Introducing Amy to "Walt's World" *Updated twice 1/21 Last installments*

[mrsksomeday]

Hi Tracy, I'm in!

I think you look great!


I LOVE the beds at the Marriot as well.

Shoot, I didnt know there were non-ME busses. Now I hope we get one too! I've never done it before.

Can't wait to see your purchases!

Aren't those beds just heaven ? We love going to the resort on ME. When they play the video it gets me all hyped up!! I will be posting the next installment tomorrow some time. We go on a mini trip to Pigeon Forge next Wednesday, so I am trying to move this report along.

I cant wait to see what all you have bought & made!!! Your stuff is always so cute! I have already started shopping and we have until June !!! We got new luggage YAY!

Hi!! Thanks for saying that. I am not in as much of a crafty mood this time. I think I will make some stuff tomorrow night though. It is great that you are getting stuff for the trip!! Yay on the new luggage.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Well we are 45 days away from our trip. I have already been buying and making a couple things so I thought I would show you what I have done so far. I can finally post this update because there were some things Amy didn't know about and I didn't want to ruin anything.

She came over the other day. Here is how Ace looks every time he hears her ringtone:

Now he not only goes to the door and waits, he takes his paw and flicks the door handle. He can open the bedroom doors because they open inward, thank goodness you have to pull the door open or Ace would be running down the hall to meet Amy at the elevators.

I got these shirts for Bill and me about a month ago:

I bought these shirts after Amy said she was coming, she said she didn’t mind matching shirts

:

I went down the travel aisle at Wal-Mart and went a little nuts:

Then for some reason I thought Amy and I needed Disneyfied notebooks to keep notes in etc. I bought stickers and did the front and back of each notebook, then laminated the top of it so it would hold up longer.

Amy’s book front and back:

Tracy’s book front and back:

[FONT=times new roman, times, serif]I also bought myself some "walking weights" 3lbs each. Ace sees the weights and has to check them out. He sees the camera and waits for me to take a picture:[/FONT]

I am going to be doing something with the Mickey Heads I liberated from the Home Depot. Not sure exactly what though. I know I will have some hanging from my camera cord, the back of Bill’s backpack, and Amy has said she wanted to be representing too

. How cool is that?? She is getting into the “show off that you are in a group of Disney freaks” I say that with love. It makes me love her even more. I will update you on all the crazy stuff I either buy or come up with.

Lastly are pictures of Bill’s pin collection. Before our November 2007 trip a wonderful DISer named Donna wanted to help Bill start on his pin trading journey. Little did I know she would send us 26 pins and two lanyards

. It has gotten a little bit out of control if you ask me. He now have 101 pins (including about 4 that are mine) and there is no stopping him now. I know he has two coming in the mail this week. He is on a Star Wars pin kick now. Here is the proof of his madness

:

Star Wars:

Ride pins:

Muppet madness:

Pirates:

Misc. pins:

Limited edition pins:

I have no idea what his plans are for pin trading/collecting this trip. I just know that he is at the perfect height in his wheelchair to be checking out cast member lanyards, so who knows what we will come back with .

Next up… more itinerary stuff, Ip-Dip day baby!!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Love all your "stuff" Tracy! So fun to collect in anticpation of the trip.

Ace is adorable - love how he waits at the door for Amy - too cute!

Great job on the notebooks too - I like the idea of dressing them up with stickers.

Do you plan to use the walking weights in the parks?

Wow! Bill's pin collection has come a long way! Do you have your own collection or do you "share"?

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

I love all those pins! I can't believe how much the collection has grown!

I also love all the travel stuff. I have a whole drawer overflowing with that stuff but I can't help but buy more!

 

[luvfigment]

Looks like an amazing first trip for your friend. She is going to have a blast as will you and Bill! I like all the pins...I just kinda got into the pin collecting last year and will probably pick up a few more the next trip.

BTW I love buying travel size things also...I also bought the wet ones but the sanitizing ones and then the travel clorox (is that spelled right it looks funny)bleach sheet things too. I am a bit of a germ-a-fobe.

Looking forward to reading more plans!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Love all your "stuff" Tracy! So fun to collect in anticpation of the trip.

Ace is adorable - love how he waits at the door for Amy - too cute!

Great job on the notebooks too - I like the idea of dressing them up with stickers.

Do you plan to use the walking weights in the parks?

Wow! Bill's pin collection has come a long way! Do you have your own collection or do you "share"?

Ace will sit in front of that door for 30 minutes or more waiting for Amy to come, it is so cute and sad at the same time when she just calls and isn't coming over.

Thank for the comment about the stickers, I want to Disneyfy everything .

The walking weights are for home use only .

I have about 8 pins, the others we "share" as in, I organize, put them in the pin bag, put them on the lanyard, but they aren't mine .

I love all those pins! I can't believe how much the collection has grown!

I also love all the travel stuff. I have a whole drawer overflowing with that stuff but I can't help but buy more!

I can't believe how much the collection has grown either. He loves the Star Wars pins lately.

Looks like an amazing first trip for your friend. She is going to have a blast as will you and Bill! I like all the pins...I just kinda got into the pin collecting last year and will probably pick up a few more the next trip.

BTW I love buying travel size things also...I also bought the wet ones but the sanitizing ones and then the travel clorox (is that spelled right it looks funny)bleach sheet things too. I am a bit of a germ-a-fobe.

Looking forward to reading more plans!

I hope Amy will love Disney as much as we do. Bill is a pin freak. I have to stay away from the travel aisle or I will buy something every time.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Bill’s boss has talked to him over and over again encouraging him to start a website design business. She wants to work with him to see if other offices around the state would like to use him to either update their websites or create one for them. They need to make sure their sites are completely accessible to people with disabilities and who better to help them??

We went to a seminar about starting a small business, got a packet with tons of information. It is through the small business center here in town so all their advice is free. Bill scheduled an appointment so he can ask all sorts of questions. They want at least an outline of a business plan before you talk to one of their advisors so that is what Bill has been up to in his free time. He already has a name for the business and slogan if we were ever to do it and I made a little logo for him. We have both decided more training would be a good idea for both of us before we start this .

We have also talked to his parents and picked Sept. 10th – 14th to go to Pigeon Forge, TN. Now I have to research what we can do there. I know they have many outlet stores, but I have to be a good girl. I might get some new shoes that would give me a little over a month to break them in before Disney. Here are more pictures of the house.

Here is “Bill’s room”:

Here is the kitchen:

I was told there is a walking trail behind the house to me this is code for "we will make you hike all over

because you are trying to get healthy". They even had the contractor come out and smooth out some of the ground so that Bill could go on that trail. I can’t wait to see it and take about a 1,000 pictures.

When we get back from TN we will have 34 days until WDW. I am already questioning my ADR choices, etc. I am worried that I am going to try to pack too many things in. I am split between going with the flow and having a plan in place. I do so much better with plans, going with the flow makes me a nervous wreck, but I am not the only one going on this trip, am I?

I am sure things will work themselves out one way or another.

Amy has read “The Man Report”, I think she decided she better know what she is getting herself into before we go. She thinks Buzz and Linnie are just as hilarious as Bill and I do. Why wouldn’t you love a squirrel chasing, wine drinking, GAT master and his lovely wife that tells the truth after each installment is posted?

Sun. Oct. 19 : Since we will have been up before 5am the previous morning and staying at MK through Spectro and Wishes we are going to sleep in a little bit. I really don’t know if I will be able to sleep, I was up and running each day in June when we were there and I would think I will be even more excited because Amy will be with us.

I have to remember to not go all drill sergeant/commando

on her.

This is Epcot – Ip-Dip day.

Goals - not must do’s for this day :

Soarin (hopefully)
Living with the Land
Circle of Life
Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
Spaceship Earth
Imagination with Figment
Honey I Shrunk the Audience
Mexico Pavillion – Margarita’s baybeee!! (I am so glad Amy is of age!!)

We have to be at Biergarten by 4:50pm to check in. We will be looking for other Ip-Dippers. Now I may be wrong, but I think many of them might recognize us before we see them. Bill in the wheelchair, me pooh-sized, Amy with some color in her hair, not all of it, usually toward the front. Right now it is red, she might have blue, purple, green, who knows by October. I love that you never know what she will pick!!!

We hope to have a good dinner with some extraordinary people. Bill and I have never been to this restaurant so we can’t wait to try it. From what I read a long time ago we might be going to see Off-Kilter in the Canadian Pavilion. Bill and I have never seen them so I am looking forward to this. There might be a stop at the France kiosk that sells the slushies

, on our way there, we will see. We will wing it from there and see how things go.

I was worried about throwing Amy into this. I mean it is one thing to go down to Disneyworld with people you have known for a couple of years, but quite another taking her to meet people I have just known through an internet board. Now I see her posting on Enchanted and she seems to like it. Thank goodness.

I asked Jordan for advice on taking a noob to WDW, this is what he said:

“I guess my advice would be to try and ask as many questions as possible before the trip. Try and find out what type of traveler they are. My roommates are definitely late risers and non schedule oriented. I am the exact opposite. You can imagine how that played out on our WDW trip in 2005. The sooner you know about your friend and travelling, the better you can adjust your schedule.

You may need to adjust your expectations. Will this person ever go to WDW again? Many of the people I've taken in the last few years say they this is their one and only time at WDW so I have to plan accordingly which means alot more commando. that's why i schedule time alone to recoup and see things at my pace.”

I am going to take this advice and try my best to just relax.

Next up…more crafty stuff

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Congrats on the business opportunity for Bill (and you)! It is exciting to plan everything out at the beginning - that is how every business starts!

Bill's parents house is goergeous! Love that kitchen. We were in Pigeon Forge for a family reunion in June and had lots of fun. The outlets are great. We also did Dollywood which we surprisingly enjoyed.

Your Epcot day sounds great! How fun to meet a large group of online friends!

Great advice from Jordan too!

 

[mrsksomeday]

I have started making dining tip envelopes and some t-shirt designs. The problem with them is I don’t know if I like them or not. When I first make them I do, then I go back and look at them later and just don’t think they are “good enough”. Please, I need to get a grip. It isn’t like the mousekeepers and/or wait staff are going to critique my designs. I don’t think I will be hearing: “Oh no, look at that crappy design job, I am going to throw this tip right back in her face”. Hmmm, I wish that were true, look at the money I would save . Not really, I do enjoy making them; I don’t know why I am having difficulty with them this time. Here are some of my newest dining tip “designs”, some are for restaurants we are going to other just for the heck of it. I won't tell you which are for us because then I would be giving away future installment info:

I also developed “can’t leave the ADRs alone-isitis”. I really thought I had what we wanted, but then the doubts started creeping in. Boma is a tight fit for Bill’s wheelchair, we waited for our table FOREVER last November and we just don’t care for it. We were going there to show Amy around AKL, but couldn’t we do that anyway but not eat there? A bright idea popped into our heads : THE LUAU!!! Great idea, or it would have been if we called at 180 days out, it is booked solid for the category we would need for Bill’s wheelchair on all the days we could do it. This means Amy has to come back to WDW with us at some point to experience this and the other 1000 things we won’t get to this trip .

I purchased transfer paper and a couple of plain white t shirts and then I got to thinking “how rainy is it in October?” NO ONE wants to see me in a wet white t shirt

so I will probably be buying heavier weight t shirts soon. Here are some designs I came up with ( I shrunk them so they aren't as sharp as they are on my computer.

This one for Amy since she loves Lady and the Tramp:

Tink for me:

Bill’s Captain Jack, he wanted that saying on it, it is from the 2nd movie:

I am probably going to put this on the back of many of my t shirts, how many backs to you see waiting in lines at WDW?

I might wear this Captain Jack one:

I love Wall*E so I might use one or both of these:

I am going to do a t shirt with Cherie’s Enchanted Mickey head.

I purchased a little index card binder. I typed up our itinerary, printed it out and pasted it on index cards:

Here is a closer picture of the front:

Bill came up with the title, hence the PTR title.

Here is the inside of it:

I just noticed it says "To St. Louis", huh??? it should say from St. Louis, DUH!!

You might be wondering why I made this?? I already have my Cinderella notebook I made. That will be for detailed trip report notes that I will write at night. It helps me unwind from the day to write down my thoughts. The index book is for us to take in the parks to have for reference and I might jot down a thing or two each day so I won’t forget it before I get back to the room.


Next up…More itinerary ( aren’t you excited?)

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Oh WOW you are so talented. I'm in AWE! Great ideas. I am totally stealing some of the planning ideas. I LOVE the thank you cards. So cute.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Congrats on the business opportunity for Bill (and you)! It is exciting to plan everything out at the beginning - that is how every business starts!

Bill's parents house is goergeous! Love that kitchen. We were in Pigeon Forge for a family reunion in June and had lots of fun. The outlets are great. We also did Dollywood which we surprisingly enjoyed.

Your Epcot day sounds great! How fun to meet a large group of online friends!

Great advice from Jordan too!

Thank you so much!!

I can't wait to see Bill's house in person. I have more pics of it coming up soon. I think we might get to Dollywood too. We will try to see some of the shows. There really aren't any rides Bill could stay in his chair for , that is why we love Disney!

I can't wait to meet all the Ip-Dippers!! I am so excited !!

Jordan is a wonderful guy!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Oh WOW you are so talented. I'm in AWE! Great ideas. I am totally stealing some of the planning ideas. I LOVE the thank you cards. So cute.

Awww thank you so much. I try. You can steal anything you want, I don't mind at all.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Great designs Tracy! I am super impressed as I am not a bit crafty.

Love the index binder idea! I always write our plans on index cards so they are easier to carry around during the day - what a great idea to put them all together in a mini-binder. I may have to steal that idea!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Great designs Tracy! I am super impressed as I am not a bit crafty.

Love the index binder idea! I always write our plans on index cards so they are easier to carry around during the day - what a great idea to put them all together in a mini-binder. I may have to steal that idea!

Steal whatever you want to. Thanks for the comments. Sometimes the mood just strikes me. I got my zazzle shirt with my Tink design in the mail today. I will post pictures of it later.

 

[BETTYDISNEY]

Tracy all I can say is You have a creative gift. I love your "futureinlawshouse" ! It is gorgeous. Your trip is so close OMG. Have you bought new clothes for this trip?

 

[mrsksomeday]

Tracy all I can say is You have a creative gift. I love your "futureinlawshouse" ! It is gorgeous. Your trip is so close OMG. Have you bought new clothes for this trip?

Hi Betty!! Thank you so much. I have more pictures of the house coming up. They rent it out when they are not there and the rental company took a bunch of pictures so I "borrowed" some of them . I bought those shirts in the 2nd installment and I got a shirt from Zazzle today with my Tink design on it. I will probably post pictures of it tomorrow.

 

[BETTYDISNEY]

Did you get a chance to see my thread about my son starting school? I managed to dig up his first meeting with "the Mouse" ! It is in the disabilities community board, thanks to you showing me how to post!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Did you get a chance to see my thread about my son starting school? I managed to dig up his first meeting with "the Mouse" ! It is in the disabilities community board, thanks to you showing me how to post!

No, I hadn't seen it. I will go over there now. Thanks for telling me about it!

 

[maroo]

WOW...

This is awesome. And I have "lurked" on your other trip reports as well. I really appreciate the pictures you take of the important stuff! Stuff we need to see as folks who are traveling with someone with a disability.

You and I have a lot in common...I also worked at a camp for people with disabilities (but as a teenager) and my mother also had breast cancer, although she did catch it fairly early and is doing fine and we both get to go to DW with someone that has CP.

anyway...I have lots of questions for you. and I think some of these will be answered as I read more of your trip reports...

What is a Pal Mickey? Where can I get those lanyards? Where can I buy pins? Are we just given some pins? How do I make T Shirts for Lauren and her family?

Also...what rides can you NOT get on? Due to logistical stuff?

Thanks for your help!! Maroo

 

[TinkAsh2001]

I like the envelopes! I always make them for Mousekeeping!!!