Welcome, Foolish Muggles! IoA/US/MK/SW *July 2013 Trip Report Link*

[mickeystoontown]

Oh my goodness what a pain in the you-know-what the driver was. Thank goodness he was smart enough to just hush up and drive. I'm not like the sound of your last comment.

 

[natebenma]

Ugh, what a frustrating way to end your vacation and it doesn't sound like your journey home will get much better!

This is our first Disney trip without a rental car and leaving our transportation back to the airport is one of my sore spots. I'm so worried something will go wrong! But everyone raves about DME, so I'm hopeful we'll get there okay.

Oops, I didn't get a chance to respond to this before you left. Our experience with DME has always been positive. I'm sure it will go fine for you- can't wait to hear your impressions.

Oh my goodness what a pain in the you-know-what the driver was. Thank goodness he was smart enough to just hush up and drive. I'm not like the sound of your last comment.

We had such a wonderful trip. It is too bad that it spiraled downwards in the last hours! Yes, the driver was smart to hush when I told him "It would be a good idea to stop talking now"

It was a long time getting home! I'll try to get to that in the next day or two.

 

[natebenma]

We welcomed two kittens to our family today! It has been over 10 years since we have owned a cat. Raj passed away when Nate was 2 and I was pregnant with Ben.

Ben came home from school a couple of weeks ago showing pictures of two kittens his science teacher was fostering.

We decided we would adopt Oreo, the female on the right.

Well, over the past week we were encouraged to think about adopting them both and I'm glad we did. They have been playing together all day. I don't think I have the energy to keep up with each of them individually!!!

The other one is the cat formerly known as Ramona who turned out to be a Ramone. Nate, my teenager, has renamed him Monster Energy Cat.

 

[aprilisis]

Congratulations on the new kitties!!! They are SOOO adorable!

 

[Queila]

Hey Dee

Sorry I did not contribute with a lot of comments on your TR. Cannot really relate to the Harry Poter and IoA stuff. I can, however, tell you that I loved the picture of you and your son all soaked up after your ride on your last day. And if that salad from your hotel tasted as good as it looked boy you guys were in for a treat.

ET is probably still my favorite ride at Universal. I have a huge emotional connection to that movie and flying on those bikes gets to me every time. I also love the pictures of the pinguins of Madagaskar. Beatriz watches some Pinguins cartoons all the time and they are pretty funny.

Wow... that is such a stressful departure day. I really hate those. Last May we waited 45 minutes for our Magical Express and I was starting to be concerned also... last thing you want is to miss the dreaded flight back home. I am scared to find out what happened afte that...

Congratulations on adopting the kittens. Every now and then Beatriz asks for a pet but it is just not doable for us. I have really BAD allergies o for now the two birdes will have to do.

Have a great weekend!
Q

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Cute kittens Dee!
We are not cat people though, my DH and DSs are allergic to cats. We have always had a dog. He's a black lab named Indiana Jones (Indie for short) yes that's right the boys named him. I wanted Harry
Hope there's more good than bad coming up next. I need to make my ADRs on Sat. yay!

 

[natebenma]

Congratulations on the new kitties!!! They are SOOO adorable!

Thank you!!! I was going to post pictures over on your PTR because I consider that the "way too cute" animal thread! Already trying to figure out how to dress up the kitties for Christmas.

They haven't met the gerbils yet.

Maybe a picture of all four of them. "Meow-y Kiss-Mouse"

Hey Dee

Sorry I did not contribute with a lot of comments on your TR. Cannot really relate to the Harry Poter and IoA stuff. I can, however, tell you that I loved the picture of you and your son all soaked up after your ride on your last day. And if that salad from your hotel tasted as good as it looked boy you guys were in for a treat.

ET is probably still my favorite ride at Universal. I have a huge emotional connection to that movie and flying on those bikes gets to me every time. I also love the pictures of the pinguins of Madagaskar. Beatriz watches some Pinguins cartoons all the time and they are pretty funny.

Wow... that is such a stressful departure day. I really hate those. Last May we waited 45 minutes for our Magical Express and I was starting to be concerned also... last thing you want is to miss the dreaded flight back home. I am scared to find out what happened afte that...

Congratulations on adopting the kittens. Every now and then Beatriz asks for a pet but it is just not doable for us. I have really BAD allergies o for now the two birdes will have to do.

Have a great weekend!
Q

No problem on the comments. My report was intentionally, very Potter-focused. When Beatriz is a little older, you definitely have to check it out. The Harry Potter movies are awesome and the books are even better!

I always love the "after" the water rie photos!

We waited a very long time before adding pets to our family. We really wanted the kids to be older before we welcomed something else to take care of.

Cute kittens Dee!
We are not cat people though, my DH and DSs are allergic to cats. We have always had a dog. He's a black lab named Indiana Jones (Indie for short) yes that's right the boys named him. I wanted Harry
Hope there's more good than bad coming up next. I need to make my ADRs on Sat. yay!

Cute name for the lab (and the backup name was cute too- how about Hairy Potter?)

Dogs are unbelievably loyal and loving, but I am drawn to the independent nature and aloofness of cats.

I saw a hilarious comic strip last week. It showed a dog on a leash talking to a cat. The dog says "They don't put a leash on you because they WANT you to run away!"

I'll get that ending to my TR up soon!

 

[DrMomof3]

Adorable kitties! Nathaniel keeps asking for a kitten so we may join you in kittendom soon!

Amanda

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Kittens are so cute!! You made the right decision getting both. Our vet talked us into the same thing years ago saying, "You can be an awesome human companion, but only a cat can be a cat for a cat!"

Enjoy!

 

[natebenma]

Adorable kitties! Nathaniel keeps asking for a kitten so we may join you in kittendom soon!

Amanda

Thank you! Cats are a really great pet for families with busy lifestyles!

Kittens are so cute!! You made the right decision getting both. Our vet talked us into the same thing years ago saying, "You can be an awesome human companion, but only a cat can be a cat for a cat!"

Enjoy!

I'm so glad we got both. They were playing together all day yesterday! They have just started to pay a little attention to us.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Cute name for the lab (and the backup name was cute too- how about Hairy Potter?)

Dogs are unbelievably loyal and loving, but I am drawn to the independent nature and aloofness of cats.

I saw a hilarious comic strip last week. It showed a dog on a leash talking to a cat. The dog says "They don't put a leash on you because they WANT you to run away!"I'll get that ending to my TR up soon!

OMG my DH will LOVE that!!!!
Deb

 

[natebenma]

OMG my DH will LOVE that!!!!
Deb

Here you go!!!

Kitties are napping now, so I have had time to write the final chapter of my TR.

 

[natebenma]

When we left off, we had just been left off at the airport after an aggravating wait and silent ride. We found seats in our gate area and watched the storm rage through the windows.

Unfortunately, this was not one of those typical Florida thunderstorms that comes through quickly, dumps a ton of rain, and gives a brief display of lightning and roar of thunder. This one lingered. For more than two hours.

We watched everyone around us as their flights were delayed, tempers started flaring and the gate area got more and more crowded with arriving travelers, but no departures.

We watched the departure board, and saw that our 6:10 flight had been delayed until 7:30.

Since we had a fairly large lunch, I don’t think we had anything to eat at the airport, but we got a couple of sandwiches and some drinks from the grab and go to take onto the plane with us.

As advertised, we did board our plane around 7:30. And we sat. And waited. And waited.

About every 20 minutes, the pilot’s voice would come over the loud speaker and announce that we were experiencing a fueling delay. Apparently, an outside contractor handles all of the aircraft refueling for the Orlando airport. They won’t gas up any planes while there is lightning within a certain number of miles from the airport (understandable), so consequently, even though the lightning had stopped we were delayed while we waited for countless planes to receive their fuel.

I contacted the livery company that would be picking us up at the airport- they were able to arrange for a later pickup, but there would be an additional late-night surcharge.

Finally, at 9:30 (5 ½ hours after arriving at the airport and 2 hours after boarding our plane) we lifted off.

Our 3 hour flight was uneventful. Ben, fortunately, slept through most of it. Nate slept through some of it. Mark and I both read. Although I had been awake since about 5 that morning, I just can’t sleep on a plane.

We arrived in Boston a little after midnight. We were home sometime around 1:30 in the morning. It goes without saying that it was a looonnnngggg day!

Not the best ending to our trip, but nevertheless, we really had a fantastic time!


Thanks for being here to share our adventures!


Next up: Top Ten “Things”- Tips for Universal Newbies

.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Another OMG!!! How frustrating. I hate sitting and waiting more than anything. Don't understand why they have you all get on the plane when you're gonna just sit and wait anyway. What an awful feeling when you're exhausted (both mentally and physically) and just wanna go home. I'm guessing your p/u car in Boston was there waiting for you and not the other way around. Wouldn't it be awful if he/she wasn't??
Thanks for the comic. I know DH will love it.
It's sad it's over. I don't wanna do a full blown TR but I would like to post some of my favorite pics and parts of the trip. My pictures are all on my computer. What do I have to do to be able to post them?
Deb

 

[natebenma]

Another OMG!!! How frustrating. I hate sitting and waiting more than anything. Don't understand why they have you all get on the plane when you're gonna just sit and wait anyway. What an awful feeling when you're exhausted (both mentally and physically) and just wanna go home. I'm guessing your p/u car in Boston was there waiting for you and not the other way around. Wouldn't it be awful if he/she wasn't??
Deb

Yes, thankfully our car was there!

I think they loaded us onto the plane for a couple of reasons. The gate area was getting pretty crowded, so if a plane was at the gate, that is one way to get people out of there. Plus, I honestly don't think anyone knew the fueling order.

I'm pretty sure that there are penalties in place if you are kept waiting on a plane for 3 or more hours before taking off. But we didn't wait that long.

 

[AprilRenee]

How awful to sit on a plane for 2 hours on the ground!
Another reason to load you on the plane (something we learned on OUR trip home) is that the flight crew can "time out" if they don't get on the plane and away from the gate in a certain amount of time. If they didn't pull you away from the gate then that wasn't the reason...but if they put you on and then pulled away, it might have been that the crew was getting close to timing out and not being allowed to fly.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I just noticed you added the kitties to your sig.- very cute!!

 

[natebenma]

I don't wanna do a full blown TR but I would like to post some of my favorite pics and parts of the trip. My pictures are all on my computer. What do I have to do to be able to post them?
Deb

I use Photobucket to post my pictures. You can sign up for a free account.

Once you have the account, you can upload pictures- very easy.

You can load them all into one album, or create different albums/subalbums if you want. (For example- everything could go into Orlando July 2011 or I could make a different album for each park (Universal, Islands of Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Sea World)

To upload, you will be directed to browse and select the photos you want from your computer.

You can select multiple photos (I do it using the shift/enter key for a continuous block of pictures or control/enter for individual pictures if I want to skip some)

When you have selected the photos you want, press the upload button.

To post:

You need to get the image code for that picture-

There are several options associated with each picture: Share/Edit/Delete/Move

Click on Share

Click on Get Link Code

There will be a bunch of options for the link codes. You want

IMG for Bulletin Boards and Forums.

Copy the link code in the box, then paste it where you want in a message.

It will look like this:

[ IMG]http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu294/natebenma/Orlando%20July%202011/IMG_6792.jpg[/IMG]
Note, I put in an extra space after the first bracket so the picture wouldn't print.

Hint- if you have a series of photos from the same album you want to print, all of the above info will be the same except for the picture name or number. So I can just recopy the line above, and change the 6792 to 6793.

One more hint- In my settings, I have changed the default to upload all of my pictures in the 640 x 480 size. To do this, click the Upload button, scroll down where it says customize your upload settings.

Hope this helps!

Feel free to practice posting a photo here.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I use Photobucket to post my pictures. You can sign up for a free account.

Once you have the account, you can upload pictures- very easy.

You can load them all into one album, or create different albums/subalbums if you want. (For example- everything could go into Orlando July 2011 or I could make a different album for each park (Universal, Islands of Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Sea World)

To upload, you will be directed to browse and select the photos you want from your computer.

You can select multiple photos (I do it using the shift/enter key for a continuous block of pictures or control/enter for individual pictures if I want to skip some

When you have selected the photos you want, press the upload button.

To post:

You need to get the image code for that picture-

There are several options associated with each picture: Share/Edit/Delete/Move

Click on Share

Click on Get Link Code

There will be a bunch of options for the link codes. You want

IMG for Bulletin Boards and Forums.

Copy the link code in the box, then paste it where you want in a message.

It will look like this:

[ IMG]http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu294/natebenma/Orlando%20July%202011/IMG_6792.jpg[/IMG]
Note, I put in an extra space after the first bracket so the picture wouldn't print.

Hint- if you have a series of photos from the same album you want to print, all of the above info will be the same except for the picture name or number. So I can just recopy the line above, and change the 6792 to 6793.

One more hint- In my settings, I have changed the default to upload all of my pictures in the 640 x 480 size. To do this, click the Upload button, scroll down where it says customize your upload settings.

Hope this helps!

Feel free to practice posting a photo here.

Thanks Dee you're awesome!!
I'll have more time tomorrow to try.
Deb

 

[pixarmom]

Hi Dee!

Just caught up on your report! First, we're another family with allergies, so our pet options are limited. But I must say that "Monster Energy Cat" is the best cat name EVER - especially when paired with a sweet cat named Oreo. Love it!

Wow - that transportation ordeal made me nervous just reading it. Ugh. And then the time on the plane - another ugh! Whenever we experience transportation difficulties, one of us always says, "Where's the Magical Express?" Now, I know ME has been imperfect for many, but we've always had great experiences with it and we don't like renting cars. So we always miss ME when we travel elsewhere.

Always sad to see a Dee Trip Report come to an end. You're reporting on Nassau in February, right?