Victoriasmom98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
I really wasn't going to do a pretrip report as I thought I would be rehashing the same plans as in prior trips. I mean, I really don't do anything different from year to year other than purchase different items for the trip. But I've found that I've really missed sharing the little things that I've been going through and getting for our trip, so here I am.....starting my pretrip report for our August 2012 adventure. I have to figure out a cute, catchy title, though. For the life of me I can't think of anything funny or intelligent at this point.
So, let's start with the cast of characters.....
I hope you all don't mind, but I'm going to copy and paste the introductions from my prior report. I mean, our backstory doesn't change from year to year, right? So, for those of you who know me and my family, you can skip this part, unless you are a glutton for punishment...
My DD 14 Victoria......
She and I have been the 2 peas in a pod since I divorced her father when she was 4. It's been she and I against the world since then. She's not as much as a Disney fanatic as I am but I'll get her there!!! hee, hee. She's had her share of trials so far in her 14 years so I tend to spoil her and try to "make up for it". She was born with infant torticollis which basically means her head and neck muscles didn't develop as they should have while I was pregnant. She wore a head cast for 6 months to shape her head properly and had physical therapy for the first 2 years of her life. When she was 5, we discovered she had a tethered spinal cord which required surgery to fix. Her tethered spinal cord made potty training extremely difficult (as she didn't feel when she had to go) and it has caused recurring UTI's which have continued to this day. She does she a Pediatric Nephrologist in Portland, Maine so we are working on it. After her surgery she had an additional 2 years of physical therapy. She's doing great, though, even though she will never be great at team sports or any activity that requires lots of balance. It was also around the time she was 5 when my dad, her beloved Pepere passed away of a massive heart attack. That prompted me to realize that life is too short to be miserable, so I divorced Victoria's father that same year.
Then there's me......a 44 year old cancer survivor, diabetic, and mother extrodinairre...(yeah, seriously I don't think that highly of myself, really!!!).....I work full time, enjoy scrapbooking, tending to my menagerie of pets and stalking the Disboards..
Finally, there is my husband Peter.......
As a little background here--- I had a pretty bad first marriage and I definitely was NEVER, EVER going to get married again or ever let anyone have control over me and my life again. I had dated, but nothing too serious as my first priority was and is Victoria. I was certainly not going to bring someone into our lives who I had no intention of remaining with. Then I met Peter.......yes, online.......Now I know what you all must be thinking ----ewwww! And I really didn't think anything would come out of it either. But, here I am. He's from the same type of French Catholic background as I am and we have so many things in common. He actually does the same type of work that my Dad did. (My Dad passed away in 2002). He's really an amazing man and he's taken to Victoria like she was his own child. Victoria loves him, too.
Other family members not going on the trip are our yellow lab, 3 cats, 5 mini-lop bunnies, 3 teddy bear hamsters, and 2 guinea pigs. I am a huge animal lover, if you couldn't tell. Usually when we go to Disney the dog goes to the kennel and my wonderful Mom comes over to tend to everyone else.
About our trip: We had booked the bounceback offer when we were there in 2011. The offer was Free Dining, so yeah, we jumped on it! Last year we stayed at POFQ and really loved it, so we booked that again. Then I got to reading the boards and more about the Carribean Beach Resort. I really wanted to see what that was like, so I changed the reservation. Also, we had originally planned to go in September due to the low crowds, but since Victoria will be a high school freshman this year, she didn't want to miss any school. After talking it all out, we have decided on August 17th through the 28th. Hopefully it will be low crowds and tolerable as far as the heat goes. I've been reading the boards and the census seems to be that there will be low crowds and it will be hot but tolerable. Whew!!!!
So, let's start with the cast of characters.....
I hope you all don't mind, but I'm going to copy and paste the introductions from my prior report. I mean, our backstory doesn't change from year to year, right? So, for those of you who know me and my family, you can skip this part, unless you are a glutton for punishment...
My DD 14 Victoria......
She and I have been the 2 peas in a pod since I divorced her father when she was 4. It's been she and I against the world since then. She's not as much as a Disney fanatic as I am but I'll get her there!!! hee, hee. She's had her share of trials so far in her 14 years so I tend to spoil her and try to "make up for it". She was born with infant torticollis which basically means her head and neck muscles didn't develop as they should have while I was pregnant. She wore a head cast for 6 months to shape her head properly and had physical therapy for the first 2 years of her life. When she was 5, we discovered she had a tethered spinal cord which required surgery to fix. Her tethered spinal cord made potty training extremely difficult (as she didn't feel when she had to go) and it has caused recurring UTI's which have continued to this day. She does she a Pediatric Nephrologist in Portland, Maine so we are working on it. After her surgery she had an additional 2 years of physical therapy. She's doing great, though, even though she will never be great at team sports or any activity that requires lots of balance. It was also around the time she was 5 when my dad, her beloved Pepere passed away of a massive heart attack. That prompted me to realize that life is too short to be miserable, so I divorced Victoria's father that same year.
Then there's me......a 44 year old cancer survivor, diabetic, and mother extrodinairre...(yeah, seriously I don't think that highly of myself, really!!!).....I work full time, enjoy scrapbooking, tending to my menagerie of pets and stalking the Disboards..
Finally, there is my husband Peter.......
As a little background here--- I had a pretty bad first marriage and I definitely was NEVER, EVER going to get married again or ever let anyone have control over me and my life again. I had dated, but nothing too serious as my first priority was and is Victoria. I was certainly not going to bring someone into our lives who I had no intention of remaining with. Then I met Peter.......yes, online.......Now I know what you all must be thinking ----ewwww! And I really didn't think anything would come out of it either. But, here I am. He's from the same type of French Catholic background as I am and we have so many things in common. He actually does the same type of work that my Dad did. (My Dad passed away in 2002). He's really an amazing man and he's taken to Victoria like she was his own child. Victoria loves him, too.
Other family members not going on the trip are our yellow lab, 3 cats, 5 mini-lop bunnies, 3 teddy bear hamsters, and 2 guinea pigs. I am a huge animal lover, if you couldn't tell. Usually when we go to Disney the dog goes to the kennel and my wonderful Mom comes over to tend to everyone else.
About our trip: We had booked the bounceback offer when we were there in 2011. The offer was Free Dining, so yeah, we jumped on it! Last year we stayed at POFQ and really loved it, so we booked that again. Then I got to reading the boards and more about the Carribean Beach Resort. I really wanted to see what that was like, so I changed the reservation. Also, we had originally planned to go in September due to the low crowds, but since Victoria will be a high school freshman this year, she didn't want to miss any school. After talking it all out, we have decided on August 17th through the 28th. Hopefully it will be low crowds and tolerable as far as the heat goes. I've been reading the boards and the census seems to be that there will be low crowds and it will be hot but tolerable. Whew!!!!