October 2015 PTR: a “Halloweenie” and her Fearless Companion conquer their first HHN!

[RocketCityMama]

Big news this morning...........we're going to MNSSHP!!!!!

Tickets are bought (for Friday, October 16th....our last night before we fly home, to end our vacation on a really high note!), and Steve-o is even super excited about dressing up . I think we've decided on going as pirates: it seems to work well for a couples costume.

We haven't been to MK since 2009. I always said I wanted to try out a Disney party if we ever managed to travel at the right time, so this is a huge yay for me!! I have so much to learn between now and then!!!

Happy Saturday everyone . I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend. Its been a few days since I last updated, so while Steve and I are sitting in the rec room watching Pirates of the Caribbean, I thought I'd post a little of what's new.

We've spent the last couple of days devoting some serious time to costume research for MNSSHP. Just by fluke, a brand new costume store opened up right in our neighbourhood just 7 weeks ago, so we popped in to see the owner yesterday afternoon. She had some great stuff in there for Steve's pirate vision, and even better....it was in his size (BIG!) so we got a good start on his costume elements in particular. A couple more stops around town and some research on the internet also yielded some good results, and the balance of the major requirements (Steve's pants, specifically, and my Pirate Maiden dress) are now on order. Steve is absolutely having a ball with this part of the planning, more so than I had ever thought he would (including speaking in his best pirate accent for most of the weekend ) and has even suggested that maybe we do two parties that week instead of one.



His rationale? We always take a tidy sum of money with us for souvenirs and shopping, but after so many trips to Orlando.....we very rarely spend much of it. Photos are really the only souvenirs we're keen on getting. So he thinks we should re-allocate $150 of the shopping budget to MNSSHP tickets for a second night, and go for an extra experience versus extra stuff. It's a good theory .... so we're still discussing it. I am trying to find reasons to say no, but it is very, very tempting (especially when we have spent a decent amount on the costumes.....seems like a good way to get our money out of them. Then I think, dear God, that rationale sounds a lot like what ArwenMarie coined as "AP math"!! )

After a little digging on another Disney forum, I have managed to find a Memory Maker Share Group for our dates. Whether we do one party or two, we would be able to get all of our Photopass pics....or, at least, I *think* that would be the case .... not having Magic Bands, I'm not sure how that's going to work. Right now, the share group has 5 participants so its going to be about $34 per family. They are hoping for two more to make it 7 families total and bring the cost down to about $25 each. Either way, its a decent deal when one digital download from Disney is $15 plus tax and surely we will get a few good shots over the course of the evening.

In the midst of it all, it seems I have finally caught Jake's germs from a couple of weeks back and I've got one heck of a head cold . I was just thinking that Steve and I were out of the woods and whamo!, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I am drinking lots of OJ and hoping that it passes quickly. Summer colds are really the pits.

Oh yeah, we are officially at the 9 week point! 9 weeks from this very moment, I hope to be enjoying a leisurely soak in one of the hot tubs at the Vistana . But.....here at home, the trees will all have turned colours (and half of them or more already fallen to the ground) and we'll be well on our way to winter. Time is going very quickly. Summer will be over before we know it!!

Well, we did it. We added a second party : Tuesday, October 13th. It's ranked as much lower crowds (on Touringplans' "least crowded" projections, its ranked 9th of 25 parties) than our Friday, October 16th party (which is 22nd out of 25....though I wonder about the accuracy of that list when Halloween is already sold out and ranked as lower crowds). At any rate, its super exciting to know we should be able to fully enjoy every moment of the parties, not having to rush to try and get it all in.

We'll modify the other plans a tiny bit to offset our latest splurge. We'll probably forego some of the little things like the surrey bike rental at the Vistana (with three late nights for 2 MNSSHP's and HHN, its probably best we just relax and enjoy the pools and hot tubs if we get some down time) and we will reduce our shopping budget a tad. But otherwise, we're all set to go .

I am super excited, but feeling a little guilty for this latest trip addition . I'm not normally this frivolous. So while it feels very thrilling I'm also feeling kind of indulgent. I swear .... no more additions to this trip from here on out!!!!

If the NBA releases their 2015-2016 schedule this week as rumoured, and the Raptors are playing the Magic in Orlando during our Christmas trip, I'm going to faint. 'Cause I guarantee you my two guys will be clamouring for tickets to that game. If that happens, my vacation budget will officially self implode .

Playing catch up! Wow, 2 parties, soo FUN! I am so jealous, one day we're going to make it to one of them at Disney! I love the costumes you guys picked out, you will HAVE to share pics once you're there and dressed! I've been out of pocket, lots of craziness here at my house and more medical bills coming to add to all the house repairs we had :/ Anyway, trying to take my mind off, so excited to read the rest of your report!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

No real plans for the birthday dinner yet. I haven't given it too much thought. I wonder what he would enjoy? He's the youngest of all my siblings and a great guy. This will be his 21st birthday too. He's not much of a drinker but I'm sure he'll have one or two. Maybe Margharitaville ?

Margaritaville has a fun vibe, so that would be a great place for a birthday IMO. Do you know if Universal does birthday cakes like Disney's restaurants do?

Playing catch up! Wow, 2 parties, soo FUN! I am so jealous, one day we're going to make it to one of them at Disney! I love the costumes you guys picked out, you will HAVE to share pics once you're there and dressed! I've been out of pocket, lots of craziness here at my house and more medical bills coming to add to all the house repairs we had :/ Anyway, trying to take my mind off, so excited to read the rest of your report!

We're very excited about the parties!! We've never been there at the "right" times....either just before the first Halloween parties of the year, or just after the Christmas parties end . So it seemed almost wrong to not take advantage of all the special events on this trip, just in case we never make it back at the proper time again.

So sorry to hear about the unexpected expenses . House repairs are bad enough, but someone being sick is what's really concerning. I hope things perk up for you soon .

 

[pigletto]

So guess who's husband called today and said to see what I could price out for an impromptu Halloween Horror Nights weekend?
This would be in addition to the trip we have in the works for January.
He said if I could keep it around $1500 U.S. for the weekend that we'll book. Now like you Gina I am a giant chicken, but it would be a blast and he and I never go anywhere without the kids so we are due for a getaway. I'm thinking a Thursday night to a Sunday night so we only need one day off. We have power passes so we're good there, though I think there were restrictions on those on party days? And of course we'd have to buy the HHN tickets. I'll see if there are any AP rates left. I'd like to stay onsite. Then of course there is flights to consider. My mind is a little boggled right now. I don't know if I can make it happen now that room rates and flights are likely to be so high. But I love a challenge lol! Also I couldn't purchase the flights and put down deposits for a week or two anyway as I just bought dd's laptop for school and dorm things. So I've got a little while to research.
Just thought I would come in here and share the possible good news !

I can't believe we went from cancelling one trip to now maybe having two.

 

[macraven]

congrats pigletto on the upcoming spur of the moment trip!

you'll have fun at hhn.

if you stay at one of the deluxe hotels, they require a friday and saturday night booking if you want to stay on the weekend.
can't do a friday night alone without the saturday reservation.

don't know how Cbay does reservations on weekends during hhn as i have not stayed there in october.

you are a lucky ducky!!
get to go in october and january.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So guess who's husband called today and said to see what I could price out for an impromptu Halloween Horror Nights weekend?
This would be in addition to the trip we have in the works for January.
He said if I could keep it around $1500 U.S. for the weekend that we'll book. Now like you Gina I am a giant chicken, but it would be a blast and he and I never go anywhere without the kids so we are due for a getaway. I'm thinking a Thursday night to a Sunday night so we only need one day off. We have power passes so we're good there, though I think there were restrictions on those on party days? And of course we'd have to buy the HHN tickets. I'll see if there are any AP rates left. I'd like to stay onsite. Then of course there is flights to consider. My mind is a little boggled right now. I don't know if I can make it happen now that room rates and flights are likely to be so high. But I love a challenge lol! Also I couldn't purchase the flights and put down deposits for a week or two anyway as I just bought dd's laptop for school and dorm things. So I've got a little while to research.
Just thought I would come in here and share the possible good news !

I can't believe we went from cancelling one trip to now maybe having two.

That is totally AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will keep my fingers crossed that all the little details fall nicely into place and your HHN trip is officially a go!! How special and wonderful for the two of you to have a nice little couples getaway (but beware....they're surprisingly fun and addictive....you'll want more of them after you have the first one ..... I am speaking from experience! )

Have you scoped out any *possible* dates? Like, I dunno....maybe (ahem!) the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We hit another milestone on the countdown today. We're officially in:



49 days to go! 7 weeks from this very moment, I hope we're buckling our seatbelts and preparing for our descent .

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yay! The 40s!

Getting ready to head down tomorrow! For our week in the beautiful Central Florida summer heat haha. Every year, I say to myself, why do I go this week? The weather is beautiful HERE and I'm heading to the surface of the sun. Ah well, school schedules must be obeyed!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Yay! The 40s!

Getting ready to head down tomorrow! For our week in the beautiful Central Florida summer heat haha. Every year, I say to myself, why do I go this week? The weather is beautiful HERE and I'm heading to the surface of the sun. Ah well, school schedules must be obeyed!

Woohoo! You lucky girl....I am totally envious . I am sorely missing our annual August getaway....there's still time to pack me in your suitcase, you know .

Here's to a ton of sun, fun, and vacation awesomeness for you and your family . Save travels and enjoy every moment! I will miss your contributions while you are gone!!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Woohoo! You lucky girl....I am totally envious . I am sorely missing our annual August getaway....there's still time to pack me in your suitcase, you know .

Here's to a ton of sun, fun, and vacation awesomeness for you and your family . Save travels and enjoy every moment! I will miss your contributions while you are gone!!

Thanks!

 

[pigletto]

Sooooo... No sooner had dh suggested our couples getaway for HHN, did he back into a wall in a very tight spot in Downtown T.O. on Friday.
Our sonar was useless and didn't go off until the second he hit it. Looking about $1000 in damage to our 4 month old SUV. We definitely want it fixed and don't want to run that through insurance. He still says we should go but I think I would rather just do something extra special on the January trip and maybe a weekend getaway around here? The cottage is free . We haven't decided yet. What a whirlwind.
I'll tell you this much... I went to a funeral Friday afternoon and like DDS said last week in similar circumstances... life is good, my problems aren't even problems and if $1000 in car repairs is my biggest worry , well I am really freaking lucky aren't I?

However, it looks like you are going to have to be the brave one and test out all this HHN stuff for me. I'll look at your pics and get your report and maybe I will be brave enough. Thanks for taking one for team chicken , Gina. You're a good friend.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sooooo... No sooner had dh suggested our couples getaway for HHN, did he back into a wall in a very tight spot in Downtown T.O. on Friday.
Our sonar was useless and didn't go off until the second he hit it. Looking about $1000 in damage to our 4 month old SUV. We definitely want it fixed and don't want to run that through insurance. He still says we should go but I think I would rather just do something extra special on the January trip and maybe a weekend getaway around here? The cottage is free . We haven't decided yet. What a whirlwind.
I'll tell you this much... I went to a funeral Friday afternoon and like DDS said last week in similar circumstances... life is good, my problems aren't even problems and if $1000 in car repairs is my biggest worry , well I am really freaking lucky aren't I?

However, it looks like you are going to have to be the brave one and test out all this HHN stuff for me. I'll look at your pics and get your report and maybe I will be brave enough. Thanks for taking one for team chicken , Gina. You're a good friend.

Aw, pigletto.....I am so sorry to hear!! You have an awesome attitude about it, though. Condolences to you on losing a friend .......you are right in that those kind of things bring true perspective into all the other little problems in our lives.

I certainly can't promise you that I'll be brave at HHN .... in fact, I'm expecting to be quite the scaredy cat (complete with copious amounts of shrieking). But....I'll be sure to try and give a Disboards-worthy run down in my trip report, so hopefully you can start planning a Halloween trip for 2016 .

I am still so happy that you have a January trip to focus on!! (and you know, an autumn trip to the cottage sounds lovely as well......I can just picture the fall colours )

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

So, we managed to get the rest of our costume pieces picked up over the course of the weekend, including some Just For Men to remove the “salt” from Steve’s salt-and-pepper beard . He wants to give it a test run to see just how dark his facial hair gets with the beard treatment. We may have to move on to some temporary hair dye in a darker shade if it doesn’t make enough of a difference . Now that all the final pieces to the costume puzzle are in hand, Big Steve is itchin’ to do a “test run” and get dressed up to see how we look. I think my big fella has officially entered his second childhood.

I’ve also been working on a little “tweaking” of the vacation itinerary. The plans now look something like this:

Friday, October 9th: we’ll clean the house in the morning and grab lunch on the road as we leave for Buffalo. We’ll stop at Niagara Falls State park after we cross the border for a little tourist time and obligatory photos by the Falls. Dinner is currently planned for the Cheesecake Factory after checking into our park and fly hotel. There’s a big pool and hot tub at this property so that's where we'll spend the evening before trying to get some shut eye (note I use the word "trying"....we're generally not so good at sleeping that night before we leave ).

Saturday, October 10th: we have an early morning flight so we’ll grab the included breakfast at the hotel. After we land and collect both the luggage and the rental car, we’ll hit up Sweet Tomatoes for lunch before checking into the Vistana. The afternoon and evening will be spent shopping and enjoying the resort. We’ll probably also visit the World of Chocolate Museum & Café with our Groupons while we’re out and about. Dinner will be a freebie (or darn close to it) at TGI Fridays with our gift certificates.

Sunday, October 11th: this day is scheduled for a full day at Islands of Adventure. We have a reservation for lunch at Mythos. The parks close early (US at 5 pm, IOA at 7 pm) as it’s an HHN night, so we’ll enjoy the park until closing and then head to Bahama Breeze for dinner.

Monday, October 12th: this should be a full day at the Studios. Initial plans call for lunch at Hot Dog Hall of Fame (which has been on Steve’s wish list) but that could change (I'm not 100% stuck on the idea.....surely we can find something better than hot dogs for lunch!). We have a tentative mini Dismeet in the works which would have us grabbing dinner at Margaritaville after the parks close at 8 (assuming we can get a table for our group) and then maybe a round of mini golf. I am hoping they will offer the Cinematic Spectacular this night, as its something we have yet to see.

Tuesday, October 13th: we will try to hit up Islands of Adventure again at park opening, with lunch at Confisco’s. Early afternoon, we’ll head back to the villa to get dressed and ready for MNSSHP. We will try to arrive at MK by 4 pm, and grab dinner at Cosmic Rays. If all goes as planned, we’ll close the party down at midnight! I think I've convinced Steve to indulge with me on a Mickey Pants Sundae at the Plaza Ice Cream Shop over the course of the evening .

Wednesday, October 14th: it will be back to the Studios today once we rouse ourselves from the late night prior. We have a reservation for lunch at Finnegan’s at 12 noon. We will probably have dinner at Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard before checking in for our RIP Tour (which starts at 7:15). It will be another late night as we enjoy all the scares at Halloween Horror Night!

Thursday, October 15th: this day is really quite up in the air. Assuming we’re not completely wiped out by two back-to-back late nights, we’ll probably hit the parks again (maybe lunch at Thunder Falls Terrace). If we’re completely tired out, we may just decide to enjoy a resort day and lounge in the pools and hot tubs instead (a super hot, sunny day would definitely make that decision a no-brainer). Dinner is firmly planned for Millers Ale House (its Steve’s beloved prime rib night). Regardless of how we spend the daytime, the parks close early so after dinner we’ll enjoy a relaxing night at the resort.

Friday, October 16th: the OI crowd calendar has the Universal parks as “busy” today, and we’re anticipating that our busy week might be catching up with us old folks by this point in the trip, so we are hoping to take it easy for the first part of the day. *Hopefully* we’ll be able to sleep in (not always easy, as our internal clocks often have us rising all week at about the same time as we would normally get up for work) and then catch breakfast at First Watch. Lunch plans call for us to try out Tom+Chee in the Crossroads. This is our second MNSSHP night, so we’ll get dressed in the afternoon and again try to arrive at MK for 4 pm. We have a dinner reservation at the Plaza for 4:35 pm. Then its party time until midnight.

Saturday, October 17th: sadly, its travel day once again. After checking out by 10 am, we’ll hit up IHOP for breakfast then visit CSI: The Experience with our Livingsocial vouchers. We’ll have a late lunch at Freddy’s Steakburgers (because every vacation should start and end with ice cream) then drop off the rental car by 3:30 pm. I have no idea if we’ll even want any dinner at the airport, but I’m hoping there will be a place to grab some sandwiches and salads after security to perhaps take with us on the plane (I can’t remember what restaurants are at MCO near our gates, but I’ll have to check). Our flight leaves at 5:25 pm, and we are scheduled to land in Buffalo promptly at 8. The jury is still out as to whether we’ll make the 4-hour trip home that night, or grab a hotel and drive home rested the following day.

Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans…..rain, fatigue or a dozen other factors could totally realign the itinerary on the fly. For now, though, it’s good to have a general idea of where we hope to be on each day .

I am still actively watching the car rental in the hopes of getting that down a bit (or at least booked for the cost I currently have….$161 including tax….but in Canadian funds). Prices have been going up, up, up steadily for the last while, so I’m not too sure if that goal is going to be attainable. Never hurts to hope and watch, though, right?

46 days to go!

 

[JaxDad]

As usual, you have an excellent plan!

 

[Lynne G]

Great plans as usual. Since Groupon discounted the chocolate tour a little more, I also bought it and was thinking of doing it the afternoon I land too. Seems tours do not start until noon, and I don't land until mid afternoon.

Still hoping my rental goes lower, but I think the $137 is what I will end up with. But, ya never know.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Great plans as usual. Since Groupon discounted the chocolate tour a little more, I also bought it and was thinking of doing it the afternoon I land too. Seems tours do not start until noon, and I don't land until mid afternoon.

Still hoping my rental goes lower, but I think the $137 is what I will end up with. But, ya never know.

I would be over the moon if mine dropped to $137 . Which rental company did you book with again? And are you an 8 day rental as well?

Groupon had both chocolate tours at one point.....both World of Chocolate (which I bought) and I just saw that Chocolate Kingdom is also now on there (which was reviewed on one of The Trip podcasts). Is your Groupon for the same place as mine, or did you purchase for the other location? We figured it would be a nice way to spend an hour on arrival day, when we're usually too tired to muster up the energy to do much more than that .

 

[Lynne G]

I have that for Alamo. I am only renting it for 6 days, but they show my reservation as a week rental. Whatever. The dates and times are right. Not a SUV though. I have a standard.

World of chocolate with tour on I drive. I paid a little more for a mug and first free fill with it in their store.

I keep looking, but many are for more than one, so when I saw that one, for one, and Groupon had an addition discount, well I figured it was a good time to go there. I have drove past it on I drive, but with the kids, they were not interested and at full price, not.

 

[pigletto]

That's an excellent looking plan you have there Gina!! I think you will really enjoy MNSSHP! I've never been, but we have done MVMCP twice and the last one I went to was hands down the best day of that trip. Disney knows how to do a party.
We'd love to go in October one day. I'm still a little bummed about the long weekend that was, then wasn't lol. We've found someone who did some body work for family under similar circumstances and has a very reasonable cash price for the repair on our car so that's at least a relief. He did an excellent job for my BIL for a good price.

I just realized you will have 3 trips under your belt before we get back for our next one in January! I consider myself lucky that you write such detailed and fun trip reports. It sure helps pass the time waiting for a trip. We have 135 days to go until our turn and I think you will just be returning from your Christmas one.
I made a bunch of Disney ADR's tonight . I got everything I wanted which was nice considering my ADR date would have been 45 days ago. We still have no idea if we are staying onsite or off and that will be determined by cost and what kind of deal we can find as it gets closer. But I figured I would get the ADR's set in case, and cancel a few of them in favour of more offsite options if we choose to stay offsite. The plan is looking like 3 days at Universal and 6 days Disney. But you know us.. the plan changes all the time so we will see what happens lol.

 

[Lynne G]

Pigletto is a changer! LOL. We all do it. I decided to change resorts many times.

Getting closer GIna. Oh, and found a groupon, with discount, for a pizza place not far from Universal. Figured I could find it, NY style pizza, so that should be good, plus with the amount, I could get dessert and maybe a salad too. Nice meal, and with left over pizza, another meal, and well, dessert for breakfast is not a bad thing.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

That's an excellent looking plan you have there Gina!! I think you will really enjoy MNSSHP! I've never been, but we have done MVMCP twice and the last one I went to was hands down the best day of that trip. Disney knows how to do a party.
We'd love to go in October one day. I'm still a little bummed about the long weekend that was, then wasn't lol. We've found someone who did some body work for family under similar circumstances and has a very reasonable cash price for the repair on our car so that's at least a relief. He did an excellent job for my BIL for a good price.

I just realized you will have 3 trips under your belt before we get back for our next one in January! I consider myself lucky that you write such detailed and fun trip reports. It sure helps pass the time waiting for a trip. We have 135 days to go until our turn and I think you will just be returning from your Christmas one.
I made a bunch of Disney ADR's tonight . I got everything I wanted which was nice considering my ADR date would have been 45 days ago. We still have no idea if we are staying onsite or off and that will be determined by cost and what kind of deal we can find as it gets closer. But I figured I would get the ADR's set in case, and cancel a few of them in favour of more offsite options if we choose to stay offsite. The plan is looking like 3 days at Universal and 6 days Disney. But you know us.. the plan changes all the time so we will see what happens lol.

So happy you were able to get some good ADR's for January! Which places did you pick?

We were able to get an ADR for 8 of us Christmas week for breakfast at Ohana, which I was super surprised about (especially when I just made it about a month ago, so well after the 180 days). My brother and his GF (and two of her kids) will be in Tampa the same time we are in Orlando, and they've never done ANYTHING Disney before (this is big bro's first trip to Florida). He laughed at me when I told him we were going to have breakfast with Mickey Mouse, and so I said....hey, wanna come? His GF said ABSOLUTELY! so the hunt for an ADR for our large group was on. Snagged a good time on a day we had free and voila! Always fun taking a first timer to a character meal (this will be Sweetie's first as well).

People are starting to REALLY comment on our frequency of trips south. They do seem to be very frequent this year, but I think this year is an anomally. Its easier when we have a child old enough to swap gifts for a trip.....otherwise Christmas wouldn't have happened. Its also beneficial that we started planning soooooo far in advance, and had our AP's paid for last fall. At the current exchange rate, we'd be a no go!!

Pigletto is a changer! LOL. We all do it. I decided to change resorts many times.

Getting closer GIna. Oh, and found a groupon, with discount, for a pizza place not far from Universal. Figured I could find it, NY style pizza, so that should be good, plus with the amount, I could get dessert and maybe a salad too. Nice meal, and with left over pizza, another meal, and well, dessert for breakfast is not a bad thing.

Woot! Another groupon! Which pizza place is it for? Might have to check it out .

I temporarly suspended my daily groupon emails....so many good deals and no time left on the itinerary. It was killing me to see them all, lol! I will start up the notifications again after October, since we have a bit more flex in the December plans .

 

[pigletto]

Gina I hope you know my only comments on the frequency of your trips are of the "You go girl!" variety! If it was in the budget for us this year I'd be going twice, and we were just there in December and March last year.
In fact, one of my neighbours just booked her second trip to Cuba this year and was telling me that she was worried what people would say. I could not be more truthful when I say I could care less what people do with their hard earned money, and that if this is what their or your or my family enjoys.. then so be it!! As long as I am taking care of my business it's nobody elses.
So go on a fourth trip I say!

As for our ADR's.. I got an Ohana (and there were a ton of good dinner time reservations for our week). It's my guys favourite and we didn't go on our last two trips. I booked a lunch ADR for Be Our Guest. I wasn't paying those breakfast prices and there were no dinner reservations. We've done both dinner and lunch before and we loved lunch and just liked dinner. I think lunch sits within my cost to value threshold best.
We booked Boma. We love AKL and all of it's restaurants, and we haven't been to Boma in awhile. I also booked the new Italian place on the Boardwalk , Trattoria al Forno. I'm looking forward to giving it a try. On our DHS day we are going back to 50's Prime Time for the first time since 2010. We really liked it back then. And finally, I am leaving one space open for the new restaurant in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. Rumours say it may be open when we are there in January and I would love to give it a try.