This freezing weather is crampin my style! A Dec 2010 TR

[disneyaddicted]

Formerly known as "You're killin me smalls."

Be warned I have been known to change my TR titles

Another December, another Birthday celebration at Disney World. This time with another good friend, Lo.

I have never laughed so hard in all my life. Mostly I laughed at myself.

First off let’s introduce me…Ty

This was taken back in my modeling days, since then I have left the life of glamour, no more sexy hair and flawless makeup. LOL

Now I am just plane me.

a mother, a wife, an employee at Bed, Bath and Beyond, I spend my days behind the customer service desk working to pay for my disney addiction. I am not just your run of the mill disney addict either. I am a full blown eat breath and sleep disney addict, I am talking a collector of Disney Pez dispensers, jewelry, purses, watches, clothes you name it. I have got it going on.

Here’s my fam damily.

Me, Kent Jim and Mareesa aka Reese.


I’m not sure where this story begins, it started out as a trip planned for October 2010 for Kent and I, a trip I had to cancel because of my knee injury from a couple years back, the Dr.’s were talking surgery. I would need more recovery time. That trip squashed, along with my hopes of any trip that year, another trip started forming in the minds of Lo and I. It was the day I found out I didn’t need surgery, (it was optional and I opted not to have it)

Lo had always wanted to go in December, she had been with her family the month before, they stayed off property, so yeah…..

(I am a snob to off property, only because I have never tried it)

So last May we get the ball rolling and soon a Disney trip was born. We had set the dates for December 3rd- 10th. But we ended up moving the date up by one day in order to cash in on that free dining.
My birthday was December 9th and Lo's was December 5th. We would both get to party it up at Disney. How perfect.

Two months before our trip we started getting together once a week for our planning parties which turned into shopping parties and then ended with arts and crafts days. We made shirts for our trip and gloves and a wreath for our door. It was just good times. And we would talk about our expectations for this trip, which not to jump ahead but it was a danged good trip.

I knew the month of November would fly by, it always happens that way, there’s always so much to do. I couldn’t wait to go to bed each night because I knew that meant waking up one day closer to my trip.

The day before Disney is always exciting. I had to work that day, the store was running it’s holidays hours which I was lucky enough to land the best shift, opening the store and out of there by two, three at the latest.

It was a slow morning, I was all alone at customer service, no other cashiers were due to come in until 11:00am. I cleaned the whole front end and all the registers, that took about half an hour, then I got on bednet and looked through all the Disney stuff available through our beyond store, just giving my Disney mojo a little extra pep. I texted my sister a bit, tested Lo a bit and around 10:00am I rang up the first customer of the day.

The front end supervisor came in about 10:30 am and we reminisced about my day at work before last years trip. I managed to glue my fingers together and mispronounce a guys last name, I swear it said McChickenbutt. LOL

So I had gone from counting months to weeks to days and now it was down to hours.
“This time tomorrow I will boarding the magical express to Disney.”

“This time tomorrow I will be eating at Pecos Bill in the magic Kingdom.”

That never got old for me, my coworkers were ready for me to hang it up though.

I called Lo at my lunch hour, we were laden with the decision of the new TSA rules, did we want to be scanned or patted down. We were both opting for the pat down until I talked to a lady at the store who said it is a very invasive pat down and to just go for the scan. But I had heard that the scan was all showing, did I really want my fine china on display? I decided to not make a decision and just see how I was feeling when the time came. Lo and I joked about it a lot, “Can we choose who gets to do the pat down on us? would it be too much to ask him to wear a cowboy hat?” If I choose the scan, would it show up if I wrote in metallic paint on my stomach ‘I heart Mickey’?
“Could you maybe check out my right ovary? It’s been paining me lately.”

I finished my packing that night, everything was where it needed to be and waiting down stairs by the door, all I would have to do in the Morning is toss in my make up and hair junk. Jingles, my sons friend showed up around 7 to give me a jacket of his that I wanted to borrow and we discussed our fantasy Disney trip. He left around 8. I kept looking at the clock and saying I needed to go to bed, I had to get up at 3:00am. I was about to go to bed, when Camille called. I can’t pass up the opportunity to talk to my girl Camille, so we chatted for quite some time, our conversations manage to go full circle and encompass an array of subjects, we start on one then jump in the middle of it to the next and keep going until we get back to our original subject. After an hour it was Camille who decided that I needed to go to bed, so we said our goodbyes.

It was midnight when I crawled into my bed but I couldn’t sleep so I popped in a DVD and eventually fell asleep to that. I shut my eyes just in time for the alarm to go off.

Woooo hoooooo! it’s my Disney departure day, I did the whole getting ready thing taking extra time on my hair, I wanted it to look it’s best for the plane ride to Orlando, my hair has a curl life of zero in Florida. I at least wanted to look good for my pat down or scan.

Kent drove me to Lo’s house and then her husband Ed was going to take us to the airport, he works in Washington DC so it was on his way.

We got to Lo’s early so we sat out in the car and talked a bit. One thing was running through my mind the whole time. “Is he going to hug me goodbye?”

Kent had always been my knight in shining armor, but for quite a few months he had become an idiot in tin foil. Our marriage was rocky. at times one or the other of us would claim it’s over, I quit, but we had something really great at one time and we both have hopes of getting it back. I just needed a good send off from him, a hug would be enough at that point.

We got out of the car and Ed came out to put my luggage into his car. The guys talked for a few minutes then Kent turned to me and said “Well dude, have fun.” He hesitated for a minute but then leaned in for a hug.

Yes! Yes! This trip will be good, because Kent hugged me. It might not seem like a lot, but it was the world to me.

I went into Lo’s house and I don’t know why I thought she would be ready, crazy of me to think that this one day in her life she wouldn’t be running late. I got her luggage tags tied on to her bags, and went over the list with her. I was in charge of the resort, park tickets and ME. She was in charge of our flight info and boarding passes. Our list checked off we headed out the door 15 minutes behind schedule.

Lo is an anxious person, her meds help her a lot. But she doesn’t make a good passenger in a car. I myself rather enjoyed the smooth ride on the belt way. Lo however kept gasping for air and grabbing the dash board. “You’re killin me smalls!”

I had my first gut busting laugh of the day. Lo always finds the best one liners from movies to quote. That has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw the Sandlot

I got to hear that quote a lot on this trip. It made for the perfect trip report title.


I need to upload more pictures, sadly I only took around 200, I normally take triple that but this trip was toured way different than the norm for me, it was a project experiment, could I really relax at Disney, it was worth a try.

I will come back with more info like where we stayed and what park we visited our first day and I bet you're dying to hear if I went for the airport picture or the airport grope. I will also fill you all i a bit more on Lo.

 

[pixiedust9]

I love Disney at Christmas...or any other time of year. Since we weren't able to go this year, I can not wait to hear more about your trip...see pictures..all the good stuff I missed. So I'm here, waiting for more.

 

[All7OfUs]

YAY! I've been wondering if you were going to do a TR, TY!! I'm sitting in the airport right now and just finished the security deal. No pat down for me this time! Score!! The lady behind me was lucky enough to get intimate with the blue gloves. Great start, my friend!!

 

[disneyaddicted]

I love Disney at Christmas...or any other time of year. Since we weren't able to go this year, I can not wait to hear more about your trip...see pictures..all the good stuff I missed. So I'm here, waiting for more.

Hi. I'm with you, I love disney at christmas or any other time. This was my 3rd time going in December, I keep saying never again only because I have so much to do to get ready for Christmas when I get home, but Disney is just so wonderful that time year I can't resist it.

YAY! I've been wondering if you were going to do a TR, TY!! I'm sitting in the airport right now and just finished the security deal. No pat down for me this time! Score!! The lady behind me was lucky enough to get intimate with the blue gloves. Great start, my friend!!

but of course I am going to write a TR. That's why I even go to Disney in the first place.
You squoze by security with out a pat down? I bet the lady getting the attention from the blue glove was so jealous of you.

On a side note Kent and I still talk about Mon Ami Gabi. That fish was so good.

 

[All7OfUs]

Hi. I'm with you, I love disney at christmas or any other time. This was my 3rd time going in December, I keep saying never again only because I have so much to do to get ready for Christmas when I get home, but Disney is just so wonderful that time year I can't resist it.


but of course I am going to write a TR. That's why I even go to Disney in the first place.
You squoze by security with out a pat down? I bet the lady getting the attention from the blue glove was so jealous of you.

On a side note Kent and I still talk about Mon Ami Gabi. That fish was so good.

It WAS fabulous fish, and even better company. By the way, I just put up the post with YOU and Kent in it- that DISMeet's VERY moments! I also gave you a shout-out- hopefully some of my readers will stop by here. Come give your comments on mine and fill in the details I missed!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Ty! I'm here on a referral from Liesa and Camille! I've seen you around, just not very observant. Great start to your TR - I'm already LMAO and it is only the first installment. You have an adorable family, BTW. I love to read about your Disney addiction.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hi Ty! Excited to see you have started up another trip report, you always give me a good laugh.

 

[oOJulieOo]

Joining in!

 

[pooh'smate]

I am joining in. I came over from Liesa's report.

 

[disneyaddicted]

It WAS fabulous fish, and even better company. By the way, I just put up the post with YOU and Kent in it- that DISMeet's VERY moments! I also gave you a shout-out- hopefully some of my readers will stop by here. Come give your comments on mine and fill in the details I missed!!

OMG! yes! that fish was to die for. Kent had tried to recreate the taste using flounder, and it's good, but not Mon Ami Gabi good.
Thank you so much for the shout out, I really appreciate it. I will come over and read your update as soon as I finish the up date here.

Hi Ty! I'm here on a referral from Liesa and Camille! I've seen you around, just not very observant. Great start to your TR - I'm already LMAO and it is only the first installment. You have an adorable family, BTW. I love to read about your Disney addiction.

Hi, thank you for coming over to read. I hope I can do this trip justice, it was so much fun, I journaled so I could fill in everybody on as much stuff as possible, my problem is though, I am a rambler. I will try and keep from straying too much.

Hi Ty! Excited to see you have started up another trip report, you always give me a good laugh.

lessa, Hi girl, I love your TR's so much, I am so glad to have you here. It's been a long time since we have chatted it up on a TR. Yours move so fast for me. LOL

Joining in!

Hi, thanks for coming and reading. I'm happy to have you here.

I am joining in. I came over from Liesa's report.

Welcome to my TR and thank you for giving me a shot. I hope you have as much fun reading as I had living the experience.

 

[disneyaddicted]

Lo has been my good friend for about 3 years now.

She’s a busy mother of 5 and runs a daycare out of her home. Oh and her home……it’s pink!
Not the house but the interior. She’s into shabby chic so her colors are pale pink, pale yellow and sage, sometimes a hint of lavender. My home is decorated in more of a trapper/hunting theme. Animal furs on the wall and my colors are burgundy, dark green and a few hints here and there of gold.
So we are different that way.
Lo tires at the early evening, I’m just coming alive then.
Lo likes to sleep in, I can’t sleep past 8:00am, haven’t been able to in years.

I’m just trying to set up the scene here, we are different, can 2 friends who are so different spend 9 days together in Disney World and still walk away as friends? They say your true colors come out on vacation ya know. But I won’t keep you in suspense until the end. We are still good friends, I did things that annoy her, and vice versa. But not bad annoy, just like a, “Really?” I mean Lo if you are reading this girlfriend, You don’t Facebook while on a ride!!!!!! That’s all I’ve got to say about that. LOL

One thing we did and still do have in common is our love for Disney. This was my first time going to Disney World with somebody who was full on Disney smitten as I.

So let’s get back to the journey.

Lo had gotten us semi matching T-shirts that she wanted us to wear for the plane ride down. And if I were thinking trip report at that time I would have remembered to take pictures. But the shirts were black and in white Disney script, hers said “I am going to Disney World.” and mine said “Goofy for Disney.”

It was fun walking through the airport and seeing people read our shirts, some would smile, some would look down right jealous because they knew where we were headed, and rightly so, I have been to the airport when my destination was not Disney and I was struck with jealousy when I saw all the people in their Disney gear heading south.

I need to back track a bit to when Ed dropped us off at the airport. I had been trying to decide for quite some time if I wanted to bring my fake baby. Well I brought Baby Rose,

I wanted to bring Noah since he is my favorite, (you can have favorite fake babies, it doesn’t hurt their feelings)

But Rosey is a preemie and would fit into my carry on better. You know where this is going right? I got my first “look” as I was stuffing her into my bag, I’m sure it didn’t help that I said, “Be a good girl for Momma.” when I zipped the bag up over her face.

We already had our boarding passes so all we needed to do was check our bags. That went extremely smooth. We flew southwest so there wasn’t a baggage fee and we were allowed to check two bags. I only checked one, but I packed an empty duffel just incase I needed the extra space coming back. 2009’s trip I found myself tossing out shampoo, toothpaste and little what nots because my bag was over 50 pounds. I wasn’t looking for a repeat.

We made our way to the security check, the place I hate most, once I get past security I am good, but up until then I sweat it. They had a picture of what the scan would show of your body, it wasn’t as bad as I had pictured. I knew then I would go for the scan. I saw that they weren’t scanning everybody, some people just walked though the medal detector so there was still some hope of keeping my privates….well…private.

I took of my shoes, my watch, and anything else that I thought would make the machine beep thus setting me up for a scan, all was well, then baby Rose was sent through on the conveyor, of course they would know there was a doll in there, there are no bones to show the thing is real, they paused it, studied it, called other people over to study it, then they sent it through, they turned to me and said, “step up here and raise your arms out to your side.”

My fake baby made me a target, they must have thought I was crazy. But I put on my best smile and said cheese for the camera.

Lo was not selected for anything, she just breezed on through. The scan took like 2 seconds, not even enough time to register in my mind that my goodies made it to the big screen.

Lo had to rub it in my face that security didn’t see her as a threat. I don’t believe security saw me as a threat either. I think they liked what they saw on the outside and wanted to see the inside, (that was my coping mechanism) “Hey boys, I’ll autograph that for you for twenty bucks.”

I didn’t say that to the people, I said it to Lo, she thought it funny, she laughed at least.

So after the whole security thing, we regrouped and headed towards our gate. We stopped at the potty on the way and was met by another Disney goer, she read our shirts and made an educated guess that we were going to Disney World as well. Turns out we would be on the same flight. She kept talking to us, we even started walking backwards to let her know that we wanted to leave the restroom, that was not the place we wanted to hang out until the plane started boarding. She was a nice lady, but man did she talk our ears off.

We went and got something to drink, I discovered that morning that I like prickly pear juice. Who’da thunk it? And it seemed kind of Disney like to have prickly pear juice, Baloo from the junkle book loves prickly pears.

We also grabbed a danish or something. It wasn’t long before we started boarding, we had to save our food for on the plane, there wasn’t any time to sit and thoroughly enjoy our breakfast before hand.

We were “A” privileged. I think we were the 15th people to board, it was nice having the pick of the plane. I like to sit in the back so I can feel the thrust of the engines… Just kidding, but we did sit pretty close to the back. Lo needs an aisle seat, I need a window seat. We were hoping nobody would sit in between us. I thought if I took Baby Rose out of my bag maybe nobody will sit here because they don’t want to ride next a potential scream/poop machine. Stay on track here, I am talking about Baby Rose, not Lo and I. hehehe

I laid Rose down on the seat between us and it didn’t take long for a flight attendant to tell me that I needed to protect my baby a little better. I wanted to say, “Oh I know, I’m going to secure her in the overhead compartment before take off.” But I didn’t, I just told her that it was a doll. That started the whole plane of people to strain their necks, Rosey got passed around from person to person. One couple made a hundred dollar bet, the husband said it was real, the wife said no way. Obviously the wife made bank, and used her money as a down payment for a doll of her own, her and Lo exchanged contact information. Several people took their picture with Rosey, it was a sight to see. (I forgot to mention that Lo is also a reborn doll artist, I have two of her dolls my mother has 3 and my sister has 1)

The flight was too long for me, and super boring. Lo took a nap and I used the time to journal. I started getting sleepy after an hour and some odd minutes and put the journal away, I thought maybe I could catch a cat nap, but the pilot came on the overhead and said we were beginning our descent. Lo woke up and we chatted excitedly about Disney, we were both hungry and couldn’t wait for lunch.

We were practically the last ones off the plane. We stopped at the potty to freshen up a bit. My hair went from nice curls to just hanging. How does my hair know to fall flat once the plane lands? I must have smart hair, rebellious hair too, but very smart.

Lo followed me through the airport, onto the fake monorail down the escalator, I was just moving with the crowd, I had no idea where I was going, I did a darn good job of faking it, Lo never knew how clueless I was that day. Or maybe she did and just played clueless to my cluelessness? Makes ya think huh? I followed a group of people down the stairs and quickly realized they were a group heading to the Disney cruise buses, I took evasive action and mad a sharp right and continued on to ME. I told Lo I had taken a short cut. I think she believed me.

We go through the ME line, and were instructed to our lane to wait for our bus. We were first in line. Yay! I took the time to take my first real Disney picture.

I recognized James from the year before and pointed him out to Lo, James had a been a big help when Marzi thought she lost her luggage. James assured her all would be fine and said trust me, he pulled his lapel to the side and he was wearing a button that said “trust me” I gave Lo the shortened version of the story. Eventually James made his way over to us and I saw his name tag, “Lo it is James for sure.” I told him how he was a great help to my friend the year before, of course he didn’t remember me, I wouldn’t expect him too, but it was neat to see a familiar face that I had talked to.

James was funny, he said that Disney was having trouble with fraudulent 50 and 100 dollar bills, so if everybody would just pass their money forward to him, he would check it for them. And he got us all singing the mickey mouse club song by shouting “who’s the leader of the pack?”

We then were ushered out to our bus. And sadly it wasn’t a real magical express bus, just a regular old tour bus. I was bummed for Lo, I wanted her to have the real deal for our ride to Disney World, but Lo wasn’t bummed at all, she said, “there’s always the ride back.” Where as I loved her happy attitude, I had to reprimand her for talking about the return ride to the airport before we even left the airport. “That’s frowned on, don’t do that again.”

We did get the welcome video though, so that was nice. Lo however didn’t watch it, she made her round of phone calls and then updated her Facebook.

We were not the first resort to be dropped off this time, in all my other two times of using ME, Pop Century was always the first. But hey no worries, I got to see one of the other resorts, I just wish I could remember which one it was. I was too excited to take notice.

There was a family sitting behind us and the dad kept saying to his kids, “Can you believe it guys? We’re in Disneyland?” I laughed to myself, it was funny. Lo’s daughters boyfriend would always ask us, “how many days until you leave for Disneyland? Are you getting excited for Disneyland?” At first I would be the only one to correct him and say “World” but by the time our trip came around the whole family would yell “world” every time he would ask about “Disneyland?”

Finally, our turn came to debus. Lo and I sat in the front of the bus just so we could be the first ones off. We got our carry ons and tipped the driver. I didn’t rush Lo to get to the check in line. I let her take her time absorbing the surroundings, she looked happy and kidlike. Lo is able to feel the magic of Disney, she isn’t a person who just really likes being there, she breathes it in and becomes a new person. That is how it’s supposed to be done. That is what I call doing Disney right.

We waited around 10 minutes to be checked in, there was a small line, I had tried the on line check in for days and it kept saying I couldn’t access that page, so no worries again. I kind of like waiting in line to begin my vacation, it’s part of the process I am used to, why change it now to save a few minutes, I had 9 days ahead of me, no rush.

I told our check in lady that it was Lo’s first time, (technically it was her first time staying on property, just not her first time visiting Disney world) and the check in lady saw that it was our birthdays that week. She gave us birthday buttons and first timers buttons, I gave her my first timer button back and told her I had been before. I said it with pride too. I am a varsity Disney vacationer, I moved up from J.V years ago.

I was excited to see where we would be staying, I had made a request for the 70’s but later took that request back, I wanted to be in the dark right up until the last minute of where our room would be.

We got a room in the 50’s,

On the 4th floor with a pool view. The place could not have been more perfect. I loved the location. It was AWESOME! I knew I’d be able to see the fireworks from there every night.

I had stayed in the 50’s on my very first trip in 2006 with my family. Back then we stayed in the building that was to the left of the huge icon “Lady” this time I was in the building to the right of her. We started the walk up to our room. We are such dorks, we got in the elevator, the doors closed and we stood their talking about going to the park and eating, it didn’t dawn on us for quite some time that we never pushed our floor level button. We laughed and I hit the 4th floor. We exited and made a left then another left then a right. Our room was almost dead center of the way, maybe a room or two past the center, but still great location.

We go into our room and it looked like they had done some refurbishing, the carpet and bed spreads were different and we had a flat screen T.V. baby!
I don’t have a flat screen at home so for me this was a luxury.
One of the first things I noticed was a hidden Mickey in the carpet. I pointed it out to Lo.

We unpacked our carry on bags and added to our park bags. I had made a wreath for the door and brought a dry erase board so people passing by could say hello if they wanted to. I hung it out front, we would decorate the rest of the room and window when we got back from the park.

Lo changed out of her shirt, she said she couldn’t wear a shirt saying “I’m going to Disney World.” anymore because people would probably stop her and tell her, “Honey you’re already here.”

And then with park tickets in gloved hand, (cause it was chilly) we made our way down to the busses for our first ride to our first park on our first day.

 

[glennbo123]

Signing on Ty. Maybe this time I can keep up before you reach the end.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Fun update already! Your happy disposition is so fun - you have a "no worries, I'm on vacation" attitude about everything! Are you sure you're a DISer? I was about putting baby Rosie in the carry-on! Funny she made such a splash on the plane, although when I first saw the pic, I thought she was your new niece or something.

Sounds like you got a great room! Oh, and I love how you "Do Disney" I always wonder how people can go there and not "get it." It's why it is there - for all of us to push everything aside and be a kid!!! Can't wait for your park adventure to begin!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Good attitude to have about the body scans, I'll admit I am a bit nervous about these new procedures in the States. Somebody in the family always manages to get some "extra attention".

You fake baby is hilarious!

Sounds like you got the perfect room location! 50's is my favourite section, probably because of the colours.

 

[Poolrat]

Coming on over from Liesa's too.


The baby Rosie was hysterical.

Telling it to be good as you put it in the bag and zipped it up was priceless.

Can't wait for more.

 

[mom3sonstt]

Found my way over from liesa's TR. I'm following along on your "Bomb Diggety" ptr also. Sounds like a good start to a fun trip!

 

[All7OfUs]

Bomb diggity!!! Your trip is already rockin', as you got a 50s room!! (Shhhh.... don't tell anyone, but that was almost EXACTLY where my room was too. but everyone will have to wait at least 2 updates on my TR to learn that.)

Ok, I'm pretty shocked that no one took you up on your offer to autograph a picture of the goods. I hope they felt honored to get that opportunity.

Tate was pretty good on his flight all zipped up as well, I think s/he and Rosie would make good traveling partners. Think about that for next time.

 

[LORI522]

You are a riot!!! Can't wait for the rest of your TR!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Signing on Ty. Maybe this time I can keep up before you reach the end.

Things are slowing down alot at work so I will be posting fast and furious on my days off, or as fast as I can get photobucket to upload a picture, it only took 3 hours to upload 5 pictures last week. (that's a sarcastic dancing bananna)

Fun update already! Your happy disposition is so fun - you have a "no worries, I'm on vacation" attitude about everything! Are you sure you're a DISer? I was about putting baby Rosie in the carry-on! Funny she made such a splash on the plane, although when I first saw the pic, I thought she was your new niece or something.

Sounds like you got a great room! Oh, and I love how you "Do Disney" I always wonder how people can go there and not "get it." It's why it is there - for all of us to push everything aside and be a kid!!! Can't wait for your park adventure to begin!

I have never toured Disney parks with a no worries attitude before, I really liked it this way.

Lo and I did Disney right! But Lo can be a kid at Walgreens too, she doesn't need Disney to do that. But it was so much fun just letting lose.

Good attitude to have about the body scans, I'll admit I am a bit nervous about these new procedures in the States. Somebody in the family always manages to get some "extra attention".
I worried myself for nothing, it really wasn't a big deal, it's over in like 2 seconds.
You fake baby is hilarious!
Oh we had some major fun with her on this trip
Sounds like you got the perfect room location! 50's is my favourite section, probably because of the colours.

I can't really choose a favorite section, I have stayed in the 50's 60's and 70's and I have loved them all equally but for different reasons, but again I will say, we had a great room and awesome location.

Coming on over from Liesa's too.

Welcome, and thank you for coming.
The baby Rosie was hysterical.
Telling it to be good as you put it in the bag and zipped it up was priceless.
I thought I would look like a bad Mom if I zipped her up in the carry on and didn't say anything at all, I was just being the caring loving mother I am.
Can't wait for more.

I plan to update in the next day or so.

Found my way over from liesa's TR. I'm following along on your "Bomb Diggety" ptr also. Sounds like a good start to a fun trip!

Thank you for coming over. My Bomb Diggety PTR was severly neglected by me, I will do so much better with this TR. I have never not finished a TR and don't plan to ever let that happen.

My sister, my mom and I are going to Disney in January 2012, my sister asked me last night "when can we start a PTR?" I'm all for starting one early but I want to give this one my full attention first.

Bomb diggity!!! Your trip is already rockin', as you got a 50s room!! (Shhhh.... don't tell anyone, but that was almost EXACTLY where my room was too. but everyone will have to wait at least 2 updates on my TR to learn that.) OK sshhh! I won't say a word where your room was located.

Thank you so much for the shout out to me on your TR. I love having new readers and I think the majority have come from your TR. Which I must say is sooooo gooood.

Ok, I'm pretty shocked that no one took you up on your offer to autograph a picture of the goods. I hope they felt honored to get that opportunity.
I know right?!
Tate was pretty good on his flight all zipped up as well, I think s/he and Rosie would make good traveling partners. Think about that for next time.

I am thinking about that for next time.

You are a riot!!! Can't wait for the rest of your TR!

Thank you. I plan to update soon. I am glad you are enjoying this TR. I really love writing them.

 

[disneyaddicted]

We headed down to the Magic Kingdom bus stop, it just became the thing to do since day one to cut through the lobby and the store, in our minds we were staying warmer longer plus it gave us a chance to eye shop. I am so good at shopping with my eyes only. No picking up and fondling the merchandise. Saves money, really.

We got out to the bus stop and holy cow, there was a line, it was around 11:30. And there was a line, I didn’t expect that so late (late in disney vacation time)

So we hop in line and our first ride to MK is standing room only. Oh well, I might as well get used it now I thought, I have very seldom have good bus mojo anyway I always have to stand.

Lo is short and had a hard time bracing herself, I could hold onto the bar next to me with one hand and the bar above me with the other, this makes for a solid base. Lo however couldn’t reach the bar above her and that lady was doing an unintentional pole dance all the way down the road, she was swinging with each turn of the bus. I did her a huge favor though and provided the sexy pole dancing music. That’s what friends are for.

We debused at MK and I could smell the popcorn as we walked to bag check. I plop my disney bag onto the counter, “Go ahead, look into my agenda.”

We then go get our fingers scanned, and then knowing that my card is secure with my very own fingerprint (that was sarcasm there incase you missed it) I then took my first official Disney park picture. I’ve never taken one of me in front of the Magic Kingdom before, and this was one of the only 2 pictures I took at MK that day. I seriously slacked in the picture department for the first park of the vacation.

We headed under the train station and into Magic Kingdom then just to be stopped by a wall of people.

Oops I did it again! I scheduled 2 of our Magic Kingdom days during the Christmas parade taping weekend. I must be a glutton for punishment. Did I learn anything from last year? Apparently not.

We had no plans of watching the parade and were wondering how we were going to squeeze our butts through the mounds and mounds of people on main street. The solution was simple, cut through the emporium, it would take us all the way out to Casey’s Corner. I kept telling Lo how smart I was as we zipped through the store, again only shopping with our eyes.

We passed through Caseys Corner and discussed eating our lunch there instead of Pecos Bill but we couldn’t find a table anywhere and decided to just stick to our original plan.

We headed towards the castle only stopping to watch the princess part of the parade, it was a rather boring parade since there wasn’t any music playing, I was told it gets piped in later when it appears on TV. And it was so cool watching the parade on TV this past Christmas. I kept telling my family, “I was there, I saw that same exact princess.” It kind of made me feel special.

We continued on towards frontier town. I do walk fast, I have been told this by many people and then again by Lo. “Slow down, You’re killin me smalls.” So I had to make a conscious effort the whole time to not walk fast. I am just so used to my brisk walking at the store, running from receiving to customer service (all with a smile too)

Frontier town wasn’t as crowded as main street but it was crowded enough. We ducked into a few stores on the way, just checking for this or that for my actual shopping day which I had reserved until Thursday for 2 reasons, first one being it was my birthday and second being it was the day before our departure, I didn’t want to spend all my money right away and thought it best to save it for last. But I thoroughly enjoyed eye shopping and taking mental notes of things. I did find a cowboy Mickey pin and put that onto my mental list to buy at a later MK day.

So on to Pecos Bill we went. It was packed tight in there but we found an empty ordering station. It’s different than how it used to be, you don’t get to place your order with a living breathing person anymore. It’s all push button now. I worked it like I work the JDA (computer at work). I talked myself through it.

“Let’s see, selections, uh there it is, one pulled pork sandwich. My side? Definitely fries, to drink? Ummm that would be a coke? Do I want a large? Yes I think I do. Dessert? You better believe it, let’s get me some carrot cake. Is there another order? Yes there is.”

Just to save me some typing time I am going to ask that you reread that last paragraph only Lo got chocolate cake instead of carrot cake. thanks

the machine spit out our order number and then we moved forward to get our food. With heavy over flowing tray in hand we tried to work our way around the crowded restaurant to find an empty table. There wasn’t a single one, so we started scanning the room looking for people finishing up there meal, we found a family about to leave so Lo moved in and sat down before the other people even stood up fully. “Mind if I take your table now?”

They didn’t mind at all, and they were nice enough to leave their garbage for us to clean up, small price to pay for being able to sit and eat.

After I set the tray down I ran back out into the crowd to get the necessities, plastic utensils, condiments, straws and napkins. I couldn’t wait to get back to the table and dig in, but it was slow moving. I made a mental note to try and eat lunch a little earlier and not during prime lunch hours, the crowdedness was ridiculous. I finally had to start beeping to get though the crowd. Beep, beep beep. It worked, people just parted down the middle and all turned to look at the beeping lunatic, but hey it worked, I got back to the table and my food was still kind of warm.

I bit into my sandwich, the first bite of the first meal on my first day. Ahhhh, super good, Peco’s Bill has never left me disappointed. I munched away on my food and kept waiting for the realization of being at Disney to kick in. I was happy to be there, I was having a great time, but it didn’t feel real yet. It almost felt like I had never left Disney at all. Everything was too familiar, it wasn’t like rediscovering a lost friend or favorite article of clothing. That’s how it has always been in the past. I really wish I could explain it better. I tried explaining it to Lo, but how could I explain what I couldn’t really understand myself, so I figured maybe it would take a few hours or maybe even going to bed and waking up in Disney before the major excitement kicked in. I was hoping that was what would happen because honestly I was feeling scared. I didn’t want to be just happy being at Disney, I wanted my so excited my eyes stay crossed and I can feel the blood pump through me feeling of excitement. I didn’t think I would ever be one of those people that have gone so many times that the excitement over being there disappeared.

I ate my carrot cake really slow, I love that the frosting itself is almost as thick as the cake itself. I was getting full so I made the healthy decision to just eat the frosting.

We gathered our trash up and as we were standing up a family staked claim to the table, we didn’t mind letting them have it, we had no plans of taking it with us.

We went back out side and decided that our first ride of the vacation would be Haunted Mansion. The wait said 10 minutes and the line didn’t seem long at all, it moved pretty quickly, we were in the stretching room before we knew it and when the door opened to take us further in we got smashed into a pile of people. Then the line just stopped moving. My nerves kicked in and I started chewing my fake finger nails. I hung close to the wall. Lo kept telling me to keep to the center of the pack because it was at least moving a little, but I couldn’t get my feet to move, I was physically unable to put myself into the middle of that. It didn’t feel safe to me. So I spent the time in line sliding along the wall until we finally got to the place where you had to get in line single file. It moved really quick from there. But seriously, I had never seen the place so packed like that before, they really jammed us in there tight, fire hazard if you ask me and the perfect venue for breeding a panic attack.

As I boarded my doom buggy I thought, “This is when the reality of being at Disney World is going to kick in.” I tried really hard to open my mind up and allow the Disney magic to spill in. I had fun on HM, I pointed out hidden Mickeys to Lo and told her which part was my favorite and did a lot of oooh look at that and wow how cool is this, but it just seemed so ordinary to be there. I didn’t feel special at all. It was really starting to bum me.

Lo and I both screamed at the grave yard site where the head pops up singing. I should know by now what’s going to happen, but that dead head gets me every time.

Our hitch hiking ghost was a little fat man. I didn’t like the way he was oggling me. Perv!

I have read and heard about a ring in the pavement outside of HM, that it was near the exit. 4 trips later and I have yet to find it. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t feeling the Disney magic, it’s in the ring and I can’t find the ring. I told Lo I need to find the ring and then maybe I would “feel” Disney again.

We looked, no ring. I need to find my “Precioussssssssss.”

After having no luck with the ring we headed back to frontier town, the plan was to ride BTMRR, but on the way we got side tracked. I saw the Christmas shop and wanted to go in there, we got side tracked again and didn’t go into the shop but went into hall of presidents instead. I had never done the hall of presidents before. I had always wanted to but it seemed like time restraints and ADR’s always prevented it. Now we had nothing but time. BTMRR could wait, no worries.

So there I was getting ready to do a first and I knew this would be the kicker, this first for me would be what jump starts the Disney feelin.

My leg was starting to hurt really bad, I sat down on a bench and pulled up my pant leg and blast! My leg was freaky swollen. It hadn’t swollen like this since my last Disney trip, it wasn’t as swollen but still it was pretty swollen for only being the first day. I wanted to cry, not because of pain, but because it had been so long since my injury and here I was still having such problems. I texted Camille and she prayed for me, I knew she would, that’s why I texted her. I also texted my sister who said to just sit down every chance I got and massage it.
So with Camilles prayers and my sisters advice my leg didn’t get real bad after that, it actually improved some. I had trouble with swelling a little, but no pain.

The hall of presidents was amazing. I learned so many new things that day. I can’t remember any of it now but back then I was in awe of my new findings. I can’t remember the president who said it, but his opponent was ridiculing him and saying he couldn’t spell and this president said something to the effect of “I find it a small mind if somebody can’t think of at least two ways to spell a word.” I loved it. I still love the American Adventure at Epcot more. But hall of presidents was great and definitely something I would do again.

We went into the Christmas shop after that, or we at least tried to, it was too crowded, but no worries, we had 2 more days planned at MK, whatever I was hoping to find would be there later, I didn’t know what I was even looking for so……….

We were both getting kind of tired having been up since 3:00am so we decided to just go back to the resort by way of Adventure land, if the line wasn’t too long for POC we would do a quick trip through there and then call it a day.

We walked the long way through frontier stopping for a picture on the way.

just something random, no rhyme or reason as to why I needed the picture.

The line was humongous, but everybody knows that there are two lines for POC and both of them were open, only nobody was going in the one to the right, nobody except for Lo and I. We walked almost all the way up to the boats, “Disboard knowledge is at work here.” I told Lo. That’s where I learned this little secret.

It was a short wait, and it was in this line that we met Michael and his mother. At first I thought Michael just had a very thick English accent, but after listening to him a while it was evident that yes, he was English but he was also special. Lo whispered in my ear. “He’s special like Gavin.”

Gavin is Lo’s 17 year old son and he’s autistic. We listened to him and his mother, it was a sweet conversation that kept being repeated. It went something like this.

Michael: Are you happy?

Mom: Yes, I’m happy.

Michael: Why are you happy?

Mom: I’m happy because I’m with you. Are you happy?

Michael: Yes, I am happy because I am at the Magic Kingdom.

Then they would talk about POC and Michael would ask again

“Are you happy?”

Finally Lo turned around and talked to Michaels mother. They discussed their childrens autism, even though Michael was there celebrating his 30th birthday, his mind was that of a child. He had the innocence of a child, the fascination with the world that young boys have. His laugh was contagious, he almost sounded like Santa Claus, he would laugh and say “I’m a silly boy.” Michael told us that he played soccer in the special Olympics and had gone to Japan. He even won a medal. Lo got teary eyed, she was missing Gavin, but she told me that she felt like she got a glimpse of Gavin in the furture and it made her happy.

Michael and his mom sat in the front of the boat and Lo and I were in the very back, but we could hear Michael laughing the whole time. Hohoho, “Are you happy Mom?”

I pulled my camera out to try and get some no flash photos, for me that’s hard to do, I don’t have a steady enough hand, so I might take 10 pictures and be lucky if one turns out, but after a few seconds I thought, why do I need pictures? I have taken pictures of this on my other 3 trips, and I have scrap booked them, do I really need another page of POC? That is when I decided that I wasn’t going to scrap book this trip at all, I would maybe scrap book a few things, things that were new and I hadn’t done before, but really I didn’t want to spend the whole trip trying to get the perfect picture. I could still have great memories of my trip with Lo and I will do a few pages of us at the end of my other Disney scrapbooks.

A weight was lifted from me once I made that decision and I kicked back and took in every thing I saw, and believe me I saw a lot of new things, it’s amazing what you miss when you have a camera held up in the ready position at all times, you can only see so much through a view finder. So from that moment on the trip took an even more laid back turn.

The ride was over and we perused the dump shop, again eyes only before heading towards the park exit. We did stop into a few stores just to get a feel for our designated shopping day, I almost bought a hoodie though, a lime green tinkerbell hoodie with a fur trim collar, but I didn’t see that they were offering the blanket special, you know the one spend $40 and get a blanket for $15.99

My mom wanted me to get a blanket and I also wanted one, so I needed to wait and get my hoodie elsewhere when I could also get the blanket. I am so glad I waited and you will find out why later on in this TR.

We passed by Aloha Isle and I remembered the Dole Whip, I quickly u-turned and told Lo we needed a dole whip now! We waited in the line for a very long time. We were starting to get antsy, the server was a little bit slow, he must have been a new guy because he would double guess his every move and he moved super slow. But we all know a dole whip is worth the wait and I kept telling Lo she would be so happy we waited. A couple people stepped out of line after the line didn’t move at all for 15 minutes. I told Lo they were probably out of pineapples and had to go pick more, that meant we would have freshly squeezed pineapples. The guy behind me told me, “the juice is from a can.”

Seriously dude? Let me believe the lies I tell myself K?

We get our floats and Lo is still so impressed with just handing our room key over to pay for our food, no money involved, it’s like getting it for free.

We go sit on a bench to relax while we immerse ourselves into the tropical goodness. Lo let out a moan that to me should be reserved for the bedroom.

“Good huh?” I asked her

She nodded and kept eating, I then take my first bite of the dole whip. And….

So this is love mmmm mmmm
So this is love.
So this is what makes life divine

I’m all aglow
Mmmm mmmm
And now I know
The key to all heaven is mine

My heart has wings mmmm
And I can fly.
I’ll touch every star in the sky

So this is the miracle
That I’ve been dreaming of
Mmm….mmmm
So this is love.


Ok so it wasn’t exactly like Cinderella falling in love wit her prince. But it was very close. And it took me one step closer to feeling the Disney magic. I was getting more excited to be there.

We sat for a while but it was too chilly to sit and enjoy ice cream, we had to move with it, and as we crossed over the bridge to leave Adventureland, Lo got her shimmy and shake on to the sound of the tribal drums. She didn’t miss a beat, shake shimmy, take a bite of the float, shake shimmy take a bite of the float. I laughed I was feeling good then, it’s so much fun to be at Disney with somebody who just out right enjoys life.

I downed my dole whip, I got the ice cream headache and all, but I hated to waste the dole whip and I was too cold to hold it any longer. Lo stood outside the emporium and finished hers while I eye shopped. She came in later and we looked at the Dooney bags, she was hoping to get another one. I looked at the hoodies but they didn’t have the Tinkerbell one so we just kept on moving until we got to the bus stop.

It was a Christmas party night at MK, so a lot of people were leaving and the bus line was long, so again we stood for the bus ride back.
We went to the pop shop at the resort as soon as we got off the bus and got our free refillable mug, we filled it with hot chocolate and then walked back to our room.

On the elevator we forgot (again) to push our floor level button and we stood talking for sometime before we realized the mistake. We laughed about being dumb enough to do that twice.

When we got to our room we already had some shout outs on our dry erase board. Yay!. Lo thought that was cool. I just reiterated that Disney people are awesome. They had to of been Dis’ers fer sure.

When we went into our room there was a birthday card for Lo with an autographed picture of Mickey Mouse. Lo was giddy. She likes getting attention.

Our bags were also waiting for us in the room, so we put on our jammies and finished unpacking. Once our room was squared away the way we liked it we headed down to the pop shop again for dinner.
I love being able to walk around the resort in my PJ's and sit and eat dinner while all comfy and ready for bed. That's another way to do Disney right. I don't do that at home, I mean go to a restaurant in my jammies, I;ve been tempted to do that, but the most I have ever done is gone through the drive-thru lat at night in PJ's. Lo was like "Are you sure it's ok we go down in our jammies?" but once we got down there and she saw other people were in jammies too she was all about it and even called her family to tell them. "We are in the restaurant at the resort in our jammies!!"

It was close to 6:00pm by then. The place was hopping but still plenty of seating. I got the chicken parmesan penne and I think Lo got a hamburger. I had to have another carrot cake, I was already addicted to the frosting. My meal was pretty good, but too much for one person to eat.

I got a text from Reese. She was at work, she’s my little subway girl, it was a slow night so she had nothing else to do but talk to her mama. My phone would lose service for 5 minutes at a time. It was crazy.

With dinner being over we headed back to the room. I got my clothes ready for the next day. Lo wanted to go to the laundry room and wash her painted Disney shirts so they would be soft. I was smart and washed all of my shirts before I even left. But since there wasn’t anything else to do and I was too wired to go to sleep I decided to go with her and bring baby Rose.

Hehehe, ya know we had fun with that, I will post about that in my next update.