Hey Mom, Do I get to be the line leader again? A PTR (My TR has started! - 6/1)

[elizablake]

I'm really enjoying your pre-trip report. You're family is beautiful! We have a Kindergartener also and we are planning a trip for next June. I'm excited to read your plans and see how your trip comes together.

By the way, we have left at 2:00 AM (arrive 10:00 AM) and also 8:00 PM (arrive 6:00 AM after stopping for a few hours) and those overnight trips are exhausting. I vote for leaving as early as possible in the afternoon and stopping at a hotel to sleep in a real bed. You and the boys will rest much better.

 

[Brave teacher]

My heart goes out to you and to the parents of the boys. I can't imagine being in that situation. My prayers are with you and the boys families.

Now, on to transporation. I vote for your idea. Leaving sooner is always better, no question!

Thanks for your sympathies. It has certainly been a sad week at school. We really need something up lifting for these kids next week.

I agree - leave earlier. Still working on it.

Your hubby needs to be a sol-ja like me.. I drove all night (left at midnight), and then with NO NAP, I went straight through the next day.. and stayed up to watch "Up" in 3D with the family at 6 pm!!! Tell Bryan I said he's just got to learn to suck it up!!!!

I can't blame him. He play pool on Thursday nights remember. He gets home after midnight. He had to get up to be at work the next morning. He had only had about4 hours of sleep but had stayed awake over 24 hours. He couldn't nap or try to sleep late like your or I could.

I'm really enjoying your pre-trip report. You're family is beautiful! We have a Kindergartener also and we are planning a trip for next June. I'm excited to read your plans and see how your trip comes together.

By the way, we have left at 2:00 AM (arrive 10:00 AM) and also 8:00 PM (arrive 6:00 AM after stopping for a few hours) and those overnight trips are exhausting. I vote for leaving as early as possible in the afternoon and stopping at a hotel to sleep in a real bed. You and the boys will rest much better.

Hey, Thanks for joining. I found your PTR as well. I look forward to reading your plans as well.

It is rough trying to get a good night's sleep in a vehicle, especially if you do not sleep well in a car. Bryan is just having problems with my plan because he does not want to spend the money to stay in a hotel room for one night. He doesn't want to stay awake the rest of the day to go to the parks. I'll get him to come around eventually. I always do.

 

[Brave teacher]

So, it's date night tonight! Bryan and I are going out this evening with Coach81 and his wife alboq and another couple. We are going to eat at a Thai restaurant that Bryan and I love. Coach81 and alboq are trying out Sanaa on their next trip and want to get a feel for Thai food before going. Afterwards, we are going watch Couples Retreat. We are looking forward to the night out.

Tomorrow, my mother, sister, and I are taking Sam, Cooper, and my godchild to New Orleans to watch the Imagination Movers Live in Concert. We are all looking forward to it. Gotta support the state. I love that all four of them are from Louisiana. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures to share. Randy, have fun over here watching football without the kids.

 

[Brave teacher]

Date night was a lot of fun. Couples Retreat was very funny. My goodness I haven't laughed at a movie that hard in some time. We thought the food was great as usual. I think Randy liked. Alisa, not so much...

Well, we are heading to see the Imagination Movers today in New Orleans. The boys are super excited to go and woke up around 7-7:30 this morning saying they were ready to go. Too bad we are not leaving until 12:30...The boys are very restless. They are asking every 10 minutes are so when Mimi will be here because they are tired of waiting.

 

[Brave teacher]

So, mymom, sister, and godchild all got here today around 12:35 with their lunch. This meant the boys had to wait for them to eat before we could leave to go to the concert. We were out of my driveway by 1. We got to UNO just as they were letting people into the arena, right around 2. We brought everyone straight to the bathroom, and then we joined the mass of people to buy souvies. All my boys wanted were the light sticks. Luckily, a man from the stand came out into the crowd to sel LIGHT STICKS! That just cut my time. My mom got all the kids some cotton candy, and I got a couple of drinks. We found our seats and waited about 40 minutes before the show started.

Once the show started, I thought Sam would jump out of his skin. He was so excited to see them. The boys kept thinking we were going watch a movie of the Movers. It didn't help the explanation when we sat down, and they were playing some scenes from the Imagination Movers on the screen. My boys were perfectly content with that!

All in all, it was a great day! We had a great time and had a great dinner eating at one of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans - Zea's. Feel that Randy! I had some grits!!!!

I have included some pictures of the boys from the show and a video of the opening. You can actually here Sam in the video screaming "I SEE THEM! I SEE THEM!" I am so happy that I could make my boys so happy and excited today.

 

[disneyaddicted]

What are the imagination movers?

 

[Brave teacher]

What are the imagination movers?

Maybe I should have explained that too huh. This is what happens when your children grow up.

The Imagination Movers are a band from New Orleans that sing kids songs. They have a show on Playhouse Disney. They sing, dance, and solve problems. Here's the Playhouse Disney link for you.

Imagination Movers

 

[Coach81]

Saturday night was so much fun!!! Vince Vaughn can now make me laugh without even saying anything! Just his facial expressions floor me!!! I liked the Thai food (wow.. who would have thought that?), but to be honest..the curry was ok.. but both Alisa and I really enjoyed your dinner the most! So glad you guys had a good time with the movers.. we did the Toy Story 3D marathon yesterday.. totally liked it.. but I've had my fill of Woody and Buzz for some time now... Zach decided he wanted to eat at Red Lobster before the movie.. so we did.. it was very good..

Oh well.. back to the work week!!!

Keep the updates comin'!!!

 

[cbg1027]

Well Megan, since you seem to be my only PTR follower, I figured it was well past time that I get over and start reading yours!

My nephew is 5 and sooo in to Spiderman too! Except he must think he's already been bitten, because he runs around pretending to shoot webs on everyone!

I really want to try Sanaa and orginally had it planned for another trip I'm doing in December. But we ended up canceling for Restaurant Marrakesh because we thought going somewhere inside Epcot would give us a lot more time at the park since it will be our arrival day.
I am going to 'Ohana for the first time in December though.

So sorry about your students.

Regarding your departure plans:
I know this is kind of a weird offer, but I live in Tallahassee - so I'm guessing you'll be driving right through on I-10 on your way to WDW? If you wanted, to break up the trip and not have to leave at such awful hours, you guys are welcome to either spend the night or crash for a few hours at my place. I'm about 10 minutes off I-10! There's even a few goof Thai places around here.

 

[Brave teacher]

Saturday night was so much fun!!! Vince Vaughn can now make me laugh without even saying anything! Just his facial expressions floor me!!! I liked the Thai food (wow.. who would have thought that?), but to be honest..the curry was ok.. but both Alisa and I really enjoyed your dinner the most! So glad you guys had a good time with the movers.. we did the Toy Story 3D marathon yesterday.. totally liked it.. but I've had my fill of Woody and Buzz for some time now... Zach decided he wanted to eat at Red Lobster before the movie.. so we did.. it was very good..

Oh well.. back to the work week!!!

Keep the updates comin'!!!

We had a great time as well. Vince Vaughn was absolutely hilariuos. Bryan and I were debating whether or not yall would actually like it before we left for the restaurant. I told Bryan he needed to make sure you understood that the curry at Emerald was more about spice, and the curry at Sanaa is more about flavor. I love pad thai as well. Bryan did not want to suggest it because he was afraid yall would dislike it like him.

I felt Toy STory overload as well when we watched it. Next update is coming.

Well Megan, since you seem to be my only PTR follower, I figured it was well past time that I get over and start reading yours!

My nephew is 5 and sooo in to Spiderman too! Except he must think he's already been bitten, because he runs around pretending to shoot webs on everyone!

I really want to try Sanaa and orginally had it planned for another trip I'm doing in December. But we ended up canceling for Restaurant Marrakesh because we thought going somewhere inside Epcot would give us a lot more time at the park since it will be our arrival day.
I am going to 'Ohana for the first time in December though.

So sorry about your students.

Regarding your departure plans:
I know this is kind of a weird offer, but I live in Tallahassee - so I'm guessing you'll be driving right through on I-10 on your way to WDW? If you wanted, to break up the trip and not have to leave at such awful hours, you guys are welcome to either spend the night or crash for a few hours at my place. I'm about 10 minutes off I-10! There's even a few goof Thai places around here.

Hey Abby! I'm so glad that you could make it over my way. Those little boys sure do wish they were Spiderman. What's funny to me is that Cooper wants to be bitten so bad, but he cries when he sees a spider near him.

You need to make Sanaa appear on your list for the following trip. It really is great! Mentioning Ohana just makes my mouth drool a bit. I found some pictures on the food porn thread of that meal and I became hungry instantly.

The students are doing better this week than they were last week. They are working things out in their own way.

Thanks for offering your home Abby. I appreciate the offer.

 

[Brave teacher]

We should arrive on Saturday, May 22nd with enough time to hit the parks. We would most likely hit Epcot that day.

Our first park last summer was DHS for Star Wars weekend. DH is hoping that Star Wars Weekends fall again while we are there. We all had so much fun. If Star Wars Weekends fall along the same schedule as last year, then DHS would be our park of choice for Sunday.

I have already mentioned that Sam wants to go back to Blizzard Beach. We were there last summer from the moment it opened till it closed. He had a blast. This time, we plan to do both water parks. The boys are looking forward to do this more than anything else during this trip. The plan is to hit both TL and BB on Monday and Tuesday.

We love to go to the MK on Wednesday. It has always been a nice day for us. The Thursday would be left for AK. I am hoping to get Bryan to agree to a half park day on Friday, but we will see.
To make the most of our time there, we plan to hit some of the parks for evening EMH like last summer.


Just to add a bit of real life expreience from today, I saw the saddest thing today. I went to Wal Mart after school to get some groceries for the house. As I walked to the cash register in the front, I watched a cashier partake in behavior that I assume would cause her to actually lose her job. The cashier was checking out her customer and apparently did not like what the customer said. SHe came from behind her register and began beating the dog poop out of the customer! I do not know what happened, but I made certain to keep Sam a safe distance from them in a spot where he could not watch the behavior of the employee. I would think she lost her job.

 

[Coach81]

Ah man! I wish I could have seen that!!! Alisa told me about it last night.. too bad you didn't get any of it on video.. that would have been great!!! We are going to visit with the Prosperies very soon to discuss our plans for summer trip.. the Monday and Tuesday have been reserved for the water parks.. but we are still not sure about the other days..

 

[elizablake]

Our first park last summer was DHS for Star Wars weekend. DH is hoping that Star Wars Weekends fall again while we are there. We all had so much fun. If Star Wars Weekends fall along the same schedule as last year, then DHS would be our park of choice for Sunday.

I'm pretty sure Star Wars weekends are already scheduled (and they include your weekend). But maybe I'm wrong and they have been made officially official yet.

Sounds like a great plan!

Just to add a bit of real life expreience from today, I saw the saddest thing today. I went to Wal Mart after school to get some groceries for the house. As I walked to the cash register in the front, I watched a cashier partake in behavior that I assume would cause her to actually lose her job. The cashier was checking out her customer and apparently did not like what the customer said. SHe came from behind her register and began beating the dog poop out of the customer! I do not know what happened, but I made certain to keep Sam a safe distance from them in a spot where he could not watch the behavior of the employee. I would think she lost her job.

Wow! That's just scary. I wonder if she knew the customer outside of Wal-mart. Next time record video with your phone. You could be famous on YouTube.

 

[pocahontasgal87]

Due to some events going on with me at work. I really need to stick to these boards for some good news. So with that, LET'S TALK ABOUT FOOD!

The big question everyone has at least once when planning their trip is where we will be eating. That question came up while we were on vacation this summer. We have some favorites just like most regular visitors.

Every year, I approach my DH with the restaurant question a couple of months before my ADR window opens. This year he forgot to tell me one place because he just assumed I would book it. Well, he became very upset when he realized we weren’t going there. Oh well, he needs to tell me these things when I ask.

Our must do restaurants:

Sanaa – We loved this restaurant this summer. The boys were amazed with the animals lurking outside the window while we ate even though they had a balcony just upstairs where they could watch the animals. BTW, the food is fabulous here too.

Ohana – We finally got around here this summer. DH immediately put this on our must do list for every trip. The boys had watched Night at the Museum 2 right before we left. Well, they were beside themselves that we were seated right next to an Easter Island head. Sam wanted to take his picture with Dum-Dum, and Cooper wanted to give him some gum-gum.

Whispering Canyon Café – This is the one I forgot this summer. DH loves the skillet.



Chef Mickey’s – This is our traditional last supper. This is the meal where the boys have the opportunity to tell Mickey and his pals good bye before we leave the next morning. I began taking a picture of the boys in the steel ears behind the Contemporary a few years ago. That way we could see the boys grow as the years go by.

What else then?

This trip we plan to do Donald’s Safari Breakfast once again. The boys loved it last time. Plus, I love getting that 8:05 AM ADR.

This trip we are planning to try Le Cellier for the first time. However, DH is hoping this last spot will be filled by Boma again. I just want to put something in there that is new for us.

We also have plans to eat at ESPN Club, but we would pay OOP for that one. DH LOVES the nachos.

We will see how all of this pans out when I am able to make those ADRs on November 23rd.

Awesome choices! i love to try ur choices but i think we r just gonna stick to mostly quick service meals to save money, but shall pick a few that we all wanna do

Not so much of an update for the trip as it is an update from real life. As I mentioned previously, I am a high school teacher. This week has been the most difficult week as a teacher I have ever experienced.

I received a phone call SUnday afternoon while I was watching football with my DH and his friends. I was told that 4 students from my school were in a horrible car accident early that morning. Two of them were my students. There were five total boys in the car, and four of them died on impact. The fifth one needed to be transferred to New Orleans because of a severe brain injury.

Needless to say, going to work on Monday was the most difficult moment in my teaching career. I had never experienced a moment when I woul enter a classroom knowing that the student who sits in the desk in the middle of the room will never come back. It was so difficult going into the class and having the empty desk. It was such a sad moment.

I sadly found out today that the parents of the only survivor removed him from life support since the injury to his brain was so severe he would never be able to recover. He was declared brain dead.

Part of the saddest piece of this story is that all the boys were cousins, but there were two sets of brothers. Two mothers and fathers each lost two sons in one moment.

Well, the funerals start tomorrow, and I am still unsure if I will attend the wake for a moment to pay my respects to the students who will not return to my classroom.

I hope I never have to go through this again.

sooo sorry during my 4 yrs in high school, we had car accidents happen twice, quite sad losing high school peers

After all the sadnees I have had this week, I think it is time to post something good. Here's the next update.

The second question that comes up for us always deals with our time of departure. We like to drive to WDW because we are there in about 10-11 hours and it gives us a vehicle to use on site. I hate to bus hop from resort to park to resort to get to our restaurant. This way we are able to drive straight to our dining destination within a few minutes. We have left at 4 AM in the past and get there right around check-in time. This past summer we left at midnight. It wasn’t my favorite departure time. We got to Kidani around lunch time, but our room was not ready. We did eat lunch at Mara, and our room was ready by the time we finished. Bryan was exhausted from staying up all night (he could not get comfortable in the truck), and all the boys wanted to do was try out the new pool. We decided that midnight was not the time for us again.

Right now the tentative plan is to leave on May 21st. My records day at school is on that day, so I figured we leave after Bryan gets off of work. Hopefully, he is able to get away a bit earlier in the day. We plan to drive until 11 or so if we leave around 5. If we leave around 3 when I get out of school, we plan to drive until we are about an hour or two outside of WDW. We would be at the parks before lunch time, and we get an extra day in the parks. The kink in this plan, however, is that Bryan is not completely on board with this yet. He is still hoping for 4 AM.

Next update - our tentative plans...

we driven 18 hours from where we r from(canada) stay at a hotel after driving 12 hours cuz we all get too tire, so ya after we leave our hotel we usually get there in check in time, im sooo exicted now we r gonna fly next trip=] we may get an early flight and be there early=](only 2 hr flight, wooooopie!)

We should arrive on Saturday, May 22nd with enough time to hit the parks. We would most likely hit Epcot that day.

Our first park last summer was DHS for Star Wars weekend. DH is hoping that Star Wars Weekends fall again while we are there. We all had so much fun. If Star Wars Weekends fall along the same schedule as last year, then DHS would be our park of choice for Sunday.

I have already mentioned that Sam wants to go back to Blizzard Beach. We were there last summer from the moment it opened till it closed. He had a blast. This time, we plan to do both water parks. The boys are looking forward to do this more than anything else during this trip. The plan is to hit both TL and BB on Monday and Tuesday.

We love to go to the MK on Wednesday. It has always been a nice day for us. The Thursday would be left for AK. I am hoping to get Bryan to agree to a half park day on Friday, but we will see.
To make the most of our time there, we plan to hit some of the parks for evening EMH like last summer.

COLOR]

excellent plans, once we get our restauraants all taken care of, will go to the parks the same location(eatmostly in the parks) and I LOVE TL, I really wanna go back again, there wave pool is awesome!!!

 

[Brave teacher]

Ah man! I wish I could have seen that!!! Alisa told me about it last night.. too bad you didn't get any of it on video.. that would have been great!!! We are going to visit with the Prosperies very soon to discuss our plans for summer trip.. the Monday and Tuesday have been reserved for the water parks.. but we are still not sure about the other days..

I know. Everyone keeps asking why I didn't get it on video. I was more concerned with keeping Sam away from the action. We're going to have to get together to discuss that big meal together at Ohana since I'll be booking that one on November 23rd.

I'm pretty sure Star Wars weekends are already scheduled (and they include your weekend). But maybe I'm wrong and they have been made officially official yet.

Sounds like a great plan!

Wow! That's just scary. I wonder if she knew the customer outside of Wal-mart. Next time record video with your phone. You could be famous on YouTube.

I would be surprised if they has been announced. That would be early.

I certainly could have posted that video to People Of Wal Mart. If you have not visited that site yet, you really need to. It is absolutely hilarious.

Awesome choices! i love to try ur choices but i think we r just gonna stick to mostly quick service meals to save money, but shall pick a few that we all wanna do

sooo sorry during my 4 yrs in high school, we had car accidents happen twice, quite sad losing high school peers

we driven 18 hours from where we r from(canada) stay at a hotel after driving 12 hours cuz we all get too tire, so ya after we leave our hotel we usually get there in check in time, im sooo exicted now we r gonna fly next trip=] we may get an early flight and be there early=](only 2 hr flight, wooooopie!)

excellent plans, once we get our restauraants all taken care of, will go to the parks the same location(eatmostly in the parks) and I LOVE TL, I really wanna go back again, there wave pool is awesome!!!

We love our TS at WDW. That is pretty much the only reason we have never done the QSDP.

The students are doing better this week.

I am all about getting there as quickly as we can. Sam is so looking forward to that wave pool too.

 

[cbg1027]

OMG I love People of Wal Mart! Funniest thing ever.....very sad at the same time...but I get over it because it's soooo hilarious!

 

[elizablake]

My bad. I saw it on touring plans web site so I thought they might be officially scheduled.

 

[Brave teacher]

My bad. I saw it on touring plans web site so I thought they might be officially scheduled.

No problem. TP puts the same dates as the previous year automatically until Disney releases official dates. Thanks anyway!

I had a pretty busy day today. My mom had hip replacement sugery due to a birth defect she has dealt with all her life. She is doing fine but is in a lot of pain. She was hoping to make it with us for this trip, but I explained to her that the recovery period is up to 8 months. She decided that maybe the trip in 2011 would be better.

 

[alboq]

Wishing MeMe a speedy recovery.

 

[Brave teacher]

My mom is doing well. SHe has backed off of her morphine pump and even walked down to the nurse's station (her room is at the far end of the hall). She will probably going home on Saturday,

Anyway, on with the trip update!

I am the second of five children. Some of us get along, and some of us do not. My youngest sister, Madeline, joined us for our trip in April 2006. It was her first trip, but we left without doing so much. She decided she would come back with us in February 2008, but she ended up not being able to get the money together in time. She wanted to come with us again in May this year, but she started EMT school and could not skip class to come with us. We asked her a couple of weeks ago in a kind of joking manner if she would come with us next summer. She said yes! She is just starting her new job as an EMT and has already turned in her days to come with us next summer. The boys are beyond excited right now as well.

I would like all of you to see my sister, but I must first describe what you are about to see. As Disney veterans, we all know about a lovely little beverage named Beverly. Last time Madeline came with us, Bryan and I tricked her into drinking it. With that trick came photographic fun for us. Meet my sister Madeline.

I figured I should give you a picture of her without a beverage spewing out of her mouth.