Booked a month off to go to WDW, think that's enough? [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Shir Kahn

05-06-2009, 03:45 AM

Hello all and welcome to my second attempt at a PTR! My last one kind of grew into a full-out trip report and ended up taking so long it ran into the trip after that! :lmao: The link for that one is in my signature.

Cast of this one:

DW - Tammy
Myself - Jason
DBiL - Tim, or Indy as he likes to be called
DFiL - Len
DASMiL (er, Disney Almost Step-Mom in Law, these acronyms are getting a bit ridiculous!) Carla

Tammy, Tim and I have all been to WDW before, Len and Carla haven't, although Len has been to Disneyland a few times. Tim has Downs Syndrome and while his favorite place on earth is the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland, he'll settle for the Indiana Jones show in WDW. :love:

Tammy
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW20081585.jpg

Me
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/Miscellaneous012.jpg

Tim
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/Picture4761152x864.jpg

Don't have pictures of Len or Carla to upload quite yet, but I'll add them when I can.

One thing about my trip reports, I am an absolute picture-taking lunatic and I love to upload them. On my last trip report, I was working away at it and all of a sudden photobucket one day decided to rearrange the order of all my pictures, so I had no chronological order to them. I'm prepared for that this time though! I've just bought a new Canon SD880IS that I'll be taking the majority of my pictures with. I'll also have my Olympus Evolt 420 with me, which is perfect for the parks, as it's water resistant and compact. Tammy will have her Canon S5IS with her and we'll be using a Panasonic HD flash camcorder for video. It's getting easier to upload video nowadays, so I'll be including some of that in my trip report.

So we had originally planned to head off to WDW for spring break, just Tammy and me, as she works as an educational assistant and can only get certain times of the year off, such as spring break, summer break and winter break. I work in retail sales, so I can't be taking off winter, as that's peak sales time. For the past few years we've been going at spring break and then again in the summer, usually in August. So after we announced to the general family that we headed back yet again, Len said something about wanting to see what all the fuss was about WDW. He really has no idea how big it really is compared to Disneyland. So Tammy and I decided to skip the spring break trip and plan a July trip for all 5 of us instead.

We love driving down and usually always do, although it is a 32 hour drive each way. :scared: We live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which is pretty much the geological center of North America. It's also almost exactly the same distance from both WDW and Disneyland. 32 hours to WDW and 31 hours to Disneyland. Tammy and I will be riding in our car and Tim, Len and Carla will be going in theirs. We'll be leaving on July 5th and taking 4 days to drive down, about 8 hours a day. Normally we do the drive in 2 or 3 days, but we've got lots of time this trip and it'll be nice to take it easy. I just bought a nice $700 Garmin GPS for a measly $150 recently (one of the perks of working for an electronics store) and I'm really looking forward to trying it out on a long trip. It has the ability to have customizable voices, so Darth Vader will at some point be telling to turn left in 150 feet. :rotfl:

We're going to be checking into Pop Century on July 9th and Len, Carla and Tim will be staying until July 19th. Tammy and I decided to make this trip a bit more epic so we're staying until the 29th! :cloud9: Yep, 20 days booked at Pop Century! :woohoo: Just imagine how many pictures I'm going to have of Spaceship Earth this trip! :lmao: We're buying annual passes, as it's much cheaper than getting two 10 day park hoppers.

The Plan so far:

July 9th - Epcot
Supper at Coral Reef

July 10th - MK
Breakfast at CRT

July 11th - AK
Supper at Tusker House

July 12th - MK
Breakfast at Crystal Palace (Booked really early so we can go in the park before it opens!)

July 13th - DHS
Lunch at Sci-Fi

July 14th - Epcot
Supper at Rose and Crown

July 15th - AK
Lunch at Rainforest Cafe

July 16th - Typhoon Lagoon
Supper at WCC

July 17th - MK
Supper at LTT

July 18th - AK
Supper at the new T-Rex restaurant in DTD

July 19th - MK
Supper at Tony's Town Square

July 20th - Epcot
Lunch at Le Cellier

July 21st - AK, then DHS
Supper at Hollywood and Vine, Fantasmic Package

July 22nd - DHS

July 23rd - Epcot
Supper at Tutto Italia

July 24th - MK

July 25th - AK

July 26th - DHS
Lunch at 50's Primetime

July 27th - AK

July 28th - Epcot
Supper at Chefs du France

July 29th MK

I haven't quite finished the dining plans yet, but everything listed has been reserved so far. I ended up waiting too long for my ADRs so I wasn't able to get everything I wanted, such as supper at Le Cellier, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far. I'll keep trying for the ones I've missed until I hopefully get lucky. Strangely enough, every trip, I've been easily able to get CRT reservations. :confused3

We're going to be changing this plan as we get closer, likely we're going to head to US and Seaworld at some point during this trip. I'm even thinking about doing the Discovery Cove dolphin swim. I'll keep you updated with anything new that we decide. Thanks to anyone who reads my PTR. :yay:

All7OfUs

05-06-2009, 08:27 AM

Shir Kahn

05-06-2009, 03:02 PM

Looky here! I'm first!

WOW! 20 days! That's outrageously cool!! You have some great choices for dining too! I"ve tried many of them, and can't really complain about a bad meal anywhere. But then again, we're pretty easy to please.

I'm very anxious to see how your plans come together for you!

Thanks for reading! We've been to all of the restaurants except for Tutto Italia, T-Rex, the Rose and Crown, WCC and Chefs du France. Can't wait to try them all! I will of course be taking pictures of each meal and including them in my trip report along with a review. :goodvibes

jewels1916

05-06-2009, 05:57 PM

WOW! Twenty days? Unbelievable! *jealous* :) Sounds like you are all going to have a blast! All except maybe that 32 hour drive....j/k, roadtrip time! I'm subbing, can't wait to hear all of your plans! :thumbsup2

Lady Lallie

05-06-2009, 08:48 PM

20 Days!! That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see how your trip unfolds. :thumbsup2

All7OfUs

05-07-2009, 06:40 AM

Thanks for reading! We've been to all of the restaurants except for Tutto Italia, T-Rex, the Rose and Crown, WCC and Chefs du France. Can't wait to try them all! I will of course be taking pictures of each meal and including them in my trip report along with a review. :goodvibes

Splendid! I love food art pictures. Of all these, T-Rex looks like so much fun. The theming looks great!

imhzgrlnotu

05-07-2009, 05:58 PM

Sounds great, I'm subbing! Maybe I can learn a thing or two for our first trip :)

dolfinjuls

05-09-2009, 04:16 PM

Mindy5767

05-09-2009, 11:12 PM

Hi...found you from the July board!

I can't even imagine driving that long! That's twice as long as our drive!

20 days is amazing...you guys are lucky! We were thrilled w/ our 10! haha I just checked our schedules and it looks like all of our park days are different!

And I thought my 14 hour drive from Northern Virginia was long. Now it seems so short! I'll be arriving the 12th, but we have to leave the 19th by the evening. Looks like we'll be there the same time. I'm not trying nearly as many restaurants as you. We're going to be saving money and calories by our party of 7 eating most meals in our Villa. We'll see how that turns out. We often plan to do that, but then get hungry and eat in the parks on the fly. I haven't planned all of our days at which parks yet. Just know we'll be in AK for Extra Magic Hours on 7/15 after eating dinner at Boma. We plan to eat at Cape May for character breakfast on the 13th and head into EPCOT. We want to try early magic hours at MK on Tuesday. We've never gotten up early enough before to make an early magic hour. I dream of being able to take such a long Disney Vacation. Either that or retire there!! Maybe we'll see ya there.

Shir Kahn

05-12-2009, 01:17 AM

Thanks for reading everyone. Hope to see you there Mindy! We'll have our Lime Green Mickey Heads on, so we should be visible from far away! :lmao: Don't hesitate to say hi if you ever do see us, because we love talking to other Dis'ers.

So anyway, on to the new stuff:

We've now decided that on the 18th, we're heading to Seaworld. We've been there before a few times and really like it. Feeding the dolphins is very fun and the shows are all wonderful. Got to watch one of the Budweiser horses get a bath last time. :goodvibes

The next change we've made is to add a couple more days to our stay in Florida. We're actually going to be staying until the 31st now. We're taking one of the later AK days and changing that to a Universal Studios day. We're also going to US and IoA on the 30th and 31st. We're buying Extreme Pass tickets, which give us 7 days of unlimited admission to these two parks with the bonus of having front of the line privileges! :woohoo: Definitely worth the extra money. Can't wait to go on the Mummy ride again. One of my favorite coasters. I'm definitely going to try Men in Black this time, we've missed it every other trip because of the hassle of finding places to put our stuff while we're in there. We've had rotten luck with those lockers so far. I really love Disneys policy of allowing you to take backpacks on rides if you want. When I'm carrying around 2 point and shoot cameras, an SLR, a camcorder and all the other miscellaneous stuff we can't seem to do without, I need a backpack! Going to trim it down to a single point and shoot hopefully for the US days. Wonder if I can find a holster that can hold my camcorder? It is pretty tiny, so it wouldn't be too bad.

Tomorrow I'm off to pay off the majority of the outstanding balance on the trip! The Canadian dollar has been rising pretty nicely lately so it's a nice bonus. It's going to be about $400 less costly than it was during March when I started keeping track. :yay:

So that's about it for now. I'm always tinkering with trip plans though, so I imagine there will definitely be a lot more updates on the way. I'll also be uploading some pictures of all the gear we're going to be taking at some point.

On a side note, this is my 1000th post on Disboards! :yay::dance3::cool1:

All7OfUs

05-12-2009, 01:25 AM

Super-de-dooper! Two extra days! Fun, fun, fun. You can't take your pack onto rides at the other parks?? That would be a major hassle, for sure.

We too, have been enjoying a currency rise. The Kazakh tenge jumped about 11% 4 months ago and hasn't changed since. It was like getting an automatic 11% raise. It is harder though, for our local friends! Not only did the tenge get de-valued, but the prices went up. Great for us (and my upcoming trip), though. :thumbsup2

Hope to see those plans soon!

Mindy5767

05-12-2009, 10:18 AM

Wow... currency exchanges too!! I was just hoping that gas would be cheaper in the "south". Technically, we're in the south too, VA is most definately the south, but we're also in the Washington DC metro area so we have metropolitan prices. Once we get as far as Fort A.P. Hill, wham... down goes the gas prices. We try to leave with less than 1/2 a tank and fill up there. I say try because my gas gauge always reads 3/4 so you have to know how much is in there by mileage. A major hassle but the mechanic can't seem to get that fixed. Anyway, I'll be looking for you and your green mickey heads. Should be able to spot easily and with your BiL, that would cinch it. You also sort of resemble (from that pic of you) a friend of mine who is a CM at FtW. I'm the woman who looks like Snow White. Really, I do. If you could see my facebook profile pic. I am dressed as Snow White for the MNSSHP last Oct. My real hair and hair-do too!! We might have a friend driving to Orlando with us. We have an 8 passenger van, so it could work. We just take so much gear. I thought that one camera and one camcorder and my handbag was ALOT to carry!! I now assign my DS17 the camcorder. Unfortunately, he usually heads off with DD20 and they go their own way. We try to meet up for meals if we can. But I'll have MiL and DN10 and DH and DD7. You are so lucky that you can take off a whole month. I I wish we could. I think that if my husband can telecommute from home for work, he should be able to telecommute from WDW!! Don't you think:surfweb:

I can't wait to finally get on the new Toy Story Ride. We couldn't even get NEAR it in October. I hope we can get on Kali River Rapids more than once. It will be so hot, that'll be great fun! I LOVE that ride.:cheer2: Hope to see you there.

Shir Kahn

05-12-2009, 05:47 PM

Went into CAA today (Canada's version of AAA) and as of today:

Trip paid in full!!

Turns out that they had made a mistake somewhere and that we were being charged an extra $600 for the dining plan! Not sure how that happened, but it was definitely a nice surprise. :goodvibes

jewels1916

05-12-2009, 07:15 PM

Woohoo! :banana: Congrats on being paid in full! And on the 1,000th post :banana: !

Lady Lallie

05-12-2009, 08:32 PM

Congrats on being paid in full! That is such a great feeling. :thumbsup2

All7OfUs

05-13-2009, 01:28 PM

OOOOOOhhh! That's great!! All paid for! One more thing to check off that planning list, now it's just fun from here on out!

Peter Panic Attack

05-13-2009, 01:45 PM

We live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which is pretty much the geological center of North America.

Not so fast my friend....I happen to know for a fact that Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical center of North America because I had to drive by their cheesy cobblestone monument every time I drove home from college.

Here's a little known fact....my great grandfather Gladstone hailed from Winnipeg along w/ his twin brother Garfield before they relocated to North Dakota. Yup....twin brothers named Garfield and Gladstone...maybe you've heard of them.

Yep, 20 days booked at Pop Century!

Great....now I'm suffering from trip duration envy.

We'll have our Lime Green Mickey Heads on, so we should be visible from far away!

So....if I'm understanding you correctly....you will actually be wearing a Mickey head. Now...I'm not sure what kind of laws they have up north of the border but.....

On a side note, this is my 1000th post on Disboards! :yay::dance3::cool1:

Congratulations. Great PTR by the way.

Shir Kahn

05-13-2009, 02:53 PM

Not so fast my friend....I happen to know for a fact that Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical center of North America because I had to drive by their cheesy cobblestone monument every time I drove home from college.

It's probably something to do with continental shift. Yep.

So....if I'm understanding you correctly....you will actually be wearing a Mickey head. Now...I'm not sure what kind of laws they have up north of the border but.....

It's amazing what you can get away with when the border is only a stones throw away! :rolleyes1

Peter Panic Attack

05-13-2009, 05:27 PM

It's amazing what you can get away with when the border is only a stones throw away! :rolleyes1

Hmmmmm...as closely as that border is guarded...I can only assume you are utilizing a complex network of tunnels to hop back and forth

Shir Kahn

05-15-2009, 08:07 PM

Hmmmmm...as closely as that border is guarded...I can only assume you are utilizing a complex network of tunnels to hop back and forth

Well, after seeing the Utilidor system during the Keys to the Kingdom tour, I kind of got some ideas... ;)

Short update today. It's actually snowing outside right now. :confused: Makes July look a long way off but kicks the anticipation up a notch at least! We really have some crazy weather here.

Started looking at ideas for hooking our Ipod Touch up to the radio in the car today at work. 32 hours is a long drive without music and we still have the regular factory deck in the car. I work for Future Shop, which is owned by Best Buy and is pretty similar. The guys in the Mobile Audio department gave me three options that would work. A Monster I-Car charger/FM transmitter for $35, a hardwired system that hooks up to the antenna directly, which is supposed to be much better quality ($80), and lastly, an actual car deck replacement that I can just plug the Touch straight in to ($250ish). The deck would be the nicest option, as it would look a lot nicer but I'm not sure I wanted to shell out $250. Especially since I started looking at the $35 option first.

It's amazing, all the little odds and ends you discover that you need to buy for the trip. Most of it is the result of all the electronics we've bought since I started working at Future Shop. :lmao: Car Lighter jack splitters so we can plug in the Ipod, the GPS, the Laptop, the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, the portable DVD player, who knows what else I might be missing! We certainly won't be bored in any of the lines we'll be facing at WDW! Then there are the adapters so we can charge all of this, plus the cameras and camcorders. Batteries, memory cards, mini-dv tapes for my DBiLs camcorder, blank DVDs so we can make backups of pictures and video while we're there, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else. I may need to hire a porter. :rotfl: DW says that some day I may actually see a live parade without a lens in the way, but she doubts it.

Side note: Just got a check back from CAA for $240 today for an overcharge, which is a nice bonus! Maybe I should put it towards that car deck!

Ok, enough rambling for now, hope you're all doing great and that it isn't snowing where-ever you are. :goodvibes

Mindy5767

05-15-2009, 11:29 PM

Well, after seeing the Utilidor system during the Keys to the Kingdom tour, I kind of got some ideas... ;)

Short update today. It's actually snowing outside right now. :confused:

It's amazing, all the little odds and ends you discover that you need to buy for the trip. Most of it is the result of all the electronics we've bought since I started working at Future Shop. :lmao: Car Lighter jack splitters so we can plug in the Ipod, the GPS, the Laptop, the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, the portable DVD player, who knows what else I might be missing! We certainly won't be bored in any of the lines we'll be facing at WDW! Then there are the adapters so we can charge all of this, plus the cameras and camcorders. Batteries, memory cards, mini-dv tapes for my DBiLs camcorder, blank DVDs so we can make backups of pictures and video while we're there, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else. I may need to hire a porter. :rotfl: DW says that some day I may actually see a live parade without a lens in the way, but she doubts it.

Ok, enough rambling for now, hope you're all doing great and that it isn't snowing where-ever you are. :goodvibes

Snowing!! Its snowing!! It was 82 today in Northern Virginia and a little humid. We're supposed to have thunderstorms tomorrow.

My DH thinks we needa fancy GPS device to be able to find those important things like the Costco and the Winn Dixie. Funny... before GPS's were invented, all we needed was a map and a compass. I have both. Note to self, go to AAA and get new map of Orlando. Old map got wet when the van window got left open in the rain. This trip will have us bringing camera, camcorder, 3 laptops and 3 Ipods and probably the playstation II. And the car adapters and chargers. I think I might leave my Epson Photo printer at home. There will be no time to scrapbook!:confused3

On the brighter side. I went to Costco today and got a Roxio studio program that will allow me to take all those .mov files I took of the Spectro Magic Parade and sew them all together into one home movie. Plus we can finally do something with all those Beta tapes not to mention the vinyl and the VHS and the high 8!!:happytv:

Hopefully, I can figure out how to install and use the program before our trip!!:surfweb:

Shir Kahn

05-15-2009, 11:52 PM

Mindy5767

05-16-2009, 12:02 AM

That's what I've been working on all evening since I got home. I found a copy of Pinnacle Studio Plus that I won as a random prize during a training trip for work and it seems to be doing great for my flash camcorder but my DBiLs mini-dv camcorder is just not working. I can't get the computer to recognize that the camcorder is there other than to pull off a few still images. I might just give in and take it down to a place and have them pull all the files onto a dvd and then buy my DBiL a hard drive camcorder. I've googled, I've read the manual, I've got all the cords I need and still I'm either doing something wrong or it's possibly broken. $300 to save a stress headache, possibly worth it. :goodvibes

We currently have a mini-dv camcorder. I was disappointed when I bought it. I was buying a digital camcorder and thinking that the media was going to be some kind of SD like card. Instead, it is a digital tape!! I HATE tape. So that camcorder now resides with DS17. My Kodak Easyshare 7590 has video mode. The disadvantage is when its in video mode, you can't zoom in and out like with a real camcorder. When I filmed Spectro Magic, I stationed myself on the front porch of the store in Fontierland and got a good spot where I didn't have to zoom in or out. However, every time I had to stop for a second, it finalized it as one file, so one parade now has like 6 or 7 separate files which I will sew together with my new Roxio program provided I can figure it out. I haven't figured out my new USB turntable yet!!:headache:

The problem with the digital tape that drives me nuts is previewing what I've got and finding the spot where I left off.

I've never heard of Pinnacle Studio. Is it a Canada thing? As long as I'm asking... I heard they still use Beta in Canada? True or false? well.. I heard that a couple years ago. Beta was always better than VHS. The disadvantage to the new DVR's is that you can't just pop it out and bring it to someone else's house to watch.:scared1:

Shir Kahn

05-16-2009, 01:08 AM

I haven't seen a beta tape in oh, well, most of my lifetime! :rotfl:

Mindy5767

05-17-2009, 12:45 AM

I haven't seen a beta tape in oh, well, most of my lifetime! :rotfl:

Tim,

Under the trip planning forums, under "Doing The Happy Dance" is the official July visitors thread. We've got a big list going of who is eating where and when (all our ADR's) It was last posted on the last page which I "think" is 123. You should list yours there so you can see if any of your ADR's match up with any other Dis'ers on our thread. Mine are on their too.

What do you mean you haven't seen a beta in most your life!! Mine's in the garage in a box. Now that we bought this new nifty Roxio program, we should be able to copy our Beta tapes as well as our VHS's. The box didn't mention Beta, but if we can hook up a VHS or a high 8, I don't see why it would't work. I really am most interested in copying our wedding video. The others are probably mostly repalceable.

I'll look to see if you post on the other thread. NikkilovesWDW is the one who posted everyone's ADR's.

Mindy

Shir Kahn

05-17-2009, 01:50 AM

Hmm, I'll have to post them tomorrow, I left my WDW planning book at work today! I could paste the list from my PTR but there aren't any times on it.

All7OfUs

05-18-2009, 03:13 AM

Still here with you, although, I must admit, I don't understand most of the conversation about electronics. I am so happy with my point and shoot, but end up "hoping for the best" with it.

Mindy5767

05-18-2009, 09:08 AM

Hmm, I'll have to post them tomorrow, I left my WDW planning book at work today! I could paste the list from my PTR but there aren't any times on it.

Did you get em' posted? It turned out they were on page 122 not 123, it was the 2nd to the last page at the time. It is a VERY long post.

Anyway, Happy Victoria Day to our Canadian friends!!
:dance3::grouphug:

Shir Kahn

05-20-2009, 12:55 AM

Did you get em' posted? It turned out they were on page 122 not 123, it was the 2nd to the last page at the time. It is a VERY long post.

Anyway, Happy Victoria Day to our Canadian friends!!
:dance3::grouphug:

Thanks!

Ok, so I just posted our reservations as they stand so far. Still lots of open spots, I'm wondering if there'll be anything left by now! :eek: I better get planning.

Mindy5767

05-20-2009, 01:50 AM

Thanks!

Ok, so I just posted our reservations as they stand so far. Still lots of open spots, I'm wondering if there'll be anything left by now! :eek: I better get planning.

I really wouldn't be too worried about openings. We always found something. You can likely get into resort restaurants last minute especially at earlier or later times. We always did. We ate a little later and got in last minute at Spoodles and Olivias and ate earlier (5:00-5:30pm) and had NO problem getting into Shutters without ADR's. We've called dining to change plans because sometimes, we were in a location that was not conducive to making our reservation, and were always able to get in somewhere. Just be open and flexible. Even us picky eaters succeed. We don't eat "country food", pork, shellfish etc. but no problem. Always found something.:tinker:

Disney Brat

05-24-2009, 11:36 PM

I found you again!! I was following your last ptr/tr with tons of fantastic photos! :worship:Can't wait to see how this one turns out as well. So hello once again from another Winnipegger....how did you like the weather today?? Much better than last weeks snow!!! lol:lmao:

Shir Kahn

05-25-2009, 09:46 PM

Hiya Disney Brat! Yeah, the weather is getting pretty nice, although today was a bit of a bad one. Oh well, practice for the summer rain. I'm determined to finish this one and I think I'm going to actually do a lot of the report while I'm actually at WDW. We'll have so much time there this trip that we'll be able to take it a little easier. Doing the trip as it happens will definitely help with memory! :goodvibes

Jeff90

06-06-2009, 08:26 PM

Kellyh123

06-06-2009, 08:48 PM

We will be at POP July 27 through August 3rd!
Hope you have a great trip down!

Shir Kahn

06-07-2009, 01:04 PM

Hey there Sir Kahn! Plans look good so far! Glad that I had to chance to read up your PTR, now I have to read your TR from last year!

We're planning to be in the MK the same day as you are! 7/10 will be our last day before we fly back home on 7/11........

Nice! Are you two rope-droppers? We'll be at MK nice and early, probably be about 10th in line at one of the many early crowd lines. We'll definitely have our Lime Green Mickey Heads visible, so if you're there and see us, come over and say hi! I'll keep an eye out for you two as well. :goodvibes

We will be at POP July 27 through August 3rd!
Hope you have a great trip down!

Thanks! Hope your trip is good as well. I love staying at Pop Century, even though it's a value resort. :cloud9:

Jeff90

06-11-2009, 06:41 PM

Nice! Are you two rope-droppers? We'll be at MK nice and early, probably be about 10th in line at one of the many early crowd lines. We'll definitely have our Lime Green Mickey Heads visible, so if you're there and see us, come over and say hi! I'll keep an eye out for you two as well. :goodvibes:

We have never rope-dropped.....that could be planned though! MK is open late that night, so I def know we will be there in the evening after dinner at WCC. That would be cool to meet up, I never had a DIS meet before!

Shir Kahn

06-11-2009, 09:23 PM

Definitely! We're likely to be at the train station platform to watch Wishes, that's the only real definite of our day other than rope-drop. We're going to be with 3 other people that day, so I have no idea where we're going to be other than during Wishes. Any ideas?

Queenofallthings

06-12-2009, 12:36 AM

purplepeg

06-12-2009, 12:57 AM

I'm here too. Have you thought about trying Boma for a meal? Both breakfast and dinner are fabulous and you could wander around the resort and get lots of pictures.

I can't wait to hear all about your trip, on and off site.

I need to get Geodoc reading this. You and he are kindred spirits with your electronic gadgets, he geocaches too. Have you done that?

Shir Kahn

06-12-2009, 02:28 AM

Hey neighbour:thumbsup2

Ok, so I'm totally caught up now....20 days is a beautiful thing....I still can't believe we're going for 20 days too....until I get the visa bill:lmao:

Can't wait to read morepopcorn::

I know, I'm loving the thought of 20 days, except that now, we've actually changed things a bit and we're actually going to be leaving immediately after I'm done work on the 2nd, driving to Minneapolis, driving all day on the 3rd and hopefully making it to WDW in time to see the 4th of July fireworks! So yeah, we're adding another 4 days onto our trip! :rotfl: Nice thing is, we're paying the whole thing with cash, so we won't have any bills waiting for us when we get home! :cloud9:

I'm here too. Have you thought about trying Boma for a meal? Both breakfast and dinner are fabulous and you could wander around the resort and get lots of pictures.

I can't wait to hear all about your trip, on and off site.

I need to get Geodoc reading this. You and he are kindred spirits with your electronic gadgets, he geocaches too. Have you done that?

I had wondered about Boma, but I think we're going to do it next trip instead. We're not doing the dining plan now, so we're keeping the reservations down a bit. We'll be using the Tables in Wonderland 20% off card a lot though! As for geocaching (sp?), I've read about it but I have yet to try it. Sounds like something I would like for sure! :thumbsup2

Thanks for following along! :goodvibes

Disney Brat

06-12-2009, 11:40 AM

Thanks for the welcoming! Wow look at all of us Winnipeggers here!! LOL So who is totally fed up with our weather, and the conversations about it??!!!!:rotfl: You must be getting so excited! Can't wait to hear all about it!:goodvibes

Mindy5767

06-13-2009, 04:05 PM

Shir Kahn

06-13-2009, 09:32 PM

What's tables in wonderland?

I've got a ADR at Boma on Wed. 5/15 AT 5:15pm. Never have eaten there before but it sounded great! We're also going to try the new Sanaa with just the 4 adults and we're having DS17 to take the younger girls somewhere for kid food. That's on Thursday at 6:30pm.

Tables in Wonderland is a card you can buy for $75 if you have annual passes. This card is good for 20% off all your food at almost every place in WDW. It really doesn't take long to cover the cost of the card. I'm kind of looking at it as a card that takes care of the tip for us! :rotfl: Of course, most of the meals we'll be using it for won't be tippable anyway. 20 x breakfast at Pop Century (roughly $15 for the 2 of us equals $60 right there.

Mindy5767

06-13-2009, 10:48 PM

Tables in Wonderland is a card you can buy for $75 if you have annual passes. This card is good for 20% off all your food at almost every place in WDW. It really doesn't take long to cover the cost of the card. I'm kind of looking at it as a card that takes care of the tip for us! :rotfl: Of course, most of the meals we'll be using it for won't be tippable anyway. 20 x breakfast at Pop Century (roughly $15 for the 2 of us equals $60 right there.

Only 2 of you? thought you MIL and BIL were coming? We don't have an annual pass. At least not yet. If we decide on our next trip plan before we leave, and it is within 1 year, we'll get them... but we're doing 8 days now. It makes sense to get the AP if you're there 10 days or more... I wish!:worship: Lucky you! You are right... that would really pay off the more meals you have there in ressies. We've got only 4 ADR's right now, we plan to do a few QS's, Rainforest and B&C. We really could have used the Tables in Wonderland last year. We had AP's nov 07-Oct 08!! We did 3 trips in that time. I didn't know about it! :mad:

Shir Kahn

06-16-2009, 12:28 AM

There's actually 5 of us total, but the other three are on the dining plan. I'll likely be using the card for all of us when we go for breakfast together though.

Mindy5767

06-16-2009, 03:04 AM

There's actually 5 of us total, but the other three are on the dining plan. I'll likely be using the card for all of us when we go for breakfast together though.

They've always told us that everyone in your party has to be on the same plan. Are the other 3 in a separate room?

Shir Kahn

06-16-2009, 09:06 PM

They've always told us that everyone in your party has to be on the same plan. Are the other 3 in a separate room?

Yes they are, but you can definitely use different methods of payment. You just have to let the server know ahead of time to make it easier for them.

All7OfUs

06-16-2009, 10:58 PM

Mindy5767

06-16-2009, 11:02 PM

Since I'm DVC, I get dining discounts at various restaurants. Good ones. So, it probably wouldnt pay for me. Especially since we want to save $$ by eating in our villa and using the kitchen that is so pristine since nobody uses them!! :rotfl:

Piglets Mommy

06-17-2009, 01:05 PM

Hi! Just checking in!
Loving your PTR so far!

Shir Kahn

06-20-2009, 02:29 AM

Hey There, My Friend,

Just checking in. The TIW card sounds like a great deal. I'll have to ask maroo if she's gotten one, since she'll be going twice more this year alone. Might save us some money on our Sept., 2010 trip (if she renews her AP) and we don't get free dining. ;)

And I see you've added a couple of extra days too! Very good!

This always happens when I`m in charge of vacations! :rotfl:

Since I'm DVC, I get dining discounts at various restaurants. Good ones. So, it probably wouldnt pay for me. Especially since we want to save $$ by eating in our villa and using the kitchen that is so pristine since nobody uses them!! :rotfl:

We`re actually going to be eating some meals in our room at times to save some cash as well. 30 full days of eating in restaurants isn`t cheap! :scared:

Hi! Just checking in!
Loving your PTR so far!

Thanks! :goodvibes

So, a couple of updates:

Was reading the disboards yesterday and happened across a thread concerning the new online ADR reservation system. So, being the curious person I am, off I went to take a look. On a complete impulse, I decided to scan our dates for supper reservations at Le Cellier and whaddyaknow; I got a match! Out of the entire stay, there was one open reservation on July 16th at 5:05pm. I had tried and tried to get a supper reservation on the phone but I started too late, as this restaurant is extremely popular and you usually need to book the full 90 days in advance. I set speed records hitting the buttons to reserve that open spot! :rotfl:
I also booked 4 days at the Best Western Lakeside for $28 a night from July 5th-July 9th! 1.8 miles from WDW and has a Pizza Hut onsite, as well as 3 pools, a breakfast buffet, a Walgreens, 7-11 and lots of other places within walking distance! The breakfast buffet is $9 a person, but if you walk 2 minutes, you can go to Ponderosa and have a $3.50 breakfast buffet! It`s listed as 3 stars on tripadvisor and there are a ton of reviews, mostly positive. Basically, it`s going to be a place to lie down for a few hours until we head back to Disney anyway, so I really don`t care if it`s a 9 star hotel! :lmao:
So, how are you all doing? :)

Mindy5767

06-21-2009, 04:26 PM

Tim,

How can you eat in your room at the Pop to save money? :confused3 There isn't even a ktichenette. Cereal and pop tarts maybe! You might as well do this. Bring some cereal, or the like. In the Pop's cafeteria/food court there is a toaster. You can heat up your own food just as easily as food you buy there. Nobody cares. You can also ask a CM to give you an empty foam cereal bowl. I did that once. My DD wanted some cereal we'd brought but I didn't have a bowl, so I asked for one. They gave me a foam (probably Hefty brand) bowl and there is plastic tableware for the taking. I just added milk that from the grab n go case! Easy! I'd rather eat there than try to eat at the tiny table in the room that's covered in my electronics!! :thumbsup2 Oh.. and another thing... if you bring your own bowls or plates, you can easily wash them quickly in the mug wash station.

Shir Kahn

06-21-2009, 08:46 PM

Mindy5767

06-22-2009, 03:40 AM

It's Jason actually, Tim is my brother-in-law. :goodvibes

We've actually already got the pop tarts packed! We're going to have a fridge the whole time we're down as well, so we're going to stop by a grocery store and buy some stuff like bread and sandwich ingredients to take into the parks with us. We won't be doing this too often, but enough to save some cash.

ugh!! How did I get your names mixed up?:confused3 Now I have your face attached to your BIL's name in my brain!! I'll have to fix that. :upsidedow

The closest grocery store is the Winn Dixie. I already joined their membership program online so I could get their card before we leave. I want to qualify for the specials of the week. Although, you can probably join when you get there. Check into it. The store I believe is up Vineland-Apopka Blvd. Its behind the Panera Bread. Its way cheaper than ordering in for groceries and way cheaper than buying them at the DVC shops. Although, depending on what and how much you're buying at any given time and time=money... you might need to shop DVC a few times.

Mindy5767

06-22-2009, 03:46 AM

Yup.. I went back to the beginning of your posts to see where I got your names wrong. Tim's name appears at the bottom of your picture, so when I looked at it (I have a tiny laptop screen), I only saw his name under your picture. Next time I wanna get a laptop big enough for me to see the whole of anything at the same time. I can't see the whole picture at once usually. :badpc:

Shir Kahn

06-22-2009, 10:29 AM

Thanks for the info! Now I have a name to put into my GPS! :goodvibes It's getting so close now! Almost single digits! :woohoo:

purplepeg

06-22-2009, 11:13 PM

Mindy5767

06-23-2009, 07:56 PM

Here is the grocery store information for your GPS.

Winn-Dixie #2215
SHOPPES OF LAKE AVENUE
11957 SOUTH APOPKA VINELAND RD
ORLANDO, FL 32836

Store Director: James Bailey
Phone Number: 407-465-8600
Pharmacy Phone: 407-465-8606
Store Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.
Sat: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.
Sun: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.

Shir Kahn

06-28-2009, 12:47 AM

Wow you really are getting close. Great job on the online dining ressie.:banana: How can you go and not visit the home country? Are you planning on doing any updates from WDW? I think you mentioned a possibility of that.

Are the suitcases out?

We might be doing some updates from WDW, I'm just not sure how often at the rates they charge for internet access. At $10 a day, I'd only be using it for about a half an hour max per day, pretty expensive! I guess I might space it out and maybe pay for a day here and there.

Here is the grocery store information for your GPS.

Winn-Dixie #2215
SHOPPES OF LAKE AVENUE
11957 SOUTH APOPKA VINELAND RD
ORLANDO, FL 32836

Store Director: James Bailey
Phone Number: 407-465-8600
Pharmacy Phone: 407-465-8606
Store Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.
Sat: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.
Sun: 7:00 A.M. - 12:00 A.M.

Thanks!

So, it's really getting close now, I've actually started looking for some of my electronics to get them all ready. We've converted most of our money now. That was painful, the dollar has been dropping like a rock again. Four shifts left to work now, one day off. Those are going to be really long shifts. I work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off for Canada Day, then I work Thursday. Friday, we'll be getting up, heading to the bank to convert the last of our money, stopping at McDonalds for breakfast (one of our traditions for WDW trips) and hitting the road! We're planning to drive for about 12 hours and hopefully stopping in Madison, Wisconsin. The 4th, we're going to be driving until we get to Marietta, Georgia. Hopefully they've got some decent fireworks there. I know we're pretty close to Atlanta at that point but we don't want to stay in any large cities.

Going to get up early on the 5th and drive until we hit Orlando. We'll find our hotel, check in and then head to WDW! We're staying offsite until the 9th when we check into Pop Century, so no extra magic hours for the first bit. Looking forward to the $3.99 breakfast buffet at Ponderosa though! The place we're staying at also has a Pizza Hut actually in the hotel! :love:

Anyway, that's the update for now, cya in a bit!

Mindy5767

06-28-2009, 05:00 PM

Just so you know..In the plaza that is right by the Winn Dixie there is a Panera Bread. Its a sandwhich/coffee type place. They have free high speed internet as does Starbucks. I haven't scoped out the starbucks yet though. You should be able to just pop into one of those shops and get your internet needs taken care of for no cost... other than the coffee or baked good that you would be tempted to buy. :woohoo:

Shir Kahn

06-28-2009, 08:25 PM

Oh wow, that's awesome info! You just saved me a bundle! Thanks! :goodvibes

It's my birthday today, so I'll consider that your birthday present to me! :rotfl:

Mindy5767

06-28-2009, 10:30 PM

Oh wow, that's awesome info! You just saved me a bundle! Thanks! :goodvibes

It's my birthday today, so I'll consider that your birthday present to me! :rotfl:

Happy Birthday to you!! :bday:

flipflopmom

06-30-2009, 06:20 AM

Just poppin over to say hi... I can't imagine your drive down. Makes my 11-12 seem like a breeze. YET - I have two aliens disguised as princessess in the backseat that will make it feel like 32 hours at times! :laughing:

DH and I just got Itouches as well. That is one of my projects for next week is trying to figure out how to use a file sharing app to get my ADR lists, itinerarys, etc. on to it. Have you planned with any of that?

We both got FM transmitters for our cars that do a great job. They were around $35... it's the Go Groove flex pod? We like them so far, just got them last week from Amazon.

We're trying to figure out how to get all the stuff plugged in, also. We'll have Garmin, the Itouch, 2 DVD players to get going on the way down? DH has some sort of box that one plugs in to the lighter, and we can plug 3 more in to it, I think. Our car will be a mess of wires!

We are packing 1 or 2 power strips to charge it all - 2 cell phones, 2 itouches, 2 camera batteries, camcorder, DD's Nintendo DS and Gameboy, Garmin, AAGGGHH!! DH is worried about leaving them out in the room charging. No faith in humanity!

Shir Kahn

06-30-2009, 10:58 AM

Happy Birthday to you!! :bday:

Thanks! :)

Just poppin over to say hi... I can't imagine your drive down. Makes my 11-12 seem like a breeze. YET - I have two aliens disguised as princessess in the backseat that will make it feel like 32 hours at times! :laughing:

DH and I just got Itouches as well. That is one of my projects for next week is trying to figure out how to use a file sharing app to get my ADR lists, itinerarys, etc. on to it. Have you planned with any of that?

We both got FM transmitters for our cars that do a great job. They were around $35... it's the Go Groove flex pod? We like them so far, just got them last week from Amazon.

We're trying to figure out how to get all the stuff plugged in, also. We'll have Garmin, the Itouch, 2 DVD players to get going on the way down? DH has some sort of box that one plugs in to the lighter, and we can plug 3 more in to it, I think. Our car will be a mess of wires!

We are packing 1 or 2 power strips to charge it all - 2 cell phones, 2 itouches, 2 camera batteries, camcorder, DD's Nintendo DS and Gameboy, Garmin, AAGGGHH!! DH is worried about leaving them out in the room charging. No faith in humanity!

Hiya! 32 hours does sound like a lot, but we love driving and there's a ton to look at, so it's not so bad. For the Ipods, I've just been putting everything straight into mine anyway, so I haven't looked into transferring from my computer. We have one of the 3 jack converters too and it still might not be enough! I left batteries in the room all last trip with no worries and all the other stuff came with us to the park anyway last time. Except the laptop of course. I don't even remember what we did with the laptop. If it gets stolen, I guess I'll have my excuse to buy a better one! :rotfl:

flipflopmom

06-30-2009, 11:46 AM

Thanks! :)

Hiya! 32 hours does sound like a lot, but we love driving and there's a ton to look at, so it's not so bad. For the Ipods, I've just been putting everything straight into mine anyway, so I haven't looked into transferring from my computer. We have one of the 3 jack converters too and it still might not be enough! I left batteries in the room all last trip with no worries and all the other stuff came with us to the park anyway last time. Except the laptop of course. I don't even remember what we did with the laptop. If it gets stolen, I guess I'll have my excuse to buy a better one! :rotfl:

What did you put it in? I thought about calendar and/or notes???

Shir Kahn

06-30-2009, 01:39 PM

What did you put it in? I thought about calendar and/or notes???

I use notes. It takes a while to type it in, but I have long stretches at work where I don't have much to do some days. :goodvibes

Queenofallthings

07-01-2009, 11:09 AM

OMG, I just realized you guys leave tomorrow:thumbsup2 Have a safe journey! ENJOY YOURSELVES.

Shir Kahn

07-01-2009, 12:33 PM

Actually, we're leaving on Friday, but that's soon enough too! :woohoo: Thanks for the well-wishes! :goodvibes

Oh, and happy Canada Day!

Disney Brat

07-01-2009, 12:44 PM

Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you had a great day! The last few days before youu leave are so hard, last Oct, we tried justifying leaving a day early (we were driving to MSP for a flight) lol. :rotfl: If I don`t `talk`to you before you leave, have a safe and magical trip!!:wizard:

Shir Kahn

07-02-2009, 11:37 PM

Thanks! I'm officially on vacation now, as I've just finished work. We're cleaning out the car (yes, I am helping, not just posting on the disboards! :lmao:). So much to get ready, so little time. We're leaving at 10am tomorrow morning, or rather, shortly thereafter, as we want to get to the bank one last time before we leave. I had a bit of a scare on our test-run of our electronics set-up in the car. My $750 GPS for some reason did a firmware update when I turned it on in the car, which is actually not possible. The GPS has to be hooked up to the computer to do a firmware update. But there it was, started at 1% and when it was done, I got a message saying GPS update complete and a small box to tap that said OK. I tapped it and the GPS tried to find some satellites but for some reason couldn't find any, even though I wasn't near any trees or buildings. 10 seconds later, the GPS update complete message popped up again. I kept clearing it away but it kept coming back every 10 seconds. I thought my GPS was broken 2 days before the trip! But once I unplugged the power supply and rebooted it twice, it went back to being fine again. Whew! :scared:

Disney Brat

07-02-2009, 11:58 PM

I hope you have a safe and wonderful trip!!! Glad the GPS is all sorted out for you!! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!!

Shir Kahn

07-04-2009, 02:26 AM

Well, we just arrived at our first hotel of the trip! We got up at a leisurely 8am, got the rest of the packing done and headed to the bank at 10pm to get the last of the travelers checks. Went and paid one last bill, got a new car jack multiplier from Future Shop, as the one I originally bought was horrible. The car lighter adapters simply fell out! Then, it was off to McDonalds for our traditional breakfast on the way out of town. Of course, by this time, it was noon, so we had a quarter pounder meal for breakfast! :rotfl: So 12pm, we hit the road! The driving went well, I love being able to do at least 75mph. The GPS works fine as well. At about 4:30pm we hit a really bad rainstorm. It was almost to the point that we couldn't see the road. Got through that ok though. Stopped at Arbys for supper, food was decent although I don't tend to like Arbys that much. Tammy got her Cherry Pepsi finally! They don't sell them in Canada for some reason, except as a summer promo sometimes.

Gas prices are fantastic here, I filled the car from almost empty to full for $29! Didn't get any pictures on day one, as I left the camera in the trunk and kept forgetting to bring it out. We finally stopped for the night about 12:10am at an Econo-Lodge in Madison, WI. $44.99 for the night, king sized bed, free internet, fridge, microwave, breakfast. The room is actually very nice, especially for the price! :goodvibes I've got a 7am wake-up call planned and I hope to be past Atlanta before we stop tomorrow, so I'm going to say good night. Have some great Disney dreams everyone! :cloud9:

Shir Kahn

07-04-2009, 08:42 AM

flipflopmom

07-04-2009, 09:18 AM

Queenofallthings

07-04-2009, 10:55 AM

Ok, so at home, I drag myself out of bed after the snooze has gone off about a dozen times. Today, I woke up 40 minutes before my 7am wakeup call and have already had a shower, had breakfast and we're about 5 minutes from hitting the road! Amazing what being on vacation can do to you! :rotfl:

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there! :goodvibes

:lmao: so happy to know it's not just me that does that. I swear it's something to do with the Disney magic....not once last trip did I actually need the wake up call...of course I had it ...but every single day both Jas and I were up and almost ready to go by the time it rang:rotfl:

Safe travels my friends....hope you get as far today as planned. We woke to cloudy skies this morning and I have yet to check the net to see what the weather is actually supposed to be like today:confused3

purplepeg

07-04-2009, 11:40 PM

Happy belated Canada Day! Enjoying your updates. You sure drove a long way that first day! Hope you got as far as you wanted today. Keep us updated!

Disney Brat

07-04-2009, 11:58 PM

Glad to hear that everything is going so well for you so far! I love the on the road updates!!! I too get up before the alarm on vacation!! LOL typical! I hope that todays drive went well!

Shir Kahn

07-05-2009, 12:43 AM

Hello all! So, we're finished driving for today. We ended up stopping about 50 miles away from Atlanta, so not quite as far as I was hoping but we really only have about a 6 hour drive left. Todays drive was pretty rough! It rained all day long, and this was heavy, heavy rain. We also accidentally missed a turn-off and ended up going through Chicago instead of by it! That was a bit nerve-wracking! The GPS was acting up all day as well, same issue as before so I'm going to google to see if there's a fix. We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. :love: We both had the open faced roast beef sandwich. Fantastic as always, we both loved it. If you haven't eaten at Cracker Barrel, you have to do it as soon as you can! I did take a picture, but I won't be uploading anything until we get home, sorry! :goodvibes For supper, we tried Krystal for the first time. It was ok, we got the combo for 2, which was 12 of their mini-burgers, fries and milkquakes. Tammy got a Banana Pudding milkquake and I got a Chocolate-Covered Strawberry. I finished my 6 burgers and fries but Tammy barely got through the 4th and barely touched her fries. They were ok, the milkquakes were pretty good as well, but we both agreed that we probably wouldn't be going back.

The rain did slack off a bit towards the end of the night and we did start seeing fireworks all around us. They're still going off right outside our room as a matter of fact! :lmao: We're staying at the HoJo tonight, room was $45.95 after tax. Not bad considering I budgeted $100 a night for hotel!

So, I'm off to sleep now, have a good night all. :goodvibes

Shir Kahn

07-05-2009, 09:46 AM

Well, we're off to a slower start than yesterday, we decided to wake up a little later, seeing as we don't want to get to our hotel too early. If we get there before 3pm, we might not be able to check in yet and would be stuck with our luggage in the car. We're about to take off now, hoping to be eating a Dole Whip by 4 or 5pm! :cloud9: The GPS should be fixed now, apparently Garmin released a bad update and has since released a patch for it that I have downloaded. Hopefully it works! Have a great day all. :)

Queenofallthings

07-05-2009, 05:12 PM

Well as I type this it is 310pmWinnipeg time and I am picturing you at MK with a Dole Whip in your hands:thumbsup2

Sounds like u had some "moments" on the drive, glad everything went well though, ENJOY;)

Disney Brat

07-05-2009, 06:54 PM

Well you should be in all the Disney glory by now!! I hope the drive today was much smoother than yesterday! Can't wait to hear more!! But enjoy your trip now that you are in Disney!!!! So on second thought no updates soon!!! lol Go have fun!

Shir Kahn

07-05-2009, 07:30 PM

Heh, not quite in the parks yet! We left late this morning actually, we didn't get on the road until 10am due to us being lazy and procrastinating on the killer drive ahead. :rotfl: We've made it to the hotel finally, was a long, long drive. Really hot today, the rain only lasted about 30 minutes of our drive. We both actually noticed a point just after Atlanta that the temperature shot up. It felt as if one of us had accidentally turned on the heater in the car and we actually checked to make sure that didn't happen! But sure enough, it was the good old humid heat kicking in. It wasn't really all that bad but we were sure happy to see the hotel. They really start in on you the moment you get here with the time share thing, but for $28 a night for 4 nights, I'm not complaining. The room is actually really nice too! The GPS worked great today by the way. :) Once we're settled in here, we're off to MK. :yay::woohoo: I'll be doing updates every day that we're here at this hotel, so talk to you all soon!

flipflopmom

07-05-2009, 10:51 PM

So glad you made it safely, and that the driving is behind you for a while! :thumbsup2

Shir Kahn

07-06-2009, 02:38 AM

Just back from the park, it was great! We stopped off at the Ticket and Transportation Center and took the ferry over to MK. You probably have all heard this by now, but one of the monorail drivers was killed last night when the monorail slammed into a stationary one. :sad1: So the monorail is temporarily shut down while they investigate and fix things. Poor guy, I hope they build some sort of memorial to him. Being Disney, I'm sure they will.

Once we got to MK, we exchanged our Annual Pass vouchers for the real thing, bought the Tables in Wonderland card and headed in! First destination, Dole Whip time! :cloud9: Then it was off to Pirates. We were in the back row and directly in front of us was this woman who wouldn't stop taking flash pictures. I had turned around to look at something and turned back just in time to get a direct flash to the face. :mad: She said sorry and then did it 30 seconds later! I was determined not to get annoyed at the start of our WDW trip, so I just let it ride.

We got off Pirates and headed to one of my other favorites, Haunted Mansion! They've actually even made this better than ever! They slowed down the bride room and the graveyard, so you can see everything better. I loved it! Next up was Carousel of Progress, we were trying to hit all our favorites because we had a shortened time in the park, so we kind of went all over. CoP was as good as ever. We wanted to get in a few more rides before Wishes, so we saw that the Indy Speedway was a 5 minute wait and went on. It was just over an hour until Wishes according to my Ipod, which I later discovered was set to home time! Wishes started while we were riding around the track. It turned out that this was really cool! Once we got out of the cars, we watched the rest of Wishes on the stairs by the exit. It's really a great place to watch from! After Wishes ended we went right over to Philharmagic and then on to It's a Small World. Everything was a straight walk-on, which I wasn't expecting. I thought that being the day after July 4th, it would still be crazy crowded.

Oh, after Pirates, we actually stopped off at Pecos Bills for a quick supper. We tried out the automated service computers but realized belatedly that we needed to have either a credit card or a room key with dining plan on it. We hadn't brought any credit cards with us and we won't be on-site until Thursday. It was a nice, easy system from what we saw. So after we headed over to the line with a human at the end, Tammy ordered the Chicken Salad and I had a Taco Salad. I think I loaded about 4 pounds of cheese, salsa and lettuce on that thing! :lmao: I had a coke and Tammy had a chocolate milk. The bill came to $19.98. I must be out of practice, because I forgot to take pictures of this meal! Don't worry, we'll be eating there again and I'm not forgetting twice! At the end of the night, we watched Spectromagic, which was nice, because it wasn't running during our last trip. They were fixing the bridge. The ferry was incredibly crowded on the way out. I did get some pictures, but I'll have to wait until we get home to post them. We got back to the hotel and I went to try and find some food. The onsite Pizza Hut was closed, as were most of the places nearby. I ended up getting drinks at the Walgreens next door and that's it. I guess we'll do better tomorrow night, as we're going to Epcot and we'll be back before all these places close. Think I'll head to sleep now, have a great night all, or day if that's when you read this! :goodvibes

Born 2B a Princess

07-06-2009, 11:56 AM

Sounds like a great trip so far...and you passed right by my house (literally, within about 5-8 miles of my house!) when you drove down I-75 through middle Georgia...darn, I should have waved as you drove by! :)

Jealous that you and some of the other July DISers are already there...but it's getting me more and more excited about our trip...less than 2 weeks to go!

carrie6466

07-06-2009, 12:02 PM

Great job so far! I almost wish I had started a trip report. Maybe when I come back I'll have time to do something.

All7OfUs

07-06-2009, 01:48 PM

Oh, it's so great you're doing "live" updates! I love them!

Yes, we were sad to see about the accident yesterday. bummer for EVERYONE there- kinda puts a damper on the vacation.

Looks like you're off to a great start! Don't you love Pecos Bills?? we sure did!

Shir Kahn

07-07-2009, 12:05 AM

Great job so far! I almost wish I had started a trip report. Maybe when I come back I'll have time to do something.

Thanks! Trip reports are really a lot of fun. :goodvibes

Sounds like a great trip so far...and you passed right by my house (literally, within about 5-8 miles of my house!) when you drove down I-75 through middle Georgia...darn, I should have waved as you drove by! :)

Jealous that you and some of the other July DISers are already there...but it's getting me more and more excited about our trip...less than 2 weeks to go!

I'll wave as we go back home. :lmao: Glad your trip is almost here. For me, the weeks leading up to the trip are almost as good as the trip itself! Anticipation is wonderful. :)

Oh, it's so great you're doing "live" updates! I love them!

Yes, we were sad to see about the accident yesterday. bummer for EVERYONE there- kinda puts a damper on the vacation.

Looks like you're off to a great start! Don't you love Pecos Bills?? we sure did!

Live updates are great, especially as I tend to forget to write down the details each day and at the end of the trip, it's hard to remember everything. And yes, we love Pecos Bills too!

So today, we went to Epcot. We are actually really still wiped out from the drive, so we left late. This isn't actually normal for us, as we're serious rope-droppers, but until we've recovered, we probably won't be getting to any of the parks early. We didn't get to the park until about 11:30! :scared1: We headed to Soarin to grab some fast-passes. Then we rode Living with the Land. Definitely not the first ride I would have thought we'd ride, but I do like it and the wait time was only 5 minutes. Throughout the day we went on Test Track, Gran Fiesta Tour, Ellens Energy Adventure, Spaceship Earth, O' Canada and of course, Soarin. The Brazillian tour groups were absolutely everywhere! Loud as ever and they frequently were blocking the entire walkway. Heading down to Soarin, we were met by an entire group coming straight for us. I guess they expected me to step to the side and let them all go through, but I've always believed that if you're part of a group, you make room for people coming the other way. So Tammy, knowing how stubborn I am got behind me and I cleared a path! :rotfl:

We ate at the Electric Umbrella, we both had the bacon double cheeseburger with grapes. Tammys burger disintegrated on her and her hands were covered with mustard and ketchup! :lmao: We also had some frozen lemonaid and popcorn. I don't know what it is, but Disney makes the best popcorn! :lovestruc We actually left at 7:30, because both of us were wiped out. We stopped off at Downtown Disney to grab some sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich, which is one our absolute favorite places. Tammy had the Hawaiian BBQ and I had the Full Montague. Best sandwiches in the world! We headed back to the hotel and I was thinking of grabbing a Corona from the bar here, which would have cost me about $4, when it occurred to me that Walgreens sells alcohol. When I'm at WDW, I have one Corona a night. I don't tend to drink much at home, but I've kind of made a tradition of a bedtime beer here. ;) So a case of 12 bottles of Corona at Walgreens is only $15! Saving me a nice $33. :)

Tomorrow is DHS, I'm thinking we better get there pretty early if we want to have a shot at Toy Story Mania. So, goodnight all! :goodvibes

flipflopmom

07-07-2009, 10:26 AM

Great stuff! I was sooooo excited to hear about the tour groups. :rolleyes: Better start warning DH to pack his manners! Glad you're having fun, and I'm sure you'll get your Disney legs soon!

Disney Brat

07-07-2009, 03:28 PM

I am so glad you are updating while you are at this hotel!!! It is very sad about the monorail pilot, all involved are in my thoughts and prayers! I am glad to hear you had a good day at Epcot, well except for the tour groups!!! lol I hope you had a wonderful day at DHS today!!

Shir Kahn

07-07-2009, 08:20 PM

Great stuff! I was sooooo excited to hear about the tour groups. :rolleyes: Better start warning DH to pack his manners! Glad you're having fun, and I'm sure you'll get your Disney legs soon!

They weren't too bad today at DHS. :goodvibes

I am so glad you are updating while you are at this hotel!!! It is very sad about the monorail pilot, all involved are in my thoughts and prayers! I am glad to hear you had a good day at Epcot, well except for the tour groups!!! lol I hope you had a wonderful day at DHS today!!

I'm going to miss the wifi once we're at Pop Century! Heh, maybe I'll have to drive by this hotel every now and then with the laptop! :rotfl:

Today went pretty good, we got up late as usual. We went to Ponderosa for breakfast, which was excellent, especially for $3.99 each! We went on the Great Movie Ride, Muppet Vision 3-D, Toy Story Mania, Rock n Rollercoaster, the Backlot Tour, Disney Animation and the draw a character room. At the Backlot Tour, we were about to go up the first row ramp, when I said to Tammy "if we go in this row, we'll probably get wet". So we went up the back row and on the way, a Cast Member stopped us and asked us if we were a party of two. When we said yes, she asked if we were ok with a bit of acting in front of everyone! :scared: We of course said yes! So she took us into the main area and off to the side where there was a little room. We met two other guests who had also been selected. We had to put our valuables in a locker and put on rain slickers, pants and rubber boots. Tammy was the engineer, I was the captain and the other two were the crew. Tammy got absolutely soaked and I got a nice blast of water as well. Tammy was in the spot where they let a ton of water go down the ramp into the room she sat in. I was on the PT boat, steering, looking for enemy planes with the binoculars and phoning my engineer! The crew were on the boat rolling around and dodging the gunfire. It was a lot of fun and we looked pretty good when they showed us the movie after. :teeth: So yeah, because we didn't want to get a few droplets of water on us from the front row, we ended up getting soaked way worse than ever! :rotfl2:

It rained a lot today, some of it pretty heavy, but it was typical Florida rain, where if you wait 10 minutes, it'll be gone. We ate at Pizza Planet, which is one of our favorite counter service places. The pizzas there are phenomenal! We also had a bowl of ice cream from the ice cream trailer near Rock n Rollercoaster. Tammy had Cookies n Cream and I had Mint Chocolate Chip. :love: We did leave the parks early, but we're going to be headed back somewhere tonight. We needed to get into some dry clothes, as we forgot to bring our ponchos to the park and were pretty much wet/damp all day. Anyway, I'm off to figure out what we're doing tonight. :)

Queenofallthings

07-07-2009, 08:38 PM

Love the live updates!! We're going to miss them whe you guys move....but hey then your on property so who cares about anything else:lmao:We were shocked and saddened to see the accident on CNN the next morning, we said a special prayer for this young man and his family:sad1:

On a brighter note, enjoy your evening, we cannot wait to hear about itpopcorn::

flipflopmom

07-07-2009, 11:37 PM

Sounds like a really great experience! I'm packing like a mad woman here! Just FYI - check out the air sharing app on Itouch. Beats the heck out of entering it all into notes. Type it on your laptop, hook up your ipod, browse and upload. VERY quick and simple! I just did it the other day for all our Disney stuff, and I LOVE IT!

purplepeg

07-07-2009, 11:46 PM

I am loving these live updates. Glad the crowds have been manageable for you. Sounds like your budget is getting a break with your hotels! More shopping money:thumbsup2 We don't usually drink very often either but last year we had Baileys almost everynight. Yum Yum.
That was very devastating news about the monorail driver:sad1: So sad.

All7OfUs

07-08-2009, 06:03 AM

Oh, you got picked for the Backlot Tour pre-show!! How incredibly fun would THAT be??!! I'll bet you didn't mind getting soaked for that!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time at DHS, and you got so much packed in!

Looking forward to seeing where you go "tonight".

L

Shir Kahn

07-08-2009, 11:48 PM

Well, today wasn't terribly exciting, Disney-wise. We didn't actually end up going to a park! We were planning on going to AK, but it was raining like crazy and I kind of changed the plan at the last moment without telling Tammy. We got up at a decent time today, went to IHOP. It was fantastic as always! We both had Strawberry Passionfruit pancakes with eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. Very, very good. :cloud9: Then, we headed into one of the giftshops next door. It was kind of strange, with all the stuffed alligator heads and bottled baby shark lamps. :scared: The items inside certainly weren't discounted nearly as much as they tried to make it seem. We ended up only buying some postcards. Big spenders we are! So as we headed towards WDW, it really started pouring and the skies were pretty much solid grey, which made it look like it would last a long, long time, not like the usual 15 minute downpours. So I went right by the exit and continued on until we found one of the outlet malls. This made Tammy pretty happy, as she had no idea what I was up to! We went to a lot of different stores and again, the prices were not only the same as everywhere else, the electronics stores were even more expensive than what I would pay in Winnipeg for any of the items. :confused3 The exception to this was the Disney outlet, which was pretty good. We bought a Precious Moments boy and girl wearing Mickey ears and playing instruments for $32.99. The same figurine was $75 at home! We saw a lot of other things that we'll likely pick up later as well. We then went back to the hotel and waited for the other family members to arrive. They arrived and we all went to Cici's Pizza buffet, which was not bad at all. First time I've ever tried Macaroni and Cheese pizza! Or Hotsauce and chicken, or Spinach and Cheese pizza! I actually liked them all. I think I ate about 15 slices! :rotfl: We then decided to head to Downtown Disney, other than Tim, who decided that he'd had enough traveling for the day and stayed behind to watch Stacy on the Disney Channel! It was crowded but still a lot of fun. We started at West-side and ended at the Marketplace, then took a water taxi back to the West-side and went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we're off to check into Pop Century and Epcot! Good night all! :)

flipflopmom

07-09-2009, 07:40 AM

I have to say Jason that I will miss your updates once you check in! It's helping me survive the last days until we get there. Sorry about the rain, I've been checking the weather daily and it sounds like it's been kind of nasty. So far, there is like a 20-30% chance of scattered storms next week, so maybe it will be better!

Get Pop ready for us, we'll be there Sat! Enjoy!

Born 2B a Princess

07-09-2009, 11:01 AM

Sorry about the rain...but it sounds like you still had a good day. Any day with shopping is a good day for me! I will also miss your daily updates...Have fun at Pop! My girls are still disappointed that we're not stay at Pop on this trip!

Shir Kahn

07-18-2009, 06:30 PM

Disney Brat

07-18-2009, 07:19 PM

Hello all! Just popping in quickly while I have some free wi-fi access. Vacation is going great, got tons of pictures and I've got a lot of notes to write up once I get home. Hope you're all doing well! :goodvibes

It's great to hear from you!! I am glad that the vacay is going so well, can't wait to hear all about it, and see all about it!!

Queenofallthings

07-18-2009, 08:54 PM

Yeah...what Disney Brat said!!!! Continue to have a great time, cannot wait to hear all about it and see your amazing pics:)

Shir Kahn

08-09-2009, 01:18 AM

Mindy5767

08-09-2009, 01:49 AM

Queenofallthings

08-09-2009, 02:36 AM

We're back and have a ton of pictures to share, as usual! I'll start uploading them over the next day or two and then really start updating. We had a great trip, everything went really smoothly. The weather was a real mixture of rain and sun, but mostly sun. We ate a ton, used that Tables in Wonderland card a million times, so it was definitely worth it. I think we made it about 2 weeks or so before we stopped writing everything down, so yet again, a lot of this report will be pictures with dialogue underneath. My usual method of operation. :rotfl:
Since we've been back, the weather here in Winnipeg has been miserable and someone broke into our car, smashing the passenger side window to steal the cord that connects my ipod to the stereo, the GPS mount and 2 golf balls... :confused3 Nice unexpected $200 deductible! :sad2: I want to go back to Florida! :goodvibes

Just what you need when you get home from holidays...that happened to Peg and Geodoc last year I think right before we went to Florida. They were at Tony Roma's on St. James and someone smashed their passenger window and all they got was their GPS mount....guess they were hoping the actual GPS was in there:confused3 Ya gotta love our fair city, if they're not stealing your car they're vandalizing it....makes me so mad:headache:

Onto a better subject, can't wait to read your report, but I guess it will be when we return. That will help us get over the depression that sets in when we return:sad1:

Shir Kahn

08-09-2009, 02:05 PM

Can't wait to hear about your month long trip. popcorn:: On our first day in the park, within the first 20 minutes, on our first ride (Tomorrowland Motorspeedway) we got caught in a major downpour and our camera got ruined. It wouldn't work properly after that, so we got few good pictures with it. We had to use my MIL's old camera which is OK, but not as good as mine was. I don't write things down, too busy, so the camera is usually my record. Without that.. my TR was out the window on day 1!

Ouch, sorry to hear that! Would have driven me crazy, not having a camera to use! I did however take 4 different cameras and a camcorder with us on this trip though, so we were prepared for anything! :rotfl:

Just what you need when you get home from holidays...that happened to Peg and Geodoc last year I think right before we went to Florida. They were at Tony Roma's on St. James and someone smashed their passenger window and all they got was their GPS mount....guess they were hoping the actual GPS was in there:confused3 Ya gotta love our fair city, if they're not stealing your car they're vandalizing it....makes me so mad:headache:

Onto a better subject, can't wait to read your report, but I guess it will be when we return. That will help us get over the depression that sets in when we return:sad1:

There must be a GPS mount black market somewhere in Winnipeg! Maybe I should start collecting the old ones from work! ;)

Shir Kahn

08-09-2009, 02:07 PM

Ok, here goes the very first picture upload of the TR! Just a test picture really, to see how big it is and to figure out how to do this again! :goodvibes

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009011.jpg

This is pretty much how the first two days of driving looked. It really poured!

flipflopmom

08-09-2009, 02:14 PM

Glad you got back safely! Can't wait to read the rest!

Born 2B a Princess

08-09-2009, 04:25 PM

Welcome home! I'm looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Disney Brat

08-09-2009, 11:25 PM

Welcome home!!! I am glad to hear that you arrived safely..I am really sorry to hear about your car when you got home! Glad to hear you had a great trip though! Can't wait to hear and see all about it!!

All7OfUs

08-10-2009, 12:16 AM

That certainly went by quickly! I 've been checking every day for live updates and to check if you'd gotten back. Hooray!

Your "test" photo" looks wet, but good! HA!

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of your month went. :banana:

Shir Kahn

08-25-2009, 03:30 PM

And at long last, I have finally returned! Sorry about that, I've been working hard and also looking for another job, as I'm pretty much done with sales. I sell appliances for a living but I have a problem with my back, so the doctor told me that I would definitely have to start looking at different possibilities very soon. Lots of long days, but I'm pretty much done now, so I have time to devote to this project finally! :banana:

As with my previous TR, this one is mainly going to be pictures with some dialogue under them here and there. I will be including all pictures, as with last time, even the really bad ones. I took most of these with my Canon 880 IS, which is presumably an upgrade from the Canon 870 IS I used last time, but I was still really disappointed in the night shots. The day shots worked great however.

We didn't leave Winnipeg until around noon on the 3rd of July. We went to the bank, transferred some money over, then stopped at Future Shop to buy some last minute bits and pieces we needed to put all our electronics together in the car. I swear we had about a thousand cords running all over the place, with the portable cooler, the ipods, the gps and the PSPs. We stopped for our traditional McDonalds and were off! The roads going from Winnipeg to the border were actually good for once, usually they're potholed like crazy. They also upped the speed limit a bit, which was nice, but it's still not nearly as good as the speed limits in the states. The border was pretty easy to get by, the fact that we were going down for a month vacation didn't even phase the, although there was one guy in the booth that was just staring with an "I'm going to get you if you so much as sneeze" type of look! :rotfl: Good old US customs. Skipping ahead a bit, the guy at the Canadian border was more like "I'm going to get you....a Tim Hortons coffee and some maple syrup! Welcome to Canada!" There's a definite difference between entering the US and entering Canada! :rotfl: At long last, after all the planning, we finally were in North Dakota, barreling along at 75mph! Ok, 80. Yeah ok, 85! I was determined to get as far as possible on the first day. As I'm sure the first picture of the TR advised you, it wasn't wonderful driving weather. It absolutely poured down for the first two days of our drive!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009011.jpg

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Felt sorry for this guy, we actually passed quite a few people on motorcycles.

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Made it to our first hotel, think we paid about $35 for the night. Pretty good deal! It was in Wisconsin somewhere, some small town. Pretty sure it was an Econolodge. I had thought that Econolodges would be kind of grundgy and poorly kept overall, but the ones we stayed at were actually really nice with clean rooms. I took advantage of the free WiFi there to download a patch to fix my GPS, as it wasn't working well at all.

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http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009018.jpg
Our one and only stop at one of our favorite restaurants, Cracker Barrel! I don't know why we didn't end up stopping more than once, but I regret missing the chance!

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Normally I take pictures of all the meals we eat during a trip, but I was horribly forgetful during this trip. I did get some of them though! I'm not sure how this plate looks to you all, but it was heaven! I have never had a bad meal at Cracker Barrel. :cloud9:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009020.jpg

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More rain, blech! :sad2:

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I didn't take many pictures while I was driving down, most of these were taken by Tammy with my camera. She took a ton more of the scenery with her own camera, which I'll be posting after I post the pictures from my own. It's actually going to make it seem like to TRs, taken from two different persons perspective! Our GPS accidentally took us through Chicago instead of around it, as I hadn't set a way-point to bypass Chicago and the GPS was going by the shortest distance. I think there was maybe a 2 mile shorter difference by going through Chicago instead of around it, but the GPS doesn't really figure on traffic. It was definitely an interesting experience and I'm glad we got the chance to see the city, or at least parts of it. It looks like an old city, everything seems to be grimy and dull looking, but again, we only got to see the parts visible from the road going through it, which doesn't nearly show the whole picture. (by the way, the above picture is not Chicago, it just reminded me that we have a bunch of pictures of Chicago, but they're on Tammys camera!) ;)

Shir Kahn

08-25-2009, 03:43 PM

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009025.jpg
Getting closer!

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http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009032.jpg
See? I told you I would post all the pictures, no matter how bad they were! :scared1:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009033.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009034.jpg
Another state down!

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Weird, no rain! :upsidedow

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009040.jpg
Tammy rolled her eyes when I asked her to take a picture of this, but I kind of thought it looked interesting.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009041.jpg
First sign with a Florida location on it! :yay:

Shir Kahn

08-25-2009, 03:46 PM

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009042.jpg
You know you're in Georgia when you spot a giant peach on a stick!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009043.jpg
:dance3::yay::woohoo::banana::cool1:

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The actual official Florida Welcome Center, not like the million other ones that try and timeshare you to death! Again, we completely failed to stop and get our complimentary free orange juice, mainly because I was driving and I'm a man. Men don't stop for anything! :rotfl:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009048.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009049.jpg

Disney Brat

08-25-2009, 10:32 PM

Great pics!!! Can't wait to hear and see more of your trip when we get back from ours!! Our flight leaves Winnipeg at 5:20 am tomorrow!!!!

Shir Kahn

08-26-2009, 12:48 AM

Great pics!!! Can't wait to hear and see more of your trip when we get back from ours!! Our flight leaves Winnipeg at 5:20 am tomorrow!!!!

Yay! Have a great time! :yay:

All7OfUs

08-26-2009, 01:12 AM

Well, well, well!!! Looky who's back!!

I sincerely DO hope that you did find a job that will be easier on your back! You don't want to end up on disability!

That drive looks greuling!! Exactly how many days was that??!!! :scared1:
My guess is 4.

Anyway. driving in rain sucks no matter how long you have to do it.

Men :sad2: You wouldn't even stop for OJ??

I've never had a bad meal at CB's either. I love their food, a bit salty, and a bit heavy on the carbs, but if you looking for a good homestyle fill-up, that's the place!

WElcome back, we missed you!

Born 2B a Princess

08-26-2009, 03:34 PM

I'm so glad you're back! I know exactly where in Georgia that peach on a stick is located! :)

Sorry about the rain...I don't like driving in rain. Love your TR!

purplepeg

08-26-2009, 03:46 PM

So glad you're back and have started posting:cool1:Boy nothing like a long drive with rain, rain, and more rain!Can't wait for more.:surfweb:

Shir Kahn

08-26-2009, 07:25 PM

I'm about to try my first ever post from my new blackberry! Ill be adding another update tonight when I get home from work. Thanks for all the replies so far, hope you're all having a great day!

Shir Kahn

08-28-2009, 08:51 PM

We got to our hotel, the Best Western Lakeside, which is fantastic for $28 a night booked on hotwire by the way, as long as you can get by the timeshare people! We dragged everything into our room and headed straight off to the Magic Kingdom!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009050.jpg

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:yay::yay::yay:

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I was smart enough to take a picture of where we parked for once! :rotfl:

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Shir Kahn

08-28-2009, 09:03 PM

Now this was the day after that unfortunate incident where the monorails collided and the driver died, so the monorail wasn't operating this day, or for one or two days after, so we had a choice to either take the ferry or a bus over.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Shir_Kahn/WDW%20July%202009/WDWJuly2009071.jpg

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First glance of the castle!

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I like to take pictures of crazy people that wear heels to the park! Can't imagine this was too comfortable after a few hours! :lmao:

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