Overdue and Overpacked III: A Tale of Two Cities ~Last Chapter~ 8/22 Page 33

[LaLa]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Okay.

So maybe it wasn’t the worst of times.

Or anywhere near the worst of times, to be honest. Because we were in Disneyworld, after all. Not stuck in line at the DMV. Trying to fight off approximately three billion people for one of seven Wiis that just arrived in the Wal Mart electronics department one week before Christmas. Not that I’ve ever done that. More than once. We weren’t spending our vacation at Six Flags. Waiting for a new Lost episode and looking for some closure on that freaky four toed statue on the beach. Or being thrown up on at the county fair by a complete stranger. Who obviously overindulged in the gumbo.

That one I’d like to block out.

But the fact of the matter is that line pretty much summed up our trip to Disneyworld last October. Aside from the whole “worst of times” part. Because even though we were shocked, numb and dumbfounded (all at the same time) at the idea of both Spaceship Earth and Thunder Mountain being closed for refurbishment at the same time (what?!), I think it goes without saying that there are many things in this life that are much, much worse than spending time with your happy, healthy family on vacation in Disneyworld.

For those unfortunate few who may have suffered through the last two trip reports and may or may not have been wondering, yes. We went back to the Land of Yellow. The House that Walt built. The home of Dole Whips, Epicot, Soarin’, Cinderella’s castle, food courts, pool slides and funnel cakes.

Not to mention Illuminations.

Because the man is an oak and we are the LaLas. And that’s what we do.

Among other things.

Our daughter’s prayers on our way back underneath the arches were answered as we did indeed go back to Disneyworld when she was in the first grade.

Not just once.

But twice. Twice when she was in the first grade.

Yep. God is good. All the time.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to October.

Our family spent eight awesome days back home at Port Orleans Riverside rediscovering our straight up love for that place. And the Dining Plan. And while some of our exploits turned out to be…well…pretty crappy, we also had some of the best moments of any Disney vacation ever at that point in time. We kicked it off by doing something we’d never done before. We surprised the kids. Yes, my husband and I were the Keepers of the Secret and it was amazing. We woke them up and surprised them with the news the morning we left and their reaction was absolutely priceless. It was a year of firsts for our daughter. She rode Space Mountain for the first time. The girl broke it in proper, riding it four times in one day. Doing her own little version of the laugh/scream the whole time. With her arms lifted high and a grin on her face. Lovin’ life the whole time. She also rode Splash Mountain for the first time. Which was a huge deal to her. And her mother. For entirely different reasons. We picked out some really pretty pearls in Japan and had matching pendants made so we could remember the trip forever.

The girl and I did. Not the boy and I.

That would be weird.

The boy was given the Mike Wazowski shout out when he “guessed” the punch line by screaming at the top of his lungs “BECAUSE HER COACH WAS A PUMPKIN!” when asked why Cinderella was bad at sports.

Who says Pal Mickey ain’t worth the coin?

We experienced the most amazing view of Illuminations to date. Two words (or is it four?): VIP area. We rediscovered our love for the Elusive Strawberry Swirl (move over Dole Whip). We ran into Jiminy Cricket. Literally and figuratively. We enjoyed an awesome and incredibly memorable meal at Artist Point. The girl was chosen to participate in a rousing rendition of “We Are in Ahhh-frica” while pounding out a beat on the bongos and forming a circle around a traditional African dancer as he did his thang after dinner at Boma one night. We had dinner at Boma one night. Which included Zebra domes.

Let that one sink in for a minute or two.

Mmmm.

Zebra domes.

Also there’s this: no one threw up in or around a fanny pack or contracted a staph infection, there were no wardrobe malfunctions and I took home the gold at the POR Olympic Waterslide Event.

Yet again.

All in all, it was a very good trip. But like all vacations, it was not without its less than stellar moments. One of which may have involved the Hokey Pokey, ¾ of the Roundup Gang (where the heck is Stinky Pete anyway?), a blocked pathway, one snarky CM, stifling heat, unbearable crowds, and one very tired and impatient husband.

Attempting to push an invisible stroller (hat tip, ZZUB) through the crowd.

In that moment, my dear, sweet husband was the pack of Mentos and the rest of the stuff was the 2 liter bottle of Coke.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

But we were in Disney and moments like that are to be expected from time to time. As much as we love the place, it ain’t perfect, after all. Nothing on this earth is.

When we came home, two things happened. Well truthfully, lots of things happened but you’re only getting the low down on two. For now anyway. Lest this turn out to be another neverending pointless thread. And an eight month long affair.

Gawd forbid a million times.

Although during the span of eight days at Disney, we had enough funny and interesting things happen to write about until the cows came home (and no we don’t actually have cows ..anymore…we gave them all away to bellhops and waitresses last year), I decided to forego delving into another trip report. Ironically, it was all about the time. And my lack of it. The second thing that happened was that we decided the next family vacation that we took would be somewhere other than Disney.

Any of this sounding familiar?

But this time we (he) meant it. DH was adamant. Not Adam Ant. That would be weird. After five consecutive years, it was time to go somewhere else. I sighed heavily and agreed it was time to do something different. It wouldn’t hurt to switch it up a little bit. We didn’t want to get burned out on the place. Or spoil ourselves any further than we already had. We’ve already been ruined for anywhere else and think no other destination can compare. If pictures can be believed, Bora Bora looks pretty darn close. But I’m guessing the mice there don’t…

A) Wake you up in the morning and call you pal
B) Make kissing sounds and wiggle their noses at you
M) Have handlers who rush them off after only three minutes of damage

So it was decided. Agreed upon. Set in stone. Written in blood. Pinky swore. Spit in the hand and shook upon.

In other words, my husband sent out a decree and I said “Whatever.” But this one was going to stick. There would be no amount of “Daddy I miss Mickey” or “Take Me to Disneyworld or Lose me Forever” business that would change things this go ‘round.

No sir.

Or would there?

As time went on, we researched several different destinations and toyed around with dates for our next adventure away from the increasingly burdensome daily grind that had descended on our home with the coming of 2008. Work stresses were at an all time high for both my husband and I and by mid March we were itching to get away. We were in desperate need of a break. A respite. Oddly enough, the kids had a break from school coming up shortly.

Spring Break, to be exact.

They had an entire week off from school and it was in the lovely month of April so we decided that if we were going somewhere, that would be the perfect time.

With the time frame set, the only decision left was where to go.

For some years now, we have talked of going to Pigeon Forge and visiting Dollywood.
And no, I wasn’t joking. We really do want to see the real working grist mill. More or less. But mostly we want to see the inside of a well appointed cabin and hear steaks sizzling on the grill situated on a deck overlooking a fifty mile view. And with everything going on in our lives at that point, some serious relaxation sounded like the perfect plan to us. With that in mind, we pored over cabin photos, traveler reviews, and ride videos on YouTube. We listened to Dolly (who is now suddenly cool as all get out to our daughter because she appeared on an episode of Hannah Montana), John Denver and the Oak Ridge Boys to get ourselves in the mood for some clean country livin’. We acted out Dueling Banjos in the car on the way to school. We pulled out our overalls and danced a jig to Rocky Top in the kitchen.

Which is really no different than any other day in the life of a LaLa. We just did it up extra special for the occasion. In other words, we rolled up our overalls and put an extra lil sumpm sumpm into it.

But then it started.

After a spontaneous long weekend jaunt to Texas for Easter, suddenly DH wasn’t sure if he felt up to the long drive to Tennessee a couple of weeks later. And the more we looked at the ride photos (they actually have …wait for it…a Scrambler…as in the County Fair Scrambler), the more we weren’t really feelin’ it. Too much. Well, the kids and I were feeling it. All we knew was we were getting away and dangit, we didn’t care where it was. We were ready to blow this popsicle stand. And how. We were feelin’ it.

DH, not so much.

Which was weird.

We were one breath away from booking a cabin called Simply Viewtiful (or was it I Love View?) when he called me at work.

Me: Mmmyello?
Him: I’m not a smart man. Will you marra’ me?
Me: Oh stop it with the Forest Gump soundboards already.
Him: What? That’s funny.
Me: Oh okay, maybe it’s a little funny. I much prefer that one over Carl from Slingblade. But look, should I book it? I’m gonna book it.
Him: I don’t know, La. I’m just not feeling it.
Me: It’s because you want to go to Disney instead, isn’t it? Admit it. You keep weighing your options and thinking that we could be going to Disneyworld. And Dollywood is paling in comparison, isn’t it? That’s what’s throwing you. Am I right?
Him: You’re never right, woman. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better off we’ll be. Now hush yo mouth and git to doin’ some woman’s work.

Okay, so he didn’t really say that but I’m pretty sure he was probably thinkin’ it.

What he actually said was this: Mmm hmmm. I like-a way you talk.

Or else it was more along the lines of maybe. Maybe you’re right, La. I’m just not excited about it like I thought I’d be. And what would we do when we got there? You may be right. I may be crazy. Hey, but it just ain’t Dollywood that I’m lookin’ for.

And then he choked on his franch fried pertaters. With mustard.

Twice. For good measure.

And just like that, we put Dollywood on Ignore. Again. But we were still determined to go somewhere different. The crowds, the stress, the running around from parks to resorts to ADRs, the iteneraries, the getting’ up offa that thang, all of that wasn’t what we had in mind for this trip. After five years of applying the Commando approach to our vacations, my husband would sooner drink the fat and vote Democrat than spend another week running around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off.

No. For this trip, a more relaxed pace was in demand.

More relaxed. But not too relaxed. We still needed a little excitement. After all, we don’t use Depends, we rarely pop Geritol like candy (anymore..since the Incident) and we still have all of our teeth.

Well, most of them anyway.

After I told him “Mmmmbyebye” and we hung up, I started surfing the web and within minutes, found myself on Universal’s website.

Yes, you read that right. Universal Orlando Resort. As we would find out later was the proper name for it. Not “the dark side” or “that other place” or even “C-R-A-P hole”

Yeah, that last one was Pigeon Forge.

Kidding.

Or am I?

Actually, Universal was something that we’d considered doing from time to time. But since we always stay onsite at Disney and get a whole heckuva lot of Magic Our Way when we go, we’ve never really been interested in taking time away from our Disney vacations to go over there for a day or two. Why should we? We’re in Disney. Why should we step down and waste our vacation days (and…gasp..leave property) to go to a park that’s obviously not gonna come anywhere CLOSE to being in the same league as Disney?

Or so we thought. Back then. As it turns out, we had a lot to learn.

The more I checked out the website, the more I liked what I was seeing.

Cool looking rides? Check.
Pretty resorts? Check.
Wide variety of restaurants within walking distance? Check.
Lovable, identifiable characters? Check. And ALSO uncheck. Two words: Crash Bandicoot.
Complimentary transportation to the parks? Check.
Hess station on property with pretty lattice work surrounding the cool as all get out car wash? Sadly, uncheck.
Mickey soaps and shampoos? Check.

Just making sure you’re still with me.

I was surprised how fast DH jumped on board with the Universal plan. I called, had them run some figures and that very night we booked four nights at the Royal Pacific Resort through Loew’s and got mine and my husband's tickets for free. It was very smooth and extremely painless. Unlike childbirth. And the mood once we’d booked it was, dare I say, giddy. Yes, I’ll say it. We were downright giddy to be heading to Orlando. We jumped up and did a jig. A backwards one. And taunted each other in our little sing song voices “We’re goin’to Uni-versal, uh-uh-uh-uhhhh-uh.”

Yes, we taunted each other. I’m not sure why but it felt like the thing to do.

Because the trip was planned on very short notice, there was no time for countdown chains or Dunkey jars. Which is similar to a Mickey Jar. I would imagine. Not that I would know because I’ve never made one. In fact, there wasn’t time for much planning at all. Which made me extremely itchy. When we go to Disney, I start poring over iteneraries, ADR choices and room requests as soon as the room is booked. I plan each outfit weeks before and roll them neatly into gallon sized Ziploc bags and write the persons’ name and the park day on the outside. I do that for the kids. Not so much us. Something tells me DH would not be a happy camper if I raided his highly regarded “good Tshirt drawer” (which is completely different from the “layin’ around the house Tshirt drawer”) and started rolling stuff into balls and stuffing it in ziploc bags. I empty Mini M&M containers and alternately fill them to the top with two quarters and one shiny penny. And if you don’t know what that’s for, good luck earning your ears.

NOLivingWiththeLandbabypumpkin.

All that to say this: I go into overdrive planning mode from the get go and don’t let up until we’re safely back home from vacation. It’s exciting and fun and I love doing it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But it’s also rather…tiring. There. I said it. Despite the fact that there would be none of that this trip, or perhaps even because of that fact, we knew good things were in store for us in the Sunshine State. But little did we know that the trip we were about to be embarking on would go down in the history books (not actual history books, just the proverbial ones) as one of the best, if not the best trip we’d ever taken as a family.

And that’s saying a lot because we’ve had some good ones.

In many ways, we felt like we had the best of both worlds on this trip. Because aside from having an incredible time in Orlando, we also found ourselves spending a good bit of time in our favorite place in the whole world. The place with the fancy indoor plumbin’. And the cool as all get out light fixtures. The place where the sound of drumbeats and the sight of torches being blown out around a calm, still lagoon is enough to make you smile continuously for the next twelve minutes. The place where pirates, princesses and pixie dust reside within forty seven square miles of happiness.

Oh yeah baby.

Our destination was not only Orlando. But also Lake Buena Vista. Two cities that are very close together. Yet miles apart. Very much the same. Yet completely different.

And we were blessed beyond measure to be able to experience the best of both of them.

Universal and Disney.

Disney and Universal.

What?

You didn’t actually think we’d go all the way to Orlando and not go to Disneyworld, did you?

Neither did we.

Up Next: Meet the Crew

[jamal]

Get out. GIT OUT!!

A La La trip report?

I'm stunned and also thrilled, especially since I haven't even been over here in many months of moons.

Now I'm first!

Clearly, I love you best.

Back.

You're still simply the best, La.

She rode Space Mountain for the first time. The girl broke it in proper, riding it four times in one day. Doing her own little version of the laugh/scream the whole time. With her arms lifted high and a grin on her face. Lovin’ life the whole time.
I think I can hear her...


For some years now, we have talked of going to Pigeon Forge and visiting Dollywood.
And no, I wasn’t joking. We really do want to see the real working grist mill. More or less. But mostly we want to see the inside of a well appointed cabin and hear steaks sizzling on the grill situated on a deck overlooking a fifty mile view.

Tell me you were joking...

We were one breath away from booking a cabin called Simply Viewtiful (or was it I Love View?) when he called me at work.

Or not. DON'T do it. Well, don't do it as a Disney substitute. Ever. Promise me. {{Shudder}}

Me: Mmmyello?
Him: I’m not a smart man. Will you marra’ me?
Me: Oh stop it with the Forest Gump soundboards already.
Him: What? That’s funny.
Me: Oh okay, maybe it’s a little funny. I much prefer that one over Carl from Slingblade. But look, should I book it? I’m gonna book it.
Him: I don’t know, La. I’m just not feeling it.
Me: It’s because you want to go to Disney instead, isn’t it? Admit it. You keep weighing your options and thinking that we could be going to Disneyworld. And Dollywood is paling in comparison, isn’t it? That’s what’s throwing you. Am I right?
Him: You’re never right, woman. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better off we’ll be. Now hush yo mouth and git to doin’ some woman’s work.

Okay, so he didn’t really say that but I’m pretty sure he was probably thinkin’ it.
Gosh, La, I'm married to this phone-a-freak. Mmmmyello is his favorite.

There's nothing to get you dancing around the house like the decision to take a Disney, excuse me, Orlando trip, is there?

We did a day at the Dark Side in January; now I can't wait to read your take.

[ZZUB]

We acted out Dueling Banjos in the car on the way to school. We pulled out our overalls and danced a jig to Rocky Top in the kitchen.There are many reasons why you're on ignore. Singing Rocky Top is just the icing on the cake.

mmmm. cake.

Well slap my mamma and call me a rock star! LaLa's got her a new Trip Report.

Just when it seemed all was lost and the Disboards were spiraling out of control. NOBritney.

But I got confused there for a bit. Let me see if I tracked with you: you went to Disney World last October but you're not writing about that. Except you are. You are also writing about a recent trip to Universal Studios and Disney World, right? When did y'all go to Dollywood?

Kidding.

Or am I?

:moped:

[stagemomx3]

:woohoo: A new La La trip report I'm so excited. I seriously just went back and re-read your last one the other day because I was remembering it fondly and wondering if you had a new one. This is a happy day! :banana:

[IkeandMike]

All hail LaLa. Now tell me, did you get your dole whip this year?

[ILMICKEY]

Well slap me up side the head and call me Shirley, LaLa's back!!:yay:

[nicolemarie]

Our family spent eight awesome days back home at Port Orleans Riverside rediscovering our straight up love for that place. And the Dining Plan. And while some of our exploits turned out to be…well…pretty crappy, we also had some of the best moments of any Disney vacation ever at that point in time. We kicked it off by doing something we’d never done before. We surprised the kids. Yes, my husband and I were the Keepers of the Secret and it was amazing. We woke them up and surprised them with the news the morning we left and their reaction was absolutely priceless. It was a year of firsts for our daughter. She rode Space Mountain for the first time. The girl broke it in proper, riding it four times in one day. Doing her own little version of the laugh/scream the whole time. With her arms lifted high and a grin on her face. Lovin’ life the whole time. She also rode Splash Mountain for the first time. Which was a huge deal to her. And her mother. For entirely different reasons. We picked out some really pretty pearls in Japan and had matching pendants made so we could remember the trip forever.

This? This and the coupla more mentions below it are ALL? All we get for a trip report? I feel cheated. Jipped. Slighted. Given the screwgie. And anything else that means I got the short end of the stick.

The girl was chosen to participate in a rousing rendition of “We Are in Ahhh-frica” while pounding out a beat on the bongos and forming a circle around a traditional African dancer as he did his thang after dinner at Boma one night.

Why does this make me laugh so hard?

But like all vacations, it was not without its less than stellar moments. One of which may have involved the Hokey Pokey, ¾ of the Roundup Gang (where the heck is Stinky Pete anyway?), a blocked pathway, one snarky CM, stifling heat, unbearable crowds, and one very tired and impatient husband.

Attempting to push an invisible stroller (hat tip, ZZUB) through the crowd.

In that moment, my dear, sweet husband was the pack of Mentos and the rest of the stuff was the 2 liter bottle of Coke.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

DED. Poor DH. No wonder he wasn't feelin' the Disney love.

Any of this sounding familiar?

Actually, a little TOO much so. But I'm workin' on it.

Or else it was more along the lines of maybe. Maybe you’re right, La. I’m just not excited about it like I thought I’d be. And what would we do when we got there? You may be right. I may be crazy. Hey, but it just ain’t Dollywood that I’m lookin’ for.

And then he choked on his franch fried pertaters. With mustard.

Twice. For good measure.

And just like that, we put Dollywood on Ignore. Again.

I'm thinkin' that was a good call.

The Scrambler? Y'all would have just been ticked off the whole time. The WHOLE time.

Because the trip was planned on very short notice, there was no time for countdown chains or Dunkey jars. Which is similar to a Mickey Jar. I would imagine. Not that I would know because I’ve never made one. In fact, there wasn’t time for much planning at all. Which made me extremely itchy.

Well, no kidding! Did you at least call and check on the crowds or SOMETHING?

Our destination was not only Orlando. But also Lake Buena Vista. Two cities that are very close together. Yet miles apart. Very much the same. Yet completely different.

And we were blessed beyond measure to be able to experience the best of both of them.

Universal and Disney.

Disney and Universal.

What?

You didn’t actually think we’d go all the way to Orlando and not go to Disneyworld, did you?

Neither did we.

I'm hooked, and I'm IN!!! Bring it on, my sweet LaLa. I can't wait to hear all about your tales. Your great writing has been missed around here, and as someone thinking of a little jaunt to The Dark Side myself, I could use some tips.

Your elated-and-pumped-up-to-see-your-report friend,

NM :flower3:

[Chapter 11]

Whew -- too much to digest. It's like a trip report just came bursting out and vomited all over your keyboard (okay, unfortunate imagery there, given your past experiences, but the description is still apt). This however:

You may be right. I may be crazy. Hey, but it just ain’t Dollywood that I’m lookin’ for.

And then he choked on his franch fried pertaters. With mustard.

is some of your best work. Juxtaposing Billy Joel and Carl together? Sheer, warped genius. Now, get back on your meds and pump out another chapter.

[DJR]

Against my better judgment, I'm climbing aboard this puppy since the dogs haven't been able to find Mel anywhere.

I am disappointed you stiffed us on the October trip though.

[PinkPrincessZ]

Hilarious start - I laughed out loud at the baby pumpkin reference! Too cute!:rotfl:

Can't wait to hear more about your adventures!

[AshClan]

WOO HOO!! :dance3:

I am so very very very happy that you have decided to write a TR, La. Especially since we got gypped on the last one. Thanks for the drive-by above, but it just wasn't the same. We have missed your musings. I so enjoy sittin' myself down for what's sure to be a laffaminute whenever there is a LaLa chapter awaitin' me.

We listened to Dolly (who is now suddenly cool as all get out to our daughter because she appeared on an episode of Hannah Montana), John Denver and the Oak Ridge Boys to get ourselves in the mood for some clean country livin’. We acted out Dueling Banjos in the car on the way to school. We pulled out our overalls and danced a jig to Rocky Top in the kitchen.

Which is really no different than any other day in the life of a LaLa. We just did it up extra special for the occasion. In other words, we rolled up our overalls and put an extra lil sumpm sumpm into it.

Now this is classic La. And truly made me LOL right here at my desk. On my first day back from vacation, no less. I may get fired. But it'll be worth it!

Keep em comin' girl! Will you be on an OCD schedule like Z? Or do I have to just keep my fingers crossed that we'll get new installments every coupla months/years/decades like Mel? No matter how you do it, you always do it well. I am PUMPED!!

[Yzma and Kronk]

Gawd forbid a million times a new TR from Lalalalalalalalalala!

Lala's back and bringin' on the yellow.

:banana:

[Yzma and Kronk]

Goodness me!

I'm back and no one has been here.

What!!

It must have been the Dollywood reference. Or a linking problem.

Whichever.

But I've been to Dollywood. A very enjoyable experience with the BEST funnel cake ever!

I wonder if Funnel Cake is real cake?

Lalalalalalala saidanditwastoofunny:
In that moment, my dear, sweet husband was the pack of Mentos and the rest of the stuff was the 2 liter bottle of Coke.

I admit I had to let that one sink in for a minute or two.


La and La. La and La wrote:Universal and Disney.
Disney and Universal.

Oooh I'm getting dizzy.

I can't wait to hear more.

[LaLa]

Yak's been to Dollywood? You'll have to give me the scoop in case we actually DO decide to head up there.

For a long weekend, perhaps. NOT in place of a Disney trip. Something tells me I'd get in trouble with Jami if I did. Or else I'd just be ticked off the WHOLE time. She says in her Southern voice.

You're still simply the best, La.

Aw, thanks Jami! That's really sweet. But why do you sound like Tina Turner when you say that?

I got confused there for a bit.

Shocker.

Let me see if I tracked with you: you went to Disney World last October but you're not writing about that. Except you are. You are also writing about a recent trip to Universal Studios and Disney World, right?

Right. Which is surprising, considering the whole Bama thing.

I am disappointed you stiffed us on the October trip though.

This? This and the coupla more mentions below it are ALL? All we get for a trip report? I feel cheated. Jipped. Slighted. Given the screwgie. And anything else that means I got the short end of the stick.

I am so very very very happy that you have decided to write a TR, La. Especially since we got gypped on the last one. Thanks for the drive-by above, but it just wasn't the same.

I'm noticing a trend here.

The screwgie? Must be a Georgia saying. Okay, even though I didn't write a full fledged report about our trip last year (the way I figured it, it would've taken me roughly eighteen months and two carpal tunnel surgeries to write), I've got a feeling some of the more memorable moments from our trip to Disney last year will more than likely work themselves into this one. In fact, I'm sure of it. Along with some glimpses from our trips in the following locales:

Texas
Fort Payne
Orange Beach, AL
Destin (Destin Baby)
Panama City Beach (PANAMA!)
Super Target
The dentist
church
Various yard sales in and around town
The Democratic National Convention

Okay, obviously I'm kidding. Or am I?

At the very least, I'll include some musings from the trip last year and two or three (but no more than eight and only when relevant) of the above. Which means what started out as a four night trip (well technically five nights unless you're a student of Frick Math) will probably end up taking me eighteen months and two carpel tunnel surgeries to write anyway.

Juxtaposing Billy Joel and Carl together? Sheer, warped genius. Now, get back on your meds and pump out another chapter

Well, well, well. Look what the cat drug in. It's CHAPPIE! You have no idea how loud your Billy Joe and Carl comment made me laugh. I giggled for far too long when I saw your post. I'm not sure why. Needless to say, I'm glad to see you show up, Chapster. I look forward to being consistently insulted by you over the course of the next year and a half. Or do I?

Actually, a little TOO much so. But I'm workin' on it.

Nothin' a trip to Target won't fix. ;)

Well, no kidding! Did you at least call and check on the crowds or SOMETHING?

I may have used my Phone a Friend option. But only to make sure the parks weren't closed.


A new La La trip report I'm so excited. I seriously just went back and re-read your last one the other day because I was remembering it fondly and wondering if you had a new one. This is a happy day!

Thanks for coming along for the ride, Stagemom! Hope you enjoy it.

Hilarious start - I laughed out loud at the baby pumpkin reference! Too cute!

Can't wait to hear more about your adventures!

Pink Princess Z, I love that name. You're not another ZZUB alias, are you? Glad I could make you laugh out loud. And thanks for jumping on board.

Well slap me up side the head and call me Shirley, LaLa's back!!

Surely you can't be serious. Thanks for posting, ILMICKEY! Glad to see you back around.

Now tell me, did you get your dole whip this year?

Sadly, the Dole Whip was a bit elusive for me in April. But you better believe I got me one of those bad boys in October. And it was just as good the second time around.

...And truly made me LOL right here at my desk. On my first day back from vacation, no less. I may get fired. But it'll be worth it!

I know the feeling quite well. But.. no way they'd fire the sweetest girl ever. Even if there was snorting and Diet Coke spewing going on.

Keep em comin' girl! Will you be on an OCD schedule like Z? Or do I have to just keep my fingers crossed that we'll get new installments every coupla months/years/decades like Mel? No matter how you do it, you always do it well. I am PUMPED!!

Thanks Ash. I'm not going to be on any kind of schedule, really. Just whenever I get the next one written is when I'll post it. I'll also be juggling work and the family so hopefully it won't take me four weeks between installments.

But then again, you never know.

Thanks everyone for reading along. I really appreciate all the funny and sweet responses.

:moped:

[TarzansKat]

A new LaLa trip report?

That I can read and comment on while it's going on?

Woo hoo! :cloud9:

[jcc0621]

HI:goodvibes I read one of your previous TR's and really enjoyed it. Can't wait to read more:thumbsup2

[PISCESANGEL]

LaLa!! I'm so glad you're back! :thumbsup2


I was a lurker on the last two, but I'm a lurker no more...can't wait to hear all about your trip.
I'm even looking forward to hearing about that other place... :rotfl:






.

[scrap4u]

Lala! It's so great to see you back with another trip report! I have loved all your previous ones. I know--I'm sick and twisted right. :rotfl: No I just love me some southern story telling.

But I must disagree with you about the strawberry swirl. We tried it for the first time last Sept. and didn't think it came close to a Dole Whip. Now with a kitten named Elvis, maybe your tastebuds are all off from eating too many fried pickles--but nothing beats the Dole Whip!:banana:

[LaLa]

But I must disagree with you about the strawberry swirl. We tried it for the first time last Sept. and didn't think it came close to a Dole Whip.

WHAT?!

Maybe you weren't holding your mouth right.

Scrap4u, I've got MUCH LOVE for that infamous cup of frozen pineappley goodness so anybody that loves them some Dole Whip is okay in my book. But I gotta ask: did you let it melt a little before you ate it? Not the Dole Whip. The strawberry swirl. I know it sounds crazy but for some reason that makes a difference. Kind of like the chili cheese burger that tastes better when you tear it into pieces instead of eating it the regular way. And with that observation, I'm sure I just firmly secured the sick and twisted title myself. Along with a few others. At any rate, I'm glad you enjoyed the other two reports and thanks for jumping on board again!

Now with a kitten named Elvis, maybe your tastebuds are all off from eating too many fried pickles--but nothing beats the Dole Whip!

You have no idea how funny that was. But actually it was a whole mess 'a jelly donuts and peanut butter and banana sandwiches, not the fried pickles.

Or was it?

LaLa!! I'm so glad you're back!

I was a lurker on the last two, but I'm a lurker no more...can't wait to hear all about your trip.
I'm even looking forward to hearing about that other place...

And I'm so glad you're here! I'm really glad you decided to come out of lurkdom and join in. Should be fun. And it's nice to know you and several others are looking forward to hearing about that other place. I'll do my best to provide a pretty clear picture of it. I love your ticker, by the way. Free Dinning.

Sigh.


A new LaLa trip report?

That I can read and comment on while it's going on?

Woo hoo!

Glad you're here, TarzansKat!
HI I read one of your previous TR's...

And yet you still came back?! Gotta give you props. I'll try not to include as many puke references and poop truck photos in this one. Then again....

At any rate, I'm really glad you enjoyed some of the other stuff and thanks for hopping on board with this one!

:moped:

[PirateFish989]

Coming out of Lurkdom!

Can't wait to read more!

[kelnit]

Well I am afraid to admit that I have lurked through your last 2 trip reports and have (gasp) lurked through ZZUB's as well. Try not to hold that against me. I am finely coming out (not from the closet) and joining in for real.

Can't wait to read more. Your trip reports always make me laugh!

[scrap4u]

WHAT?!

Maybe you weren't holding your mouth right.

But I gotta ask: did you let it melt a little before you ate it? Not the Dole Whip. The strawberry swirl. I know it sounds crazy but for some reason that makes a difference. Kind of like the chili cheese burger that tastes better when you tear it into pieces instead of eating it the regular way. And with that observation, I'm sure I just firmly secured the sick and twisted title myself.

Well--I never thought to let it melt some first. Of course it was 90 something degrees outside and 100% humidity so I'm sure it did melt pretty quick! I love strawberry anything too. But I think it might just have been too sweet on such a hot day whereas the Dole Whip seems more refreshing to me.

But then again--I have actually eaten fried pickles before. :rotfl: Not sure I would eat thm again but they were ok. :) So maybe that has my tastebuds all outta whack!

I'd quote more but I don't get the whole multi-quote thing.:confused3

[Backstage_Gal]

I am excited too to see another report.

But Universal????? You are on IGNORE!

[javamom]

LALA!! Our Yellow is back!

:banana: heh

[praisehisname]

Yay! Another LaLa trip report!!! So, when is the next update? :rolleyes1

Denise

[Tinkerbellarella]

Waiting for a new Lost episode and looking for some closure on that freaky four toed statue on the beach.

I heard tell that y'all will never get an explanation for this. Apparently the show execs thought that was just to scary-freaky and didn't want it to ever appear on another episode. Now, I've never seen a single minute of the show, but I hear things. And the four-toed statue is too scary-freaky? Are these execs watching their own show?

And did I just use "I heard tell that y'all..." ? Carp. All the Yanks up here in Beantown are going to find me and hang me from somethin'.

We picked out some really pretty pearls in Japan and had matching pendants made so we could remember the trip forever.

The girl and I did. Not the boy and I.

That would be weird.

Not that there would be anything wrong with that.

Though somehow I don't think the littlest male La would be speaking to you much through his teenage years after you show off your matching pendants to all his friends whilst enjoying a Mother/Son dance at his school. Or ever through his teenage years. Yeah, probably a good thing you shared this experience with your sweet lil' gal.

In that moment, my dear, sweet husband was the pack of Mentos and the rest of the stuff was the 2 liter bottle of Coke.

The Mythbusters episode where they do this is my favoritest.

If pictures can be believed, Bora Bora looks pretty darn close. But I’m guessing the mice there don’t…

A) Wake you up in the morning and call you pal
B) Make kissing sounds and wiggle their noses at you
M) Have handlers who rush them off after only three minutes of damage

II) Have only 4 toes.

Yes, you read that right. Universal Orlando Resort. As we would find out later was the proper name for it. Not “the dark side” or “that other place” or even “C-R-A-P hole”

No flaming from me on this one. I've coupled many a trip to the World with a trip to the Other park. And the other Other park (Sea World). And though I have love for them too, they do pale in the light that is your Land of Yellow.

The place where pirates, princesses and pixie dust reside within forty seven square miles of happiness.

I'm laughing to myself because the first time I read this I read, "and dust reside within forty seven square miles of happiness." And then I thought to myself, "Geez, it's not that dirty. Then I re-read. :sad2:

I'm so excited that you're writing this LaLa. And that I'm not on anyone's Ignore list.

Do you think the Scrambler's a Fastpass?

Can't wait for more.

:flower3:

[Frickles]

Also there’s this: no one threw up in or around a fanny pack or contracted a staph infection, there were no wardrobe malfunctions and I took home the gold at the POR Olympic Waterslide Event.

Yet again.

Some things will just never get old, and hearing about YOU taking the GOLD is one of them!

In that moment, my dear, sweet husband was the pack of Mentos and the rest of the stuff was the 2 liter bottle of Coke.
I'm sooo cracking up at this! Excellent comparison my friend! I often vacation with a pack of Mentos at Disney.


Me: Mmmyello?
After I told him “Mmmmbyebye”

Girl you know I'm rolling :rotfl:


LaLa!!!! I am SO happy that you got your hand out of that KFC bucket and you are back here sharing your tail with us again! You are the master and I have much to learn from you in regards to getting the Mento to go back! I can't wait to hear about the Dark Side and if they really do have cookies!!!

Excellent start my friend!

[NAB]

Another Lala Family adventure!! :yay:

Can't wait to hear more.....

[LaLa]

Well I am afraid to admit that I have lurked through your last 2 trip reports and have (gasp) lurked through ZZUB's as well. Try not to hold that against me. I am finely coming out (not from the closet) and joining in for real.

Can't wait to read more. Your trip reports always make me laugh!

Not so much the part about lurking through my last two, but the part about lurking through ZZUB's. Who reads that filth anyway?!

You know I'm kidding with you. Glad to see you come out of lurkdom. And with that misspelled word of yours, something tells me you'll fit in JUST FINE around here! AND on ZZUB's trip report as well.

No explanation neccessary.

Coming out of Lurkdom!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in, Pirate Fish!

I'd quote more but I don't get the whole multi-quote thing.

Scrap4U, I think this question is bordering off topic and actually belongs on the Tech Board.

Except that I don't really.

I'm kidding. It took me roughly five years (give or take) to figure out multi-quote. Actually it's not that hard. Just copy and paste each section you want into your message body. Then highlight each one individually and click on the little cartoon bubble (aka text box?) at the top right of the field. In your tools. It's the one beside the postcard of the Smoky Mountains under a lemon yellow sky. It should wrap a set of quote tags around your selected text. Or so it claims. And that's it. Easy as cake. You ate fried pickles? You must've been at one of those fancy schmancy restaurants. I'm borg with you on those though. Not really my thing.

I am excited too to see another report.

But Universal????? You are on IGNORE!

DED.

You're not gonna notate that on my guest file, are you? I'd hate to see the run down of things that I've called about as it is. Adding "WENT TO THE DARK SIDE" on there probably won't get me any of those coveted 40% off email pin codes any faster.

LALA!! Our Yellow is back!

Well looky looky. It's the rockin' Javamom! Glad to see you Java! Your post made me yellow.

Yay! Another LaLa trip report!!! So, when is the next update?

Hey Praisehisname! Nice to see you over here. I just started working on the next installment. Which means I'll probably have it posted sometime after ZZUB's wife makes that butter grilled poundcake. Kidding. It won't be that long. I don't think.

I heard tell that y'all will never get an explanation for this. Apparently the show execs thought that was just to scary-freaky and didn't want it to ever appear on another episode. Now, I've never seen a single minute of the show, but I hear things. And the four-toed statue is too scary-freaky? Are these execs watching their own show?

Now THAT is some useful information right there. Doesn't surprise me though. Could it be that there's actually someone out there with more of a thing about funky, messed up toes than me? I can't stand to see a funky, messed up foot. Which is why after two years (or is it fiveteen?) that thing was still bothering me. Thanks for the closure.

I'm laughing to myself because the first time I read this I read, "and dust reside within forty seven square miles of happiness." And then I thought to myself, "Geez, it's not that dirty.

Have you seen the picture of the little fake room in the Living With the Land farmhouse?!

Another Lala Family adventure!!

Can't wait to hear more.....

Hey Nab! Long time no see. Thanks for jumping on board again!

LaLa!!!! I am SO happy that you got your hand out of that KFC bucket and you are back here sharing your tail with us again! You are the master and I have much to learn from you in regards to getting the Mento to go back!

FRICK! First of all, DED over the Mento. Secondly, a new pair of shoes should do the trick. I'm SO glad to see you over here, homechick! Thanks for stopping by, girl.

I can't wait to hear about the Dark Side and if they really do have cookies!!!

Oh they've got cookies allright. Real good cookies. Who knows. I may just devote an ENTIRE CHAPTER to them.

Or not.

:moped:

[beckanoah]

Gawd forbid a million times, I've read your other trippies before (well after they were written) and I've seen you on ZZUB's reports too. So now I'm Here for the Party!


Better keep up the funny!

[Chapter 11]

LaLa!!!! I am SO happy that you got your hand out of that KFC bucket and you are back here sharing your tail with us again!

Well now, that would be something, um, well, unique to share.

[GeorgiaAristocat]

La!

Hi! :banana: :banana: :banana:

Waiting. Oh so patiently!!!



Oh. And. They now have the handy dandy multi-quote BUTTON at the bottom right corner of the posts. Just click on the " with + button on AS MANY PEOPLE as you want to quote. It's like magic. Only it's not. Much easier than the cut and paste option.

[LaLa]

La!

Hi! :banana: :banana: :banana:

Waiting. Oh so patiently!!!

Oh. And. They now have the handy dandy multi-quote BUTTON at the bottom right corner of the posts. Just click on the " with + button on AS MANY PEOPLE as you want to quote. It's like magic. Only it's not. Much easier than the cut and paste option.

You are a flippin genius, woman!

You should've gone to law school. Thanks for that tip. You know, I've never even noticed that button. But I just tried it and you're right. It IS so much easier than before. Thanks for the hook up, GA! And just for that, you can quote all the bard you want and I won't put you on Ignore. Promise. Good to see you, chick.

Gawd forbid a million times, I've read your other trippies before (well after they were written) and I've seen you on ZZUB's reports too. So now I'm Here for the Party!

Better keep up the funny!

Gawd forbid a million times there's no funny. Hi Beckanoah! So glad you came over for the party. But why are you quoting Gretchen Wilson?

Well now, that would be something, um, well, unique to share.

Speaking of Gretchen Wilson...

:moped:

[duckylady]

OH MY SWEET GOODNESS GRACIOUS IT'S A LALA TRIP REPORT.

Once I saw the title, I MIGHT have squealed. Loudly. And it might have caused my mother to come running. Just possibly. And then I might have explained the noise by saying, "Mom, it's a Lala trippy thing! It's all made of awesome and Disney World and yellow!"

And then maybe she rolled her eyes and left. Possibly.

What I DO know for sure is, I adore your trip reports! I never commented on earlier ones since I wasn't even registered yet, but I'm really pleased I can reply to this one. :goodvibes

And holy, you ventured into the shadow land known as Universal? You're a much, much braver soul than I.

[Frickles]

Somehow I hit the unsubscribe button for your report my friend.

I was aiming for Zzub's, but I missed.

So, I'm here resubscribing!!!!!

[kentman]

You actually made me laugh out loud - thanks!

[kentman]

You actually made me laught out loud - thanks!

[LaLa]

OH MY SWEET GOODNESS GRACIOUS IT'S A LALA TRIP REPORT.

Once I saw the title, I MIGHT have squealed. Loudly. And it might have caused my mother to come running. Just possibly. And then I might have explained the noise by saying, "Mom, it's a Lala trippy thing! It's all made of awesome and Disney World and yellow!"

And then maybe she rolled her eyes and left. Possibly.

What I DO know for sure is, I adore your trip reports! I never commented on earlier ones since I wasn't even registered yet, but I'm really pleased I can reply to this one. :goodvibes

And holy, you ventured into the shadow land known as Universal? You're a much, much braver soul than I.


Duckylady, your post made me smile. I'm really pleased you can reply to this one as well. And Universal wasn't really all that bad. Did you hear they have cookies? It's impossible to hate on a place where they serve good cookies.

Somehow I hit the unsubscribe button for your report my friend.

I was aiming for Zzub's, but I missed.

So, I'm here resubscribing!!!!!

I know the Frick Math class is full but can I sign up for the Frick Tech class instead? I've got a feeling the credit hours are the same.

Did YOU know about the multi quote button?

You actually made me laugh out loud - thanks!

And you actually made me feel better about accidentally double posting something the other day on ZZUB's trip report. Glad I could make you laugh, Kentman. Twice. And thanks for posting!

:moped:

[Stacybaeasm]

Wow, in early on a famous LaLa trip report. I'm doing the happy dance.:banana: Note to self, like several other reports around here (and you know who you are) don't read them at work. It's getting hard to explain the laughter to everyone else. Especially since I am the new kid. Maybe they just think I'm weird????

[LaLa]

It's getting hard to explain the laughter to everyone else. Especially since I am the new kid. Maybe they just think I'm weird????

Experience with this sort of thing tells me they probably do. Sorry to be the one to break it to ya. Next time they look at you funny because you're laughing at nothing, tell them you're just remembering that joke your boss cracked last week. You'll be golden. Or else you could tell them you're reading a trip report on a Disney message board. Make sure you run down a list of the screen names of the authors and watch yourself go from weird to gone in 60 seconds.

On second thought, I'd go with the first one.

Thanks for hopping on board, Stacybaeasm, and good luck with the new job!

:moped:

[eternaldisneyfan]

Must subscribe to one of my favorite trippie writers! I am a bit dubious with Universal (blasphemy! lol) but trust your loyalty to the mouse and am interested in the other park...

[praisehisname]

Hey Praisehisname! Nice to see you over here. I just started working on the next installment. Which means I'll probably have it posted sometime after ZZUB's wife makes that butter grilled poundcake. Kidding. It won't be that long. I don't think.

Hey LaLa!

Now that Mrs. Z is considering make that BGPC for ZZUB, does that mean your next chapter is coming sooner rather than later??? Just sayin'... :rolleyes1

Denise

[Tanya90210]

Yipee!!! Another LaLa report:woohoo: I can't wait to read since we are doing Universal this year too

[lexmelinda]

Hey there!

I'm so glad I decided to stop by the trip reports board this morning! So happy to see another LaLa report!

I haven't read yet but can't wait to start. :)

[Briarmom]

La! I am in!

[AussieAngel]

Yayyyyy, a LaLa trip report!! :cool1:

Bring on the Epicot!!

[LaLa]

Must subscribe to one of my favorite trippie writers! I am a bit dubious with Universal (blasphemy! lol) but trust your loyalty to the mouse and am interested in the other park...

Eternaldisneyfan! It's nice to see you back! Thanks for jumping on board.

Yipee!!! Another LaLa report:woohoo: I can't wait to read since we are doing Universal this year too

Hey TanyaBeverlyHills90210! Congrats on your upcoming trip! I think you'll really like Universal. We sure did.

Hey there!

I'm so glad I decided to stop by the trip reports board this morning! So happy to see another LaLa report!

I haven't read yet but can't wait to start. :)

LM! I'm so glad you decided to stop by the trip reports board too, sweet mama. Long time, no see! Glad you're hopping on board again, woman.

La! I am in!

Hi Briarmom. So glad you're in. But why am I singing the theme from the Golden Girls in my head now?

Yayyyyy, a LaLa trip report!! :cool1:

Bring on the Epicot!!

Hey Aussie Angel! The Epicot thing never ceases to make me smile. Thanks for that.



Hey LaLa!

Now that Mrs. Z is considering make that BGPC for ZZUB, does that mean your next chapter is coming sooner rather than later??? Just sayin'... :rolleyes1

Denise


Perhaps....

Actually, I had hoped to have the next one posted by now but we had a HUGELY busy weekend from start to finish and are just now catching our breath. I'm finishing up the next one and hope to have it posted within the next day or so.

:moped:

[Yzma and Kronk]

Originally posted by: Lalawhoneedstogetonwithit

Actually, I had hoped to have the next one posted by now but we had a HUGELY busy weekend from start to finish and are just now catching our breath. I'm finishing up the next one and hope to have it posted within the next day or so.

Gawd forbit a million times - thank goodness.

Zzub is late today too.

What has this world come to???

[Briarmom]

Hi Briarmom. So glad you're in. But why am I singing the theme from the Golden Girls in my head now?



Hmm. Is it wrong that I want to edit my sig pic to make you look like you've lost your mind?

I still think of the Ashleeeee Simpson song when I see your name.

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Wow, The LaLa family is back for more. :thumbsup2 Can't wait. Keep on writing.

[LaLa]

Wow, The LaLa family is back for more. :thumbsup2 Can't wait. Keep on writing.

I will. And thanks for hopping on board!

Hmm. Is it wrong that I want to edit my sig pic to make you look like you've lost your mind?

Now THAT's funny. But oh so wrong.

I still think of the Ashleeeee Simpson song when I see your name.

Guess that makes us even then.

Hang on Yakkity Yak, the next one's comin' up shortly, woman.

:moped:

[LaLa]

Before you plunge headlong into the abyss that is a vacation with the LaLas, I would be remiss in my duties as Good Citizen of the Month (January 1982) if I didn’t take some time to prepare you for what lies ahead. And let you know just who it is you’re dealing with. Should you choose to stick around and actually read this thing instead of doing something worthwhile with your time.

Like memorizing the dance moves to Thriller. Playing Tetris. Watching the volleyball scene from Top Gun and pondering how bad Goose must’ve felt when they said “Everybody take your shirts off and flex your muscles. Everybody except for Edwards over there, for obvious reasons.” Not that I’ve ever done that. Giving the old ladies at the assisted living center a run for their money on Bingo night. Learning the two step from someone named Bubba down at the Tri-County Multi Purpose Center. Repositioning the stickers on your Rubik’s Cube. Reciting the correct spelling of sphygmomanometer again and wondering how different things might’ve been had you not allowed yourself to get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of the bee. Or actually reading the first three editions of the Battle For My Wallet Series.

This time.

Instead of just looking at the pictures.

Wait for it. And ...there it is.

Because I don’t think you can know what to expect on this journey unless you first know who it is you’re dealing with, let’s start with a few introductions.

DH

Oddly enough, this is his actual name. That is, if the gift tags on the presents underneath our Christmas tree last December could be believed. But then again, if we operate according to that rule, it means my name actually IS LaLa. Or Schmoopy. Or my personal favorite: You Just Think You Know. That particular gift was given to me by someone who went by the name of But You Have No Idea. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, my husband loves to joke around with his family. In fact, some of the best times we had while we were dating were spent just laughing at each other’s dumb jokes. And although a few things may have changed after twelve years of marriage, that hasn’t. And I pray it never does. My husband is my rock. He’s strong, steady and true. He’s an awesome father. Not to mention pretty dadgum handsome. Plus he has a six pack. A six pack of Coke, that is. In his fridge at work. He’s a man’s man. He loves football and trying to beat last year’s time on road trips. And power tools. He’s a straight shooter and never hesitates to say what’s on his mind. Especially where the Hokey Pokey is concerned. He’s a good, honorable, Godly man and I pray that our son grows up to be like him one day.

Yours truly

I like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Okay, not really. I don’t drink and in my opinion, the only thing worse than getting caught in the rain is getting caught with the bathroom door unlocked in a bustling office. Not that I’d know anything about that. A typical Southern girl, I can whip up a perfect roux with one hand and French braid our daughter’s hair with the other. All while planning the next Disney trip. With my toes. And snapping our son back in line. With my eyes. Okay, I can’t think of any situation where I would ever need or want to do all that at the same time, but I probably could if I had to. I love to laugh, reflect, watch funny movies with my husband, snuggle with my kids and I love reliving the memories that we make as a family by writing trip reports. If you’ve suffered through any of the previous Overdue and Overpacked reports, you probably already know that I have a penchant for overpacking. Oversanitizing. And Overdoing. It. At times. And yes, I got it from my Mama. You should also know that I love my family more than life itself and I thank God for them every day.

DS

Frequently referred to as The Boy. Both here and in real life. Kidding. Or am I? Our firstborn is both cautious and full of life. All at the same time. He is all boy and he is his father made over. He busted onto the scene ten years ago with plenty of sound and fury and he hasn’t stopped since. Besides my husband, he is the most observant person I’ve ever known. The child can spot a dead bug in a restaurant from a mile away and will let everyone within a five mile radius know all about it. The boy’s passion in life is playing football and he can throw a perfect spiral. Just ask him. He’ll tell you. Right after he tells you how lame and “yesterday” the Power Rangers are. Sigh. He has a hilarious sense of humor and he unabashedly speaks the truth. Loudly. And I hope that never changes. He has a sweet, sweet soul and one hug from him can make your troubles disappear faster than free toiletries when the LaLas check into a hotel room. He has a soft spot for, and is fiercely protective of, his little sister. Who also happens to be his greatest rival. And his best friend. All rolled into one.

DD

She’s The Girl. Our sweet baby girl. Although at seven years old, she’s not such a baby anymore. That sad yet undeniable truth is becoming more and more evident as we watch her turn her gaze from Cinderella to Hannah Montana. From Playhouse Disney to High School Musical. She is definitely all girl. And all heart. She is extremely empathetic toward others and can be pretty sensitive at times. She is also happy go lucky and daring, a perpetual songbird, a natural born dancer, and an artist in the making. She is my little shopping partner and I can see the girl she will be in a few years in those moments when it’s just the two of us together. She’s taken to carrying her purse with her wherever she goes lately and even though it’s already overpacked with Cheetos, her wallet, dolls, earrings, bracelets, coloring pages, crayons, livestock, paper towels, and Little Debbie snack cakes (the important stuff for any seven year old girl), she’s still not satisfied until she’s got herself a bottle of hand sanitizer in there. And no, I have no idea who she gets it from.

Elvis

Not the actual Elvis. Everybody knows the only place you can find him these days is in line at Burger King. Or stepping out of a Winnebago somewhere in Australia. No, this is Elvis the kitten. Frequently referred to as the cat. He was too busy hanging out in the ghetto and fighting off hound dogs to come along on this trip. Or so he says. In an effort to impress the ladies. Aka: Barbie and her scantily clad little friends. Except that the truth of the matter is that he was actually in the pound at the time. Doing hard time. And dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock. We decided to get a pet for the kids and rescued him from the animal shelter shortly after we came home. He has no bearing whatsoever on this trip but you may see him mentioned (or you may not) so you should at least be familiar with him. The most important thing you should know about him is that he’s never been to Disney and he’s all shook up about it. Or so he says. When we hold him up and make him talk.

Of all the things that I could tell you about us, there’s one that should be pretty obvious. Besides the fact that we say grace and we say ma’am, can quote some Bocephus (courtesy of my days at State) and have an unfortunate penchant for public puking.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we are a family who loves Disneyworld.

And to properly appreciate where we will end up at the end of this long and twisted journey, you must first fully understand just how deep our Disney geek runs.

Then again, you’re on a Disney message board. Reading someone’s trip report. When you could be off watching the volleyball scene from Top Gun. Again. Of course you understand! You are us. But just in case you stumbled upon this on your way over to the Crafts board or the Six Flags over Georgia board (do they have one of those yet?), let me break it down for you.

We are the people who listen to the soundtrack of our vacation year round. We wonder what type of soap Disney uses as we wash our hands with it and wish we could take some of it home with us. Just so we could have the smell bring us back whenever we want. Feel free to hightail it outta here after that last one. Personally I would’ve left before the end of Chapter 1 but that’s just me. We know the Spanish portion of the monorail spiel by heart and take great pleasure out of mouthing the words to each other as we kick back on those hard aqua blue seats and glide effortlessly over Seven Seas Lagoon to our final destination in the Land of Yellow. We equate hard aqua blue seats with a good time. We haven’t referred to a park map in eighteen years. Give or take. We know where all the family bathrooms are. The smell of musty water is our laughing place. We already know the information the bellhop lays on us as he drops our (shamefully large amount of) bags off in the room after check in. We slap him twice (once on each cheek) with our flip flopped feet when he informs us that there are fireworks at Epicot each night at 9:00 and say “Chald please…who you think you dealin’ with?!” We clink glasses filled with sweet tea and lemon at the dinner table and yell “Tiki Taki Tiki Taki Oy Oy Oy!”. At our friends’ houses. Just to watch the look of confusion sweep across their faces. We can find a Hidden Mickey in a plate of fried okra at the local barbecue place. We refer to having called in our name ahead of time for a table at Chili’s as being in the Fastpass line. As opposed to being in the loser(ish) Standby line. We laugh to ourselves and also out loud when friends of ours ask if Fastpass is free or refer to the Yeti as a gorilla.

Oh yeah.

It’s been done.

And last but not least, we compare all vacation destinations to Disney. We try not to. We try really hard not to. We don’t want to be constantly comparing one thing to the next. Because where’s the contentment in that? We want to let each place stand on its own and just experience it for what it is. But six consecutive years and one outstanding Honeymoon (in my case and many childhood trips where DH is concerned) have taken their toll. And as much as we may try to suppress it, Disney is our measuring stick.

In more ways than one.

Before we left on our trip, we told ourselves that we would not compare and contrast the two places. Our place and the other place. We said we would appreciate them separately. But we are who we are and comparisons were inevitable. In fact, my husband and I discussed in great length over the course of our trip some of the comparisons and contrasts of the two places. So I suppose that will be the viewpoint from which a good portion of this report will be written. If you choose to stick around (seriously, haven’t I scared you off yet?), you’ll get a glimpse of Disney through a Disney geek’s eyes. And Universal through a Disney geek’s eyes. In some ways, Universal didn’t quite stack up. Because Disney is still the pinnacle of vacations for us. There is no question about that. But I have to say that we ended up being shocked, numb and dumbfounded (all at the same time) to find that there were some things about Universal that we liked better. A lot better, as a matter of fact.

Gasp!

As a whole, we thought the place was just downright cool. And we were truly surprised at just how much we liked it.

Scratch that.

Loved it. We absolutely loved the place.

There. I said it.

Feel free to catch up once you’ve removed the fork from your arm.

I’ve already mentioned the fact that because this was a pretty spontaneous trip, there wasn’t much time for planning. And when I say there wasn’t much time for planning, what I mean was I barely had time to YouTube some ride videos and check out the Universal board for some quick tips and the concensus on some of the favored restaurants there. As the time crunch kicked into high gear, I began to panic a little bit. It wasn’t so much an “Oh Snap! I can’t believe I’ve been walking around my high school reunion all night with toilet paper hanging out of the back of my skirt” panic or an “Oh Snap! My ’69 Plymouth Volare is running really, really hot and making funny noises and the neighbors are standing in their yards placing bets on whether I’ll be able to make it home before this baby blows up” panic or even an “Oh Snap! I just watched my firstborn child wolf down some pretty little flowers adorning a pretty little cake only to find out they were made of plastic and not sugar” panic.

On second thought, I suppose it wasn’t really a panic at all. More like a series of small, creeping worries.

I worried whether I would need to make reservations for the restaurants there the same way we make ADRs for Disney restaurants. 18000 days out. Which is what it always seems like to me. Since we were going during Spring Break (and at the last minute), I worried whether we would actually be able to get into the restaurants. I worried the crowds would be heavy enough to make us slap ourselves silly with strangers’ overpacked and foul smelling fanny packs and rue the day we were ever foolish enough to attempt Spring Break in Orlando. I worried that the rides might be a little too “old” for the kids compared to the ones at Disney.

And last but not least, I worried (ever so slightly) about the weather.

In fact, we both worried about the weather. Just a tad. Because, according to a few quick checks of weather.com (meaning: I checked it every five minutes and tried to will it to change) the day before we left, the forecast for Orlando was looking pretty dadgum dreary for the entire time we were supposed to be there. Not just one day. Not just two days. Or three, mind you. It was predicted to rain (and not just rain…STORM) every single day we would be there.

EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Now, don’t misunderstand. We know how to bust out a poncho or two and roll with it with the best of ‘em. We’ve done it plenty of times in the past and I have no doubt that we’ll do it plenty of times in the future. It’s just that we didn’t want to have to roll with it like that the entire time we were there. We may not be Jim Cantore or even Nicolemarie but we know enough to know that the weather down there changes faster than Britney Spears changes her hair color. So we tried not to worry too much about it. Because rain or no rain, crowds or no crowds, reservations or no reservations (see? I didn’t even have time to find out what acronym they use for their reservations!), we reminded ourselves that this vacation was the one we were going to do differently. We would throw the itinerary out the window and go with the flow more. We would not get stressed about the little things and most of all, we were determined to enjoy and treasure our time away to the absolute fullest extent possible.

We were going to make it count.

As we finished packing on Vacation Eve, we kept the possibility of a few very wet days ahead of us in mind. In other words, I brought along infinity plus one pair of shoes for everyone in the family. And the cat. Kidding. Cats don’t wear shoes, silly. I also brought along eighteen ponchos (per person) and a flat bottom skiff.

Not kidding about that.

Or am I?

Our original plan had us leaving on a Sunday morning because our reservation at the Royal Pacific did not begin until that night. But we love us some vacation and will do anything to push it up a day whenever possible so we decided to leave on Saturday instead in order to be in Orlando bright and early Sunday morning. Ready to hit it.

Because that’s ALWAYS how we roll.

DH made a last minute reservation at a moderately priced but hopefully clean hotel near Universal for that night and I added another essential bag to the mix. The overnight bag. Not to be confused with the overfournights bags. I amaze my husband in many ways. The amount of pictures I take on vacation, for instance, amazes him. But the amount of bags I will pack to take on vacation amazes him even more. If possible. And not in a good way. Especially considering the fact that he remarked before we left, “La, this place has interior corridors (and in Redneck speak that means it’s high falutin’, aka: not what we’re used to) so please, in the name of all that is good in the world, please pack light this time. Or light-ER, at least. ” Because I strive to be a good wife and would prefer to have my husband sane on vacation, I really did try to cut back on the number of bags we brought this year. And I did. I pulled it off. We didn’t bring as many bags as we normally do.

We brought just as much stuff. Same amount as every year. Just less bags.

Because marriage is all about compromise.

By the time I’d crammed everything in and had both the kids and the neighbors (all of them) jump on it while I yanked and tugged on the zipper as hard as I could (imagine a scene from the World’s Strongest Man Competition only with a woman who looks nothing like Helmut from Brussells), and finally got them closed, each bag ended up being roughly three feet tall and weighed 200 pounds.

NODanny DeVito.

Considering the fact that the next morning would bring with it possibly the world’s worst driving conditions ever in the history of road trips, that may have been a good thing. Because as it turned out, we probably needed a lil sumpm sumpm to weigh the van down.

In an attempt to keep it on the road.

When we woke up the next morning, the rain was coming down in sheets.

Sideways. Round and round. Back and forth and up and down.

In other words, it was the crappiest weather ever for an eight hour road trip.

We had originally planned on getting up earlier than we did on Departure Day but because the sound of rain on the roof coupled with the cool, still darkness of the room always makes us loathe to get out of our bed (which is probably the most comfortable bed ever), we stayed wrapped up in the covers a little longer. We tried to get out of bed shortly after the alarm went off, but the down comforter reached up, grabbed us from behind and said “I don’t think so. Get your tail back in here”. And we succumbed. Because it was the official start of vacation. We didn’t have to be anywhere at any certain time and we had all day to travel. So the way we figured it, we could afford to curl up just a little bit longer. It was the first time we’d ever chosen to sleep in a little longer on Departure Day. It was nice, I have to admit. Really nice, as a matter of fact. Letting go of the feeling that we “have” to stick to the schedule. Or else bad, horrible things would happen. We got a taste of it that morning and found it to be scrumpdillyicious.

And that would set the tone for the rest of our trip.

Once we were all up and dressed, we grabbed some breakfast and packed the van. Correction. DH packed the van because as someone other than DH, I’m not allowed anywhere near the van during packing time. Remember that little sweetheart? Good thing one of us does because I forgot about that all important rule last October. I had an extra day off work before we left and DH didn’t so I took the liberty of packing the van while he was at work. I thought I’d surprise him.

Oh, I surprised him allright.

He walked in the garage, took one look at the shadows in the back of the van, raised his outstretched arms into a questioning gesture and asked in his best Tommy Boy voice, “WHUDYA DO?!”

I packed the van. That’s what I did. Baby. For you. It was all for you. Why? What's wrong?

He stared at me. Then he stared at the van. Then back at me. He was at a loss for words at the thought of my selfless and extremely generous act, no doubt.

Then he shook his head and thanked me for trying. Told me he appreciated the effort. Gave me a kiss. Sent me inside to check on the kids. And then the man proceeded to roll up his sleeves and take everything back out. And repack the van. It took him close to five hours to get all 98 bags situated the way he wanted but dangit, that cooler access was unobstructed by the time he was done so I suppose it was all worth it.

Because that’s what it’s all about. Cooler access.

Not the hokey pokey. Don't believe the hype.

So this year, I wisely stayed out of his way and watched him work. Once he was done loading the back, he decided to load the front as well. The CD changer, that is. He loaded all six slots with some mystery music. He was pretty excited about his choice in music for the drive down and refused to tell me what he’d loaded until we were on our way.

Because that’s how he rolls it.

The kids were over the moon about the trip and were bouncing off the walls that morning. Word travels fast on the playground and they’d heard good things about Universal. So they were ready to get down there and have some fun. As we were leaving, the girl tried to sneak in another bag of toys at the last minute. Because she didn’t have enough already but mostly because the apple does not fall far from the tree. She probably would’ve gotten away with it too had she not…

A) chosen the absolute biggest and pinkest bag man has ever seen fit to create
B) set said bag on top of the cooler

I’ve got my work cut out for me with that one. I’ve gotta show the girl a thing or two about not getting caught sneaking bags into the van after the packing period has officially ended.

After a quick “reshuffle” from the man (meaning he reshuffled the five foot wide pink bag right back into the house sans the Mickey and Minnie dolls previously stuffed inside), we were all buckled in and ready to go.

We sat in the quiet shelter of our driveway for a few minutes with the front of the van facing out toward the monsoon that swirled before us. We all held hands and prayed an extra long prayer for our trip this time around. We prayed for God’s protection over our family and we prayed for a blessed time of family togetherness down in Florida. And we thanked Him for, among many other things, the ability to take such an awesome trip together.

As we said “Amen”, the kids began to clap and cheer from the back seat. They were so excited they may have even done the Hamma. In their seatbelts with their feet in mid air. And yes, it can be done.

I wouldn't reccomend it. Especially if you're the one who happens to be sitting in front of the excitable ten year old boy child with leg muscles that rival those of oxen.

But still.

It's all good. Because it was time.

Up next: Who is Ezra and what's so great about her anyway?

[TarzansKat]

Awesome chapter! Well worth the wait!

Thank you, LaLa!:thumbsup2 I am :rotfl2:

[samc]

Hi La,
can't believe I just found out you started another trippie and I've got to run......can't wait to read!!!! So glad you're backatit baybee!!!!! :)

sam

[Princesskeyblade]

I am in!!! :)

[nicolemarie]

Otherwise, how's a girl to know that you've posted a new installment?

A really good new installment, at that.

Plus he has a six pack. A six pack of Coke, that is. In his fridge at work.

A six pack of Coke? Give the man his props, my friend. At our age, a six pack is hard to come by.

He’s a good, honorable, Godly man and I pray that our son grows up to be like him one day.

No doubt. With parents like y'all, The Boy will be a man just like his Dad. Unless, of course, you let his friends know you're LaLa from the Disboards. Then all bets are off.

You should also know that I love my family more than life itself and I thank God for them every day.

I don't have a clue how to make roux, but I do think we're similar Southern souls in this respect.

He has a soft spot for, and is fiercely protective of, his little sister. Who also happens to be his greatest rival. And his best friend. All rolled into one.

Very sweet.

That sad yet undeniable truth is becoming more and more evident as we watch her turn her gaze from Cinderella to Hannah Montana. From Playhouse Disney to High School Musical.

Very borg.

We are the people who listen to the soundtrack of our vacation year round. We wonder what type of soap Disney uses as we wash our hands with it and wish we could take some of it home with us. Just so we could have the smell bring us back whenever we want. Feel free to hightail it outta here after that last one. Personally I would’ve left before the end of Chapter 1 but that’s just me. We know the Spanish portion of the monorail spiel by heart and take great pleasure out of mouthing the words to each other as we kick back on those hard aqua blue seats and glide effortlessly over Seven Seas Lagoon to our final destination in the Land of Yellow. We equate hard aqua blue seats with a good time. We haven’t referred to a park map in eighteen years. Give or take. We know where all the family bathrooms are. The smell of musty water is our laughing place. We already know the information the bellhop lays on us as he drops our (shamefully large amount of) bags off in the room after check in. We slap him twice (once on each cheek) with our flip flopped feet when he informs us that there are fireworks at Epicot each night at 9:00 and say “Chald please…who you think you dealin’ with?!” We clink glasses filled with sweet tea and lemon at the dinner table and yell “Tiki Taki Tiki Taki Oy Oy Oy!”. At our friends’ houses. Just to watch the look of confusion sweep across their faces. We can find a Hidden Mickey in a plate of fried okra at the local barbecue place. We refer to having called in our name ahead of time for a table at Chili’s as being in the Fastpass line. As opposed to being in the loser(ish) Standby line. We laugh to ourselves and also out loud when friends of ours ask if Fastpass is free or refer to the Yeti as a gorilla.

Yeah, I just quoted way too much text. I know it. And I know it's annoying.

BUT.

That was some good dadgum writing, right there. I related to every single word of it.

Except the part I highlighted. Because I currently have a FULL DRAWER in my bathroom with nothing but Disney toiletries. Haven't you ever passed a Mousekeeping cart when you're headed out to the parks?

Girl, ROOKIE is all I can say to you.

UNLESS you're talking about the soap from the park bathrooms. And then I DO understand every single word of the above paragraph.

So the way we figured it, we could afford to curl up just a little bit longer. It was the first time we’d ever chosen to sleep in a little longer on Departure Day.

Seriously? You seriously went back to sleep? (Get your mind out of the gutter. I wasn't even going there.)

I'm doing good just to sleep UNTIL the alarm goes off on Departure Day. Rain or no rain, there's NO WAY I could sleep in.

I don't know if I'm proud of you, or disappointed.

We sat in the quiet shelter of our driveway for a few minutes with the front of the van facing out toward the monsoon that swirled before us. We all held hands and prayed an extra long prayer for our trip this time around. We prayed for God’s protection over our family and we prayed for a blessed time of family togetherness down in Florida. And we thanked Him for, among many other things, the ability to take such an awesome trip together.

As we said “Amen”, the kids began to clap and cheer from the back seat.

Sounds like the LaLas and the NMs start their road trips in the exact same way. Makes me smile just picturing it.

LaLa, this was some great writing. I am SO looking forward to the rest of your report. Keep it coming, and thanks for bringing us along.

:flower3:

[ZZUB]

It's a whole 'nuther LaLa chapter.

Or actually reading the first three editions of the Battle For My Wallet Series.What do you have against the last two?!

Instead of just looking at the pictures.

Wait for it. And ...there it is.Oh! I get it. It was a little joke. And sadly, it's already played. Hi Frickles.

If you’ve suffered through any of the previous Overdue and Overpacked reports, you probably already know that I have a penchant for overpacking.Who hasn't? Suffered that is. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you also have a penchant for actually puking, talking about puking and making me wanna puke.

The most important thing you should know about him is that he’s never been to Disney and he’s all shook up about it. Or so he says. When we hold him up and make him talk.You have an animal that talks? Who's ever heard of such a thing?! Absurd.

I had an extra day off work before we left and DH didn’t so I took the liberty of packing the van while he was at work. I thought I’d surprise him.Have you gone mad?! NEVER, EVER pack the vehicle! Gawd forbid a million times, my wife should even consider such a thing! I'd rather have a root canal done without Novocain.

Because that’s what it’s all about. Cooler access. Not the hokey pokey. Don't believe the hype.Funniest thing you've ever written. (kind of a left-handed compliment, I know).

What? No Butter Grilled Pound Cake?! I'm outta here.


:moped:

[LaLa]

UNLESS you're talking about the soap from the park bathrooms. And then I DO understand every single word of the above paragraph.

So what I'm getting here is that you disagree with me yet you agree with me? Interesting.

OF COURSE I'm talking about the soap from the parks, goofball. That stuff is a different animal than what they give you in the resorts. Apparently you skimmed the part about free toiletries disappearing faster than transfat laden foods at Disneyworld when the LaLas check into a hotel. But I'm DED over the mental image of you pilfering armfuls of toiltetries off a Mousekeeping cart and stuffing little bottles of shampoo and conditioner and Mickey soap into your backpack. And then running away.

Your post left me DED. And yes, I think we are alike in a whole lot of ways. Thanks for the heads up on the title thing, my sweet girl. Completely slipped my mind earlier. It's been so long since I've done one of these I think I forgot how.

Oh! I get it. It was a little joke. And sadly, it's already played. Hi Frickles.

Please tell me you got that joke and you're not just pretending to get it to save face. Like some coworkers of mine have been known to do. It's SO not played. It was fresh, dangit! And with the way my jokes are starting to run together, it may possibly be the only new thing you get for the next three, possibly eight installments.

Who hasn't? Suffered that is. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you also have a penchant for actually puking, talking about puking and making me wanna puke.

You use that word like you actually know what it means! DED over that little "witty" retort though. Pass the grapes and corn and gimme some elbow room.

Have you gone mad?! NEVER, EVER pack the vehicle! Gawd forbid a million times, my wife should even consider such a thing! I'd rather have a root canal done without Novocain.

I've got a feeling DH will appreciate you havin' his back on this one.

Men.

Samc: 'Bout time you showed up, woman! Good to see ya again, my Alabama girl.

Tarzanskat, Princesskeyblade: Thanks for jumping in!

:moped:

[AshClan]

I'm numb. I can't believe that NM doesn't know how to make a roux! What kind of southern girl is she?! I know she can throw back the sweet tea with the best of 'em, but that doesn't mean squat if she can't fry up a little butter and flour. I think Tink just had a seizure......

Great, great chapter, La. I loved the rundown on your adorable little family, and on the new member, Elvis. I bet he's nice to have around now that he's out of the Heartbreak Hotel at the pound. You know, in case you are lonesome tonight. He sounds like a real teddy bear.

And your DH, of course, sounds like a Big Hunk O Love.....who won't let you pack the van. (You are not alone on that one, BTW. I did even worse on my recent trip. I tried to REarrange my husband's packing job. Oh yeah, that went over REALLY well :rolleyes:)

I fear I'm borg with you on the overpacking, too. When we checked in to the BCV, DH called down to bell services to tell them they could bring our stuff up. How many pieces, they asked him. He looked at our ticket. 22. Yep. 22 pieces on that luggage cart. To be fair, it wasn't all luggage. There were some boxes (mostly food). And backpacks. And a couple of laptops. But still, 22. And that was BEFORE we pulled out the luggage inside the luggage and loaded it up with all the free toiletries for the trip home.......

Thanks for managing to crank out a new chapter with all you've got goin' on. This is a busy time of year for all of us. It's so nice to get in some giggles with LaLa every once in a while :thumbsup2

[ZZUB]

I'm numb. I can't believe that NM doesn't know how to make a roux!I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

[TarzansKat]

I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

What a poet.

We didn't even know it. ;)

[AshClan]

I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

Now I see why your wife never lets you into the kitchen. A roux is, essentially, a mixture of butter (or meat drippings) and flour, blended together over heat to make a sort of paste. It is used as the "starter" or base for most cream sauces and gravies, among other things. Do cream sauces and gravies make you poo? Never mind. Don't answer that.

So La, how was Universal? I heard they have good cookies......

[Disfan3]

SERIOUSLY??

The girl who hates the bus from EPICOT on EMH nights to POR is in like...(strike...oh wait...I can't here!!) love?? With US?

Puh lease! LALALALALA you know what happens after you say you love sumpthin' right??

I end up doing it.



or do I??





:rolleyes1


You go gorilla...on a moped. Like NKOTB at a state fair. You go, with all your might.


Lymi.

[Yzma and Kronk]

I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

Zzub....

You have a great gift for rhyme.
Yes, yes, some of the time.

[Tanya90210]

Great Intro's LaLa :) Can't wait for more :thumbsup2

[LaLa]

I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

That was pretty good, I'll give credit where it's due. Your way with words impresses me. That much you already knew.

But your claims to be from the South are obviously not true. Because from the looks of things right now, Ash is more Southern than you.

Even though your smell offends me (you reek of dog doo, a sweaty tennis shoe and the San Diego Zoo), and we both know that I really don't like you, I have pity for the average yahoo. So I'll give you a small clue. You can't have decent gumbo without first making a roux. It'd be like Fantasy Island without Tattoo. Napoleon without Waterloo. Sea World without Shamu. Captain without the Kangaroo.

And Overpacked without the Overdue.

With that, I throw it back to you.

And bid you adieu.

Your friend,
La2


Great, great chapter, La. I loved the rundown on your adorable little family, and on the new member, Elvis. I bet he's nice to have around now that he's out of the Heartbreak Hotel at the pound. You know, in case you are lonesome tonight. He sounds like a real teddy bear.

Thanks Ash, my girl. And yes, we are enjoying Elvis. He is a teddy bear now but when we first got him, he was doing quite a bit of rubberneckin'. Which caused us to have suspicious minds. So we checked and sure enough, it was fleas. He wears a ring around his neck now and things are much better.

I'm DED over yall having 22 bags to bring up. My borg packing sister. I'm sure we've probably had that many at some point or another but I try NOT to count them or have anyone else count them. Makes me feel better about the whole thing. Look at my girl Ash bringin' the roux knowledge.

WHO'S THE ROOKIE NOW, NM?! Huh?!

SERIOUSLY??

The girl who hates the bus from EPICOT on EMH nights to POR is in like...(strike...oh wait...I can't here!!) love?? With US?
Puh lease! LALALALALA you know what happens after you say you love sumpthin' right??

I end up doing it.



or do I??


You go gorilla...on a moped. Like NKOTB at a state fair. You go, with all your might.

Lymi.


Of COURSE I'm in love with yall.

Or am I?

You have no idea how big I smiled when I read your post. You still crack me up, girl. Did I ever tell you that I LOVE eating pickled pigs feet dipped in melted butter while wearing a ten gallon hat and hot pants in the middle of the fanciest restaurant in town? Or that I love spontaneously jumping out of my seat and doing the breakdance spin around on my head thing while singing Freak-A-Zoid and coming to a stop with my head propped on my hand and my feet crossed in the middle of my boss's office?

No?

Just checking.

Just set up the video camera when you do it because that's sure to win the Here's Your Sign Award from Country Fried Home Videos. And bring us one step closer to another Disney trip.

BOOYA BABY!

Yakkity Yak, Tarzan's Cat and Tanya90210: Hey and thanks for posting!

:moped:

[Gymfan15]

Has anyone ever told you that your writing style is freakishly similar to The Pioneer Woman's? Really? Go to www.thepioneerwoman.com and find out. You two could be long-lost sisters. Except your a redneck and she's a city girl gone farm girl.

And no, this is not an advertisement. ;) You just sound so much alike, lol!

I've been enjoying your TR's...looking forward to reading your latest one! Although I HATE waiting. Patience is not my strong suit. WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

[nicolemarie]

That was pretty good, I'll give credit where it's due. Your way with words impresses me. That much you already knew.

But your claims to be from the South are obviously not true. Because from the looks of things right now, Ash is more Southern than you.

Even though your smell offends me (you reek of dog doo, a sweaty tennis shoe and the San Diego Zoo), and we both know that I really don't like you, I have pity for the average yahoo. So I'll give you a small clue. You can't have decent gumbo without first making a roux. It'd be like Fantasy Island without Tattoo. Napoleon without Waterloo. Sea World without Shamu. Captain without the Kangaroo.

And Overpacked without the Overdue.

With that, I throw it back to you.

And bid you adieu.

Your friend,
La2

Ballgame.

And just so Ashclan, Tink and Lala know, "roux" ain't got NOTHIN' to do with being Southern. Cajun? Yes. Georgia? No.

Your culinary claim to fame in Georgia would be good buttermilk biscuits. Fried chicken. Sweet tea. Vegetables that have been cooked in something fattening until they no longer have nutritional value. Cake. Pie.

But not "roux."

It's a FRENCH word for cryin' out loud!!!

[lexmelinda]

Now that would be a great title for your trip report!

Loved the first two installments! You've still got it!

I laughed out loud times like at Mr. LaLa having a six pack...in his fridge at work. Because NM and I still suspect the other kind. ;)

And your sweet girl not rolling without the sanitizer. And the boy thinking the Power Rangers are so-five-minutes-ago. (We, too, have moved on to Pokemon.)

And the thought of you making a roux, french braiding, and slapping people with your eyes all at once created quite an image. :laughing:

And....Universal? Indeed.

And some things were BETTER?! Really?

Do tell.... popcorn::

[Briarmom]

<-------Knows about roux.

[Chapter 11]

I amaze my husband in many ways. The amount of pictures I take on vacation, for instance, amazes him.

He's probably also amazed by the fact that of the thousands of pictures you take, finding the one that is in focus, and centered on the subject of the picture (or even, contains the subject of the picture somewhere within the four corners thereof) is like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Actually, scratch that -- he's probably used to that by now.

Because that’s what it’s all about. Cooler access.

Well sure -- I imagine you need ready access to the RC Cola and moonpies.

[samc]

I'll bite, what the heck is "a roux?" I haven't the foggiest clue. Is it a stew? Or something you chew? Must be something new. Is it made with glue while wearing one shoe?

More importantly, will it make me go poo?

Probably will, as most things do.

And now, back to you.

:moped:

was zzub channeling melhappyhaunt - freaky

[Sneezie]

Girl, you know I've offered to send you and your family to Disney World just to have a good trip report to read - I've recently had to resort to reading someone else's trip report, someone with a serious obsession with cake NO Sneezie-and you went to Disney in October and you aren't going to tell us about it. :confused3 Would you consider writing one just for me? I'll get you a cake with your name on it. You can make most of it up if you want to.

I can't wait to hear about your trip to Universal Studios (I refuse to acronym it). I always said I would never go to Universal Studios and always believed that anyone who stepped foot on to Universal Studios grounds is and always will be a Disney Traitor. I actually whispered "traitor" as I read that you actually 'enjoyed' Universal Studios. Then I thought "Wait, this is the Lalas, the lovers of Epicot and Dole Whips and everything Disney. I'll give them a chance."

P.S. I can't believe you tried to pack the van to 'surprise' your husband, my first thought was "cooler access" and this was before you mentioned it in your TR.

[Yzma and Kronk]

Lalalalalala - I have a confession.

Lalalalalala sad:
Yakkity Yak, : Hey and thanks for posting!

I really didn't. For you. It was a third party post. And I'm sorry because I didn't mention your lastest chapter of which I was so anxious for {{{slap}}} {{{slurp}}}

And I'm sorry that I killed a few tree's printing off the chapter. I needed to read it the old fashioned way - away from the computer. And let me tell you it's as enjoyable on paper.

La - I loved getting to know your sweet little family better. And can't wait to hear more about the other place:

As a whole, we thought the place was just downright cool. And we were truly surprised at just how much we liked it.

Scratch that.

Loved it. We absolutely loved the place.

There. I said it.

Feel free to catch up once you’ve removed the fork from your arm.

I hope Jami doesn't see this. You'll have to remove more than a fork from her arm!

Excellent read La - and you did turn my day from cranky to yellow!

[DJR]

And I'm sorry that I killed a few tree's printing off the chapter. I needed to read it the old fashioned way - away from the computer. And let me tell you it's as enjoyable on paper.


Maybe when you're done you can mail it back to La so she can hang it from a nail in her outhouse.

[LaLa]

Your culinary claim to fame in Georgia would be good buttermilk biscuits. Fried chicken. Sweet tea. Vegetables that have been cooked in something fattening until they no longer have nutritional value. Cake. Pie.

What about pancakes? If you can make a decent homemade pancake, we MIGHT be able to overlook the roux thing (although I can't promise you Lexmelinda will) and let you stick around a little bit longer.

Last edited by nicolemarie : Today at 05:40 AM. Reason: Rednecks don't do french words.

If I had to guess, my former high school pen pal from Le Havre would agree with you on that one. How was I supposed to know that once I gave him my phone number, he would ACTUALLY CALL?! And expect me to understand the French words that were flying out of his mouth at light speed?

It was only after I hung up on him and yelled "PERVERT" at the receiver (and got a letter from him a month later saying "Cou Cou LaLa, why hanged you telephone up on the ear?!") that I realized it was him.

Awk-ward!

I laughed out loud times like at Mr. LaLa having a six pack...in his fridge at work. Because NM and I still suspect the other kind.

You probably just made his day, Lexmelinda. He'll be glad to know that you and NM still think he's got the eight minute abs going on. Which he SO DOES. That was for you, baby. Must be from years of doing the Suitcase Shuffle. NOSuperbowlShuffle.

Pokemon? We have NO IDEA what that is. Or DO we?! ;)

Well sure -- I imagine you need ready access to the RC Cola and moonpies.

You know me well, my friend. Except you forgot the hairy pickled pig lips and the big tin of processed cheese sauce.

I've been enjoying your TR's...looking forward to reading your latest one! Although I HATE waiting. Patience is not my strong suit.

Mine either. That's why I stopped reading ZZUB's reports YEARS ago. Glad you've been enjoying the TRs and thanks for hopping on board, GymFan!

was zzub channeling melhappyhaunt - freaky

Let's all hope he wasn't wearing a bikini, 6 inch stiletto boots and wielding an axe when he wrote that.

I can't wait to hear about your trip to Universal Studios (I refuse to acronym it). I always said I would never go to Universal Studios and always believed that anyone who stepped foot on to Universal Studios grounds is and always will be a Disney Traitor. I actually whispered "traitor" as I read that you actually 'enjoyed' Universal Studios. Then I thought "Wait, this is the Lalas, the lovers of Epicot and Dole Whips and everything Disney. I'll give them a chance."

SNEEZIE! I'm glad to see you. Maybe not quite as glad as ZZUB was to see you over on his, but still. I smiled huge when I read your post. But...you called me a traitor underneath your breath?! I'm hurt, wounded and verklempt all at the same time. First NM brings the rookie now it's Sneezie with the traitor talk. The only thing worse would be if Jami jammed a pitchfork into her arm due to the numbness and sent me the bill. But at least you're giving me a chance. Really, it wasn't that bad. It was pretty darn good, actually. From one Disney lover to another.

As far as last year's trip goes, I plan to weave (or bring weave) some of it into this one. So although the entire story might not be told, some of the more interesting parts probably will be.

But feel free to pick up the tab for our next trip AND get me a cake with my name on it as well. And just in case there's any confusion about the spelling, it's G-R-E-T-A.

Excellent read La - and you did turn my day from cranky to yellow!


Glad to hear (read) it, Yak! And girl, a post is a post. No apologies. Unless you smell like ZZUB. In which case, you should apologize profusely and run jump in a lake to wash off the stench of three day old cheese sauce and Yoo Hoo.

Just make sure you take off the stilettos first.

:moped:

[LaLa]

Maybe when you're done you can mail it back to La so she can hang it from a nail in her outhouse.

Nope. I'm thinking it would clash (NOTheClash) with the Elvis wallpaper we've got in there now.

[javamom]

For Zzub, just for you. This is roux.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_31295,00.html

Basically: flour, oil, and stir your arm off.

Luv ya La!

[rellabee]

I'm in! I've read but didn't post on your past TRs.

It's hilarious to me that you still even attempt to vacation anywhere else (like Dollywood). We tried once (not Dollywood, but Mt. Rushmore), but canceled and went back to Disney. My DH doesn't even bother suggesting anything else anymore.

I can't wait to hear about your trip! We've thought about (in a long-term way in the future so it probably won't actually happen way) about going to that other place during our trip. But since Disney makes it so easy for us to give all of our vacation $$ to them, we haven't made it yet. Plus I use the excuse that only 1 of our kiddos is tall enough yet to make it worth going there.

EPICOT!!! We have our own name for it ---- Hopcot. Not sure why our 3 year old calls it that but he does. He also burst out crying on our trip to Hopcot last year when he saw that they had ruined his precious Hopcot ball by removing the hand and wand!!

Anyways, I can't wait to hear about your adventure! :thumbsup2

[ahutton]

Off topic but...

How can there be no roux in Georgia? What do they put on chicken fried steak and those biscuits previously mentioned???

Love the TR LaLa - as always.

Epicot. It just makes me smile.

[LaLa]

It's hilarious to me that you still even attempt to vacation anywhere else (like Dollywood).

You and me both. Dollywood's bad enough. But...Mount Rushmore? Don't let Jami see that one.

EPICOT!!! We have our own name for it ---- Hopcot.

That's just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. I love me some mispronounced words.

Thanks so much for joining in, Rellabee!

For Zzub, just for you. This is roux.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_31295,00.html

Basically: flour, oil, and stir your arm off.

Luv ya La!

Javamom, look at you. Bringin' the how-to on the roux.

You know, I have never stirred a skillet of roux for an hour and a half. Much less two hours. :scared1: I think my arm would slap fall off. Into the skillet. Could it be that I've been doing it wrong all these years? Nah. I do it the way my Mama taught me. Which is the same way her Mama taught her. So it's gotta be right. Matter of fact, all of this talk about roux is making me crave a big pot of gumbo. Might have to whip some up this weekend. Minus the appendage, of course.

How can there be no roux in Georgia? What do they put on chicken fried steak and those biscuits previously mentioned???

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that NM probably uses jelly. Really hot jelly. On both.

Love the TR LaLa - as always.

Thanks. That's really sweet.

Epicot. It just makes me smile.

You and me both. :)

:moped:

[TyRy]

Hi Lala - so glad you decided to do another trip report. I'm in for this one and can't wait to hear how you relaxed more this trip...something DH says we are doing from now on....of course I just look at him and nod and let him think that'll happen :lmao:

Ty

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Your trip report sounds like its going to be hysterical. Can't wait to read more!

[LISAMWDW]

:cool1: :cool1: La La's back!!!!!!!!

I'm so in for another La La trippie!!!!!!!!!!

:dance3: :dance3: :dance3:

[praisehisname]

Great chapter, La! Your kiddos are growing up so fast!

Looking forward to hearing about a relaxing vacation...in Orlando...is that possible???

Denise

[PISCESANGEL]

LaLa! You have such a way with words!! Thank you for that last installment. :thumbsup2

It always amazes me here on the DIS that so many of us get it, but the fact that you're also able to write about it in a way that reminds me of the feeling I get while I'm there is just wonderful. So thank you for that - I'm looking forward to more!! :goodvibes

[1000thhappyhaunt]

You went to Universal?

[Frickles]

“Oh Snap! My ’69 Plymouth Volare is running really, really hot and making funny noises and the neighbors are standing in their yards placing bets on whether I’ll be able to make it home before this baby blows up” panic or even an “Oh Snap!

I'm cracking up! Bless your heart... My dad just brought me a box of pictures, letters and memories from my highschool years. Of course there is a picture of me leaning up against my Ford Escort with pride.


we reminded ourselves that this vacation was the one we were going to do differently. We would throw the itinerary out the window and go with the flow more. We would not get stressed about the little things and most of all, we were determined to enjoy and treasure our time away to the absolute fullest extent possible.

Mmmmm, this is gonna be good. The La's are going to live dangerousy!



Especially considering the fact that he remarked before we left, “La, this place has interior corridors (and in Redneck speak that means it’s high falutin’, aka: not what we’re used to) so please, in the name of all that is good in the world, please pack light this time.

I'm sooooo ded! And I'm sooooo down with the redneck speak. You know you've made it big when you can stay somewhere with interior corridors. Sweet!

LaLa! I'm late to the party but I'm finally here!~ My Mother's Day gift is a 'peaceful morning' and I'm glad I got to spend Vacation Eve with y'all this morning! I've got my seatbelt on, I've taken my Dramamine, I've got a fanny pack by my side and I'm ready to roll!

[Disfan3]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MY FRIEND!! :goodvibes

[LaLa]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MY FRIEND!! :goodvibes

Thank you SO MUCH, my sweet friend. And RIGHT BACK ATCHA! Hope you had a great one.

I'm cracking up! Bless your heart... My dad just brought me a box of pictures, letters and memories from my highschool years. Of course there is a picture of me leaning up against my Ford Escort with pride.

Ain't no shame in that game. Heck, a Ford Escort was big time back then. In fact, my best friend upgraded to a cool light blue one back in the day after she wrecked her '69 Camaro. And we thought we were the stuff in that baby. Even though she shimmied for a minute or two after you turned her off. But any car that could make it back from Panama City on fifty cents worth of low grade gas is allright in my book. Ahhh, memories.

LaLa! I'm late to the party but I'm finally here!~ My Mother's Day gift is a 'peaceful morning' and I'm glad I got to spend Vacation Eve with y'all this morning! I've got my seatbelt on, I've taken my Dramamine, I've got a fanny pack by my side and I'm ready to roll!

Frick, sounds like your men did you up right today. I'm glad to hear (read) it. Thanks for stopping by, chick. I know your days are much busier lately so just pop in when you can. Just make sure you bring your Dramamine and fanny pack. LYMI.

You went to Universal?

At least it wasn't the HOOP DE DON'T!

So where the heck have YOU been, huh? Trying to break The World's Largest Cake record? Watching over someone's pin collection at DTD? Shoe shopping? Casing ZZUB's office? Again? Glad to see you and your little avatar around again, Mel. Even if it was just four stinkin' lousy words.

LaLa! You have such a way with words!! Thank you for that last installment. :thumbsup2

It always amazes me here on the DIS that so many of us get it, but the fact that you're also able to write about it in a way that reminds me of the feeling I get while I'm there is just wonderful. So thank you for that - I'm looking forward to more!! :goodvibes

Thanks so much for that, PiscesAngel. That was really sweet. I'm really glad you're enjoying the trip report.

Great chapter, La! Your kiddos are growing up so fast!

Looking forward to hearing about a relaxing vacation...in Orlando...is that possible???

Denise

Stick around to find out...

:cool1: :cool1: La La's back!!!!!!!!

I'm so in for another La La trippie!!!!!!!!!!

:dance3: :dance3: :dance3:

Hey LisaMWMW! Good to see you again and thanks for jumping back in for another one!

Your trip report sounds like its going to be hysterical. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks Sleeping Beauty!

Hi Lala - so glad you decided to do another trip report. I'm in for this one and can't wait to hear how you relaxed more this trip...something DH says we are doing from now on....of course I just look at him and nod and let him think that'll happen :lmao:

Ty

I know that nod very well. Thanks for joining in, TyRy!

And Happy Mother's Day to ALL the Mamas out there. Or, as the girl told me earlier, "Happy Mother's Night".

Hope yall had a good one.

:moped:

[LaLa]

Once Hamma Time had officially ended, DH put the van in drive. And we drove.

Well, he drove.

I mostly sat back and begged him to turn the windshield wipers on high instead of showing me how well the Rain X application he’d recently put on the windshield was working.

Without any help whatsoever from the wipers.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A.jpg

And no, I’m not as impressed with the fact that Rain X causes raindrops to bead up and shimmy up the surface of the windshield as much as I am impressed with the ability of the windshield wiper to actually wipe the rain off the windshield. In a timely manner.

But then again, maybe it’s a guy thing.

All I know is we were in the middle of a downpour going 75 mph and he was not using the windshield wipers. Claimed we didn’t need ‘em. Not with a fresh application of Rain X. Silly woman.

He said. With his eyes.

I like to think of myself as a fairly laid back person. Things that ruffle others peoples’ feathers normally don’t even show up on my radar. But there are some things that are just supposed to happen or else the world will cease to exist.

Not really.

But I will get extremely anxious. My right leg will begin to shake. Violently. My left eye (NOLisaLopez) will twitch. Sporadically. My teeth will clench. Grindingly. My hands will raise in the air. Involuntarily. And I will begin to pull out my hair one strand at a time. Painfully.

And using windshield wipers…while it’s raining…is one of those things.

And so it was that much of the first leg of our journey was spent with him putting the wipers on Ignore and me slowly but surely going stark raving mad (NOEdgarAllenPoe) because of it. I finally broke down and screamed “AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME INTERMITTENT ACTION AND BUMP UP THE TEMPO, MAN!”

Which he did. Reluctantly.

Because of that whole marriage and compromise thing.

In case you were wondering, the above example is one of many reasons why you should never, ever take a road trip with us. Besides, of course, the fact that it’s necessary to bring barf bags with us wherever we go. And we won’t even go into the details of the time the Porta Potty overflowed. In the van.

Otherwise known as The Porta Potty Incident of 2004.

That’s another story for another day.

We had gotten a little bit of a late start that day and from the way things were shaping up, today would not be the day that DH beat last year’s time. We caught a tailwind last year and made it to the House of Mouse in seven and a half hours. It normally takes us eight. But last year was a stellar year as far as the time goes. My husband was so proud of shaving a full half hour off the time that he called his dad soon after we’d checked into our resort to brag. Because apparently that’s what men do when they make good time.

DH: Dad, we just checked in. You should see this place. It’s nice.
DFIL: That’s great, son. What kind of time did you make?
DH: Thought you’d never ask. Seven and a half hours.
DFIL: Seven and a half hours? That’s dang good time, son.

He struck up conversations with complete strangers on the bus in order to brag on the time.

DH: Hi. We’re from Mississippi and we drove here.
Stranger on the bus: Oh really? How long did it take you to get here?
DH: Thought you’d never ask. Seven and a half hours.
Stranger on the bus: That’s dang good time, man.

In fact, he will still bring up The Year We Made Great Time to me every now and then and my standard response without exception must be “That’s dang good time” or else he’ll chase me down the hall, hold me down and give me a wedgie.

But as time (not to mention the traffic) crept on and we began passing fellow motorists in the ditches and medians, he let go of the dream of beating or even matching last years’ time on this trip and instead set the lofty goal of merely getting us there in one piece.

Safe and sound was the order of the day.

Slow and low was the tempo.

The man gripped the steering wheel tightly, trained his eyes on the road and reluctantly turned the DJ duties over to me. For a change. That’s when you know driving conditions are bad. When the man turns over the road trip DJ duties. Because like its siblings, the remote control and the steering wheel, the stereo is something that falls under the category of Things The Man of the House Must Have His Mitts On.

It’s a Daily Double.

And if it's not, it should be.

I was pleased to find that the “surprise” from earlier was that he’d loaded the CD changer with six different discs with nothing but 70s, 80s and early 90s music on them. Stuff we’d both listened to in our childhoods, through the awkward preteen years and into young adulthood. Stuff that brought back tons of memories for both of us, lots of bad singing and more than a few laughs. In other words, instead of spending eight or so hours listening to the soundtrack of our vacations, we'd be spending eight or so hours listening to the soundtrack of our lives. The man had made the ultimate “mix tape” and had sufficiently impressed me with his musical collection.

Again.

So as we journeyed with Journey toward the Vertical Horizon and wondered what could possibly be Better Than Ezra, DH turned up the AC (DC) and resisted the urge to kick it into Bachman Turner Overdrive. Instead we kept an eye out for the Police, not to mention The Cars around us, while taking in the Electric Light Orchestra displayed in the sky above us and feeling the opposite of the Moody Blues surround us.

Even on a rainy day, the yellow was INXS.

Shortly after Leroy Brown began to look like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone, we got a hankerin’ for a hunka somethin' good.

In other words, we were hungry and ready to stop for some vittles.

So I pushed a few buttons on our handy dandy GPS and before you know it, we had the nearest McDonald’s in our crosshairs.

What? Did I fail to mention something?


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3C.jpg


BOOYA!

That’s right. We done got ourselves a real bonified GPS, baby!

I am the Redneck GPS no more.

A GPS was one of the only things on DH’s Christmas list last year. Wonder why that is? Maybe he got tired of me equating two inches with eighty miles and advising him to “take the red road right after we turn off the green one”.

And yes, I know that picture shows that Mrs. GPS is under the impression that we’re riding on top of the water. Instead of on the bridge. And although we strive to do what Jesus would do in our every day lives, trust me when I say we were NOT walking on water.

Also, in case you were wondering, no. I didn’t buy the GPS at a deeply discounted salvage store. With “slight smoke and water damage”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It just apparently needs a little post Hurricane Ivan update. That’s all. Or at least something reflecting the location of the newly built Pensacola I-10 bridge.

But don’t think this wasn’t a Kodak moment for us. “Look kids! That crazy GPS thang thinks we’re in the water and not on the bridge! Hang on, lemme take a picture!”

Yet another one of those reasons you never want to take a road trip with us.

DH was extremely happy about not having to rely on my sub par map reading skillz on this trip and I was extremely happy about not having to decipher a road atlas anymore. Mainly because reading anything, even Randy McNally for any amount of time in the car, makes me feel the need.

The need to heave.

Speaking of which. Back to McDonald’s.

We took our exit, came down the ramp and right about the time we pulled into the parking lot and heard Mrs. GPS tell us we were “arriving at destination” ( I love the way she says that word), the heavens opened up and it really began raining hard. Harder than it had been all day. Harder than Chinese arithmetic. Heck, harder than fourth grade arithmetic. But it wasn’t just a thunderstorm we were dealing with here. This was what’s known in our neck of the woods as an electrical storm. Meaning: lightning bolts were a dime a dozen just outside the safety of our ride.

I hate lightning. Hate it. It scares the mess out of me. And as much as I hate it, our children hate it even worse. Ever since Katrina, they’ve been pretty scared of bad weather. Both of them, but especially the boy, look to the skies with extremely heavy hearts and praying lips when a bad storm rolls in and they are not able to breathe easy until it’s passed. And they realize that everything is okay. Once again.

I won’t go into much detail about what went on in our minivan as we sat in the parking lot of that McDonald’s and tried to convince our children that once the rain slacked up, it would be okay for them to jump out and run five feet into the side door of the restaurant.

But I may have told the boy “Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister. Gimme three steps towards the door.”

And he may have answered “I’ll tell you once more… before I open this door… don’t bring me down.”

I’m glad to announce we safely made it inside without a single one of us being struck by lightning. We were all pretty much soaked to the bone though. We looked like we’d just spent three hours at Typhoon Lagoon. Caught in a six footer. Fully clothed.

Once inside, we went straight to the bathroom and attempted to dry off a little bit. It’s been years since I’ve held my head under a hand dryer in the ladies’ restroom. Ahhh, memories. After a couple of minutes, we realized the damage was extensive and trying to dry off was just a colossal waste of time. So we did the best we could by blotting the rain off our arms, legs and faces and headed out front to place our order and find a seat.

With our flip flops squeaking the whole way. Looking like a bunch of drowned rats.

As we ordered, found a table and began to eat (and shiver!), we were amazed to see the amount of people pile in behind us. I think everyone within a fifty mile radius decided to stop and eat at that particular McDonald’s. As the line wrapped around our table (twice), headed outside to wrap around the building (thrice) and finally ended somewhere in Xanadu, I began to wonder just how many of those people were heading the same place we were heading.

My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sound of our daughter’s voice.

Oooooh, look, Mama! They’ve got Disneyworld toys!

In other words, we’d hit the mother lode.

Whatever that is.

Of all the toys fast food establishments give out, the ones from Disney are the straight up MACK DADDY in our house. I’m guessing it’s probably the same in yours as well. They easily trump any of that other poorly made mess that eventually finds its way into the bottom of our garbage can and on this day, the kids were so excited to find that the toys in their Happy Meal were a couple of pirates and princesses. Of the Disney variety. Also cooler than cool was the fact that the Happy Meal box itself advertised the Walt Disney World Resort’s Pirate and Princess party.

Oh yeah baby.

I couldn’t have asked for a better setup that day.

They had no earthly idea what the Pirate and Princess party was, but they knew Disneyworld was involved.

And that’s all they needed to know to know they needed to go.

The girl: (In the saddest voice imaginable) I wish we could go to the Pirate and Princess party.
The boy: Girl (he may have called her by her given name, the details are a little fuzzy), the only way you can go to that is if you WIN a ticket there. See? It says so on the box. WIN a trip to the Pirate and Princess party. It doesn’t say buy a ticket. It says you have to WIN one.
The girl: I wish I could win a ticket to the Pirate and Princess party.
The boy: No kiddin’. Of course you do. It’s Disneyworld. What do you think? They even have Jack SPA-rrow there (and yes, that’s how he says it, with extreme emphasis on the first syllable) Look. It’s Jack SPA-rrow. They don’t let just anybody in when Jack SPA-rrow is there, I’ll tell you that much.
Me: Yes, it’s a sad, sad shame about that Pirate and Princess party. Too bad we’re going to Universal this time and not STEPPING FOOT IN DISNEYWORLD.

And with that, I grinned slyly and slid my hand down to pat my pocket, which contained four tickets to none other than Disney’s own Pirate and Princess party.

Okay, I did the whole patting my pocket thing in my head. Because at that point, our tickets were still at Will Call. And I didn’t even have pockets.

But I SO would’ve done that had I had the tickets on my person. Or at the very least, a pocket to put them in.

DH joined in on the fun by adding “You must have to really be special to score tickets to something like that. Too bad we’re not going. But we’ll have to see if they’ve got a Shrek and Dunkey party at Universal. I’m sure it’ll be just as much fun.”

DH and I exchanged glances and giggled both out loud and to ourselves. Then we put our game faces back on and proceeded to tease our children for just a little bit longer.

Because that’s what good parents do.

Although we knew full well at that point that we were taking them back to Disney, they had no clue. They were once again Oblivious and Clueless where that part of our itinerary was concerned. And that’s exactly the way we wanted it.

After last year, there was no question that we would be surprising our kids again on this trip. To be quite honest, once you’ve surprised the kids with a trip to Disney, it can become quite addicting.

For some time before we went back in October, our daughter begged to be taken back to Disneyworld. I miss Mickey was just the tip of the iceberg. She let us have it with both guns for a pretty long time. It was pitiful, really. So very pitiful. When we finally decided to go back, we could’ve just sat them down and told them we were headed back to the House of Mouse. We could’ve let them in on the planning aspect like we do every year. We could’ve sat around the table and taken turns announcing which attraction we were most looking forward to. We could’ve made our Countdown Chain, done the Joe Horn dance and started letting them earn money to put in the Mickey jar.

But we wanted to do it differently. Considering how much we knew it would mean to the kids. We decided to zip the lip. We had become Keepers of the Secret. The Ultimate Secret.

When we first started out, both my husband and I were convinced we would never make it. We just knew that at some point, we would be so swayed by a show of emotion from the kids that we would HAVE to break down and tell them. We would have to shout it from the rooftops. But as time went on, we discovered something. We discovered just how much DANG FUN it was to keep the secret. Good GRIEF, that was fun! I honestly can’t remember a period of time when my husband and I have had more fun with the kids. The inside jokes, the ones that only two people get, were flying left and right in our house for months. Much to our amusement. We were giddy. The same kind of giddy we feel right before Christmas. Around that time of year, we always know when my husband has gotten something for us that he knows we’ve been wanting. In the worst way. The very first time he launches into that little singsong voice and taunts us with “I know something you don’t know”, we know. We KNOW. You know? The playful tone of his voice lets us know that whatever it is that he’s gotten wrapped up under the tree is something that he knows will bring us great joy. And he’s more excited about it than we are. And that’s how it felt to keep the secret from the kids. The thing that made it so much fun was the realization that the thing that our kids wanted, one of the things that we knew would bring them a huge amount of joy, was essentially wrapped up and sitting underneath the Christmas tree. And they were completely oblivious to it.

And as a parent, there’s not too many feelings better than having the opportunity to surprise your children with something they’ve been pining for. It made it all worth it. Well, it was that and also the inside jokes. The ones that only two people get. Those were a heck of a lot of fun.

We pulled out all the stops. We watched our Disney vacation DVDs. We pored over Disneyworld pictures from past trips. We played our Disney CDs. Just like we would normally do. Only instead of the normal conversations we would have when everyone was in the know, we would have conversations like this…

Me: Oh, look kids. It’s Spectromagic. How AWESOME is that Spectromagic?!
Them: We love Spectromagic, Mama.
Me: Oh, listen kids. Listen to the Spectromagic music. Man, is that great or what?
Them: We love the Spectromagic music, Mama. I wish we could go back there and hear it right now, Mama.
Me: Yes, well, it’s a shame we can’t now isn’t it? Now eat your peas and hush up.

We spent several months sneaking around to make ADRs and the closer we got, my husband and I actually began to believe we may just make it. In fact, as the date neared, DH decided to get a little brazen. It started at the dinner table one night as he busted out a chorus of “19”.

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhnuh- nineteen.

Several nights later, he started singing Sixteen Candles as he walked in the door. No, we weren’t able to make a Countdown Chain this time, but my husband had found a way to count the days down anyway. In code. I should add the children were oblivious as to why each night their father would start singing really strange songs they’d never heard before. Which is what made it so much fun. Before long, he would have them yelling out numbers for no apparent reason.

DH: Eleven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Say eleven, son.
The boy: Eleven.
[DH: That was weak. Say it like you mean it, son.
The boy: ELEVEN!
DH: That’s better.

We went through this nightly. The funny thing is that our children never ONCE asked why we were having them repeat numbers and sing songs from the eighties at the dinner table. When it was finally go time, I made a Countdown Chain with only one link and put it in an oversized envelope. We also took the liberty of stuffing a couple of large bills into their Mickey jar. Normally they have to work for that souvenir money but that particular trip, we bent the rules and gave them a free ride. Because they’re our children and we love them. We woke them up at the crack of dawn that morning under the guise of taking them to a local children’s museum. When we called them in the living room, sat them down and told them that our plans had changed because the museum was closed, we handed them the big envelope to open. They cautiously opened the envelope and pulled out the countdown chain. Upside down.

And stared at it. This upside down countdown chain with only one link on it.

It took a minute or so for it to sink in. At first there was more confusion and disbelief than anything else but once they realized what was going on, they jumped into the air and screamed at the top of their lungs. There was a full on celebration complete with chair jumping and exclamations of never ending love.

NOTomCruise.

The look on their faces made everything completely worth it. The moment was awesome and we highly recommend it. It’s a very rewarding thing, that surprise. And that's how we knew from the very beginning that we would not tell them that we were going to Disney on this trip until we were heading underneath the arches. Mum was the word. It was a covert op. We were keeping it on the down low.

So we teased them a little more about the Pirate and Princess Party. Okay, maybe torment is a better word. But the way we see it, as long as we know there’s something spectacular in store for them when it’s all said and done, it’s perfectly acceptable to torment them on the way to that something spectacular.

And yes, that’s how we roll it.

Once we’d finished eating and tormenting, we made our way back outside and jumped in our ride. And headed south. The remainder of the trip included but was not limited to some or all of the following: bad singing, seat dancing, air guitaring, children arguing, stressed out driving, and a pretty hearty round of the Spot the Universal Sign game, whose sister game, Spot the Disney Sign, was not played. NOLYMI. On account of the kids not knowing Disney was one of our destinations. Duh! They slipped up a time or two and excitedly pointed out a Disney sign (old habits die hard) only to have DH deduct 20,000 points and declare “What are yall THINKING?! We ain’t going to Disney! You better getcha head in the game and start looking for those Universal signs!” As we exchanged glances and giggled to ourselves. And each other.

I had never been more attracted to him than I was in that moment.

Points were also deducted for pointing out Café Risque’s WE BARE ALL signs.

For entirely different reasons.

We passed Mel and her big feet along the way.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3G.jpg

And from the looks of things, homegirl was in serious need of a pedicure.

The closer we got, the more excited we got. Once we passed our first toll booth, we were giddy. Because in the same way that musty water smell represents Splash Mountain, toll booths represent a good road trip in Florida. It also means we’re almost there. We slid up to the gate, gave the attendant three dollars and got fifty cents’ change back. What seemed like roughly three miles later, we reached another toll booth. We pull up to the gate and are surprised to have the attendant hold her hand out and demand their fifty cents back.

Hello and welcome to Orlando.

I don’t know why this struck me so funny but it did. Why not just take the whole three bucks from us to begin with? Why bother with the pump fake making of the change? Just cut to the chase. Turn us upside down and shake us until all the change falls out of our pockets. Then take what you can. Give nothing back.

I amused myself for a little while with a few of those thoughts.

DH didn’t find it quite as funny as I did though. For some reason.

He was just happy to be arriving, I think.

It had been a long, stressful drive for him. The rain had been consistently heavy the entire drive down and we had passed no less than a dozen wrecks along the way. Some appeared to be fender benders but others were bad. Really bad. The kind of wrecks you pass and immediately begin to pray for the occupants and their families. It had been a long nine hours. That’s right. We made it in just over nine hours. Which left the man peeved to an extent. Because of his thing with the time. Busted time notwithstanding, we were just happy to be arriving safe and sound. And in one piece.

We made our way past the usual Disney exits (sigh) and plotted our course in a new direction.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3F.jpg

After all that time, we were amazed that the rain came to an abrupt stop soon after we made it to Orlando.

And then off in the distance we spotted it.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3D.jpg


It was vague and hard to make out at first but then as the minutes ticked by, the colors of the rainbow grew vivid and unmistakable. Besides the faces of our newborn babies, it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. It was huge. It spanned the sky starting on the right and seemed to roll and jump in front of our very eyes and then suddenly the end of the rainbow was visible on the left side as well.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3E.jpg


The kids had only seen rainbows in pictures prior to this day. Never right in front of them. In full blown Technicolor. And as excited as they were about reaching our destination, I think they were even more excited about seeing that rainbow.

That beautiful, awe inspiring rainbow.

This past year has been a particularly stressful one for our family. Everyone is healthy and happy and we all still love each other dearly. But there were a lot of uncertainties and many more stresses than usual. Most of them tied to our jobs. To put it bluntly, it had been a pretty long year for both me and my husband. This spontaneous vacation was about getting away from it all for us. For just a few days. We were eagerly anticipating being able to put our stressors in a box and throw away the key for just a little while.

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Figuratively. Not literally.

Up Next: Tracy is the the new Stacy.

[burly]

Ah LaLa coming out of lurkdom to tell you giggles, and a little tear at the end. beautiful.:flower3:

[AussieAngel]

Well! I'm glad you all didn't get struck by lightning!!

(I really wanted to have a go at saying "y'all" for the first time then, but I just couldn't do it. Coming from my Australian typing fingers, it just sounded wrong. :confused3 )

That photo of your car driving on the water really is hilarious! I totally would have taken a photo of that too. Heh!

And also, wow!! What is with men not wanting to turn on the windscreen wipers!? My DH is exactly the same. I have mine going back and forth so fast it seems like they're going to fly off the car, when he'll have his on a 10-second gap. Must be a boy thing.

Love your work, Lala!! :banana:

[LISAMWDW]

It has got to be a man thing with the windshield wipers!!!!!!!!
My DH does the same thing! It drives me crazy! Finally, I'll have to say to him cuz I can't stand it any longer, "honey, it's raining, aren't you going to turn on the wipers?". haha!

Great update! Sorry about the rough year! Job troubles can be so stressful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chapter 11]

And we won’t even go into the details of the time the Porta Potty overflowed. In the van.

Otherwise known as The Porta Potty Incident of 2004.

That’s another story for another day.

Dear lord, please let that day be many, many years into the future, when my eyesight has failed me and I am no longer compelled to read this .... thing.

So as we journeyed with Journey toward the Vertical Horizon and wondered what could possibly be Better Than Ezra, DH turned up the AC (DC) and resisted the urge to kick it into Bachman Turner Overdrive. Instead we kept an eye out for the Police, not to mention The Cars around us, while taking in the Electric Light Orchestra displayed in the sky above us and feeling the opposite of the Moody Blues surround us.

Even on a rainy day, the yellow was INXS.

Sounds like you kept out of Dire Straits.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3C.jpg

Or, maybe not. BTW, nice use of the "focus" feature on the camera. The more things change ...

It’s been years since I’ve held my head under a hand dryer in the ladies’ restroom. Ahhh, memories.

What did you use for a curling iron? On second thought, perhaps I don't want to know. I'm sure it involved the toilet paper roll, and beyond that, I'm sure we can skip the details.

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

And this, of course, is why I read your TRs -- for priceless nuggets like this passage. Thanks for the smile.

[Quennifer2008]

Great Installment Lala

I love your report

Thanks for sharing :goodvibes :goodvibes :goodvibes

[PrincessV]

Lesson learned: visit the Trip Reports board once in a while. Don't just hope a good TR will magically fall into your sight. Because I had NO idea you'd started up a new one! :yay:

[pooh'smate]

Just have to say that my dh is the same way with the wipers. He says he can see just fine he doesn't need them the RainX is doing a good job. The wipers are there for a reason.

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Excellent La!

[Msslaydbug]

I'm jumping on board your trip report ! Loving it so far !!

[TyRy]

I mostly sat back and begged him to turn the windshield wipers on high instead of showing me how well the Rain X application he’d recently put on the windshield was working.

Without any help whatsoever from the wipers.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A.jpg

And no, I’m not as impressed with the fact that Rain X causes raindrops to bead up and shimmy up the surface of the windshield as much as I am impressed with the ability of the windshield wiper to actually wipe the rain off the windshield. In a timely manner.

But then again, maybe it’s a guy thing.


This is totally a guy thing...my DH does the same thing - the rain could be coming down super hard yet he has no need for the wipers...umm how about the need to see more than a foot in frount of you! :lmao:


And so it was that much of the first leg of our journey was spent with him putting the wipers on Ignore and me slowly but surely going stark raving mad (NOEdgarAllenPoe) because of it. I finally broke down and screamed “AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME INTERMITTENT ACTION AND BUMP UP THE TEMPO, MAN!”

Which he did. Reluctantly.

Because of that whole marriage and compromise thing.


:rotfl: Yep total guy thing!



I was pleased to find that the “surprise” from earlier was that he’d loaded the CD changer with six different discs with nothing but 70s, 80s and early 90s music on them. Stuff we’d both listened to in our childhoods, through the awkward preteen years and into young adulthood. Stuff that brought back tons of memories for both of us, lots of bad singing and more than a few laughs. In other words, instead of spending eight or so hours listening to the soundtrack of our vacations, we'd be spending eight or so hours listening to the soundtrack of our lives. The man had made the ultimate “mix tape” and had sufficiently impressed me with his musical collection.


What a totally awesome surprise!:banana: It's the best music.


So as we journeyed with Journey toward the Vertical Horizon and wondered what could possibly be Better Than Ezra, DH turned up the AC (DC) and resisted the urge to kick it into Bachman Turner Overdrive. Instead we kept an eye out for the Police, not to mention The Cars around us, while taking in the Electric Light Orchestra displayed in the sky above us and feeling the opposite of the Moody Blues surround us.

Even on a rainy day, the yellow was INXS.

Shortly after Leroy Brown began to look like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone, we got a hankerin’ for a hunka somethin' good.
:rotfl2: :worship:


The look on their faces made everything completely worth it. The moment was awesome and we highly recommend it. It’s a very rewarding thing, that surprise. And that's how we knew from the very beginning that we would not tell them that we were going to Disney on this trip until we were heading underneath the arches. Mum was the word. It was a covert op. We were keeping it on the down low.


What a great description and picture you gave of the kids - you are the best secret keeper.



So we teased them a little more about the Pirate and Princess Party. Okay, maybe torment is a better word. But the way we see it, as long as we know there’s something spectacular in store for them when it’s all said and done, it’s perfectly acceptable to torment them on the way to that something spectacular.

:rotfl:


This past year has been a particularly stressful one for our family. Everyone is healthy and happy and we all still love each other dearly. But there were a lot of uncertainties and many more stresses than usual. Most of them tied to our jobs. To put it bluntly, it had been a pretty long year for both me and my husband. This spontaneous vacation was about getting away from it all for us. For just a few days. We were eagerly anticipating being able to put our stressors in a box and throw away the key for just a little while.

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Figuratively. Not literally.

Up Next: Tracy is the the new Stacy.

LaLa - what a great way to sum things up and give everyone something to think about...ok - at least me.

Ty

[CampbellScot]

Well it appears I am LATE to this party!!!

I was on the main menu page and I spied the words "Overdue and Overpacked"...

I literally stood up and had a little dance party:cool1: like that.

SO glad to see you back!!!

As usual, I'm loving every minute of it!

wow...I can't believe that The Girl is SEVEN now!

dang these kids and their refusal to stay small!

YAY!! Lala is back!!

good to see ya sista!!!


more please...popcorn::

[ZZUB]

I'm exhausted. That was the LONGEST drive from Backwater, MS to Orlando EVER! Thank goodness y'all found a McDonald's. Although why you needed a GPS to find a McDonald's is beyond me. Can't you just spot the arches like the rest of us?

I finally broke down and screamed “AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME INTERMITTENT ACTION AND BUMP UP THE TEMPO, MAN!”I am 8 shades of DED.

Yet another one of those reasons you never want to take a road trip with us.There are not enough trees left in the Redwood Forest for me to cut down to mill into paper to list the reasons why I would NEVER take a road trip with the LaLas. Chief among those reasons: I know you as the LaLas.

Heck, harder than fourth grade arithmetic.Which I understand you mastered during your sophomore year at State.

That was a heck of a read. Chief among the reasons I enjoy your TR is b/c you manage to spill a whole lot of funny. You spill a whole lot of things, apparently, but the funny is why I enjoy the ride.

:moped:

[Backstage_Gal]

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.



Lala, loved the entire chapter, but this section the most. Keep them coming...

[Sleeping*Beauty]

And no, I’m not as impressed with the fact that Rain X causes raindrops to bead up and shimmy up the surface of the windshield as much as I am impressed with the ability of the windshield wiper to actually wipe the rain off the windshield. In a timely manner.

But then again, maybe it’s a guy thing.

I totally agree with you about the windshield wipers. I turn mine ion when it's just sprinkling.

We passed Mel and her big feet along the way.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3G.jpg

And from the looks of things, homegirl was in serious need of a pedicure.

:rotfl2:

[javamom]

But then again, maybe it’s a guy thing.

All I know is we were in the middle of a downpour going 75 mph and he was not using the windshield wipers. Claimed we didn’t need ‘em. Not with a fresh application of Rain X. Silly woman.

He said. With his eyes.


We are BORG, ...well at least our men folk are BORG. RainX is, apparently, magical and THE coolest thing since (not only bread, but) wheat itself.



That beautiful, awe inspiring rainbow.



Awww what a fantastic welcome after all that stress!!!

[AshClan]

LaLa, sweetie, this was a fab chapter. A Thriller, truly. I read it earlier in work, but am just now getting the time to respond. It was Simply Irresistible. So much so that I've now read it three times. Sorry about the (Purple) Rain, and having to subject yourselves to such a Car Wash. It's so awesome, though, that your man hooked you up so you could Play That Funky Music on the way down to your Celebration.

Of course, he had to know that, Fast Car or not, the 7 1/2 hour dang good time was too risky to try for in a storm. There was no way he'd Beat It while driving Against the Wind. Sounds like that weather was really Off The Wall. I'm just glad that you eventually made it safe and sound (In the Nick of Time and Against All Odds).

Oh, and Let's Hear It for the Boy for overcoming his fears and getting through the Danger Zone and into that McDonalds!! I guess it just goes to show you, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.

I was DED on Mel's foot, BTW. I'm thinking yes on the pedi, but Can't Fight This Feeling that homegirl might also want to look into an arm wax.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. La, you are the best!!

[Sleeping*Beauty]

LaLa, sweetie, this was a fab chapter. A Thriller, truly. I read it earlier in work, but am just now getting the time to respond. It was Simply Irresistible. So much so that I've now read it three times. Sorry about the (Purple) Rain, and having to subject yourselves to such a Car Wash. It's so awesome, though, that your man hooked you up so you could Play That Funky Music on the way down to your Celebration.

Of course, he had to know that, Fast Car or not, the 7 1/2 hour dang good time was too risky to try for in a storm. There was no way he'd Beat It while driving Against the Wind. Sounds like that weather was really Off The Wall. I'm just glad that you eventually made it safe and sound (In the Nick of Time and Against All Odds).

Oh, and Let's Hear It for the Boy for overcoming his fears and getting through the Danger Zone and into that McDonalds!! I guess it just goes to show you, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.

I was DED on Mel's foot, BTW. I'm thinking yes on the pedi, but Can't Fight This Feeling that homegirl might also want to look into an arm wax.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. La, you are the best!!

I am DED! Also I :lovestruc Let's Hear It for the Boy.

[ahutton]

I have just embarrassed myself. RainX made me burst out laughing and now my family thinks there is no hope for my sanity.

I'm married to a RainX man too. Especially when driving between Pensacola and WDW, for us it always was raining on that part of the trip.

[LaLa]

LaLa, sweetie, this was a fab chapter. A Thriller, truly. I read it earlier in work, but am just now getting the time to respond. It was Simply Irresistible. So much so that I've now read it three times. Sorry about the (Purple) Rain, and having to subject yourselves to such a Car Wash. It's so awesome, though, that your man hooked you up so you could Play That Funky Music on the way down to your Celebration.


Of course, he had to know that, Fast Car or not, the 7 1/2 hour dang good time was too risky to try for in a storm. There was no way he'd Beat It while driving Against the Wind. Sounds like that weather was really Off The Wall. I'm just glad that you eventually made it safe and sound (In the Nick of Time and Against All Odds).

Oh, and Let's Hear It for the Boy for overcoming his fears and getting through the Danger Zone and into that McDonalds!! I guess it just goes to show you, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.



Baby What a Big Surprise.

Ash, I am DED! 10 shades of it, even. You know you got it goin' on, chick. I had to read YOUR response three times too. It was that funny. You're Unbelievable. LYMI, my girl!



(I really wanted to have a go at saying "y'all" for the first time then, but I just couldn't do it. Coming from my Australian typing fingers, it just sounded wrong. :confused3 )

That's allright. I'll forgive you for putting yall on Ignore. But feel free to call me mate whenever you want. I love that one. And I promise to read it in an Australian accent in my head so it doesn't sound weird.

Sounds like you kept out of Dire Straits.

That one wrapped up the silver for you, Chappie. Glad I could make you smile, friend.


Great Installment Lala

I love your report

Thanks for sharing :goodvibes :goodvibes :goodvibes

Thanks for posting, Quennifer! :goodvibes :goodvibes :goodvibes

Lesson learned: visit the Trip Reports board once in a while. Don't just hope a good TR will magically fall into your sight. Because I had NO idea you'd started up a new one! :yay:

Glad you found us, Princess V!


Excellent La!

Thanks GA!

I'm jumping on board your trip report ! Loving it so far !!

Welcome. Glad you're liking it.

Well it appears I am LATE to this party!!!

I was on the main menu page and I spied the words "Overdue and Overpacked"...

I literally stood up and had a little dance party:cool1: like that.

SO glad to see you back!!!

As usual, I'm loving every minute of it!

wow...I can't believe that The Girl is SEVEN now!

dang these kids and their refusal to stay small!

YAY!! Lala is back!!

good to see ya sista!!!


more please...popcorn::

CampbellScot! 'Bout time you got your wickedest stepmom self over here. So glad you jumped on board for another one, chick!

I'm exhausted.

Well maybe if you wouldn't fall asleep in lobbies not alcoves during the day so much, you could actually get some sleep at night. Instead of lying awake counting McDonald's arches.

That was a heck of a read. Chief among the reasons I enjoy your TR is b/c you manage to spill a whole lot of funny. You spill a whole lot of things, apparently, but the funny is why I enjoy the ride.

Thanks ZZUB.


Lala, loved the entire chapter, but this section the most. Keep them coming...

Glad you enjoyed it, Marita.


I have just embarrassed myself. RainX made me burst out laughing and now my family thinks there is no hope for my sanity.

I'm married to a RainX man too. Especially when driving between Pensacola and WDW, for us it always was raining on that part of the trip.

LisaMWDW, AussieAngel, poohsmate, TyRy, Sleeping Beauty, Javamom: I am DED over the men and their aversion to windshield wipers when the RainX has been applied! I had no idea this phenomenon was so far reaching. I asked DH about it last night and he chuckled and said "I think it's about enjoying the fruits of your labor. If I take the time to buff it on there, I wanna see some beads running up that windshield, dangit."

I was DED.

Men.

Thanks for all of your comments. Yall have a great one.

:moped:

[praisehisname]

And we won’t even go into the details of the time the Porta Potty overflowed. In the van.

Hey, we did that! With all three of our kids being pretty close together, I felt like I was constantly potty-training someone. So we kept a little training potty in the van. For emergencies AND convenience! :thumbsup2


I was pleased to find that the “surprise” from earlier was that he’d loaded the CD changer with six different discs with nothing but 70s, 80s and early 90s music on them.

Awesome choice of music! It's kind of weird to think that when I was my kids' age, my mom's "memory" music was 50's. And that was old to me. Now my kids are thinking the same thing about 80's music! :scared1:


And as a parent, there’s not too many feelings better than having the opportunity to surprise your children with something they’ve been pining for.

So true...but I could never do it. Tell me something confidential, some deep dark prayer request and I will take it to my grave. But don't ask me to keep a surprise. I just can't do it. Christmas is TORTURE for me! :rotfl:


This past year has been a particularly stressful one for our family.

So sorry to hear it's been a rough year for you. I hope that the time away was healing and re-energizing for you!

Looking forward to more...

Denise

[tina_la]

k started reading the II last night (laughed so loud I woke the baby, thanks alot, while dear hubby slept through the whole thing) took a break from reading II only to find out there is now a III. How will I ever catch up? And now you tell me you are going to UNIVERSAL! :scared1: Not sure what to think now. :confused3 Guess I'll have to wait and see how this will turn out.:thumbsup2 popcorn:: popcorn::

[DVCTiff]

But I will get extremely anxious. My right leg will begin to shake. Violently. My left eye (NOLisaLopez) will twitch. Sporadically. My teeth will clench. Grindingly. My hands will raise in the air. Involuntarily. And I will begin to pull out my hair one strand at a time. Painfully.

OMG - This is me except when DH leaves the wipers going when there is no longer any rain! I sit there thinking, "Any minute he's gonna turn them off" but NO, they just sqwarsh sqwarsh against a now-dry window until I finally reach over and flick them off.

Okay, gotta calm down now. Love the trippie - can't wait for more!

[ldadar]

love you lala

(ok, I don't actually know you, but ykwim)

[nicolemarie]

Great installment!!! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ;)

I loved the flashbacks to your October surprise trip! We're planning on surprising our kids tomorrow evening as we pull out of the driveway for a quick weekend in the World. I'm not sure who will be more excited - them, or DH and I.

Wish I had all kinds of time to quote my favorite parts and all that good stuff, but real life calls today, and I'm out of computer time.

Thanks for starting this TR. I'm looking SO forward to reading about your experiences with the Dark Side. And in the Land of Yellow.

This is Nothin' But a Good Time...:rockband:

[LaLa]

Hey, we did that! With all three of our kids being pretty close together, I felt like I was constantly potty-training someone. So we kept a little training potty in the van. For emergencies AND convenience! :thumbsup2

Nice to know we weren't the only ones. When the kids were little, I honestly don't know what we would've done without that thing in the van on long road trips. Looking back, I'm not sure the valet at the Contemporary would've agreed it was the best thing since sliced bread but it sure made our lives easier.

Awesome choice of music! It's kind of weird to think that when I was my kids' age, my mom's "memory" music was 50's. And that was old to me. Now my kids are thinking the same thing about 80's music! :scared1:


My husband and I were outside the other day and saw a couple of kids who looked to be a little older than our son come riding by on an electric scooter singing Rod Stewart at the top of their lungs. We went numb. Because we were thinking "Kids today don't sing Rod Stewart! Where on earth did they hear that?" But mostly because it was Da Ya Think I'm Sexy that they were singing.

So sorry to hear it's been a rough year for you. I hope that the time away was healing and re-energizing for you!

Thank you, praishisname. That was sweet. I feel like I need to clarify a little here though. I don't want to give the impression that we had a bad year. We didn't. Not at all. Because as long as we've got our health and each other, it's always a great year. We just had more work related stress than in years' past. I'm sure we're not the only ones in that boat these days. But things are evening out. In fact, I'm starting a new job on Monday. I'm semi nervous about it but I know it'll be good. The only downside is that I might be a little scarce around here during the day for awhile. Which completely STINKS. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify. I may not have needed to but I'm me so I did.

k started reading the II last night (laughed so loud I woke the baby, thanks alot, while dear hubby slept through the whole thing) took a break from reading II only to find out there is now a III. How will I ever catch up? And now you tell me you are going to UNIVERSAL! :scared1: Not sure what to think now. :confused3 Guess I'll have to wait and see how this will turn out.:thumbsup2 popcorn:: popcorn::

Yes ma'am. Universal wasn't so bad. They had cookies. Glad I could make you laugh, Tina La. Love the name, by the way.



OMG - This is me except when DH leaves the wipers going when there is no longer any rain! I sit there thinking, "Any minute he's gonna turn them off" but NO, they just sqwarsh sqwarsh against a now-dry window until I finally reach over and flick them off.

Okay, gotta calm down now. Love the trippie - can't wait for more!

I learned to turn off my windshield wipers once the rain has ended LONG ago. It was a lesson I learned from dear old Dad. Apparently all that sqwarshing does a number on the wipers and he wasn't into having to change them out every month. So I learned pretty quick to turn them off five minutes before I thought the rain was gonna stop. I also learned pretty quick NOT TO SING "If you want my body and you think I'm sexy come on honey tell me so...tell me so ba-by". Around the church members. Or anyone else for that matter.

love you lala

(ok, I don't actually know you, but ykwim)

Yeah, I get that alot.

KIDDING! Thanks for posting. But I'm gonna need a phonetic spelling of your name. Otherwise I'll be forced to keep calling you Radar. In my head. Not out loud. God forbid a million times.

Great installment!!! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. ;)

NM, I was stuck on the phone with a guy named Joe when I read this earlier or else I would've responded sooner. Thanks, chick. Love ya Mean it!

I loved the flashbacks to your October surprise trip! We're planning on surprising our kids tomorrow evening as we pull out of the driveway for a quick weekend in the World. I'm not sure who will be more excited - them, or DH and I.

NM, that's awesome! I'm thrilled for yall. But I'm telling you. Once you surprise them with this, you'll find yourself wanting to surprise them with everything. Trips to the pool. Trips to the movies. Trips to the beach. You have no idea what yall are about to step off into, NM. But it's all good. Have a blast, chick.

Wish I had all kinds of time to quote my favorite parts and all that good stuff, but real life calls today, and I'm out of computer time.


There you go, bragging again. I basically read that as "I'm going to Disney (again) and yall ain't. You big bunch 'a sorry sapsuckas!" Maybe you didn't come right out with it like that, but it was definitely implied. And frankly, I don't appreciate it.

Thanks for starting this TR. I'm looking SO forward to reading about your experiences with the Dark Side. And in the Land of Yellow.

This is Nothin' But a Good Time...:rockband:

Thanks chick. At the rate I'm going, it might be a Long December before I'm finished. But hopefully yall will have plenty of Patience.

:moped:

[AshClan]

La, Awesome news on the new job. Well, except for the less time during the day thing. I am sure you will knock 'em dead!!

NM, if I don't "see" you before you leave, have a BLAST, girl! Can't wait to hear how the surprise goes down. I have a feeling that the boy will remember this birthday for a looooong time!!:thumbsup2

[Chapter 11]

In fact, I'm starting a new job on Monday. I'm semi nervous about it but I know it'll be good.

Yeah, about that, be here at 8:00 a.m., sharp, and please dress appropriately (no overalls, and please wear shoes -- I had a lot of explaining to do to my partners regarding your interview attire). You get 30 minutes for lunch. There's a 7-11 right around the corner, so you should be good. You also get two 15-minute breaks during the day, so please limit your tobacco chewing to those times. Thanks, and look forward to seeing you next week.

[LaLa]

La, Awesome news on the new job. Well, except for the less time during the day thing. I am sure you will knock 'em dead!!

Thanks, Ash. You know I got much love for ya, my sweet friend. So much so that I'm willing to overlook the cart/buggy/aunt/ant thing.

Yeah, about that, be here at 8:00 a.m., sharp, and please dress appropriately (no overalls, and please wear shoes -- I had a lot of explaining to do to my partners regarding your interview attire). You get 30 minutes for lunch. There's a 7-11 right around the corner, so you should be good. You also get two 15-minute breaks during the day, so please limit your tobacco chewing to those times. Thanks, and look forward to seeing you next week.

You have no idea how loud this made me laugh. Thanks for the huge smile this morning, Chappie.

But I only have one question: can I use you for a coat rack while I dance?

:moped:

[Yzma and Kronk]

Yay, Another Lalalalalalalalalala installment!

:banana:




We passed Mel and her big feet along the way.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3G.jpg

[/B]

Her name was Lola...

I cannot believe that you passed this going 75mph on the interstate! Only in the South!

Borg Ash on the song reply. I started, then saw your's and it was much better. I kept getting stuck on 867-530hhhhhhh9 - which didn't seem to fit in anywhere.

That’s dang good time is the new Gawg forbit a million times

And isn't Mrs. Garmin da bomb! Mr. YAK got one for Christmas too and during out recent mostly offsite (but we didn't go to Universal) trip it came in very handy. Indeed. No more little tiny map paper cuts for me! Not that Mr. YAK ever listened to my nagivating skills. They hand you the map - but never listen.

Loved that you spied a rainbow at the end of your That's not so dang good time journey!

Congrat's on your new job.

Even if you have to spend the entire day with Chappie.

Keep it comin' Yellow Girl!

[lisalonglash]

Wicked. In a good way. Love it! popcorn::

[MomofCKJ]

I've read your past reports and happy to sign on for this one. I hate driving in the rain, glad you got there okay. And I can't believe you are going to, that other place! That is so....so.....well it's so something! And you *gasp* liked some things better?? I am so intrigued!

Allyson

[lexmelinda]

Good stuff, girl!

I love Mr. La's mix tape. It brought back lots of memories and I used to listen to some of that stuff on 8 track. NO REALLY! And I saw lots of concerts back in the day: The Rolling Stones, The Police, Talking Heads, U2, REM, ELO, Adam Ant (yes I did!) and INXS in concert. Ahh....those were the days.

I love me some RainX......so I'm with Mr. Lala on that one. I keep the RainX wipes in my car. No wipers unless necessary.

I love that you and DH kept the secret. You know DS has not known we were going to Disney for the last two years. Not til the poor kid saw the arches. Isn't it fun?

What an awesome rainbow! What a treat!

Alright....next stop Universal?

[Tinkerbellarella]

Late to this two chapter party. Real life. it's so overrated.

Elvis
...
When we hold him up and make him talk.

We do this too. Not with Elvis, but with our kitties. Because we're a loooong ways away from the Mississsip.

At first I was all like, "Yes! Other people DO do this."
Then I realized the other people were the LaLas.

Then I was just darn proud. ;)

Feel free to catch up once you’ve removed the fork from your arm.

People may want to hide their forks. I'll readily admit I have a love for US too. It is not adulterous or traitorous to my Disney love, just different from it. You know, like how Hef loves each of his three best bunnies differently.
Disney is like Holly.
US is like Bridget.
South of the Border is like Kendra. Neat on the surface but obnoxious and dirty-ish as soon as you get too close.
Sorry, the BF was watching the Girls Next Door.

Moving on...

Because that’s what it’s all about. Cooler access.

Not the hokey pokey. Don't believe the hype.

Hang on. Need to take my left hand out.

I like to think of myself as a fairly laid back person. Things that ruffle others peoples’ feathers normally don’t even show up on my radar. But there are some things that are just supposed to happen or else the world will cease to exist.

Liar.

Not really.

See?

But I will get extremely anxious. My right leg will begin to shake. Violently. My left eye (NOLisaLopez) will twitch. Sporadically. My teeth will clench. Grindingly. My hands will raise in the air. Involuntarily. And I will begin to pull out my hair one strand at a time. Painfully.

They make meds for this. I'll FedEx some to you. I find highly-sugared-children, carsickness and lawyers are my triggers.

The man had made the ultimate “mix tape”

Can we clone him? (NODolly)
Ever since Katrina, they’ve been pretty scared of bad weather. Both of them, but especially the boy, look to the skies with extremely heavy hearts and praying lips when a bad storm rolls in and they are not able to breathe easy until it’s passed. And they realize that everything is okay. Once again.

It hurts my heart that any children have to think like this. God bless 'em.

There was a full on celebration complete with chair jumping and exclamations of never ending love.

NOTomCruise.

Alas, the days of Risky Business are long gone.

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This was real sweet LaLa. Real sweet.

I'm glad to be Back. In Black. On this Crazy Train. I know, I know, you're thinkin' 'That Tinkerbellarella, She's Like the Wind'. But really. I've been here all along.

Hangin' Tough.

:flower3:

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Her name was Lola...

Hey, that's my goldfish's name.:fish:

[Liz]

LaLa, I'm new to your TR's but found them through Zzub's. I started reading this one then went back and read all of your first. Today I spent 10 hours in the hospital with my daughter doing annual tests which are the worst day of the year for both of us. I printed out most of your 2nd trippie and took it with me. I have to say it made the time go by much quicker and instead of focusing on worrying I spent the day with the LaLa family in WDW! A lady in the waiting room was talking on her cell and said she hadn't brought anything to read. I so wanted to hand over a stack of LaLa papers and say "get to reading girl"! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us!!!

[LaLa]

I cannot believe that you passed this going 75mph on the interstate! Only in the South!

You mean Mel only throws her leg out the window when she's in our country?! Yet another reason to move up north.

And congrats on the new job! Even if you have to spend the entire day with Chappie.


Thanks, Yak. I plan on giving him some photography lessons to pass the time so it's all good.


Wicked. In a good way. Love it! popcorn::

Thanks Lisalonglash!

I've read your past reports and happy to sign on for this one. I hate driving in the rain, glad you got there okay. And I can't believe you are going to, that other place! That is so....so.....well it's so something! And you *gasp* liked some things better?? I am so intrigued!

Allyson

It's something allright. We really did like some things better. And we were just as shocked as you are about it. Thanks for jumping on board for another one, MomofCKJ!



I love Mr. La's mix tape. It brought back lots of memories and I used to listen to some of that stuff on 8 track. NO REALLY! And I saw lots of concerts back in the day: The Rolling Stones, The Police, Talking Heads, U2, REM, ELO, Adam Ant (yes I did!) and INXS in concert. Ahh....those were the days.

I'm so jealous! The only concerts I ever went to were MC Hamma and Egyptian Lover and Friends. Forget the Stones, Police, and U2. I can't believe you went to see ELO. I LOVE me some ELO. Don't Bring Me Down is actually the song I've played the most in the last week or so. Brings back so many memories. You hear that baby and you just know it was made for a skating rink and a disco ball.

I love that you and DH kept the secret. You know DS has not known we were going to Disney for the last two years. Not til the poor kid saw the arches. Isn't it fun?

And I love that you haven't told your son he's going to Disney until you pass underneath the arches for the last two years. That's awesome, Lexmelinda. Mad props for keeping the secret and surprising him. And yes, it IS fun.


We do this too. Not with Elvis, but with our kitties. Because we're a loooong ways away from the Mississsip.

At first I was all like, "Yes! Other people DO do this."
Then I realized the other people were the LaLas.

Then I was just darn proud. ;)

What fun is having a pet if you can't make it talk?


People may want to hide their forks. I'll readily admit I have a love for US too. It is not adulterous or traitorous to my Disney love, just different from it. You know, like how Hef loves each of his three best bunnies differently.
Disney is like Holly.
US is like Bridget.
South of the Border is like Kendra. Neat on the surface but obnoxious and dirty-ish as soon as you get too close.
Sorry, the BF was watching the Girls Next Door.

I don't have any idea what the Girls Next Door is but this made me laugh.

Liar.

What is it with people calling me a liar today? Ask ZZUB to show you the way to the Ignore scrapbook party already in progress. You gotta watch him though. He'll steal your cake.

LaLa, I'm new to your TR's but found them through Zzub's. I started reading this one then went back and read all of your first. Today I spent 10 hours in the hospital with my daughter doing annual tests which are the worst day of the year for both of us. I printed out most of your 2nd trippie and took it with me. I have to say it made the time go by much quicker and instead of focusing on worrying I spent the day with the LaLa family in WDW! A lady in the waiting room was talking on her cell and said she hadn't brought anything to read. I so wanted to hand over a stack of LaLa papers and say "get to reading girl"! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us!!!

Liz, what you wrote made me smile. I'm so glad something like a little trip report that I wrote was able to distract you from your worries and make the time go by faster for you while you and your daughter were in the hospital. I pray your tests results bring you really good news. I'm glad you found us, Liz. Even though it's obvious that you read that mess ZZUB turns out, I'm willing to overlook it. Thanks for posting.

:moped:

[Tinkerbellarella]

I don't have any idea what the Girls Next Door is but this made me laugh.

It's a reality TV show about Hef and his three favorite "girlfriends" at the Playboy mansion. It's obnoxiously funny.

What is it with people calling me a liar today? Ask ZZUB to show you the way to the Ignore scrapbook party already in progress. You gotta watch him though. He'll steal your cake.

LaLa, I meant it with all the love in the world. And the World. And mainly because I'm totally borg with you on the control-freak-windshield-wipers-anxiety-ridden-use-them-in-the-rain thing.

If I comment on the size of your guns, will I be back in your good graces?

ZZUB can scrapbook, hm? I bet his scrapbook is full of non-pictures of his family. And the Schpup. And BGPC.

Seriously, though, no offense meant. By me. I can't speak for Z. He does pretty well speaking for himself.

:hug:

[Frickles]

I mostly sat back and begged him to turn the windshield wipers on high instead of showing me how well the Rain X application he’d recently put on the windshield was working.

Ahhhh, this reminds me of the year my dad sprayed Pam cooking oil all over the front of our van before heading to Florida. The purpose was to keep the road bugs from sticking to the front. The result was a greasy ole Pam'd up windshield and 4700 more bugs stuck to the car than usual.

In fact, he will still bring up The Year We Made Great Time to me every now and then and my standard response without exception must be “That’s dang good time” or else he’ll chase me down the hall, hold me down and give me a wedgie.
Now this is just cute! Stuff like this just makes me want to hang out with the La's 'cause I know it would be fun. :)


That’s right. We done got ourselves a real bonified GPS, baby!

I am the Redneck GPS no more.

Yeah for the LaLa's!!!

I'm a Redneck ToothTunes. Lil Frick lost his so now I sing while he brushes his teeth. I crack up every time.

So we did the best we could by blotting the rain off our arms, legs and faces and headed out front to place our order and find a seat.

With our flip flops squeaking the whole way.

I am very familiar with that sound! Girl I am right there with y'all. I can smell the amonia in the bathroom and I can see your hair after blowdrying it with the hand dryer :scared1: and my mouth is starting to water for some McD's french fries (which by the way, I have only had once since January thankyouverymuch)



DH joined in on the fun by adding “You must have to really be special to score tickets to something like that. Too bad we’re not going. But we’ll have to see if they’ve got a Shrek and Dunkey party at Universal. I’m sure it’ll be just as much fun.”

So ded.

And what is a Dunkey?
;)



And as a parent, there’s not too many feelings better than having the opportunity to surprise your children with something they’ve been pining for. It made it all worth it.

So true girl. You know La, we've surprised our boys twice.... it made me so sad last week when we told them we were taking them somewhere special after lil Frick's baseball game, which happened to be on the night of his birthday. We were headed to the fair located in the parking lot of our Mall. They thought the 'somewhere special' comment was a dead ringer for 'We're going to Disney'. They were a tiny bit bummed. Same thing happened on Mother's Day. We were heading to Atlanta to let Lil Frick shop for his birthday and his brother told him we were really taking him to Disney for his birthday. The boy is as gullable as his momma....and yet again, he was so bummed. I have GOT to find the right pair of shoes and practice holding my mouth just right. Those surprises are AWESOME though.... it is a great feeling to give them that gift. Just the other day my oldest told one of his friends about how his Mom likes to surprise them with fun stuff. I think I vibrated. :goodvibes Your kids will never forget your sweet surprises.



And then off in the distance we spotted it.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3D.jpg


It was vague and hard to make out at first but then as the minutes ticked by, the colors of the rainbow grew vivid and unmistakable. Besides the faces of our newborn babies, it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. It was huge. It spanned the sky starting on the right and seemed to roll and jump in front of our very eyes and then suddenly the end of the rainbow was visible on the left side as well.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3E.jpg


The kids had only seen rainbows in pictures prior to this day. Never right in front of them. In full blown Technicolor. And as excited as they were about reaching our destination, I think they were even more excited about seeing that rainbow.

That beautiful, awe inspiring rainbow.

This past year has been a particularly stressful one for our family. Everyone is healthy and happy and we all still love each other dearly. But there were a lot of uncertainties and many more stresses than usual. Most of them tied to our jobs. To put it bluntly, it had been a pretty long year for both me and my husband. This spontaneous vacation was about getting away from it all for us. For just a few days. We were eagerly anticipating being able to put our stressors in a box and throw away the key for just a little while.

And as we finally ran out of the storm and were greeted with this beautiful vision that God created spanning the sky before us, we were reminded of His promise and His provision for us. And in that instant, it all came together. Like a flood. The storms, the rainbow, the long year behind us, the stresses, the new beginnings that lie before us on the road ahead. The unchartered territory just waiting to be experienced on the other side. We knew that everything would turn out exactly the way it was supposed to. We knew it would be great. Better than great, even. And we knew that this vacation, this time of family togetherness, would be a truly blessed one.

A blessed one indeed.

And with that, we smiled and left the stress behind us. Where it belonged. And we set off to find our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
You found the rainbow connection. I quoted all of this because it is so worth requoting. How sweet is that. Stress is a tough monster to conquer and it is awful what it can do to you, and it sure is good to get some relief from it. I'm so glad you guys were able to go! I don't think you would have been this excited pulling into Dollywood. Nope, no way.

AND, last of all.....CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is wonderful!!!

Love ya La and I'm so glad you are back on this TR board!!!!!!!

[LaLa]

Seriously, though, no offense meant. By me. I can't speak for Z. He does pretty well speaking for himself.

:hug:

None taken whatsoever, Tink. As for Z (I thought I was the only one you were on first syllable terms with), there's plenty of offense taken. But mostly on account of the smell.

If I comment on the size of your guns, will I be back in your good graces?

Not really. Although I have been known to pull out the big guns a time or two, my guns really aren't all that big. So I'd see right through it. My husband is the only one around here (well, besides ZZUB of course) with massive guns. And believe me, they are massive. Comment on those and I'm guessing you'll be in his good graces. Which is kind of the same thing as being in mine.

Ahhhh, this reminds me of the year my dad sprayed Pam cooking oil all over the front of our van before heading to Florida. The purpose was to keep the road bugs from sticking to the front. The result was a greasy ole Pam'd up windshield and 4700 more bugs stuck to the car than usual.


Frick, I'm DED over this. You sure we didn't have the same daddy? Because that so sounds like something he would do. One of DH's coworkers has been telling DH for years to spray some Pledge on the front of the van and it'll make it easier to wash the lovebugs off. We haven't tried it yet. Mainly because DH is worried it might mess up the paint job. But mostly because our friends and family already pick on him about being such a stickler for vehicle maintenance. If they caught him dusting the van, he'd never live it down.

So true girl. You know La, we've surprised our boys twice.... it made me so sad last week when we told them we were taking them somewhere special after lil Frick's baseball game, which happened to be on the night of his birthday. We were headed to the fair located in the parking lot of our Mall. They thought the 'somewhere special' comment was a dead ringer for 'We're going to Disney'. They were a tiny bit bummed. Same thing happened on Mother's Day. We were heading to Atlanta to let Lil Frick shop for his birthday and his brother told him we were really taking him to Disney for his birthday. The boy is as gullable as his momma....and yet again, he was so bummed. I have GOT to find the right pair of shoes and practice holding my mouth just right. Those surprises are AWESOME though.... it is a great feeling to give them that gift. Just the other day my oldest told one of his friends about how his Mom likes to surprise them with fun stuff. I think I vibrated. Your kids will never forget your sweet surprises.



Frick! Don't tell me that! Your poor kids sound just about as shell shocked as mine are. I've been surprising them with everything. Trips to the pool, checkouts, dental visits. They don't know whether they're coming or going at this point. I'm DED though at the thought of yall pulling into the pump fake fair in the mall parking lot and your boy going "No really. Where are we goin'?"

How sweet is it though that your kids brag to their friends about their Mama's sweet surprises? I know that made it all worth it.

I have trouble believing you don't have the right pair of shoes already in your closet though, woman. Maybe you just need to plus it, as Walt sad, and add some kickin' accessories this time.

:moped:

[LaLa]

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Orlando. And promptly made what would be the first of many changes to the itenerary. The formerly set in stone, not to be messed around with (NOJim), iron clad, don’t change it or else bad, horrible things might happen itinerary.

The one we were, little by little, beginning to throw out the window.

Figuratively. Not literally.

Because we give a hoot. We don't pollute.

The original plan had us checking into our hotel for the night, dropping off our bags and then heading out to grab some dinner nearby. But since we did not make dang good time and in fact made dang bad time, we were arriving much later than we thought we would be. Some might even say we were overdue. Some might not. Regardless, we took a walk on the wild side. We switched up the plan and decided to grab some (off property) dinner before we checked into our (off property) hotel.

Those are not words we’re very familiar with, by the way.

Off property.

We tend to think of ourselves as On Property People. OPP, if you will. That’s right. Naughty by Nature had it all wrong. When we go to Disney, we stay on property. We eat every meal on property. Once we arrive, we park our tails on property and we don’t dare venture outside the invisible border of Walt’s 47 square miles for the entire week. For nothin’. We have even come thisclose to disowning a certain member of our family, one who shall remain nameless, for driving us out of Disneyworld.

On prior trips. Not this one. Or the last one. But on the one before that.

In case anyone is confuzzled.

Unless you’ve been skimming (or falling asleep in an alcove that looks more like a lobby) as you attempt to follow along with this neverending pointless thread, you should already know we were doing things differently this year. And we’d often wondered if there was something on the other side of those arches that we were missing out on. Okay, not often. That may be stretching it a bit. We’re usually pretty darn content being so far removed from the traffic and the litter and the Ponderosa patrons who think nothing of farting their all you can eat sirloin steak farts in your face while your mouth is open. But we’ve wondered about it a time or two. Okay, once. We wondered about it once. Right before we left. And this was our chance to find out what else was out there. Had we been missing out on anything all this time? More importantly, would we be able to score a good meal for a fair price? Would we land a cheap hotel room without bed bugs or lice infestations? Would this paragraph ever end?

The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.

Because just as we put Ponderosa on Ignore and found ourselves a nice little Carrabba’s, the storm reared its ugly head again. DH let us out at the front door and headed off to the back forty to park the van. Because he’s a gentleman. But mostly because he’s still trying to make up for the time he drove us out of Disneyworld.

We showed up pretty late (in our world, that means after 6:00 because we’re all Del Boca Vista when it comes to dinner times) and I was worried we would have a long wait. But there was no reason to worry. We were seated within five minutes. Before we had time to turn around good, we were nestled in and feasting on some of the most delicious bread and herb dip man has ever seen fit to create. From our cozy table inside the safety of the restaurant, we looked out on the parking lot and watched palm trees sway in the wind. We observed leaves and small branches being strown around. We heard the howling of the wind. And we declared how glad we were that we were inside and not outside. On the road. Or in the middle of a theme park. God forbid a million times. But most importantly, we did some serious damage to our cute little plate o’ herbs. Not only did we clean the plate, we licked it. We licked the plate, we licked our fingers. We even licked the spillage off each other. And the people sitting at the table next to us. That’s how good it was. But that was just the beginning. As good as the bread may have been, the main course was even better. I chose the Chicken Parmesan and DH had some sort of Shrimp Scampi dish. They were both out of this world. In fact, it was so good that it’s possible it could have rivaled the best meal ever.

Well, maybe.

Back in the summer of 2001, I was traveling home from a business meeting in Washington when the plane I was on experienced a scare in mid air. A big scary scare in mid air. I won’t go into all the details but suffice it to say I firmly believe God intervened and is the only reason I’m here today. The meal I had that night in D.C. after we made it safely back to the hotel that the airline had booked for us will forever hold the title as the best meal of my life. The filet was downright divine. The au gratin potatoes tasted like heaven. The salad was so good it made me cry. Looking back, the food probably wasn’t all that great in reality. Removed from the circumstances. But after the experience we’d just been through, that meal was without a doubt the best thing I’d ever been blessed enough to raise to my mouth.

And it will forever be.

This meal may not have been as good as that. But it was pretty darn memorable in its own right. Both my husband and I agreed wholeheartedly that our meal that night at Carrabba’s was head and shoulders above a very high percentage of the meals we’d ever had on property at Disney. And MUCH cheaper, to boot. In fact, it would turn out to be the best meal we had of the entire trip. How 'bout that? Either it was that good or else we were just really hungry and really glad to be there. Kind of like that night in June 2001. Regardless of the reason, we were sufficiently impressed with our off property find.

After we finished licking the crumbs off the floor, we asked for a to-go box for the rest of the kids’ pizza. Because we ain’t about wasting food. Starving kids in Africa and all that. Also because we knew we would have a fridge in our room and our kids love them some cold pizza for breakfast. After the waitress boxed the pizza up and handed us our fancy schmancy doggie bag, we left the restaurant. All fat and sassy. And thankful to have stumbled upon the place.

Once we made it back out to the van, we drove around the general vicinity for a few minutes and found our hotel. Our one night hotel. The Hampton Inn, baby. This is the one that was booked at the last minute. DH had gone online and picked it out of a plethora of hotels based on guest reviews. It had ranked pretty high and we were anxious to see if it was really all that and a bag of chips.

But mostly, we were anxious to just get a hot shower and crash. Because that’s the one and only purpose of the one night hotel anyway.

We checked in. Grabbed our overnight bag, being careful not to forget our good pillers. And the 128 oz. bottle of Lysol spray, of course. As we made our way into the hotel, the storm was still showing off something fierce so I quietly reminded the kids how to count the seconds between the lightning flashes and the sound of the thunder in order to determine how far away it was. I’m not sure if it’s an accurate formula but I’ve always been told one second equals one mile. And normally, once they realize they’re five or so miles away from the action, it seems to ease their worries. Worries eased, we walked down the high falutin’ interior corridors of our hotel. We found our room. Opened the door. And were very pleasantly surprised for the second time of the evening.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3H.jpg

The room was immaculate. There was lots of dark cherry wood and plenty of storage space, a small fridge, plasma TV, crisp, fluffy white down comforters covering two queen size to die for pillow top mattresses. More good pillers than you can shake a stick at. There was also a huge desk with a lit mirror that would work just fine for some one on one time with Estee Lauder in the a.m. Unlike my girl Frick, I wasn’t planning on taking one for the team. Plus there was the all important hard carpet.

Can’t forget that hard carpet.

The bathroom didn’t disappoint either. It was nice and roomy. Plus they even had curved shower rods. But above all of that, the room was clean. Clean as a dadgum whistle.

Which has never made any sense to me. Have you ever looked inside a whistle? Those things are saliva traps. Ain't nothing clean about that.

But the thing that really surprised us was the fact that we paid roughly what we would pay for a value resort for this room. Look, I’m all about being on property if we’re going to be staying all week. I love the convenience and the location benefits of staying on property. What we give up in room appointment is worth the trade off for what we gain when we step outside that hotel room door. But after that night, I can completely see the draw of staying off property. The room was pretty darn well appointed for a very low price point, considering where we were. All in all, it wasn’t too shabby. We were extremely pleased with our digs.

Once I got the kids bathed and sent them out to lounge in two of the most comfortable beds in all of Florida and fight their dad for the remote, I jumped in the shower (complete with wide lanes) and used as much hot water as I wanted. And then a little more for good measure. Because that’s how I roll it in a hotel. As I was drying off, I heard it through the door. It was faint at first. Barely audible. I stopped in mid dry and cocked my head to the side to get a better listen.

Surely it can’t be. Please tell me I’m not hearing what I think I’m hearing. Could it… possibly be?

Quick as a flash, I wrapped myself up in a big thirsty towel as big as the state of Texas and rounded the corner to confirm what I knew I already knew.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3K.jpg


Oh snap! It’s Stacy.

For awhile now I’ve had a quasi love/hate relationship with the Top Seven Must Sees and its host. Mostly her braids bug me. Her voice annoys me. Her ears scare me. But mostly DH. Don’t even get me started on the whole lazy people on the lazy river thing. I’ve never understood why there’s only seven. The fact that they couldn’t round it up to ten bothers me. You can’t tell me there weren’t three more spotlight worthy attractions they could’ve picked. Within the boundaries of four freakin’ theme parks and a resort property the size of Manhattan.

But.

Watching the Top Seven Must Sees has become a tradition for us. Much like losing to State has become a tradition for Bama. It annoys the stew out of us yet we watch anyway. I wasn’t expecting to be able to pick up Stacy and the Top Seven show off Disney property but I must confess, I got downright giddy when I saw it. And so did the rest of my crew. Well, except for DH. When he saw it, his exact words were “Not Stacy! Anybody but Stacy! I thought they would’ve gotten rid of her and re-shot that thing years ago.”

As I stood there dripping water on the hard carpet, I shouted out an overexuberant “No doubt!” in agreement with my husband. I may have followed it with a combination “Pfffff”/eye roll/head bob. The gesture that expresses indignance and disgust with nary a word. But the fact of the matter is that it was all a façade to hide my true feelings. The ones that even I have trouble understanding. Because as I watched her ride Crush n Gusher and eat sushi in Japan, I secretly felt a little sad at the thought of not seeing Stacy and her Top Seven Must Sees on our TV anymore when we go on vacation. Even though I’ve got no love whatsoever for the braids. I realized that like most things at Disney, the repetition had made it familiar to me. And because of that, Stacy was now forever linked to the Land of Yellow in my mind. That night she was thrown into the big bucket of familiarity and nostalgia which screams Disney to me.

And I’m still not happy about it.

After we watched the show in its entirety (it’s like a train wreck, you just can’t look away), we (DH) flipped through the channels and we were shocked to find Universal had their own little station goin’ on.

Who knew? And it’s not just Universal that has a station. The greater Orlando area had a station too. Apparently everybody’s got a station these days. In vacation world, if you don’t have your own station, you better get back on the porch. And although there is only one Stacy (fortunately), others are doing their level best to keep up. With Tracy.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3L.jpg

She may not be as annoying but she's close.

We watched for a little while and then flipped on over to the Six Flags station. After a half hour of the Dogpatch USA station and ten minutes of the Arby’s station starring the Oven Mitt Man, we called it a night.

Our plans for the first part of the next day were pretty flexible. Basically, they involved getting over to the Royal Pacific in enough time to check in, eat lunch and check out the place before heading off on an adventure that afternoon. So instead of getting a wake up call, we decided to just sleep until we woke up the next morning. We knew we wouldn’t sleep past the check out time because half of us (meaning the ones with the testosterone) have internal alarm clocks that go off at 6 each morning. The only question was: would their snooze button fail us?

After one of the best nights’ sleep in a hotel room ever, we awoke in our comfortable fluffy white beds to find the room dark as night. Still. At first glance, we thought it was before day break, but a quick check of the clock told us that it was 9 a.m. Perfect. We got up, fed the kids their cold pizza, got showered, changed and out of that baby pronto.

Because we had bigger fish to fry.

Before we could check into our resort though, we needed to made a little pit stop.

I had forgotten to pick up sunglasses for the kids before we left and I wasn’t about to look at a thousand vacation photos of myself smiling behind a big ole pair of shades while our children squinted into the sun. Again. Plus I needed to pick up a few other items as well. So we spied a Walgreen’s near the Universal entrance and whipped on in. All I can say about my shopping experience at Walgreen’s is that I was floored by all the cheap Disney stuff for sale in there. Floored! It was like browsing for Prada purses in Chinatown. Not that I've ever done that. Or know anyone who has.

When I first walked in the door, I ran smack dab into a display of Mickey ringer tees on sale. Two for twelve bucks. I just about fell out cold. Not because of the thought that you could buy a classically posed Mickey on the front of a ringer tee (yall know the shirts I’m talking about) for six bucks but because on closer inspection, Mickey looked a little more like Mikey, Mickey’s fifth cousin twice removed. Who lives in Yemen. And sports a glass eye. In fact, The Six Dollar Mouse looked NOTHING like the Mickey we all know and love. From far away, there was a slight resemblance, but up close it was a fabric farce. So I promptly bought one and dropped it in the mail to ZZUB. Because I’m cool like that. And I know how much he appreciates a bargain.

After I picked myself up off the floor, I grabbed some sunglasses for the kids. I got the girl a pair of cute pink "rock star" glasses, which I knew she would like, but was stumped about what to get the boy. Everything had characters on it and since I know he’s not down with that, I picked a pair that looked similar to a pair of Oakleys. With a virtually microscopic Spiderman head on the top right corner of the lens. It was barely even visible. At no more than roughly 2 cm wide, it was almost as good as gone (besides, it was the best choice of the lot) so I figured they might pass muster.

When I got out to the car, we put the van in drive (well, DH did) and I passed out the sunglasses. The girl was thrilled with hers and promptly put them on. Never to be taken off. The boy took one look at what I’d picked for him, stared at them for a second or two in disbelief and then threw them right back in my face.

Not really. I’m kidding.

Instead, he held them out for me to get a good look at and said “You’re not gonna catch a ten year old walking around in a pair of Spiderman glasses, I can tell you that.” Then he did the combination “Pffff” eye roll/head bob thing.

In other words, the boy was NOT DOWN WITH THE CHARACTER ACTION. So I spanked him really hard and forced him to wear them anyway. Along with the bunny suit Aunt Clara made for him for Christmas.

Actually I didn’t. But my husband and I did laugh (and feel a little sad at the same time) at the boy’s new found indignance at wearing a pair of sunglasses with a microscopic Spiderman on them.

When just a few years ago, he would’ve eaten them up.

Sigh.

With the Spiderman Sunglass Fiasco behind us, we moved onto the moment we’d been waiting for. We took a short spin across the street and drove straight onto Universal Orlando property.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3M.jpg


Oh yeah baby! We'd finally arrived.

We were giddy as we drove. Maybe not full on giddy, but still. Giddy. We were really excited to be there and were anxious to see what adventures lay before us. On the other side.

As we drove underneath the "arches", the girl and I fake cried and pointed. And then we laughed at our stupid selves. Cause we're cool like that.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3N.jpg


We pointed out the Universal busses...

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3O.jpg


Found our big honkin’ resort sign…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3P.jpg

And finally, were surprised to find they even had the prerequisite guard gate…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Q.jpg


As we pulled up toward the gate and were greeted with a very friendly “Aloha”, I took a good look around me. I think that was the moment that I realized this place was gonna be allright. It was beautiful there. Surprisingly beautiful. The landscaping was lush and thick and the theming was spot on. I don’t know what I expected. It’s not like I was expecting to stay in a dump. I knew it was going to be nice. I just wasn’t prepared to immediately like it so much, I suppose.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3S.jpg

We decided to park our ride for the moment because A) the porte cochere was extremely crowded at the time and B) we weren’t sure when we’d be able to get in our room and C) we were okay with delaying the humiliation that goes hand in hand with unpacking our stuff in the presence of others for just a little while longer.

As we parked our overpacked ride and then walked across the street that separates the self parking area from the resort, we both immediately got a serious AKL vibe. We even said it to each other “I’m getting a serious AKL vibe.” From the outside, the resort seemed to be set up just like our beloved Animal Kingdom Lodge. The landscaping, the street dividing the resort from the parking lot, the walkover, it was a very weird feeling. Almost like déjà vu. But not really. As we walked up the small hill to the resort, I looked around me and breathed in. Deeply.

And made a flood of observations all at once.

The very first thing I noticed, besides the overwhelming lush beauty of the resort, was the fact that it smelled wonderful there. That was surprising. I can’t properly describe the smell. It was very similar to the one that permeates the AKL. The one we love so much. Well, when the poop pumping trucks aren’t around. It was similar, but slightly different. I suppose the best way to describe it is that it smelled like vacation. Wonderful, sweet vacation. The next thing I noticed was that you could hear the screams of fellow guests riding the Hulk and Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall off in the distance. They were screaming their heads off. And the fun they were having was infectious. It put a little skip in your step. The fact that you could hear them from the resort was pretty unexpected and is a testament to how much closer everything is in relation to the parks here. It’s not nearly as spread out as Disney and both parks can be reached by foot easily within about ten minutes. As we got closer we noticed the resort and the theming were top notch and very reminiscent of the Polynesian. It was very tropical and the vibe was extremely calming. Which is exactly what we were looking for. The last observation I made was that a huge number of guests seemed to be leaving on that day. Hence the backed up porte cochere. One look in the eyes of those vacationers told a complete tale. They were packing a raging case of Universalfreude.

Whatever that is.

We walked across the long bamboo bridge entryway, stopping along the way to take a picture or two.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3R-1.jpg

Then we walked in through the front door and stopped dead in our tracks.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3T.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3U.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3V.jpg

As we looked around, we caught eyes and smiled at each other. We may have even laughed at nothing and everything all at once. Needless to say, we were pretty dadgum impressed with the place and we just knew our time there was going to be good.

Right then and there, we did a whole lot of jumping up and down. We yelled “WHOOO HOOO WE’RE HERE!!!” and danced a jig. A backwards one.

But only in our minds. And to ourselves.

Because we were in a resort with interior corridors. And an orchid garden. And in those circumstances, we’re all about trying to exude some class.

And avoiding walking into the gas.

Sadly, we would be successful at neither.

Up Next: Lost and Found

[jcc0621]

Surely it can’t be. Please tell me I’m not hearing what I think I’m hearing. Could it… possibly be?

Quick as a flash, I wrapped myself up in a big thirsty towel as big as the state of Texas and rounded the corner to confirm what I knew I already knew.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3K.jpg


Oh snap! It’s Stacy.

ACK:scared1:

Instead, he held them out for me to get a good look at and said “You’re not gonna catch a ten year old walking around in a pair of Spiderman glasses, I can tell you that.” Then he did the combination “Pffff” eye roll/head bob thing.

:lmao:

In other words, the boy was NOT DOWN WITH THE CHARACTER ACTION. So I spanked him really hard and forced him to wear them anyway. Along with the bunny suit Aunt Clara made for him for Christmas.

But it's so PINK:rotfl2:


Up Next: Lost and Found

Uh ohpopcorn::

[ZZUB]

Those are not words we’re very familiar with, by the way.I imagine there are a lot of words you're not familiar with. Here now, a partial list:

Dictionary
Deoderant
Class
Couth
Toothbrush
Toilet paper
Winning Season
SEC Championship
Teeth
Dental floss
Indoor plumbing
Plumbing
Fresh vegetables
Pepsi
Diet Pepsi
Pepsi One
One Diet Pepsi
Dulcolax
Diploma
and Succint

On prior trips. Not this one. Or the last one. But on the one before that.Hang on a second. I'm fully awake and I have no clue which trip you're talking about here. Was this the trip from 2005 or 2004? Is there some kind of key we can consult?

Would this paragraph ever end?Your ability to sum up what so many of us are thinking is impressive.

The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.As am I after I've had Mexican. Food that is.

They were both out of this world.We get it; you stayed off-property. How many times are you going to tell us that?!

I’ve always been told one second equals one mile.That's interesting. I'd always heard that 5,280 feet equals one mile. Must be the difference in our education.

Much like losing to State has become a tradition for Bama. It annoys the stew out of us yet we watch anyway.If it annoys the stew out of you, can you imagine what it does to us? FYI: if something happening 2 years in a row makes a tradition, then you are ready to be a ZZUB.

So I promptly bought one and dropped it in the mail to ZZUB.That was from you?! I thought my Aunt Barabara forgot to put a card in the box again.

Other than the fact I can't tell if you went to Disney World or Universal or Dollywood or all three, I'm enjoying your TR. It's vaguely reminiscent of a root canal I had a few years back.

And don't front, LaLa, we all know y'all tried to get into the Ponderosa but the line was out the door and you ended up at Carrabas on accident.

:moped:

[praisehisname]

Now you've got me actually (gasp!) considering checking out Universal! That resort looks really nice!

Denise

[Backstage_Gal]

We tend to think of ourselves as On Property People. OPP, if you will. That’s right. Naughty by Nature had it all wrong. When we go to Disney, we stay on property. We eat every meal on property. Once we arrive, we park our tails on property and we don’t dare venture outside the invisible border of Walt’s 47 square miles for the entire week. For nothin’.


You were Disney Marketing Machine Dream People. :lovestruc:
"Come here, my Pretty, DO NOT LEAVE! Spend every last penny in the House of the Mouse."
Witness Disney's Magical Express. Free transportation, no need for a car, just stay ON PROPERTY!!! (where is that hypnosis smiley when you need it!?)

But no more! It's a sad, sad day for my 401K. Let's just hope it's not going to catch on :scared:


The last observation I made was that a huge number of guests seemed to be leaving on that day. Hence the backed up porte cochere. One look in the eyes of those vacationers told a complete tale. They were packing a raging case of Universalfreude.

Whatever that is.



Schadenfreude isenjoyment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness) taken from the misfortune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffering) of someone else. So technically, YOU were having Universalfreude, if indeed you got enjoyment from them leaving. The people checking out just had misery. Sorry, being German, that just always slightly bugged me (see, I am typing this really small)
(NOZzub) However, I will accept and embrace it as a DIS term (as if I had a choice, LOL)



Fabulous report as always, Lala!!

[Tanya90210]

Can't hide from stacy :scared1:

That resort looks gorgeous!!! Your GPS is wickid cool... I am hopin we get one before the trip as I hate being the "navigator" too...

Another fabu chapter LaLa :thumbsup2

[Msslaydbug]

I have always been an on-Disney-property fan as well..... that's until we stay a Royal Pacific as well !!! :woohoo: We :love: that place !! If it was closer I might choose to stay there and drive to Disney <gasp!> . We like the onsite perks of it as well :woohoo: and the pool was divine ! Your pictures brought back fond memories :love:

[Liz]

Liz, what you wrote made me smile. I'm so glad something like a little trip report that I wrote was able to distract you from your worries and make the time go by faster for you while you and your daughter were in the hospital. I pray your tests results bring you really good news. I'm glad you found us, Liz. Even though it's obvious that you read that mess ZZUB turns out, I'm willing to overlook it. Thanks for posting.

:moped:

Hi LaLa, unfortunately the test results were not what we hoped for so we'll be doing a repeat performance of the hospital stay a month from now. Don't suppose you could get this TR done by then so it can come with us?! (I know, not holding my breath or anything.) Just FYI, your #2 report ended up being 156 pages long after I copied it into Word, deleted the pics and combined lots (but not all by any means) of paragraphs! Enjoyed every second of your second!

Info on our situation can be found here if you are interested:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1822232

[lexmelinda]

Your installment just made me wanna rush right over to the Universal boards. It sounds great so far.

I could've done without the people farting their all you can eat steak at you when your mouth is open. But that made me snort-laugh a little. ;)

And Stacy! Is there no escape?!

Where's that Hampton Inn? It looks like the rooms I've seen at the Contemporary! Nice.

[princessjv]

Another masterpiece in the making is amongst us. Glad to hear that there may be life outside of the back forty-seven. We just haven't mustard that courage to check it out yet. Glad someone has. ;)

Hear that noise?



sssssssssss





Hear it? SSSSSSSS




Yep.




You sucked me in.

[CampbellScot]

Isn't it just a kick in the teeth when kids go and get OPINIONS about what they will or will not wear?!

I was informed last week that as a NINE year old, my step daughter would no longer be down with anything that was babyish...ie. dressing up like a princess...even at Disney. Which is too bad for her b/c I already spent money on an outfit she HAD TO HAVE for Disney a few months ago...and she'll be wearing it...and SMILING while she wears it...or else.

I'm mean that way. :flower3:

Wow...your Universal digs seem a bit like an AKL/Poly cross!! That must have been pretty dang SWEET!

can't wait till you make it into the parks!

good stuff Lala!!!:thumbsup2

[AussieAngel]

FYI, two things you can't get in Australia...

1) Shrimp Scampi :sad2:

2) Doggie bags :sad1:

Ohhhhhhh, now I want to be back in Orlando even more!!!! :sad:

But luckily, we do get to read Lala trip reports!! Phew!!!! :yay:

[Frickles]

I chose the Chicken Parmesan

Well we just might have the same daddy because that is what I would have chosen too sister.

Both my husband and I agreed wholeheartedly that our meal that night at Carrabba’s was head and shoulders above a very high percentage of the meals we’d ever had on property at Disney.

I think our best Orlando meal ever was at Friday's near Universal. They had this boy that would twist balloons in all kind of funny shapes other than ciruclar.

After we finished licking the crumbs off the floor, we asked for a to-go box

scratch that sister comment I made above


There was also a huge desk with a lit mirror that would work just fine for some one on one time with Estee Lauder in the a.m. Unlike my girl Frick, I wasn’t planning on taking one for the team.

When I took one for the team, I was begifted with lots of goodies at H.S. Maybe it was because people felt sorry for me. I usually spend a lot of time with ole' Estee and her step sister Clinique. Sometimes I pull out the big guns, like Chanel because JoMomma used to be a make-up artist for Chanel & she got me hooked. Unfortunately.


It was like browsing for Prada purses in Chinatown. Not that I've ever done that. Or know anyone who has.
;)

Instead, he held them out for me to get a good look at and said “You’re not gonna catch a ten year old walking around in a pair of Spiderman glasses, I can tell you that.” Then he did the combination “Pffff” eye roll/head bob thing.

sigh....we're so close to this it isn't funny.

The next thing I noticed was that you could hear the screams of fellow guests riding the Hulk and Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall off in the distance. They were screaming their heads off. And the fun they were having was infectious. It put a little skip in your step.

I love that sound....it means you are about to be knocking on Fun's front door.

I loved all of your pictures! We have been to Universal two times (with a toddler so it was a pretty tame time) and we had a ball there. I can't wait to hear about the whole on-property experience! The resort looks absolutely beautiful! I think the LaLa's have made a most excellent choice in resorts!!!
Keep cranking it out my friend!!!!

[burly]

Love the new update. :thumbsup2 I have stayed at the RPR before and we are going to again next month, can't wait.!!

[PrincessV]

Off property.
shudder :scared:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3H.jpg
Are those Heavenly Beds I spy?!?!
crisp, fluffy white down comforters covering two queen size to die for pillow top mattresses.
YE-ES!!!! :woohoo:

All I can say about my shopping experience at Walgreen’s is that I was floored by all the cheap Disney stuff for sale in there. Floored!
Welcome to drugstore life in FL! :rotfl: Even MY Walgreens - nearly 2 hours away from WDW - is swimming in faux-Disney apparrel.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3S.jpg
Is anyone else getting a sense of deja-vu? :confused:

As we parked our overpacked ride and then walked across the street that separates the self parking area from the resort, we both immediately got a serious AKL vibe.
Hmmm.... nope, it's not AKL I'm sensing....
As we got closer we noticed the resort and the theming were top notch and very reminiscent of the Polynesian.
THAT's it! Do they serve Lapu Lapus, too? ;)

I'll confess, in my former life, I was down with OPP. The Off-Property version, that is. Somehow, The Mouse has managed to keep me onsite for the last 10-ish years. Thanks for the reminder that good things do exist beyond the Walls That Walt Built. I'll trade Le Cellier for Carrabbas any day. :thumbsup2

[Chapter 11]

Some might even say we were overdue. Some might not.

And some would just say "let it go".

In case anyone is confuzzled.

Oh good lord -- is anyone not confuzzled at this point? I have absolutely no idea what trip I'm even reading about. Still, it's all good.

God forbid a million times.

Played. Way played.

I’m not sure if it’s an accurate formula but I’ve always been told one second equals one mile.

Uh, sorry there, Mrs. Science Professor, but it's 5 seconds to a mile. But perhaps you shouldn't tell your kids that.

Plus there was the all important hard carpet.

Can’t forget that hard carpet.

Ahhhh.

Cause we're cool like that.

Ummm .... oh, never mind.

And finally, were surprised to find they even had the prerequisite guard gate…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Q.jpg

Is there nothing that you won't take a picture of?

[Tinkerbellarella]

We tend to think of ourselves as On Property People. OPP, if you will. That’s right. Naughty by Nature had it all wrong.

So THAT'S what that song's about! ;)

We even licked the spillage off each other. And the people sitting at the table next to us.

I hope you at least bought them dinner first.

The bathroom didn’t disappoint either. It was nice and roomy. Plus they even had curved shower rods.

Seriously, next to sliced bread and maybe hybrid automobile technology, this is the greatest invention ever. Anything that can save me from a shower curtain hug is a blessing.

we both immediately got a serious AKL vibe.

I was totally getting a Poly vibe. But then again, I've never stayed at AKL. Or the Poly for that matter. So maybe I should just keep those vibes to myself.

That totally didn't come out right. Moving on.

The resort is very pretty.

I looked around me and breathed in. Deeply.

Considering your Ponderosa description some paragraphs back, you are a brave, brave woman to breathe deeply anywhere without a few preliminary test-sniffs.

That's interesting. I'd always heard that 5,280 feet equals one mile. Must be the difference in our education.

Leave it to ZZUB to make this comparison.

For whatever reason, this made me laugh out loud quite hard. Which could say something about me.

La, I'm enjoying this immensely. I've always felt the large anti-Disney draw to spend a couple of nights at Universal instead of making them day trips but to date I haven't succumbed. I might need to drop my guard a bit and give in.

Although it's good to know ahead of time that this is no escaping Stacy and her "I Was To Lazy To Think Of Three More Things" list.

Looking forward to more!

:flower3:

[TarzansKat]

LaLa, I admit you have me intrigued. That hotel looks lovely. And so far, you're painting a very pretty picture of all things Universal. But shhhhh...don't tell my DH. Must go to Disney at all costs! :lmao: JK, but seriously, I'm holding off on the Universal jaunt until DS is tall enough to do most of the rides...and currently he's 3...albeit a very tall three year old...doom is impending. ;)

[kathymc]

Yeah another lala trippie! I just cant wait to read more

And as much as I cant stand Stacie - I had to smile when I saw her face pop up.

[LaLa]

ACK:scared1:

Yep Exactly what I said.

That was from you?! I thought my Aunt Barabara forgot to put a card in the box again.

No ZZUB. The shirt was from us. The appliance was from Aunt Barabara. Who probably bears a striking resemblance to Aunt Barbara. If I had to guess. I'm glad to see you ignoring the extra consonants and giving the vowels more air time these days.

Other than the fact I laughed at your dumb little list more than I care to admit, I'm detesting your responses. They're reminiscent of ten root canals and an eyebrow wax I had (all at the same time) a few months back.

And don't front, LaLa, we all know y'all tried to get into the Ponderosa but the line was out the door and you ended up at Carrabas on accident.

Taco Bell, ZZUB. It was the Taco Bell. Saidly, they didn't have one Pepsi One. So we put the place on Ignore. NOyou.

Now you've got me actually (gasp!) considering checking out Universal! That resort looks really nice!

Denise

It was really nice. Glad you liked the pics.


Schadenfreude isenjoyment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness) taken from the misfortune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffering) of someone else. So technically, YOU were having Universalfreude, if indeed you got enjoyment from them leaving. The people checking out just had misery. Sorry, being German, that just always slightly bugged me (see, I am typing this really small)
(NOZzub) However, I will accept and embrace it as a DIS term (as if I had a choice, LOL)



Fabulous report as always, Lala!!

Thanks for clearing up the terminology, Marita. But I gotta ask: why are you No Offensing ZZUB when you say really small? Could it be that I'm not the only one who pictures him about three foot five?

Your GPS is wickid cool... I am hopin we get one before the trip as I hate being the "navigator" too...

Another fabu chapter LaLa :thumbsup2

Thanks Tanya90210. The GPS is very cool. I highly recommend it. When DH opened it on Christmas Eve, we wasted no time. We threw the kids in the backseat in their red flannel Christmas pajamas with their eyes all a-glow, left the house (the living room was in shambles) and rode around the block. With Mrs. GPS and her professional sounding voice telling us to turn left. Over and over. We kicked it up a notch and rode up to the Shell station after that. Laughing and saying "Listen to her, listen!" the whole time. We could NOT believe she knew how to get us there. And back! As Redneck as it all was, that was one of our best Christmas memories. And yes, we're complete dorks.

I have always been an on-Disney-property fan as well..... that's until we stay a Royal Pacific as well !!! :woohoo: We :love: that place !! If it was closer I might choose to stay there and drive to Disney <gasp!> . We like the onsite perks of it as well :woohoo: and the pool was divine ! Your pictures brought back fond memories :love:

Glad I could bring back some good memories for you, Msladybug. It was a very cool place.

Hi LaLa, unfortunately the test results were not what we hoped for so we'll be doing a repeat performance of the hospital stay a month from now. Don't suppose you could get this TR done by then so it can come with us?! (I know, not holding my breath or anything.) Just FYI, your #2 report ended up being 156 pages long after I copied it into Word, deleted the pics and combined lots (but not all by any means) of paragraphs! Enjoyed every second of your second!

Info on our situation can be found here if you are interested:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1822232

Liz, I'm sorry to hear yall didn't get the news you were hoping for. Thanks for providing the link. I was moved to tears when I read the story of your daughter's journey. I'll keep you and your family in my prayers, Liz. I'm trying my hardest not to have this TR take as long as the other ones did but I'm still thinking next month is gonna be a longshot. Perhaps you could print out ZZUB's to take with you? Oh who am I kidding? There's not enough ink in the free world to print that baby out.

And Stacy! Is there no escape?!

Sadly, and possibly not so sadly, no.

Where's that Hampton Inn? It looks like the rooms I've seen at the Contemporary! Nice.

It's just a few blocks north of Universal, LM. I think it's called Hampton Inn North Universal Blvd. The traveler reviews were all very good, which turned DH onto it. The price didn't hurt either.

Another masterpiece in the making is amongst us. Glad to hear that there may be life outside of the back forty-seven. We just haven't mustard that courage to check it out yet. Glad someone has. ;)

Hear that noise? sssssssssss

Hear it? SSSSSSSS

Yep.

You sucked me in.

Glad you got sucked in, Princess JV!

Isn't it just a kick in the teeth when kids go and get OPINIONS about what they will or will not wear?!

I was informed last week that as a NINE year old, my step daughter would no longer be down with anything that was babyish...ie. dressing up like a princess...even at Disney. Which is too bad for her b/c I already spent money on an outfit she HAD TO HAVE for Disney a few months ago...and she'll be wearing it...and SMILING while she wears it...or else.

I'm mean that way. :flower3:



Your post made me laugh, CampbellScot. And I've got a feeling that no matter how much she protests right now, sweet Sally will be happy to wear that dress when she gets to Disneyworld. Disney has a way of turning back the years like no other place can. Heck, I'd don a Belle gown right now and walk around the place if I thought I could get away with it.

FYI, two things you can't get in Australia...

1) Shrimp Scampi :sad2:

2) Doggie bags :sad1:



My condolences. But at least you've got Shrimp on the Barbie. And vegemite sandwiches. That's bound to make you smile.

I think our best Orlando meal ever was at Friday's near Universal. They had this boy that would twist balloons in all kind of funny shapes other than ciruclar.

That settles it. You ARE my long lost sister. The quickest way to our hearts is not through our stomachs. It's through balloon animals. Our daughter still talks about the night the hobo at the Mexican restaurant made an Ariel balloon for her. And a sword for the boy. Why do the boys always end up with the sword?

I usually spend a lot of time with ole' Estee and her step sister Clinique. Sometimes I pull out the big guns, like Chanel because JoMomma used to be a make-up artist for Chanel & she got me hooked. Unfortunately.

Borg again. That's cool that your mom worked for Chanel. The only thing I like better than free food is free makeup. I have a friend who worked for Clinique for awhile and getting ready to go out at her house back in the day was like Christmas morning. She had everything under the sun.

Love the new update. :thumbsup2 I have stayed at the RPR before and we are going to again next month, can't wait.!!

Thanks burly! How cool is RPR? I'm so jealous that you're going next month. But that won't stop me from wishing you a GREAT trip! Enjoy the cookies.


Are those Heavenly Beds I spy?!?!

YE-ES!!!! :woohoo:

They were indeed heavenly.

I'll trade Le Cellier for Carrabbas any day. :thumbsup2

Hang on now. Let's not get crazy. Carrabba's was awesome but we love us some Le Cellier too.

Well played.

Well, thank you Chap. I wasn't expecting any compliments out of you. God forbid a million times you should leave the snark behind. Still. That was nice.

Uh, sorry there, Mrs. Science Professor, but it's 5 seconds to a mile. But perhaps you shouldn't tell your kids that.

WHAT?!! Five seconds is one mile?! Are you being serious or are you pulling my leg? Because if you're right, I've been consoling my kids with the thought that they're NOWHERE NEAR the action when they've been steppin' all in it for YEARS! Is that true? If so, how do you know? Did you Wikipedia it?

Is there nothing that you won't take a picture of?

If you think that's bad, you should see what I took a picture of at Fort Wilderness on another trip. Not this one. Or the last one. Or the one before that. The one before that one. It was so bad DH wouldn't let me post it. On that trip report. Not this one. Or the other one. But another one.

So THAT'S what that song's about! ;)

Of course. What'd you think it was about? :confused3

Seriously, next to sliced bread and maybe hybrid automobile technology, this is the greatest invention ever. Anything that can save me from a shower curtain hug is a blessing.

A shower curtain hug? That just made me laugh out loud. And grossed me out all at the same time.

La, I'm enjoying this immensely. I've always felt the large anti-Disney draw to spend a couple of nights at Universal instead of making them day trips but to date I haven't succumbed. I might need to drop my guard a bit and give in.

Believe it or not, there are worse things that can happen to you than being forced to spend a couple nights in a Universal resort. One of them being a shower curtain hug in a run down, dirty, flea bitten Days Inn in Ocala.

Shudder!

LaLa, I admit you have me intrigued. That hotel looks lovely. And so far, you're painting a very pretty picture of all things Universal. But shhhhh...don't tell my DH. Must go to Disney at all costs! :lmao: JK, but seriously, I'm holding off on the Universal jaunt until DS is tall enough to do most of the rides...and currently he's 3...albeit a very tall three year old...doom is impending. ;)

Tarzanskat, I hear you on the height thing. We were a litte worried that our kids would be too young to really enjoy themselves this time. But I think at 10 and 7, they were just about right for it. Glad you're enjoying the report.

And as much as I cant stand Stacie - I had to smile when I saw her face pop up.

Me too. But don't tell anybody I said that. Glad to see you back around, kathymc!


:moped:

[Chapter 11]

WHAT?!! Five seconds is one mile?! Are you being serious or are you pulling my leg? Because if you're right, I've been consoling my kids with the thought that they're NOWHERE NEAR the action when they've been steppin' all in it for YEARS! Is that true? If so, how do you know? Did you Wikipedia it?

Quite serious. And no, I didn't Wikipedia it. It's just something you know. Like the fact that, despite your contentions to the contrary, one should never wallpaper one's outhouse -- the natural wood look is much better. But, if you want the technical explanation, light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so you see the lightning flash virtually instantaneously. Sound, on the other hand, travels at the slower speed of one-fifth of a mile per second (1129 feet per second). Simple math (NOFrick) leads you to the conclusion that every 5 seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of the thunder is equivalent to one mile.

[DVCTiff]

Not that the report so far hasn't been fun. Wasn't saying that all. Just happy you're finally at a park! Thought you'd never make it. What with licking crumbs off of strangers.

Can't wait for more!

[Tinkerbellarella]

But, if you want the technical explanation, light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so you see the lightning flash virtually instantaneously. Sound, on the other hand, travels at the slower speed of one-fifth of a mile per second (1129 feet per second). Simple math (NOFrick) leads you to the conclusion that every 5 seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of the thunder is equivalent to one mile.

This is probably one of the few times that I wish a DISer could actually see me read their post. (Apparently I took the same Math class Frickles supposedly took.)

Let me provide you with the visual:

It started with the 'puppy head tilt' (surely you know of which I speak). Then the head straightened out. Then slowly the eyebrows went up. Then an excited "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Chappie's the bomb. Diggity."

And I did, indeed, say that out loud.

And then looked around to see if anyone heard me.

I always believed the one second/one mile ratio as well. I think I read it somewhere. And you should always believe what you read. Verbatim. ;

[Frickles]

Chappie I saw that.

And you sure are smart.

You must be from Georgia.

[nicolemarie]

Why didn't someone tell me you had a new installment up?

When we go to Disney, we stay on property. We eat every meal on property. Once we arrive, we park our tails on property and we don’t dare venture outside the invisible border of Walt’s 47 square miles for the entire week. For nothin’.

So what are you tryin' to say? You stayed off property and you usually don't?

We showed up pretty late (in our world, that means after 6:00 because we’re all Del Boca Vista when it comes to dinner times) and I was worried we would have a long wait.

We're like that, too. I wonder how early we'll be grabbing dinner by the time we're 65?

But most importantly, we did some serious damage to our cute little plate o’ herbs. Not only did we clean the plate, we licked it. We licked the plate, we licked our fingers. We even licked the spillage off each other. And the people sitting at the table next to us. That’s how good it was.

You know, if you live somewhere with a decent grocery store, you can recreate that "cute little plate o' herbs" any time you want. Cause you're right...that's some good eatin', right there.

The Hampton Inn, baby.

Love me some Hampton Inn. Good call, Mr. Lala.

There was also a huge desk with a lit mirror that would work just fine for some one on one time with Estee Lauder in the a.m.

Just be glad you HAD your Estee Lauder. Because there was this one time that someone I knew left their toiletry bag at home. :sad2: And had to run to Walmart in Lake City, FL at midnight to replinish the makeup. Thinking "How bad can it be? It's certainly the cheapest" as she threw packages of Wet N' Wild into her BUGGY, she sadly realized the next morning that when it comes to some things, you get what you pay for.

At that point, she wasn't lovin' the huge desk with a lit mirror at the Hampton Inn.

Watching the Top Seven Must Sees has become a tradition for us.

I totally understand this. My kids LOVE Stacy. They have her whole script memorized, and like to regurgitate it often as we hit her "must see" attractions in the parks. She bugs the stew out of me, though. The line I hate the MOST is the "Mickey...Mickey's my boy."

We watched for a little while and then flipped on over to the Six Flags station. After a half hour of the Dogpatch USA station and ten minutes of the Arby’s station starring the Oven Mitt Man, we called it a night.

DED!!!

But don't you know that the Arby's logo floating in midair above your head is the new Oven Mitt man?

I'm thinkin' Arby's.

As we looked around, we caught eyes and smiled at each other. We may have even laughed at nothing and everything all at once. Needless to say, we were pretty dadgum impressed with the place and we just knew our time there was going to be good.

Girl, I loved the pictures and commentary on driving into Universal. Something new and totally different, and so close to the place you thought you could never leave. It just goes to show that while Disney may be our measuring stick, we'd be wise to consider that there are other places our family can have a good time. Because vacation isn't just about the destination, it's about the company. And anyplace with your family has got to be fun.

Except Dollywood. I still stand by the fact that you'd be livid if you'd gone to Dollywood.

Great installment, my friend. Sorry I've taken so long to get around to it. Things have been crazy here at the end of the year, and my computer time has been limited.

But things could be worse. I could have started a new job only to find out my new smelly coworker is ZZUB.

:flower3:

[PirateFish989]

DH joined in on the fun by adding “You must have to really be special to score tickets to something like that. Too bad we’re not going. But we’ll have to see if they’ve got a Shrek and Dunkey party at Universal. I’m sure it’ll be just as much fun.”




Okay, so I'm a little late here.

But, my anthropoogy professor said something today that reminded me out your trip report!!! Today in class, which is always so incredibly boring, my professor was going on and on about something (like a rock with pictures of people and animals on it) and I was just about to shift my attention to something else, say, for instance, drawing flowers in my notebook, when I heard it. I looked up, scanned the room, and was about to go back to my oh-so-important flower drawing when I heard it again. This time, I looked up to my professor and he was pointing to this rock thing that had a picture of a donkey on it. He was saying "and this dunkey is significant because...blah blah blah." I couldn't believe it! He said Dunkey! Just like LaLa said Dunkey in her trip report! I may have made some odd noise while I was trying to contain my laughter. I also may have thought "wow, I didn't know anyone actually says dunkey." And I possibly could have thought "I can't believe that I'm relating my anthropology class to the DisBoards! If anyone knew! This is so great."

Anyway, that made my day.

You're doing a great job, LaLa.

[AshClan]

Like NM, I am late. Even though it's not the "end of the year" for us until June 20th.:sad2: Anyhoo, I did read it. Probably a couple of times. Just haven't had the time to comment on yet another great LaLa chapter.

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Orlando. And promptly made what would be the first of many changes to the itenerary. The formerly set in stone, not to be messed around with (NOJim), iron clad, don’t change it or else bad, horrible things might happen itinerary.

Hope you didn't spit into the wind.

Those are not words we’re very familiar with, by the way.

Off property.

We tend to think of ourselves as On Property People. OPP, if you will. That’s right. Naughty by Nature had it all wrong. When we go to Disney, we stay on property. We eat every meal on property. Once we arrive, we park our tails on property and we don’t dare venture outside the invisible border of Walt’s 47 square miles for the entire week. For nothin’. We have even come thisclose to disowning a certain member of our family, one who shall remain nameless, for driving us out of Disneyworld.

I hear ya, Girl. Last month, we had some camera memory card issues, and had to venture off property to a Target we had spied on our way in. It was further away than we remembered, and the trip involved about 20 minutes of hell driving down the Atlantic City/Ocean City/backstreets of any skanky beach town craphole that is called International Drive. Once inside Target, I told Jay that he was NEVER to take me off property again. It was horrifying. Made further so by the fact that my dear husband was rather dismayed at my snobbishness. Yet again.

We showed up pretty late (in our world, that means after 6:00 because we’re all Del Boca Vista when it comes to dinner times) and I was worried we would have a long wait.

I had dinner last night with a couple of girlfriends. We met up early. So early that, you guessed it, we were able to order Early Bird Specials, which came with soup or salad, and a bowl of ice cream and coffee or tea. I felt about 75 years old. Del Boca Vista, here we come!:banana:

I was about to quote "The Hampton Inn, baby", but then realized I was quoting all the same things as NM. Suffice it to say, we are borg with ya on that. We stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn this past weekend (the big reunion), and it looked remarkably similar. It was an awesome place for a measly $89 ducks a night. They didn't even charge us when our boys (in the room alone while we were on campus) called and order KETCHUP (yep, JUST ketchup) from room service because their McDonalds order was lacking.:rolleyes:

But above all of that, the room was clean. Clean as a dadgum whistle.

Which has never made any sense to me. Have you ever looked inside a whistle? Those things are saliva traps. Ain't nothing clean about that.

This made me laugh out loud. And I'm surprised clean freak NM didn't comment on this one, too. Guess she got too wrapped up in "someone's" forgotten make-up story.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3S.jpg

Wow. It is wild how "Disneyfied" this looks!

Despite my "never again" comment above, I am liking the sounds of Universal. I think I'd be okay as long as I stayed "on property" there. Because it may not be leaving DISNEY property that's my issue. I think it's just the generic Orlando vicinity (read: International Drive) that skeeves me. Staying on property at a nice hotel within the grounds of a theme park works kind of like those all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica. Just get me in a little faux world of happiness and fun, and don't let me see the dark side. I know, I'm sounding totally spoiled, aren't I? Well, hey, if my kids can order ketchup from room service without thinking twice about it, I can be a on property snob (OPS). Either that or my whole family is an embarrassment to our friends, family and anyone else who knows us.

At any rate, I loved this chapter, La, and can't wait to get more deets on the ever-more-appealing Universal Studios!

[LaLa]

Quite serious. And no, I didn't Wikipedia it. It's just something you know. Like the fact that, despite your contentions to the contrary, one should never wallpaper one's outhouse -- the natural wood look is much better. But, if you want the technical explanation, light travels at 186,000 miles per second, so you see the lightning flash virtually instantaneously. Sound, on the other hand, travels at the slower speed of one-fifth of a mile per second (1129 feet per second). Simple math (NOFrick) leads you to the conclusion that every 5 seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of the thunder is equivalent to one mile.

Chappie, you had me at quite serious. Weren't you the one who wrapped up the smartest lawyer I know title? If not, you just did it with that explanation. Thanks for the surprisingly easy to follow 4-1-1, but just between you and me, my kids will NEVER KNOW ABOUT THIS. Never. Now the trick is to keep them from being able to read. Over my shoulder. And since when has math ever been simple?

Cue my girl Frick...

Thought you'd never make it. What with licking crumbs off of strangers.

Yes, licking crumbs off strangers can be quite time consuming. And unsanitary. Depending on who you lick.

You know, if you live somewhere with a decent grocery store, you can recreate that "cute little plate o' herbs" any time you want. Cause you're right...that's some good eatin', right there.

I've tried recreating that cute little plate o' herbs, and it just wasn't the same. I went right by the recipe and DH took one bite and said "Hmmm. What kind of herb dip is this?" Translation: "What the heck is this crap and where do you get off feeding it to me, woman?! I best not ever see it on my table again or else you're gettin' a wedgie."

Just be glad you HAD your Estee Lauder. Because there was this one time that someone I knew left their toiletry bag at home. :sad2: And had to run to Walmart in Lake City, FL at midnight to replinish the makeup. Thinking "How bad can it be? It's certainly the cheapest" as she threw packages of Wet N' Wild into her BUGGY, she sadly realized the next morning that when it comes to some things, you get what you pay for.

At that point, she wasn't lovin' the huge desk with a lit mirror at the Hampton Inn.

I'm SO DED at this. Wet n Wild?! What's up with that? At the very least, I would think someone you know would've gone with the Rimmel action. It's been clinically proven to produce much faster caked up nasty crease lines in the middle of the eyelid action. Or so I would think. I hope someone you know didn't have an allergic reaction to Wet n Wild. Because someone I know did once. And no, it was NOT pretty.

Things have been crazy here at the end of the year, and my computer time has been limited.

But things could be worse. I could have started a new job only to find out my new smelly coworker is ZZUB.

:flower3:

This made me laugh. Not only because I can relate, but because I can relate. Not only is my computer time severely limited as of late (which stinks by itself) but I AM WORKING WITH A ZZUB!!! Kind of. They're about the same age. Roughly. Release about the same amount of gas per day. Stinkily. The only difference is ZZUB has more hair. On his chin. And his arms. Legs. Toes. And knuckles.



But, my anthropoogy professor said something today that reminded me out your trip report!!! Today in class, which is always so incredibly boring, my professor was going on and on about something (like a rock with pictures of people and animals on it) and I was just about to shift my attention to something else, say, for instance, drawing flowers in my notebook, when I heard it. I looked up, scanned the room, and was about to go back to my oh-so-important flower drawing when I heard it again. This time, I looked up to my professor and he was pointing to this rock thing that had a picture of a donkey on it. He was saying "and this dunkey is significant because...blah blah blah." I couldn't believe it! He said Dunkey! Just like LaLa said Dunkey in her trip report! I may have made some odd noise while I was trying to contain my laughter. I also may have thought "wow, I didn't know anyone actually says dunkey." And I possibly could have thought "I can't believe that I'm relating my anthropology class to the DisBoards! If anyone knew! This is so great."

Anyway, that made my day.

You're doing a great job, LaLa.

Thanks Piratefish. That made me laugh. The number of times I've thought about some silly little something from someone's trip report just by hearing a trigger word while I'm out and about are way too numerous to mention. Welcome to the crazy train. Thanks for posting that. And who's seen Shrek and doesn't pronounce it dunkey?! Everybody knows dunkey is the new donkey.

Like NM, I am late. Even though it's not the "end of the year" for us until June 20th.:sad2:

June 20th?! Move your sweet self down South, Ash. Our kids are already out. Where has the year gone?!

Hope you didn't spit into the wind.


Nope. And although we were tempted, we didn't tug on Superman's cape or pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger either. Everybody knows you don't do that.


I hear ya, Girl. Last month, we had some camera memory card issues, and had to venture off property to a Target we had spied on our way in. It was further away than we remembered, and the trip involved about 20 minutes of hell driving down the Atlantic City/Ocean City/backstreets of any skanky beach town craphole that is called International Drive. Once inside Target, I told Jay that he was NEVER to take me off property again. It was horrifying. Made further so by the fact that my dear husband was rather dismayed at my snobbishness. Yet again.

Ash, this left me DED. Because I can SO relate. We foolishly ventured into Wal Mart in Orlando once many years ago and I have never been so ready to get out of place than I was that night. It really was that bad. So don't worry about Jay and the dismay. I got your back, my girl.

Despite my "never again" comment above, I am liking the sounds of Universal. I think I'd be okay as long as I stayed "on property" there. Because it may not be leaving DISNEY property that's my issue. I think it's just the generic Orlando vicinity (read: International Drive) that skeeves me. Staying on property at a nice hotel within the grounds of a theme park works kind of like those all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica. Just get me in a little faux world of happiness and fun, and don't let me see the dark side. I know, I'm sounding totally spoiled, aren't I? Well, hey, if my kids can order ketchup from room service without thinking twice about it, I can be a on property snob (OPS). Either that or my whole family is an embarrassment to our friends, family and anyone else who knows us.

Somehow I HIGHLY DOUBT that last statement is true. But I know what you mean about loving the on property gig. Believe me, I know. OPP, remember? But Universal is pretty cool in that it has that whole "no need to go off property" vibe going on too. It's not on the scale of Disney yet. But it's getting there. Thanks for reading and responding, chick.

:moped:

[LaLa]

After we finished raisin’ the roof and managed to roll our tongues back up in our heads, we found our way to the check in line. Within just a few short minutes, we were spouting out our information to the clerk behind the desk.

After she bid us Aloha.

They have fancy computers there too, by the way. Along with employees who speak little to no English. In other words, we felt right at home.

At some point, we may have asked if there was any possibility that we could get an upgraded room. Twice. Softly at first and then very loudly. With hand gestures. Plural. At some point we may have crashed and burned. Once. With a return hand gesture. Singular. Apparently they were all out of free upgrades that day. Spring Break and all that. We would be getting the room we actually paid for this time. Dangit! Gotta hate when that happens. She was very polite and helpful though. She had us checked in lickity split and handed us our information packet and our card keys. Those cool as all get out card keys would become absolutely GOLDEN to us later in the parks.

All I’ll say about it now is the privileges afforded resort key card holders in the parks were HUGE and made the stay there well worth it. Well, that and the cookies. More on that later.

The room wasn’t ready but she took our cell phone number and said they would call us when it was. Then she did something we’ve never witnessed upon check in at any Disney resort. She gave the kids a free gift.

Say what?!

I know that’s what you’re saying right now in your head. Because it was what I said in my head when she did it. Along with a few other things. Too numerous to mention.

Who knew the kids got a free gift when you checked into the Royal Pacific Resort? Not us. The only thing they ever got at Disney was a boatload of stickers. Stickers that somehow find themselves stuck to the girl’s daybed (and the girl’s doll’s daybed) six months after we get home. All by themselves. Talk about bringing a piece of the magic home with you.

But not here. No. Here, they get Mack Daddy Magna Doodles, baby. The kind with the belt clip. That’s right. They were big time. And the kids were hugely impressed.

Well, the girl was. The boy wasn’t as easily impressed. He was still fuming about the Spiderman glasses and was too busy thinking his prenager (which is, in his words, a cross between a preteen and a teenager, and applies to all boys who have reached the ripe old age of ten, or so he says) thoughts to be impressed with a Magna Doodle suitable for wearing on his belt buckle. Just like his little sister was doing.

And his mom.

After we finished oohing and ahhing over the free gifts, we were handed a voucher and directed to the concierge desk across the way to pick up our tickets for the theme parks.

We got in line, made it up to the front (in short order) and were given our length of stay tickets. Easy as pie. After we had our business sitchated, we turned and walked away. All happy and stuff. But then I remembered that I needed to make some reservations for our meals. So I walked to the next concierge booth (the one with no line: which would end up being a running theme on this trip) while the kids and DH had a seat in the lobby and before you know it, Mrs. First Day on the Job and Still Going Through Training was on the phone, booking a couple of meals for us. It really was that fast and easy. There was no need to book anything 18000 days out. No need to change and rechange, think and rethink. NOpeteandrepeat. This Universal thing might just be allright.

As I was standing there waiting for confirmation that we were good to go, a gentleman walked up, wanting to know some information on a certain meal at Disneyworld. My ears immediately perk up. He foolishly asked the other conciege attendant about it. We’ll call her Miss I Only Know About Meals at Universal and Then I’m Not Even Sure About Those. Sadly, she didn’t have the first clue about the name of a certain character dinner.

Hosted by Cinderella.

At the Grand Floridian.

I tried to hold back, giving her time to be the hero. But it was all just too much for me to take. If I held it another second, I would’ve literally burst at the seams. If I had seams.

1900 Park Fare!

I blurted out.

Much louder than I probably should have. And faster than the speed of light. Or the speed of sound. Minus the five second rule. And then I dropped my eyes. Sheepishly. As I kicked the floor with my toe.

Then I proceeded to give him a short little information download on the setup of the restaurant, price per person, typical menu selections, mine and my husband’s personal preferences, cost and detailed description of the slipper dessert, a typical traffic flow pattern of the characters’ rotation within the dining room, our own personal tip on how to distinguish Suzy from Perla, an exact transcript of our most recent conversation with the Fairy Godmother, along with the approximate salt and butter content of each individual dish on the buffet.

All movement in the room ceased as everyone turned to look at (and mock) the idiot whose Disney geek knows no bounds.

After he recovered the ability to speak, he thanked me. And then ran way. Quickly. Never to be seen again.

NOmydignity.

After I managed to scare everyone in the room, we decided it was time for lunch.

Because freaking people out works up quite the appetite.

We ran down a list of restaurants at the resort and DH suggested we head out by the pool to check out Bula Bar and Grill. The man had his flip flops on and he was ready for some casual poolside dining. Because he was on vacation, dangit. A relaxing one at that. So we walked across the cavernous, marble floored lobby to a massive set of stairs on the opposite end of the building. We descended the stairs and walked outside. Again, we were blown away with the beauty of the grounds. I was sufficiently impressed. For the second time of the day. I flat out didn’t expect the place to be that pretty. As I walked around with my mouth open and the kids squealed at the sight of the pool, DH smiled like a little kid and kept saying in a semi high pitched voice, “I told you! I told you!”

First of all, I don’t remember him telling me anything. But that’s his go to answer when something’s either A) exceeded my expectations or B) not lived up to my expectations. Either way, he comes out looking like a rose with superior knowledge. Just waiting to be spilled on somebody.

We walked out to the pool and I snapped a few shots.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Y.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3X.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3W.jpg


All I can say is this pool was one bad mamma jamma. It had a zero entry point, which is awesome for little ones. And prenagers. The “ship” is a cool as all get out water play feature. Before our trip was over, the kids would spend umpteen million hours manning those water guns, running underneath the steady streams of water and being blown away by a monstrous blast of pool water three feet in diameter. In other words, this pool was the bomb diggity in their eyes.

It doesn’t hurt that you can see parts of Islands of Adventure in the background. And hear the infectious sound of fun in surround sound.

As the kids and I took in the place, DH found a table for us. The tables were a nice size, complete with a huge umbrella for shade. We took a look at the menu, which I conveniently took a picture of.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Z.jpg


It was the first official meal of vacation. You’ll have to forgive me if I got a little snap happy with the camera. My habit of taking pictures of anything and everything while we’re on vacation is something that I (unfortunately) passed onto our children on this trip. Every time we went to a restaurant and we were served, they’d hold out their greasy little hands for the camera. In order to take a picture of their food. No, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A1.jpg

And no, that’s not what the boy ate for lunch. We actually try to make them eat something besides ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. Occasionally. Along with the boy’s sandwich, they brought out a condiment tray. For him and him alone. He’d never been given a condiment tray before. Much less one all to himself. It made him downright giddy to have such all encompassing power over so many condiments. They were his and his alone to partake of at his will. Certainly that moment is so special it deserves to be etched onto a memory card.

Along with 999 of its closest friends.

After we ate, we sat around and talked for awhile. This is always the point where we’re the most excited on our trips. The point where we’ve just checked in and we’re checking out our resort. The point where we’re as far away from the end of our vacation as we can get and still be there. The days ahead are full of possibilities and the promise of fun yet to come. We had a good meal that day but we had an even better time sitting around that teak table underneath an oversized umbrella pouring over our maps and information packet together. Thinking. Planning. Anticipating. Laughing. And making Redneck Mickey stickers.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A3.jpg

As we were wrapping it up, we struck up a conversation with the family sitting next to us. Because that’s what we do when we’re on vacation. We meet people. We like getting to know just a little bit about them and trading stories for a few minutes. What brought them there, what they’ve experienced so far, that kind of thing. We found out they were from Florida and had season passes to Universal. We talked for a pretty good while and within that time, they shared several tips with us. Normally at Disney, this is the time where my eyes glaze over because I usually already know every piece of Disney knowledge random strangers lay on us there. Yes, I know about Fastpass. And yes, I know it’s free. But this time we were able to glean some pretty useful knowledge from the family we met on our first day of vacation. We were the rookies here. Not them. That was a weird feeling. But it was the first day of vacation so it was all good.

After we bid farewell to the family, the wife hesitated for a moment. She stepped away and then turned back. She acted like she wanted to tell me something else but was feeling a little shy about it. So I cut to the chase. I motioned her over and told her to spill it and spill it quick, sista. He eyes darted left and right nervously as she bent down and whispered in my ear “If you like to people watch, there’s NO BETTER PLACE to people watch than in these theme parks. You’re gonna see ALL KINDS of people out there.”

And then she gave me a knowing smile. Combined with the head nod. And winked at me.

I studied her face for a moment and then blurted out “Obviously you’ve never ridden a Disney bus. Sound the bell, school’s in, sucka.”

I said it not so much to her but more in my head and to myself.

While I did the Hamma.

As our new friends hurried off to sit on a park bench and take in the tourists, we took a stroll around the resort to get our bearings. We checked out the water taxi platform and came very close to heading into one of the parks for a few hours. But we had plans later and knew we needed to stay close to the resort in order to get unpacked as soon as our room was ready if we were to be able to stick to our cool as all get out plan for the evening. So we walked back up to the resort and checked out the gift shop. As we walked in, I realized I was missing something.

It was the information folder.

The same one that contained, among other things, all of our paperwork from our confirmation and check in. And although I couldn’t be sure, there was a possibility that our credit card number was on some of that paperwork. More than likely it wasn’t, but there was no way for me to be certain. And Orlando ain’t the place to have that floating around. So we backtracked and located the table we’d left just a few short minutes before. We were disappointed to find the table had already been cleared without the first hint that we’d ever been there. Dagnabbit! You can never get bad service when you need it. So DH approached our waiter and explained the situation. In hand gestures. Because of the whole language barrier thing. The guy goes in the kitchen and within a minute or so, returns with our information packet. And a very sheepish look on his face. God bless him. We both thank him profusely and DH hands it to me.

I notice it immediately.

It was wet. In spots. I wasn’t expecting that. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be stains of some sort on the outside. And the inside. Basically all over. They were scattered stains. As opposed to isolated stains. Stains that smelled a little like ginger dressing.

Me: Hey. Wanna know something funny?
DH: What?
Me: This packet’s wet. Kind of. It’s a little bit wet. Why do you think that is?
DH: Because it was in the garbage, La.
Me: WHAT?!!!!!!!!

I immediately straighten out my entire hand and drop it like it’s hot.

Then run and jump in the pool. Because it was the closest source of chlorine available.

Regular garbage is one thing. That’s bad enough. But Orlando garbage is something else entirely. There ain’t a bit of telling what lurks underneath the surface in that mess. But how cool was our waiter to go look in the garbage for a packet of info? Even though it was completely and utterly disgusting, I was still impressed.

And disgusted.

More impressed than disgusted though. Okay, who am I kidding? I’m LaLa. Germ freak extraordinaire. I was way more disgusted than impressed. Which is why I picked it up with a really big leaf and held it at arm’s length the entire walk over to the gift shop. With my hazards on. I scored a small bag from the clerk (along with a really funny puzzled stare) and found a quiet place to weed through the contents and throw out what couldn’t be salvaged and shuffle anything else that I didn’t want to throw away right then into the bag. With the leaf. Then I washed up in the bathroom and bathed my entire body in antibacterial gel.

Three times. Then once again. For good measure.

And yes, I still have nightmares about it. Bad ones. The kind that produce a really funny (after the fact) bloodcurdling scream/yodel. Which never fails to scare the pants off my husband at three a.m. when he hears the signature scream/yodel pierce the quiet darkness of the night. Three inches away from what used to be his eardrum.

Yet the man still loves me. Go figure.

Properly bagged and sanitized, we spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the arcade and were plunged headfirst into civilization when we encountered a new fangled contraption. The likes of which we’d never seen before.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A4.jpg

Would anyone like to tell me when video games got too good for quarters? And are the days of tokens gone already? Say it ain’t so!

After the kids took turns taking their parents to air hockey school, we went to check on our room and get a new information packet. Humming the theme to Miracle all the way.

It was getting to be that time. We needed to get a move on. After inquiring as to the status of our dang room, we were informed that it still wasn’t ready. But we were told that another room just like the one we’d been assigned was ready at that point.

Aloha? We’ll take it already.

We were given the room number, told the dude at the desk Mahalo and then hauled butt up to the 5th floor to find our room.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A7.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A6.jpg

The worst picture I’ve ever taken of a bathroom. But it was so big I had a hard time taking a good shot from the right angle. You get the idea.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A8.jpg

And in the interest of fairness, here’s the other half…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A12.jpg

Curved shower rods. Two shower heads. And plenty of handles. In case we fall and can’t get up.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A10.jpg

It was nice. Really nice.

The rooms were probably about the size of a moderate. Maybe just a tad bigger. Which was fine for the four of us for a few nights. Say that five times really fast. The storage space was sufficient, the queen beds were incredibly comfortable, the bathroom was HUGE (with cool as all get out light fixtures: dimmer ones) but even better than that, there was a lei waiting in the room for us. The girl squealed when she saw it. Funny how something so little can just scream vacation to us. She immediately threw it around her neck and paraded around the room, doing her best version of Lilo. Pre stinkin’ tuna discussion.

DH wasn’t left out of the celebration either. He danced around the room and jumped on the beds when he spotted this little sweetheart.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A5.jpg

I’m not a huge coffee drinker but my husband is. So this little one cup Keurig coffee maker was perfect for him. Plus there were tons of cute little Emeril coffee pods provided.

BAM!

He was pumped.

Once we’d finished jumping on the beds, carving “LaLa wuz here” in the furniture and unpacking, we gave the double shower heads and dimmer switches (LOVE the dimmer switches in the bathroom!) a workout and got dressed and fixed up lickity split.

The official version (meaning what we had told the kids) was that we were going somewhere to eat that night. Somewhere really good. And somewhere really cool. They had no idea how cool the night would actually end up being.

Once we were nice and clean, we discreetly grabbed our backpack, camcorder, camera and kids and headed out to the car. On our way to the mystery destination. At this point the kids didn’t really think anything was up. They were just happy to be there. They were Oblivious and Clueless once again.

As we inched through Orlando traffic and the pouring rain (which was a HUGE thorn in my side considering our plans for the evening), we spotted a billboard along the way to our destination. The boy was the first one to spot it. Because he is his father’s son.

The boy: Ooooh, look. It’s the Pirate and Princess Party.
The girl: I wish we could win tickets to that.
The boy: Yeah. Me too. It’d be cool to meet Jack SPA-rrow
Me: Yeah, it’s too bad about that. Oh well. Maybe next year.

And then my husband and I turned to face each other and we giggled. As I cranked up some sweet Disney Toons. Specifically, the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. It was the perfect tune to get us pumped about our night. In more ways than one.

And no, apparently you don’t need to win tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party to be able to go. All you have to do is fork out some cash and they will, amazingly, let you in.

And that’s exactly what we did.

As we made our way toward Walt’s World, the kids were really getting antsy as they tried to guess our destination. I just knew that since we were in Orlando, they would figure it out well before we got there. But they were completely oblivious and my husband and I couldn’t believe it. Here we are knocking on Mickey’s front door and they honestly had no clue where we were headed. The curious smiles never left their faces as they guessed everything from Medieval Times to Sea World and everything in between.

But not ONCE did they ever guess we were taking them here…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A11.jpg

Yes, I know. It’s quite possibly the worst picture I’ve ever taken of the arches. The weather was back with a vengeance and if I said we weren’t hugely concerned about how the night would turn out, I’d be lying. But a rainy day (or night) in Disney is better than a sunny day at home. So in the end, it didn’t matter whether it was raining or the sun was shining. We had four tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party and dangit, we were determined to have some fun. Rain or no rain.

When the kids saw the arches and realized they were actually going to the House of Mouse instead of Arby’s, they went NUTS. It was ridiculous. There was a lot of pointing and squealing and seat dancing and high pitched screaming. Mostly from me. And them. They squealed and my husband and I guffawed. Which is different than just a regular laugh. It was a very, very cool moment filled with a huge swell of happiness and a ton of excited anticipation.

It was a moment I won’t soon forget.

As we took turns laughing and yelling “Smack me three times, we’re in Disneyworld!” along with other variations of the phrase, we saw it. And the girl shrieked and pointed.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO313.jpg


The more things change, the more they stay the same.



Up next: Magic, Music and Monsoon

[AussieAngel]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Z.jpg

Does that menu say "Little Kahuna Poo" in the middle!?! Cause... ew!

I love the visual image of the LaLa's carving their names into the furniture. It makes me giggle.

Also, what a gorgeous resort! Am I allowed to ask how comparable the prices are to Disney? Is comparable even a word? Heh!

Thanks for another fun chapter LaLa! :cheer2:

[Chapter 11]

She had us checked in lickity split

Again with the licking. I'm sensing a theme.

prenager

Love that word. So very, very apt.

Easy as pie.

Now there's a phrase I just don't get. What's so easy about pie? Having baked cakes, pies and various other dessert confections, I'd have to say that slice and bake cookies are a heck of a lot easier to make. Or a nice cobbler. Perhaps the phrase refers to the pie's rather loose morals? That could be -- pies do tend to have that "come hither" look in their eyes. You know -- if pies had eyes. Which mine don't. Mostly.

The worst picture I’ve ever taken of a bathroom.

Don't sell yourself short -- you've taken worse pictures.

Say that five times really fast.


That, that, that, that, that. Heh.

It’s quite possibly the worst picture I’ve ever taken of the arches.

Again, I'm sensing a theme.

Wonderful installment. You do know how to build excitement, and leave us wanting more.

[LISAMWDW]

Can't wait for more!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids must have freaked when you took them to the P & P Party!

[Briarmom]

Yeehaw! Can't wait to read about the P&P.

[Tinkerbellarella]

Mrs. First Day on the Job and Still Going Through Training
Miss I Only Know About Meals at Universal and Then I’m Not Even Sure About Those.

Poor people probably had to wear their names on sandwhich boards instead of regular ol' nametages. :sad2:

We talked for a pretty good while and within that time, they shared several tips with us. Normally at Disney, this is the time where my eyes glaze over because I usually already know every piece of Disney knowledge random strangers lay on us there. Yes, I know about Fastpass. And yes, I know it’s free. But this time we were able to glean some pretty useful knowledge from the family we met on our first day of vacation. We were the rookies here. Not them. That was a weird feeling.

It was like meeting the Universal LaLas. Straight out of some alternate universe. They didn't lick you, did they? Because then you'd really know.

I immediately straighten out my entire hand and drop it like it’s hot.
I picked it up with a really big leaf and held it at arm’s length the entire walk over to the gift shop. With my hazards on.
shuffle anything else that I didn’t want to throw away right then into the bag. With the leaf.

Picturing this makes me laugh hysterically. And for some reason, in my mind, it's one of those big as all get out banana leaves.

Curved shower rods.

Mental note: Royal Pacific=Non-Shower Curtain Hug Facility. Good to know.

Two shower heads.

THIS would've been the bomb diggity for me.

Yay for the update La!

:flower3:

[praisehisname]

Great update, La! Love the pictures of your room. It looks really beautiful. The pool area reminds me a little of Stormalong Bay at The Beach Club.

I hope the rain didn't spoil your evening at the P&P Party. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Denise

[ZZUB]

Then I proceeded to give him a short little information download on the setup of the restaurant, price per person, typical menu selections, mine and my husband’s personal preferences, cost and detailed description of the slipper dessert, a typical traffic flow pattern of the characters’ rotation within the dining room, our own personal tip on how to distinguish Suzy from Perla, an exact transcript of our most recent conversation with the Fairy Godmother, along with the approximate salt and butter content of each individual dish on the buffet.If I was the kind of person who laughed out loud, then this would have made me LAUGH FREAKIN OUT LOUD! Especially your knowledge of the character traffic flow. DED! You are one of the worst writers on the TR board, but I swear you can find the funny when you need to. This was good stuff.

Sound the bell, school’s in, sucka.Did you make that up or is that a thing, b/c that is hy-larious! And what's more, I can totally imagine you saying that to someone. Totally. Dude. That's right up there with, "The chemical abbreviation for sodium is NaCL." Which is one of Mrs. Z's favorite lines from West Wing. It's her go-to line when she wants to let me know that I'm stupid but I'm not stupid. Kills me DED.

They were Oblivious and Clueless once again.No, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Don't sell yourself short -- you've taken worse picturesDED! Yeah, I know, quoting other poster's responses is bad show, but this line was so funny it had to be commented on.

Speaking of the bathroom, the towels are touching the top of the tank! Gross!! You didn't use those did you?! I don't know why they do that. I aint using any towel that touches any part of the toilet. That just aint kosher.

:moped:

[DJR]

You’ll have to forgive me if I got a little snap happy with the camera. My habit of taking pictures of anything and everything while we’re on vacation is something that I (unfortunately) passed onto our children on this trip. Every time we went to a restaurant and we were served, they’d hold out their greasy little hands for the camera. In order to take a picture of their food. No, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Just as I was about to compliment you on your picture taking skills, you give us this...


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A4.jpg

And this...



http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A11.jpg


Are you sure you're not a coffee drinker? Next time, try the decaf.

[nicolemarie]

At some point, we may have asked if there was any possibility that we could get an upgraded room. Twice. Softly at first and then very loudly. With hand gestures. Plural. At some point we may have crashed and burned. Once. With a return hand gesture. Singular. Apparently they were all out of free upgrades that day.

Lemme see if I'm understanding this correctly. You ASKED them if they had a FREE upgrade? Has that ever worked in your favor? I mean, I've heard of being GIVEN a free upgrade. I've even received one. Or two. Actually, three. But if you ASK, will you RECEIVE? I'm interested to know. Because I'm not opposed to asking.

He was still fuming about the Spiderman glasses and was too busy thinking his prenager (which is, in his words, a cross between a preteen and a teenager, and applies to all boys who have reached the ripe old age of ten, or so he says) thoughts to be impressed with a Magna Doodle suitable for wearing on his belt buckle. Just like his little sister was doing.

And his mom.

Of all the funny as all get out stuff you wrote in this installment, somehow, this was one of the best to me. The mental picture I have of you with a Magna Doodle attached to your belt loops as you rock out to Jungle Love is just too much. DED.

And yes, I know neither of you really did it.

I tried to hold back, giving her time to be the hero. But it was all just too much for me to take. If I held it another second, I would’ve literally burst at the seams. If I had seams.

1900 Park Fare!

I blurted out.

Much louder than I probably should have. And faster than the speed of light. Or the speed of sound. Minus the five second rule. And then I dropped my eyes. Sheepishly. As I kicked the floor with my toe.

LA!!!! I'm SO DED!!! This just cracks me up. Because us Disney geeks can't WAIT to spill some knowledge on folks when we're AT Disney World. But get us outside Walt's 47, and THEN give us an opportunity to inform a newbie, and we can hardly contain it. Again with the mental images, too. Girl, you're good.

As I walked around with my mouth open and the kids squealed at the sight of the pool, DH smiled like a little kid and kept saying in a semi high pitched voice, “I told you! I told you!”

This is yet a third example of your great way with words. I can LITERALLY see this happening. DH is ready to try something besides Disney World, and his reluctant little family obliges him. While they are really excited about the trip, they fully expect it might fall short of the World. Then they all realize - as he already has - that vacations do not begin and end with the Mouse. And now they are as on board as he is. Which he likes.

We took a look at the menu, which I conveniently took a picture of.

Thanks. I'll have the Sun-Bathed Creamy Shrimp and Spinach Dip. Yum.

This is always the point where we’re the most excited on our trips. The point where we’ve just checked in and we’re checking out our resort. The point where we’re as far away from the end of our vacation as we can get and still be there. The days ahead are full of possibilities and the promise of fun yet to come.

We had that same fun meal last Friday at Hurricane Hannah's. And ironically, it was as we swam and enjoyed ourselves before the P&PP that WE'D attend later that night. Same as y'all. Although our trip was just a little quick weekend, and it would be over almost as soon as it started, that meal was a good time. We were all excited, happy and ready for some fun.

I studied her face for a moment and then blurted out “Obviously you’ve never ridden a Disney bus. Sound the bell, school’s in, sucka.”

I said it not so much to her but more in my head and to myself.

While I did the Hamma.

Girl, you know you ain't right, don't cha? ;)

I immediately straighten out my entire hand and drop it like it’s hot.

Then run and jump in the pool. Because it was the closest source of chlorine available.

Regular garbage is one thing. That’s bad enough. But Orlando garbage is something else entirely. There ain’t a bit of telling what lurks underneath the surface in that mess. But how cool was our waiter to go look in the garbage for a packet of info? Even though it was completely and utterly disgusting, I was still impressed.

And disgusted.

More impressed than disgusted though. Okay, who am I kidding? I’m LaLa. Germ freak extraordinaire. I was way more disgusted than impressed. Which is why I picked it up with a really big leaf and held it at arm’s length the entire walk over to the gift shop. With my hazards on. I scored a small bag from the clerk (along with a really funny puzzled stare) and found a quiet place to weed through the contents and throw out what couldn’t be salvaged and shuffle anything else that I didn’t want to throw away right then into the bag. With the leaf. Then I washed up in the bathroom and bathed my entire body in antibacterial gel.

Three times. Then once again. For good measure.

DED. DED. DED. Then once again DED. For good measure.

Planner Extraordinaire meets Germaphobe.

Who will win?

It was nice. Really nice.

The rooms were probably about the size of a moderate. Maybe just a tad bigger. Which was fine for the four of us for a few nights. Say that five times really fast. The storage space was sufficient, the queen beds were incredibly comfortable, the bathroom was HUGE (with cool as all get out light fixtures: dimmer ones) but even better than that, there was a lei waiting in the room for us.

:firefight

That's me donning my flame-proof suit. Because I'm just gonna come right out with this. The Royal Pacific isn't considered Universal's deluxe resort, is it?

Disney can take some notes. That room looks NICE. As nice as ANY Disney Deluxe resort. And as of last weekend, I've stayed in all of them.

That place is fine, La. Kinda makes me want to go there sometime. ;)

Yes, I know. It’s quite possibly the worst picture I’ve ever taken of the arches.

La, you know I love ya. And you KNOW I've got your back. Most of the time. But I've got to go with Chappie here. SOME of your photography is just a WEE bit blurry. But I do still love ya. :love:

When the kids saw the arches and realized they were actually going to the House of Mouse instead of Arby’s, they went NUTS. It was ridiculous. There was a lot of pointing and squealing and seat dancing and high pitched screaming. Mostly from me. And them. They squealed and my husband and I guffawed. Which is different than just a regular laugh. It was a very, very cool moment filled with a huge swell of happiness and a ton of excited anticipation.

It was a moment I won’t soon forget.

As we took turns laughing and yelling “Smack me three times, we’re in Disneyworld!” along with other variations of the phrase, we saw it. And the girl shrieked and pointed.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Love this, La. There IS something special about all the familiarity we feel at Disney World, isn't there? Whatever it is that your family cherishes about the place - whether it be driving under the Arches, seeing that first bus, hearing the Spanish monorail announcement, having a Mickey bar - whatever. That's what's so fun. Reliving those special times over and over again.

Girl, GREAT installment. I can't wait to hear all about the P&PP and all the fun y'all had there. Keep these installments rolling - I'm in for the ride. :car:

[DVCTiff]

Don't tell me I'm going to have to go to MY PP&P party without reading about yours first?!?! How will I survive without knowing how you did it first? I'll have no memories from strangers to draw on!

Okay, we'll just wing it, and I'll compare notes when I'm back!

Can't wait to return to the rest of you TR!

[Tanya90210]

Wow... that hotel is just gorgous!

Ewwwww.... trashed and then handed back to ya!! :scared1: I don't blame you for sanitizing... multiple times... I think i would have done the exact same thing


:yay: Yay for heading to WDW

[dizprincess717]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3A11.jpg

There was a lot of pointing and squealing and seat dancing and high pitched screaming. Mostly from me.

Psh. Don't blame the rain for your bad picture taking "skillz" - you were obviously seat dance while snapping this gem. My guess is the cabbage patch.

PS - This has got to be one of the best TR's I've stumbled across. It's hysterical!!!

[burly]

Great update. Gonna be there in 15 days. I'm so excited. Doin' WDW first and then Universal so we can use the benefits of the room key cards. ;) ;) ;) ;)
Can't wait to hear about the partay!:cool1:

[LaLa]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Z.jpg

Does that menu say "Little Kahuna Poo" in the middle!?! Cause... ew!

Could be worse. It could be Big Kahuna Poo.

Also, what a gorgeous resort! Am I allowed to ask how comparable the prices are to Disney? Is comparable even a word? Heh!

No and yes.

Actually, the price per night was somewhere between the cost for a moderate and the cost for a standard room at AKL. But the difference with Universal and/or Loews is that they are always offering some sort of promotional package that will usually come with length of stay park tickets free with the cost of your room. Which is what we were able to score. And when you factor that in, it brings the total cost of the package way down, making it possible to stay at Universal for less cash than at Disney. If we're comparing apples to apples.



Having baked cakes, pies and various other dessert confections, I'd have to say that slice and bake cookies are a heck of a lot easier to make. Or a nice cobbler.

You know, when I woke up this morning, I never imagined today would be the day I would picture Chappie slaving away in the kitchen, baking up pies, cobbler and various other dessert confections. For the garden club's annual bake sale. Good for you, Chappie. And for the record, I like chocolate chunk cookies and peach cobbler. Feel free to throw some my way just as soon as you clean up that mess you made. And don't forget that flour on the ceiling. By the way, the next time you make eclairs, you should squeeze some processed cheese in the middle of 'em. You know, kick it up a notch. And then yell "BAM!" The garden club won't know what hit 'em.

Don't sell yourself short -- you've taken worse pictures.

That's Number One.

Again, I'm sensing a theme.

You don't want to know what I'm sensing.

A Keurig coffee maker? For reals?

For really reals.

Picturing this makes me laugh hysterically. And for some reason, in my mind, it's one of those big as all get out banana leaves.

How did you KNOW it was a banana leaf?! That's just freaky.

Great update, La! Love the pictures of your room. It looks really beautiful. The pool area reminds me a little of Stormalong Bay at The Beach Club.

I hope the rain didn't spoil your evening at the P&P Party. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Denise

Thanks, Denise. I can't wait to tell about it. It was a very memorable evening, to put it mildly.

Did you make that up or is that a thing, b/c that is hy-larious! And what's more, I can totally imagine you saying that to someone. Totally. Dude. That's right up there with, "The chemical abbreviation for sodium is NaCL." Which is one of Mrs. Z's favorite lines from West Wing. It's her go-to line when she wants to let me know that I'm stupid but I'm not stupid. Kills me DED.

Okay, this is where your wife and I are different. She quotes West Wing for fun and I quote MC Hamma. And yes ZZUB. Those eloquent words you took such a liking to are from none other than Mr. 2L 2Quit himself. When are you going to stop frontin' and pull out the big yellow suit you've had stuffed away in the closet since the 80s?

Hey Hey.

Speaking of the bathroom, the towels are touching the top of the tank! Gross!! You didn't use those did you?! I don't know why they do that. I aint using any towel that touches any part of the toilet. That just aint kosher.

So what are you saying, ZZUB? You can't touch this? And just so you won't be lying awake worrying about this all weekend, we did not use the hand towels. Once we had housekeeping bring up extra towels, there was no need. We had ourselves a little surplus going. But thanks for your concern.

Just as I was about to compliment you on your picture taking skills, you give us this...

Are you sure you're not a coffee drinker? Next time, try the decaf.

That's number two.

La, you know I love ya. And you KNOW I've got your back. Most of the time. But I've got to go with Chappie here. SOME of your photography is just a WEE bit blurry. But I do still love ya. :love:

AND THREE!! From NM, of ALL PEOPLE!!!!!

Lemme see if I'm understanding this correctly. You ASKED them if they had a FREE upgrade? Has that ever worked in your favor? I mean, I've heard of being GIVEN a free upgrade. I've even received one. Or two. Actually, three. But if you ASK, will you RECEIVE? I'm interested to know. Because I'm not opposed to asking.

Let me break it down for you. There's this pretty cool little club you can join (for free) and when you stay in a Loew's owned property, one of the perks of being a Loews First member is free room upgrades. When available. It says so right there on the website. I was merely reminding her of my card carrying status where the Loews properties were concerned. And inquiring as to whether or not she could hook us up with a lil sumpm sumpm. You see how far that got me. Apparently Spring Break is not the best time to score an upgrade on the room.


Of all the funny as all get out stuff you wrote in this installment, somehow, this was one of the best to me. The mental picture I have of you with a Magna Doodle attached to your belt loops as you rock out to Jungle Love is just too much. DED.

And yes, I know neither of you really did it.

I don't know what you're talking about. The girl and I rock out to Jungle Love all the time.


We had that same fun meal last Friday at Hurricane Hannah's. And ironically, it was as we swam and enjoyed ourselves before the P&PP that WE'D attend later that night. Same as y'all. Although our trip was just a little quick weekend, and it would be over almost as soon as it started, that meal was a good time. We were all excited, happy and ready for some fun.


Sounds like yall had an awesome time, NM. So where's the trip report?

That's me donning my flame-proof suit. Because I'm just gonna come right out with this. The Royal Pacific isn't considered Universal's deluxe resort, is it?

Disney can take some notes. That room looks NICE. As nice as ANY Disney Deluxe resort. And as of last weekend, I've stayed in all of them.

That place is fine, La. Kinda makes me want to go there sometime. ;)


I'm DED over the flame suit dude. I accidentally deleted him. You'll have to forgive me but I don't feel like looking for him again. And no, Royal Pacific's not considered the deluxe resort. I think it's considered to be on the low end of the totem pole. With Hard Rock being in the middle and Portofino Bay being the Big Kahuna. Poo. There was nothing that felt "valueish" to us there though. It was hanging with the big dogs. Right up there with some fine Disney deluxes. It even SMELLED good. Without the first poop pumping truck in sight.

Love this, La. There IS something special about all the familiarity we feel at Disney World, isn't there? Whatever it is that your family cherishes about the place - whether it be driving under the Arches, seeing that first bus, hearing the Spanish monorail announcement, having a Mickey bar - whatever. That's what's so fun. Reliving those special times over and over again.

You know it, girl.

Don't tell me I'm going to have to go to MY PP&P party without reading about yours first?!?! How will I survive without knowing how you did it first? I'll have no memories from strangers to draw on!

Okay, we'll just wing it, and I'll compare notes when I'm back!

Can't wait to return to the rest of you TR!

I'm so excited for you, DVCTiff! Yall have a great time and tell Cap'm Jack we said what's up.


Ewwwww.... trashed and then handed back to ya!! :scared1: I don't blame you for sanitizing... multiple times... I think i would have done the exact same thing

:yay: Yay for heading to WDW

I think we'd get along really well, Tanya90210!

Psh. Don't blame the rain for your bad picture taking "skillz" - you were obviously seat dance while snapping this gem. My guess is the cabbage patch.

And NUMBER FOUR!!! What's up with all the hatin' on my photography skillz today?

It wasn't the Cabbage Patch though. Although that was a good guess. It was the Macarena.

PS - This has got to be one of the best TR's I've stumbled across. It's hysterical!!!

And now you're forgiven. Just like that. Thank you, dizprincess. That was really sweet. I'm glad you found us and decided to jump in.

I just want to say thanks to everyone for posting. I really enjoy reading all of your responses.

We're heading out of town in the morning and will be gone all weekend so if I don't check in until after Monday, you'll know it's just because we're not around. Not because you're on the Ignore list. Only ZZUB, Chappie and DJR have worked themselves onto that bad boy at this point. Make good time with your families and remember our troops this Memorial Day.

Yall have an awesome and safe weekend.

:moped:

[LaLa]

Great update. Gonna be there in 15 days. I'm so excited. Doin' WDW first and then Universal so we can use the benefits of the room key cards. ;) ;) ;) ;)
Can't wait to hear about the partay!:cool1:

Burly, that's awesome!!! I'm so excited for you. How cool are those room key cards? You'll have to give E.T. my regards and shoot some aliens for me.

:moped:

[lexmelinda]

Just wanted you to know I read this installment yesterday. Aloud. To my 18 year old. And we both laughed. A lot. I'm afraid I may have failed miserably on the accent. Dagnabit!

Your room looks nice! It looks very deluxe in fact! So spill....did you get a code? AAA rate? Anything? Please tell me didn't pay ((gasp)) rack rate?

You're crackin me up with the slimy information packet. If I had to handle something from the garbage, I would sure rather handle something from Royal Pacific garbage than something from the garbage at the parks. ((shudder)) At least you didn't reach your hand in a Disney toilet to get your sunglasses out. (NOFrick)

I'm worried about your Pirate/Princess Party! The weather at those hard ticket events are so hard to call.

pirate: princess:

[CampbellScot]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/OO3Z.jpg

Does that menu say "Little Kahuna Poo" in the middle!?! Cause... ew!

I love the visual image of the LaLa's carving their names into the furniture. It makes me giggle.

Also, what a gorgeous resort! Am I allowed to ask how comparable the prices are to Disney? Is comparable even a word? Heh!

Thanks for another fun chapter LaLa! :cheer2:

That is EXACTLY what I was going to ask!!! Who in the holy heck would call a FOOD item POO? Be it little Kahuna or big...it's just not appetizing to see POO on your menu...it's just not.

at all.

Okay and seriously...I'm going to have to shut my TR down b/c I can't hold a candle.

I was snort laughing all the way through...that silly high pitched only dogs can hear it laughing...with tears.

killing me...

oh and I leaked a few tears when the girl saw her Disney bus.

THAT was wicked cool.

can't wait for more.

popcorn::

[tarheel]

Were you at the Sunday April 6th P& P Party by chance? The driving rain makes me think it was the same day we were there. We had a blast despite the rain and I hope to hear you did too. The rain looked so horrible, but it wasn't cold and we had lots of fun, like I said.
We will be heading to Universal November 1st--the kids think I have lost my mind. I have been letting them read along with your report and they are getting excited seeing your pictures. They have been promised a Disney day that trip and they both have so far voted for Epicot. I think you'll agree that's a big yea!

Thanks for your report, looking foreward to more!

[Yzma and Kronk]

Lalalalala!

How did I miss the checkin saga?

And then another sweeeeeet segment - except the picture of the little Poo menu kinda freaked me out.

I love the prenager! I've got one of those too. Just turned 10. Won't wear his Hotwheels sunglasses anymore. Very strange.

I thought your photoskills were great. Hard to take a arch picture in the driving rain (nopunintended). I didn't see a bare foot in sight!

P&PP in the rain in April. Was there, done that and can't wait to hear your version!

Keep the la coming!

[stinkerbell007]

way cool.:cool1:

I'm in....



:moped:

[MomofCKJ]

You had me at the Keurig coffee maker. Whoa nellie, I would love me one of those in my hotel room. Universal is getting a little more interesting the more your report goes on!

Allyson :)

[CJsMom]

I can't believe I found you on page 2! Since when has a LaLa TR been on page 2?? :confused3

I'm in - and loving the fact that someone else has studied the traffic patterns of interaction at certain character meals! :lmao:

[LaLa]

Just wanted you to know I read this installment yesterday. Aloud. To my 18 year old. And we both laughed. A lot. I'm afraid I may have failed miserably on the accent. Dagnabit!

You're from the South so I don't believe that for one minute. The part about the accent. Not the other part. Glad I could make you and your 18 year old laugh together, Lexmelinda. That's very cool.

At least you didn't reach your hand in a Disney toilet to get your sunglasses out. (NOFrick)

No doubt! That had to be some serious sunglass love my girl had going on there. They must've been Juicy shades.

Okay and seriously...I'm going to have to shut my TR down b/c I can't hold a candle.

I was snort laughing all the way through...that silly high pitched only dogs can hear it laughing...with tears.

killing me...

oh and I leaked a few tears when the girl saw her Disney bus.

THAT was wicked cool.

can't wait for more.

popcorn::

Thanks Campbell Scot! The silly high pitched only dogs can hear it laugh with tears is no stranger to me. I've had the same reaction, including leaking the tears here and there, while reading your TR as well. Just glad I could return the favor.

Were you at the Sunday April 6th P& P Party by chance? The driving rain makes me think it was the same day we were there. We had a blast despite the rain and I hope to hear you did too. The rain looked so horrible, but it wasn't cold and we had lots of fun, like I said.
We will be heading to Universal November 1st--the kids think I have lost my mind. I have been letting them read along with your report and they are getting excited seeing your pictures. They have been promised a Disney day that trip and they both have so far voted for Epicot. I think you'll agree that's a big yea!

Thanks for your report, looking foreward to more!

Tarheel, PM sent. So glad to hear yall had a great time at the party. How cool is it that yall are heading to Universal? Tell your kids they're going to be THANKING you for taking them to Universal when it's all said and done. Even moreso when you plan that sweet side trip to Epicot. That sounds like an awesome plan to me. Hope yall have a blast and thanks for posting!



I thought your photoskills were great. Hard to take a arch picture in the driving rain (nopunintended). I didn't see a bare foot in sight!

P&PP in the rain in April. Was there, done that and can't wait to hear your version!

Keep the la coming!

Hey Yakkity Yak! Thanks for the word on the photo skillz. That was sweet. And for that, you're now my favorite screen name! Thanks for posting, sweet Yak. DED over the prenager borg.

way cool.:cool1:

I'm in....

:moped:

Thanks for jumping in, stinkerbell007! But can I call you Bond?

You had me at the Keurig coffee maker. Whoa nellie, I would love me one of those in my hotel room. Universal is getting a little more interesting the more your report goes on!

Allyson :)

Yeah well, you know who now wants one of those little suckers for Father's Day. Dang Universal. They spoiled him.

I can't believe I found you on page 2! Since when has a LaLa TR been on page 2?? :confused3

I'm in - and loving the fact that someone else has studied the traffic patterns of interaction at certain character meals! :lmao:

Isn't that the FIRST THING a true Disney geek takes note of after being seated at a character meal? Besides the desert bar, that is. Thanks for the bump, CJ'sMom and I'm glad you're in!

:moped:

[monymony3471]

I treated myself tonight and read your TR. Happy to be reading along this time.

[stinkerbell007]

That's Bell. Stinker Bell.

tee he he

....carry on.

:smokin:

[Yzma and Kronk]

More Yellow from La!!

:cool1:

And for that, you're now my favorite screen name!

I'm humbled.

Or am I?

:smokin:

[PISCESANGEL]

I just caught up and wow girl, you really do know how to spill a trippie! I love it!! :rotfl:

Thanks for your wonderful humor LaLa, and all of your fabulous insight on that other place. I keep finding myself thinking about how I might be able to work a couple of nights into one of our future trips... And we haven't even heard about actual park playtime yet!! :lmao:


Keep up the great TR!:thumbsup2

[LaLa]

The inner workings of a child’s mind can sometimes be a mystery.

And sometimes not so much.

As we drove underneath the arches and spotted our first Disney bus, we were surprised to find that our children still didn’t quite comprehend what the night ahead held in store for them. Oh, they knew we were in the Land of the Yellow and they were beside themselves about it. In front of and behind themselves about it, even. But the funny thing is that the more we talked, the more we began to realize that they thought we were only there for dinner. And nothing else.

In other words, they actually believed what their parents had told them.

Silly children. When will they ever learn?

After we passed the Disney bus and the seat dancing came to a halt, the girl crossed her arms and grinned a sly little grin. Then said “I know where we’re going. We’re going to Chef Mickey’s, aren’t we?” As she wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

I suppose in her mind, that was the best case scenario. The child was sure we were going to eat there. The boy agreed almost instantly. They really did think that was the big surprise. And judging from the way they acted, I know without a shadow of a doubt that if that would’ve been all we could’ve swung, just dinner at Chef Mickey’s and nothing more, it would’ve been enough for them. Way more than enough for them. Unfortunately, we had to break the sad, sad news. After trying for several weeks, an ADR for Chef Mickey’s had remained more elusive than my Dole Whip.

The one from the trip before the trip before this one.

No, there would be no Chef Mickey’s that night. No cute little deserts with Oreo Mickey ears. No overpriced photos of us with a big spoon and a big fork. No familiar restroom at the bottom of a steep, narrow staircase. But we were hoping they’d settle for Kona Café instead. Because as it turns out, we were going to dinner after all. We weren’t kidding about that part. Although we joke around about a lot of things, dinner is not one of them. Looking back, it’s amazing to me how fast they abandoned the Chef Mickey’s boat in favor of a little Kona action. But only because Kona has chicken noodle soup. With a soda on the side.

As our van barreled down the road following those familiar purple and red signs leading us to the Polynesian, we let the kids in on our post dinner plans. They squealed and seat danced again. In other words, they were shocked and downright ecstatic. And extremely grateful. The only downside is that they’re now expecting to win Publisher’s Clearing House just as easily as we won four tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party.

We pulled up to the Poly and as we hopped out at the valet station and breathed in that familiar musty water smell and heard the waterfall in the distance, we got a feeling of déjà vu. Not just because we’d been there so many times before. But because it really did seem very similar to the Royal Pacific Resort to us. We took the prerequisite shots in front of the waterfall and among the lush landscaping just inside the lobby and then headed upstairs to check in.

Like always, we were handed a pager and like always, the kids fought over who would clench it in their fists and proudly announce to the whole world in the loudest voice imaginable that it was our turn to be seated. After playing referee and peacemaker, we meandered over to the gift shop across the way to wait for our table. Per Chapter 19 in The Unwritten Rulebook.

As we walked up and took in all the merchandise, we sighed deeply. Now THIS is a gift shop. Sadly, nothing had really appealed to us in the Universal gift shops. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Shrek dishes and Spiderman lanyards could bring in some major coin in the post vacation ‘what were we thinking’ garage sale. But we just didn’t have anything scream our name there. On the other hand, we were giddy here. Because even though they’re way overpriced, Disney souvenirs are slammin’.

It was during this moment of weakness that we took temporary leave of our senses and allowed the boy to purchase a pirate sword. For the party. It was a three foot long piece of trouble encased in plastic. Perfect for terrorizing little sisters and the neighborhood pets. That thing has gotten him into more trouble and it is currently in its final resting place on top of the refrigerator. Where all three foot long plastic swords should be. For the girl’s part, for the past few trips, she’s been all about the baby stuffed animals. Rodents. Characters. Whatever. It started with Baby Simba, then came Baby Marie, and that night as she stood in front of row upon row of baby characters, she had a really hard time deciding between Baby Minnie and Baby Mickey.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp.jpg

She wanted them both. In the worst way. But the problem was that we had told each child they could pick one thing and one thing only that night. It was the beginning of vacation and we couldn’t carry a lot of things around in the park that night. So she had to choose. She thought and thought and tested each one by rocking them back and forth and inspecting the design on the blankets to see which one was cuter. How could she possibly choose? She loved Mickey first, she explained, but Minnie was special in her own right. Then she asked me what she should do. I told her to not overthink it and to just pick the one she liked better. And get on with it already. She hem hawed around for a few minutes and then sat on the ground in front of them. In order to weigh her options more clearly. She finally touched Baby Minnie gently and said “I’m sorry Minnie. But I still love you.” And with that, she gave Minnie a kiss and reached for Mickey. Then hugged him tight and broke out into a huge grin. Because as much as she loves Minnie, Mickey’s her boy.

Back off, Stacy.

As we finished up in the gift shop, our pager went off. Perfect timing. We were seated quickly and threw ourselves headfirst into the Hawaiian bread with macadamia nut butter. Which was as good as always. This was our first meal on Disney property in several years without the dining plan and I have to admit it was different adjusting to having to actually PAY for our meals for a change. We didn’t like it. Not one stinking bit. Especially the part where the server threw our Keys to the Food, circa 2005, back in our faces. With indignation. Can’t blame a girl for trying. You don’t realize how spoiled you get when you’re on the dining plan until you come back and have to do it the old fashioned way. Pay as you go. It’s for the birds. We didn’t order deserts and appetizers at every meal like we normally do on the dining plan but we just couldn’t pass up the chance to order a plate of sticky wings at Kona.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp1.jpg

Oh yeah baby. Sticky wings. And that, my friends, was the highlight of our dinner. We usually love Kona but we didn’t walk away all that impressed this time. In short, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it sucked. Because it didn’t. It just wasn’t as good to us as it has been in the past. Either that or we’ve just really gotten spoiled with the dining plan.

But the kids loved their chicken noodle soup. With a soda on the side.

Let it rain. Now clear it out.

We finished our dinner quickly and cut out as fast as we could. We had four tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party burning a hole in our pocket. Well, figuratively. Because we still hadn’t picked them up from Will Call yet. Unfortunately our first meal on Disney property was pretty much a blur because we had leaving on our minds before we even got there. It was one of those meals where you order your food and tell the waitress to just go ahead and leave the bill when she comes back with the entrees. And make it snappy. We had places to go and rodents to see. As we left the restaurant, we broke out into a full on Phoebe Buffay sprint over to the monorail platform. Trippin' and clotheslinin’ anybody who dared even think of gettin' in our way.

Once we hit the station, we came to a dead stop.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Rather impatiently. While we stood there going nowhere fast, I took in the people around me and thought to myself “Miss Universal Season Pass don’t know JACK about quality people watching.”

Finally a sweet lookin’ monorail slid into the station and we boarded that baby faster than Brangelina can become a couple of new parents. Again. Right after we found a seat and were reminded to por favor mantangase alejado de las puertas, we were told to por favor get our butts on the other side of de las puertas. Apparently there was some sort of problem. What kind of problem was anybody’s guess. Maybe the driver was busted trying to skate by on a fake Test Track driver’s license. Maybe Britney Spears jumped in the drivers’ seat and was looking for a fresh pinky toe to sever. Whatever the reason, it was clear we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So we took our small children by the hand and exited the vehicle. A few minutes later, we did it all over again. Board. Find a seat. Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor yada yada yada. The only difference is that this time we actually went somewhere. Within minutes we were gliding at a steady clip over Seven Seas Lagoon.

At which point I took this lovely shot:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp3.jpg

Once we were welcomed to the Magic Kingdom, we exited the vehicle and prepared ourselves to battle the elements for the evening. We donned our ponchos and put our cameras away. More or less. Just beyond the shelter of the monorail platform, it was raining. Not necessarily cats and dogs. Or men. That would be weird. If Jim Cantore and his pals were to be believed, the weather was there for the long haul. But so were we. We had paid a pretty penny for those tickets and it was our only shot at some time with the Mouse on that trip. So we were prepared to deal with the weather. Come what may. Because it’s like they say. A rainy day in Disney is better than a sunny day at the Tri-County Mule Pull.

As long as there’s no lightning involved. And thankfully, there wasn’t. So it was all good.

We descended the ramp, took a left and headed straight for the Magic Kingdom and the cool as all get out Pirate and Princess Party.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp5.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp7.jpg

We decided to forego a stroller for the evening (we were feeling either very brave or very stupid) and we took our walk down Main Street together. No strollers this time. Just the four of us holding hands and walking side by side. Which was strange. And very different. But in a good way. I may have gotten slightly verklempt at the thought of our kids being stroller free and experiencing our walk down Main Street in a completely different way than we have in years’ past. And how that one simple act highlighted how fast time is flying by with our kids. But I wasn’t verklempt for long. Because we were in the Land of Yellow, baby. Even though the skies were grey and we were already soaked from the knees and elbows down and the neck up, we were ELATED to be there. We have the most awesome picture of the girl’s reaction the moment she saw the castle for the first time that afternoon. She’s shrouded in a poncho with rain streaming down her face but she’s pointing and screaming. You can almost hear the squeal just to look at it. That picture captures how we all felt that rainy afternoon at the first glimpse of that castle. It was a very cool moment. Especially considering the fact that just a short while back, we thought we wouldn’t be back anytime soon. Yet there we were again.

God is good.

We paused for some shots in front of the castle and then promptly took off toward Tomorrowland to get our ride on. It was go time.

We hit Buzz first and as we made our way through the nearly empty queue, we may have skipped. Except for the man. He doesn’t skip. Because he’s still a guy. The prenager didn’t skip either. Because apparently prenager by-laws forbid such silliness. But the girl and I did. Just a little. Being back there, being immersed in the familiarity of the place, the sounds, the smells, the sights, it was all such a cool feeling and it made us all giddy. And giggly.

The lines were so short we were able to ride Buzz Lightyear back to back. And backwards, even. Just so we could say “Quick. Who am I?”

Just kidding. We never think of ZZUB on vacation and if we do, it’s only when we step across a pile of vomit or smell recycled ginger in the air.

One of these days I’m going to actually apply myself and get a decent score on Buzz. The boy whipped my tail and rubbed it in a little too much. Must’ve been that dang Alabama hat he was wearing that made him bring the mack daddy smack talk. It seems to have that effect on him. Yes, the boy is an Alabama fan. An Alabama fan who talks MSU smack every chance he gets. Much to my chagrin. My husband grew up rooting for Bama and even though he attended another college, he still enjoys watching their games and rooting for them. And so it was that he brought the hat home for his son one day. Very proudly. He may have even said “This is for m’boy. So he can wear it when we watch us some Alabama football together next season. While you women feed us little sausages wrapped in bacon. And cake.” The child was on Cloud Nine and to my knowledge, he has not taken it off since. He loves rolling him some tide. But even more than that, he loves shooting him some Zs and the child dominated. He then did the centipede and proceeded to unabashedly rub his victory in the face of the woman who gave birth to him.

After our double shot of Buzz Lightyear, we moseyed on over to Space Mountain. The girl had ridden Space Mountain for the first time in October and LOVED it. L-O-V-E-D it. So she was itching to go on it again. Ditto me and my husband. The boy, not so much. He’s ridden it several times in the past but for whatever reason, he’s just not a huge fan. So we walked through the line together and I stayed with the boy while DH took our daughter for a spin.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp10.jpg

After they rolled into the station, I grabbed the girl and we took our turn. She was able to score the front seat and the child could not have been happier if I’d have gifted her with all the baby stuffed animals in the World. The child is fearless when it comes to rides. She’ll ride anything and has a blast doing it. She sat in front of me and to watch her scream and throw her little arms in the air and get her laugh scream on as we shot around in that darkened building made me smile huge. We laughed the whole ride and when we reached the station, she gave me the two thumbs up signal and screamed “THAT WAS SO AWESOME!”

And she was right. It was awesome indeed.

After we came back down to earth, we let the boy try his hand at a few of the pirate themed carnival type games set up in Tomorrowland. When I say there was no one else around, I mean there was no one else around. The crowds were thinning out quickly. Which means our son was the only child within a five mile radius even remotely interested in playing the pirate themed carnival games. Here we are with every cool ride imaginable laid out in front of him and the thing that he wants to do most is knock a foot tall pirate ship over with a blast of air from a piece of Saran Wrap and a rubber band contraption. Because he was the only kid around willing to try his hand at the game, he got plenty of extra attention from the CMs manning the games. Which he thought was pretty cool.

After a few minutes spent trying in vain to shoot a puff of air through a wall of vertical water, we decided to move onto some more rides. Because that’s what the hard ticket events are about for us. Although we like seeing the characters and scoring some booty, it’s the rides that we’re after. We moseyed on past Indy Nothing Speedy About It Way and the Mad Sure to Make You Splatter tea cups and found ourselves in Fantasyland, where we worked our way around the usual list of suspects, stopping for some booty along the way. Much like the MNSSHP trick or treat stations, they had stations set up around the park where you could score some pirate booty. I have nothing good to say about the booty they were giving out that night. The kids walked up to the station and were given one small string of beads each. I don’t know why I was expecting something better at these stations. But I was. They weren’t even cool looking beads. They were some of the cheapest kind of Mardi Gras beads manufactured. You can buy 500 of those things at any carnival supply store around here for about five bucks. But the kids thought it was cool so I guess that’s all that matters.

We eventually made our way around to Thunder Mountain. You may or may not know this, depending on how much of the last trip report you slept through, but we, as a family, love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. That’s our family ride. We had been pretty disappointed last October when we realized it was closed for refurbishment. But when we spotted it on this night, we decided to make up for lost time. We were hopping on that baby and riding it till the cows came home. Or until we threw up or decided to get off. Whichever came first. We ran-skip-walked through the COMPLETELY DESERTED queue and hopped on a couple of cars in the front. And then we heard it.

Hang onto your hats and glasses folks cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness.

Oh, how we LOVE that ride. Especially at night. And even in the rain. You know we were Disney starved (or else touched in the head) to think BTMRR in the rain is a good time. But it really was. The rain wasn’t coming down too hard, it was more like a steady drizzle at that point. And we were already wet so we were past the point of caring about it. We let our (wet, soppy) hair down and just went with the flow. When the ride was over and we came rattling into the station, something happened to us that had never happened before. We were told that if we’d like to ride again, to just stay seated.

SCORE!

As many times as we have collectively been to Disneyworld, neither of us have ever had that happen before. I had it happen once at Opryland when I was in the tenth grade on a class trip. We got to ride some little dumpy ride without getting off right before the joint closed. I was so happy that had I not been holding tight to my three foot tall Spudz Mackenzie stuffed dog I’d won by knocking down a bunch of milk bottles, I would’ve raised my right arm up in the air and given the ride operator the Arsenio Hall dog pound salute. But that was then. And that was Opryland. We'd never had it happen at Disney. And you can bet your sweet patootey we took full advantage of it. We high fived each other, did the Arsenio Hall dog pound arm in the air thing and stayed seated. And went for another round. We went up the hill, listening to the clacking sound of the chains along the way and feeling the anticipation that sound brings, down, around and underneath the big rib cage, involunatarily ducking our heads, up the hill again, never taking our eyes off that beautiful vision to our right: the castle now glowing in full blown Technicolor rising up from the middle of the park. And laughing the whole way.

Those were dang good times.

When we exited Thunder Mountain, we noticed the parade had started so we walked down to see what we could see. This was about it…

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp17.jpg


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp18.jpg

We caught the tail end of the parade, which made me a little upset. I had wanted to catch the whole thing because I’d read it was pretty good. But at the time, staying on Thunder Mountain and taking another spin was more important. As the parade ended, the boy looked at Pluto and goes “That’s IT?! That’s the whole parade?! This is Disneyworld. What kind of parade is that?!”

It’s the kind where you miss all but two floats, son.

Not to mention the moon pies and RC Colas.

We left the parade route roughly two minutes after we’d arrived and headed over to take a spin on the Haunted Mansion.

We had to beat the crowds back because it was shoulder to shoulder, every man for himself at that point.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp20.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp13.jpg

NOT.

We turned around and walked backwards through the streets. We skipped. Backwards. We did the Three's Company goofy leg walk. Backwards. We walked as slow as we possibly could and giggled when no one severed our Achilles tendons with their stroller. We formed a circle and took turns breakdancing while DH brought the beatbox.

Because we could.

We had wide lanes and there was no one else in sight as we walked through those streets that night. After we made it to the stretching room in the Haunted Mansion, we looked around and noticed that we were the ONLY PEOPLE IN THERE. Well, besides one other woman. Five people. There were only five people in the room. Unbelievable. We spent our time in there not paying attention to any of the usual stuff around us but pointing out the unusual to each other instead. The woman and I talked about how amazed we were that the place was so dead. No pun intended. We had never seen the streets of the Magic Kingdom that empty before. Ever. Even when they had the old E-nights. It truly felt like a private party because we had the place to ourselves. During Spring Break, of all times. There were no waits for anything. Nada. Everything was a walk on. It was truly awesome and worth every single penny we’d paid for the tickets. In fact, considering the price for a single day’s admission for four people, we felt like we’d gotten ourselves a dadgum bargain.

After the Haunted Mansion, we made our way to Splash Mountain, where we laughed when we saw this sign.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp16.jpg

On our way in, I overheard some rumblings about one day passes. And something about them being good for any park. I try not to be a nosy person (although I am) so instead of chasing down the complete stranger and asking him what the heck he was talking about, I fought the urge and tried to put it out of my mind. And instead followed my family through the (again) amazingly empty queue and boarded our log of fun.

There was no you may get wet about it. We got COMPLETELY SOAKED on that ride that night. As if we weren't already. This was only the girl’s second time to ride Splash Mountain and she squealed with excitement like girls will do and the boy pumped his fists in the air. Like boys will do. As for my husband and I, we just laughed really loud and made goofy jokes as we floated down the river to our Laughing Place.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp15.jpg

The kids laughed at the shenanigans of Brer Bear and Brer Fox all through the ride. But they mostly laughed at the sight of Brer Bear’s big ole, big ole butt.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp14.jpg

Kids.

After we splashed down and came back up to the station, we were told to stay seated if we wanted to ride again.

Thank you sir. Don’t mind if we do.

My oh my, what a wonderful day.

And yes, this was one for the record books. It was the most amazing time we’d ever spent in the Magic Kingdom. And that’s saying a lot because we’ve had some great times there. I had been worried that it would be crowded because of Spring Break and the place was a ghost town. I had been worried that the weather would ruin our plans but it didn’t. We’d hit everything we wanted to hit that night multiple times. So far that party had been nothing but a good time. As we finally exited Splash Mountain after our third ride on that bad boy that night, my husband and I agreed that buying those tickets was the best decision we’d made in a long time.

Little did we know how good a decision it would actually turn out to be.

Up Next: More to Come: Pirate and Princess Party Part Two

[TarzansKat]

Silly children. When will they ever learn?
Probably not.;)


As our van barreled down the road following those familiar purple and red signs leading us to the Polynesian, we let the kids in on our post dinner plans. They squealed and seat danced again. In other words, they were shocked and downright ecstatic. And extremely grateful. The only downside is that they’re now expecting to win Publisher’s Clearing House just as easily as we won four tickets to the Pirate and Princess Party.
Awesome. I can just imagine their excitement!


As we walked up and took in all the merchandise, we sighed deeply. Now THIS is a gift shop. Sadly, nothing had really appealed to us in the Universal gift shops. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Shrek dishes and Spiderman lanyards could bring in some major coin in the post vacation ‘what were we thinking’ garage sale. But we just didn’t have anything scream our name there. On the other hand, we were giddy here. Because even though they’re way overpriced, Disney souvenirs are slammin’.
Nothing like a Disney gift shop to bring on the true vacation feelin'.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp.jpg

She finally touched Baby Minnie gently and said “I’m sorry Minnie. But I still love you.” And with that, she gave Minnie a kiss and reached for Mickey. Then hugged him tight and broke out into a huge grin. Because as much as she loves Minnie, Mickey’s her boy.
I went through the same trauma as a child. My sister had one stuffed animal that was her lovey and gawd forbid a million times my parents left it anywhere. :eek:
So when they had me, feeling older and wiser, they decided to rotate animals so I wouldn't get too attached to one. HA HA! I was attached to all of them. Let's not talk about the collection festering in my nana's basement. Suffice it to say I feel the girl's pain.


As we left the restaurant, we broke out into a full on Phoebe Buffay sprint over to the monorail platform. Trippin' and clotheslinin’ anybody who dared even think of gettin' in our way.

DED!


We decided to forego a stroller for the evening (we were feeling either very brave or very stupid) and we took our walk down Main Street together. No strollers this time. Just the four of us holding hands and walking side by side. Which was strange. And very different. But in a good way.
My DS is three, I can't imagine when the day will come when we don't need a stroller and all the toddler gear. It must have felt surreal.


God is good.
::yes::


Hang onto your hats and glasses folks cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness.
It's a LaLa family hootenanny!:thumbsup2

We were told that if we’d like to ride again, to just stay seated. I love it when the CMs let you do this.


We turned around and walked backwards through the streets. We skipped. Backwards. We did the Three's Company goofy leg walk. Backwards. We walked as slow as we possibly could and giggled when no one severed our Achilles tendons with their stroller. We formed a circle and took turns breakdancing while DH brought the beatbox.

Because we could.
Right on, sister!

The woman and I talked about how amazed we were that the place was so dead. No pun intended.
But it was punny.


http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp15.jpg

The kids laughed at the shenanigans of Brer Bear and Brer Fox all through the ride. But they mostly laughed at the sight of Brer Bear’s big ole, big ole butt.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp14.jpg

Kids.

Kids meaning LaLa? :rotfl2:


After we splashed down and came back up to the station, we were told to stay seated if we wanted to ride again.

Thank you sir. Don’t mind if we do.

My oh my, what a wonderful day.

The ride karma was strong with you.



And yes, this was one for the record books. It was the most amazing time we’d ever spent in the Magic Kingdom. And that’s saying a lot because we’ve had some great times there. I had been worried that it would be crowded because of Spring Break and the place was a ghost town. I had been worried that the weather would ruin our plans but it didn’t. We’d hit everything we wanted to hit that night multiple times. So far that party had been nothing but a good time. As we finally exited Splash Mountain after our third ride on that bad boy that night, my husband and I agreed that buying those tickets was the best decision we’d made in a long time.

Little did we know how good a decision it would actually turn out to be.

Up Next: More to Come: Pirate and Princess Party Part Two

Okay, I need another chapter. Like now. Like yesterday. Because I love to hear about the world of La and yellow.:goodvibes

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Sounds like an amazing night! I would have choosen the Minnie.

[duckylady]

Oh, LaLa, how you delight me. Seriously, please never stop writing trip reports, ever.

As we left the restaurant, we broke out into a full on Phoebe Buffay sprint over to the monorail platform.
BAHAHAA. It's a little disturbing how well I can see you guys doing that.

“That’s IT?! That’s the whole parade?! This is Disneyworld. What kind of parade is that?!”

It’s the kind where you miss all but two floats, son.
Asd;fldfgh. Completely cracked me up.

I can't believe you left us hanging like that, though! :badpc: WE. NEED. CLOSURE.

[javamom]

My oh my, what a wonderful day.

And yes, this was one for the record books. It was the most amazing time we’d ever spent in the Magic Kingdom. And that’s saying a lot because we’ve had some great times there. I had been worried that it would be crowded because of Spring Break and the place was a ghost town. I had been worried that the weather would ruin our plans but it didn’t. We’d hit everything we wanted to hit that night multiple times. So far that party had been nothing but a good time. As we finally exited Splash Mountain after our third ride on that bad boy that night, my husband and I agreed that buying those tickets was the best decision we’d made in a long time.

Little did we know how good a decision it would actually turn out to be.

Up Next: More to Come: Pirate and Princess Party Part Two

Awwww, I'm so glad that you had the Yellowest of nights!!
:woohoo:

[HerdOHuds]

Okay,
I am just tuning into these TRs and have read MissCammie and Zzub. But I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

What is DED?

And what is up with the yellow?

I probably need to go back and read your earlier TRs, don't I?

I know. I must be a newbie. Sorry about that.

The P&PP sounds truly dream-like! Like one-in-a-million!

hmmmmm. . .

I am loving your writing style and the relaxed tone you take. Can't wait for more!

[AussieAngel]

Yay! What a fun night at Magic Kingdom so far!! :banana:

I really fancy some of those sticky wings for my dinner tonight... But alas, I'll have to wait 7 months!!

Such a cute story about The Girl wanting both Mickey and Minnie. They are both very cute. Even now, I feel bad for soft toys if I have to put one back on the shelf. Ahem.

I have to admit, the little girl half of me really wanted you just to give in and buy her both. But the teacher half of me really wanted you to stick to your word. Hehee. Well done Lala. :thumbsup2

Thanks for another fun chapter!

[jcc0621]

What a great night! We did the P & P PArty in August and absolutely loved it. DS4 still talks about the Pirate Party and how much fun he had:thumbsup2 (We don't don't talk about Princesses becasue they're girls:eek: )

[Frickles]

La!!! I read it this morning while I shoved in some breakfast! Now I have to shoot off to work but I LOVED going to Disney with you guys! Even in the rain! Squeak Squeak!!!!

[nicolemarie]

This was a GREAT way to start my Monday morning. The first Monday morning with the kids out of school, even.

What an awesome night y'all had!!! I have to say, that I'm pretty sure Mr. NM would have bailed on a wet P&PP. Mad props to y'all for staying and enjoying it despite the weather.

But we were hoping they’d settle for Kona Café instead. Because as it turns out, we were going to dinner after all.

Here's what I've gotta know. What TIME did you go to dinner? Because any wise Disney geek knows that you can get into the P&PP by 4:00. Which meant that the NMs were at the gate at 3:45 with bells on. Trying to get the most bang for our buck, of course.

Did y'all really waste time eating dinner when you could have already been getting your ride on? What in the heck do you think Pecos Bill's is for? Or for that matter, a turkey leg that you can gnaw on while you walk?

She hem hawed around for a few minutes and then sat on the ground in front of them. In order to weigh her options more clearly. She finally touched Baby Minnie gently and said “I’m sorry Minnie. But I still love you.” And with that, she gave Minnie a kiss and reached for Mickey. Then hugged him tight and broke out into a huge grin. Because as much as she loves Minnie, Mickey’s her boy.

That is TOO sweet. And TOO familiar. My girl has the HARDEST time deciding what to spend her money on. It's actually so time consuming that it's painful. I've found that the best thing to do, is to go ahead and set a time limit. "We're leaving this store in five minutes. Please make your selection and bring it to the register promptly."

I don't know how to quote the picture of the sticky wings, but I'll bet Chappie will be along in a little bit to make fun of you for it's blurryness. I didn't notice, though. ;)

I have nothing good to say about the booty they were giving out that night. The kids walked up to the station and were given one small string of beads each. I don’t know why I was expecting something better at these stations. But I was. They weren’t even cool looking beads. They were some of the cheapest kind of Mardi Gras beads manufactured. You can buy 500 of those things at any carnival supply store around here for about five bucks. But the kids thought it was cool so I guess that’s all that matters.

SERIOIUSLY!!! It's awful, isn't it? Did y'all get to go through the one line that had the bags with the plastic jewels? The little NMs went through that line about 4 times. We came home with LOTS of plastic jewels. Not much better than all the beads, but at least they were pretty.

I was so happy that had I not been holding tight to my three foot tall Spudz Mackenzie stuffed dog I’d won by knocking down a bunch of milk bottles, I would’ve raised my right arm up in the air and given the ride operator the Arsenio Hall dog pound salute.

OH MY WORD!!! This made me laugh so hard! Spudz Mackenzie? Arsenio Hall fist pump? (That's what we called it.) Girl, you ain't right. That's one funny bit of writing, right there.

La, we went to the P&PP on May 16th, and while we had wonderful weather that kept our party from being the ghost town yours was, it was still WELL WORTH THE CASH. The crowds were incredibly low, and every single thing was a walk-on. I was amazed. And happy as a clam. As Passholders, I really thought I'd be aggravated by spending the money. But you are exactly right. It was money well spent. Much less than a one day base ticket, but more bang for your buck in that eight hours than any other time we've ever been in the Magic Kingdom.

Just think how much fun you could have had if you hadn't wasted time eating blurry sticky wings at Kona!!!

Great installment, my friend. You know I love me some LaLa trip reporting, and this was a great way to start my day. Thanks!!!

[LISAMWDW]

Sounds like you had a very special night! I think perhaps the rain was a good thing! No crowds! Yeah!

Can't wait to hear more!

[Chapter 11]

She hem hawed around for a few minutes and then sat on the ground in front of them. In order to weigh her options more clearly. She finally touched Baby Minnie gently and said “I’m sorry Minnie. But I still love you.” And with that, she gave Minnie a kiss and reached for Mickey. Then hugged him tight and broke out into a huge grin.

That is so unbelievably cute. She's a keeper. But then, you probably already knew that.

We didn’t order deserts and appetizers at every meal like we normally do on the dining plan but we just couldn’t pass up the chance to order a plate of sticky wings at Kona.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp1.jpg

Oh yeah baby. Sticky wings.

I guess we'll just have to take your word for it.

We were hopping on that baby and riding it till the cows came home.

Way to milk it for all its worth. Heh.

It’s the kind where you miss all but two floats, son.

Not to mention the moon pies and RC Colas.

Okay, now that's just plain funny.

Wow -- sounds like y'all really had a great time. Even in the rain.

I don't know how to quote the picture of the sticky wings, but I'll bet Chappie will be along in a little bit to make fun of you for it's blurryness.

You wound me. That aside, hope I didn't disappoint.

[LaLa]

That's my job.

Sounds like an amazing night! I would have choosen the Minnie.

Just between me and you, I thought she was the cuter of the two. Because I'm a sucker for pink bows. But you have to remember this is the girl who still fondly remembers the time Mickey tickled her back when she was two years old. She was terrified of him before then. Afterwards, not so much. Now he's her boy. Mouse. Whatever.

Oh, LaLa, how you delight me. Seriously, please never stop writing trip reports, ever.

I have to say that delighted me. That was really sweet, ducklady. So glad you're enjoying reading about our adventures.

Awwww, I'm so glad that you had the Yellowest of nights!!
:woohoo:

Thanks Java. We really did.

Okay,
I am just tuning into these TRs and have read MissCammie and Zzub. But I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

What is DED?

And what is up with the yellow?

I probably need to go back and read your earlier TRs, don't I?

I know. I must be a newbie. Sorry about that.

The P&PP sounds truly dream-like! Like one-in-a-million!

hmmmmm. . .

I am loving your writing style and the relaxed tone you take. Can't wait for more!

First of all, welcome, HerdOHuds. Glad you found the trip report board. There are tons of great reports here and Campbell Scot and ZZUB's are a couple of great ones to start off with. And just so you're up to speed, when someone says DED, it means whatever they're quoting made them laugh really hard. Enough to make them fall out dead. Or DED. At least I think that's what it means. If memory serves, ZZUB brought that one to the table and I have no doubt he'll correct me if I'm wrong. Yellow is simply my word for happiness.
Speaking of which, your avatar is downright adorable.

Yay! What a fun night at Magic Kingdom so far!! :banana:

I really fancy some of those sticky wings for my dinner tonight... But alas, I'll have to wait 7 months!!

Such a cute story about The Girl wanting both Mickey and Minnie. They are both very cute. Even now, I feel bad for soft toys if I have to put one back on the shelf. Ahem.

I have to admit, the little girl half of me really wanted you just to give in and buy her both. But the teacher half of me really wanted you to stick to your word. Hehee. Well done Lala. :thumbsup2

Thanks for another fun chapter!

Thanks Aussie Angel. And stick around. There's plenty more where that came from. Unfortunately, that doesn't apply to the sticky wings.

What a great night! We did the P & P PArty in August and absolutely loved it. DS4 still talks about the Pirate Party and how much fun he had:thumbsup2 (We don't don't talk about Princesses becasue they're girls:eek: )

That made me laugh out loud. I love the "Pirate Party". Your little one is definitely all boy. Which is a good thing.

La!!! I read it this morning while I shoved in some breakfast! Now I have to shoot off to work but I LOVED going to Disney with you guys! Even in the rain! Squeak Squeak!!!!

Frick!!! Girl, you know I thought about you that night as we were walking around in the rain with our squeaky shoes. Thanks for taking the time to post even though you were shooting off to do some Frick Math behind your big old messy deskes, chick. LY/MI!

Did y'all really waste time eating dinner when you could have already been getting your ride on? What in the heck do you think Pecos Bill's is for? Or for that matter, a turkey leg that you can gnaw on while you walk?

You know what's funny? When I MADE that ADR, I thought to myself "NM would DIE if she knew we were wasting valuable party time eating when we could be getting in at four. But I had my reasons. Chief among them being the opportunity to take a blurry picture of some sticky wings and have you rag me about it when I got back.

Not really.

That is TOO sweet. And TOO familiar. My girl has the HARDEST time deciding what to spend her money on. It's actually so time consuming that it's painful. I've found that the best thing to do, is to go ahead and set a time limit. "We're leaving this store in five minutes. Please make your selection and bring it to the register promptly."

Are we the same person? I can't tell you how many times I've done this exact thing.

SERIOIUSLY!!! It's awful, isn't it? Did y'all get to go through the one line that had the bags with the plastic jewels? The little NMs went through that line about 4 times. We came home with LOTS of plastic jewels. Not much better than all the beads, but at least they were pretty.

We didn't but that would've been a huge score to us. Well, for the girl anyway. The boy ain't down with pretty plastic jewels.

OH MY WORD!!! This made me laugh so hard! Spudz Mackenzie? Arsenio Hall fist pump? (That's what we called it.) Girl, you ain't right. That's one funny bit of writing, right there.

Don't front like you didn't have a Spudz Mackenzie dog and rock out with him to Funky Cold Medina. Don't tell me that's the one thing we ain't borg on. But NM: the really funny part about that whole thing is I'm not making it up. I really DID win a three foot tall stuffed Spudz Mackenzie dog. Complete with the bandana draped around his neck and a set of cool shades. And you wonder why Opryland ain't around anymore.

La, we went to the P&PP on May 16th, and while we had wonderful weather that kept our party from being the ghost town yours was, it was still WELL WORTH THE CASH. The crowds were incredibly low, and every single thing was a walk-on. I was amazed. And happy as a clam. As Passholders, I really thought I'd be aggravated by spending the money. But you are exactly right. It was money well spent. Much less than a one day base ticket, but more bang for your buck in that eight hours than any other time we've ever been in the Magic Kingdom.


NM, so glad to hear yall had a great time at your P&PP too. They really know how to throw a party, don't they? Minus the lame beads, of course.

Sounds like you had a very special night! I think perhaps the rain was a good thing! No crowds! Yeah!

Can't wait to hear more!

You know, I do think the rain had alot to do with the crowds being so low that night. Glad you're enjoying it, LisaMWDW!

That is so unbelievably cute. She's a keeper. But then, you probably already knew that.

Thanks, Chappie. Yeah, we've decided to keep her around for a few more years.

I guess we'll just have to take your word for it.

My husband was DED over this. When I came home from work, he pointed it out to me. Three times. Laughing harder each time. What's up with that? I think he thought it was just a little too funny. Now he's janking me for blurry pictures. See what you started?!

Wow -- sounds like y'all really had a great time. Even in the rain.

We did, Chappie. And thanks for posting, friend. But you're on Ignore. I think you know why.

:moped:

[ZZUB]

I'm drenched and exhausted from that update. But in a good way.

Sadly, nothing had really appealed to us in the Universal gift shops.What, no pickled eggs? No cans of Spam? No jar of jerky?

Just kidding. We never think of ZZUB on vacation and if we do, it’s only when we step across a pile of vomit or smell recycled ginger in the air. Ironically, I NEVER think of ZZUB on vacation either.

You're husband and son are BAMA fans?! Who knew? Evidently Mr. La2 is the brains of the operation and the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

I understand you went to Miss State, so let me break that down for you: Your husband is smart and so is your son. Because they like Alabama.

And cake. Evidently.

I have nothing good to say about the booty they were giving out that night.I have a hard time believing you didn't intend that as a double entendre.

Excellent update as usual. But I still don't understand one thing. When did you go to Universal Studios? Was that in October or was this night at the Pirates & Princess Party in October?

:moped:

[LaLa]

Isn't that what they give you at dinner time on cruise ships?

Evidently Mr. La2 is the brains of the operation and the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Of all the things you've been wrong about over the years (the list is too long for me to even contemplate delving into right now), this ain't one of them.

But I still don't understand one thing.

And I have a hard time believing there's only one thing you don't understand, ZZUB. Sadly, no time for a list for that one either as I'm heading off to work to spend my day walking into the Pecan Swirl induced farts of strange men I've only known for three weeks.

:moped:

[PISCESANGEL]

And I have a hard time believing there's only one thing you don't understand, ZZUB. Sadly, no time for a list for that one either as I'm heading off to work to spend my day walking into the Pecan Swirl induced farts of strange men I've only known for three weeks.

:moped:

Pecan swirl induced farts??!! OMG, that gave me a visual I could do without, but is without a doubt full-on funny! :rotfl2:



Thanks for the comic relief this morning, LaLa!

[Goofyluver]

I am signin' on! I just powered through all 14 pages, thank you very much!

Waitin' for more! :teeth:

[cjhinch]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVING your report! A soaking wet, EMPTY Magic Kingdom has to be the best thing ever! Although I did have to go back to the beginning of your report to remind myself how old your kiddos were when you said you had to decide whether or not to get a stroller! LOL

Can't wait for the next installment!

[lisalonglash]

Great stuff, LaLa! An empty park, rain or not, must be fabulous to behold! I'm glad you all enjoyed yourselves :goodvibes Waiting patiently for the next guffaw-inducing update popcorn::

[CampbellScot]

“This is for m’boy. So he can wear it when we watch us some Alabama football together next season. While you women feed us little sausages wrapped in bacon. And cake.”

:rotfl2: I choked on my special K. cereal bar...and drooled a little bit...probably b/c this cereal bar doesn't do JACK to make a girl feel less like eating cake! (even though the commercials CLEARLY states that they do just that!) jerks.


When the ride was over and we came rattling into the station, something happened to us that had never happened before. We were told that if we’d like to ride again, to just stay seated.

Isn't that the BEST?! This happened to my hubby and I on our honeymoon. We were at MK during "hurricane ernesto"...the place was a GHOST town...and we proceeded to ride BTMRR SIX times in row...just b/c we could. Then we hopped on over to Splash Mountain and did the same thing...but the husband only lasted four go rounds until he was ready to drown himself if he heard that music once more...so we only rode two more times after that...

:lmao:

I'm so glad y'all had a good time...even in the rain! But then the rain brings unexpected blessings along with pixie dust now doesn't it?!

:goodvibes

[Tanya90210]

Wise choice of your DD to get a mickey.... I would have too hehe

Sounds like some great rides to be had with no waits :) Great value for the hard ticket...:woohoo:

[KatGarcia]

I am signin' on! I just powered through all 14 pages, thank you very much!

Waitin' for more! :teeth:

I too am all caught up and anxious for more!

[AshClan]

La, no time to be witty or insightful, but I just wanted to pop in to say I've caught up - finally. It's a crazy time in work, and this is the first chance I've had to read your last couple of awesome-as-always chapters.

Gotta tell you, though, that picture of the sticky wings killed me today. As I sat here eating my salad. LOVE me some Kona sticky wings. In fact, they may be in the top 5 all-time Ashclan favorite Disney food list. Along with Dole Whips, Main St. Bakery choc. chip ice cream sammies, Kona filet and mashed taters (that counts as one, TFI), and Cali Grill Lemon Drops. What? Lemon Drops don't count as food?! Well, then you can replace them with a Beaches & Cream cheeseburger! Yeah, can you tell I'm on a diet?!:rolleyes:

Sorry Kona didn't live up to your past visits. I'm afraid to say that our last trip there wasn't stellar either. In fact, my husband echoed your thoughts when he said the wings were the best part of the meal. Wouldn't be surprised if that's his entree next trip there!

The Phoebe Buffay line cracked me up. As did the sword diatribe. I hear ya on that, sister. Mine are teenagers and I STILL have a couple of light up swords hidden away in my walk-in closet. There are probably a few little rubber balls hidden away in drawers, too. And the top of the fridge has always been a popular hiding place, as well ;) And, of course, the Girl's tough decision was as sweet as a piece of that BGPC thing that Z's still hankering for.

Thanks for the smiles, girl. You still rock our world. Can't wait to get the inside scoop on the dark side, LaLa style!

[miabellarose]

Hi
I have greatly enjoyed reading your past two TR's and your current TR. I also have my DSIL reading them too. I just wanted to say that due to your "obsession" with Zebra domes I have now convinced my family to eat at Boma's on our next trip.

[LaLa]

Pecan swirl induced farts??!! OMG, that gave me a visual I could do without, but is without a doubt full-on funny! :rotfl2:

Thanks for the comic relief this morning, LaLa!

Hey PiscesAngel, glad you got a kick out of that. I can assure you it's much funnier reading about it than walking through it.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVING your report! A soaking wet, EMPTY Magic Kingdom has to be the best thing ever! Although I did have to go back to the beginning of your report to remind myself how old your kiddos were when you said you had to decide whether or not to get a stroller! LOL

Can't wait for the next installment!

Thanks cjhinch. And I am LOVE, LOVE, LOVING that picture in your signature line. Even if I can only see half of it. That's a very cute shot. Glad you're enjoying the report.

Isn't that the BEST?! This happened to my hubby and I on our honeymoon. We were at MK during "hurricane ernesto"...the place was a GHOST town...and we proceeded to ride BTMRR SIX times in row...just b/c we could. Then we hopped on over to Splash Mountain and did the same thing...but the husband only lasted four go rounds until he was ready to drown himself if he heard that music once more...so we only rode two more times after that...

:lmao:

I'm so glad y'all had a good time...even in the rain! But then the rain brings unexpected blessings along with pixie dust now doesn't it?!

Yes maam it does. Sounds like yall had a great time on your honeymoon, Campbell Scot. Even if you were singing Zippadee Doo Da in your sleep that night.


LOVE me some Kona sticky wings. In fact, they may be in the top 5 all-time Ashclan favorite Disney food list. Along with Dole Whips, Main St. Bakery choc. chip ice cream sammies, Kona filet and mashed taters (that counts as one, TFI), and Cali Grill Lemon Drops. What? Lemon Drops don't count as food?! Well, then you can replace them with a Beaches & Cream cheeseburger! Yeah, can you tell I'm on a diet?!:rolleyes:


Okay, since you started it, here's my top five:

Dole Whip
Strawberry Swirl
Zebra Domes
Gourmet apples from Germany
Main Street chocolate chip cookies

Never tried the choc chip sammie but it sounds like I may have to put that one on my list for next time. Hope things have calmed down at work for you, Ash. And it's so far, so good on the new job. It's way busy but we've been able to get off pretty early several times already, which is a huge plus for me. Thanks for posting, Ashclan. Love ya mean it, sweet friend!

Hi
I have greatly enjoyed reading your past two TR's and your current TR. I also have my DSIL reading them too. I just wanted to say that due to your "obsession" with Zebra domes I have now convinced my family to eat at Boma's on our next trip.

That's awesome. I really hope you enjoy it. And I'm sure you will. You have to try the salad with mango dressing and if you don't try the Zebra Domes, you're on Ignore. But not really. Glad you're enjoying the reports!

Lisalonglash, Goofyluver, Tanya90210, KatGarcia, : Hey, thanks for posting. I've got the next installment coming up in just a few.

:moped:

[PISCESANGEL]

Hey PiscesAngel, glad you got a kick out of that. I can assure you it's much funnier reading about it than walking through it.



:moped:


I'll take your word for it... ;)

[LaLa]

Upon leaving Frontierland, we walked through the darkened and deserted streets of the Magic Kingdom toward Adventureland.

And paused to do the Rerun in the middle of the street.

Right hand, left hand, shoulder pop, jump.

We love Pirates of the Caribbean more than Raj loves him some horn rimmed glasses and Dwayne loves to say hey hey hey so as it popped up in our line of vision on the right, we shimmied on over and paid them a visit. In doing so, we hit upon what would be the theme of the rest of our evening.

We walked straight through the queue without stopping once, not even to let anyone “catch up with the rest of their party” or “get ahead of the children” and were stomping our wet feet all over the seats of a big brown boat with handlebars within roughly sixty seconds. We rode the familiar ride, singing that familiar song and pointing out the familiar scenes to our children.

“Look, Mommy’s chasing Daddy with the broom.”

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un1.jpg

And yes, this is the scene that made our then three year old daughter kick her fear to the curb and laugh out loud. On another trip. Not this one. Or the last one. It sparked an appreciation for this ride in her all those years ago. Or, at least it took her mind off the spooky dungeons she’d encountered during our hideously long wait in the queue that day.

Not this day. That one.

So we said it again. Just like we do each and every time we see it. Because we’re creatures of habit. And we occasionally like to amuse ourselves and no one else.

After we slid past a realistic looking Jack Sparrow and the ending scenes, we bumped the boat in front of us and eventually docked, stomped our wet feet all over the seats on our way out and made our way toward Main Street. It was almost time for the fireworks and we were NOT going to miss out on those. Like we had done with the parade. We ain’t about being 0 for 2. NOBama. So we beat a trail to Main Street where the crowds were already assembling for the special showing of Music, Magic and Mayhem. But instead of stopping to stake out a place, we kept walking.

All the way to the Main Street Bakery.

Because what good are fireworks without snacks?

Since I was in the mood for a cool and refreshing lil sumpm sumpm and my Dole Whip was eluding me again that night, I made the biggest mistake of the year (almost) and went with the strawberry and cream smoothie. A strawberry swirl it ain’t. And that’s all I’ll say about that. The kids grabbed cookies, a brownie and a drink and DH messed up and got the same thing I did. Sucker. Right as we were finishing up at the cash register, we heard the beginning of the music and the first explosions of the fireworks.

The kids and I literally DROPPED what we were doing, turned tail and ran outside. George Costanza couldn’t get out of a burning building any faster than we got out of that bakery. We were gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday. Leaving DH high and dry. All by himself. Attempting to juggle two trays with everything but the kitchen sink loaded on it. Which he could NOT bring out into the street.

Or so he thought.

After a few extremely persuasive words yelled from the vicinity of the doorway out into the street, we sheepishly power walked back over to join him, grabbed our stuff off the tray and then turned on a dime and ran right back out into the street.

In an effort to not miss a moment of them there fancy fireworks.

We love us some perimeter fireworks and this one did not disappoint. Although the name of the party we were attending did contain the word “Pirate”, I have to admit I was really surprised to hear Pirates begin to play roughly halfway through the show.

Shortly before our trip last October, a friend gave us a CD with some Disney music on it. One of the songs was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. As we made our way around property on that trip, we played that CD nonstop and more often than not, we wound up listening to Pirates. As we drove around at night with our windows down, discussing the day’s events and anticipating what the next day would bring, we did it all with the theme from Pirates running in the background. It was my son and husband’s favorite by a landslide and it quickly became THE song from that trip. Not this one. So as we stood there in front of the castle, taking in the cooler than cool fireworks and hearing that familiar music boom all around us, we were transported back in time and the memories from that trip became intertwined with the present in an instant.

Kind of like with this trip report. Apparently.

We stood in the middle of Main Street sucking back nasty strawberry and cream crap, hoping in vain the taste would change with the next slurp and were in awe of this part. It was, hands down, one of the most perfectly timed portions of any fireworks show we’d ever seen. The explosions were choreographed perfectly to the music.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/th_mmm.jpg (http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/?action=view&current=mmm.flv)

The music wasn’t hard on the ears either.

We were blown away by Music, Magic and Mayhem. We felt they really outdid themselves with that one.

Once the fireworks were over, we took a stroll toward Adventureland. Because we had a date with a pirate.

One of the reasons the boy had wanted to “win” a ticket to the party so bad was so he could meet Jack Sparrow. Or Jack SPA-rrow. He was pumped about the chance to finally actually meet him and as we wound our way through the moderately long line (the first time we’d seen a line all night), his voice began to raise three octaves and he got fidgety. He laughed for no reason whatsoever. In other words, he was seriously jacked up about meeting the Captain of the Black Pearl.

For all the boy’s talk beforehand though, he clammed up when it was finally our turn for some serious one on one time with Jack Sparrow. Which is the way it usually goes, isn’t it?

Jack Sparrow: Hello there, mates.
The boy: silence accompanied by a slight step back
The girl: silence
Jack Sparrow: Yes, was your trip here a long one?
The boy: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
The girl: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
Jack Sparrow: Yes, how did you arrive here in the Caribbean? By ship?
The boy: silence followed by a smiling head shake
Jack Sparrow: Coach?
The girl: silence, silence and more silence
Me: Coach.
Jack Sparrow: Ah, coach. Yes. Well let’s have a photograph then.

And that was it. My husband and I stepped in and held a conversation with Jack for a few minutes. He really did a good job. I can’t say I blame the kids though. If you were seven and ten, would you really want to be chatting up a guy who a) wore more jewelry than your mom b) was all up in your grill with his drunken jazz hands c) couldn’t stand up straight longer than two seconds and 3) looked like this?

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un2.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un3.jpg

I think not.

Still, when we left, the boy was on Cloud Nine. And all smiles. He jumped around and walked backwards, talking to us excitedly the whole time as he moved. Recounting the conversation. As it were. The picture they took with Jack Sparrow was one of only two photos I ended up ordering from Photopass from that night. But only because the caption underneath it reads “I Met Jack Sparrow.” And considering the fact that it was probably the highlight of the boy’s night, there was no way I could pass that one up.

Especially at forty percent off.

Mama didn’t raise no fool.

Once we washed our hands of the weirdness, we decided to call it a night. Our shoes were squeaking, our pants were dripping, our legs were aching and an edge of irritability was slowly but surely beginning to creep in. Hard to imagine, considering the night we’d had but there’s only so many hours of walking around getting soaked to the bone that one person can take. And there ain’t enough pixie dust in the World to make you okay with having soaking wet underwear. When that happens, it’s just time to call it a night.

As we squish squashed our way by the castle for the last time, we heard the announcement that the Dream Along With Mickey show had been cancelled that evening. The announcer apologized profusely for any inconvenience. It was at that point that I realized we hadn’t seen any characters out that night for the special meet 'n greets. I was sure they had moved everything indoors because of the rain. I imagine uppity mice ain’t down with squeaky shoes. But still, I didn’t remember seeing any. But I did remember over hearing the murmurs at Splash Mountain earlier about one day passes.

Things that make you go Hmmmm.

I remembered reading some comments on my girl Frick’s trip report that Disney had given out one day passes in the past at hard ticket events when the weather was crummy. I thought briefly about stopping by Guest Services on the way out just to find out if there was any chance they were doing it that night. But to be honest, we had such a good time that I didn’t feel quite right asking if they were giving out passes due to the weather or any of the scheduled events being cancelled. We’d had a downright awesome time at the party that night. Our experience, although wet and messy, had been an incredible one. Besides, DH and the kids were ready to get gone for good and good and gone so I decided to leave without asking.

We jumped on the nearly empty monorail, picked up our car and my husband drove us out of Disneyworld. This time on purpose.

As he drove, I kept expecting to feel sad that we weren’t staying in a Disney resort and instead heading back to Universal. I thought to myself “Anytime now it’s going to hit me and I’m going to feel sad that we’re not staying here.”

And I’d wait. And think “Okay, here it comes. We’re passing underneath the arches. I’m about to feel sad.”

And then I’d wait some more.

But the funny thing is that it never happened. I was perfectly fine with leaving Disney property to go back to the Royal Pacific for the rest of our vacation. There wasn’t even an ounce of sadness. Who knew?!

We made it back to our resort and after getting cleaned up, we turned in for the evening in our extremely comfortable beds. Everyone fell asleep almost instantly. Everyone except me, that is. I lay awake thinking about those darn tickets. And bed bugs. What I’d wear the next day. Pirates. Bullwinkle. The cool as all get out light fixtures in the bathroom. The dimmer ones. But mostly I kicked myself for not stopping for five minutes to ask a dang question.

Except I actually kicked DH instead of myself.

It was dark, my legs were cramping and my aim was off. I felt bad about it but the way I figure it, it was payback for the time he jammed his thumb into my eyeball socket at three in the morning. Ten years ago. Waking up with a thumb in your eye is not a fastpass. At any rate, things eventually calmed down and I drifted off to sleep. With visions of one day passes dancing in my head.

The next morning we were awakened at the crack of dawn by the shrill ring of the telephone. DH picked it up to hear the voice on the other end of the line say “You def’nly need a Tic Tac or sump’m cause yo breaf STANK!”

It was Dunkey. Bringin’ the wake up call.

Okay, so maybe they don’t actually have character wake up calls. That we know of. And maybe that didn’t really happen. Please. Your first clue was the word “crack of dawn” This is the relaxing vacation, remember? We were all about sleeping in this go round. But DH and I did get a pretty good laugh as we lay in bed that morning imagining which lame characters should be doing wake up calls at Universal and what they’d say if they did.

After we finally decided to roll out of bed, we got showers and got dressed. And then I broke down and tried to call Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom. Just for the heck of it. And because if I know one thing and one thing only, it’s that it never hurts to ask.

I was eventually connected to someone with Ticket Services and upon explaining that I was just checking to see if, by some odd chance, any passes were given out the night before to the guests at the P&PP due to some of the events being cancelled, I was told that our tickets had already been credited with another day in the parks.

GET OUT!

I told her.

I was three different kinds of numb. I had hoped that might be the case but I never thought it actually would be. Because Disney doesn’t give out free stuff. We’re the ones who line their pockets. Not the other way around. But as my husband wisely pointed out, it probably wasn’t such a bad decision on their part to credit us with another day. They knew they’d make money off us by inviting us back again. We’d buy more souvenirs, we’d eat all of our meals in their restaurants, we’d pay for parking. They would get something out of the deal as well. But whatever their reasoning for doing it, we didn’t care. Because we were in possession of four little tickets with an extra day’s worth of fun and pixie dust already encoded in that sweet little strip on the back.

And we were PUMPED UP ABOUT IT!!!!

I asked the CM if she needed our names to verify and she said she did not. All we needed were our P&PP tickets from the night before in order to get into another park for one day. I believe she said that the tickets were good for one year from the date of the party as well.

At which point, I said “I am almost not believing this is true.”

Except that I didn’t. And Simon Cowell didn’t dog me out either.

At any rate, when we hung up, you better BELIEVE I danced around the room. And forced the family to join in with me. Right after DH made a mad dash over to the nightstand to find the tickets. Yes! There they were. He held them in his hands, petted them and called them precious. Then we talked about how awesome this trip was shaping up to be. Not only had we enjoyed a great night with no crowds in the middle of one of the busiest seasons at Disney, but we were getting an extra day in the parks to go along with it.

FOR FREE!

You can’t beat that with a stick. We stopped what we were doing and took a few moments to thank God for His many blessings on our trip thus far and then we grabbed some breakfast and headed out to the parks.

The other parks.

As anxious as we were to get going and check out the dark side, there was no real rushing that morning. Everything was fairly peaceful. We didn’t feel pressured to run out the door and adhere to a plan. Mainly because we didn’t have a plan. Well, yes we did. Go to Universal Studios and have fun. That was our plan. Aside from that, we were open to anything. As we made our way along the beautifully landscaped resort walkway toward Universal Studios by way of Citywalk, DH asked me what time the park opened.

I told him I didn’t know.

That sound you hear? It’s the sound of NM screaming all the way from Georgia.

But that’s how laid back we were about it. We weren’t even sure what time the park opened. We thought it was nine but it could’ve been ten for all we knew. Even now I’m not sure which. And you know something? It felt AWESOME to be “them”. It really did. We’d thrown off the yoke and we were footloose and fancy free. And it felt goooood. But not to worry. We had our bases covered as far as the rides were concerned. The fact of the matter is that although this type of blasé attitude could cause some problems elsewhere, it was perfectly acceptable here. Because of two little words.

Universal Express.

Baby.

It’s free when you stay in a Universal resort and that sucker is a one way ticket to the front of the line any time you want it. As many times as you want it. With no windows or return times. It completely blew our socks off. And blew Fastpass out of the water. No comparison whatsoever.

But more on that later.

As we walked that morning, we took some shots along the way.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un4.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un8.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un7.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un6.jpg

The rickshaws seemed like a pretty cool way to get to and from the parks. That is, if you could catch them at the right time. Which we never seemed to be able to do.

The way the resorts and parks are set up there is once you leave your resort, you walk (or ride) to Citywalk, which is similar to Downtown Disney. It serves as the hub, I suppose. From there, you have Islands of Adventure on one side and Universal Studios on the other. Everything is situated very close together so it’s an easy walk to get most anywhere on property.

Once we arrived at Citywalk, the first thing we noticed was the familiar music that was playing. I’m all about the familiar background music and although I can’t be sure, I think it was coming from this little place.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un5.jpg

I love me some Jimmy Buffett. Mainly because you just cannot hear his songs without associating them with laid back times. And vacation. It’s like watching fish in a fish tank. It just relaxes you and brings your blood pressure down. And if it doesn’t, it should. It’s toes in the sand, sun on your face, know every word by heart music to me and it immediately put both me and my husband in a good mood.

We paused for some pictures beside the Bass Pro Shop car on display outside Nascar Sports Grille. Like every other Redneck that had come that way.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un11.jpg

And then we kicked it on in. We were ready to get down to bidness.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un10.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un13.jpg

Ersal Studios. It’s the new Universal Studios. And what you get when you don’t have the patience to wait for the words to spin all the way around again. Like the person in the right of that shot. Every group that stands in front of that globe does that. Every single one. Part of the group stands at attention with the smile and the designated lookout person cranes his neck in order to give the go ahead with the shutter once the letters swing on around. It’s Unwritten Rule Number 7854 in the Ersal Studios handbook. You gotta have a spotter.

We made it through the entrance pretty fast, noticing the main difference here is that there are no finger scans. Just someone standing there scanning tickets and ushering you through. Once we were on the other side of the gate, we took in the scene.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un12.jpg

Main Street it ain’t. But it was vacation and we were giddy all the same.

After picking up a few maps (because we would actually need them here), and scoping out our options, we decided to walk straight ahead and take in Shrek 4D first.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un14.jpg

The kids love Shrek and had been pretty pumped about this attraction. We knew the line for this would get pretty long later in the day so we hit it when we first arrived. That would turn out to be a good decision because even with Universal Express, we ended up waiting longer for that attraction than any of the other ones the entire trip. The wait wasn’t bad though because along the way, we were treated to our first dose of Universal humor.

The play on Jaws cracked us up. As did Liar Liar.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un15.jpg

Once we made it through the mostly boring and unfunny preshow, we took our seats inside the theatre, where the lights soon went down and the show began.

It was similar to Philharmagic except it was nothing like Philharmagic. And the seats bucked and moved along with the action on the screen. Didn’t expect that. Three of us enjoyed it. The fourth one, not so much. The girl started crying shortly into the show and did not stop the entire time we were in there. Which is highly unusual for her. She even scooted over to sit in my lap and bury her head in my shoulder halfway through the show. What was up with that? This is the same girl who braved Space Mountain back to back, laughed in the face of the drunken pirates and dropped five stories into a briar patch over and over just the night before. But once the show ended, we realized what was going on. It wasn’t so much that the show had scared her (which it did a little) but it was moreso the fact that she lost her cooler than cool pink Rock Star sunglasses during the show.

Her “stylin” new sunglasses.

As the lights came up, she explained what happened, wiped the tears off her cheeks and pointed out the last known location of the sunglasses in question. And begged me to retrieve them. The only problem was that last known location. They had fallen into the crack between the seats.

Not the crack between the seats! Anywhere but the crack between the seats!

But as much as I hate theme park grodiness, I love my daughter even more. And she was some kind of upset about those sunglasses. So I did what any mother would do in that situation. I bit the bullet and dove into the bowels of theme park nastiness. Where no human hand should ever dare go. The crack between the seat and the seat back.

Which was NOT the floor, by the way. The seats were arranged on a platform type contraption so everything that gets dropped between the seats stays between the seats.

It’s kind of like Vegas in that respect. Only with more potential for disease.

I held my breath, counted to three and then shoved my hand blindly down between the cushions of the seat. And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.

Up Next: Ten Reasons Why You Should Throw Some Rubber Gloves in That Backpack and Other Tomfoolery

[TarzansKat]

I am afraid and yet oddly intrigued by what you pulled out of that seat cushion.

Glad you had a great time at the PPP, and got an extra day too boot! The Disney Marketing Gods were certainly smiling on the La family.

And I'm totally jealous that you all met Jack Sparrow! Glad the boy loved it though, sounds like it was one of the highlights of his trip.

Can't wait to hear more.:goodvibes

[HerdOHuds]

Oh! You had better not have pulled out any kind of protection! :scared1: You know what I mean! Blech!

You do love your daughter! And that was proof.

But maybe you found a wallet. Maybe Zzub's wallet that has caused so many lauded battles??!!

Can't wait for more!:goodvibes

[LaLa]

And I'm totally jealous that you all met Jack Sparrow! Glad the boy loved it though, sounds like it was one of the highlights of his trip.

It really was. He was awesome. Thanks for posting, TarzansKat!

You do love your daughter! And that was proof.

Yes, I love me some "the girl". Sorry to report she's feeling a little under the weather today though. Stomach bug and all. She's having a rough go of it. And reaching between the seat cushions in a theme park for sunglasses ain't nothing compared to cleaning up throw up for two hours. I got the easy part though. The girl and the bed. The covers. The doorframe. Both the bathroom one and our bedroom one. But DH was the one who went in with the Resolve on the carpet. Now THAT is love.

But maybe you found a wallet. Maybe Zzub's wallet that has caused so many lauded battles??!!

That's pretty funny. But it wasn't anything that major. Or minor. Considering how many battles he's had over the years, I imagine that sucker's pretty war torn by now.

OR IS IT?!!!

Yall have a good day.

:moped:

[TarzansKat]

Yes, I love me some "the girl". Sorry to report she's feeling a little under the weather today though. Stomach bug and all. She's having a rough go of it. And reaching between the seat cushions in a theme park for sunglasses ain't nothing compared to cleaning up throw up for two hours. I got the easy part though. The girl and the bed. The covers. The doorframe. Both the bathroom one and our bedroom one. But DH was the one who went in with the Resolve on the carpet. Now THAT is love.
:moped:

La, I feel for you. During the course of my pre-trip report, my whole family came down with said stomach bug on varying days. We fondly termed it Pukefest 2008 NOFannyPack. I hope she feels better soon!:goodvibes

[MomofCKJ]

What *was* in the seat, I want to know yet I so don't want to know. Kind of like a trainwreck, got to look but really don't want to look. Don't leave us in suspense too long now.

I have heard about Universal's Front of the Line deal. How long would you say you waited? It is a cool concept. With the number of Disney hotels I can't imagine it would work well there, everyone would have it negating the point but I am curious about Universal. I even said to the kids the other day that maybe in 2010 we would, shhhhhh, try the dark side for a day. EEEEEEEEK! Don't tell the Mouse I said that!

Allyson

[micandminforever]

Next time try the wake up call at Universal, they use the different Universal characters. You might get Woody Woodpecker one morning. The three mornings we were their we received three different characters.

I would like to added that we spent three mornings at Universal after four mornings at Disney. I love my Disney. The only way I would go to Universal was if we went to Disney first.

Enjoying you're report.:surfweb:

[KatGarcia]

I am scared to know wth you pulled out of that seat!

[jcc0621]

Still, when we left, the boy was on Cloud Nine. And all smiles. He jumped around and walked backwards, talking to us excitedly the whole time as he moved. Recounting the conversation.

And this is what a trip to Disney is all about::yes::

I was eventually connected to someone with Ticket Services and upon explaining that I was just checking to see if, by some odd chance, any passes were given out the night before to the guests at the P&PP due to some of the events being cancelled, I was told that our tickets had already been credited with another day in the parks.

:woohoo: :woohoo:

That sound you hear? It’s the sound of NM screaming all the way from Georgia.

:lmao:

Universal Express.

Baby.

It’s free when you stay in a Universal resort and that sucker is a one way ticket to the front of the line any time you want it. As many times as you want it. With no windows or return times. It completely blew our socks off. And blew Fastpass out of the water. No comparison whatsoever.

Disney needs to do this!::yes::

After picking up a few maps (because we would actually need them here), and scoping out our options, we decided to walk straight ahead and take in Shrek 4D first.

Maps:confused3

It wasn’t so much that the show had scared her (which it did a little) but it was moreso the fact that she lost her cooler than cool pink Rock Star sunglasses during the show.

Poor thing:hug:


Not the crack between the seats! Anywhere but the crack between the seats!

But as much as I hate theme park grodiness, I love my daughter even more. And she was some kind of upset about those sunglasses. So I did what any mother would do in that situation. I bit the bullet and dove into the bowels of theme park nastiness. Where no human hand should ever dare go. The crack between the seat and the seat back.

:scared1: :sick:

And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.

Uh oh!:eek:

Up Next: Ten Reasons Why You Should Throw Some Rubber Gloves in That Backpack and Other Tomfoolery

popcorn:: popcorn::

Another great, funny update LaLa! Although the whole seat thing has me :scared1:

[Chapter 11]

And we occasionally like to amuse ourselves and no one else.

Mission Accomplished.

Mama didn’t raise no fool.

All evidence to the contrary, apparently.

There wasn’t even an ounce of sadness. Who knew?!

And you call yourself a Disney Freak (NOFrick)?

GET OUT!

I told her.

Did you shove her in the chest too (metaphorically speaking)?

I would've been here sooner but we were busy cleaning up vomit.

You're slipping -- I would've expected upchuck to make an appearance in this TR before now.

Lovely installment.

[desamnik]

I can't belive you stayed OFFSITE! I just can't even imagine it...

We have a son who is soon to be 10 and has read EVERY Harry Potter book 3 times. Needless to say we are waiting semi patiently for the opening of Harry Potter world.

SO, I am looking forward to reading about your adventures in Universal! Since I know we too will have to venture there someday.

My "girl" is home sick too. She came to me at 4am with a tummy ache, and 6 1/2 hours later, the vomiting has begun! And we are way up North from you, thats some strong bug ;)

And speaking of up north, I'm not speaking for all the ladies up here, but myself, not into reading about farts, so try and keep them out of your report if you dont mind ;) Maybe us northeasterners (is that a word) are a bit uptight!

Keep on writing, La, I love reading your stories...

[TyRy]

We stood in the middle of Main Street sucking back nasty strawberry and cream crap, hoping in vain the taste would change with the next slurp and were in awe of this part. It was, hands down, one of the most perfectly timed portions of any fireworks show we’d ever seen. The explosions were choreographed perfectly to the music.

The music wasn’t hard on the ears either.

We were blown away by Music, Magic and Mayhem. We felt they really outdid themselves with that one.


Wow LaLa - that mini film was great..thank you for sharing!


For all the boy’s talk beforehand though, he clammed up when it was finally our turn for some serious one on one time with Jack Sparrow. Which is the way it usually goes, isn’t it?

Jack Sparrow: Hello there, mates.
The boy: silence accompanied by a slight step back
The girl: silence
Jack Sparrow: Yes, was your trip here a long one?
The boy: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
The girl: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
Jack Sparrow: Yes, how did you arrive here in the Caribbean? By ship?
The boy: silence followed by a smiling head shake
Jack Sparrow: Coach?
The girl: silence, silence and more silence
Me: Coach.
Jack Sparrow: Ah, coach. Yes. Well let’s have a photograph then.

Your poor son - do I feel for him. I did this once as a 27 year old when I met a couple members of Def Leppard...all I could get out was "I've liked you since I was this high" and then proceeded to do the arm hand movment to show a much smaller Ty. :headache: My dad offered to write a note next time for me.


And there ain’t enough pixie dust in the World to make you okay with having soaking wet underwear. When that happens, it’s just time to call it a night.
:rotfl2: :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2:


I held my breath, counted to three and then shoved my hand blindly down between the cushions of the seat. And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

:scared1: :eek: :scared1:

[LISAMWDW]

:worried:

I'm afraid of what you pulled out!!!!!

[miabellarose]

Thanks for that short clip of the fireworks. I love fireworks, especially when they're synchronized with music...makes it more fun to watch. I can't believe you left us with that cliffhanger...what was it? :confused: I could guess, but I'm only coming up with nasty and gross stuff. Hope it wasn't anything I'm thinking of.

[ZZUB]

I made the biggest mistake of the yearYou ran for president on your husband's last name and so-called list of accomplishments and you assumed you were the inevitable choice? You thought you could get elected president even though your last name was Huckabee? Having not learned from history, you decided it was time to change the recipe for Diet Coke? Or, more likely, began posting a Trip Report on a Disney-related message board.


Shortly before our trip last October, a friend gave us a CD with some Disney music on it. One of the songs was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. As we made our way around property on that trip, we played that CD nonstop and more often than not, we wound up listening to Pirates. October?! I thought y'all took this trip in April? Or was it May? March? Either way, what's this about October?!

Mama didn’t raise no fool.I believe those votes have not all been counted yet.

And there ain’t enough pixie dust in the World to make you okay with having soaking wet underwear. When that happens, it’s just time to call it a night.Perhaps when that happens it's time to start wearing Depends. I didn't realize you were incontinent. I kind of feel bad about making fun of you now.

And I’d wait. And think “Okay, here it comes . . .And then I’d wait some more.I understand a little Dulcolax, or more fiber in general would help with this problem. But given your other problem for which you require an adult diaper, maybe a laxative isn't the right choice for you.

Waking up with a thumb in your eye is not a fastpass.No, but it does explain in part your inability to snap a decent picture.

Thanks for mutton.

:moped:

[CampbellScot]

awww poor little Lala...not fun to be projectile vomiting!

Okay so now I MUST plan a trip to Universal...if only to visit the Jimmy Buffett store. Sally and Teddy are flat out OBSESSED with Jimmy Buffett. They would be in hog heaven to be his STORE!!! did you go in?! Lots of parrots? Margarita glasses? flip flops? Shark fins? Cheeseburgers...in Paradise?

all about the Jimmy Buffett!

I physically CRINGED when you mentioned the seat cracks...I SHOUTED "NO!!! DON'T DO IT!!! NOT WITHOUT A HAZMAT SUIT!!!"

you are a brave and loving mama...:worship:

:hug: to your little girl! Hope her tummy is better soon!!

OH and :cool1: on the extra Disney tickets!!! Pixie Dust just follows y'all wherever you go!!! I'm glad y'all had such a wonderful time at the P&PP!!

can't wait for more!!!!popcorn::

[dizprincess717]

It was, hands down, one of the most perfectly timed portions of any fireworks show we’d ever seen. The explosions were choreographed perfectly to the music.

I agree 110%, if it were possible! :thumbsup2 Seriously. Great clip - thank you for sharing that!!

And there ain’t enough pixie dust in the World to make you okay with having soaking wet underwear. When that happens, it’s just time to call it a night.

:wizard:

We had our bases covered as far as the rides were concerned. The fact of the matter is that although this type of blasé attitude could cause some problems elsewhere, it was perfectly acceptable here. Because of two little words.

Universal Express.

Baby.

By golly it's seriously called Universal Express!! Fun story: I worked at Splash Mountain from January-May 2006. One day while at the FastPass distribution machines, a lady was trying to get a FP. I walked over to help her and she became irate, claiming that her ticket was "Universal" and she could "use it anywhere, at any theme park in the world, because it's a universal FastPass giving ticket." Lady made my week. Maybe even month.

And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.

Here are my guesses:

A. Slash's top hat.
B. Somebody's "Universal FastPass" ticket (you'd be set for LIFE if such a thing existed).
C. Waldo.
D. Jar of almonds.

[tina_la]

k seriously wasn't sure about all this Universal stuff but you are slowly pulling me over to the dark side and wondering if we should add a day at Universal.

I will now call you the evil sith lord Lala :cool2:

[LaLa]

Or was it?

I can't believe you left us with that cliffhanger...what was it? I could guess, but I'm only coming up with nasty and gross stuff. Hope it wasn't anything I'm thinking of

I'm afraid of what you pulled out!!!!!

I am scared to know wth you pulled out of that seat!

Here are my guesses:

A. Slash's top hat.
B. Somebody's "Universal FastPass" ticket (you'd be set for LIFE if such a thing existed).
C. Waldo.
D. Jar of almonds.

Great guesses, but nope. In all honesty, it wasn't anything all that earthshattering. Nasty, yes. But nothing ZZUB's secretary doesn't come across on an everyday basis. While trying to find her happy place.


By golly it's seriously called Universal Express!! Fun story: I worked at Splash Mountain from January-May 2006. One day while at the FastPass distribution machines, a lady was trying to get a FP. I walked over to help her and she became irate, claiming that her ticket was "Universal" and she could "use it anywhere, at any theme park in the world, because it's a universal FastPass giving ticket." Lady made my week. Maybe even month.

That is HILARIOUS! Priceless even. How fast did you tell your coworkers about it? I can't even begin to imagine all the funny stories CMs must have tucked under their belts. Thanks for sharing that one. You made my day.

Okay so now I MUST plan a trip to Universal...if only to visit the Jimmy Buffett store. Sally and Teddy are flat out OBSESSED with Jimmy Buffett. They would be in hog heaven to be his STORE!!! did you go in?! Lots of parrots? Margarita glasses? flip flops? Shark fins? Cheeseburgers...in Paradise?

CS, I know that picture just shows the part with the retail store sign but that's actually Margaritaville. The restaurant/bar/retail store Margaritaville. Which smelled wonderful because they serve...what else?...actual Cheeseburgers in Paradise. We tried to eat there on our last day but they hadn't opened for lunch yet when we arrived so we went somewhere else. It was only after we'd gotten back home that I came across some photos of the Cheeseburger in Paradise. And then I kicked myself for not waiting for it to open. I'm currently trying to figure out how I can get my butt back there in order to try one of those babies. They looked that good.

You ran for president on your husband's last name and so-called list of accomplishments and you assumed you were the inevitable choice? You thought you could get elected president even though your last name was Huckabee? Having not learned from history, you decided it was time to change the recipe for Diet Coke? Or, more likely, began posting a Trip Report on a Disney-related message board.

As bad as I hate to, I have to hand it to you. That was freakin' hilarious.

October?! I thought y'all took this trip in April? Or was it May? March? Either way, what's this about October?!

Your sample of Namenda is on its way. Please do us all a favor and don't miss a dose.

Thanks for that short clip of the fireworks. I love fireworks, especially when they're synchronized with music...makes it more fun to watch.

Yes, they were pretty awesome, miabellarose. So awesome that I wanted to share it. Glad you enjoyed it.

Your poor son - do I feel for him. I did this once as a 27 year old when I met a couple members of Def Leppard...all I could get out was "I've liked you since I was this high" and then proceeded to do the arm hand movment to show a much smaller Ty. :headache: My dad offered to write a note next time for me.



This made me laugh out loud. Def Leppard! That's funny. Although, I probably would've done the same thing. Heck, I met Richard Simmons once and all I could get out was "I love Disco Sweat!"

My "girl" is home sick too. She came to me at 4am with a tummy ache, and 6 1/2 hours later, the vomiting has begun! And we are way up North from you, thats some strong bug ;)

Sorry to hear yall are dealing with the pukes as well. Hope she's feeling better soon.

And speaking of up north, I'm not speaking for all the ladies up here, but myself, not into reading about farts, so try and keep them out of your report if you dont mind ;) Maybe us northeasterners (is that a word) are a bit uptight!

You might want to steer clear of ZZUB's trip reports then. It's almost too much even for me! Or is it?

Keep on writing, La, I love reading your stories...

Thanks. I'll keep writing as long as yall keep reading.

Mission Accomplished.

All evidence to the contrary, apparently.

And you call yourself a Disney Freak (NOFrick)?

Did you shove her in the chest too (metaphorically speaking)?

You're slipping -- I would've expected upchuck to make an appearance in this TR before now.

And that's why you're the King of the One Liners, Chappie. Glad you caught the Elaine thing. And yes, I did shove her in the chest. But only in my mind.

Another great, funny update LaLa! Although the whole seat thing has me :scared1:

You and me both.

Next time try the wake up call at Universal, they use the different Universal characters. You might get Woody Woodpecker one morning. The three mornings we were their we received three different characters.

Thanks for the heads up on the character wake up calls, micandminforever. You learn something new everyday. Glad you're enjoying the report!

I have heard about Universal's Front of the Line deal. How long would you say you waited? It is a cool concept. With the number of Disney hotels I can't imagine it would work well there, everyone would have it negating the point but I am curious about Universal. I even said to the kids the other day that maybe in 2010 we would, shhhhhh, try the dark side for a day. EEEEEEEEK! Don't tell the Mouse I said that!

Your secret is safe with me.

We waited for two rides with Universal Express. Two. And those waits were no longer than about fifteen minutes each. In the middle of Spring Break. Everything else, we walked right on. It was really amazing. I think I'm in love with Universal Express.

I think I'd be even MORE in love with one of those universal Fastpass giving tickets though.


La, I feel for you. During the course of my pre-trip report, my whole family came down with said stomach bug on varying days. We fondly termed it Pukefest 2008 NOFannyPack. I hope she feels better soon!:goodvibes

That's rough, TarzansKat. Nothing can wear out a Mama worse than having to take care of an entire family with the stomach bug. DED over the name though. Thanks for the well wishes for the girl. She's feeling better tonight, still running a fever but no more pukes. We're just waiting to see who it hits next.

And no, we ain't eating Italian anytime soon. Just in case.

:moped:

[DVCTiff]

Oh Lala...can you believe that reading your trippie is way more fun than my last WDW trip? I've been so disappointed I can't even write a report (do you really want to hear about how many 6 month old reservations we cancelled or how hot and crowded it was and how our VWL room smelled like celery? I think not).

Can't wait to hear the rest!

[PISCESANGEL]

Another great installment! I cannot believe you actually got FREE passes for another day! That one needs to go down in history somewhere...

oh, right, it is! In LaLa's Trip Report!!!!


Thanks again for bringin' it LaLa - Hang Tough!

[ILMICKEY]

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/un1.jpg

Flash photography Lala???

Great update. I haven't broken away from Disney as of yet, but I've been giving the whole US a lot of thought. Teenage boys really don't "get" the Disney thing anymore.

Yay for your extra Disney day!! That must be why you didn't feel so bad leaving property. Your subconcious knew you'd be back!!

Can't wait for more.

[AussieAngel]

LaLa, your trip report is seriously funny.

I'm sitting up in bed with my laptop wearing my Eeyore shirt, and I keep snorting with laughter. Oh so elegant. DH keeps looking at me, and saying, "What's so funny!?" So I make him read a bit. Then he snorts too.

We're going to Ersal Studios in January, and I'm excited!! :hyper: Your report is making me even more excited! :hyper: :hyper:

[PrincessV]

Although the name of the party we were attending did contain the word “Pirate”, I have to admit I was really surprised to hear Pirates begin to play roughly halfway through the show.
I had to laugh on this one - I had the saem reaction! I eman, I knew it would involve pirates - Pirates were the only reason we were at the party in teh first place! But, somehow that amazing movie score wasn't on my radar at all. :confused3 It was amazing, no? :cloud9:

If you were seven and ten, would you really want to be chatting up a guy who a) wore more jewelry than your mom b) was all up in your grill with his drunken jazz hands c) couldn’t stand up straight longer than two seconds and 3) looked like this?
:lmao: "Drunken jazz hands"! :lmao:

I was eventually connected to someone with Ticket Services and upon explaining that I was just checking to see if, by some odd chance, any passes were given out the night before to the guests at the P&PP due to some of the events being cancelled, I was told that our tickets had already been credited with another day in the parks.
SUHWEET! :cool1:

I love me some Jimmy Buffett. Mainly because you just cannot hear his songs without associating them with laid back times. And vacation. It’s like watching fish in a fish tank. It just relaxes you and brings your blood pressure down.
Well, that and the tequila.

;)



I held my breath, counted to three and then shoved my hand blindly down between the cushions of the seat. And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.
:scared:

[Tinkerbellarella]

Although we joke around about a lot of things, dinner is not one of them.

Dinner is no laughing matter.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp.jpg

Why do the baby Ariels and the baby Tinkerbells look so angry???
Or maybe it's just me.
Wouldn't be the first time. Or the last.

She finally touched Baby Minnie gently and said “I’m sorry Minnie. But I still love you.” And with that, she gave Minnie a kiss and reached for Mickey. Then hugged him tight and broke out into a huge grin. Because as much as she loves Minnie, Mickey’s her boy.

Sweet. As. Pie. (NOBGPC)

Indy Nothing Speedy About It Way
Mad Sure to Make You Splatter tea cups

Oh YES! I know those. They're just before It's Small World Where We Drive You Eight Ways To Crazy With This Song But Gosh Aren't We Such Cute Dolls?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate ONE ride on IASW every trip but soemtimes, when you get stuck, at the end, don't you wish it was interactive, kind of like Buzz, but with a 'Whack-A'Mole' type feature?

But they mostly laughed at the sight of Brer Bear’s big ole, big ole butt.

Oh yeah! Theresa's got a big ole butt. Oh yeah!

Sorry. Had a middle school dance flashback right there.

Jack Sparrow: Hello there, mates.
The boy: silence accompanied by a slight step back
The girl: silence
Jack Sparrow: Yes, was your trip here a long one?
The boy: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
The girl: silence accompanied by a shoulder shrug
Jack Sparrow: Yes, how did you arrive here in the Caribbean? By ship?
The boy: silence followed by a smiling head shake
Jack Sparrow: Coach?
The girl: silence, silence and more silence
Me: Coach.
Jack Sparrow: Ah, coach. Yes. Well let’s have a photograph then.

Riveting. ;)

b) was all up in your grill with his drunken jazz hands

Drunken jazz hands. AWESOME.


DH picked it up to hear the voice on the other end of the line say “You def’nly need a Tic Tac or sump’m cause yo breaf STANK!”

Aw. It was real sweet of ZZUB to call you on your vaca!

And then I broke down and tried to call Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom. Just for the heck of it. And because if I know one thing and one thing only, it’s that it never hurts to ask.

And because if you didn't, poor Mr. La2 would likely be on the receiving end of 2 a.m. leg kicks for the rest of the vacation, no?

Ersal Studios. It’s the new Universal Studios.

:lmao:

Once we made it through the mostly boring and unfunny preshow

You know, I've never really thought about it until now, but the pre-show IS boring and unfunny. Disappointing really.

It wasn’t so much that the show had scared her (which it did a little) but it was moreso the fact that she lost her cooler than cool pink Rock Star sunglasses during the show.

Her “stylin” new sunglasses.

Priorities, mom.

I held my breath, counted to three and then shoved my hand blindly down between the cushions of the seat. And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.

Mel.

[askelton]

Well, now that I'm finally caught up... You said you went to State and now that I know you're talking about Mississippi State, everything makes sense. DH went to Ole Miss. :rolleyes1 Although you did sing Rocky Top and that makes this Tennessee girl happy! :thumbsup2

You have an amazing writing style and a wonderful family with a great sense of adventure! I'm looking forward to your next installment. :woohoo:

My sister worked at RPR and it is a beautiful hotel. Definitely a vacation atmosphere. :banana:

[CJsMom]

Oh, not the seat crack. Please, not the seat crack. I can't look! :scared1:

Hope your daughter is feeling better!

[LaLa]

Well, now that I'm finally caught up... You said you went to State and now that I know you're talking about Mississippi State, everything makes sense. DH went to Ole Miss. :rolleyes1 Although you did sing Rocky Top and that makes this Tennessee girl happy! :thumbsup2

Glad to do it, askelton. And thanks for posting. That's pretty cool that your husband went to Ole Miss. Or on second thought, maybe not so cool. Tell him I've got a cow bell with his name on it.

Mel

Who's Mel?! :confused3

Actually, Tinkerbellarella guessed it! I actually DID pull MelHappyhaunt out of the seat crack. That's where she's been all this time. Stuck in the seat crack of Universal Studios. Taking notes and scarfing down guacamole.

OR IS IT?!

I had to laugh on this one - I had the saem reaction! I eman, I knew it would involve pirates - Pirates were the only reason we were at the party in teh first place! But, somehow that amazing movie score wasn't on my radar at all. :confused3 It was amazing, no? :cloud9:

YES, it was awesome. Or...no it was awesome. Whichever. But one thing I do know is that it was one of the highlights of our night. Thanks for posting, PrincessV.

LaLa, your trip report is seriously funny.

I'm sitting up in bed with my laptop wearing my Eeyore shirt, and I keep snorting with laughter. Oh so elegant. DH keeps looking at me, and saying, "What's so funny!?" So I make him read a bit. Then he snorts too.

We're going to Ersal Studios in January, and I'm excited!! :hyper: Your report is making me even more excited! :hyper: :hyper:

Glad to hear you're enjoying the report, AA. You SHOULD be excited about Ersal Studios. I know yall are gonna have a great time.

Great update. I haven't broken away from Disney as of yet, but I've been giving the whole US a lot of thought. Teenage boys really don't "get" the Disney thing anymore.

Yay for your extra Disney day!! That must be why you didn't feel so bad leaving property. Your subconcious knew you'd be back!!

Must be. And yes, that extra Disney day was some kind of sweet. Thanks for posting, ILMICKEY.

Oh, not the seat crack. Please, not the seat crack. I can't look! :scared1:

Hope your daughter is feeling better!

Thanks CJsMom. She is on the mend.

I'm off to work. Yall have a great day.

:moped:

[nicolemarie]

but I've been busy on my latest writing project:

The Idiot's Guide to Low Light Photography.

La!!! I've got to be careful that DH doesn't get his eyes on THIS report, or he'll be cutting my next trip to the World short, so we can have a few days at Ersal Studios. You sure do make it look like a great time.

Since I was in the mood for a cool and refreshing lil sumpm sumpm and my Dole Whip was eluding me again that night, I made the biggest mistake of the year (almost) and went with the strawberry and cream smoothie. A strawberry swirl it ain’t. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Too bad. Nothing worse than making a bad call on a treat.

Speaking of Dole Whips, I had my first back in May. After all this time, I thought I just needed to know. Were they all that or not? It was kinda like Le Cellier. Really, really, good, but possibly not worth the DISboard hype.

Shortly before our trip last October, a friend gave us a CD with some Disney music on it. One of the songs was the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. As we made our way around property on that trip, we played that CD nonstop and more often than not, we wound up listening to Pirates.

Can you ask your friend to make me one? That sounds like a great CD. It doesn't get better than the music from Pirates. I, too, was pumped up to hear it blaring through those MK speakers, with PERFECTLY synched fireworks exploding all around us. LOVE the video, by the way. That's a great representation of the show.

We were blown away by Music, Magic and Mayhem. We felt they really outdid themselves with that one.

I totally agree. I would probably pay the price of admission to the party JUST to see those fireworks again.

No.

No, I wouldn't. But I WOULD pay the price of admission for those low crowds. I still can't get over it.

Our shoes were squeaking, our pants were dripping, our legs were aching and an edge of irritability was slowly but surely beginning to creep in.

Yep. It was time to call it a night. When that "edge of irritablity" starts rearing it's ugly head, it only goes south from there.

Not that that's ever happened to us.

Besides, DH and the kids were ready to get gone for good and good and gone so I decided to leave without asking.

La. I'm disappointed in my girl. You gonna come here braggin' about your 40% off Photopass pic, and then walk RIGHT BY Guest Services possibly passing up $200 worth of FREE Disney fun? What's that you said about Mama not raisin' no fool?

We made it back to our resort and after getting cleaned up, we turned in for the evening in our extremely comfortable beds.

That's my kind of Mama. Making sure her readers know that everyone was properly scrubbed of the theme park filth before crawling into bed. Have you ever seen pics of the Soarin' seats? Who knows what kind of funk lingers in our hair after a day in the World? And GFAMT Ersal Studios!

After we finally decided to roll out of bed, we got showers and got dressed. And then I broke down and tried to call Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom. Just for the heck of it. And because if I know one thing and one thing only, it’s that it never hurts to ask.

Well I'm glad to know you finally came to your senses. Just think of how giddy the LaLa crew could have been if you had stopped by the night before? That "edge of irritability" would have been replaced by more Rerun dancin' in the middle of the street.

You can’t beat that with a stick. We stopped what we were doing and took a few moments to thank God for His many blessings on our trip thus far and then we grabbed some breakfast and headed out to the parks.

Amen to that.

That sound you hear? It’s the sound of NM screaming all the way from Georgia.

Girl, you KNOW it. That pained me more than you know.

I'm all about the relaxing vacay. We even had a quick weekend of it at Disney about a month ago. We found out that they actually DON'T close the entry turnstiles 30 minutes after rope drop, and we enjoyed taking in some of the things we miss while we're barreling through the parks swiping all the FPs we can stuff in our pockets.

But friend, not knowing when the freakin' park opens is UNACCEPTABLE. I don't care who you are.

We paused for some pictures beside the Bass Pro Shop car on display outside Nascar Sports Grille. Like every other Redneck that had come that way.

It looks like I'm not the only redneck who is disturbed by the fact that it's "Bass Pro ShopS."

I held my breath, counted to three and then shoved my hand blindly down between the cushions of the seat. And instead of pulling out the object of our daughter’s affection, I pulled out something entirely different.

You’ll never guess what.

You're right. I can't even venture a guess. So bring the next installment post-haste.

Great chapter, friend. I'm lovin' taking this trip with y'all. Keep it movin'.

:moped:

[DVCTiff]

Cuz Page 2 makes me sad.

:moped:

[tarheel]

This is a bump 'cause page 3 is terrible. I know you are a working Mom and all, but an update would be great!!! Still working on the tickets by the way.

[LaLa]

...but I got sidetracked. I picked up a mild case of whatever it was the girl had, along with a secondary bacterial infection to boot and didn't feel much like writing for awhile. I'm feeling better now though and hope to have the next chapter posted sooner rather than later.

This is a bump 'cause page 3 is terrible. I know you are a working Mom and all, but an update would be great!!! Still working on the tickets by the way.

Thanks for the bump, Tarheel. And let me know how the ticket saga turns out.



I would probably pay the price of admission to the party JUST to see those fireworks again.

No.

No, I wouldn't. But I WOULD pay the price of admission for those low crowds. I still can't get over it.

You and me both, chick.


Too bad. Nothing worse than making a bad call on a treat.

This made me laugh. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I can picture a raged up NM tossing a brand new frozen lemonade across the park in disgust. Because if anything's worthy of the raged up toss across the park, it's a frozen lemonade.

Have you ever seen pics of the Soarin' seats?

You mean this?

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/univ36.jpg

It may as well say "Pigpen wuz here"

:moped:

[Tinkerbellarella]

You mean this?

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/univ36.jpg

It may as well say "Pigpen wuz here"

:moped:

Dear LORD that be dirty!

Great. Now I don't know how I'm going to sit back on this ride without having first papered the seat with Clorox wipes.

[LaLa]

Last edited by Tinkerbellarella : Today at 08:50 AM. Reason: I did think about commenting on how "Pigpen wuz here" should be "ZZUB wuz here" seeing as he loves him some Soren Lorenson.

That's funny. But I feel quite sure that if ZZUB was gonna leave behind some form of residue, it'd be cake icing. And not so much dirt.

:moped:

[Tinkerbellarella]

That's funny. But I feel quite sure that if ZZUB was gonna leave behind some form of residue, I'm pretty sure it'd be cake icing. Not so much dirt.

:moped:

So true. So true. Or the faint smell of ginger.

And really, I know the ZZUBs aren't a dirty, unsanitary family, so I didn't want to imply that. Yet, I couldn't help but think of him. Perhaps it's Wallet Battle Withdrawal.

But seriously, La, can't wait for the next chapter. Whenever I see a new post from you, I'm all sorts of ready for you to bring on the funny.

[LaLa]

So true. So true. Or the faint smell of ginger.

And really, I know the ZZUBs aren't a dirty, unsanitary family, so I didn't want to imply that. Yet, I couldn't help but think of him. Perhaps it's Wallet Battle Withdrawal.

But seriously, La, can't wait for the next chapter. Whenever I see a new post from you, I'm all sorts of ready for you to bring on the funny.

Thanks Tinkerbellarella. I hope to have the next one posted either sometime later today or maybe tomorrow.

There's no doubt in my mind that the ZZUBs are a dirty, unsanitary family. Among other things. Not so much the wife and kids but mainly just ZZUB.

:moped:

[Yzma and Kronk]

Oh My....I'm behind, overdue and overpacked, late for a very important date ~ catching up on Lala's TR. Must be all the confuzzlement over our upcoming trip to Alabama that set me off track.

First:

LalalalalalalatriedtopostandshouldgetacopyofNM'sne wbook wrote;

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j268/LaLas1/ppp1.jpg
Then you said something like, "Kona was a "fuzzy" memory"

You can say that again! And Again. Because it was too funny!

I was reading with Happy Borgness about your rainy night at the P&PP. We too had a wet rained out evening in April. In so much as we had quite a bite of lightening and the wonderful, brilliant fireworks were delayed.

However, the Borgness ended there. I called to see if we could also score a little rained out sumpin' sumpin' but no soup for the YAK's. Didn't have a clue as to what I was talkin' about. Maybe if I asked in my rain soaked loverlyness that evening, but they NEVER give passes for a rained out event UNLESS you get them as you are leaving the MK......unless your name is The Lala's!

:thumbsup2

Which is OK. Because we had a great empty park night too.

Finally:

Hands in cracks, Soarin' soiliness, Zzub residue....{{{shutter}}}

What's next - pork products!

Seriously - I'm lovin' it and keep the yellowness coming!!

[LaLa]

So where are yall vacationing, Yak? The sock capital of the world? If not, you should be. It's a happenin' place.

And I think the word you're looking for is "blur". Which IS pretty funny, considering.

Sorry they didn't do the one day pass for the night yall had crummy weather, Yak. But when I talked to Ticket Services that day, they acted like it was pretty common to have the pass credited to the P&PP tickets. No last name of LaLa required. I think it probably just all depends on who you happen to wind up on the phone with. Glad yall had an empty park night too though. Aren't they the best?

Glad you're enjoying the TR, chick. And have a blast in Alabama. You realize you're gonna have to learn some Skynyrd now, right?

:moped: