Jill, I was super excited to learn that we could use the pools and such at POFQ so that will give me an excuse to visit. I have read a lot about YeeHaw Bob and it really sounds like a fun time. Are the beignets at the food court at POFQ? I definitely want to try them. I am hoping to try some in NOLA next year.
It offered me a couple of different times and I chose the latter of the two (1:20-1:50) because I still had to choose our FP+ ride times and I didn't want lunch to interfere or be too early. I am insanely excited about BOG so I really hope it lives up to my expectations. 
and we have Palo brunch and dinner booked on the Magic so I don't really feel that we need any "fancy" meals while at WDW. We definitely plan to try the Earl of Sandwich at DTD the day we arrive. I have heard so many good things about this place and I can't wait to try it. Boatwright's Dining Hall sounds delicious also, so we may give it a try.
The other option would put us landing in the ATL at 3:50 on a Friday afternoon. DH did not want this option but said it would work if we couldn't get the earlier flight. You know, the one that everything had to go absolutely perfect us to make. 
The more reasonable option that would put us in rush hour traffic in Atlanta was $279 per person for the RETURN flight! Yep, we were driving. 
I have a compact car which is great for my daily commute because I get like 35 miles to the gallon but for a 8-9 hour drive, things can get a little cramped.
We were too busy enjoying wonderful weather and just having a great time. 
He went to school the next day because he said he felt fine and no fever but my DH got a call from the nurse a few hours later. DH had to take him to the doctor and it was strep! So in the madness of DSS being sick and DS's birthday celebration, neither of us even thought about WDW. I also did the online check in for POR and requested a top floor room. I understand that about 5 days before arrival, that there is a request form that you can fax over also. I plan on asking for a room in Oak Manor because it seems to be closer to the foot bridge. I'm prepared to walk since I know it is a large resort but I'm hoping the bridge will make it a little easier. Of course, if they put us in Parterre, I will still be happy. 
I checked in the area where I work since it is more of a city and there were a couple more. Luckily one of these had decent rates on a SUV for a weekly rental. It didn't show a t.v./dvd but I was hoping they had one. I didn't reserve it, I figured I would wait until a little closer to time since I just had to cancel two one-way rentals from Dollar. 
So we booked one-way flights from ATL to MCO for about $400 and booked at one-way car rental from Alamo from April 26th- May 2nd for $101. Yay we were flying after all or at least for half of the trip!
50 days until POR and 52 days until we sail!
I was so relieved that everything was booked. I was really glad that we had gotten an early PAT for the Magic because I wanted to be on the ship as soon as possible. Of course, most people do.
I thought everything was really going great and this was shaping up to be a great vacation. I still felt a little bad though, because DH really had his heart set on flying. Since that seemed to be out of the question, we talked about getting a rental for the drive, maybe something with a t.v. and dvd player in it to keep the kids amused and something a little roomier than my car.
I found that there really aren't a lot of choices around small town GA for rental agencies. Actually there was only one.
If you've been following along, you know that I purchased plane tickets to Las Vegas last week. Well, over the next couple of days, I kept checking the southwest site just to "see" what they had. The prices were still the same which was insane for an hour and a half flight. We could fly to MCO for around $400 total but the getting back was crazy expensive. That's when I decided to check on one-way rentals FROM FL to GA. You are not going to believe this but Alamo actually has a deal called "Driving out of Florida" and it's $9.95 per day! I checked to see if there was an Alamo counter at Hartsfield Jackson and there was. Ok, good. Now was there an Alamo in WDW and if there was would it still be at that cheap rate? Yes and Yes! We could get a full sized car from the care car center in WDW on Saturday and drive it to the port, park it for the week and drive it to the airport in ATL all for $101!! I could not believe this. I quickly texted DH to see if this was something he would be interested in and he replied that "heck yeah he was interested. That was 9 less hours in the car".
It may be a little unconventional to fly down and drive back but I think it will work great for our family.
I'm still unsure on this because part of me wants to have the whole ME experience but then the logical part of me 
thinks it would be easier and make more sense just to skip ME and get the car ASAP. Any opinions on this? This thread has gotten several views so I know you people are reading. 
I'm kind of glad that it was caught on a Saturday and he did not have to miss any school. DSS ended up missing 2 full days and most of a 3rd day so this is really making me question whether we will keep our reservation on the Wonder for next April. My kids rarely miss school days but with DSS being out for strep and then being out for the cruise, that will make 8 days for the year assuming nothing else comes up. We may have to cancel the Wonder and look at summer prices. 
RCI is having a great promotion right now and if they offer something similar next year, we may just jump ship. We really want to go to Alaska but I've been checking DCL's opening day rates for 2014 and if the trend continues for the latter half of 2015, I expect those rates to rise tremendously. I love the "magic" of Disney but I really want to see other places and I don't know that DCL's product is going to be worth the price for us anymore now that our children are older. DH told me that he was not interested in cruising to the Bahamas again unless DCL offered another 5 night Double Dip. I'm certain the Med cruises are going to be way out of our range especially with all the speculation of the Baltics and the Fjords being offered.The Fantasy prices for summer 2014 were very high so I can only imagine 2015 prices. So that leaves the Wonder to Alaska or the Dream to the Bahamas. DH is really looking forward to this cruise to the Bahamas but after that it's gonna be a "been there done that" kind of thing unless we get a great deal. We were seated by ourselves on our first cruise, I requested that DH and I have our own table for our second cruise, and I was kind of hoping for table mates on this cruise but then I started reading about folks being matched up with others that didn't even speak the same language. This would just be very uncomfortable for everyone involved. Of course, its only a request, and if it isn't granted then we will certainly make the best of it.
I went ahead and modified our Alamo rental to pick up at MCO instead of the WDW CCC. It just makes sense and it will be easier I think than figuring out how to even get to the CCC and my boys are going to be ready to hit the pool not go pick up a car.
I am really glad that I decided to go with the medium sized bag because I think the large would have been too big. I was a little skeptical about this bag and it was right at $50 so I was hoping it wasn't going to be a waste. I was very impressed when I opened the box. I got the raspberry pink because I thought it would be a little easier to spot from the water. It is made from a nice sturdy fabric and the chain and lock are pretty impressive also. Now I don't expect this to keep our things completely safe, but it seems that someone with bad intentions would be more likely to skip this locked bag versus a beach bag that is open with a towel or whatever thrown over it. I mean that's exactly what we have done on our 3 stops at Castaway Cay and our things have been fine but Atlantis is a whole new ball game to us and I know I am going to want to take lots of pictures but I also know that our camera will be in our bag a lot of the time as will our iphones (pictures) and whatever else we take. I snapped a quick pic on my way out the door this morning and it's not very good but here ya go.
I may not print all 10 since my magnetic sheets from Staples comes in packs of 4 and I have 2 packs. Well, I actually have 7 sheets now because when printing them on my new printer, I messed one of them up already. I figured out the problem and was able to correct it for the others that I have printed but I did waste a sheet of magnetic paper. I may just buy another pack and print all 10 of them. You can't have too many magnets can you? We didn't have magnets on our first cruise because I didn't discover these boards until right before our first cruise in 2012 so I had no clue about magnets. Barb did make some really beautiful disigns for our anniversary cruise. 
and I've been hooked ever since. I actually started getting her to create them right after I booked the Fantasy!! I've since had to ask her to remake those...
I chose a combination and was able to set the lock without any problems. I practice chaining it around my coffee table and it seems like it would work pretty well. We haven't had any problems in the past with anyone messing with our things but you can't be too safe.
But it really makes more sense to grab the car from the Alamo counter at MCO and then heading straight to WDW instead of getting there and then dealing with getting to the DCCC to get a car. It was just starting to seem like we had a little too much adult stuff booked and we have no idea if the boys are going to enjoy going to Edge or not. They were not big fans of the Club/Lab on the Dream. I'm really hoping they love it and having more freedom but you never know with those two. If I knew they were going to enjoy it then I would probably keep the Rasul appointment because we had booked it for our Nassau day and it seems like a great way to end a day spent at Atlantis. 
I changed it to 8:00 a.m. on our Nassau day. Most likely the boys will still be sleeping and the way I figure it, DH and I will go to our appointment which is over at 8:50 and then hurry back to change for our trip to Atlantis and have a quick breakfast with the boys either in Cabanas or via room service before the ship docks at 9:30. For some reason I'm just having a really hard time giving up this appointment. I think it's because I really doubt that we will keep our cruise on the Wonder next April and so I don't know when/if we will get another chance to sail a classic ship that still offers the rasul. 
