A foolish promise finally kept: the PTR! *The TR has begun! Link on page 13, post 189

[faerieprincess]

Hey y’all!

i’m fairly new to the DIS, only been around about a month or so, but i so love reading TRs and PTRs that i decided to start one myself. Since we are leaving 100 days from today, it seemed like a good time to start!

We started the week with a mini-celebration: my sister’s passport came in the mail! Whoot!



i guess before i go any further i should start by giving you some of the story of me and my sister.

Jess:


She was born when i was almost 11 – about a month and a half after our mum married my stepdad. Her name is Jessie – just Jessie. Usually, these days, she goes by Jess. i’ve had hundreds of nicknames for her over the years, but these days she generally gets “J”, “Jessie James” (“Jessie J” or “JJ” for short). She also answers to “Jessiekins” but not very willingly

Jess was born with a genetic condition generally referred to as CFND – Cranial Frontal Nasal Dysplasia.

Here she is at about 10 months old (yes, that’s me, and our heretofore unmentioned brother). Isn’t she cute?

The cranial part comes from two of the four plates in her head being fused in utero. The other defects all have to do with the “midline” – if you draw an imaginary line through the centre of your body (ie right between your eyes, through your nose, down your chest), most people have a very slight (VERY slight) difference between the two sides – the smaller the difference, the more “conventionally” attractive someone is. There have been lots of studies on this; hopefully you’ll forgive me not citing them as it’s really not all that relevant. Most people are slightly asymmetrical. My sister is VERY asymmetrical. That line goes all through your body, so any organs on that line (for example the uterus) are oddly shaped as well.



Jess has had approximately 15 surgeries. Some of them were planned (sometimes years in advance) and some were emergencies (a bone graft growing out of control springs to mind!). She has had cranial reconstruction, dental surgery, surgery to adjust the muscles of her eyes – all kinds of things. i have to say she is a real trooper. She takes everything as it comes and generally doesn’t freak out too much over things like needles and IVs.

Along with the physical differences, Jess has a mild developmental delay. Now at 17 (she will be 18 in December), her emotional age is closer to 13 or 14. She’s definitely a teenager, with a whole lot of hormones and mood swings. If i was that bad as a teenager, i definitely owe my parents (and some of the neighbours ) an apology!

Despite having almost 18 years of explaining CFND i still don’t feel i’m very good at it. My sister is beautiful to me.



So, in a nutshell:
Name: Jess
Age: 17 (but will be 18 when we get to WDW)
Occupation: student, finishing her last year of high school and planning for college
Enjoys: listening to her iPod, chatting on MSN and AbilityOnline, hanging out with her best friend, and fighting with her mother
Doesn’t enjoy: being woken at “stupid-thirty” to go for walks with her big sister.

Next up: meet the big sister!

[faerieprincess]

Well, after that novel i’m sure i’ve bored everyone to tears, so i will try to keep this one short.

i hate talking about myself.

Name: sare
Age: 28
Occupation: Secretary in a Funeral Home. i do paperwork. Mounds and mounds of paperwork. Some of it’s on paper, some of it’s on the computer, some of it is a bit of both. My days are filled with paper.
Enjoys: Photography, reading, traveling, scrapbooking (anything that combines the four is awesome), The Sims 2, and spending time with my friends and their kids.
Relationship status: committed. i love that description. It means both that i’m with someone and certifiably crazy for it. My DBF lives in England. i’m in Ontario. Yes, that’s really, really far. Yes, it sucks. i did live there with him for about 10 months but had to come back due to immigration issues. Currently i am living here and he’s there; he visits two or three times a year for 5-7 weeks at a time. i also was there in February/March this year for his mother’s funeral .


Doesn’t enjoy: misplaced and gratuitous apostrophes

Next post: How it came about – and came together.

[MEK]

How great of you to plan a trip for you and sis. Sounds like it will be alot of fun! Your trip will be here before you know it!

[faerieprincess]

In 1996 my high school band went to WDW to participate in Disney Magic Music days. It was about three weeks before my 16th birthday, and my family had all contributed to my trip as birthday presents. On returning home i presented my then 5-year-old sister with a stuffed Nala from Lion King and said those fateful words….. “When you’re sixteen, i’ll take you to Florida.”

The thing is, when you’re sixteen, you just don’t know. i didn’t know, at sixteen, that at 22 i would drop out of university and move to Western Washington to be with my BF. i didn’t know that we would get engaged, i didn’t know that we’d split up and i’d move back home to Ontario. i sure didn’t know that my next relationship would take me all the way across the ocean, and have me coming back to Canada looking for work right about the time my sister’s sixteenth birthday was looming large. But one thing i should have known: she sure remembered that promise!

Jess turned 16 in December of 2006. Come summer 2007, I was working at two different jobs, feverishly trying to make enough money to plan a trip to Florida (read: WDW) before December. In June of 2007, i was in a car accident. Actually i WAS the car accident. Going down a hill towards an intersection, my car stalled. No brakes. No power steering. Yellow light rapidly turning to a red light. Uhoh. Long story short, (for a change), i hit two other vehicles, both of which were only slightly damaged and none of the occupants were hurt. My poor car didn’t make it. i was taken to the hospital in the ambulance and had damaged two of my lower vertebrae. Several months of physio and acupuncture later, i was ready to go back to work. My mum bought a new van.

i quit one of my jobs because it required too much standing, lifting, carrying, etc. i could stand ok but that was about it. Then i got the job i have now, and quit my second job. Okay. One job, decent wages, flexible hours: time to think about WDW.

They say that every person has a twin, somewhere in the world: someone who looks just like them, and in some cases is like them in other ways. i was lucky enough to find mine. My twinnie is six months older than me, is married and has two beautiful little boys – and we could probably swap passports and get through any border you name. The resemblance is that exact.

My twinnie knows everything i’m going to say before i say it, can tell what i’m thinking from the simplest of cues, and knows every sordid detail of every love affair i’ve ever had – and the reverse is true as well.

The reason you need to know all that is because she’s the reason i’m on the DISboards at all – and in fact she’s the one who’s helped me with almost every decision i’ve made. Initially we were going to be at WDW at the same time – even the same resort – but due to a change in her husband’s work situation, they now have to go two weeks earlier. i’m SO bummed about that, but i figure at least it will give me an excuse to head to Texas next fall! (Or for both of us to make it down to WDW again sometime soon!)

Next up: The planning begins!

[faerieprincess]

Originally Posted by MEK

How great of you to plan a trip for you and sis. Sounds like it will be alot of fun! Your trip will be here before you know it!

A hundred days seems like a long time - well, 99 days now - but it still seems to be like those stickers on wing mirrors say... "closer than it appears"! (Mostly when i think about how much it's costing!)

Thanks for reading!

[MEK]

Wow - what an interesting story you have. This really is a special trip - so excited for you and I can't wait to read about your plans!0

[faerieprincess]

Originally Posted by MEK

Wow - what an interesting story you have. This really is a special trip - so excited for you and I can't wait to read about your plans!0

Thanks! i'm taking some time to read your TR before i have to go to work!

(omg i just found the "more" button on the smilie list.... we're in trouble now)

[Stasieki]

Great so far... looking foward to more.

[faerieprincess]

Originally Posted by Stasieki

Great so far... looking foward to more.

Welcome and thanks! The next part is ready to post, too bad i forgot to put it on my memory stick and bring it to work! It will have to wait a few hours while i sit around looking something like this:

[vdarrell]

Just found your PTR and loving it.I'm so glad you decided to do one.
I think your sister is beautiful and she is truly blessed to have you as a sister.
Sorry to hear you couldn't have taken her on her 16th but I know this trip is going to be just as special. After what all you have been through you deserve to have a magical time.
Can't wait to read your TR afterwards.
Keep this one coming I am still couch bound for several more days and need to pass my 40 days and besides it will help you pass your 99 more days.

[faerieprincess]

Welcome Vickey!!

i was just on your PTR and noticed your ticker is down to 1-1-1 ... that's so exciting!!

i have a few updates ready to go but they're on my computer at home. i wish i had brought them as at least the sound of typing and clicking coming from my office makes me sound busy! (it's a terrible industry that i sit around at work some days wondering why nobody is dying to give me something to do )

[vdarrell]

Originally Posted by faerieprincess

Welcome Vickey!!

i was just on your PTR and noticed your ticker is down to 1-1-1 ... that's so exciting!!

i have a few updates ready to go but they're on my computer at home. i wish i had brought them as at least the sound of typing and clicking coming from my office makes me sound busy! (it's a terrible industry that i sit around at work some days wondering why nobody is dying to give me something to do )

We are playing tag...
I get it.
At least your customers can't complain
I didn't even notice the 1-1-1

[faerieprincess]

Knowing that Jess isn’t all that big on rides, and knowing that my photography obsession would have us stopping every 3 feet for a photo session, i gave Jess the choice: do you want to go to WDW for a week, or go to some resort in the Dominican or Bahamas for a week? The price was about the same either way, and I was kind of thinking that a week on the beach with two buckets – one of sunscreen and one of Piña Coladas – would be a mighty nice change from our typical February weather (usually about -18 ° Celcius with the occasional -30 ° windchill thrown in. Not to mention the snow).

Luckily, 12+ years of dreaming on her part won out, and the verdict was WDW. Great! Now the planning begins.

First, as a confirmed book junkie, i bought "The Unofficial Guide" - 2009 (which apparently was released about a day before i happened to order it. Spooky). It came in really handy. Then i found the DIS. Whoot! Even more handy.

After reading the book from cover to cover, i'd decided i definitely wanted to stay onsite, and had whittled it down to either POP or ASMo. In the end i decided on POP only because twinnie was going to be there, too, and had stayed there previously and pretty much made the decision for me

After conferring for a couple of weeks with my twinnie, and against her advice to book it myself through WDW, i eventually went to a travel agent for the simple fact that Air Canada’s prices are extortionate. The price of the entire trip through the TA was only about $200 more than the price of just the tickets from AC.

So from the TA i was able to secure:

• Round trip flight from Toronto to Orlando
• ME
• 7 nights at Pop Century
• Deluxe Dining Plan

To DDP, to DxDP, or to OOP, that was the question. i thought about it long and hard and eventually decided to go with the DDP, planning to pay OOP for any extra CS we might want. In the end it was a moot point because the package i got from the TA included DxDP with no option to change it. i think this is going to work out for the best. No matter what, i'm sure we will come home with unused credits, but it cuts down on the amount of money i need to bring with me/have available to spend there, and means i could schedule as many TS meals as i wanted. We can also wander the WS at EPCOT and try anything we want, so that's cool. Not to mention a visit to that candy shop at DTD!

• Park Tickets with Park Hopper & Water Park option (i know it’s not all that hot down there in February, and Typhoon Lagoon is closed for refurbishment, but Jess wants to go to Blizzard Beach and i want to check out DisneyQuest as well).
• i also booked a hotel in Toronto for the night before we fly to Orlando, as we will have to take the bus down the day before (i can't drive anymore... and the weather in February is very unpredictable anyway). Believe it or not the Greyhound + hotel is about $400 cheaper than flying from our hometown!! Air Canada really is ridiculous!

So, i’m pleased. The whole thing was a little over $3,000.

Okay. Trip booked and mostly paid for…now what?

i know….. ADRs!

[faerieprincess]

Originally Posted by vdarrell

We are playing tag...
I get it.
At least your customers can't complain
I didn't even notice the 1-1-1

You're it!

Yeah, the customers are usually pretty quiet. You get all kinds, though. Even though my office is in what is generally known as the more 'upscale' of our four locations, we still get some....interesting....folks in here, and many of them do complain. The dead people are easy, it's the living that can be hard to deal with. i don't do grief very well, so i tend to counter any display of emotion with efficiency - it works for me but i don't know that it necessarily makes a very good impression on the families! Oh well, have to get through the days somehow!

OT that little shrugging dude just makes my day i'm always being accused of shrugging too much!

[faerieprincess]

i had a hard time with this part, and i have to say thank goodness for the DISboards and wdwinfo. Given that Jess and i are both somewhat picky eaters, the menus and food porn have been invaluable in deciding where we will eat while we are there.

The turnaround time from "what do you mean, i have to decide now what i want to eat five months from now?" to "omg we are SO eating there!" was fairly quick. Reading menus and looking at food porn will do that to a person. Some of the menus, where i wasn't sure if there would be anything she would like, i let my sister look over, but on the whole she's a little less picky than i am, and will try something if i am trying it, so i wasn't too worried.

Trip dates: February 5 - February 11, 2009

Park Days and ADRs:

Thursday, February 5th: Arrival 1pm. ME to Pop Century; check in. Swimming and Resort Hopping.

• ADR: ‘Ohana, 7pm

Friday, February 6th: MK

• ADR: Crystal Palace**, 8:25am
• ADR: Kona, 6:10pm

Saturday, February 7th: MK/Epcot/BB?

• ADR: Chef Mickey’s**, 10am

Sunday, February 8th: Epcot/BB?

No ADRs. Snack around the World, have dinner at Pop or DTD.

Monday, February 9th: DHS

• ADR: Fantasmic Package at Hollywood & Vine, 4pm

Tuesday, February 10th: AK

No ADRs. Originally had Sci-Fi but cancelled it as i didn’t want to have to rush back over to DHS. Will either eat CS at AK, go back to Pop, or check out DTD.

Wednesday, February 11th: Parks TBD. Our last day.

• ADR: 1900 Park Fare**, 9am
• ADR: Kona*, 7:05pm

We then leave early in the morning on Thursday, February 12th.

* i know, it's a little silly to have a second ressie at the same restaurant when there are SO MANY choices. However, there are two things on the menu i'm dying to try!
** while Jess knows that we have breakfast reservations on these days (and knows that on CP day i will be trying to get as many pics of Main Street as possible beforehand), she does not know that they are Character Meals. i am planning to keep this a secret until they actually turn up at our table. It says something about me that she won’t be remotely fazed by me keeping my camera turned on and leaving it on the table.

i take pictures of everything. For example, here we are heading out for our walk this morning:


Coming up next, “you want to charge me HOW MUCH to ship to Canada?!”