Christopher, these are some awesome pictures! And these look very familiar from what I recall of my childhood pictures. You've inspired me: next time I'm at my mom's I'm going to rummage through the old photo albums!
Thanks Dave. I'm looking forward to see what you find when you do get to go through them.
I wonder if different people in the design department are interpreting the rules differently? This going to be interesting.
Perhaps - or perhaps it's really is because I didn't include the website info on mine. As I re-read through the rules, just saying The DIS DAD's Club is akin to saying The Lingren Family Reunion - it's just a group of people. But adding a URL, seems to make it a business related type of thing. We'll see. But between posting earlier this morning via my phone before dropping DW's van off for service this morning and getting to the office and on my computer - my order has now shipped.
257 and were still here?
And we'll keep going until it gets shut off. As Barry said - we did get up to 283 pages with the last one.
1] Dole Whip...well as I said last night...I had made 2 Qts of Dole Whip mix...and it turned out semi-runny...but I only used 1qt of it...so tonight is round 2...same mix ratio of H2O to Dole...except for about 30 minutes I chilled this mix in the freezer. Tonight it turned our perfect.
Forgot to take a picture...sorry.
So glad it turned out perfectly this time... now you've inspired me to seriously consider getting a machine myself instead of hinting around for Father's Day.
I had a great evening. We enrolled my daughter in Goldfish Swim School and it was her first class. She is almost 2 and has been in the water many times but this is very different and they do a great job getting the kids to do different activities to work up to swimming. The best part was my wife sat in the parents room and watched and I got in the water with DD.
We had a great time. In case your wondering who the girl is on the donation site it is my daughter. She is not sick but she is a kid so I used what I had.
Very cool stuff. And she's adorable BTW!
Not sure what to call it but I am posting from Gatlinburg. DW had a meeting scheduled Monday (during Spring Break - yuk!) which put us a few hours closer to Gatlinburg. So, through another vacation exchange (not saying which) we picked up a few days in a 2 bedroom in Gatlinburg. I'm not sure if I can upload pics on this computer as I never installed the software. I'll try tomorrow. All I can say is WOW feakin'
WOW! We usually stay in studios, even with DVC points, because we can stretch the points for 2 stays a year. However, after a few days of this, I am not sure. The dds have their own bedroom and their own TV in their own room. DW wife and I have a jacuzzi tub in our own bedroom. I'm not sure if having a 1 bedroom and 1 trip to WDW trumps a studio and 2 trips to WDW.
All I can say is we have to have a 1BR (since we're 5) - but yeah, wow. I love it. It is great having the extra space. When we went in January we took my folks and had a 2 BR at AKV - and I could actually see us doing that for just us in a couple more years as the boys get taller and bigger. The extra beds and bathroom will certainly come in handy. And being able to have our "own" spaces is very nice. That - or you just add more points.
I think we make this an annual April fundraiser and by this time next year the moms club will have grown to a size were we actually could have a competition.
24 hours into the into the GKTW Fundraiser and we have a grand total of $250.00!!!! Way to go Dads!
Even higher this morning. Way to go guys.
I bought 6 + 1 that is sent to the house. I also bought a 8x10 from the paper.
I'm sure I'll recieve alot more from people I know
Our DD made it into our local paper last summer. Each summer our church partners with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter to build 3-5 houses and the reporter was there and captured my DD "hammering" in a nail, using one of the squishy toy hammers they were handing out to all of the little kids. It was very cute. We got 5 or 6 copies ourselves... and then were given about 2 dozen by friends. We were then able to share with all of the far away grandparents, aunts & uncles that way. It was neat.
I read DD her nightly Harry Potter chapter. As always, when we finished she wanted to know what the next chapter was. We had the following conversation
Me: "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"
DD: I want to go to Hogwarts.
Me: You can't - it doesn't exist. And besides, you're not eleven yet.
DD: There's the theme park. Can I go there?
Me: Maybe when you turn eleven.
DD: But Daddy, you said it's not real, so I don't have to wait until I'm eleven. I want to go now.
(At this point, I am working VERY hard to avoid breaking into a huge grin, because I know that she is "going to Hogwarts," in just under six months.)
Me: Go to sleep sweetheart. Maybe you can go when you turn eleven.
Oh - she has absolutely NO CLUE.
She's watched all of the teasers about WWoHP that are on the Half-Blood Prince Blu-Ray disc, and whenever she says anything about it, I completely play it off. It's too far away. It's really expensive. It's not open yet - they haven't even finished building it yet.
The thing is that we have a lot of family that live far from us. As a result, this trip to Universal/Disney will be the first family vacation we've ever taken that wasn't for the purpose of visiting family. I just don't know that I'm going to be able to take six more months of the disappointment in her voice about not getting to go.
But I also can't wait to walk into her bedroom EARLY in the morning on October 1, with the video camera rolling, to tell her that she needs to get up and get dressed, so that we can make our flight to Hogwarts and Disney World.
Very cool. I have absolutely loved that special time of reading with my kids - going through the different stages from the board books, through Dr. Seuss, et al and then eventually into the different chapter books, etc. It's such a special time that they definitely look forward to. That's very cool that your daughter is captivated by it too. And that she really wants to make some of the magic of the stories come alive. I hope that you ARE successful with your surprise, because that will be really, really special.
As for the Scotty comment, this had me
and all I could think of was "I'm givin her all I've got Captain, I can't push her no more"
I don't know how to post links to other threads. I know other DIS Dads are DVC members, so I'm just posting my original thoughts here. Though, i'm not sure if i want people to AGREE with me, or DISAGREE, but here's my copy/pasted post.
Instead of reading DIS during lunch, I used excel to figure out how much DVC would cost me. I used the following estimates
300 pts at $112/point, no interest on the $33,600, and a 2.5% increase on maintenence fees per year, starting at $4.12 for year 1.
Anyway, thanks to excel, I found my "total-total" after 50 years: I'm giving Disney $178,364.60. This breaks down to $297.27 per month.
I will still take the tour in December, but from a standpoint of i don't know what I'm going to be doing in 10 years, much less 30 or 40, I'm thinking DVC may NOT be right for me.
I also compared the Rack Rate to DVC (with the same 2.5 % annual increase.) The savings of a vacation every year is over $130,000. But if I didn't have DVC, I wouldn't go to WDW every year, so it isn't a fair comparison.
Just wondering if anyone else looked at DVC from a numbers standpoint like this.
First of all - DVC is NOT for every family. If you are not a family that goes to a Disney resort annually, or at least once every couple of years, then it probably won't make much sense for you. It's also probably not going to make a lot of sense for you if you are a family that does go, but is constantly staying only at the values, or is constantly trying to score an "awesome deal" (Free Dining quickly comes to mind). But - if you are a family who goes to WDW or DL regularly, and prefer to stay in moderate to deluxe level accomodations, ... and want the option of staying in currently 10 (soon to be 11) different DVC resorts just by using your points to do so then DVC very well COULD be for you. I can't recall if you've mentioned how large your family is previously or not, and don't see it in your signature, so I can't say - but speaking as the head of a family of 5 - two of which are
growing boys - the extra space that DVC provides is very important to us. Sure we could stay in the Family Suites at ASMu - but honestly they just don't compare with what a 1BR or larger villa provides. We're also a family who likes to eat in our room throughout our stay (many breakfasts, some dinners) - and you just can't do that nicely without a full kitchen.
DVC is a timeshare, plain and simple, and as a timeshare does have related maintenance dues that are due annually, for the life of the contract. However, DVC is much more flexible than many of the other timeshare brands out there. Instead of buying a set week, you determine how and when you use your points. If you don't (or can't) use points in a given year, bank them into the next one and then take a longer vacation, more vacations or upgrade to larger accomodations. Or, there is an active, viable rental market of people that do rent DVC members' points. Those rental dollars could then be used to offset (or fully cover) your maintenance fees for the year.
Just as a cursory glance, your calculations aren't quite right. I can look back over my numbers and see how we reviewed it all and dialog with you via PM if you'd like - because YEAH, we looked at it financially very closely, and it did make sense for us. First and foremost - rack rates at the traditional hotels have not increased by a mere 2.5% annually, but more like 4% annually, and are projected to creep upwards of 4.5-5% annually in the future. Dues have been more like 2.5-3% annually.
BUT - once that initial cost is paid, and you've effectively met your individual break-even point in trips, then your go-forward cost of accomodations is only the annual dues amount, which when broken down on a per night basis generally means you can stay in deluxe villas at a value price.
Another beautiful part of the DVC system is that DVC in general retains it's value and is a lot easier to sell if you need or want to down the line vs. many other traditional timeshares. My FIL has 8 non-DVC timeshares and has tried to sell 3 of his and couldn't even give them away. Nobody was interested at all. But I have a couple of friends who just tried to sell their DVC contracts (1 for financial reasons, 1 to down-size her DVC portfolio) and both had offers in less than a week and are now currently waiting on the Disney's ROFR process.
As an alternative - if you don't want to pay Disney's premium pricing on points, there is an active resale market where you could pick up points at a discounted price. Disney seems to raise their per point price annually (they've gone up from $96 to $112 per point just since we joined). And it really doesn't matter how you acquire points, because once you get them, you're treated just the same - you're a DVC member.
Another thing to consider is that perhaps you really don't need to buy 300+ points outright from the get go. Through banking and borrowing, if you don't plan to go every year, you could get by with less than that and still have enough points for your individual trip needs.
There are a litany of perks & discounts available to DVC members (though never buy for the perks as they
can and do change often), one of the best current ones is a $100 discount on annual passes. Even if you didn't travel multiple times throughout the year of the pass, they could work out cheaper than buying some of the various passes. Many members will get the AP at the beginning of one trip and then plan a return trip say a week or two earlier the next year to effectively stretch their admission dollar further. Another great discount, as an AP holder is the Tables in Wonderland card, which gets you 20% off table service meals throughout WDW - including appetizers and alcoholic beverages - so if those are your thing, then it tends to work out much better than the
DDP where neither is included. The tip is automatically included with TIW, but out of pocket with DDP. We did the TIW card in January with a party of 7 and came out ahead by almost than $200 when I ran the number comparison when we got home. I'm thinking our DDP days are over.
And of course there are other options that you can use your DVC points for if you so choose.
DCL cruises,
Adventures by Disney excursions, Disney international destinations, Disney is currently building a new resort in Hawaii that is slated to have a DVC component to it, and you can trade out your points to hundreds of RCI locations around the world. There are lots of options for those years you don't go to WDW or DL.
But as I said, we can chat PM style if you'd like.
(due 9/14, we find out on 4/15 if it's DS or DD)
with the IDEA 
of being a DVC member.
