OUTPLAN-OUTPLAY-OUTLAST: a Sleepingbooty TR! New Princess trip update 4/2

[Sleepingbooty]

I'm so happy you started your tr, I followes along in your ptr. We were there the same week it was beautiful weather! I love your survivor theme it's my all time favorite show. I love all your pics and updates so far!!!

Welcome! Thanks for comin' over! It was a beautiful week, wasn't it? We really lucked out!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

WOW, you had some awesome touring luck with lines and (no) waits!

I know! This day was given a crowd rating estimate of a "1" and I think they were right on.

yes! the tuna sandwiches are so yummy there! So large and filling and tasty, and perfectly positioned to hit up HM afterwards.

Oh, they are SO good. I think its the bread.

I think your girls will come around. Maybe showing them the other kids getting off might help? OR you could just resort to bribery like Glenn and Marc to.

Oh believe me, I've tried!!!! I'm SO not above bribes!

'Ohana---- what can I say?? Such fond and wonderful memories from here; and it wasn't just the meat.

Ohana rocks!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Whoo hoo, a nice day at MK.

Oh, you look plenty redneck to take a redneck photo. First, you've gotta get closer. I'm trying to remember what I do...I think I put the camera on the Time-value setting, meaning that the shutter speed has priority, and I set it at 1/60th of a second.

Obviously I'm enough of a redneck to try for it, right?! I'll try 1/60th next time. I was trying to get it fast before it disappeared and I left the flash on, I think.

A lot of people have said that the tuna sandwich at CHH is really good. I'll have to try it someday. Must be full of lots of luscious fat.

No low-fat mayo there, no siree

Scott took a nice picture of that window that you and Peter Pan and Wendy were blocking. He he he.

Oh, see I didn't know that's what he was going for. I guess we should have moved out of the way!

"There's 6 of us" Oh, the teasing would have been relentless if I'd have been around too. Good thing your mom's a good sport!

We got a LOT of mileage out of it. In fact, we're still using it!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Catching up!

I love the the pic of the girls showing their muscles The joke with your mom is adorable. It reminds me of the silly things my family does also. If a lost pair of sunglasses is the worst thing all day what more could you ask for. Great posts!

How exciting for your trip! That is coming up quick! I will be handing out water at the princess marathon. The company I work for has a water stand and I jumped to volunteer!

Welcome Tara, Glad to have you here!

We are a silly family!

How awesome that you are getting to volunteer for the run - I take it you work in Orlando? Or are they sending you there? It's going to be a rockin' weekend!

 

[TeaForTulips]

Welcome Tara, Glad to have you here!

We are a silly family!

How awesome that you are getting to volunteer for the run - I take it you work in Orlando? Or are they sending you there? It's going to be a rockin' weekend!

I live outside Orlando in a little town about 30 minutes from the Mouse I've never been to the world for any marathons. I think it'll be so much fun!

 

[KatGarcia]

Your touring style seems perfect! Its great you can split up a bit and meet back up for more fun. Great report!

 

[mom3sonstt]

As we approached the standby queue, my mom told the CM standing there, "There's 6 of us." Um, okay. He just nodded and ushered us into the line. We just shook our heads and laughed at her. She tends to do things like this a lot. I don't even know how to explain why it was funny. She's just always saying something extraneous or inappropriate to someone.

My husband will do this - we will be entering a ride, or show, and he will feel the need to tell the CM that "she has a scooter". Really???? They can't see the big red cart that I'm sitting on????

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I live outside Orlando in a little town about 30 minutes from the Mouse I've never been to the world for any marathons. I think it'll be so much fun!

I'm sure it will be a blast!

Your touring style seems perfect! Its great you can split up a bit and meet back up for more fun. Great report!

You know, normally we do stick together. But this worked out pretty well. We did split up a couple other times that I can think of, but for the most part we stuck together.

My husband will do this - we will be entering a ride, or show, and he will feel the need to tell the CM that "she has a scooter". Really???? They can't see the big red cart that I'm sitting on????

Sounds just like my mom!

 

[englishrose47]

Great MK update !!I agree Mickey's Philharmagic is awesome !!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Rebecca! I have no idea why I did not see that TR link in your signature. I'm getting kind of slow at this stuff. Well, I'm here now and will be catching up! I was so looking forward to hearing about your trip!

EDIT: Ok, thanks to your handy dandy links, I'm all caught up!!

I just have to say...THANK YOU for all those great pictures. I really love photos of families and people just BEING together, instead of trying to get SOMETHING in the shot. It really made me feel like I was right there with you. So thank you for taking ALL those pictures!

Ooooh, Ohana. I really want to eat there. I love that you guys had barely any waiT! Is that common when going in September?

I had no idea the Halloween decorations came out so early.

Can't wait to hear about how they reacted to your surprise!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Great MK update !!I agree Mickey's Philharmagic is awesome !!!

The sights, the sounds, the smells - love all of it

Rebecca! I have no idea why I did not see that TR link in your signature. I'm getting kind of slow at this stuff. Well, I'm here now and will be catching up! I was so looking forward to hearing about your trip!

EDIT: Ok, thanks to your handy dandy links, I'm all caught up!!

I just have to say...THANK YOU for all those great pictures. I really love photos of families and people just BEING together, instead of trying to get SOMETHING in the shot. It really made me feel like I was right there with you. So thank you for taking ALL those pictures!

Ooooh, Ohana. I really want to eat there. I love that you guys had barely any waiT! Is that common when going in September?

I had no idea the Halloween decorations came out so early.

Can't wait to hear about how they reacted to your surprise!

Don't worry about it, you're here now!

You know, when I was younger, (like on my trip to Italy, for instance) I did most of my shots without people and I hated posed people photos. And as a result I ended up with the same pictures of buildings and scenery that everyone else gets, with nothing personal. I've just realized that pictures of my kids in the moment preserve the memories a lot better. Still don't like traditional poses all that much though.

Oh yeah, the surprise. That'll be my next update!

 

[KatMark]

Its interesting that my girls, now at age 7 and 10, still pick the most mild of rides to do first. I guess they are easily amused. At least they didn't ask for Dumbo.

And just what is WRONG with Dumbo? If you read my TR (oh, you didn't join until the PTR), you would see that Dumbo is a favorite and usually the first thing we ride after our early ADR at the MK. And we are two old people.

Your day at the MK sounds wonderful and you got quite a bit done. I love September. We've been there beginning the Saturday of Labor Day weekend for ten days, mid-September and now we go the latter part of September because we now go to Marco Island every year. I love the weather at that time and the non-crowd issue.

Your meal at Ohanas sounds wonderful--but alas, DH does not want to go there.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Rebecca,
I just found your TR and got caught up!

I think I was there the same time you were during your last May trip. We too had horrible weather! Rained like crazy! Felt like I was constantly going to get washed away.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

And just what is WRONG with Dumbo? If you read my TR (oh, you didn't join until the PTR), you would see that Dumbo is a favorite and usually the first thing we ride after our early ADR at the MK. And we are two old people.

No, no, no - we do love Dumbo of course, it is a classic after all and I love the view. I just always dread the line. I'm trying to remember - I don't know if we rod it at ALL this trip!

Your day at the MK sounds wonderful and you got quite a bit done. I love September. We've been there beginning the Saturday of Labor Day weekend for ten days, mid-September and now we go the latter part of September because we now go to Marco Island every year. I love the weather at that time and the non-crowd issue.

Your meal at Ohanas sounds wonderful--but alas, DH does not want to go there.

Our very first trip was in the beginning to mid part of September, but we now usually go somewhere around the 17-25th because that is the first week of our 3 week fall break. Well, I should say WAS. The school board voted this fall to return to a traditional school year calendar to save money after 40 years of a year round calendar. We were the first school district in the country to do year round, and I'm really going to miss our cycle breaks!

Rebecca,
I just found your TR and got caught up!

I think I was there the same time you were during your last May trip. We too had horrible weather! Rained like crazy! Felt like I was constantly going to get washed away.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Welcome, welcome! Glad to have you here! Oh that weather in May 09 was crazy! Made me never want to go in May again, even though the logical (much smaller) part of my brain knows it was a freak occurrence. Give me hot September days anytime!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

The Storm of the Century & Planning News

Sorry to interrupt the show, I know you are all anxiously waiting for the next episode, however I felt I would be remiss if I did not report on Snowpocalypse 2011.

The weather reporters were warning us all weekend that the end was near, so I did what every other person in the bi-state area did on Sunday - hit the grocery store for milk, eggs, and bread (and some beer and toilet paper for you, Liesa). Wow, what a mess that place was! I think I bought 2 of everything, just in case the disaster they were predicting came true.

The forecasts predicted that sleet and freezing rain would hit the St.Louis area around 6 am Monday morning, and that the ice would continue to fall all day, switching to snow in the afternoon or evening. Then it would snow all night and all Tuesday, leaving us with 10 to 20 inches on top of the layer of ice.

We woke up Monday to find that school actually WAS in session, and as I looked outside, I could see nothing was coming down yet at 7am. At the bus stop, the bus driver told us that they had been warned of the possibility that school might let out early. Sure enough, they dismissed on our early release schedule (1:10). Apparently, if they feed the kids lunch, the state considers you in attendance that day and you do not have to make it up.

I decided that I would record this momentous, storm-of-all-storms as it progressed. After all, this was supposed to be as bad as the blizzard of 1982. Of course, I don't remember that, since I was only 8. I do remember getting a lot of snow as a kid. Seemed like we always got about 2 feet. Maybe it was only that one time.

It took this picture at about 3:30 on Monday afternoon. It was still mostly just raining at this point. The snow you see was left over from last week:

All through the afternoon and evening, it continued to sleet. The sleet itself was starting to accumulate a bit, but it really didn't change over to snow until later in the evening.

Surely, it would dump on us overnight. I took this the next morning:

You can still see the edge of the landscaping bricks. This is not at all what I expected! It flurried all through the day and evening, and we stayed cocooned in the house, we knew that the roads were bad even if they snow hadn't materialized. Scott was working from home, and the girls school had been called off for Tuesday and Wednesday as well. We baked, worked on a puzzle, watched movies.

Today, I took a final picture - and measured our total snow accumulation:

I case you can't read that - its 2.5 inches. Yep, the storm of the century. What a let down! I truly hope the plows or salt trucks can make it through to all the side roads today so we can get these kids back in school tomorrow.
****************************

On another note, we had a planning meeting for the Princess 1/2 Marathon Trip on Saturday. We really didn't have a lot to go over, it was more just to talk about our plans and get excited. First of all, I had to hand out the t-shirts I'd picked up earlier in the week. I happened to find some very cute Minnie and Mickey t-shirts on clearance ($3 each!!!) at Walmart of all places. I texted everyone to see if they thought I should get them and of course they said to go for it. When I got home, I took pictures of them to send as well.

How cute are those?? Now we don't have to worry about making our own. We also discussed rides to the airport. Our flight is a 6:25 am, so we plan on leaving around 4:45 (takes about 20 minutes at that time of day).

My two aunts who have never been had some questions about the dining plan and Magical express, and various logistical matters. We also talked about what to pack. But the most important matter we discussed, was adding a couple days to our tickets.

When this trip was first conceived, it was centered around the half our group that was running the race. We had decided we'd spend two days in the parks, and whatever time we had left we'd do Downtown Disney or maybe tour the resorts.

Now, our group has dropped from 12 to 8, and only 3 are running. Also, now that we've purchase our airline tickets, its become apparent that we will have nearly a whole day on the day of our arrival and the day of our departure since we are flying in so early and leaving so late. I brought to everyone's attention that if we wanted to add a 3rd day to our 2 day tickets, it would only cost an additional $62 per person. But, and here's the kicker: too add a fourth day would only cost $8 more than that.

I wasn't sure what the reaction to that idea would be, but the concensus was that we should just do it. Yay!!! Now our plan is to go to Animal Kingdom on our arrival day (probably about noon) and then head to DTD later for dinner. We'll try to catch Yeehaw Bob later that night.

On Saturday, we'll do Magic Kingdom, and I do expect it to be crowed because of all the extra visitors participating in the run on Sunday. We have an ADR for Chef Mickeys that night (this was our concession to carb-loading for the runners).

On Sunday, we'll try to get to Epcot in time to watch our runners cross the finish line, and then we'll spend the day there. The group voted to utilize our ADR at Tutto Italia, so I'll cancel the one I'd made for La Hacienda. I'm a bit disappointed with that.

On Monday, our flights are not until 8pm, so we'll have until about 5pm to play. I'd originally made late breakfast reservations, but now that we have decided to go to a park, I will cancel those. Instead, I was able to get a lunch ADR for us at Sci Fi Dine In - a surprise at this late date.

At this point, all there is left to do is countdown the days!

Up Next: Episode 6: The Big Surprise

 

[All7OfUs]

Well, all I can say is that I hope you realloy splurged on 2-ply!!

And for a snowy day, hot toddys are better than beer; but then again, anything is better than beer, most anytime.

yeah, why is it that the predictors can only still, in this modern day and age of doppler this and that, get about 50% accuracy in where and how much is gonna fall? C'mon guys (and gals), millions upon millions of school kids are counting on you to get this right!




I'm sorry that the trip seems to be losing a bit of force. 12 down to 8 is quite a difference. 2 rooms from 3 rooms, in fact. If you go by 4sies.

LOVE the shirts!! Simple, and to the point.

I think I'd have gone with neither Tutto OR Hacienda. But rather Bistro or perhaps Biergarten?? But that's me.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I know, there are so many great choices around the world showcase. Bistro wouldn't have worked for us because we can't afford to use 2 credits when we only have 3 altogether!

We are actually still in 3 rooms. 3 in one, 2 in one (my room. Our third bowed out after the 45 day mark, so she's losing some $$, but it won't affect us two), and 3 in the other. By the time we lost our last person, it was too late for us to start shifting around without incurring change fees.

I wish my cousin Marcy hadn't had to drop out at the last minute, but she came to the realization that she would not be able to leave her baby. He's only 6 months old, so I can totally understand. She is very bummed not to be able to go, but she ultimately had to put him first. I think we are going to take a "flat Marcy" along

 

[IheartDDuck]

Um, you can come on by to my house.....we got over 20 inches!

We have drifting so bad that some of the drifts in our driveway were over 6 feet tall! I had to shovel out today. It took over five hours!

You're lucky that it missed you guys though.

 

[queenof3]

I'll send some snow your way! We've had about 4 ft in the last month. 6 snow days for schools in the past 3 weeks!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Um, you can come on by to my house.....we got over 20 inches!

We have drifting so bad that some of the drifts in our driveway were over 6 feet tall! I had to shovel out today. It took over five hours!

You're lucky that it missed you guys though.

You guys always get hit hard in Chicago. I heard that the schools there closed for the first time in something like 20 years? How do they stay open through all these storms year after year? Do your plows clear the streets really quickly?

I'll send some snow your way! We've had about 4 ft in the last month. 6 snow days for schools in the past 3 weeks!

Thanks for joinin' in! Today is our 7th snow day. Luckily, the half day on Monday doesn't count. I've heard there is some provision by the state wherein (I sound all official, don't I) schools can petition the state to consider anything after 6 days missed to be an 'act of nature' and excusable. I hope they do that, because I do think that we haven't seen the last of the snow - and I hate the thought of making up more than a week!