to my savings account for the balance; but it's done. In some years past that would not have been an option so I'm glad for the progress. Included the dining plan this time so we'll need much less spending money than before. Going to pick up Disney gift cards in a week or so and trying to decide what to put on each one.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We are arriving on 8/17 and four of us are traveling together but one is coming on different flight a little later. We will have his bags on our flight and he will be carrying small back pack so he can go straight to park. We’re staying at Fort Wilderness. He will be taking Magical Express from MCO. What is the quickest way for him to meet us at MK? Can he take ME to Contemporary and walk over? Is there a faster way for him to get there taking ME?

I don't think that they will allow him to take the ME to the Contemporary, but that doesn't stop him from getting off the ME at another resort if he thinks it might be faster to get to MK than from FW. He won't know what stops his ME will make until he is on it. They mix up the schedule all the time.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We don't check in until the 24th! But I'm excited to hear about all the earlier Aug trips

The 24th is our check in date, too, and it is still really far away.

 

[luvmy2babies]

We are arriving on 8/17 and four of us are traveling together but one is coming on different flight a little later. We will have his bags on our flight and he will be carrying small back pack so he can go straight to park. We’re staying at Fort Wilderness. He will be taking Magical Express from MCO. What is the quickest way for him to meet us at MK? Can he take ME to Contemporary and walk over? Is there a faster way for him to get there taking ME?

Only if the Magical Express bus going Fort Wilderness also stops at the Contemporary, which is entirely possible since they are both in the Magic Kingdom area. They don't allow you to get on a bus that isn't going to your resort. Even if he has to go to Fort Wilderness, ME should drop off at the main building which will be near transportation.