Plans?We Don't Need No Stinkin' Plans! Dorky Disboutiquing Diser Sista UPDATED! 9/13

[teresajoy]

Trip Report 2009 Part one,


The rather boring part, read at your own risk.......................

Should I introduce ourselves again?? Or, should I make you go back and read my old trip report??? Hmm, questions, questions!!!

Ok, I'll be nice

This is me,
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SidZ7QgoL7I/AAAAAAAAFTo/tuWKfYzpb6g/s800/S6300596-1.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyvsBO5q8I/AAAAAAAAEs0/ABNgFX3XuRs/s800/DSCF5519-1.JPG


Teresa, or Teresajoy as I go by on the Dis.




My sister, Heathersue will tell you that Teresajoy is not my name
ignore her, she's just a pesky little sister.


(It's a DESCRIPTION Heather


Stop laughing..)


I love Disney, LOVE it, a lot! As a child, we went to Disney EVERY year!!!










for one day


But, hey, there was only one park for quite awhile!


I am a naturally quiet person, who is very opinionated. It makes for some great internal conflict! Unfortunately, as I am getting older, the quiet part gets beaten out by the opinionated, "I-must-be-right-at-all-times-part"


Thankfully, I am almost always right


*ahem*


I love to sew, and like to make outfits for the girls for our trips. I am a member of the Disboutiquers here on the dis


Hi Guys!!


Yeah, like there is anyone else reading!



Oh yeah, I turned 40 in April, it's really not a big deal. I don't mind myself getting older, it's my kids I don't like getting older!


I should also mention that I am a Jehovah's Witness and do not celebrate holiday's or birthdays, but my husband is Catholic and he does (oh what a fun courtship WE had!! LOL!) Therefore, there will be birthday pictures in this TR, but I was not participating in the celebrations even though I may be in the pictures. Clear as mud?



My husband, Brian, aged 49.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyvtpN01XI/AAAAAAAAEs4/zwUenpDsCQc/s800/DSCF5542%282%29.jpg



We have been married almost 21 years.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e05qBCLx9Vw/SLwS17_3-4I/AAAAAAAAGkA/0Ynng4QGs6E/s800/Wedding%20Picture.jpg


And, in this next picture, if you look in the back row there, you will see a lady holding a baby, the lady next to her in the plaid dress, that is the Diser UPDisney! Vicki.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_e05qBCLx9Vw/SLwTlbKiqmI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/uiIDFQy0b0w/s800/coming%20in.jpg

Brian went to college with her and her husband Chuck, who is next to Vicki in the picture. We discovered each other on accident one day on the Dis! She was from Michigan, I was from Michigan, oh where do you live? My husband went to college up there...and from there we discovered we knew each other!

Brian tried for many years to pretend he didn't love Disney, but I always knew better. And, now he just freely admits it, he loves it too.
Not Diser kind of love,
but the
"We-need-to-go-every-year" kind of love, which is good enough for me!
He is also a rather quiet person and doesn't say much. He has a great sense of humor, he often makes jokes in such a dry manner that people don't know if he is kidding or not. I generally find him funny, unless I can't tell if he's joking.

Corey, 16, almost 17, our first born, my only boy, my little baby, my little smookemwookems, little booger boy!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyjHewmqzI/AAAAAAAAEsY/IsIG44_x-B8/s800/Corey.JPG



You know, the one who went to the Prom the week before we left for vacation and DIDN'T tell me he was going with a girl?? (not a girlfriend, just a girl friend from what I can get out of him)
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs032.snc1/3227_76189623159_677208159_1729753_4156055_n.jpg
NO! That's not his date, that's Lydia!

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs032.snc1/3227_76193273159_677208159_1729784_1942003_n.jpg
Yeah, that's him.
Cute, isn't' he!
He made that tie himself, out of duct tape!

The other day, I was explaining to him how when I asked him
"Are you going to the Prom because that girl you were just chatting with for 2 hours on Facebook wants you to go?
Instead of saying, 'No.' you should have just said, "yes."
His reply to that?
"Well, that just seems so SIMPLE now!"
Yeah, I love that kid!
Corey is also a quiet person, unless he's yelling at his little sisters.
He is often times the only one that gets my jokes. So, I think he has a most WONDERFUL sense of humor!

Arminda my first baby girl, she turned 11 on this trip.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShsROG0ZoDI/AAAAAAAAEpw/zYDP9YStagE/s800/DSCF6812-1.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShsRTEveOmI/AAAAAAAAEp0/tVjDll_bSOw/s800/DSCF7058-1.JPG



Arminda was born after we had Quinn and Gavin, my babies that didn't make it to breathe their first breaths. We truly didn't think we would be able to have another baby and thought we would lose her while I was pregnant. (Just typing that almost breaks my heart.)




Unlike the rest of us,


She is NOT quiet!


Brian and I have no clue where her talkativeness comes from,
although I suspect his sister, Amy.
(Brian is Catholic, he has many sisters)
She once talked the ENTIRE 19 hour drive home from Florida.


Seriously


the


ENTIRE


time!


It was a loooooong ride.



She is sweet and kind and giving. She wears her heart on her sleeve and her feelings are easily hurt.
She is just finishing up 5th grade, and unfortunately this is not the best of times for a sweet little girl like Arminda.


Girls are such meany butts at this age!
She seems to be getting through it all very well and isn't growing up as fast as the other little girls her age I see. Just the other day at the 5th Grade Mother Daughter Tea, I was shocked at how some of the little girls were dressed! Heals, short skirts, makeup..
they just didn't look like "little" girls the way they should.
It made me sad. They will be grown up soon enough, don't let them get there too fast!

Um, where was I??? Oh yes, Arminda. Heart of gold that she wears on her sleeve...

Then, there is my baby,

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyvmxbWGOI/AAAAAAAAEsk/u6_ItPojz38/s800/DSCF6072.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyvuxlbGQI/AAAAAAAAEs8/jimqHFc6_N8/s800/DSCF6035-1.JPG


OK OK ! so I've called them ALL my baby, but Lydia Rose, or Lyddie as I often call her, is really my baby, she turned 6 in December.
She was our little surprise.
I like surprises, thank goodness!
She was like a little gift out of the blue!
We also thought we might lose her while I was pregnant (more info on that in my "sort of a trip report link").
It seems that these girls were already worrying us more than their big brother even before they were born!
Lydia, is a different child (and I mean that in a very good way)!
She is shy, and quiet,
but
can be
VERY noisy!
She can be sweet and well behaved
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SYnC-pKJYaI/AAAAAAAADJ4/qNIK7IY-FlE/s800/DSCF4970.JPG



and she can be


VERY
VERY
naughty!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SYnDbNgnMII/AAAAAAAADMA/MRMcWp--QJY/s800/DSCF4989.JPG

She is something else, and always keeps me on my toes!
I think it is the red hair, and the curls.


"There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead,
and when she was good,
she was very very good,
but when she was bad,
she was horrid!"

Yeah, that's Lydia! Thankfully, she is usually very very good!
My Mom use to say that little poem about my sister too!
Her teacher doesn't believe me when I tell her what a stinker she is! Earlier this year, Lydia was sick, so I had to keep her home from school.
Well, that did not go over well with Lydia, so for the entire day (most of which was spent in her room because of this) she S C R E A M E D


"TAKE ME TO SCHOOL!!!
TAKE ME TO SCHOOOOOL NOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!"


yeah an odd one, at least she loves school.


But, she also freely shares anything she has with just about anyone, and often comes up and gives me hugs and kisses and tells me how much she loves me. She is really a little sweet heart,
with the temper of a wolverine.

And, last but not least, we have these two:


Foster Tarp,
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs036.snc1/3293_66278778159_677208159_1636235_1473031_n.jpg
3 years old, likes adventure.


He has been lost twice, once for a week and once for three months (read about the last one in my last trip report). He has become a very friendly cat and needs to be around people. He is extremely intelligent. He recently opened up an account on Facebook.

Foxie (Firefox3Beta5 Kitty) almost one.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_e05qBCLx9Vw/SGAQmxzM7SI/AAAAAAAAB-I/Esd3NEujew0/s800/DSCF3918.JPG

We got Foxie during the three months Foster was missing last year. We rescued him from the local shelter. He was just a few weeks old when we got him. I don't know what might have happened to him in those few weeks before we got him, but it seemed to have quite the affect on him. He is a skittish cat. Scared of his own shadow. He had just started letting us pick him up and will now come up to us to be petted.

If you click on these links it will take you directly to the posts. If you want to get back to the main chit chatty thread, you just click on the link at the top right hand side of the screen that says "Thread: Plans? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Plans (it took me awhile to figure that out, so I thought I'd share!)

Part One: Tickets (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32001351&postcount=2)
Part Two: We are on our Way!!! Sort of... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32017973&postcount=21)
Part Three: To The Airport! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32048986&postcount=41)
Part Four: A Very Short Update for a Very Long Drive (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32061520&postcount=62)
Part Five: A Great Disney Area Restaurant!and I start taking pictures (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32122970&postcount=70)
Part Six: We Discover the WONDERS of TIMESHARE! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32671393&postcount=103)
Part Seven: Some Pop at Pop, some laundry, some shopping, some fishing (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33563639&postcount=127)

[teresajoy]

This was to be a rather scaled back Disney trip, after the BIG trip we had last year. I had tickets leftover from a previous trip, so we'd be using them. There were three days left on the tickets and we had one ticket with more days on it, either Arminda's or Lydia's, I didn't remember which. I was complaining one day on the Disboutiquers thread (two of my favorite things...) about how I wouldn't be able to tell how many days I had left on each ticket until AFTER I got to Disney. Well, my dear friend, Cindee (AKA: Morgan's Mom, Jord's Grandma) told me that I could CALL and they would tell me!!! YIPPEE!!!


So, I gave Disney a call, with my tickets in hand.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShsRMu270oI/AAAAAAAAEps/jACIijhbauY/s800/S6300562.JPG


The lady that answered the phone was so nice and helpful! :lovestruc


The only problem is what she told me!!!
:scared1:


Other than the child ticket, which had 7 days left (plus water parks) we had ONE ticket that had ONE park day on it!!! UGGH! :headache:
SOOO... Our vacation would be slightly more scaled back than we first thought!


For this reason, I was really not excited about making any new outfits for our trip, and I ended up not really making anything. I know, I know, I'm ashamed.....

:guilty::sad2:


If anyone read my last trip report, you will probably remember that we had a less than magical experience at the BBB (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique) last year. If you didn't read, it I'll recap: Lydia had a WONDERFUL, magical, sweet-beyond words FGIT (Fairy Godmother In Training)!!!



The other 4 girls, had the exact opposite! They did not talk, they did not smile. Tessa wanted to know what she did wrong to make her FGIT not like her and Arminda told me later, "My FGIT was not very nice to me." This was something that I had so looked forward to doing with all 5 of the girls (my two daughters and my 3 nieces). I don't get to do much for them, so I saved up my money so I could treat them all. After the BBB, I thought we might still get some magic at the photoshoot. Uggh, what a nightmare that was. The photographers were mean, and rough and they took awful pictures. They made rude comments about other guests even. Heather got so upset with them she had to leave. My Dad even commented on how rude they were (and he doesn't usually do things like that). It was bad.


Well, anyway, before we left I had reported our experience to the manager of BBB and she took my name and info and said someone would be in contact with me.


After waiting about 9 months, I figured no one was really going to contact me, so I typed up a 5 page single spaced letter of our experience and mailed it to Disney. A few weeks later, I received a message from Disney Guest Relations on my answering machine. I called back, the CM was not in, she called me, I wansn't home, I called her, she wasn't in, she called me and YIPPEE I was home!


We chatted for a little bit, and she told me she got my letter and that she had forwarded it to BBB to let them know what had happened. She also made several excuses for the FGITs. She told me that sometimes the personality of the girls and the FGITs don't go together and the FGIT has a hard time getting the girls to open up. I told her how that wasn't the problem, it was the FGITs who would not open up, the girls tried chatting with them.


The CM didn't really respond to that. She did tell me that if I sent her my receipt from the BBB and copies of the fronts and backs of our tickets, she would try to send us replacement tickets and a redo of the BBB at the castle. She kept saying, "It's not like this ruined your whole day though." Well, to be honest, it really put a damper on a BIG chunk of it!


I told the CM that I was not comfortable going back to the castle, but she insisted that was where I would have to go. She also said, "It is very likely that you will not have a FGIT as wonderful as your daughter's (Lydia's, the one that was wonderful). Just because you are redoing it, we can't promise you will have a good experience."


:confused3
Hmm, THAT was odd!


Now, our tickets last year had expired, so I was very surprised when I found the tickets. I then scanned them and faxed them to her. Heather also found pictures of hers and I sent them too. I didn't have my BBB, so the CM had told me that a copy of my credit card receipt would be fine, so I sent that instead.


A few weeks later, I received another call from the CM. She had received my information. However, she told me, they would not be able to send tickets for everyone, because our day had not been ruined. She was going to send 9 tickets, a ticket for each girl and an adult to accompany them. She also mentioned that I had not sent in the receipt for BBB, only the CC statement.


Ok, a little math:
:teacher:


5 Girls + 5 Adults= 9???


But, I was tired of the whole thing and just wanted it to be done with, it was emotionally draining for me to have to recount the whole ordeal, so I didn't say anything about that. She was also sending me Gift Cards, to cover the cost of the BBB. BUT, and she made a big point of stating this several times, they would NOT reimburse me for the tax I had paid. THAT annoyed me, more that she made a special point of it than anything. She also kept saying again how our day hadn't been ruined, and that this should make everything better. Not ONCE did the CM apologize for how the girls had been treated. She didn't seem to understand that I would have been much happier to have just had the experience we paid for when we were at BBB, instead of getting the gift cards and the tickets for the bad experience. I don't know, the whole thing just left me feeling a little down.


Heather, my sweet sister, told me to keep the tickets and use them so our family could have more days in the park. Along with two tickets we were getting through the vacation package we had booked (a timeshare tour thing) we would have enough for three park days! And, if they tickets were hoppers, we could do all the parks! So, our one Park Day was now looking more like two or three!


I wasn't really confident that the CM would really come through though, so I still didn't make any customs! I did however alter a few of the ones from last year. And, my friend, Stephanie (Stephres) had sent us a bunch of Megan's outgrown Disney clothes, so we weren't going compltely customless!


After getting our room, airfare, rental car, and park tickets, I had to find someplace to leave our cats, my little baby kitties.
Brian and I asked just about everyone we could think of.
Strangely, no one wanted to watch our cats. I even asked a lady at Walmart one day...


I finally started looking into kennels for them. We have a few cat only kennels around and I called them.
They were pricey,
very pricey,
and they wouldn't have much room, but I thought it might be my only choice.


I called one kennel and asked if they took cats, and the idiot man told me,
"Yep, we take cats and we put them in the cage with a big dog and see if they make it out."
Seriously, what a jerk!


Finally my Mom told me I could leave the cats at her house. The only problem was that they were going on an Alaskan cruise for part of the time. So, I asked my sister-in-law, Barbara if she would come out to feed them once a day. She agreed, and Heather told me she would bring Tessa over to see them while we were gone.

One last detail I needed to take care of was where we would leave our car while we were gone. I had planned on getting a hotel that offered the stay and park feature. So, I asked my Sister-in-law, Denise, if she knew of a Marriot (she works for Marriot) that offered a plan like that. She told us that we could just stay the night at her house and leave our van there while we were gone. I asked her if she was sure, because we would also need to get picked up after our trip. She agreed. So, that was another thing I didn't have to worry about.

Brian's sister, who is a nun in California, (hereby referred to as Sr.SIL, because I just call her by her given first name and I don't think she'd like me to do that on a public forum and I don't like to use her nun name) was planning to come for her every 3 year visit while we were gone. She would be here for about a week after we got back though. While I was chatting with her on Facebook one day, she mentioned that she and her parents, and Denise (the sister-in-law who's house we were staying at) were taking a trip together while she was here. I told her that Denise would have to be back by Saturday night to pick us up. She didn't think that was going to happen.

I sent an email to my sister-in-law to remind her that she needed to pick us up at the airport. She called me on the phone and told me that she had solved the problem. She made us a reservation at a hotel near the airport. We would have to pay for it of course. There was a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and she would bring our van the day after we got in. She told us there were lots of restaurants around the hotel we could walk to for breakfast, or we could take the train into downtown. (I had promised the girls a trip to the American Girl Place in Chicago).

A few days later, Brian was at his parents house and they told him that they were no longer going on the trip. For one thing, Sr.SIL, couldn't get permission to go where they had planned. So, we were good to go again with a ride home from the airport.

Of course, after that, Sr.SIL messaged me on Facebook and told me that they were now planning a trip to Mackinaw, but Denise had made sure she would be back to pick us up. Sr.SIL, asked what time our plane would get in and told me not to worry, we would be picked up. (confused yet?)

Ok, so it broke down like this, so far....
1.)Denise offers to pick us up at the airport
2.)Denise gets a better offer and changes plans and makes us a reservation for a hotel (that we pay for)
3.)Denise's better plans get cancelled, she's picking us up at the airport again
4.)Denise's better plans are back on, but she is going to be home in time to pick us up at the airport
5.)????????????????

[disneymommieof2]

I'm still with ya!
~ I can't believe your starting with a cliff hanger for the end of the trip at before you even leave for the trip! Will they or won't they get picked up from the airport????
~ I'm so sorry you had to go through all that again with the BBB and the photographer ordeal! You should have told that CM it DID ruin more then a the whole day!! And you have the looks on the poor girls faces in their "professional" photo shoot to prove it!! You should have let her talk to one of the girls I bet they can still recount the tale of the mean FGIT!! (Not that you would put her through that!!)
~ I am glad you got to go to WDW for more than 1 day though!!
~ I love lyddies New Giselle dress!!

Can't wait to hear more about this years adventure!! popcorn::

[teresajoy]

Anna, I had a feeling you would be the first one to find my TR!!! Sorry about the cliffhanger! Imagine how I felt at the time though! :scared1: I don't plan a lot of the actual trip details (which park which day, which ride first, etc...) but I do like to have the basics all set and taken care of before we leave! Can we say STRESSED!!!! :scared1::scared1::scared1:

I would have posted the next part last night, but I couldn't get my pictures to work, and I was too tired to work on them! Sometimes I love Picasaweb for pictures, sometimes not so much!

[revrob]

WOW! What an ordeal with that whole BBB thing!

could you please pass a message along to Foster Tarp for me? I'm waiting for my friend approval! I know you don't know me personally, but I HAVE to be in the in crowd, so please approve my request! Thank you so much!

[teresajoy]

Anna, that's the same Giselle dress from last year, but with different flowers on it. :thumbsup2 I realized it was getting too small for her aftrer we took those pictures. I told her we'd need to give the dress to Tessa and she started cryging! So, now I have to make her another one. It's hard to find the right fabric though!

[snubie]

You have a beautiful family. Not that you want to hear this but Corey will break hearts some day soon.

So sorry that the BBB resolution was not so smooth or to your satisfaction.

[teresajoy]

WOW! What an ordeal with that whole BBB thing!

could you please pass a message along to Foster Tarp for me? I'm waiting for my friend approval! I know you don't know me personally, but I HAVE to be in the in crowd, so please approve my request! Thank you so much!

I hate to sound too whiney, but the whole BBB thing was just such a Disney Downer!

I will speak with Foster Tarp about the friend request! :thumbsup2

[Stephres]

Man, I had no idea the trouble you went through with the BBB! I mean, I knew from your trip report but had no idea they were still giving you trouble afterward. And they don't guarantee that the girls will have a good time? What customer service!

Glad Megan's customs came in handy! :)

[teresajoy]

You have a beautiful family. Not that you want to hear this but Corey will break hearts some day soon.

So sorry that the BBB resolution was not so smooth or to your satisfaction.
You know, it's like he just all of a sudden turned into this young man instead of my little boy! WHEN did that happen?? HOW??

Man, I had no idea the trouble you went through with the BBB! I mean, I knew from your trip report but had no idea they were still giving you trouble afterward. And they don't guarantee that the girls will have a good time? What customer service!

Glad Megan's customs came in handy! :)
Steph, I really can't thank you enough for the customs!!! :hug: Lydia loved them so much!!! She didn't want to wear anything else the whole trip!

The CM really seemed to think I was just tring to "get something" more than anything, and to be honest at this point, I wanted monetary compensation! But, more than that I wanted an apology and some sympathy from them! I know what a whiney butt I am!

[HeatherSue]

I want that pumpkin coach antenna topper!!!!! That is AWESOME!!

Okay, TeresajoyCE! I won't say anything about how your username is incredibly misleading. :thumbsup2

I've never noticed your tendency to always need to be right. :confused3 I know I certainly don't have that problem.

I love that picture of Brian! He is such a kid at heart! Maybe I can borrow him when I go to Disney! No?

Smookewookems! :rotfl:

I LOVE those before prom pictures!

Such pretty pictures of Arminda!

You had to go and make me cry, didn't you? :sad2:

Your description of Arminda is spot on. She's such a special little girl!

You are so great at describing your kids!! Lydia's description is perfect too!

So THAT'S what Foxie looks like! :rotfl:

We spent a very large chunk of our day doing the BBB and the photo shoot. So, that lady was crazy saying it didn't really ruin our whole day. No, it didn't actually ruin our days because we have fun no matter what. But, the way they acted was really hurtful.

I can't believe what that guy at the kennel told you about taking cats! I would never even take my dog there after that!

I wanted to keep Teresa's cats in our basement (I'm VERY allergic to cats), but Henry vetoed that idea.

Even I'm confused about the plans to be picked up after Disney! I know how frustrating that whole situation was for you!

[minnie2]

Can't wait for more!

Arminda and Nicole would get along so well:lovestruc
Love the pictures!

So did the CM come through?????? I hate that so many had such an awful time at BBB!

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! I often say that trip reports and pictures are what keep me sane until our next WDW vacation. Thanks for your contribution to my sanity.;)

[k_reile]

ok...nuns have really become so more modern now!! I was about dying :rotfl: about a nun on facebook...who knew!

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm in! And I'm lost...this is why I shouldn't be reading this at work :lmao:

[teresajoy]

hehe, let me try to simplify it a bit:

1.)Denise offers to pick us up at the airport
2.)Denise gets a better offer and changes plans and makes us a reservation for a hotel (that we pay for)
3.)Denise's better plans get cancelled, she's picking us up at the airport again
4.)Denise's better plans are back on, but she is going to be home in time to pick us up at the airport
5.)????????????????:confused:

[jessica52877]

Well, I started to read this morning and now just getting around to finishing up. I am interested to see how the whole Chicago deal turned out. Although I see you weren't left at the airport!

I hate bad customer service. I am more about the listen to what I am saying and make sure it doesn't happen again and your CM just doesn't really seem to care what you were saying it seems. I am glad you got some tickets. That cost disney nothing and more then likely got you to spend money! Not to mention the $12 it cost to park!

I can't wait to see more pictures, the few in your posts are so pretty. I need palm trees and sunshine and a little sand too!

Glad the cat situation got handled. Hope it went well.

[topdog]

I am hook on this TR. I don't even want to pretend I know what FGIT or BBB stand for. But what really fascinate me is you have a SIL who is a nun on Facebook to chat with...:eek::eek::eek:

This is going to be more than interesting. popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::

[teresajoy]

Signing on for more! I often say that trip reports and pictures are what keep me sane until our next WDW vacation. Thanks for your contribution to my sanity.;)

Glad I could help!! :thumbsup2 :rotfl2:

Can't wait for more!

Arminda and Nicole would get along so well:lovestruc
Love the pictures!

So did the CM come through?????? I hate that so many had such an awful time at BBB!

I think they would get along too!!
You will just have to keep reading to see what happens!

.

I love that picture of Brian! He is such a kid at heart! Maybe I can borrow him when I go to Disney! No?

You had to go and make me cry, didn't you? :sad2:


So THAT'S what Foxie looks like! :rotfl:

We spent a very large chunk of our day doing the BBB and the photo shoot. So, that lady was crazy saying it didn't really ruin our whole day. No, it didn't actually ruin our days because we have fun no matter what. But, the way they acted was really hurtful.

I can't believe what that guy at the kennel told you about taking cats! I would never even take my dog there after that!

I wanted to keep Teresa's cats in our basement (I'm VERY allergic to cats), but Henry vetoed that idea.

Even I'm confused about the plans to be picked up after Disney! I know how frustrating that whole situation was for you!

You are so good, you comment on everything I want you too!!! :hug:
I just love how excited Brian looks in that picture too!
I thought you'd like those pictures of Arminda.
Sorry to make you cry :hug: I was crying too!
I don't like people hurting my nieces and daughter's feelings! and that's what those FGITs did!
I know, I was shocked when the guy at the kennel told me that!
That was so sweet of you to try to talk Henry into keeping the cats in your basement!
Yep, that's what Foxie looks like, well he's a bit bigger now though!
Oh, that whole pick up not picked up picked up... uggh, it was not fun!

ok...nuns have really become so more modern now!! I was about dying :rotfl: about a nun on facebook...who knew!

:rotfl2: She is great! I love her! The first time I met her she tried to teach me to do the Hustle!!! She drives too! :thumbsup2 :rotfl: She wears a full habit though. She is a Carmelite nun, so it's a pretty strict order.

I'm in! And I'm lost...this is why I shouldn't be reading this at work :lmao:

Sorry Kristine!! Stick with me, hopefully it wil make sense soon!

Well, I started to read this morning and now just getting around to finishing up. I am interested to see how the whole Chicago deal turned out. Although I see you weren't left at the airport!

I hate bad customer service. I am more about the listen to what I am saying and make sure it doesn't happen again and your CM just doesn't really seem to care what you were saying it seems. I am glad you got some tickets. That cost disney nothing and more then likely got you to spend money! Not to mention the $12 it cost to park!

I can't wait to see more pictures, the few in your posts are so pretty. I need palm trees and sunshine and a little sand too!

Glad the cat situation got handled. Hope it went well.

Yes! That is exactly what I'm talking about with the BBB thing! I didn't even think about the parking! I hate that paring fee!

I am hook on this TR. I don't even want to pretend I know what FGIT or BBB stand for. But what really fascinate me is you have a SIL who is a nun on Facebook to chat with...:eek::eek::eek:

This is going to be more than interesting. popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::

Aww, thank you!!! BBB= Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and FGIT= Fairy Godmother in Training, the ladies that work at BBB.

[karebear1]

Whew!! I finally made it!

Not only is Corey growing up.... but I can't believe how much Arminda is growing! She looks so beautiful in those pics you posted... why, she's turning into a young woman right before my eyes (and WILL insist on wearing nylons and make up before too long.... sorry to say it, but it's true! She'll want to shave her legs anyday now too!! UGH!)

You're lucky Heather is your sister. If it was me, I woulda said I wanted all the tickets for me! ANd she was even willing to sacrifice and put the cats in the basement for you! WOW! that's sisterhood for ya!

keep it coming- can't wait to hear more!!

[teresajoy]

So, on Monday night, May 4, we were on our way to Chicago!


Everything was going great!

Until our last exit:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyjGQrIu6I/AAAAAAAAEsQ/UWqdrofc0_4/s800/Exit%20sign.jpg

See that car to the left of the semi?
The one going right on by the exit?
Yeah, that's us!
:scared1:

I convinced Brian that we should turn around, and he pulled off the highway.
I saw a nice hotel right of the road and suggested we pull in there to get directions.





http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/hotel1.jpg



Brian kept driving.
:drive:


I saw another hotel,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/motel3.jpg

Brian kept driving.
:drive:

I saw another hotel (who knew there were so many interesting hotels in Chicago???)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/Motel4.jpg
Brian kept driving.
:drive:

I saw ANOTHER hotel
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/Hotel2.jpg

Actually, Brian tried to pull in here,
I told him to

KEEP DRIVING!
:drive:

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32017985&postcount=22)

[teresajoy]

Brian saw a highway,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/2502974445_750bb1078d.jpg

it wasn't the highway we had been on or a highway that our directions told us to go on, but Brian wanted to take it. I convinced him not to.
So,
we kept driving around downtown Chicago.
:car:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/Downtown1.jpg

:car:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/Downtown2.jpg


Brian kept saying things like
"I love driving!"
and
"This is so much fun!"


I was growing increasingly upset,
:furious:

I just wanted to find the house and get us all to bed.
http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/11.gif


I finally saw a Fedex Kinkos.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyjG_2ja7I/AAAAAAAAEsU/WjQLtowQtbk/s800/fedex-kinkos.jpg


I figured they should have a clue how to get someplace!
So, Brian pulled over and had me get out and ask for directions.
Thankfully, it was a nice area and the Kinkos was filled with some very nice people.
I can't say I wasn't a little worried to be walking into a place in downtown Chicago and telling them we were lost.
:eek:

The first employee I asked didn't drive, so he directed me to another employee who gave me nice clear directions.

On the way back to the highway we needed, we saw the highway Brian had wanted to take earlier
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/2757070191_3368746dac.jpg
so he kept insisting that he had been right and we should have taken that road.

I may have said something to the affect of,
"Yeah, if we wanted to go the WRONG way and drive around downtown Chicago FOREVER!"

Yeah, I might have said that,
but I was tired and can you blame me? :confused3

Finally, we found his sister's road!! :banana::banana::banana:
We had her address and were all set to pull into her driveway.
Just one little problem.

We didn't see any house numbers!

You know how in a NORMAL town there are house number near the road or at least on the front of the houses???
Well, not in this little neighborhood!
We drove up and down this very very narrow street several times and then Brian parked the car and started walking it to see if he could find the number!
He went up and down once and came back to tell me he couldn't find it, but he was going to look again.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably 10 minutes, he came back and said he had found it. The house numbers were on the side of the house, about halfway back! Crazy!

We chatted with his sister for awhile and she even made us supper.
Her housemate came home and had brought ice cream, so we had a little dessert too.

Her housemate was extremely nice and even told us to sleep in her bed for the night. We had planned on sleeping on the living room floor, but she wouldn't hear it. I think it was around 11PM when I got to bed. Denise was going to wake us up at 3AM her time, or 4AM "real" Michigan time.

A little while after we were in bed, Denise knocked on our door and came in.


She told us that her housemate had told her that she didn't mind if we came to the house after we got back from our trip and stayed there, even though Denise wouldn't be there.

I said thanks and then tried to comprehend what she had just said!

http://bestsmileys.com/clueless/5.gif
It was too late to worry about it, so I tried to get some sleep.
http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/18.gif


For those of you keeping track, here's how it looks now:
1.)Denise offers to pick us up at the airport
2.)Denise gets a better offer and changes plans and makes us a reservation for a hotel (that we pay for)
3.)Denise's better plans get cancelled, she's picking us up at the airport again
4.)Denise's better plans are back on, but she is going to be home in time to pick us up at the airport
5.)Denise is not planning on being home to pick us up.
6.)???????

Unfortunately, the last thing Denise had asked me was what time we needed to get up, and I had told her 3AM.

In the middle of the night, I woke up and was worried that it was getting too late.
So, I found my watch
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyjFD3RTmI/AAAAAAAAEsM/HYPx2xrEo8Y/s800/Eeyore%20Watch.jpg

and saw that it was about 10 minutes to 3.
So, I got up and started to get dressed.

At 3, I woke up Brian and then a bit later, woke up the girls.
Brian got the girls a bowl of cereal (Denise had told us that we could have some the night before).

I then went into the living room where Corey was sleeping to wake him up. I looked at the TV, which had a clock on it and that clock read 2:20.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Sh4C42kAP5I/AAAAAAAAEvs/n6zvIxj0Ma4/s800/Digital%20clock.JPG


Huh??? :confused3
I was confused for a minute, then it dawned on me!!!

:idea:

OH!!! SHOOT!!!

:headache:

I had been thinking 3AM Chicago time, but had looked at my Michigan time watch!!! So, I had gotten up an hour earlier than I needed to!

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32048986&postcount=41)

[twob4him]

Oh Teresa....I never knew how historically funny you are...and I really needed a laugh tonight. Thank you, thank you for such a great start to the trip report...I am guessing at this point that a taxi is in order from the airport or you'll just drive yourselves??? I am thinking that Denise's plans will change 6 more times....and she'll be like...."Teresa...you went to Disney? Who knew?".
Great details about the kids and I am still so sorry about the whole BBB thing and follow-up. Really, is an apology possible these days? :confused3 Alright, looking forward to more! :cheer2:

[teresajoy]

she'll be like...."Teresa...you went to Disney? Who knew?".


I keep laughing everytime I read this!! :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:
Denise is really a sweetheart, we've been friends since we were in 3rd grade together, but I don't think she really understands how seriously I take my Disney vacations or how stresful it was to me. I'm glad I can laugh now though!

The problem with the airport situation is that Denise is going with us in our van to the airport, dropping us off and then taking our car back to her house...

[teresajoy]

Whew!! I finally made it!

Not only is Corey growing up.... but I can't believe how much Arminda is growing! She looks so beautiful in those pics you posted... why, she's turning into a young woman right before my eyes (and WILL insist on wearing nylons and make up before too long.... sorry to say it, but it's true! She'll want to shave her legs anyday now too!! UGH!)

You're lucky Heather is your sister. If it was me, I woulda said I wanted all the tickets for me! ANd she was even willing to sacrifice and put the cats in the basement for you! WOW! that's sisterhood for ya!

keep it coming- can't wait to hear more!!

Now you stop it right there missy! I can only take ONE child growing up at a time, ok?! Arminda is beautiful though, isn't she!

I am very lucky to have Heather for a sister! :thumbsup2
My poor poor kitties...

[jeniamt]

Teresa, you crack me up :rotfl2: :rotfl2: Looking forward to reading more!

[Stephres]

I am laughing so hard! Poor Teresa!

Thank you so much for the quick recaps of the Denise situation because I didn't understand it even at the time it was all happening. Now I *think* I've got it. Does she?

More please!

[jessica52877]

Wow! Look at all those super cool hotels! I must visit Chicago soon! LOL!

Glad you found the house, sorry about the up an hour early! Atleast you won't be late!

[minnie2]

You could have called me I AM in Chicago I could have gotten you!!!! BUT NOOO you come to Chicago and don't even call! Not like I am bitter or anything?:snooty::snooty::snooty:

[minnie2]

Wow! Look at all those super cool hotels! I must visit Chicago soon! LOL!

Glad you found the house, sorry about the up an hour early! Atleast you won't be late!


YES YOU MUST!!! Of course I have no clue where any of those are but we could figure it out!

[HeatherSue]

Okay, who took that picture of you going past the exit? Who's car are you in? Are you lying to your TR readers?

I LOVE the hotel regression photos! Too funny! That first one is FABULOUS!!!

I also don't enjoy driving around while lost. Henry thinks it's fun, too! I just want to get where we're going! Then, we can drive around and explore.

D'oh!! Losing an hour of sleep when you don't need to! That stinks!!

I want you to know that I appreciate all the smileys and pictures you found for this installment. I take it you didn't actually take any pictures yet, huh? ;)

[kstgelais4]

Theresa, I love reading your trippies! It's like reading a kids story book (with pictures!) Such an easy read.
That really stinks about the bad customer service at BBB. I was going to make an appt. for Zoe at the mk one because we would be there for mnsshp anyway. I may rethink it.
Rob would so do the keep on driving when lost thing. I can't stand it!!!!!
I can't wait to read more!

[teresajoy]

Teresa, you crack me up :rotfl2: :rotfl2: Looking forward to reading more!
Thank you!

I am laughing so hard! Poor Teresa!

Thank you so much for the quick recaps of the Denise situation because I didn't understand it even at the time it was all happening. Now I *think* I've got it. Does she?

More please!

I was pretty confused what was going on most of the time with the Denise thing too!!!
Dear and sweet as Denise is, no she doesn't get it! (and if you happen to find this TR Denise, you know I love you!)

Wow! Look at all those super cool hotels! I must visit Chicago soon! LOL!

Glad you found the house, sorry about the up an hour early! Atleast you won't be late!
I KNOW!! How cool are those!!! :rotfl2:

You could have called me I AM in Chicago I could have gotten you!!!! BUT NOOO you come to Chicago and don't even call! Not like I am bitter or anything?:snooty::snooty::snooty:

Don't think the thought didn't go through my head MANY MANY times!! "I could call Marlo. I know her name, I wonder is she has a listed number..."
Okay, who took that picture of you going past the exit? Who's car are you in? Are you lying to your TR readers?

I LOVE the hotel regression photos! Too funny! That first one is FABULOUS!!!

I also don't enjoy driving around while lost. Henry thinks it's fun, too! I just want to get where we're going! Then, we can drive around and explore.

D'oh!! Losing an hour of sleep when you don't need to! That stinks!!

I want you to know that I appreciate all the smileys and pictures you found for this installment. I take it you didn't actually take any pictures yet, huh? ;)

WHAT are you implying Heather???? hmm??? You think I would mislead my dear Diser friends with fake pictures?? :snooty:

I know, didn't that first one just look like the perfect hotel to ask for directions at? :rotfl: That Flamingo one was just for you. :thumbsup2
I HATE driving around lost!! It is so not fun!
It wasn't as bad as you would think losing the hour of sleep.
I am glad you appreciate my smilies!!! I won't even tell you how much time I spent to find a digital display that had the right time on it! :rolleyes1
Nope, didn't take pictures yet!



Theresa, I love reading your trippies! It's like reading a kids story book (with pictures!) Such an easy read.
That really stinks about the bad customer service at BBB. I was going to make an appt. for Zoe at the mk one because we would be there for mnsshp anyway. I may rethink it.
Rob would so do the keep on driving when lost thing. I can't stand it!!!!!
I can't wait to read more!

You know, a lot of people love the BBB, we just had a really bad experience. I really love the barber shop though, we had a much more fulfilling experience there the year we did that. I would really recommend that over the BBB.

[Tnkrbelle565]

Fun update! All those crazy hotels really make me want to take a trip to Chicago ;)

Back to BBB, we had a less than magical FGIT too. So it's definitely not rare. Problem is that a lot of them are on the college program and get assigned there without any interest in that position. Ours didn't make a peep the whole time. I still tipped her because I'm stupid like that but it really annoyed me.

[jenb1023]

I am so happy to see you are doing a TR for your trip! Especially since Heather is almost done with hers and Kristine's trip is a few months away.

I am still upset about the BBB and photographer experience for you! :mad:

For those considering the BBB, it can be great! My DD has been to the DTD BBB once and the MK BBB twice (can we say spoiled - lol) and we had good FGIT every time. Some were better than others but none were grumpy, quiet or mean.

You are a very nice and understanding person to not still be mad at Denise for changing plans so many times. That would drive me crazy! I hope it all worked out okay.

I laughed about a nun on facebook too!

Glad you got the kitties taken care of and some free tickets. Though the tickets should not have taken so much work to get, those bad experiences took up a good part of an MK day. And I can't believe no one ever apologized! (Now I am getting mad again!)

Looking forward to the next update!

[kstgelais4]

You know, a lot of people love the BBB, we just had a really bad experience. I really love the barber shop though, we had a much more fulfilling experience there the year we did that. I would really recommend that over the BBB.
Unfortunately Zoe has her heart set on the BBB. Rob can't say no, so it is what it is. However, I am really happy to hear that about the barber shop! we are going to get Julia's 1st haircut there!

[teresajoy]

Fun update! All those crazy hotels really make me want to take a trip to Chicago ;)

Back to BBB, we had a less than magical FGIT too. So it's definitely not rare. Problem is that a lot of them are on the college program and get assigned there without any interest in that position. Ours didn't make a peep the whole time. I still tipped her because I'm stupid like that but it really annoyed me.

Ok, let's take a road trip to Chicago, we'll end at Marlo's house!

I think you are onto something with the FGITs. I think they should only hire people who are BEGGING to do it! You are so nice tipping anyway! I have to say I am NOT that nice!

I am so happy to see you are doing a TR for your trip! Especially since Heather is almost done with hers and Kristine's trip is a few months away.

I am still upset about the BBB and photographer experience for you! :mad:

For those considering the BBB, it can be great! My DD has been to the DTD BBB once and the MK BBB twice (can we say spoiled - lol) and we had good FGIT every time. Some were better than others but none were grumpy, quiet or mean.

You are a very nice and understanding person to not still be mad at Denise for changing plans so many times. That would drive me crazy! I hope it all worked out okay.

I laughed about a nun on facebook too!

Glad you got the kitties taken care of and some free tickets. Though the tickets should not have taken so much work to get, those bad experiences took up a good part of an MK day. And I can't believe no one ever apologized! (Now I am getting mad again!)

Looking forward to the next update!

I'm so glad you've had wonderful experiences at BBB! It gives me hope, although I really don't think we'll ever do it again. An apology would have been nice, that is for sure!


Unfortunately Zoe has her heart set on the BBB. Rob can't say no, so it is what it is. However, I am really happy to hear that about the barber shop! we are going to get Julia's 1st haircut there!

Aww, that's so sweet! You might just have a fabulous time! Remember, Lydia had a great FGIT! I wish I could rewind time and just stop at Lydia with that whole thing! No matter what, I bet Zoe will feel like a princess!

[Haganfam5]

Hi Teresa!


Lookin good so far! You make me laugh, your too funny! You have such a lovely family and I think kids grow up way too fast too! Looking forward to more.

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Hey Teresa! I was a lurker on your last TR but now I have to just come and join in on the fun. It sounds like a, ummm..., interesting way to start the trip. That CM, though. Really rude. I wonder if she forgot to take her Disney magic pill pixiedust: the days she talked to you. :confused3

[MaryAz]

Yay another trippie! We were there just after you!! Love your sense of humor!

[teresajoy]

I let Corey sleep
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Sh9fhqG1fHI/AAAAAAAAExE/A8HOf62fMI8/s800/DSCF5472-1.JPG

I told the girls they could lay back down if they wanted to. They were too hyped up to sleep though!

OK, I'm just going to say it

They were

TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!!!


Shortly enough, Denise's alarm went off and I woke up Corey. Denise laughed when I told her what I had done! Corey and Denise got around quickly and then we were on our way. In the van, Denise told us that the hotel where she made reservations had a shuttle from the aiport we could take if she wasn't back yet. Then, in the mornig we could walk to a restaurant and eat and hang out at the hotel until she came back to pick us up, or she said we could take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and get on the blue line to downtown. She stressed not to take the bus. I was just confused. The El? the Blue Line??? The bus?? how do you pay?? How do you know where to go??
I will not stress, I will not stress...

Brian said, "What? You aren't going to pick us up?"
Denise replied, "No, this was the plan, remember? "
Brian proceeded to give her a bit of a hard time about the whole thing, even though I had told him not to before we got into the van. But, sometimes he just can't help himself and he likes to give his little sister a hard time.
Denise told Brian that she didn't know when they would be getting back from Mackinaw, it could be Saturday or Sunday. She didn't really know when she would be able to pick us up on Sunday either. So, we made sure everyone had cell phone numbers, and I tried not to think about it much. It was too early in the trip to think about the end of it.


Denise didn't live too far from the airport and we got their quickly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/2814168213_a2f9360fd3.jpg

We pulled up to our termindal, got all our stuff, gave Denise hugs and thanked her. I was very grateful that she had offered to let us stay at her house and then leave our van there too.

I've never flown out of Ohare before and I must say they were not as friendly as Detroit. (we live about halfway between the two).

The lady at the Spirit desk was grumpy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/2752779736_fd0ce35496.jpg
(just pretend there is a grumpy lady behind the counter and people standing in line, ok?)

Yes, it was early, but for goodness sakes, be nice! Thankfully she was grumpiest to the people ahead of us! I felt bad for them. The lady had a purse and then a plastic shopping bag. The lady at the counter made a big point of the customer having two personal bags. Of course this was easily fixed by the customer putting her shopping bag into her purse, but the customer was looked pretty embarassed. I felt bad for her.

Brian always brings one of his fishing poles with us when we go on vacation. He breaks them down, takes off the line and the reels and then twist ties them together. It makes them pretty small by the time he is done. We've taken them on the plane for the past two years with no trouble. However, the lady at the Spirit counter told us, "THEY are not going to let you get on the plane with those. You are going to have to come back here and pay for me to check them, I guarantee it."
Brian told her that he had always taken them on the plane and she retorted, "Well was it with Spirit?"
Nope, it hadn't been, and she gave us a knowing look.
It was very annoying.

She also seemed very confused by the concept of my taking a carseat onto the plane for Lydia to use. I had to explain that one to her a few times.

Instead of taking our luggage there, we had to take our checked luggage (two bags) around the corner and hand them off to someone else. She didn't tell us this, so we started to leave the luggage with her, which did not please her.

Little side not here. Carry on luggage is pretty big! I would urge anyone who doesn't mind carrying their luggage on to look into the size regulations for your airline! I think we could have packed all our stuff into the carryons! I didn't realize that though until I payed for the two bags though.


There weren't many people waiting to go through security, but there was only one line open, so it took sometime.
As we were waiting, with our one personal and one carry on apiece, two carseats, one stroller and a fishing pole, the ladies sitting watching the line (maybe they were security??), kept eyeing us. One of them came over and told Brian knowingly, "They aren't going to let you on the plane with that fishing pole." Brian said he always had before and he would just see.

They kept eyeing us, I could see that they were tyring to count how many items we had.
(Because she was pointing her finger at each item we had and I could see her lips moving)
Actually, we could have had one more carryon if I'd wanted to (and knowing this I had packed an extra carryon bag in one of my bags). The stroller and carseats do not count towards the luggage. Neither did the camera I had strapped to my neck. I had read the Spirit baggage rules very carefully.

One of the ladies came over to me looked at two carseats stuck in the stroller and said in a rather snotty tone, "Where is the baby?"
I laughed and told her that the babies were right in front of me and I pointed to Arminda and Lydia.
The lady said, "Those two? They are to big for carseats! No one puts kids that big in a carseat!"
Decision time for Teresa!
I could go one of two ways,
snotty http://bestsmileys.com/argue/2.gif
or nice. http://bestsmileys.com/angles/11.gif

I thought it was in my best interest to go for nice.

I replied, "I know, isn't it sad? You know, when my oldest was a baby, they didn't make carseats that were big enough for older kids, I had to take him out of his carseat when he was only 3."
And, this started a friendly conversation about kids and how fast they grow up.
http://bestsmileys.com/talking/5.gif

Brian commented later that he was really proud of me how I had really turned that whole situation around!


When the slow moving line finally got up to the security,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/108662.jpg

we took all our stuff put it in little grey tubs and sent it on it's way. However, Lydia's carseat wouldn't fit in the little x-ray scanner, so they had to inspect it manually. Of course, they didn't figure that out until it got stuck in their machine. I was worried that Arminda's carseat wouldn't fit either, but amazingly it did.

As they were inspecting the carseat, a pilot and crew went through security. I figured that was a good sign that we weren't late for our plane!


As Brian carefully placed his beloved fishing pole into the gray box, and sent it on through the x-ray scanner, we all held our breath.
You could feel the tension in the air.
http://bestsmileys.com/panic/3.gif
Would they accept it? Would they stop us?
Would 10 agents jump out and wrestle Brian to the ground for daring to bring such a thing onboard the sacred aircraft???
As the box slowly inched it's way to the scanner, we all saw that the security agent was taking a special interest in it.
We were on pins and needles...
Then, it happened
The security guard looked Brian square in the eye and said, "Sir, is this your pole."

Say NO Brian,
Say NO!!
RUN!!!! RUN!!!!
I'll cover you sweetheart, just RUN!
http://bestsmileys.com/paranoid/2.gif

Brian ignored me and said, "Yes, sir that is mine."
Oh no, oh no, oh no!

I'm going to have to go on vacation with the kids all by myself while Brian sits in jail!!!
http://bestsmileys.com/jail/1.gif

(Because there is NO way I'm cancelling MY vacation!)

You could cut the tension with a knife as the security guard drew in a breath and then said,
"I've been thinking of getting an Ugly Stick, have you been happy with it?"

http://bestsmileys.com/anxious/2.gif
PHEW!!!!

Brian briefly chatted with the security guard about fishing and we were out of there!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/ohare_airport_chicago.jpg
Finally, we made it to our gate! We still had 1 hour before takeoff, so we took the time to take a potty break and fill up our water bottles for the ride. There was absolutely no way I was going to buy drinks and food on the plane!
I was missing Southwest with the free baggage and free snacks.


We were all mesmerized by the toilet seats at Ohare. If you don't know what I mean, let me explain, they have AUTOMATIC seat covers!! You wave your hand in front of a little sensor when you go in, and a new seat cover comes around the side of the seat and there you have a nice neat seat to sit on!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/ohare.jpg

Seriously, how cool is that!!!

We broke out some of the snacks I had brought, Lydia wanted a banana
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd0EG4WlI/AAAAAAAAErY/sES4FeXLABU/s800/DSCF5354.JPG


Brian also got up and I assumed he was taking his potty break too, but instead he came back with a coffee for me!
http://bestsmileys.com/coffee/3.gif
I had tried to find a coffee pot at Denise's, but she didn't have one!!! Can you believe that???
Anyway, he is so sweet, he went and bought me a coffee!

Soon, they announced it was time to get on the plane!
We were in one of the first groups to board,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/3258006405_742822bf6b.jpg

so it wasn't too hard to carry Lydia's carseat down the aisle without bumping anyone in the head.
http://bestsmileys.com/bumping/3.gif

I'll say it again, they should let people with carseats on FIRST! Not because I want the best spot, but for the safety of all the other passengers. I had printed out our boarding passes the night before and was very pleased when we all had seats together.

After I got the carseat buckled in and the girls situated, I looked up to notice that the plane was just about EMPTY!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/3540805660_120b62a18f.jpg

I did a count and there were not even 50 people on the plane. I was thankful that no one was sitting in front of Lydia, because being in the carseat she didn't have much legroom, and if someone were to sit in front of her and put the seat back, she would have none.

The plane took off nice and smooth and when I looked over Lydia was already fast asleep.
http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/3.gif


Actually, almost everyone on board was fast asleep.
http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/2.gif http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/2.gif http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/2.gif

One person, however decided that they needed to find a new row to sleep in so they could stretch out across the seats. In an almost empty plane, with many many rows to chose from, where do you think this person decided was the best spot to lay down and put the seat all the way back???? Can you guess, can you???

Yep, right in front of Lydia! I was a little peeved, but she was asleep anyway, so she didn't mind. I was almost hoping she would wake up and start kicking the seatback!

At one point, I went to lean forward to get my bag, and I felt my shirt slightly sticking to the seat back. When I later had to get up and use the bathroom, Corey told me, "you know that stuff on your seat? It's all over your back now." When I looked in the bathroom mirror, sure enough, there was something green and sticky all over my back!
GRRRRR
I had only worn the shirt once or twice before this so I was not pleased! I really didn't like having to walk around with a mysterious green sticky substance on my back.
When the plane landed, I told the flight attendant about it. She looked and said, "Hmm, looks like gum." Then she got off the plane. So, I'm sure whoever sat down there after me also got up with green sticky gunk on their back too!

Lydia had woke up just before our plane landed, so I didn't have to worry about waking her up to get off. As usual, I waited for everyone else to get off before I got off, since I hate bonking people in the head with a carseat. And, you know what? I have a feeling they don't really like it either.

On the way out, one of the flight attendants made a point to come over and say,
"You KNOW, once a child is over 2 they don't need a carseat anymore."
I thanked her for telling me, but let her know that I preferred her to be in a carseat.

WHY do people feel the need to tell you that you don't have to put your kid in a carseat?? Why doesn't it occur to them that some people would like to keep their children as safe as possible? It annoys me.


But, then, we were off the plane and in Florida!!! Yeah!!
:banana::banana::banana:

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32061520&postcount=62)

[*Toadstool*]

You've pulled me in!
:goodvibes
Those toilets kinda freak me out.

[sammie girl]

This is by far the funniest TR I have read so far. You have me on the edge of my seat.

Thanks for sharing your bbb story. I think we will pass on that this trip. Not because of your bad experience their (everyone is entitled to a rough day right?). We are skipping because of the disreguard to your experience by the CM.

Yes, Southwest is by far my fav. airline also.

I had never seen pics of your family until now and I must say your kids are beautiful!

Can't wait to read more.

[jessica52877]

Well, you know you don't need to tell me twice about the carseats. I am so with you on that! We got so many wierd stares going to California with the carseat. They just look at you like you are an alien or something. I can't remember our October trip but I know in May they kept trying to talk me into checking it at the gate. No thanks! I drug it this far through the airport I'll put my child in it!

I am thinking you had the Nautilus with you? It irks me that it never fits through a machine and everyone tries to jam it! Really folks, is that necessary?

How sweet of Brian to get you some coffee. If Lin didn't drink coffee I am not sure if we would have a pot or not. I am kind of one of those folks where you have something just in case though.

So smart to bring your own snacks. Food at the airport always ends up costing us around $50 on the way home. Seems we hit it at a bad time and no little snack will keep me for 5 hours!

Did you enjoy spirit besides the cranky lady? I always wonder about the little guys in this world.

UGH! Why did the guy pick in front of Lydia. Glad she was sleeping. Another great plus of the carseat! And why do people think it is okay to do things differently on vacation vs at home??? As in the carseat thing.

Okay, I better stop or I'll keep rambling about the carseat. I assume the fishing pole went on with no issues.

[karebear1]

So, I see my son is not the only one that sleeps with his ipod glued to his ears.....

That lady at the Spirit counter really does look grouchy..... and she really should've run a brush through her hair before coming to work!

Now I have to see these cars seats! Wanna post a picture so we can see why they would stir up so much commotion??

[Stephres]

Yes, you forgot about the fishing pole update! What happened? Did they send you back? Confiscate them at security? I can't wait to hear!

The car seat thing bugs me too. Now, it's the front seat. Apparently ALL of Jacob's friends get to ride in the front seat. Not you, buster!

[twob4him]

Ya and did you see that not only did she not brush her hair properly but she has little horns sticking out of the sides of her head. The completely clash with the the Spirit Airlines uniform. hmmmmm.....

Now this lady who felt compelled to talk to you in security and question the use of carseats.... :confused3:confused3..... I would have chosen the completely sarcastic mode so I am impressed that you went with the higher road. You are so sweet!!! :lovestruc

OK glad you got there safe and sound....:woohoo: May the trip begin!!!!

[Tnkrbelle565]

So what happened with the fishing pole???? :rolleyes1

[minnie2]

I am so with you on the car seat issue! Nikki is 9 and only just 60lbs so I am so not ready for her to be out NO WAY! all her friends are out but so what! Even her ped said I could take her out but I am not ready I think she is too tiny. Same with Kyle NOPE! Thankfully my mom has car seats in Atlanta so we won't cart them on the trip since ours aren't airplane safe:scared1:

[teresajoy]

You've pulled me in!
:goodvibes
Those toilets kinda freak me out.

LOL! I have never seen a toilet like those before!! I think I live a rather sheltered life though!

This is by far the funniest TR I have read so far. You have me on the edge of my seat.

Thanks for sharing your bbb story. I think we will pass on that this trip. Not because of your bad experience their (everyone is entitled to a rough day right?). We are skipping because of the disreguard to your experience by the CM.

Yes, Southwest is by far my fav. airline also.

I had never seen pics of your family until now and I must say your kids are beautiful!

Can't wait to read more.

Thanks Deb!! You really are just too sweet! I'm glad you are enjoying the TR! I think my kids are pretty cute too!

Well, you know you don't need to tell me twice about the carseats. I am so with you on that! We got so many wierd stares going to California with the carseat. They just look at you like you are an alien or something. I can't remember our October trip but I know in May they kept trying to talk me into checking it at the gate. No thanks! I drug it this far through the airport I'll put my child in it!

I am thinking you had the Nautilus with you? It irks me that it never fits through a machine and everyone tries to jam it! Really folks, is that necessary?

How sweet of Brian to get you some coffee. If Lin didn't drink coffee I am not sure if we would have a pot or not. I am kind of one of those folks where you have something just in case though.

So smart to bring your own snacks. Food at the airport always ends up costing us around $50 on the way home. Seems we hit it at a bad time and no little snack will keep me for 5 hours!

Did you enjoy spirit besides the cranky lady? I always wonder about the little guys in this world.

UGH! Why did the guy pick in front of Lydia. Glad she was sleeping. Another great plus of the carseat! And why do people think it is okay to do things differently on vacation vs at home??? As in the carseat thing.

Okay, I better stop or I'll keep rambling about the carseat. I assume the fishing pole went on with no issues.

I knew I would have you at "carseats"!
Spirit was fine, I would definitely fly with them again. I was worried, since I was too cheap to buy pre-assigned seats, but then when I printed out the boarding passes the night before, we were all together, so that was really nice. They got us there safe and sound, so that's what I am most concerned about! Other than the goop on the seat, they were as comfy as any airline seats I suppose!

So, I see my son is not the only one that sleeps with his ipod glued to his ears.....

That lady at the Spirit counter really does look grouchy..... and she really should've run a brush through her hair before coming to work!

Now I have to see these cars seats! Wanna post a picture so we can see why they would stir up so much commotion??
Yep, he always has those things in his ears! I am VERY impressed that you noticed that though!

Yes, that lady really should have been more well groomed before she came to work! can you believe it!?

Yes, you forgot about the fishing pole update! What happened? Did they send you back? Confiscate them at security? I can't wait to hear!

The car seat thing bugs me too. Now, it's the front seat. Apparently ALL of Jacob's friends get to ride in the front seat. Not you, buster!

Oh man! I can't believe I forgot about the fishing pole! I will go back and update that part. I'll try to put it in a different color so you can all find it.

Ya and did you see that not only did she not brush her hair properly but she has little horns sticking out of the sides of her head. The completely clash with the the Spirit Airlines uniform. hmmmmm.....

Now this lady who felt compelled to talk to you in security and question the use of carseats.... :confused3:confused3..... I would have chosen the completely sarcastic mode so I am impressed that you went with the higher road. You are so sweet!!! :lovestruc

OK glad you got there safe and sound....:woohoo: May the trip begin!!!!

Oh, you guys are crackying me up about the Spirit lady!
I kind of surprised myself by taking the nice route too! Although, you know, I AM

TERESAJOY! ;)
So what happened with the fishing pole???? :rolleyes1
Give me a minute, I'll put an update in there!

I am so with you on the car seat issue! Nikki is 9 and only just 60lbs so I am so not ready for her to be out NO WAY! all her friends are out but so what! Even her ped said I could take her out but I am not ready I think she is too tiny. Same with Kyle NOPE! Thankfully my mom has car seats in Atlanta so we won't cart them on the trip since ours aren't airplane safe:scared1:

I am so glad to hear that so many of my friends still use carseats for their older children!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana: My Mom just bought a carseat that will hold Lydia and Tessa (but not at the same time :rotfl2:). Last night, my Dad went and picked the kids up for me after school (I had gone to Tessa's graduation and then just stayed at Mom's house for our Friday Pizza Night) and then when I went to go home, I didn't have to switch my carseat from their van to mine!

[teresajoy]

As Brian carefully placed his beloved fishing pole into the gray box, and sent it on through the x-ray scanner, we all held our breath.
You could feel the tension in the air.
http://bestsmileys.com/panic/3.gif
Would they accept it? Would they stop us?
Would 10 agents jump out and wrestle Brian to the ground for daring to bring such a thing onboard the sacred aircraft???
As the box slowly inched it's way to the scanner, we all saw that the security agent was taking a special interest in it.
We were on pins and needles...
Then, it happened
The security guard looked Brian square in the eye and said, "Sir, is this your pole."

Say NO Brian,
Say NO!!
RUN!!!! RUN!!!!
I'll cover you sweetheart, just RUN!
http://bestsmileys.com/paranoid/2.gif

Brian ignored me and said, "Yes, sir that is mine."
Oh no, oh no, oh no!
http://bestsmileys.com/paranoid/1.gif

I'm going to have to go on vacation with the kids all by myself while Brian sits in jail!!!
http://bestsmileys.com/jail/1.gif

(Because there is NO way I'm cancelling MY vacation!)

You could cut the tension with a knife as the security guard drew in a breath and then said,
"I've been thinking of getting an Ugly Stick, have you been happy with it?"

http://bestsmileys.com/anxious/2.gif
PHEW!!!!

Brian briefly chatted with the security guard about fishing
http://bestsmileys.com/fishing/1.gif

and we were out of there!

[karebear1]

I love it when the cliff hangers come to happy ending! But please.... tell me you all went merrily on your way while pointing fingers and laughing at the people who told you it couldn't be done! ;)

[teresajoy]

I love it when the cliff hangers come to happy ending! But please.... tell me you all went merrily on your way while pointing fingers and laughing at the people who told you it couldn't be done! ;)

I'm glad you liked the happy ending Karen!!!
Unfortunately, I couldn't see the neigh sayers by the time we were all through! But, I was laughing and pointing in my heart!

[teresajoy]

Hey Teresa! I was a lurker on your last TR but now I have to just come and join in on the fun. It sounds like a, ummm..., interesting way to start the trip. That CM, though. Really rude. I wonder if she forgot to take her Disney magic pill pixiedust: the days she talked to you. :confused3

Well, welcome out of lurkdome!!(they should really have a smiley for that!!)

Hi Teresa!


Lookin good so far! You make me laugh, your too funny! You have such a lovely family and I think kids grow up way too fast too! Looking forward to more.
Thanks Jessica!

Yay another trippie! We were there just after you!! Love your sense of humor!

Aww, I love people who love my sense of humor!!!
which, probably would explain why I have so few friends.....

[karebear1]

I'm glad you liked the happy ending Karen!!!
Unfortunately, I couldn't see the neigh sayers by the time we were all through! But, I was laughing and pointing in my heart!

:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: You slay me!! :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

[Stephres]

LOL! Well I KNEW he wasn't in jail; he came over to my house, but I enjoyed the suspense all the same.

You can carry on with your trip report now Teresa!

[MaryAz]

Great update.I am totally with you on the carseats. All of my DD (5) friends are in carseats with the seatbelt instead of a 5 point harness. Hello, my DD is 43 inches and 37lb. She will stay in the 5 point as long as posssible. I think it was Jessica that mentioned the Mautilus-that is our next seat when she outgrows in one she is in-I got 3lb

[LouiesMama]

Yay! Glad you ruffians made it through security with all your suspicious items!!!

:cool1::cool1::cool1:

[teresajoy]

You can carry on with your trip report now Teresa!

Thank you Steph! :thumbsup2
Great update.I am totally with you on the carseats. All of my DD (5) friends are in carseats with the seatbelt instead of a 5 point harness. Hello, my DD is 43 inches and 37lb. She will stay in the 5 point as long as posssible. I think it was Jessica that mentioned the Mautilus-that is our next seat when she outgrows in one she is in-I got 3lb

Lydia is in the Nautilus now too. Arminda is in the Britax Regent. I think Arminda will outgrow it before Lydia needs to use it, but it's a pretty close race at this point. Arminda grows slooooowly and Lydia grows so fast! I was shocked that the Regent fit in those scanners and the Nautilus wouldn't.

Yay! Glad you ruffians made it through security with all your suspicious items!!!

:cool1::cool1::cool1:

Yes, we are just rebels, aren't we! :cool2:

[twob4him]

:rotfl::lmao::rotfl2: my next question is....after all this trouble...did Bryan use the fishing pole at all????

[teresajoy]

:rotfl::lmao::rotfl2: my next question is....after all this trouble...did Bryan use the fishing pole at all????

Oh you don't know my Brian! He will find a way to use that pole, no matter what! Our timeshare has a bass lake out back. :thumbsup2

[teresajoy]

We were in Florida, but we were in Ft. Lauderdale, which is a LOOOOONG way from Disney!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/map.jpg
So, we had quite a drive ahead of us!

We quickly found our two pieces of checked luggage on the carousel and the kids were excited to see that there was a "Last Bag" sticker on one of them. Corey and Arminda busied themselves with sticking it on one another. Then, Arminda got the idea that it would be really funny to put it on Brian's back just before he went into the bathroom.

Thanfully, Brian thought it was pretty funny too, when a guy in the bathroom pointed it out to him.

We then hopped onto the shuttle that took us to the rental car parking garage. We located our rental car company and I, not liking to have to deal with people that I don't know, used the little machine to check us in.

Then, we were off and found our van. There were a lot Kia's out there. Brian and I quickly decided we did'nt want one of those and finally found a Chrysler minivan. Not a GM product, but it would do. I was pleased that I was able to quickly hook up both carseats. Hooking up carseats in an unfamiliar vehicle is oftentimes an unpleasant experience, especially when it's really hot, or cold.

Now, we were good to go!

However, the map I had grabbed at the check in thingy was a map of Orlando and not Ft. Lauderdale. So, not wanting to get lost, I made Brian ask for a Ft. Lauderdale map from the little check out booth guy.

We've drove from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale before, but I had forgotten what a horribly horribly LOOOOONG ride it was!!! Uggh!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd1t64hGI/AAAAAAAAErc/GYcrji0vGBI/s640/S6300547.JPG

Just keep driving,
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd3DVDosI/AAAAAAAAErg/BGopI0MWaTU/s640/S6300548.JPG

just keep driving...
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd4iVxKEI/AAAAAAAAErk/2ZqGaSqM_D0/s640/S6300549.JPG

This van was equiped with satellite radio, so we found the Disney station and listened to some lovely songs for quite awhile, until Corey begged and pleaded for us to please change the station!

We played a few rounds of "spot the alligator"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/childs_alligatorditch.jpg



and "Tire?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/S4029785.jpg
or Armadillo?"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/114873021_13f3d50ede.jpg
Although, I must say that most of the armadillos we saw by the road were, shall we say, slightly less "lively" than this one.

and then we all fell asleep,
http://bestsmileys.com/sleeping/7.gif

except Brian, thank goodness!

Just before we hit Orlando, Brian decided he was too tired to drive anymore so I took over.
Brian is a HORRIBLE passenger! Every little bump, swerve, or application of the brake, he makes a comment.

I am really no good at the Miss Cammie Eyebrow Arch (I've tried, believe me, I've tried. It only results in odd stares and giggles from my children and husband)

So instad, I asked Brian if he ever heard the story of why his sister's friend (not his sister Denise, not his sister Sr. SIL, this was his oldest sister, Anne. BIG Catholic family) got kicked out of driver's training??

Let me refresh your memory my dear.

The kids in the car made her mad :mad: so she tried to run them all into a tree.

He stayed nice and quiet after that.
:thumbsup2

Not only is the drive to Ft. Lauderdale unbearably LONG they charge you an arm and a leg for tolls!

http://bestsmileys.com/money/8.gif

Stupid tolls. It was around $15 by the time we were done!

We were staying at the Marriot Village for the night. Denise, works for Marriot so we get the greatly reduced employee discount! Oh yeah, gotta love that!
:banana::banana::banana:

I KNEW just how to get us to the hotel, but I got a bit discombobulated at one point and went left instead of right (when we were like half a mile from the hotel)
http://bestsmileys.com/doh/2.gif
so, it took just a few minutes longer than it should have.

We were all very excited when we pulled through the gates!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/mcolx_phototour01.jpg

We were finally here!!!
:yay::woohoo::cheer2:

Let the vacation begin!

Next: A Great Disney Area Restaurant! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32122970&postcount=70)

[*Toadstool*]

Now I am curious to see what he does with the fishing pole while at DW. :confused:

[jessica52877]

Glad your road trip wasn't too eventful. I used to live in Coral Springs. It was right next to your point at Ft Lauderdale. I oh so remember the horrible LONG drive AND the tolls and we never even actually went into disney. We went to the marketplace once (oh downtown disney to all these newbies) and then to ron jon another.

I love spot the alligator game! Did you actually see any?

I bet the kids were excited on the drive making it seem that much LONGER.

Love the van choice for what you had to go with.

I didn't realize you didn't like talking to people you didn't know. Lin always makes me do those types of things. I just prefer it that way now. Then I know what they really said!

I know Brian will probably use that fishing pole every day!

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Ack. I didn't realize how long of a drive it is from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando. :scared1: Guess that strikes Ft. L. off of my list.

Thanfully, Brian thought it was pretty funny too, when a guy in the bathroom pointed it out to him.

:lmao::rotfl::lmao::rotfl::lmao::rotfl:

[HeatherSue]

I just started reading your updates yesterday and then I had a visitor. It was Corey, so you have to forgive me!

I can just imagine how stressful all this talk of buses and the El must have been to a small town girl such as yourself (or me).

At least you used a picture of a guy at the airport with a Britax!

Ooohh...I'm so annoyed with that front desk lady!

Imagine...wanting your child to be as safe as you on the airplane!

I was surprised at how big a carry on bag can be! Most of my bags are small enough to be carry ons!

You could see that she was counting your bags because she was pointing to them and you could see her lips moving! :rotfl: :lmao:

Oooh...you kept your head, and you educated someone on carseat use for older kids! I'm so proud of you!

The man in line in front of you is sporting a very jaunty mock turtleneck in a stunning shade of green!

I thoroughly enjoyed all the wonderful smileys you picked out for the scare with Brian's fishing pole at security! You had me giggling up a storm!

No coffee pot at Denise's?? :scared: Brian was so sweet to get you one!

Ahhh...there's my pretty little Lyddy!

Why on earth would anyone choose the seat right in front of a kid when there are empty rows on the airplane?

I bet you were so glad the flight attendant solved the mystery of the sticky green stuff for you. So helpful!

It's not just older kids that get weird looks when they have a car seat on the airplane. I don't know how many time I was told I needed to check Sawyer's car seat, even when he was a baby. They just can't fathom that I would use it on the airplane (and buy him his own ticket, just so he'd be safer).

----------------

OOOHHH!! A "last bag" sticker! What fun! :rolleyes:

I think you meant "and I, liking to avoid all human interaction, used the machine"

Tire or armadillo! :rotfl:

Is that the same hotel we stayed at with you a long time ago? If so, it was very nice!

[LauraP0409]

I am LOVING your trip report. Very interesting start, I hope your trip gets better with less snotty, rude people. You have a very funny way of explaining it all though. Way to go at keeping us on the edge of our seats. Can't wait to read more.

[mickeystoontown]

Yeah! You're finally in Orlando! Looking forward to more.

[teresajoy]

Glad your road trip wasn't too eventful. I used to live in Coral Springs. It was right next to your point at Ft Lauderdale. I oh so remember the horrible LONG drive AND the tolls and we never even actually went into disney. We went to the marketplace once (oh downtown disney to all these newbies) and then to ron jon another.

I love spot the alligator game! Did you actually see any?

I bet the kids were excited on the drive making it seem that much LONGER.

Love the van choice for what you had to go with.

I didn't realize you didn't like talking to people you didn't know. Lin always makes me do those types of things. I just prefer it that way now. Then I know what they really said!

I know Brian will probably use that fishing pole every day!

I can't imagine having to make that drive and then NOT going to Disney!! I'm so sorry! It just goes on FOREVER!!!!!!!

Glad you approve of the van choice! :thumbsup2

I would so much prefer to just deal with a machine!!! I use the self checkout at the grocery store if they have one, the ATM machine at the bank (or better yet, just stay home and do my banking online!) I don't mind talking to friends on the phone, but these miscellaneous strangers?? No thanks! :lmao:

We saw a few alligators.

Yep, he pretty much used that pole every day!

Ack. I didn't realize how long of a drive it is from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando. :scared1: Guess that strikes Ft. L. off of my list.



:lmao::rotfl::lmao::rotfl::lmao::rotfl:

It's a loooooooooong looooooooooong loooooooooooong drive!

I just started reading your updates yesterday and then I had a visitor. It was Corey, so you have to forgive me!

I can just imagine how stressful all this talk of buses and the El must have been to a small town girl such as yourself (or me).

At least you used a picture of a guy at the airport with a Britax!

Ooohh...I'm so annoyed with that front desk lady!

Imagine...wanting your child to be as safe as you on the airplane!

I was surprised at how big a carry on bag can be! Most of my bags are small enough to be carry ons!

You could see that she was counting your bags because she was pointing to them and you could see her lips moving! :rotfl: :lmao:

Oooh...you kept your head, and you educated someone on carseat use for older kids! I'm so proud of you!

The man in line in front of you is sporting a very jaunty mock turtleneck in a stunning shade of green!

I thoroughly enjoyed all the wonderful smileys you picked out for the scare with Brian's fishing pole at security! You had me giggling up a storm!

No coffee pot at Denise's?? :scared: Brian was so sweet to get you one!

Ahhh...there's my pretty little Lyddy!

Why on earth would anyone choose the seat right in front of a kid when there are empty rows on the airplane?

I bet you were so glad the flight attendant solved the mystery of the sticky green stuff for you. So helpful!

It's not just older kids that get weird looks when they have a car seat on the airplane. I don't know how many time I was told I needed to check Sawyer's car seat, even when he was a baby. They just can't fathom that I would use it on the airplane (and buy him his own ticket, just so he'd be safer).

----------------

OOOHHH!! A "last bag" sticker! What fun! :rolleyes:

I think you meant "and I, liking to avoid all human interaction, used the machine"

Tire or armadillo! :rotfl:

Is that the same hotel we stayed at with you a long time ago? If so, it was very nice!

I will forgive you!

I knew you would appreciate that picture of the guy with the Britax!! I wanted it SOMEWHAT authentic anyway!!! :thumbsup2

That lips moving part was just for your enjoyment!

I have a feeling that you don't believe that all these pictures are really mine though! :snooty: From here on out though, I really did take the pictures!!! The ones out the window of the moving van are mine, and that is the inside of the van on the drive from Ft. Lauderdale.


Yep, that is what I meant! I didn't want anyone to think I was weird or something though!

Yes, tire or armadillo! It's great fun, you should try it! I was going to post a picture of a dead armadillo, but I didn't want to upset anyone!

Yes, that is the same hotel we stayed at with you guys. Was that in 2004?

I am LOVING your trip report. Very interesting start, I hope your trip gets better with less snotty, rude people. You have a very funny way of explaining it all though. Way to go at keeping us on the edge of our seats. Can't wait to read more.


Thank you!!! I think I'm a rude person magnet!!! But, we have fun anyway!

Yeah! You're finally in Orlando! Looking forward to more.

Took long enough, huh!?!! ;) Glad to have you here!


I have the next installment all wrote up, I just need to add pictures and tweak it a bit.

[teresajoy]

We lazed around the hotel for a little bit then I heard Brian discussing dining plans with the kids, while I was busy sewing the tiara back onto Arminda's Mickey Ears. It seems they had decided to go someplace wonderful, special and totally unique to the Disney area for our first meal of the trip!


Where you ask?


Well, where else!!!!
What just screams
"I'M at DISNEY"??????
(or at least pretty close to it)
better than...........














Wait for it..........




























Wait for it......................




































































It's coming...................












































































http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/CiCis_circular_logo2.jpg
CICI's!!
Home of the all you can eat pizza buffet!


Of course!!!


I'll admit, I was less than enthusiastic about eating at CiCi's. It's not that I don't like it all right. But, geesh, it was our first night of vacation, I would have like to eat somewhere at Downtown Disney.
But, the kids were so excited about the idea, it was kind of contagious!
They are such cute kids!! Today, I said to Lydia, "What is that wrapped all around your little finger??" She studied her finger quite awhile trying to figure it out. Then I said, "Oh, it's Mommy!" She thought that was pretty funny and giggled about that awhile. Then, she told Brian and explained to him that it was "just a figure of speech." and then showed him where he was located on her other little finger! Too cute these kids of mine!




So, by the time we got there I was somewhat less grumpy about the whole idea!


Right away I put in my order for a deep dish barbecued pizza. (after checking with Corey that that was in fact what I like) mmmm.... my favorite!
Then, I got some of pasta with the cheese sauce. mmmmm


They brought out my pizza and it was very tasty!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd6OWfB9I/AAAAAAAAEx8/AvkIPc4nZ5M/s800/S6300550.JPG

We laughed and joked around for awhile while we ate,
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJiWHfW1I/AAAAAAAAE-I/fdos2Kemzug/s800/S6300555.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJjyG61yI/AAAAAAAAE-Q/DLkHixEjYQ0/s800/S6300556.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJZ-PU1hI/AAAAAAAAEyA/FnuhRllXBIc/s800/S6300551.JPG
and I had to admit, this was a very nice CiCi's!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJg4bhCNI/AAAAAAAAE-A/j5FZj74DqoU/s800/S6300554.JPG

Where's Lydia???
Here she is!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJbG-tulI/AAAAAAAAEyI/KesQ5RgUxQE/s800/S6300552.JPG


After we waddled out of CiCi's, we were headed to Downtown Disney to pick up the tickets from guest services.


I love Downtown Disney!


Brian and the kids horsed around for a bit,
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJnl5fMSI/AAAAAAAAE-Y/eLlxQTI4VCk/s800/S6300561.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyd9vJd9gI/AAAAAAAAErw/twkpY3X1Ksk/s800/DSCF5356.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Shyvjh0IqEI/AAAAAAAAEsc/hxcJTT3pRMA/s800/DSCF5357.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiPJqywXrsI/AAAAAAAAE4Y/TEJQboDSIWo/s800/DSCF5358.JPG

I took a picture of Corey
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiPJsVoiUDI/AAAAAAAAE4c/e46d_YFoRMM/s800/DSCF5359.JPG

taking a picture of Corey
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiPJwSq0JBI/AAAAAAAAE4k/T3bNdVe4hxU/s800/S6300560.JPG

We were having fun just messing around and enjoying finally being here!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiPJuYq-sSI/AAAAAAAAE4g/7svV3ygImz8/s800/S6300559.JPG



then it was onto Ghiradelli's for some free chococlate!!!

Oh yeah! One of the highlights of Downtown Disney! This year they were giving out peantubutter filled chocolates. YUMMY!!!
So much better than the dark chocolate stuff they'd been giving out for the last two years,(dark choclate, blaaaugkh!) but not as good as the caramel chocolate they were giving out before that. I just love chocolate and caramel!


We all headed over to guest relations after eating our chocolate and pretending to browse the shop.
You can't just go in and grab a free chocolate and run, right?


Brian took off to look at the Sports section there and I waited in line with the kids.


The CM that I had talked to on the phone had given me a number to give to the CM at the counter, so I was ready with it when I got up to the counter.
The CM at Downtown Disney was VERY nice. I think his name was Shawn. He was a young man and he chatted with us while he was looking up the number.


Hmmm... it was taking a very long time to look up this number!


I was worried that the phone CM had not put the number into the system. I tried helping Shawn out by telling him what we should have waiting, but he had to find the number, which I understood. He was very friendly about it the whole time.


Finally he was able to locate the number. He gave us our tickets and I was so excited to see that they were park hoppers! YIPPEEE! That meant we would be doing every park!
Then, Shawn processed our gift cards, there were 5 Gift cards and it took quite awhile to do. He kept apologizing to me for it taking so long, but I really didn't mind at all.


So, we left with gift cards and tickets in hand (oh happy day!) to go find Brian.


He was easy to locate and we browsed around the store a bit before I suggested we head on over to the toy store, you know, for the kids, yeah, the kids like the toy store, everything I do is for the kids......

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32123008&postcount=71)

[teresajoy]

We walked in and looked at the Mr. Potato Head parts for a minute, then went on towards the Make Your Own Lightsaber place.
Much to my surprise all the kids had so much fun putting together lightsabers!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKClSN6JI/AAAAAAAAFBg/vn3YKvejNoU/s800/S6300573.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKEbxLsqI/AAAAAAAAFBs/7Ucd3fsiylU/s800/S6300574.JPG

Corey was helping out both Lydia and Arminda and it was so nice to see them all working together like that! http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJxBqEGMI/AAAAAAAAE_Y/N7hWpUSTt64/s800/DSCF5368.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJyNZvdqI/AAAAAAAAE_g/Saj1pVM1bP4/s800/DSCF5369.JPG

Brian even got in on the fun!
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJ1CGmljI/AAAAAAAAE_w/oiZ51HaCIR8/s800/S6300564.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJ4Uz_h8I/AAAAAAAAFAA/1GGzm_xE8Fw/s800/S6300566.JPG

We didn't buy any, we just took pictures.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJ_fa_t1I/AAAAAAAAFA8/viWe5xy--PE/s800/S6300571.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKJOz2OkI/AAAAAAAAFCw/VdR2YwwgUdw/s800/S6300576.JPG


Corey found some stuffed animals and had me take some pictures of him with them.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJpGbaWZI/AAAAAAAAE-g/w_zaulYo2NQ/s800/DSCF5360.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJqJUED2I/AAAAAAAAE-o/_UPZYv-DpVo/s800/DSCF5361.JPG


He can be so silly sometimes!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJrXYe5SI/AAAAAAAAE-w/DrQSpVLAKoE/s800/DSCF5363.JPG
(He looks pretty handsome in that one)

I think Lydia just thought he was a little nuts
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJsQwI2LI/AAAAAAAAE-4/avUg6dtdxLM/s800/DSCF5364.JPG


AHHH Chip and Dale are attacking Corey's head!!!
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJtpkE_iI/AAAAAAAAE_A/YGPMan5QR8M/s800/DSCF5365.JPG


Arminda was looking at the Webkinz and I went to take her picture just as these ladies stepped into the shot!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJus95WCI/AAAAAAAAE_I/_eR3XyBpt8c/s800/DSCF5366.JPG


hehehe




So, I took it again.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNJv_avglI/AAAAAAAAE_Q/ryyvS6ARVq4/s800/DSCF5367.JPG


I convinced Arminda that a Webkinz wasn't the best souvenir to buy at Disney, unless it was cheap or a special Disney Webkinz. She agreed and put the Webkinz back.


Then we went on back to the My Little Pony stuff a box. As we were walking there, we passed a lady with a box and only a few things in it! I mean she literally had a pony and one outfit in there! I was shocked! So, I stopped her and told her that it was the same price even if you stuffed it as full as you possibly could.


She just looked at me like I was completely nuts and kept walking, but more quickly!


Well, I was JUST trying to help! The fun of that is to see how much stuff you can fit into that box! At least that's what I like about it!!! And we are REALLY good at stuffing the box!


We looked at the assortment and there was nothing we didn't have already from the last two years, so we didn't get one this year.


Corey and Arminda took off to somewhere at this point (I knew at the time, but don't remember now)
Lydia and I decided to design a crown!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKFscWw3I/AAAAAAAAFB8/T68gVk_nLvo/s800/DSCF5370.JPG

I was freaking out a bit when she put it on her head.


I fear lice.



a lot.


But, not as much as spiders


or


snakes


especially snakes!! eewww..


But, I wan't too worried about snakes being in the hat or spiders. Although that does remind me of the story I heard when I was little about the lady who had the beehive hairdo and terantulas laid eggs in it and then all of sudden she woke up one day with tons of spiders crawling out of her hair.


Come to think of it, I don't think I was afraid of spiders before my Mom's friend told me that story when I was little.


Then, there was the story about the poisonous snakes that were in the leather coats and would bit people when they put their arm in...


Hmm... wasn't afraid of snakes before Mom's friend told me that one either... hmm......




But, the only thing I was worried about in the hats was lice. I made sure she picked one that was in the middle of the pile, I figured there was less chance of someone else wearing that one.








She wanted me to take some pictures of her, so of course I did!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKLZ524CI/AAAAAAAAFDc/GF1qwNVDrrk/s800/DSCF5372.JPG


I found the rest of the family and we headed on out of there.
NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32123028&postcount=72)

[teresajoy]

After we left the toy store, we passed a little cart outside selling various items and, Corey came up to me and showed me the COOLEST antenna topper EVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!


It was Cinderella's Coach!!! I had lost my Princess Crown and my Test Track Car this year, so I was on the lookout for a new one. So, I was very pleased!


Let me tell you, it isn't easy to pay for something at one of those carts. There was no one at the cash register when we went over there, so I went over to find the CM manning the booth. I didn't see anyone. Finally I spotted someone standing away from the cart and asked them if they worked there. She did, so I told her I wanted to buy the antenna topper. I had to wonder how much stuff gets stollen from these carts?? I would like to think that most people wouldn't do that, but they really make it easy for thieves!
After I finally payed, Corey took a picture of me and my treasure!!!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/ShyvlcMU_AI/AAAAAAAAE4w/gTHYaOB2B2o/s800/S6300596.JPG


You may have noticed that this picture of me differs slightly from the same picture of me in the first post.


Let me explain (although I bet you already know what happened, don't you!)


I Gimped (free Photoshop) the first picture to cover up these scratches.


As I said before, Foxie is a skittish little kitten. He does NOT like it when we have people over to our house, so he goes and hides.
So, when my parents came to pick Foster and Foxie up before our trip, Foxie was hiding under the girl's bed.
He REALLY didn't want to come out!
I mean he REALLY REALLY didn't want to come out!
After I got him out and was carrying him to the living room, he went a bit nuts.
It would have been funny looking, his back twising and his paws thrashing this way and that, if he hadn't been scratching my arm up at the time!


And, while I'm talking about the cats, I'll throw this in here now. The day after Mom and Dad got the cats to their house, I was talking to my Mom on the phone and she told me that they hadn't seen Foxie since they brought him into the house. They were pretty sure that he had crawled underneath the service hole underneath their whirlpool tub and was hiding out under there. A few hours later, my Dad called and asked for ideas on getting Foxie out. I suggested putting tunafish out for him. Then I asked Dad if Mom had barked at Foxie again (she did that once when she was over, and I don't think Foxie has gotten over it yet).
I was joking and told him so.
Apparently though, what my Dad heard was,
"Bark at Foxie, because he likes that and it will make him come out."
Heather told me a few days later that she and Mom had caught him squatting down, barking into the hole!!
When they questioned him, he said that I told him to do it!
Needles to say, that did NOT work!
Actually, NOTHING worked! Poor Foxie stayed underneath the tub for the entire time we were gone, and then almost a week AFTER we got back! He would not come out for me. I'm still unclear on how they got him out, no one will go into much detail about that for some reason.
I was posotive that when he came back he would be scared out of his mind. But, when he came in, I picked him up and he put his little head into my arm and stayed there for a long time as we pet him.
The other day, he came up and curled next to me while I was sleeping on the couch. He now comes and sits in our lap voluntarily even!!!
And, just the other day, I gave him a bath and all he did was sit in the tub and howl. No scratching, no biting. And, he still came up to me later that day! Weird!


Anyway, that is the story of the picture!




After I rounded up the kids and Brian, Brian said he wanted to go into the Christmas store. For obvious reasons, this is not a place that I would ever chose to go into, but I followed along. Lydia decided it would be really funny to play inside of the fireplace.





There was a really cool glass light up castle in here, and I took a picture of Arminda by it, but I can't find it.


We left the Christmas store and the girls decided to play in the fountain.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKRKRoSPI/AAAAAAAAFEc/Aw9yjJ6V9tg/s800/S6300577.JPG



They got SOAKED!!!!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKWw24PCI/AAAAAAAAFFc/atdZROs-Mnw/s800/S6300581.JPG

But, they were having such a good time!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKZl-J6mI/AAAAAAAAFF8/sJGg7YygmcM/s800/S6300587.JPG
It was fun to watch them!

Brian went and retrieved them
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKdVIo2dI/AAAAAAAAFGw/NXGOqgxNDj0/s800/S6300592.JPG

Pretty wet
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKeqVIPoI/AAAAAAAAFHA/cXHMFojyqdQ/s800/S6300593.JPG

and we had to take this picture. Brian always has to have his picture taken here!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKkwu-P4I/AAAAAAAAFHs/J9ei5FLKoFs/s800/DSCF5388.JPG


We then spotted the make your own hat place and went on inside.




The girls did this last year, but Lydia's ears had gotten broken, so I let her pick out a new pair this year. She picked out the same ones she had last time. I love that you can buy just new ears when they get broken instead of buying the whole hat!

Look at all the cool Mickey ears you can get!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKszg7mFI/AAAAAAAAFJc/OKYY2giBBDY/s800/S6300598.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKv187wYI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/Q6wzT4eUusA/s800/S6300599.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKy-LcZLI/AAAAAAAAFKc/BKfU_LOJpTo/s800/S6300600.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK0x_nllI/AAAAAAAAFLA/G86GNWUlFbA/s800/S6300601.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK2bGrPdI/AAAAAAAAFLQ/1E-ZY4YXlhA/s800/S6300602.JPG

Lydia did a bit of dancing
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKgnKxStI/AAAAAAAAFHM/x_nxvoQyB9g/s800/DSCF5385.JPG



We went over and got our pictures taken with Tigger and Pooh.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK5-sjjQI/AAAAAAAAFLc/UTdIejfNs5s/s800/S6300607.JPG

The kids just love this little setup! So do I!
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKuMm-3GI/AAAAAAAAFJs/c65__br-QJE/s800/DSCF5398.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKxJM4m3I/AAAAAAAAFKM/jqWmdDlvxE4/s800/DSCF5399.JPG

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32123038&postcount=73)

[teresajoy]

Then, Brian had the kids throw money into the alligator's mouth!!!!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKpCT_F4I/AAAAAAAAFIs/rdNgjnDt5s8/s800/DSCF5394.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKqEyl_aI/AAAAAAAAFJA/nSS2YVfgHYI/s800/DSCF5395.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKlhyl0gI/AAAAAAAAFH8/0Zu1NMnWtX4/s800/DSCF5390.JPG


I got a shot of Corey getting a shot
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNKn6niO3I/AAAAAAAAFIg/ogBI6nMD4HQ/s800/DSCF5393.JPG







of the alligator


http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK4CpR6GI/AAAAAAAAE2U/d_pGE4_6aaM/s800/S6300606.JPG







We were getting tired, we had been up since 3AM (except for the naps on the plane and in the van!), so we decided to start heading on out.


For some reason, I had to stop for a second with Lydia, Corey and Arminda stopped with me, but Brian kept right on walking. I hate when he does that! I helped Lydia out with whatever it was that we had to stop for. I'm thinking it was something to do with her shoes, but it doesn't really matter. I figured we'd quickly find Brian, but he was nowhere in site. Usually Brian will find me when he gets himself lost, but we walked around quite awhile and he wasn't jumping up behind me like usual.


That is when Corey had the brilliant thought!!


"Why don't we just call his cell phone?"
Duh! I just wasn't use to us both having cell phones! (nothing fancy, they are just Tracfones, but they sure do come in handy!) I called him and he said he was waiting for us in the van, and where were we?
I told him we had been wandering around looking for HIM! And we would be coming out soon.


I was a bit peeved when I hung up with him. We then spotted a DVC booth. They had a bunch of stickers sitting out so we went on over there. You see, Lydia's snack and show and tell day would be right after we got back from Florida and she wanted to bring some things back to share with her class. So, I asked the gentleman at the booth if we could have some stickers. He smiled and handed Lydia a WHOLE roll! Cool! Lydia was just beaming!


The DVC gentleman then of course asked us if we'd ever went through one of the tours. I told him we had been last year and were treated very rudely by the CM. He seemed very horrified by the whole thing. He asked for my name and the approximate date we went through the tour. He quickly found it on his computer and then called his manager to tell him about it. Now, this would have been more impressive though if someone had actually asked me WHAT had happened! But, I appreciated him looking up our info and acting concerned, it was nice. The DTD CM told me that we could go through the tour again and we would get Fast Passes, and he promised we would get a polite CM this time. I told him that I really had no desire to do that again, and I knew my husband wouldn't, but he handed me a brouchure with his name on it anyway.
He was a very nice guy, but I had no intention of calling the number to set up another tour. Especially just for Fast Passes. For gift cards I would have considered it though!


So, we slowly made our way back out to the van, and by this time I was no longer peeved with Brian. We drove back to the hotel and Brian let me and the girls off so I could take the girls swimming, while they went somewhere. I don't remember where they went though.


I got the girls ready and put on Lydia's swimmies.
Then, we realized that we couldn't put her coverup on with the swimmies on her arms,
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK6wPW9lI/AAAAAAAAFLs/qK7LKOQskSM/s800/DSCF5401.JPG

so she just carried it.

Apparently she was afraid that the elevator would suddenly fill with water, so she tried to put on her swim ring too
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK7k02W6I/AAAAAAAAFL8/SJmF8gyJV2A/s800/DSCF5402.JPG

I thought they looked pretty cute with their floties on in the elevator and lobby!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK8hu6_PI/AAAAAAAAFMM/_pR1DkgRQkA/s800/DSCF5407.JPG




The pool was really nice and we swam for quite awhile.
Arminda jumping in
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK9-G2MNI/AAAAAAAAFMg/HFCRzhajLbc/s800/DSCF5408.JPG

Arminda trying to sit on a very small raft
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNK_fZ4WwI/AAAAAAAAFNA/ylT-rym7S74/s800/DSCF5410.JPG

Lydia jumping in
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLAENJYJI/AAAAAAAAFNg/SZiiVjS8U1U/s800/DSCF5413.JPG

There was this neat water thing
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLCITSeuI/AAAAAAAAFNs/4qUjvnW-X4M/s800/DSCF5418.JPG

Hi Arminda!
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLCxlHEWI/AAAAAAAAFN8/Ao_p900ygc8/s800/DSCF5422.JPG



Afterawhile, I looked up to where our room was and I saw Brian looking out the window,
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLDpVVbYI/AAAAAAAAFOM/0VzAY7noxL8/s800/DSCF5428.JPG
(The room on the top floor)
so I waved and took his picture.

Then, he disapeared. I was hoping they would come down to go simming, but they didn't.




The girls and I had fun swimming some more,
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLEzmdY3I/AAAAAAAAFOc/0YmEbVQep8Q/s800/DSCF5431.JPG

One more jump Lydia!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLFgdbjMI/AAAAAAAAFOw/ERNxxTHPlIc/s800/DSCF5433.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLH9FjW9I/AAAAAAAAFPM/D8b7C7ngRwI/s800/DSCF5445.JPG

And, here is a picture of me in the pool, just so you know I was really there.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLIazacCI/AAAAAAAAFPg/tctFlETun9E/s800/DSCF5457.JPG
but it was getting really late, so I got them out of the pool.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLJo1qczI/AAAAAAAAFPs/SqSudhqx84k/s800/DSCF5463.JPG


They lounged in the moonlight for awhile
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLLwLHtyI/AAAAAAAAFQM/l-NAPnOCY90/s800/DSCF5468.JPG
Um, and check out the speedo clad gents behind them!


We headed back to the room, had some popcorn watched some TV


We were really excited by the TVs on this trip!!! Unlike our TV at home, these TVs got MORE than ONE channel!!! By Golly, they got more than THREE even!!! Wowzers! It was pretty exciting for us.




Then, we all went on to bed.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SiNLMxncg2I/AAAAAAAAFQc/8SB_7Y6Iphk/s800/DSCF5472.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SidON1Wh-LI/AAAAAAAAFTI/ySZyBVqBnzI/s800/DSCF5471.JPG
(hmmm, looking at this picture, I think I remember where Brian went! He went to buy Corona!)



I wish I could say that we all fell right to sleep. Well, everyone ELSE fell right to sleep, but do you have any idea how loud three snoring people in one hotel room is??


Let me tell you,


IT'S LOUD!!!!


Thankfully there were some extra pillows, so I put them over my head to muffle the noise. When my family gets over tired, they snore sooo sooo loud!! The only ones not snoring were me and Corey, and I'm not sure the reason for that wasn't because I was awake.








Next up, a really FUN timeshare tour!

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32671393&postcount=103)

[*Toadstool*]

Hannah loved reading this part of your trippie. She enjoyed Arminda very much. She said Arminda is her favorite. ;)
I like the picture of your toes. Genius!!
I will start taking pictures of my feet to prove I was places too. :rotfl:

[HeatherSue]

Look! We have the same ticker!! I've been working on my TR tonight. Then, I realized that it was getting really boring because I'm too tired to be writing a TR tonight. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with our final day. So, hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.

=================

Lydia told Brian it was just a "figure of speech"? She's so smart! Not to mention adorable!

I love how you had to ask Corey if that's what you like! I do the same thing to Henry at Qdoba. I can never remember what I like on my naked burrito.

Great pictures at Cici's!

It's good to see that Arminda must have worked on a more natural smile since our last trip!

Yes, you must look like you're actually going to purchase a $30 bag of chocolate when retrieving your free sample.

You're all about the kids, uh-huh. I've seen you attack that My Little Pony box area- determined to stuff as much in there as possible...for the kids.

I always wondered how much fun it would be to put together a light saber. I always assumed the answer would be "not much".

Corey's having a little bit too much fun with the stuffed animals. I worry about that boy. :lmao:

I'm sure those ladies who stepped in front of the camera would really appreciate you including their picture!

:rotfl::lmao: The story about the lady with the beehive and the tarantulas. :lol:

I wonder if that same friend told me a story about sharks in pools??

I had a smart aleck-y sarcastic comment about cats being better than dogs. But, you wouldn't appreciate it.

I can't TELL you how many Mickey ears I've broken off my hats, and not been able to replace them! ;)

Lydia got a WHOLE ROLL of DVC stickers? How cool is that?

I would recognize those toes anywhere! Actually, I never realized how much alike our feet look!

I noticed the Speedo clad gents even before you pointed them out. Kinda hard to miss, eh?

[teresajoy]

That was quick guys!!! I thought I'd have a chance to turn some pictures before I got people reading!

Hannah loved reading this part of your trippie. She enjoyed Arminda very much. She said Arminda is her favorite. ;)
I like the picture of your toes. Genius!!
I will start taking pictures of my feet to prove I was places too. :rotfl:
Oh, that Hannah is too cute!!!

Maybe next time I'll write Mom or Teresa on my toes too!

Look! We have the same ticker!! I've been working on my TR tonight. Then, I realized that it was getting really boring because I'm too tired to be writing a TR tonight. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with our final day. So, hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.

I'm so excited!!! I need to make some money this summer though!
I have found I'm not very funny when writing a trip report when I'm overly tired either!

=================

Lydia told Brian it was just a "figure of speech"? She's so smart! Not to mention adorable!

Yep, she did!!! Isn't she brilliant!!!

It's good to see that Arminda must have worked on a more natural smile since our last trip!

Yes, she has, thank goodness!

I always wondered how much fun it would be to put together a light saber. I always assumed the answer would be "not much".
I still kind of think that.

I'm sure those ladies who stepped in front of the camera would really appreciate you including their picture!

Muwwwahhhahhhaaaha

:rotfl::lmao: The story about the lady with the beehive and the tarantulas. :lol:

I wonder if that same friend told me a story about sharks in pools??

I believe it was Donna or Flossie

I had a smart aleck-y sarcastic comment about cats being better than dogs. But, you wouldn't appreciate it.

No, no I wouldn't have!

I noticed the Speedo clad gents even before you pointed them out. Kinda hard to miss, eh?

Yep, very hard to miss! :rotfl2:

[karebear1]

Cici's pizza??? :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: Hey! I recognize that blurry hand! the first hours there and I can't believe you lost your own daughter!


I love DTD too! I didn't know you could get free chocolate though!!! :scared1: How could I have ever missed that? You need to tell me exactly how to do that- ok?? :confused3

"We didn't buy any. We just took pictures.
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

I will also need you to meet me at DTD in November 2010 to help me along in the box stuffing department. We are taking the whole family to WDW and that includes our little Henry. It'll be his first trip.... and grandma plans on stuffing a box FULL of Mr. Potato Head stuff for him- what better way to do that then to have a private lesson on box stuffing from a pro?? You should offer lessons on that.... maybe charge for a free trip or something?!?!? :lmao: Anyway........ I have to make sure that that trip is full of all kinds of wonder/magic for that boy- after all....... he will have been living in Texas for over a year at that point , Texas is where the "other" grandparents LIVE.... so they will ahve the advantage over me...... But not for long! WAAAHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

But, the only thing I was worried about in the hats was lice. I made sure she picked one that was in the middle of the pile, I figured there was less chance of someone else wearing that one.

Not to make you paranoid or anything, but those lice do jump from one thing to another.......... I mean, I'm just sayin' :confused3

Bark at Foxie

That is HILARIOUS!!! :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

Now see???? I never knew there was a hat store where you could choose what ears to put on your hat there either! I guess it's a different world when you have little kids huh?? Another place we'll just have to stop for Henry!

the um, alligator picture........ it's um...... upside down (and if I could type upside down, upside down, I woulda!!)

Special times at DVC! that was really nice giving all those stickers to you! just one more thing we'll do for Henry!

Um, and check out the speedo clad gents behind them! that picture of the girls was just a cover so you could get a pic of those speedo guys... wasn't it?

Well, that was fn! I'll have to do more of the comment by comment posting in the future! When's the next part coming???

[teresajoy]

Cici's pizza??? :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: Hey! I recognize that blurry hand! the first hours there and I can't believe you lost your own daughter!


I love DTD too! I didn't know you could get free chocolate though!!! :scared1: How could I have ever missed that? You need to tell me exactly how to do that- ok?? :confused3


:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

I will also need you to meet me at DTD in November 2010 to help me along in the box stuffing department. We are taking the whole family to WDW and that includes our little Henry. It'll be his first trip.... and grandma plans on stuffing a box FULL of Mr. Potato Head stuff for him- what better way to do that then to have a private lesson on box stuffing from a pro?? You should offer lessons on that.... maybe charge for a free trip or something?!?!? :lmao: Anyway........ I have to make sure that that trip is full of all kinds of wonder/magic for that boy- after all....... he will have been living in Texas for over a year at that point , Texas is where the "other" grandparents LIVE.... so they will ahve the advantage over me...... But not for long! WAAAHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!



Not to make you paranoid or anything, but those lice do jump from one thing to another.......... I mean, I'm just sayin' :confused3



That is HILARIOUS!!! :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

Now see???? I never knew there was a hat store where you could choose what ears to put on your hat there either! I guess it's a different world when you have little kids huh?? Another place we'll just have to stop for Henry!

the um, alligator picture........ it's um...... upside down (and if I could type upside down, upside down, I woulda!!)

Special times at DVC! that was really nice giving all those stickers to you! just one more thing we'll do for Henry!

that picture of the girls was just a cover so you could get a pic of those speedo guys... wasn't it?

Well, that was fn! I'll have to do more of the comment by comment posting in the future! When's the next part coming???

Yeah!!! You made great comments!!! It's so much fun to read when people do that!!!

Ok, if you are the Queen of the Cricut, can I be Princess of Chocolate??? Right next to the World of Disney store is a Ghiradelli's!! You just walk into the store part of that and there will be a lady standing there with a basket of chocolates!!!! Just act all surprised when you walk in, like you had NOOO idea there were FREE chocolates in there.. Bring a hat and a jacket with you and then after about a half hour or so, go back....

Yes, you must have a good in with Henry since he is with the "others" so often!!!

You will need to get the giant Mr.Potato Head to stuff!! I fit so much stuff in that thing even the cashier was impressed!

The make your own hat place is VERY cool!!!

OOPs, I'll have to turn that picture around!

Yep, you got me!!!! I took that picture just because the speedo guys would be in it!!! I was thinking of you when I did that! :thumbsup2

[karebear1]

Yeah!!! You made great comments!!! It's so much fun to read when people do that!!!

Ok, if you are the Queen of the Cricut, can I be Princess of Chocolate??? Right next to the World of Disney store is a Ghiradelli's!! You just walk into the store part of that and there will be a lady standing there with a basket of chocolates!!!! Just act all surprised when you walk in, like you had NOOO idea there were FREE chocolates in there.. Bring a hat and a jacket with you and then after about a half hour or so, go back....

How about we make you "Duchess of Downtown"??? After all.... you know everything about the downtown area. If that's not good.... we could make you "Chancellor of Chocolate" (just loking for rhyming words here! LOL)





Yep, you got me!!!! I took that picture just because the speedo guys would be in it!!! I was thinking of you when I did that! :thumbsup2

And that, my friend, is what I like about you! You are always so thoughtful like that! Next time, when I'm on vacation and I see speedo boys, I'm there for you too! As a matter of fact, I will definetly go out of my way to take that picture just for you. If I have to go in search of speedo boys....... I WILL.... because you did it for me, and I must return the favor! :cutie:

[DisneyMom5]

Ahem...did somebody perhaps FORGET to tell me that they had posted their trip report.

Hmmmm.......

:sad2:

[jessica52877]

???? Heather ????

Are you going to world or land? I know you had some thoughts and wonderings and now that I read it it says free dining? I had to make a darn ticker to see how many days until we go as I was wondering if you did change or if Teresa went if it was the same dates that I was going to be there and voting for!

Okay, back to the trippie!

I love Cici's. Lin used to work right next to one and I LOVED going there. Of course he didn't. That one did look really nice! I just love the salad bar and a little pizza to go along with it.

Downtown Disney is my favorite and I prefer it uncrowded. It looks like it wasn't horrible when were there. I LOVE stuffing potato head boxes. They never had the big head until after we had all the pieces. Dallas has about 12-15 on a shelf in his room. I need another shelf since I could build probably that many more without really using the same piece 2x. Yep, I love toys! Bet you didn't know that! :rolleyes1

The lightsabers are always fun. I promised Dallas a Darth Maul one next trip. He wanted it at DL but too big to deal with on an airplane. Somehow in February I talked him out of doing it at the time. We weren't properly dressed for building!

Hear that Karen, Henry must have a potato head outfit for stuffing!

I love the fountains and getting wet. That was nice of you go into the christmas store with Brian.

Oh crap! I just remembered I told Dallas he could make Mickey Ears too. They add up QUICK! How do the ears get broken??

I love how you took the girls swimming. what kind of camera did you have/use in the pool. I was just saying yesterday how I wanted to get a water camera and today booked a night at great wolf so would like to do it fairly soon now! We go in a couple of weeks.

I really don't remember much else besides it looked like a nice fun and relaxing day and I like that!

[HeatherSue]

Jessica, I switched to Disney World from October 3-10. What dates are you going?? I was thinking you would be there when I'm going to be there!!

Teresa laid out the finances for me and I can save $600-$800 by going to the World instead of the Land, and I get 2 extra days. Plus, my family was worried about me traveling that far, with just the kids, in an airplane with my clotting disorder.

Plus, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all that


I FINISHED MY TRIP REPORT!!

Follow the green link in my siggy!

[minnie2]

Seriously Cici's pizza??!?!?!? AKKK I am glad youa ll had fun though;)

I will have to show Kyle the make your own light saber next trip. Well maybe not! How expensive are they?

[jessica52877]

Seriously Cici's pizza??!?!?!? AKKK I am glad youa ll had fun though;)

I will have to show Kyle the make your own light saber next trip. Well maybe not! How expensive are they?

They used to be $20 but you do get the batteries and a pin with it. Not a deal what so ever for a lightsaber though. And they aren't nearly as sturdy as the cheaper ones from walmart.

[Stephres]

Cute pictures!

I am so happy Arminda is using her little purse. :)

We don't spend a lot of time in downtown disney because I don't want to be tempted. We used to always go to the scrapbooking store when I did that. I did not know about the potato heads or light sabers. Very interesting.

Can't wait for more!

[maroo]

Hello!!!1

I am here!

Now...what have I missed?!?

*runs to look*

[maroo]

CiCi's!! You guys totally crack me up!

I admit...I am a dog person...but that guy at the kennel should be put in a cage with a dog and see what happens to him! :headache:

I am glad you got your cat back out and I take it Foxie missed you guys and are glad you guys are home. :love:

Looking forward to more!!!!

[twob4him]

Yaaa great first day!!! Love the pics with the underwater camera in the pool...I gotta remember to bring one ;) for our trip! I never knew about the DTD store with ears....I'll have to find that one! My DH always walks way ahead of me when we are going someplace. Its really strange. He'll jump out of the car and I'll be getting the kids out and he takes off speed-walking to the destination. Its such a strange habit. (he was single for 37 years). I am hoping to break him of said habit by the time we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary....hahahha:rotfl: Your story about "losing" Bryan reminded me of it. And about the family snoring.....I never leave home without ear plugs...we all share hotel rooms and I have such a hard time falling asleep if its noisy....try them sometime...you'll be hooked too! Can't wait to hear more...you crack me up :laughing: with your funny stories and such! :goodvibes

[teresajoy]

How about we make you "Duchess of Downtown"??? After all.... you know everything about the downtown area. If that's not good.... we could make you "Chancellor of Chocolate" (just loking for rhyming words here! LOL)







And that, my friend, is what I like about you! You are always so thoughtful like that! Next time, when I'm on vacation and I see speedo boys, I'm there for you too! As a matter of fact, I will definetly go out of my way to take that picture just for you. If I have to go in search of speedo boys....... I WILL.... because you did it for me, and I must return the favor! :cutie:


I'm always looking out for you Karen!! :thumbsup2
Ahem...did somebody perhaps FORGET to tell me that they had posted their trip report.

Hmmmm.......

:sad2:

Hey, hey now, didn't you see my status update on Facebook that I totally wrote before I saw your post????



I love Cici's. Lin used to work right next to one and I LOVED going there. Of course he didn't. That one did look really nice! I just love the salad bar and a little pizza to go along with it.

Downtown Disney is my favorite and I prefer it uncrowded. It looks like it wasn't horrible when were there. I LOVE stuffing potato head boxes. They never had the big head until after we had all the pieces. Dallas has about 12-15 on a shelf in his room. I need another shelf since I could build probably that many more without really using the same piece 2x. Yep, I love toys! Bet you didn't know that! :rolleyes1

The lightsabers are always fun. I promised Dallas a Darth Maul one next trip. He wanted it at DL but too big to deal with on an airplane. Somehow in February I talked him out of doing it at the time. We weren't properly dressed for building!

Hear that Karen, Henry must have a potato head outfit for stuffing!

I love the fountains and getting wet. That was nice of you go into the christmas store with Brian.

Oh crap! I just remembered I told Dallas he could make Mickey Ears too. They add up QUICK! How do the ears get broken??

I love how you took the girls swimming. what kind of camera did you have/use in the pool. I was just saying yesterday how I wanted to get a water camera and today booked a night at great wolf so would like to do it fairly soon now! We go in a couple of weeks.

I really don't remember much else besides it looked like a nice fun and relaxing day and I like that!

Making the ears is fun!! I really enjoyed doing that. My Mom got me a Fuji camera about 2 years ago and it came with a waterproof case. Which works really great if it's on. But, if you take the case off and put the camera on the table at Beaches and Cream and your 4 year old spills a glass of water on it, well, that doesn't work so well! So, this is technically camera #2 :thumbsup2


Teresa laid out the finances for me and I can save $600-$800 by going to the World instead of the Land, and I get 2 extra days. Plus, my family was worried about me traveling that far, with just the kids, in an airplane with my clotting disorder.

Plus, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you all that


I FINISHED MY TRIP REPORT!!

Follow the green link in my siggy!

Yes, it's my fault. Or, maybe I should blame Brian, since this free dining thing was his idea. Plus the tought of her going that far by herself scares the bajeebees out of me. :hug:

Seriously Cici's pizza??!?!?!? AKKK I am glad youa ll had fun though;)

I will have to show Kyle the make your own light saber next trip. Well maybe not! How expensive are they?

I do like CiCi's on occasion, but NOT for the first night in Florida! It was fun though.
Cute pictures!

I am so happy Arminda is using her little purse. :)

We don't spend a lot of time in downtown disney because I don't want to be tempted. We used to always go to the scrapbooking store when I did that. I did not know about the potato heads or light sabers. Very interesting.

Can't wait for more!

We both use our purses all the time!! I moved my stuff back to my purse as soon as I got back home. I just use the backpack while I'm on vacation. Although, last year I ended up using it for a few months since I'm lazy and didn't feel like moving my junk to my purse. But, this year I wanted my pretty purse back!

CiCi's!! You guys totally crack me up!

I admit...I am a dog person...but that guy at the kennel should be put in a cage with a dog and see what happens to him! :headache:

I am glad you got your cat back out and I take it Foxie missed you guys and are glad you guys are home. :love:

Looking forward to more!!!!

Yeah, that kennel guy was a complete idiot!!!

I do think Foxie missed us! He is so much friendlier now!

Yaaa great first day!!! Love the pics with the underwater camera in the pool...I gotta remember to bring one ;) for our trip! I never knew about the DTD store with ears....I'll have to find that one! My DH always walks way ahead of me when we are going someplace. Its really strange. He'll jump out of the car and I'll be getting the kids out and he takes off speed-walking to the destination. Its such a strange habit. (he was single for 37 years). I am hoping to break him of said habit by the time we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary....hahahha:rotfl: Your story about "losing" Bryan reminded me of it. And about the family snoring.....I never leave home without ear plugs...we all share hotel rooms and I have such a hard time falling asleep if its noisy....try them sometime...you'll be hooked too! Can't wait to hear more...you crack me up :laughing: with your funny stories and such! :goodvibes

I wish you were going when we were going!!! I would love to meet you!

Yep, Brian has a habit of just taking off. I have a talk with him about it later on in the vacation.

Earplugs, good idea! And, maybe a sound machine.

I'm glad I make you laugh!

[karebear1]

Hear that Karen, Henry must have a potato head outfit for stuffing!



OH MY HECK WOMAN!!! I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT>............. BUT YOU'RE ABSOLUTLY RIGHT! ok- how do I go about it?? Applique?? Have you ever seen Mr. Potatohead fabric?? It has to be boyish or it'll be a no go with his mother and father :sad2: Hmmmmm....... maybe I could make him some 'tatohead shoes to wear! :lmao::lmao:

[Eugene]

Thanks,for these information it is realy helpfull............


Regards
Eugene

[HeatherSue]

I am politely requesting an update. Please. :cutie:

[mickeystoontown]

Patiently waiting on a new installment!

[orangecats2]

Me too! :cutie:

[teresajoy]

Thanks,for these information it is realy helpfull............


Regards
Eugene

You are welcome.....

I am politely requesting an update. Please. :cutie:

Hold your pants on missy!

Patiently waiting on a new installment!

You too!
Me too! :cutie:

You three!

I'm just SOOOO tired this week!!! I will try to work on it tomorrow! Pinky swear!

[Hedy]

Glad you guys are back for another trip.
I laughed out loud at "Brian is Catholic, he has a lot of sisters." I'm seventh of seven, I can. :lmao::lmao:
If you don't mind me asking-I thought I saw something about you guys celebrating your anniversary-is that something you celebrate?

[HeatherSue]

Glad you guys are back for another trip.
I laughed out loud at "Brian is Catholic, he has a lot of sisters." I'm seventh of seven, I can. :lmao::lmao:
If you don't mind me asking-I thought I saw something about you guys celebrating your anniversary-is that something you celebrate?
I'll answer for my sister. Yep, Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate anniversaries.

[Hedy]

I'll answer for my sister. Yep, Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate anniversaries.

Gotcha, thanks!

[jenb1023]

I have been MIA from the DIS for a few weeks so I am slowly catching up on all of my subscribed threads.

I also did not know about the build your own hat at DTD - I did not know you could do that at the MK either until the end of our last trip. So I think we will have to try that next time.

I am the family photographer so I loved the photo of your toes to prove you were there! Corey takes great photos so we get to see you sometimes. The few times I have trusted my DH or others to take care of the photo taking I was not very pleased with the results.

Looking forward to your next update!

[twob4him]

Just checkin in!!!:teleport: :wave: :magnify:puckerup::yo-yo::teleport:

[Tnkrbelle565]

What a tease...i thought there was an update this morning!

[teresajoy]

Glad you guys are back for another trip.
I laughed out loud at "Brian is Catholic, he has a lot of sisters." I'm seventh of seven, I can. :lmao::lmao:
If you don't mind me asking-I thought I saw something about you guys celebrating your anniversary-is that something you celebrate?

I know Heather answered, but I'll answer again. Yep, we celebrate anniversaries! And, if I do say so myself, Heather and I gave my parents THE BEST anniversary party EVER a few years ago!!! People STILL talk about it! :thumbsup2

I have been MIA from the DIS for a few weeks so I am slowly catching up on all of my subscribed threads.

I also did not know about the build your own hat at DTD - I did not know you could do that at the MK either until the end of our last trip. So I think we will have to try that next time.

I am the family photographer so I loved the photo of your toes to prove you were there! Corey takes great photos so we get to see you sometimes. The few times I have trusted my DH or others to take care of the photo taking I was not very pleased with the results.

Looking forward to your next update!

I'm glad you liked my toes! :rotfl: Brian takes good pictures, but he doesn't take good pictures of what I find important. So, I like to take most of the pictures. Corey has his own camera, so he also takes a lot, which is nice. He is saving this summer for some fancy shmancy DSLR camera with video.

Just checkin in!!!:teleport: :wave: :magnify:puckerup::yo-yo::teleport:


Me too!! :rotfl::lmao::laughing:
What a tease...i thought there was an update this morning!

Sorry Kristine!! I have the next installment mostly written, but I need to go back and make it interesting now! And add pictures! I think things should slow down this week, and as long as I don't get sick (which seems to happen every other week lately, and this would be the week) I will get to work on this!!! I want to get through the next day, which was not so good and onto some of the fun stuff we did! Although, not so good days are the most interesting to read about!!! ;)

[teresajoy]

The timeshare tour wasn't until 10:30, so we didn't need to rush around too much in the morning. I started packing up our things and then Corey and Brian got up, got ready to go down to breakfast.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0XFveaZI/AAAAAAAAG4s/WlgDZk7HUNw/s640/DSCF5473.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0YL7aBiI/AAAAAAAAG4w/OK07FBjUAjo/s640/DSCF5474.JPG



I told Corey that the front desk had told us that we had VIP seating for breakfast so if he saw something about VIP, that was where he should sit.
He looked at me as if I were nuts, but agreed.

He's a good kid like that, he thinks I'm crazy, but he usually listens anyway!

I told him I'd meet them down there soon when the girls were ready.

While the girls were getting dressed, I called the front desk to ask if we could have a late check out.

I was planning on leaving Corey to watch the girls in the room while Brian and I went on the timeshare tour. As I mentioned before, this hotel had CABLE!!! So, the kids were pretty pleased with the idea when I told them.

At home we were getting 1/2 a channel if we were luck.
Let's here it for the Digital Upgrade!!
NOT!
Stupid thing, we could rarely ever get anything in! I recently gave up the ship and ordered very basic cable for $10 a month. I think it's worth it not to be constantly wrestling with the rabbit ears and stupid convertor box! I despise that stupid thing!

Umm, where was I??? Oh yah, late checkout...

They were very nice and agreed to a 1PM checkout. This gave us over 2 1/2 hours to get through the timeshare tour and get back. Since the tour was only suppose to be 90 minutes, it was plenty of time.

The girls got dressed. They decided they wanted to match
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0Y3k6K6I/AAAAAAAAG40/dxTxhdvl4-Q/s640/DSCF5475.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0aJZ0THI/AAAAAAAAG44/3Xo9u9VP7p0/s640/DSCF5476.JPG

each other anyway....

and I got down to breakfast at 9:00 and Arminda made a waffle.
Yumm, waffles...

I was helping Lydia get her things, and I noticed all the food was being put away.

Lydia wanted a yogurt

as I made a flying leap for the yogurt, an employee shut the yogurt fotress up tight and locked it!l

Wow, that must be some very valuable yogurt to keep it under lock and key like that!!!

I did convince the employee to let me have one of the very valuable yogurts (VVY) and a doughnut. MMMM.... I love doughnuts....

Apparently, breakfast ended at 9AM and not 9:30, woops!

We found enough food and then found Brian and Corey sitting in the VIP section. Brian was pretty pleased to be sitting there! There was more food in this section (just a few things) and they brought coffee right to the table.

We sat and ate and talked a bit and then went back to the room to finish packing up and getting ready. I told Corey that they were not to leave the room while we were gone and to call us on our cell phone if they needed anything. Brian and I kissed the kids good-bye and headed on out.

As we were going through the parking lot, Brian saw this truck
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0b6SVJlI/AAAAAAAAG48/f_F4fgcMZAc/s640/DSCF5477.JPG


and wanted me to take a picture of him by it!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0dmxSXNI/AAAAAAAAG5A/4nvH0w3R03Y/s640/DSCF5478.JPG

Kind of cool, huh?

And even cooler that Brian wanted a picture in front of it!

Then, we were on our way!
Well, first, Brian wanted to make sure I got a picture of the antenna topper I'd bought the night before. He liked the way it matched the van:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0fg2QmbI/AAAAAAAAG5E/fHZD9edhMjo/s640/DSCF5479.JPG

Woops, I guess I really didn't get much of the van in the picture!

The timeshare, Calypso Cay
http://m.travelpn.com/images/kissimmee/hotel/0/081796/Other_G_1.jpg
was just a few miles down the road, so it didn't take long to get there.

After we checked in with the front desk,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/Calypso-Cay-Kids-Area.jpg

another couple came in.
There was a bit of a problem, because they had been told there would be a meal and to come hungry. They followed the directions and arrived very hungry.
Unfortunately, there had been a miscommunication and there was no meal. The wife had to take medication that needed taken with food.
The husband was polite but visibly upset when they were told that there was nothing they could do for them.
I thought that they probably could have found these people a bagel or something, but they didn't give them anything.
I felt bad for them.

We waited awhile and then Alberto came out to greet us. He asked us some general questions about when we arrived and where we were staying. We had booked several hotel nights with a timeshare tour package. We were suppose to tour a resort the next day, but since it was Arminda's birthday the next day, we needed to get to the parks instead. The tour company fixed it so that we could tour a day early but not at the resort we were staying at. This confused Alberto when we tried to explain it to him too. When he finally figured it out, he started to get a bit of an attitude with us. (Imagine that, a timeshare guide getting an attitude, will wonders never cease??) When we sat down and he went through the normal timeshare speal, we were able to tell him that we owned our own timeshare that we loved. We explained to him that we liked to go there every year.

Alberto told us that it sounded like we already had something that would work for us and that he was going to show us why we would hate purchasing what he had to offer.

Obviuosly we though this was rather odd, but I was hoping it would get us out of there early. Of course, Alberto had to go through the rest of his presentation anyway.

Alberto bragged to us how he had come into this country as an illegal alien.
Which, I must say, did not impress either Brian or I in the least.
He had a story about how he slept on a yellow blow up raft for his first year in this country.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/istockphoto_6613092-yellow-raft-flo.jpg
I'm pretty sure his wasn't in the water when he was sleeping on it though.

That is, until he discovered this wonder called

TIME SHARE!!!

It turned his life around,

IT


WAS

AMAZING!

He bought the timeshare, although he couldn't afford anything to sleep on except that $1.50 raft,
because as he explained,
he didn't have enough money for the $4.00 one.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SlmA4rbzIzI/AAAAAAAAG7s/QtDp9X74sFo/s800/DELUXE%20raft.jpg
Oh to dream!

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32671458&postcount=104)

[teresajoy]

To prove to us what a great guy he was, he told us that before going to work selling timeshares, he had worked for Disney. He even showed us his old Disney ID.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/SlmHFHUiL9I/AAAAAAAAG7w/fPpB4-_SSlc/s800/Alberto%20ID.JPG

oooooohhhhh.....impressive.....

He then showed us very old pictures of vacations he had taken,

all thanks to:





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THE WONDER OF TIMESHARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



He then showed us pictures of a house,

with him in it.

He claimed that it was his house...........

How could he,



an illegal alien,




have such a wonderous house???


HOW you ask???







TIME SHARE!

Oh my what a wonderous thing this timeshare is!!!!



But, of course, Alberto told us, we wouldn't want any of this, since we were happy with our timeshare and liked coming to Orlando.

Out of formality sake, he needed us to write down 5 different places we wanted to travel to. He handed us a form and told us to write down our vacation spots.

We started filling out the form, and then Alberto came back and told us we had to fill out everything on the form. It was full of lots of questions, such as "How much would you need to put away each month for your dream vacation?" Brian and I had only come up with three places we wanted to travel to, but quickly wrote down two more just so we could get out of this place.

Of course, Alberto was SHOCKED to see that we hadn't wrote down "Orlando" for every vacation we wanted to take!
He was TRULY confused!



Poor guy, he confuses easily.



I reminded him that he had told us to write down different spots, but he insisted that this meant we weren't happy just coming to Orlando every year.
And, oddly, even though Brian and I both told him he was wrong,
he insisted he was not!
Then, he jumped on how much we had put that we would need for our dream vacation,
insisting that this was the amount that we were currently saving a month for our yearly vacation,
even though we tired to explain to him that we didn't actually spend that much.

Things were starting to get pretty nasty!

At one point Alberto asked where our children were and we explained that our 17 year old son was watching the two younger kids in the hotel room. He accused us of child abuse for leaving the kids in the room instead of taking them to a Disney Park.

Yep, seriously, he did!

Alberto also told us that our current timeshare was breaking the law because it allowed 6 people to stay in a one bedroom room. Our timeshare has a bedroom, and then in the living area there is a Murphy bed and a fold out couch. Perfect for our family. He insisted though that they were breaking the law by allowing this.

I mentioned to Alberto that we really needed to wrap up the tour soon, because we had to check out of our hotel, and it was already 1:00. He told me, "That does not matter to me."

Obviously, there was no reasoning with a person like this, so I'm not sure why I bothered trying!

At this point, the couple that we had seen in the lobby told their tourguide that they had already been there for over 90 minutes and that was all they were told they needed to stay. The tourguide got very upset with them and told them they could not leave until the tour was over or they would have to pay $500. They couple told her that they had already fulfilled their obligation, and needed to leave so the wife could eat. The tourguide told them they were free to go, but they would be charged.

The couple left with the tourguide to tour a room. We followed them out.
They were ahead of us aways, and Alberto told us that he could not believe the tourguide had argued with the couple.

I thought perhaps Alberto wasn't so much of a jerk as I had thought he was, until he uttered his next thought:
"She should have told them to leave and charged them the $500. What you people need to remember is WE are the ones that give you your vouchers, if you make me mad, you don't get it. You be nice to me, I will give you your voucher. If you are not, I will not give it to you. What are you going to do, complain to my boss? My boss doesn't care, complain to him, he will laugh in your face, he doesn't care."
I was pretty stunned by this statement, but it got better...

"One time we had a couple in here who complained about how long the tour took. So, we made them sit waiting for their voucher for 4 hours. Then, we gave it to them and told them to take it to Disney World to get their tickets"
he laughed hysterically here
"But,of course, it was no good at Disney!!!!"
more laughing....
"So, they had to come back here and turn it in for their tickets!!"
laughing, laughing and more laughing....
"So, we took their voucher and gave them their tickets. We made them wait two days!!!"
laughing....
"Oh, we have lots of stories like that, we sit around telling them and just laughing. Yep, you have to be nice to me."

Honestly, I was feeling pretty uneasy with this guy at this point. But, we didn't have the extra money to hightail it out of there! We needed the voucher he would give us to pay for our hotel for the next few nights. At this point, if it had just been Disney tickets, I would have left.

NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32671484&postcount=105)

[teresajoy]

I figured I better try to get this going in our direction a little bit.

So, I started asking him about his family. He told us how his family had come into this country because of him (he had become a legal citizen somewhere along the line, apparently) and he could send them back to Mexico anytime he wanted to if they didn't do what he wanted.

So, I asked him about his Mom. He was nicer talking about his mother at least.

Finally we got to the tour unit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/7022_1_sbl.jpg

I asked Alberto if all the rooms had the bunkbeds set up like this room, with the glass wall and if there were curtains.
To which he replied.
"It doesn't matter, you will never have this."

And, when he showed us another unit, he announced it by saying,

"THIS is what YOU will NEVER have."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/AmeriSuites-Vacation-Club-at-Calyps.jpg


to which I couldn't help muttering,
"Thank goodness...."

In the last unit, we met up with the couple we had been seeing all along. I started chatting with the husband, who amazingly was still smilng and laughing.

I can't say that I was in such a jolly mood myself!

After an eternity, we were finally led to the final interrogation room.

Alberto gave us the price,

we said no,

then we were told to wait until the manager could talk to us.

There were four couples ahead of us, and it was taking a long time!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0gzDoSyI/AAAAAAAAG5I/Q56vuGjQ91Q/s800/DSCF5480.JPG
Brian looks THRILLED, doesn't he! :rotfl2:

So, we called Corey to let him know what was going on. I told him to call the front desk to let them know it would be a bit longer. I also told Corey to make sure everything was packed up and ready to move out. Everything should have been packed, but I wanted him to check to make sure we weren't forgetting anything.

While we were waiting, we overheard Alberto talking to two other employees about the couple we had been seeing.
It was not to tell what a great sense of humor the guest had had either.

They were recounting how they should have been kicked out or made to wait longer. This was all within easy earshot of the couple they were talking about and any other guests in the room.

Classy joint this Calypso Cay.

Finally we were ready to meet with the mangager.
Of course, he asked how Alberto treated us, and since we did not have our voucher yet, we said, "ok."
The manager then showed us a cheaper deal, and then showed us another deal for a one bedroom condo that slept 6......

hmm.... odd....I thought that was against the law....

We refused, and then were told another employee needed to talk to us.

Thankfully, the last employee came over quickly. She offered to let us come back to stay at the resort for a very reasonable price, which had we been treated decently, we probably would have taken her up on. But, there was no way I was staying at that place after this!

So, finally, we had our voucher in hand and went to get it traded in for our tickets.

I held my breath as the employee ran the voucher through to check it's validity. I could just see Alberto messing up something. With tickets and hotel voucher in hand, I proceeded to state my true feelings about Alberto to anyone in earshot..
much to Brian's embarassement...
Not that he didn't agree, but he doesn't like to rehash things like this the way I feel the need to.

Which, I suppose is why he would never consider writing a trip report to rehash it further with people he didn't really know......



When we got back to the hotel, the kids were ready to go, and only a few things needed to be shoved,

umm, I mean

oh so carefully packed away in a suitcase.

We checked out of the hotel and headed on over to our new residence for the next several days, the

Liki Tiki Village!!

Part Seven: NEXT (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33563639&postcount=127)

[jessica52877]

Wow! That was enough to give me a headache so early in the morning. I am thankful you got your voucher without too much trouble. Alberto sounds umm, I'll go with interesting to be nice!

[jenb1023]

All I can say is WOW! After your experiences with time shares and dvc, I think I would rather work three jobs to pay for vacations then to deal with those people! I don't know how you made it to the end without telling Alberto off. My DH used to hate it when I politely told people off - but now he's used to it and actually doesn't mind because we usually get something. I can't stand bad customer service which is one of the reasons I love WDW - bad customer service is the exception there.

Love the girls "matching" outfits and Brian's photo op! Corey is a gem - especially considering he is a teenager!

[minnie2]

Teresa you have the worst luck with Timeshare tours! I have to say Alberto take the cake though! Glad you got your voucher though.

I think you need to come to Chicago and Do the DVC one again with our tour guide she is fabulous!

[karebear1]

Gee........ Maybe I can convince you to name your next child Alberto......

I understand now why it toook you soooo long to update! I wouldn't want to rehash this experieince either!

So- when you finally announced your feelings about the tour- did anyone say anything?? Employees or people that were touring?

[jham]

Oh the joys of the timeshare tour! :scared: I've been through a few and this is by far the worst! I'm glad you survived! :hug: Our DVC tour in California was lovely! I didn't mind a minute of it and our "tour guide" was great.

[Hedy]

:eek::eek::eek:

[teresajoy]

Wow! That was enough to give me a headache so early in the morning. I am thankful you got your voucher without too much trouble. Alberto sounds umm, I'll go with interesting to be nice!

yes, interesting... I'm not sure why he kept telling us he came into the country as an illegal alien. I wanted to tell him what my brother-in-law-in-law (Henry's brother) did for a living, but I restrained myself!

All I can say is WOW! After your experiences with time shares and dvc, I think I would rather work three jobs to pay for vacations then to deal with those people! I don't know how you made it to the end without telling Alberto off. My DH used to hate it when I politely told people off - but now he's used to it and actually doesn't mind because we usually get something. I can't stand bad customer service which is one of the reasons I love WDW - bad customer service is the exception there.

Love the girls "matching" outfits and Brian's photo op! Corey is a gem - especially considering he is a teenager!

I will do a lot to save money, including keeping my mouth halfway shut! ;) I must say, I am a VERY good complainer myself!!! Just ask Heather. Don't ask Brian, he never thinks complaining=good.

Teresa you have the worst luck with Timeshare tours! I have to say Alberto take the cake though! Glad you got your voucher though.

I think you need to come to Chicago and Do the DVC one again with our tour guide she is fabulous!

You know, we usually have really good experiences, just these last two times it stunk! Alberto was right up there with the worst of the worst. No, actually, I do believe he WAS the worst of the worst!

Gee........ Maybe I can convince you to name your next child Alberto......

I understand now why it toook you soooo long to update! I wouldn't want to rehash this experieince either!

So- when you finally announced your feelings about the tour- did anyone say anything?? Employees or people that were touring?

Karen, did I tell you that? about why I took so long to update?? I thought I told Heather, but here you are saying it!

Nope, no one said anything! We were the last people out of there, so there weren't any customers around. But, the employees just looked at me like they had heard it before! :rotfl:



Oh the joys of the timeshare tour! :scared: I've been through a few and this is by far the worst! I'm glad you survived! :hug: Our DVC tour in California was lovely! I didn't mind a minute of it and our "tour guide" was great.

:eek::eek::eek:

I don't usually mind a timeshare tour, the majority I have ever been on were polite and sometimes rather friendly. We have toured Orange Lake and Westgate and had really good experiences at both of them. Westgate was actually the best, no pressure at all.

I would not stay at this place, just because this guy kind of scared me. I really felt that we were being threatened by him. Like I said, if it had not been for the fact that we REALLY needed a place to stay, I would have been out of there!

[teresajoy]

The day, and with a few exceptions, the week got a LOT better after this episode! So, the next updates shouldn't take so long for me to write! :thumbsup2

I want to be done before I leave again!

[Tnkrbelle565]

How do you stand sitting through those timeshare things??? They made you talk to 3 different people? We did them on our Caribbean and Mexican vacations and we told them upfront were weren't buying so they let us fly through the thing and let us have the freebie. Your experiences have been obnoxious

[teresajoy]

How do you stand sitting through those timeshare things??? They made you talk to 3 different people? We did them on our Caribbean and Mexican vacations and we told them upfront were weren't buying so they let us fly through the thing and let us have the freebie. Your experiences have been obnoxious

It usually doesn't take this long, we can generally clock it at 90 minutes. We let them know up front we aren't planning on buying, and we can always honestly tell them that we don't like their resort. We love ours. That usually does the trick. This guy just seemed to be having fun making people miserable! Oh well, we got a cheap room, and I got to write about what a jerk he was and hopefully warn people away from CaLYPSO CAY!!

Did you get that people? It was CALYPSO CAY! If you go to CALYPSO CAY and they introduce you to Alberto, run~! away from Calypso Cay..:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

[HeatherSue]

You're not the only one who doesn't get any reception now that they've switched to digital! Jenny has a roof antenna and still doesn't get any channels! None!

I love Lydia and Arminda's matching outfits! I don't think I've ever seen those shirts! So cute!

9:00 seems absurdly early to end breakfast. It's vacation, for goodness sake!

Brian is such a goof! I love the picture of him by the McDonald's truck! :rotfl:

:lmao: about Alberto and his $1.50 raft!!

Oh my gosh, Alberto is turning really creepy...

Your link doesn't work on the "next" after Alberto tells you how nice you need to be.

You will never have a bathroom papered in hideous palm tree wallpaper. Nope, not you.

Brian looks like he'd like to kick Alberto in the hiney.

I'm all for rehashing! Thank you! You must have been SO upset at that point! That is just rediculous how he blackmailed you like that!

Maybe I need to send my brother-in-law to Calypso Cay to make sure Alberto is actually legal.

[teresajoy]

You're not the only one who doesn't get any reception now that they've switched to digital! Jenny has a roof antenna and still doesn't get any channels! None!

I love Lydia and Arminda's matching outfits! I don't think I've ever seen those shirts! So cute!

9:00 seems absurdly early to end breakfast. It's vacation, for goodness sake!

Brian is such a goof! I love the picture of him by the McDonald's truck! :rotfl:

:lmao: about Alberto and his $1.50 raft!!

Oh my gosh, Alberto is turning really creepy...

Your link doesn't work on the "next" after Alberto tells you how nice you need to be.

You will never have a bathroom papered in hideous palm tree wallpaper. Nope, not you.

Brian looks like he'd like to kick Alberto in the hiney.

I'm all for rehashing! Thank you! You must have been SO upset at that point! That is just rediculous how he blackmailed you like that!

Maybe I need to send my brother-in-law to Calypso Cay to make sure Alberto is actually legal.


Really!? Even with the roof antenna, huh? I hold fast to my theory that this was entirely a plot by the cable and satellite companies to make people buy their services!

The shirts are cute, aren't they! Mom bought those at Walmart two years ago. I thought it was adorable how they wanted to match, right down to the red shorts. :rolleyes1

I agree ,9AM is WAY too early to end breakfast!

You like his dream raft too??

Creepy is an understatement! He was SCARY! :scared1: I was seriously glad we weren't actually staying there, where he could find us!

Thanks, I fixed it! :thumbsup2

So sad, no hideous palmtree wallpaper for us. :sad1:

Oh, yes! You need to have him run a little background check on our buddy Alberto! I posted his ID so it should make it easier to do! :thumbsup2

[*Toadstool*]

Alberto! I posted his ID so it should make it easier to do! :thumbsup2
You gals are so cute.
The ID thing made me :rotfl:
This is getting good. popcorn::
I love smiles. :flower3:

[twob4him]

I agree with the poster who said :eek::eek::eek:


I was going to make something up about loving Calypso Bay and I toured with Alberto and he was really sweet...but seriously, I am so shaken by your experience I couldn't even joke around about it. :confused3

I went to one timeshare tour when I was like 22 with a friend. They barely showed us around, asked if we wanted to buy, when we declined they said...ok well eat up (they had a little buffet) and here are your tickets. They seemed glad we didnt buy or something...anyways...remind me never to sign up for a tour anywhere. :3dglasses

[maroo]

Wow.

What a mess!! :)

I guess it was worth it to get the free stuff, though? Maybe?

I think I will stay away from the timeshare deal. I might buy one! :scared1:

I am glad for the update! And I hope you guys are doing well!!! :thumbsup2

[Stephres]

Goodness, Alberto was making ME nervous and I wasn't even there!

Love the girls' matching outfits (well I love the girls too!). And Corey was so sweet to watch them for you.

[teresajoy]

You gals are so cute.
The ID thing made me :rotfl:
This is getting good. popcorn::
I love smiles. :flower3:

I spend too much time trying to find silly pictures! I'm glad you appreciated the ID!!!

If anyone actually wants to print that out, it's at:
http://family.go.com/entertainment/article-634762-disney-printable---goofy-s-license-to-goof-t/
They have a princess one too:
http://family.go.com/entertainment/pkg-princess-crafts-and-recipes/craft-586758-princess-id-card-t/

I agree with the poster who said :eek::eek::eek:


I was going to make something up about loving Calypso Bay and I toured with Alberto and he was really sweet...but seriously, I am so shaken by your experience I couldn't even joke around about it. :confused3

I went to one timeshare tour when I was like 22 with a friend. They barely showed us around, asked if we wanted to buy, when we declined they said...ok well eat up (they had a little buffet) and here are your tickets. They seemed glad we didnt buy or something...anyways...remind me never to sign up for a tour anywhere. :3dglasses

Those are the kind of timeshare tours I like!

Wow.

What a mess!! :)

I guess it was worth it to get the free stuff, though? Maybe?

I think I will stay away from the timeshare deal. I might buy one! :scared1:

I am glad for the update! And I hope you guys are doing well!!! :thumbsup2

I would say it was worth it for the room and tickets. And, we still had fun the rest of the day.

Lyddie is sick, but other than that, everyone else is ok! :thumbsup2
Goodness, Alberto was making ME nervous and I wasn't even there!

Love the girls' matching outfits (well I love the girls too!). And Corey was so sweet to watch them for you.
I know, wasn't he creepy! I wish I could have got a picture of him, but I have a feeling he wouldn't have allowed that. :rolleyes1

[HeatherSue]

You are seriously neglecting this trip report, young lady! :duck:

[DisneyMom5]

You are seriously neglecting this trip report, young lady! :duck:

But on the upside it makes me feel better about my trip report! :rotfl:

[teresajoy]

yeah, yeah ,whatever! I'm thinking I may need to do a two for one trip report! This one and my next all rolled into one! Let me get my sewing done for the trip and i'll come on back and finish this up!

In the next installment we meet a Diser and help save a child! (sort of)

[teresajoy]

I just wrote up the next installment. I had forgotten how fun that is! I need to add pictures and tweak it a bit. Hopefully it will be ready to post by Monday. You know where to find me if it isn't up by then. :thumbsup2

[teresajoy]

We thought we'd take the Disney route over to Liki Tiki.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0h9CeSjI/AAAAAAAAG5M/5-RQXYsRULA/DSCF5481.JPG

My all time favorite route!
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0jM672XI/AAAAAAAAG5Q/dFmMubiI3tE/DSCF5482.JPG

We decided we really needed to stop at Pop Century and get some reusable mugs! We had so much fun doing that in 2007, and we all loved the slushies.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Disney/Armindamug.jpg

I was pleased that Brian agreed to stop with no convincing!

Lydia took a little nap on the way
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/DSCF5483.jpg

Corey thought he'd do a bit of Twitting on the way in. (OH he HATES it when I say Twit and not Tweet!!!)
http://lh5.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf0mJX17fI/AAAAAAAAG5Y/jjULmKCe_pg/s512/DSCF5484.JPG

(No, we did NOT park in that spot!)


I decided to see if they had anything that Lydia could take back to her class, so I stopped at the concierge desk. The CM was very friendly and asked if we were staying with them. I told her that we were staying off property, and she was STILL friendly! You have to love the true Disney attitude! She told me that she had some little activity books that she could give to Lydia's class. So, she went and got some and even made sure there were enough there for Corey and Arminda! And, she put them in a bag so they wouldn't get wrinkled. She was so sweet, it was just a wonderful change after our Alberto experience!

We were all happy and in a good mood as we entered the Food Court to purchase our mugs. We decided that we would all get our own mug this year. I love using my Disney mug at home so, I considered it a reasonably priced souvenir. We bought our mugs and then looked for the slushie machines!

Well, guess what! We couldn't find them, so I asked a CM if they were there. He happily told me to come with him, and then proudly displayed to me the Ice-Tea machine (slushie, ice-tea, they kind of sound alike, I guess!) He showed me that there were three, or was it four? different kinds of tea, and then waited there while I picked one! He was so sweet, I filled my mug up with some ice tea! Not that I don't like ice tea, but I would have rather had some pop!

We made another round and discovered that the slushie machines were nowhere to be found!

Who takes out a slushie machine??? WHO?????


So, I drank my tea then went back for some pop,

then went back for some hot chocolate,

then went back for coffee,


then some pop...


then Lydia and I made a run to the bathroom!!!

As we made the mad dash to the potty, I noticed a flash of a lime green Mickey Head on the camera bag of a woman in the lobby! There was no time to stop to talk to her though, so I was hoping she would be there when I came back out!

Lydia took a long time in the bathroom, so I figured there was not much chance of her still being there, but I looked anyway. And was excited to see that yes, she was there! So, I went over and talked to her. Her userID is Disnee9, she was very sweet and told me that this was their last day and they had been there for their anniversary. I told her that we were just getting there and we chatted for a bit.

Lydia and I then headed back to the food court through the gift shop. While walking through, i noticed a very distraught woman talking to a CM. So, I walked (eavesdropped) nearby and heard that the woman was looking for her little boy. She had turned around for a minute and the little boy was gone. I went over to the Mom and asked if we could help her. She told me what he was wearing and what he looked like. I went to our table and told Brian what was going on. Arminda decided to walk around with me and help me look.

We passed the Mom a few times and she was crying. I sent Corey into the restroom to look, but we couldn't find him. I was in tears trying to find the little boy! It's every mother's worst nightmare. And, I didn't even want to think about the pools that were so close by.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Mom found the little boy. He had went into the arcade to play some games! The Mom thanked us for helping her look, and I was relieved that he had been found safe and sound!

As we were leaving the food court, I spotted the Disnee9 again and we chatted some more. She was really a very sweet lady!

We then headed back out to the van and drove on over to Liki Tiki Village.

Arminda got out with me to check in. She was very impressed with the decor of the lobby.

She took a picture of this statue
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/PICT0005.jpg

and was a little freaked out by the eel in the aquarium!

http://lh6.ggpht.com/__XPZOZCrMPM/Slf01wlrLGI/AAAAAAAAG6A/3EcS7OyPH78/PICT0006.JPG

So was I!

We were checked in quickly and given our keys.

The room was on the top floor, but there were only two floors, so that was ok.

There was a private bedroom,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/image_villa_room_double_1.jpg

a full kitchen,

http://www.likitiki.com/media/445/1bdrm-kitchen-area.jpg


and a pull out couch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/1bdrm-living-area.jpg

There was also a balcony that overlooked a little pond.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/PICT0004.jpg
(That's the balcony, not the pond)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/image_hotel_exterior_frontview_1.jpg


Brian went out to the balcony right away and began pondering whether or not he could cast from the balcony into the pond.

Have I mentioned that Brian REALLY likes to fish??

There was a coffee pot in the kitchen, so I started a pot of coffee as I unpacked. I also started a load of laundry in the washer that was in the bathroom. I just LOVE having a washer and dryer while on vacation! I am amused easily!

After the coffee was done, Brian and I sat out on the balcony together and drank our coffee.

A hotair balloon went by

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/S6300609.jpg

Oh, so romantic, aww....

http://bestsmileys.com/kissing1/16.gif

Then, Lydia came out....

Then Arminda came out...

Then, Corey got some coffee and HE came out....

So much for romance, it's family time!
http://bestsmileys.com/family/3.gif

Lydia and Arminda were rather enthralled with a pony tail holder that was stuck in a palm tree just outside of the balcony. They speculated on how it could have gotten there.

Lydia was pretty sure someone had been climbing up the tree and it got stuck.

Arminda however was confident that someone had been going DOWN the tree.

After awhile of this fascinating conversation, we decided to run to the Bass Pro Shop and then Target to get a little cooler to put some lunch in. We were going to the parks in the morning.

But, first, I put the clothes in the dryer and turned it on.

Brian dropped the girls and me off at the outlet mall and he headed for the Bass Pro Shop. We had cellphones his year, so there was none of the confusion of last year!

The girls found these cute My Disney Girl dolls for $12. I loved their little hats! They even came with little autograph books!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/teresajoy/Trip%20Report/DSCF5494.jpg

However they were extremely poorly made, and I think $12 was about right!

We were done shopping early, so the girls and I walked around for a bit. It was REALLY windy out!

Brian called and picked us up and we went to Target.

It wasn't easy finding a nice cooler bag for not a lot of money! I finally went with a cute brown number with polka dots.

Brian of course, felt the need to buy more groceries. He really likes to buy groceries.

But, not as much as he likes to fish.

And, I'm PRETTY sure he likes ME better than fish.

I think.

I'm ALMOST positive about that.

But, just to make sure, sometimes I make fishy faces at him.
:fish:

A girl can't be too careful.

Um, where was I????

Oh yeah Target! Grocery Shopping!!! OOOH!

We loaded up the groceries and drove on back.

Brian bought steak, so he fixed that up for us. We at it out on the balcony. It was really good!

I went to take the clothes out of the dryer and noticed that they were just as wet as when I put them in the dryer! Uggh! The dryer wasn't heating. So, I had to call maintenance to come fix it.

Brian thought this would be a great time to, what else???

GO FISHING!

http://bestsmileys.com/fishing/2.gif

I warned him to watch out for alligators and he happily skipped out the door and down the steps.
I'm pretty sure I heard him whistling the Andy Griffith tune.

I cleaned up and waited for the maintenance guys to show up.

Boy, wasn't this installment REALLY worth the wait! Such excitement you just couldn't imagine!

They guys showed up and fixed the dryer. Just as they were finishing up, Brian came back and they talked appliance for awhile.

Brian has absolutely not interest in appliances, but he does like to be polite.

And, when our dryer at home did the same thing last month, I knew what was wrong.

I got our clothes all ready for our park day and then got the kids all ready for bed.

Corey was not pleased when he found out he would either have to sleep on the fold out couch with Lydia or Arminda or on the floor. He chose the floor. I made him a nice comfy looking bed out of the couch cushions and tucked in all three kids for the night. It was going to be an early morning so we could get to the Magic kingdom at or near opening!

As I was crawling into bed, Brian (who was already there) told me,
"I'm going fishing in the morning, is that ok?"

(in my head:)
WHAT!??!!! Are you INSANE!!! It's a DISNEY DAY!

Outloud:
"Um, sure when are you going to be back?" is what I actually said.

He assured me that he would be back and ready to go by the time I was.

He was late for every single one of our dates....

He is often late for work.....

He is always getting home late (but often shows up with a fish)....


He was late for our WEDDING!!! (long story, remind me to tell you about it sometime)

BUT!

He

better



not



be


late





for






DISNEY DAY!


Not if he knows what's good for him!

We kissed and I tried to sleep.

But, there was a light that was shining directly into the room through the vertical blinds!

GRRR....

After awhile I couldn't take it anymore and hung up an extra sheet on the blinds to help block the light!

Next thing I remembered the alarm was going off and Brian was gone.

Up Next: We FINALLY get to a park!

[DisneyMom5]

Glad you're back to updating BEFORE your next trip. LOL

My new trippie is ready to begin...come on over! :wizard:

[maroo]

Woo Hoo!!! An update!

I love that you guys went to the POP to get POP! Sorry you were thwarted in your efforts. I heard they got rid off the slushy machines. :confused3

I can't wait to find out if he made it in time for Disney Day! :surfweb:

[Tnkrbelle565]

I thought you were MIA! Can't wait to hear more!!!

[k_reile]

I think that is the car seat I just bought for Caleb! Is it the Graco Natulis (and i only know the name cause I just bought it yesterday)...do you like it??

[HeatherSue]

Corey's such a great Twitter. ;)

That's a bevy of beverages you were drinking!

Oh, the poor woman losing her little boy!

Liki Tiki. Now THAT'S a funny name!

I love that Brian wanted to fish off the balcony! That's SO Brian!

A-ha! So, that's why you make the fishy faces! :rotfl:

Poor Corey! Sleeping on a bed of couch cushions, I feel his pain (although I used to get 2 chairs pushed together, as I recall- I even recall thinking that was really cool).

It's nice to hear that things like lights outside the room drive you crazy, too.

He's going fishing in the morning before Disney???? I can't wait to hear how this turns out!

[teresajoy]

Glad you're back to updating BEFORE your next trip. LOL

My new trippie is ready to begin...come on over! :wizard:
I'm glad you appreciate my efforts! :thumbsup2

I'll have to go check out yours!

Woo Hoo!!! An update!

I love that you guys went to the POP to get POP! Sorry you were thwarted in your efforts. I heard they got rid off the slushy machines. :confused3

I can't wait to find out if he made it in time for Disney Day! :surfweb:


Yep, pop at Pop! I mourn the slushie machines!

I thought you were MIA! Can't wait to hear more!!!

Thanks for reading!!!

I think that is the car seat I just bought for Caleb! Is it the Graco Natulis (and i only know the name cause I just bought it yesterday)...do you like it??

yep, that's the one! We really love it so far. The straps haven't gotten twisted yet! Which is one of my biggest pet peeves with most carseats! Lydia says it is very comfortable, and she loves the cupholder. I like the wings on the side, because when she falls asleep she doesn't fall over. It's nice and lightweight too, so it's much easier to carry onto the plane!

Corey's such a great Twitter. ;)

That's a bevy of beverages you were drinking!

Oh, the poor woman losing her little boy!

Liki Tiki. Now THAT'S a funny name!

I love that Brian wanted to fish off the balcony! That's SO Brian!

A-ha! So, that's why you make the fishy faces! :rotfl:

Poor Corey! Sleeping on a bed of couch cushions, I feel his pain (although I used to get 2 chairs pushed together, as I recall- I even recall thinking that was really cool).

It's nice to hear that things like lights outside the room drive you crazy, too.

He's going fishing in the morning before Disney???? I can't wait to hear how this turns out!

Yep, that's what the fishy faces are all about!!!

I think you mean Twitterer :);)

i giggled a bit about "Liki Tiki" too!

bevy of beverages! :rotfl:

And, I knew you'd like the "talking appliance" comment too! :thumbsup2

[Stephres]

I would like to hear the story about Brian being late to your wedding. Was he fishing? I HAVE to know!

Those dolls are cute!

More please! This was like a tease.

[Tnkrbelle565]

I would like to hear the story about Brian being late to your wedding. Was he fishing? I HAVE to know!

More please! This was like a tease.

Ya, you really can't leave us hanging like that! We need more info!!! Make it an anniversary gift to me ;) :rotfl:

[momtoprincess A]

I can't believe I just read this for over an hour and you still haven't actually made it to Disney.:lmao:
I love reading your report Teresa, it's so entertaining. :cool1:
I'm sorry about all the trouble that has found you.:hug:

[ireland_nicole]

popcorn:::rotfl2:popcorn::

[teresajoy]

I would like to hear the story about Brian being late to your wedding. Was he fishing? I HAVE to know!

Those dolls are cute!

More please! This was like a tease.

I know, this really should have been with the Alberto installment, but I got lazy!!!

Ya, you really can't leave us hanging like that! We need more info!!! Make it an anniversary gift to me ;) :rotfl:

I'm sorry! How about I tell the story of my wedding?

I can't believe I just read this for over an hour and you still haven't actually made it to Disney.:lmao:
I love reading your report Teresa, it's so entertaining. :cool1:
I'm sorry about all the trouble that has found you.:hug:

Trouble makes life fun! And a TR halfway interesting!!! :rotfl:

popcorn:::rotfl2:popcorn::

WHAT???:confused3 ALREADY with the popcorn???? :confused3


Ok, my wedding day.

As I've said, Brian was late for E V E R Y T H I N G!!! He once promised me up and down that he would NOT be late for our date. Well, he walked in 3 hours after he had promised to pick me up! I wouldn't look at him. He took my picture, but I can't seem to find that album at the moment. Just picture me really skinny, tan, blue Tarpon Springs shirt on, with a perm. Not a real bad perm like the unfortunate perm of 1982, I actually liked this one.

Anways, since he was always late, I joked around that he would be late for our wedding. Yeah, some joke.

I myself am QUITE punctual, I had my wedding dress finished the morning of the wedding. ::yes::

His college buddies, aka: groomsmen and bestman, were staying at our future home with Brian. So, they were suppose to get him to the wedding on time. It was half of their job. How could they mess that up?? :confused3:confused3 They had two things to do.
:teacher:
1) Get Brian to the wedding BEFORE the wedding was suppose to start
2) Escort people to their seats
Simple? Right?

Brian was suppose to be at the community center (where we were having the wedding) an hour early. So, 1:00. I didn't actually expect him there at 1:00, but I really did expect him there by say, 12:58. My mother was NOT pleased, because not only was Brian not there, the groomsmen/ushers were not there to seat people. So, who had to do it? My MOTHER! Fabulous guys, just fabulous.

I really wasn't all that worried or upset about Brian being late, honestly it wasn't exactly unexpected. But, I tried calling around to figure out where he was. By the time I called, no one was at the house (soon to be our house). I should mention that our house was about 35 minutes from where the wedding was. So, he would have been in SOOOOO much trouble had he actually answered that phone at 1:05!

People kept coming up to me and asking if i was "ok". I really was, slightly miffed, but ok.

Finally! i got the word that Brian had showed up, with his groomsmen! of course, he wasn't quite dressed yet! And the "photographer" (quotes because he had no business calling himself that) had to get pictures of him getting ready.

yeah yeah yeah, whatever.... let's get this show on the road!

Apparently, when Brian walked in, my cousin (the one I hate) walked up to him and said, "We are just waiting for the groom, he's late." To which Brian replied, "Well, that's me!"

After the wedding, I quizzed Brian about what the heck he had been doing!

Apparently, he needed to do his L A U N D R Y!!!! And, buy black socks!
WHY neither of these two things occured to him BEFORE an hour before our wedding is a mystery to both Brian and me! He has never packed his own clothes for a trip since that day.

Oh, and since we didn't have a washer and dryer, he had to go to the laundrymat to do his clothes. Now where would a logical man go to do his laundry? The one that was right in the town where he lived, or the one in the town where he was getting married, 35 minutes away????

Anyone care to guess???

Yeah, he did his laundry at the laundromat that was right next to the community center, where our wedding was. Which, would have been ok. BUT after he did his laundry, he drove BACK HOME! And THEN had to drive back again for the wedding!!

He makes no excuses and has no idea why he did that either. I think it might have been aliens.

[HeatherSue]

Very punctual, you are! ;) Actually, you have been very punctual for the last few years. I want you to know that I've noticed and appreciate your efforts!

Mom should have let the people seat themselves, or asked someone else to do it. She had enough on her plate!

Why on earth was George even at your wedding??? I guess he wasn't in prison yet.

Yes, definitely aliend. :rotfl:

You know, at the time, it didn't seem like a big deal to me. I guess it's because we both knew he was going to show up, he'd just be late. I never considered that some of the guests might have been thinking he wasn't coming! :lmao:

[Miz Diz]

Decided to join in since you pimped out your TR on the Disboutiquers thread. :rotfl2:

I've only read the first 2 pages, but looking forward to reading more.

Your description of yourself describes me perfectly. Except I'm 37 and growing up we did not go to Disney every year for 1 day, but we did go several times.

[teresajoy]

Very punctual, you are! ;) Actually, you have been very punctual for the last few years. I want you to know that I've noticed and appreciate your efforts!

Mom should have let the people seat themselves, or asked someone else to do it. She had enough on her plate!

Why on earth was George even at your wedding??? I guess he wasn't in prison yet.

Yes, definitely aliend. :rotfl:

You know, at the time, it didn't seem like a big deal to me. I guess it's because we both knew he was going to show up, he'd just be late. I never considered that some of the guests might have been thinking he wasn't coming! :lmao:

Before, I met Brian I was much more punctual, then it really didn't matter since he was ALWAYS late! ;) Thank you for noticing my timeliness of late! (and that sentence just makes me giggle! :laughing: )

George was not yet in prison.

It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me either! Funny how it didn't dawn on me until later that people thought I would be worried the he wasn't going to show up! I knew he'd be there, I also knew he'd be late! I didn't think he be quite THAT late. But, it has all worked out ok!

Decided to join in since you pimped out your TR on the Disboutiquers thread. :rotfl2:

I've only read the first 2 pages, but looking forward to reading more.

Your description of yourself describes me perfectly. Except I'm 37 and growing up we did not go to Disney every year for 1 day, but we did go several times.

Thanks for coming on over!!! I just love readers and especially readers who make comments!!! :banana::banana::banana:

[DisneyMom5]

I'm getting excited about your next trip! Do you and Heather have Pre-trippies going? I'd love to hear where your ADRs are for!

[teresajoy]

I'm getting excited about your next trip! Do you and Heather have Pre-trippies going? I'd love to hear where your ADRs are for!

No pretrippie, but here's a list of where we will be eating

Bomas
Chef Mickey
1900 Park Fare (breakfst with Alice and dinner with stepsisters)
Akershus
umm... some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out.
and Ohana's with Lilo

Heather isn't doing some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out, she's doing Crystal Palace instead.

[DisneyMom5]

No pretrippie, but here's a list of where we will be eating

Bomas
Chef Mickey
1900 Park Fare (breakfst with Alice and dinner with stepsisters)
Akershus
umm... some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out.
and Ohana's with Lilo

Heather isn't doing some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out, she's doing Crystal Palace instead.

That would be Raglan Road. Sounds really good.

So you ARE going to the parks now? Otherwise you couldn't do askershus.

I was wondering how you could go and do no parks. ;)

Enjoy Pop Century, we REALLY missed it this trip. Sniff.

[jenb1023]

I can't believe I just read this for over an hour and you still haven't actually made it to Disney.:lmao:


Too funny!

No pretrippie, but here's a list of where we will be eating

Bomas
Chef Mickey
1900 Park Fare (breakfst with Alice and dinner with stepsisters)
Akershus
umm... some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out.
and Ohana's with Lilo

Heather isn't doing some Irish place in Downtown Disney that Brian picked out, she's doing Crystal Palace instead.

Some Irish place in downtown Disney?! You better hang up your DIS shoes now for not knowing the name of the restaurant! ;)

Glad to see you are still updating - for awhile I thought you abandoned this TR.

You need to write a TR for the next trip so we can see photos from Corey's new camera. What kind did he get?

[teresajoy]

That would be Raglan Road. Sounds really good.

So you ARE going to the parks now? Otherwise you couldn't do askershus.

I was wondering how you could go and do no parks. ;)

Enjoy Pop Century, we REALLY missed it this trip. Sniff.

I KNEW you would help me out with the name of the restaurant!
We were always planning on one park (since we had to buy one park day to get free dining). Although, I think we were debating saving that for our next trip. We really love Epcot so we decided to make it our one park. We need to pack a lot of fun into that day!

Too funny!



Some Irish place in downtown Disney?! You better hang up your DIS shoes now for not knowing the name of the restaurant! ;)

Glad to see you are still updating - for awhile I thought you abandoned this TR.

You need to write a TR for the next trip so we can see photos from Corey's new camera. What kind did he get?

Unfortunately, I very rarely remember the names of ANY Disney restaurants!! I know, I know, what kind of Diser am I! :confused3 :rotfl2:

Don't worry, I wouldn't abandon a TR, that's not nice. I've just had a lot of stuff going on here lately.

Corey got a Canon Rebel T1i. Oh yeah! :yay::woohoo::cheer2::dance3:

My Dad paid for half for his graduation present and Corey earned the other half babysitting the neighbor kids this summer. Of course, now he wants some more lenses...

[maroo]

Why on earth was George even at your wedding??? I guess he wasn't in prison yet.


:eek:

Some Irish place in downtown Disney?! You better hang up your DIS shoes now for not knowing the name of the restaurant! ;)

:laughing:

Unfortunately, I very rarely remember the names of ANY Disney restaurants!! I know, I know, what kind of Diser am I! :confused3 :rotfl2:

At least you actually know the name of the Disney characters! ;) :rolleyes1


I have a wedding story. My brother was late to his wedding. Really late. Like...after it started.

He lost his shoes. And he wears size 13. So...five shoe stores later, he still didn't have shoes.

I believe some really nice, big footed person gave Martin a pair of shoes to borrow.

My dad made some comment like, "I guess he got cold feet." :rotfl: :rotfl2:

Martin will never live that down!

[Miz Diz]

Well - I've read through page 5 now. (Actually I put that for me, so I know where to start back on.)

Your kids are really cute.

I should have multi quoted because now I can't remember what I wanted to comment on.


I think the kids should have put the last baggage sticker on you, so you could cover that green gunk. :sick: I would have had to change shirts.

Who knew there were so many armadillos in Florida. :rotfl2:

CiCi's would not have been my choice, either. I loved the wrapped around the finger story. Sadly it is the same with my kids.

Too bad on the DVC thing. So I have to ask. What happened? When we did the tour, dh talked them into giving us gift cards instead of the fast passes. Just fyi, in case you decide to do the tour again.

[jenb1023]

Unfortunately, I very rarely remember the names of ANY Disney restaurants!! I know, I know, what kind of Diser am I! :confused3 :rotfl2:

Don't worry, I wouldn't abandon a TR, that's not nice. I've just had a lot of stuff going on here lately.

Corey got a Canon Rebel T1i. Oh yeah! :yay::woohoo::cheer2::dance3:

My Dad paid for half for his graduation present and Corey earned the other half babysitting the neighbor kids this summer. Of course, now he wants some more lenses...

Tell Corey he made a great choice! I am on my third Canon rebel - second digital one. I have the Xsi. Too bad you guys live so far away - I would be happy to pay Corey to babysit to help support his camera passion.

[teresajoy]

1.)At least you actually know the name of the Disney characters! ;) :rolleyes1


2._I have a wedding story. My brother was late to his wedding. Really late. Like...after it started.

He lost his shoes. And he wears size 13. So...five shoe stores later, he still didn't have shoes.

I believe some really nice, big footed person gave Martin a pair of shoes to borrow.

3.)My dad made some comment like, "I guess he got cold feet." :rotfl: :rotfl2:

Martin will never live that down!

1.) Does knowing character names and pretty much where every bathroom on Disney property is located make up for the fact that I only know a few restaurants?? (and those are all character meals...)

Well - I've read through page 5 now. (Actually I put that for me, so I know where to start back on.)

Your kids are really cute.

I should have multi quoted because now I can't remember what I wanted to comment on.


I think the kids should have put the last baggage sticker on you, so you could cover that green gunk. :sick: I would have had to change shirts.

Who knew there were so many armadillos in Florida. :rotfl2:

CiCi's would not have been my choice, either. I loved the wrapped around the finger story. Sadly it is the same with my kids.

Too bad on the DVC thing. So I have to ask. What happened? When we did the tour, dh talked them into giving us gift cards instead of the fast passes. Just fyi, in case you decide to do the tour again.

hello!!! :wave:
You like my armadillo or tire game? :thumbsup2 :rotfl:
If you check out my other TR, the purple link, you can read all about it. It's the installment right after we go to Animal kingdom.
Hmmm, I may have been persuaded to tour again for gift cards!

Tell Corey he made a great choice! I am on my third Canon rebel - second digital one. I have the Xsi. Too bad you guys live so far away - I would be happy to pay Corey to babysit to help support his camera passion.

I will tell him! He did a lot of research on it before he made his decision. He let me take a picture with it today! :yay: He was showing me how the face detector thing works. Very cool! I wish you lived closer too! He was trying to convince me that he NEEDS a 50mm lens now. I told him I NEED to pay the taxes on the house!

[jenb1023]

I will tell him! He did a lot of research on it before he made his decision. He let me take a picture with it today! :yay: He was showing me how the face detector thing works. Very cool! I wish you lived closer too! He was trying to convince me that he NEEDS a 50mm lens now. I told him I NEED to pay the taxes on the house!

:) It is a very cool camera! What lens did he get with the camera or does he already have - it usually comes with an 18-55 if you buy the kit.