What would your Dream Disney World Trip Consist of?

So 506 days from now I'll be disembarking from the Disney Dream with my WDW Radio Disney friends on our second WDW Radio Show Cruise. What is so special about this you may ask? Well, that same day will then start the beginning of my 10 day 35th birthday trip to WDW!

As I mentioned before mom and I have been wanting to get to WDW for holiday decorations for a while now. And we finally settled on doing so in 2012 in conjunction with my 35th birthday. It was a completely unexpected surprise that the second WDW Radio cruise would be immediately before we were planning on going. No seriously - if we really thought this was a possibility we would have re-booked while on the first cruise and gotten a better deal and an on board credit. But I digress!

So, 506 days from now I'll be about to hit WDW for a 10 day long birthday celebration. Mom and I had chatted about how there are so many thing we want to see/do that we haven't really done our last few trips because of money, or time. But this is a nice long stay at WDW so we have time. And its 506 days away, so there's lots of time to save! Prices will go up for 2012 from this year, but we also will qualify for DVC discounts on some things - so I'll use those two thoughts in estimating how much to save.

So I've started working on my wish list of birthday trip activities. The idea is to brainstorm a list now. Research costs, and get a plan put together for what we'll do and how much we need to save up - because we have 506 days to save! Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - We first did this YEARS ago, as we used to go down to WDW the week before Christmas. I remember it being cold, but that's about it. We had a blast at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party back in 2008, so I'm thinking this will be equally fun! I know we can get a DVC discount, but rates will go up too. I'm estimating $70 per person to stay on the safe side.

2. Backstage Magic Tour - This seven hour tour hits all four theme parks, includes lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe, and offers some behinds the scene's peaks like visiting the utilidors. Its pricey at $224, but I think the DVC discount is 15%. And park admission is not needed. Lets say $200 each for planning purposes.

3. Holiday D-Lights - I'm not sure about this one based on the price and limited dates. But it is intriguing. This 4.5 to 5 hour tour hits Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios and includes a light holiday buffet. Nearly as expensive as the Backstage Magic tour seems a bit steep to me, but could be a GREAT way to experience the holiday decorations while at Disney. Current price is $199 with no need for theme park admission. Again, probably 15% DVC discount eligible so lets assume $175 for planning purposes.

4. Wilderness Back Trail Adventure - Mom and I are big fans of riding Segways. We did this in Chicago a few years back with friends. And have also down the Around the World tour at Epcot. This adventure is at Fort Wilderness on the off road style segways. $90 per person currently but again, DVC discount, so I'm estimating $80 for planning purposes.

5. La Nouba - Despite several Las Vegas trips under my belt, I've never seen a Cirque Du Soleil show. I wanted to do La Nouba back in 2008 but it was on break then. So its another item to add to my wish list. Looks like there are a lot of different ticket options, but I'm thinking we want awesome seats right? Lets say $150 per person when factoring in taxes and the like.

Those are my non-Dining related wishes for now. What did I miss? Any special activity you think I should be adding to my list for the great big birthday trip?

Update on my knitting related 2011 Goals

Back in January I wrote on the yarn-love blog and here about my knitting challenges and goals for 2011. I thought as it is nearly mid year it was a good time for a progress report.

Goal number 1 was Lace. Although I have found a few possibly patterns I have not started knitting lace with lace weight yarn yet.

Goal number 2 was Colorwork. I'm happy to say I finished the Corrie Vest I started working quite some time ago! Of course I finished it in late spring and the weather has warmed up so I have yet to get a chance to WEAR my Corrie Vest. The two colors at one time part was easy since I am able to knit continental so I just had one color in each hand. The steeking (ie cutting my knitting, on PURPOSE) was the scary part. Until I did the reinforcement that is. My sewing machine is having issues so I went for the crocheted reinforcement for my steeks. In the process of doing this I was able to see exactly what I was catching, so my fear of my knitting running lessoned greatly. It seemed to take me HOURS to get my crocheted reinforcement done, but when I did I was so excited to whip out my scissors and start cutting. And it was FUN! Bottom line: its done and I'm already looking for other fair isle vest patterns.

Goal number 3 control my castonitiis so I have less works in process. I think I'm doing OK at this. Since January 1 I have cast on for 4 items. Two of which were small sweaters for Elphaba. One was a shawl that I admit has scarcely been touched. The fourth was a shawl as part of the Camp Loopy program that The Loopy Ewe is doing this summer. The only reason I let myself do this is because it consists of three projects, each completed start to finish in one month. I have completed 6 items since January.
-My Ruth's Entrelac Butterfly Shawl, started in Dec 2010 and finished in January.
-A granny square blanket I started making in July 2008 just to make Granny Squares. This was finished in January and gifted to a friend about to give birth to her first baby girl.
-TWO sweaters for Miss Elphaba. I was discussing making sweaters for a friends new doxie pups and realized my own little girl hadn't gotten a new sweater from me in quite a long time. So in January and February I made not one but two sweaters for my little girl.
-My Corrie Vest as mentioned above. This was originally cast on in January 2010.
-My "joy" socks, knit up in Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in the Joy in the Morning color way that was available through the Loopy Ewe as part of a kit. These were cast on in August 2010 and finished in May 2011.

Elphaba Sweaters



So, I've cast on 4 items this year (one of which is almost done) and cast off 6. Sounds like progress right? I've also being working hard on my Flair sweater which was originally cast on in September as part of a knit along for yarn-love. I have made tremendous progress and just have about half a skein of yarn left to round out the length of the sweater and then that will be done as well. Should have plenty of time to finish this for wear this fall.

Goal number 4 was to do a non-worsted weight sweater. I have favorites plenty of options for use with some of my dk or sport weight madelinetosh. After flair my thought is to cast on for a sweater with one of those.

So there's my update! Good progress on half my goals half way through the year. I think that means I'm doing well!