Disney In the Fall

Well we are probably going to be heading to Florida in the fall again to visit family and we can't resist a stop back at disney. We are hoping some family members will be able to meet us there...hint...hint.

Anyway I did a ton of research for this and was aided by disney guru Hayley :-) in picking places to stay. I thought I'd post it here so it's easier to reference. Alot of this is just based on our preferences from last time and it doesn't have to be this way. For instance it could be any moderate resort or doing a value resort, if people wanted to, that would save $60/day.

We picked this timing based on it saving us vacation days since it incorporates two holidays for us but also because last time we were at the park it was a bit crowded and we were told to come around thanksgiving. I have done the research and it holds true, the week after turkey day is rated #3/year with #1-3 being reported as almost tied.

Last time we went we loved the park hopper option since for those people staying on the resort a different park has early opening (1 hour earlier than the crowds) & extended hours (3 hours later than normal closing). This allowed us to get on all the cool rides without the massive lines & do most of our character greetings without waiting around forever.

For us upgrading the dining from quick service is worth it. We like to be able to sit down at a meal in the evening and relax plus there are some really fantastic restaurants. Having character dining available for this plan makes it really fun too. Upgrading from quick service to dining is only $70, upgrading to deluxe dining gets you some phenomenal restaurants and some dining shows and such and that is $220.

Without further ado here are our recommendations or preferences. If someone wanted to join us for the whole time that is our preference but anything is great! Also, I *think* there are going to be some disney pricing deals coming out so these prices may go lower, I have emailed the people we used last time to do 'official' pricing this is just my lackey skills listed below. I will update if I find out there are better prices.

Port Orleans Riverside.  

Highest rated moderate resort & only resort sleeps 2 adults + 3 kids @ no additional charge and you can also have a crib in the room so that would be 6

Rooms: (photos of both http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/port-orleans-resort-riverside/ )

·         The sixteen two-story Alligator Bayou lodges sit in a lushly wooded area and are quite spread out, with secluded rooms that have a laid-back rustic theme

o              The only Moderate resort to officially sleep five people, as they feature an extra pull-out trundle bed located underneath one of the double beds.

·         The four larger Magnolia Bend mansion buildings are set in more formal gardens and feature fancier room decor. This is the only section of Riverside that features elevators.

o              Renovation (starting Parterre Place) schedule: http://www.portorleans.org/rehab.php

Recreation:

Marina on the river rents assorted boats, & bikes, a tad pricey: http://www.portorleans.org/rentals.php

They also offer a Bayou Pirate Adventure Cruise, horse drawn carriage rides, cane pole fishing, guided bass fishing, a nice walking trail and a campfire on de’bayou with smores!

Ol’ Man Island includes themed pool & pool bar, 5 smaller pools & access to French courters only pool doubloon lagoon http://www.portorleans.org/ol-man-island.php & there is a playground.

Live entertainment wed-sun including singing & comedy. For all of these items see here: http://www.portorleans.org/recreation.php An in-room baby-sitting service is bookable.

Transportation: buses & boats to/from downtown disney.

On Site Restaurants: 1 sit down/table service, 1 counter service, & 1 pub style http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/port-orleans-resort-riverside/

Caribbean Beach. (Overall Moderate Rating, I’ve heard some bad things, but tell Jacob it has pirate rooms)

Rooms: All rooms are a finding nemo theme except limited quantity pirate-themed rooms (extra), see both rooms here http://allears.net/acc/faq_cbr.htm.

The closest buildings are in Martinique (26, 25, 24) followed by Trinidad North (31, 32, and 33), Jamaica 45 & Aruba 51 are just across the bridge and may be nice…refer to resort map as some are 15 min walk to restaurants/activities. No elevators. http://allears.net/acc/cbrmap.jpg

Restaurants: 1 sit down/table service, 1 counter service, 1 deli http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/caribbean-beach-resort/

Recreation: Surrounded by beaches (now swimming), Old Port Royale pool pirate themed pool with 2 water slides & 5 additional pools including island in the lake. Children less than 48 inches tall can enjoy the adjacent water play area, which includes squirt hoses, a large bucket that pours water from above and 3 additional smaller water slides.

There are boat rentals, bike rentals again including surrey bikes, and a Caribbean Pirate Adventure Cruise, and a game arcade.

Transportation: buses

  

Details Details Details!

Top 3 weeks to visit Disney are almost tied: low prices, low crowds, wonderful Christmas programs and decorations #3: 11/26/11. Tail end of Thanksgiving week makes the first Saturday and Sunday of this week more crowded and expensive than weeks #1 and 2. The rest of this week is terrific. Thanksgiving day can also be very crowded.

Date	Price	Crowd	Tentative Plan
21	195	Low
22	195	Low
23	195	Low
24 Thur	195	Busy	Fly In      Turkey Day
25 Fri	195	Med	Visit
26 Sat	174	Busy	Visit
27 Sun	174	Busy	WDW Night#1 Hotel Only
28 Mon	164	lowest	WDW Night#2 Hotel & Park
29 Tue	164	lowest	WDW Night#3 Hotel & Park
30 Wed	164	lowest	Park Day then Stay @ ?
31 Thur	164	lowest	Fly out

Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan  2 Quick-Service Meals & 2 Snacks

Quick Breakfast: 1 entrée or 1 complete combo meal  & 1 single-serving  beverage

Quick Lunch and Dinner: 1 entrée or 1 complete combo meal & 1 dessert & 1 single-serving beverage

Disney  Dining Plan 1 Quick-Service Meal, 1 Table Service Meal & 1 Snack  (Character Dining Opportunities)

Table Dining Lunch and Dinner: 1 entrée & 1 dessert & 1 single-serving beverage or 1 full buffet

What you've been waiting for....the nail biter, also known as Package Prices:

Moderate Resort (Thought about it afterward, these are all priced based on us so I put 1 child & 1 infant since we don’t have a great idea how many kids we will have at that time!  To figure out your own customized price go here: http://guide.disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/vacation-package-guide/  )

3 nights 3 Tickets w/o hopper, Standard Room, Quick Service $1500

3 Night  3 Park Hopper Tickets, preferred room & dining plan $1815  (note: upgrading to deluxe dining+$220)

Something to think about $855 doubles the stay!

6 Night 6 Park Hopper Tickets, standard room & dining plan $2670:

Nicole's ramblings on fostering's FAQ.......

So we are now officially two months into being 'official' foster parents i.e. licensed & on the list. I realized there are a LOT of questions people have. It makes sense, logically, the average person wouldn't know much about foster care and much of what they do know is probably wrong due to a social stigma surrounding foster care and often, unfortunately, the children in foster care.

With all our vast two months of official foster parenting knowledge and our additional 5 months of wading through the application process I will see what I can answer.


How do I become a foster parent?
A great way to get started is to talk to someone(s) who are already doing it and see what their take is on it. Keep in mind there is a VAST array of ways of 'doing' foster care and everyone seems to have a different niche and experience. Next you would want to attend an orientation for one of the agencies. The 1st big question is do you want to get licensed through the county or through a private agency? There are pros and cons to both, we chose private so that is what I will base my answer on.

PRO: typically smaller case loads for the workers leading to better support
PRO: you can choose a faith based organization
CON: all children go through DHS (county) 1st and the children that they don't have homes for are then subcontracted out to an agency thus the county gets '1st dibs'
CON: if you are in an area that does not have a high demand you may wait longer
PRO: you generally know more about the children coming into care
PRO & CON: you aren't usually called for off hour/weekend placements
CON: there are certain things only the county can do so you have double the number of people to communicate with
CON: sometimes you get 'stuck' in the middle needing caseworkers to communicate or you need to figure out whom you talk to for what


What are the qualifications for becoming a foster parent?
You have to be able to pass a background check which includes no felonies for a certain number of years. You have to care and be willing to work as part of a team of people who's goal is to keep the child safe and re-unite their family.


What types of children are in foster care?
I'm going to answer this question extensively because we are in a CRISIS right now and the more I know the more I am horrified at what we are doing to our future generation. There are so few people 'stepping up' to help out and with the economy and the rise in drug use (particularly in this area meth) there are more and more families displaced.

There are nearly 600,000 kids in the USA and 25% are waiting to be adopted. Of the children waiting adoption about 40% are under 5 years of age, 35% are 6-10 years of age, and 25% are teenagers.  Nationally the ethnic make up of the children are 40% black, 30% white, 15% hispanic, and 15% are 'other'. 

Of those 600,000 children approximately 20,000 of them are in Michigan, of those almost 200 of them are in St. Joseph county and we have a whopping 27 licensed foster homes....if you are doing the math then you realize that means there are approximately 7.5 kids per home which is illegal (not to mention insane LOL) children are currently being carted to all sorts of outside counties and put into group homes and care facilities.

Can I get financial help from the state care to care for a foster child?

Yes! Now if you live in MI it's not a lot unfortunately but you do get paid. Michigan covers all medical related costs via medicaid, daycare costs are re-imbursed if you need daycare but only up to a certain amount per week, you receive WIC to help with formula costs or supplemental food for older kids, and you receive a reimbursement rate per day. For infants this is $14.24/day or ~$100/week and it goes up a bit for the older kids, I think up to $100 more per month. You also get a clothing allowance when children come into care and then a couple times a year. All of this being said MI underpays, a lot if you want to make sure you don't pull out of your own pocket to cover costs, depending on your lifestyle, you are going to have to be very conscientious of costs. So far we have not spent as much as we have taken in but we haven't had to buy as much since we had almost everything from Lillian. 

What is respite care?

Respite care is a great service you can offer to other foster families. Basically it is extended babysitting and can range from an overnight to a couple of weeks. You can watch other people's foster children and receive the pay they would have received. This allows families to get a break, take a family vacation, deal with an emergency, etc. 

What kind of training do I need to become a foster parent?

Requirements vary by state but in Michigan after you have completed all of your applications and screenings you need 12 hours of PRIDE training. PRIDE training teaches you some of the skills you need to understand the system you will be joining and gives you an overview and tools you need for what you might encounter. 

Can I foster only a specific age or need child?

YES!!! You may set your specifications to meet your families needs or preferences. For instance, it is recommended to maintain birth order ie if you have a 6 year old at home then restrict your license to 5you and under. Most agencies will want you to set your criteria for: age, sex, race, and then medical, emotional, and cognitive issues. So, for instance our preferences were 0-3 years of age, any race, with mild medical, emotional/social, cognitive impairments but we let them know that on the medical side of things we were well versed in things like asthma, allergies, and diabetes and did not consider those to be a big deal. They will also ask you about certain 'hot button' issues like sexual assault. 

Can people on welfare become foster parents?

Yes! It is commonly believed that you need to be have plenty of money (or people think you are doing it for the money, seems to be one extreme or the other) and stay at home, this is not true. You can work full time outside of the home and you can be receiving government assistance yourself. You do however have to be able to show that you can support your household without the money that you are 'making' HA off the reimbursements. Our agency said they need to see that they would not be jeopardizing your entire house if you didn't receive your check for the month.

May I take a foster child in my home and then adopt him or her?

Maybe. Foster parents are not the same as adoptive parents. If you are going straight into adoption that means the rights of that parent have already been relinquished (they signed away the child) of they have been terminated (the court has removed their rights to parent this child) and that child is now 'open' for adoption. With fostering the child has been removed from the home for any myriad of reasons and the GOAL is to get them back into their home once the problems have been resolved; this is called re-unification and is very rarely not the goal. As a foster parent you need to be able to support that (or sometimes just grin, bite your tongue, and bare it). 

If the child cannot be returned home then the courts will terminate rights, this normally takes a year or more and then this child is eligible for adoption. The way it is SUPPOSED to work is that when the children are removed if there is a relative that is willing and able to care for the child that they be placed in that home, this is called kinship care. If no suitable home is available then they go into foster care. The preference for adoption is kinship first, foster parents second, open adoption 3rd however there are cases where you have been the childs foster parents and should be first choice and then a family member 'shows up' and wants to adopt the child. Whether the judge rules for the foster parents or the extended family depends on the length of time in care and the age of the child....and truly the judge and the circumstances. 

Is a child's background available?

Sometimes. If the DHS/CPS agency has been working with the family to try and provide services for the family to improve and to maintain the family then there may be extensive history on the child or a child may be moved from a home into yours and you would also get information in that case. However, in the majority of cases there is very little history available and you will be lucky to get more than the age, gender, race, and any outstanding red flags (health, cognitive, emotional issues). 

What happens after a child is placed in a foster home?

There is generally a pre-trial or 24 hour hearing to determine if there is adequate evidence to support the removal of the child; at this hearing the child is made a temporary ward of the court. 

Next is adjudication where charges and the case is reviewed by all parties. Parents can either admit to the documentation or ask for a trial. 

There are supposed to be review hearings every 3 months to check on the status of the case. 

Children are supposed to have a permanency plan in place at one year so either they are going back to their families or the court is moving forward with termination of parental rights; there are many many exceptions to this unfortunately.