Fall 2012=Fast moving Friends, Food, Frights, Firsts and Fun with only Females!

[annmarieda]

I have been promising to start a PTR for some time. I had the excuse that I wanted to finish my TR from December. Then I had to start a PTR for an unexpected trip next month. Ultimately though, I wasn't sure what title to use to describe everything about the upcoming trip.

I had wanted to say "Fall 2012 - Full of Fast moving Friends; eating Food, enjoying Firsts and Frights - but most of all having Fun because they are Forgoing bringing anyone who is not Female."

Who knew a PTR title could not be that long? However, it does sum it up... Normally, an F word may not be thought of in such a positive way, but this time it is. F is for FULL. This trip will be VERY full.

There will be a race, a couple parties, a festival (oh, look another f word) a birthday first, a first visit... the list goes on and on. Most importantly however, this trip will be ONLY for girls (sorry guys )

I will attempt to organize my thoughts and share with you my plans. Hopefully, in such a way that will be entertaining and not totally discombobulated. (which, I fear is how my reports always end up being)

And here we go....

 

[annmarieda]

Introductions for room one
introductions for room two
Dates and Hotel
Room 2 - Dates and Hotel
Day 1 - Tuesday 9/25
Day 2 - Wednesday 9/26
Day 3 - Thursday, 9/27
Day 4 - Friday 9/28
Room 2/Day 1 - Friday 9/28
Day 5 - Saturday 9/29
Room 2/Day 2 - Saturday9/29
Day 6 - Sunday 9/30
Room 2/Day 3 - Sunday 9/30
Itinerary Booklet
Day 7 - Monday 10/1
Day 8/Day 4 - Tuesday 10/2
Day 8 - Tuesday 10/2 - more specifics
Day 9 - Wednesday 10/3
Day 10 - Thursday 10/4
Day 11 - Friday 10/5

 

[annmarieda]

This may be a tad tricky... there will be a LOT Of people going. maybe I will just list those in my room first.

There is me

(I know, same pic as in the other PTR)

I am mother to 4, married (for nearly 23 years) to Steve and 42 years old. I love Disney trips. I love Disney. Truly some day I want to go somewhere a bit more "sit down" but for now, especially since I have my youngest still... Disney works.


Next there will be my youngest dd.

Zoe is 7 and my very own princess. She has health challenges, but is a joy in my life.

Next is my oldest dd.

Kira is my oldest child, and yes is married. If I were to say which of my kids was more like me in my Disney obsession, it would be her. She did not go with us on our last trip to WDW and it looks as though she will not go with us to DLR next month so this trip makes me pretty excited!.

Finally, there is my dd's sil.

Amanda is the one on the left end with dark hair. The funny thing about Kira and her in laws is that Steve and Kira's fil worked together and we have known them since the kids were 10 (the kids being Kira and her dh, Josh since they share a birthday) Amanda is only slightly younger than Josh. I think less than a year. She and Kira have become close and she was the perfect choice to have as a 4th person in our room since. a. She has never gone and always wanted to when Kira and Josh have gone and b. We all know her. Zoe looks at her as a sister as well.

In the next room will be a dear friend I have met through dis and her group. Betsy (tankgirl) and I met online when following each other's reports for a labor day trip back in 2010. She went on several trips in 2011, one of which was during the time I was down there so we got to meet IRL. On that trip we met at the airport, rode DME together and checked into Pop together. We then spent time together at MVMCP and then had breakfast the next day. It was a highlight of my trip.

Just as with her December trip, her friend Shelly will also be in the room. I dont' know much about Shelly other than at MVMCP she was mistaken for grandma.

Shelly will be bringing along her grand daughter, Kaylani (not sure how to spell it... so I spelled it phonetically) Kaylani is a couple years younger than Zoe so it will be fun to have another little girl around.

Last, and just confirmed today, is another previous travel companion of Betsy's. Her cousin will be their 4th in the room.

AND as if our group of 8 wasn't large enough... Shelly has another couple family members who plan to join for just a couple days. I am not certain of their relationship. I believe it is Shelly's daughter in law and another granddaughter. I am not sure where they are staying exactly. Truly, I think their plans won't really be affected by ours or visa vera.

So there you have a total of 10 people...all females. What do you think? Are we all mad

 

[dizneeat]

YEAH!!!!!

Guess what, Ann, I really want to be on board for this one!

 

[amandaw]

Joining in!

Can't wait to hear your plans since we'll be there at the same time!

 

[momabaarjo]

Made it on the first page... I can't wait to see how you manage 2 PTRs!

 

[tankgirl427]

Should I add my room???

First off there is me:

This is one last trip for me before my AP expires. I'm not going to extend it.

Then Shelly was invited to join along:

She was trying to figure out whether to just bring her great niece Kaylani (nice job on spelling Ann ) or invite Kaylani and her DIL Delia and GD Sabrina. Ended up with inviting Kaylani and Delia and Sabrina will be joining us from Friday when we get there until I believe Monday.

I had asked my cousin from January to join us and she had to think about it, but with ticket prices going up I wanted to get her locked in with the lower price. She got it okayed by her folks so she'll be joining. I have yet to finish my December TR or start my January TR so these photos are spoilers.

Our January trip was very productive with her proposal in MK.

And a picture of the two of us that gets people laughing:

 

[Joyciemc]

A trip with Ann and Betsy? Whoo-hoo! This sounds like it's going to be fun to read along with!

 

[annmarieda]

YEAH!!!!!

Guess what, Ann, I really want to be on board for this one!

Joining in!

Can't wait to hear your plans since we'll be there at the same time!

glad to have you along. At first though, I had to do a double take with your user name. Amanda on my trip... her last initial is W.

Made it on the first page... I can't wait to see how you manage 2 PTRs!

shoosh. I am not sure... I didn't want to start this till I was done with my TR... and even that is not TOTALLY complete.

Glad you are here!

Should I add my room???

First off there is me:

This is one last trip for me before my AP expires. I'm not going to extend it.

Then Shelly was invited to join along:

She was trying to figure out whether to just bring her great niece Kaylani (nice job on spelling Ann ) or invite Kaylani and her DIL Delia and GD Sabrina. Ended up with inviting Kaylani and Delia and Sabrina will be joining us from Friday when we get there until I believe Monday.

I had asked my cousin from January to join us and she had to think about it, but with ticket prices going up I wanted to get her locked in with the lower price. She got it okayed by her folks so she'll be joining. I have yet to finish my December TR or start my January TR so these photos are spoilers.

Our January trip was very productive with her proposal in MK.

And a picture of the two of us that gets people laughing:

I am glad you added your info!!! I will link that post too. I love that picture of you with Eyeore, btw!!!

Oops, I wondered if Kaylani was a grand niece or daughter. I got that one wrong. This is going to be super fun!!!

A trip with Ann and Betsy? Whoo-hoo! This sounds like it's going to be fun to read along with!

I am excited about it! Glad you are here!!

 

[annmarieda]

Background... or how this trip came to be...

When Betsy, Shelly and I were able to hang out in December it was fun, and short lived. They had gone home and I was still there when I think the wheels began to spin. "maybe a girls only trip?" My guys (for those of you who did not read my TR) were hard to get to the parks. I found myself spending a good portion of my trip alone with Zoe. Not that we didn't have a blast...and not that the guys didn't have a blast... but some how, it just seemed like if there was another gal there... I would have had a bit more fun.

Now, I am not sure what prompted Betsy to look into this... nor can I remember how she approached me about it...or exactly how she talked me into it. But I don't think it was long before the hypothetical "wouldn't a girls trip be nice" became "and we could register for the ToT 10 miler"



I did know I wanted to get into shape, but 10 miles? Running from the front door to my car causes me to be out of breath. Still, I had put on some weight in the last year(2011 was a rough year) and I didn't want to start to pile it back on. (a bit of a side/background note... prior to getting pregnant with Zoe was was about 40 pounds heavier than I am now. I lost weight while pregnant and then after she was born continued. I hit my lowest weight a few years ago then slowly put back on a few pounds..then stabilized for a few years...until last year.) I have diabetic issues and an arrhythmia in my heart. I really have reason to get in shape. My heath issue I get from my father who only lived to 45. (granted, I am already taking much better care of myself just by the fact that I don't smoke and he did) So while I still am young enough and healthy enough (I know that part sounds odd...but getting in shape really is hard if you are too far from being healthy..not impossible...just harder) I just truly needed a little push...a little support... someone to hold me accountable.

Betsy seemed to come to me at the perfect time with this idea.

So now we have girls only... check. Getting in shape... check. What about the other things that take place at that time of year?

Well, Kira's birthday is October 2. She has never been to Disney for her birthday (both Zoe and I have) So add in that celebrating Kira's birthday!

Two other things have been on my "wish list" for WDW. Food and Wine and MNSSHP. Guess what? We could include those too!

With the planning of when and what to do done, all that was left was to confirm all the participants in the girls only trip. For me, this meant making sure that Kira had someone who she could hang with when Betsy and I were at the run (who could also help with Zoe). Insert Amanda here.

With that, our trip is starting to take shape.

 

[KatMark]

I'm here!!!!

Now back to read.

 

[KatMark]

Ann, great intros, and I am so happy to see you are spending this all girls trip with Betsy and her clan. You GALS are going to have a blast. I can't wait to see how the plans progress.

 

[amandaw]

I think that's great that you're tackling the 10 miler! I need to get in shape as well so I have started the Couch 2 5K program. I'll be doing the 5K race that Saturday morning. My DH is running the 10 miler. My little boy & I will be cheering him on!

 

[annmarieda]

Room one and two have different dates slightly, so I will let Betsy list her dates and share any details she wants.

When fd was released to dv card holders, Betsy and I were pretty quick to get on the phone and book. As quick as we were, very options were available to us. We knew we wanted a "host" resort for the run. I am not sure I have all of them, but I think the all stars were the value, POR and POFQ for the moderate and then BC for the Deluxe. Well, since we would have to upgrade the qs dp at the values...and in the end that didn't save that much and since the deluxe was way more... we picked the moderate.

However,when calling so many room categories were booked. I think I am actually happy that was the case. With the recent refurbishment, the Port Orleans hotels also kinda restructured their room categories. Standard now pretty much gave a view of the parking lot...and I didn't want that. I didn't need preferred or river or even water...and so since that pretty much left garden view I was happy! Kira was not so happy. She would have liked it to have been a bit cheaper...and standard was what she wanted.

So what I booked for my group?

9/25 to 10/4 at POFQ - garden view with fd and 9 day park hoppers. I also requested a corner room.

And since it made more sense to stay and extra night (doesn't it always ) I booked a room only for the night of 10/5 at AoA!

 

[tankgirl427]

My versions of how thinking about this trip came around is that Ann and I were texting when I was back and she was still in Disney and I ended up saying something about how my December trip was a redo of the October mis-trip and that she might have to get a redo of this December trip. And how great it would be if we got to hang out the whole time and at that point we were talking myself, Shelly, Ann, Zoe, and Kira. And it was all girls! Only part I asked for was it being before my pass expired on October 15th. Ann looked at her schedule and figured the week of September 25/26th - October 4th/5th worked best for her schedule. Once the time frame was decided I knew there would be F&W and MNSSHP would be happening and then the TOT 10 miler was announced and it would be a perfect stepping stone for the Princess Half Marathon!

Then I realized that Columbus Day was October 8th and I had that day off. So I scheduled us to be be booked from September 26th - October 8th. I didn't have a ton of vacation days since I took 6 in January. But if my group left on Friday and took the following week off, with six days of vacation we could have 11 days at Disney. Shelly then let me know she doesn't get Columbus Day off.

So finally we agreed upon September 28th - October 7th. And we're also at POFQ with a garden view, but with handicapped accessible room. Shelly had both knees replaced and while a regular room was fine for the few days in December for this length of time, it would be better to get a bathroom that would be easier for her.

On another plus POFQ was where I was supposed to take my cousin to in January before changing it to AKL and BLT.

 

[oboedm]

Great start so far! I love trips with other families! They can be a bit stressful, but I like having the ability to hang out with someone you don't normally get to see. It makes for a fun trip!

 

[KatMark]

I think the POFQ is perfect since there are two groups of you. My friend Nicki loves POFQ and will be staying there in October when they go again.

Plans are developing nicely.

 

[momabaarjo]

Okay...thanks Ann and Betsy...this PTR has my head alreay spinning back and forth between the two of you! But then again I am blonde (okay dishwater with lots of grey) but give me a break!

I love the intro's and pictures from both of you!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm here!!! Your girls trip sounds like it's going to be so much fun!! Can't wait to hear more about your plans!!

 

[oceanwave]

Oh wow another PTR SO exciting, 2 PTR's in 1!