Our Gawrsh Darn Spooktacular Halloween TR ***Last Updates from Tracy 6/17***

[irish dancer]

Well I didn't make page 1 but I'm here!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. I followed along on FB and loved the updates and photos. I so want to go sometime again at this time of year but will live vicariously through your trip.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Yay! I can't wait to hear about your joint trip!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Joining in! Looking forward to reading all about your trip.

Hey Angie, from the looks of your ticker we might be overlapping in April!

(OK, sorry for hijacking Tracy! )

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Well I didn't make page 1 but I'm here!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. I followed along on FB and loved the updates and photos. I so want to go sometime again at this time of year but will live vicariously through your trip.

Hi Anne Marie! Thanks for joining in!

Yay! I can't wait to hear about your joint trip!

Welcome aboard!

Hey Angie, from the looks of your ticker we might be overlapping in April!

(OK, sorry for hijacking Tracy! )

Hijack away Sarah! Anytime

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm here!!!

Chuckling a little bit to hear that relaxation was on the agenda... I can't imagine a vacation with my two kids & no DH that would involve relaxation!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I'm here!!!

Chuckling a little bit to hear that relaxation was on the agenda... I can't imagine a vacation with my two kids & no DH that would involve relaxation!

Hi Amy! Just wait for the Space Mountain "incident"

 

[flamestarrdust]

Joining in!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Joining in!

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I'm here! I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I'm here! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Hello!

 

[mousescrapper]

Ok I'm "here" but please don't start updating till after the 20th looking forward to hearing all about this 2 kid/Mom adventure as I can see myself doing somenting similar in the future too


and a Space mt incident...rah-ro

 

[Tinkermom76]

Ok I'm "here" but please don't start updating till after the 20th looking forward to hearing all about this 2 kid/Mom adventure as I can see myself doing somenting similar in the future too


and a Space mt incident...rah-ro

I can't let Tracy wait till the 20th or we will end up like her TR from last December

I'm sure we won't get to the Space Mt incident till you are back

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here! I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Tinkermom76]

I'm here! I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Hey everyone thanks for joining in!!!! We are hoping to get the travel day posted tonight or tomorrow so we can get rolling

I called Southwest today about my travel voucher and apparently they can not extend the dates for me so I have $300 in vouchers I need to use before Oct 3 2012 and since I was not planning on taking the kids till after that I either have to use it or lose it.

This got me thinking that I would love to go for my birthday but now I have to try to talk one of my friends into going with me cause I really don`t want to go alone

Wish me luck

 

[Grumpy_mom]

Cool hat Demetri. Did you get you hat at the park?

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Wish me luck

Luck!! Wish I could do it but I'm plotting my own use out of those travel credits.

Cool hat Demetri. Did you get you hat at the park?

Isn't that hysterical? We didn't buy the hat but sure had a lot of fun trying it on. It's from one of the Main Street MK shops.

 

[Tinkermom76]

Day 1 (Sept 23)


Travel Day


I woke up bright and early this morning and was so excited to be off to my happy place! I set my alarm for 6am and got up and had my shower. I went to Timmies to get coffee for me and my brother since he was driving us to Tracy’s.



I couldn’t believe my kids were still sleeping at 7am so I woke them up. If I was excited, they were going to be excited too!


After the girls got up, got dressed and had breakfast I took a last look around to make sure I had everything. I went to Timmies to get coffee for me and my brother since he was driving us to Tracy’s.


I packed all the bags in the car and we left just after 8am.


I got to Tracy’s house around 9am and got all my bags out of the car and got them in the van. It was at this point I realized I forgot the stroller. Oh well I will figure it out later.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

The night before our trip, I was doing last minute packing. The kids were showered up and in bed and Alex was helping me by printing off our boarding passes and some do it yourself window clings. I’d found on the DIS a couple of cute Halloween themed Mickey heads that I put the kids names on, a fabulous 999 Happy Haunts with the hitchhiking ghosts and even found a Red Queen one I put Natalie’s name on to surprise her.

I happily made it through the last of the items on my to-do list and it was only just approaching 10pm! With only my carry on bag left to finish up, I started to stack up the window clings and immediately realized that while Alex had carefully checked the first one he printed, he hadn’t on the others and they’d printed on the wrong side. When I stacked them, the ink all ran together and the whole lot was ruined. My fault for leaving it to the last minute, I had no other sheets to reprint them. Mental note for next trip: don’t leave anything to do on the night before.

We had two suitcases that were now at the front door and three carry ons. On our last two trips, Ariana had become stressed when she didn’t immediately get her Tink suitcase upon arrival. She’d get so preoccupied that she’d constantly ask for it and it made for a somewhat less than enjoyable arrival, so this trip I planned to use it as her carry on so she’d always have it with her.

Demetri had one too and in them they had bathing suits and towels to go swimming right away, jammies in case our luggage arrived late and the airplane activity books I’d made for them. It proved to be a little much through airport security and Demetri needed reminders to keep it with him and wheel it properly. Mental note for next trip: don’t give each kid a carry on – one will do.

For once, my sleep was not bad at all and I woke up in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. The kids only needed telling once that it was time to get up and with the last of the items packed away, we said our goodbyes to Alex as he was off to school. Wah!

Natalie and the girls arrived and my hubby loaded up the van with all our stuff. We were so organized and on the ball that we were ahead of schedule and decided to hit the road. A last goodbye to my hubby and we were off! First stop --- Tim Hortons! Gotta have that last Canadian coffee staple before going without it for the next 11 days!

 

[Tinkermom76]

[FONT=&quot]We got to the border around 11am and the lines were a little backed up. I remember all of us rocking out to Adam Lambert’s “If I Had You” while we slowly creeped up to the booths and searched for the shortest lines to get there. [/FONT]

I was very surprised neither of us was asked for travel letters or custody papers with taking the kids across, but they could probably see when they scanned our passports the multiple trips to Florida.

After that William (the name I gave my GPS) led us nicely to the airport and we found a spot in the Long Term B lot.

Right away there was a shuttle there and the kids were in a big rush to get on it so we had to hurry and get the bags out and on the shuttle. Maybe they were starting to get excited!


As convenient as it was to have the shuttle right there waiting for us - though I’d done a quick scan of the van to make sure we had everything, it was too quick and I ended up leaving my glasses behind. Doh!


We got to the terminal and we both already had our boarding passes so all we had to do was check our bags. Going through security was fairly easy for me and the girls. They are in charge of their shoes and jackets and I have the rest.


It wasn’t too bad for us at security either. Demetri was chitchatting with the guard who was going over our passports and I remember looking over my shoulder at Natalie and the girls in the other line who’d already gone thru. Nice to get a chatty guard as opposed to a sourpuss but let’s go already shall we?!


After security I was on a mission. I love the breakfast sandwich at Which Wich and I was praying that even though it was after noon I would still be able to get it, well I DID and it was so good!!! Now I know I can order it any time of the day so I won’t worry about flight times.

After we’d eaten our lunches, the kids were anxious to head over to the gate while I was quite content sitting at the table for a bit longer. To quiet and calm all of them I brought up the timer on my phone and said whoever can stay absolutely silent for a full 5 minutes will get a prize. Lo and behold, they all won! I couldn’t actually do anything with my phone in those 5 minutes though because they wanted to watch the timer go down – oh well it was quiet anyway!


Our gate was right across from Which Wich and the kids wasted no time getting to the play area.

It wasn’t too long before our plane arrived.

We boarded the plane and were in rows beside each other. Demetri wanted to sit with Emma and me so Eryka sat with Tracy and Ariana.

For those of you that remember from our PTR, I’ve gotten air sickness on the last few trips I’ve taken. For this trip I’d found non drowsy chewable Ginger Gravol lozenges. Though they’re not the best tasting, I’m happy to report they worked beautifully and I had no nausea at all!


The flight was pretty uneventful and I was very excited when we landed in Orlando. I always look out the window for Disney World but I can never find it


I got off the plane and Tracy had to wait for her stroller so I got a good pic of them coming into the airport.

Where were the balloons and streamers and confetti? Didn’t they know we had ARRIVED?!


We made our way over to the mini monorail and to the next terminal.

Notice the Lady stuffy that Demetri has? Take a good look; she won’t put in any more appearances for the rest of the trip.


We found our way down to the Magical Express and I couldn’t believe the area was empty.

We hopped on a bus at 5:35pm. The bus was almost empty and we waited for a few more people before we left. The bus left the airport at 5:55 and we pulled into Pop at 6:30pm.



I tried to get the WDW arch pic but it was raining and I was a few rows back so there was no hope. One day I will sit up front and get it.