Diamondintheruff
<font color=magenta>Thinks she saw a flash!<br><fo
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2006
This is the story of how a brother and sister duo along with their Disney obsessed mother and grandmother in 6 nights were able to do all the four Disney parks, one waterpark and still have time to compete in 5 dances at a Dance Competition at the Coronado Springs Resort. Throw in a touch of a tropical storm, a few oozing blisters, a trip to the medical clinic, a dismeet, a lost Nanny, a missing dance shoe and a tiff with the dance studio owner and therein lies my tale.
If you’re still interested then stick around while I fill in the details. I’d love to hear from you.
The Who
1)Me, Diamondintheruff.
I’m a part-time teacher (mostly kindergarten) mother to three lovely children (but I only brought two with me) and mostly loving wife (if you’ve read my other Trip Reports then you understand the use of the word mostly) to my Dh whom stayed home with our youngest non-dancing child. I love to have the dates for my next Disney trip firmed up before I return home from WDW only second to my love of all things chocolate. I firmly believe Disney should expand their special events to include a Chocolate Lover’s festival to take place in February. I’m working on the marketing plan to submit to them as I’d love to work for WDW but being a Canadian (and too old for the college program I celebrated my 40th in the castle last year) I can only hope to be employed in a consultant type position.
2)Nanny. My mother.
She always wished she could have been a Ballet Dancer, tried to make me into one and therefore is thrilled to support her grandchildren’s efforts in dance. She’s always loved Disney but not to the obsessed stage that I do. She organized our spring getaways to fort wilderness when I was young and has made numerous trips since most with my family. She truly understands my kids and was a wonderful calming influence with them. If only she could walk faster. She’s fast approaching 70 and not the spry chick she used to be on our last trip just two summers ago. This both worries and annoys me. Although slow on her feet she is quick with her plastic as soon as any bills need paying.
3)Eeoyre (DS11) my oldest son.
He’s been dancing since he was four although only competitively since he was 8. He’s heading into grade 7 next year, which means he’s off to middle school. Since I teach at our elementary school this means Eeoyre will be moving further beyond my reaches. I coined him Eeoyre in 2006 because some days it seemed he was afraid of the whole world. But he’s been conquering his fears and is evolving into a most wonderful and confident young man. Which is not always easy when you’re a boy and Ballet Dancer in a small town like ours. Truth be told he’s still afraid of fireworks and won’t ride a roller coaster but at least he’ll do the other rides. Just don’t tell him Splash Mountain is a roller coaster. He thinks “water” rides don’t count and I’m not about to argue that one with him.
4)Cindy (DD9) my middle child but my only girl.
She was my girly girl until a few years ago when the pre-teen thing hit hard and fast. The great thing about Disney is that she lets down her guard a bit and I can see glimpse of the girl behind the name brands and mandatory smirk. She’s been dancing since she was three-okay two if you count the time she insisted on staying in Eeoyre’s dance class that first year. But she did more following him around the room than actually dancing. Back then she thought dancing involved wearing a tiara and a full skirt and twirling. She’s been dancing competitively since she was 7. She actually gave up dance for a year to try out hockey. After all we are Canadian. But Dance won out. Dh was sad about it but not me. Besides Dh still has our youngest child to tote around to Hockey… and baseball. More on that in a moment.
Cindy and Eeoyre have always been very close. So close that their younger brother often feels left out. In face, he is left out of this entire report. But don’t feel too bad for him. He’s playing rep baseball and gets to go on a couple of tournaments (okay not to Disney but one of the cities has a great waterpark) and he gets Mom and Dad all to himself while his dancing siblings are gone for the month of July at dance camp in the big city.
Here is jedi-in-training my DS7.
This was his first time up to bat this season. I know he's not in the report much as he didn't come with us but I wouldn't feel right not including him in some way so you're stuck with a picture of him.
Dates
The trip dates were June 30-July 6th. We were going to attend a dance competition called Dance America. The competition was from the 2nd to the 7th but we had to be home early to attend a special Ballet Camp back home. Actually the competition included workshops that went on till the 10th that I had to pay for even though we couldn’t go. Just one of those things you have to put up with in dance I guess.
Where
The competition was at the Coronado Springs Convention Centre. We opted to stay there. Although I received a room only pin code that had me dreaming of a deluxe stay and even had the Beach Club booked for a week or so. Only three other families from our studio (out of 22 families) joined us at CSR. We could have used the corporate rate from the competition but decided to go with my free quick service dinning pin instead. I upgraded us to the regular dinning plan. However, I did buy park tickets at the convention rate. I had to buy a one-day park ticket to go with my free dinning pin and used the convention rate for the rest. It was like getting park hoppers and the water park and more option for free.
The Story behind the Story
We switched Dance Studios last fall. I will admit that I knew this Studio was going to Disney. I plead the fifth on how big an impact that had on the decision behind switching.
We competed in Buffalo and the regional level for this competition. Not all the dances made the grade to compete at Disney. Luckily four did because I had put down my deposit and made my ADR’s before we tried out at regionals.
Those of you who paid close attention to my first paragraph may notice that I said the kids competed in five dances. How is that possible when they only did four dance numbers? Easy, one number was choreographed by a student so that number fell in two categories. They danced it twice. Two different days. One would think that I would only have to pay once for that number. Well that “one” would be wrong. I had to pay twice. I used to think Hockey was expensive until my kids got into dance. It wasn’t too bad with Eeoyre easing me into the dance circuit. There are discounts for boys. Plus the costumes are much less expensive. He can wear the same black pants for just about every number. Great on my wallet but boy oh boy does he hate those black pants.
Speaking of those pants, we flew out to Florida and I had to make sure I got all eight costumes in our carryons. Okay so Eeoyre only had the one pair of black pants, one white shirt and some ties to worry about but still. He had two pairs of dance shoes and Cindy had four pairs. There is a story coming up soon about Cindy’s shoes. I’m saving it though. I stuffed those carry-ons to the max. I was worried about getting all those bobby pins though security. Cindy has some honking huge ones. I was going to put her hair and mine up for the plane and shove as many bobby pins in our heads as we had the strength to hold our heads up but then our plane got moved to 6 am and I realized that was moot. I’d be lucky to get there on time never mind fully coiffed. But again, the plane and arriving on time is another story I’m saving.
I’ll be back with more… but not till after the weekend. It’s a beautiful summer weekend and my cottage is calling. Okay so it's my parent's cottage but still. It'll be mine one day. I'll leave you with a picture of me at the cottage.
But feel free to leave me a message and let me know you've signed on for this trip Report. Cause I'll be back. I can't stay away from the boards too long.
If you’re still interested then stick around while I fill in the details. I’d love to hear from you.
The Who
1)Me, Diamondintheruff.
I’m a part-time teacher (mostly kindergarten) mother to three lovely children (but I only brought two with me) and mostly loving wife (if you’ve read my other Trip Reports then you understand the use of the word mostly) to my Dh whom stayed home with our youngest non-dancing child. I love to have the dates for my next Disney trip firmed up before I return home from WDW only second to my love of all things chocolate. I firmly believe Disney should expand their special events to include a Chocolate Lover’s festival to take place in February. I’m working on the marketing plan to submit to them as I’d love to work for WDW but being a Canadian (and too old for the college program I celebrated my 40th in the castle last year) I can only hope to be employed in a consultant type position.
2)Nanny. My mother.
She always wished she could have been a Ballet Dancer, tried to make me into one and therefore is thrilled to support her grandchildren’s efforts in dance. She’s always loved Disney but not to the obsessed stage that I do. She organized our spring getaways to fort wilderness when I was young and has made numerous trips since most with my family. She truly understands my kids and was a wonderful calming influence with them. If only she could walk faster. She’s fast approaching 70 and not the spry chick she used to be on our last trip just two summers ago. This both worries and annoys me. Although slow on her feet she is quick with her plastic as soon as any bills need paying.
3)Eeoyre (DS11) my oldest son.
He’s been dancing since he was four although only competitively since he was 8. He’s heading into grade 7 next year, which means he’s off to middle school. Since I teach at our elementary school this means Eeoyre will be moving further beyond my reaches. I coined him Eeoyre in 2006 because some days it seemed he was afraid of the whole world. But he’s been conquering his fears and is evolving into a most wonderful and confident young man. Which is not always easy when you’re a boy and Ballet Dancer in a small town like ours. Truth be told he’s still afraid of fireworks and won’t ride a roller coaster but at least he’ll do the other rides. Just don’t tell him Splash Mountain is a roller coaster. He thinks “water” rides don’t count and I’m not about to argue that one with him.
4)Cindy (DD9) my middle child but my only girl.
She was my girly girl until a few years ago when the pre-teen thing hit hard and fast. The great thing about Disney is that she lets down her guard a bit and I can see glimpse of the girl behind the name brands and mandatory smirk. She’s been dancing since she was three-okay two if you count the time she insisted on staying in Eeoyre’s dance class that first year. But she did more following him around the room than actually dancing. Back then she thought dancing involved wearing a tiara and a full skirt and twirling. She’s been dancing competitively since she was 7. She actually gave up dance for a year to try out hockey. After all we are Canadian. But Dance won out. Dh was sad about it but not me. Besides Dh still has our youngest child to tote around to Hockey… and baseball. More on that in a moment.
Cindy and Eeoyre have always been very close. So close that their younger brother often feels left out. In face, he is left out of this entire report. But don’t feel too bad for him. He’s playing rep baseball and gets to go on a couple of tournaments (okay not to Disney but one of the cities has a great waterpark) and he gets Mom and Dad all to himself while his dancing siblings are gone for the month of July at dance camp in the big city.
Here is jedi-in-training my DS7.
This was his first time up to bat this season. I know he's not in the report much as he didn't come with us but I wouldn't feel right not including him in some way so you're stuck with a picture of him.
Dates
The trip dates were June 30-July 6th. We were going to attend a dance competition called Dance America. The competition was from the 2nd to the 7th but we had to be home early to attend a special Ballet Camp back home. Actually the competition included workshops that went on till the 10th that I had to pay for even though we couldn’t go. Just one of those things you have to put up with in dance I guess.
Where
The competition was at the Coronado Springs Convention Centre. We opted to stay there. Although I received a room only pin code that had me dreaming of a deluxe stay and even had the Beach Club booked for a week or so. Only three other families from our studio (out of 22 families) joined us at CSR. We could have used the corporate rate from the competition but decided to go with my free quick service dinning pin instead. I upgraded us to the regular dinning plan. However, I did buy park tickets at the convention rate. I had to buy a one-day park ticket to go with my free dinning pin and used the convention rate for the rest. It was like getting park hoppers and the water park and more option for free.
The Story behind the Story
We switched Dance Studios last fall. I will admit that I knew this Studio was going to Disney. I plead the fifth on how big an impact that had on the decision behind switching.
We competed in Buffalo and the regional level for this competition. Not all the dances made the grade to compete at Disney. Luckily four did because I had put down my deposit and made my ADR’s before we tried out at regionals.
Those of you who paid close attention to my first paragraph may notice that I said the kids competed in five dances. How is that possible when they only did four dance numbers? Easy, one number was choreographed by a student so that number fell in two categories. They danced it twice. Two different days. One would think that I would only have to pay once for that number. Well that “one” would be wrong. I had to pay twice. I used to think Hockey was expensive until my kids got into dance. It wasn’t too bad with Eeoyre easing me into the dance circuit. There are discounts for boys. Plus the costumes are much less expensive. He can wear the same black pants for just about every number. Great on my wallet but boy oh boy does he hate those black pants.
Speaking of those pants, we flew out to Florida and I had to make sure I got all eight costumes in our carryons. Okay so Eeoyre only had the one pair of black pants, one white shirt and some ties to worry about but still. He had two pairs of dance shoes and Cindy had four pairs. There is a story coming up soon about Cindy’s shoes. I’m saving it though. I stuffed those carry-ons to the max. I was worried about getting all those bobby pins though security. Cindy has some honking huge ones. I was going to put her hair and mine up for the plane and shove as many bobby pins in our heads as we had the strength to hold our heads up but then our plane got moved to 6 am and I realized that was moot. I’d be lucky to get there on time never mind fully coiffed. But again, the plane and arriving on time is another story I’m saving.
I’ll be back with more… but not till after the weekend. It’s a beautiful summer weekend and my cottage is calling. Okay so it's my parent's cottage but still. It'll be mine one day. I'll leave you with a picture of me at the cottage.
But feel free to leave me a message and let me know you've signed on for this trip Report. Cause I'll be back. I can't stay away from the boards too long.
Love it so far!!!
I know 3 girls from our old church that danced in that competition. No idea how they did, though. 
