2012? No Problem...but when?

[NiniMorris]

Under some situations I could be more understanding. This is not one of them...here is my reasoning.

The person that will not be coming in...he is claiming he will not be back from Disney until Thursday evening. I know better! I planned his vacation! He is leaving Disney Monday! When I was planning it for him I reminded him that we were leaving at 3am on Friday. He said it wasn't a problem..that he knew his wife wanted him to be off on Thursday, but since we were already scheduled...she would just have to deal.

Evidently he has forgotten about that discussion...and is claiming he will be traveling Thursday night.

Emergencies happen...I understand that. I understand wanting your husband to be home for Holidays...I would like that too, but it happens far less than I would like. I can even understand wanting to go hunting....well, maybe not that.

My husband's shift used to be a family. Every year we had a ginormous open house for Christmas...lasted a full 24 hours. Now, I barely know half of the people on his shift. You can be assured that there will be NO open house this year!

LOL...My husband called me a while ago and told me I should be nicer about this since he will be at Disney...and then I reminded him that he is going to be back... LOL


(I will now try to go and think happy thoughts, and try to not be so angry...I will then probably delete most of this post! LOL!

 

[NiniMorris]

I really hate that over half of my husband's job is political! Especially in election years. This time I think it will work in our favor.

My husband came home last night with some great news. He was able to find someone to work for him on Thanksgiving. He said it wasn't hard...he knew a guy on a different shift owed him a favor, hated his mother in law (who was visiting from out of town for Thanksgiving) and needed extra money for Christmas!

Since he would already have a full 'week' in his pay period, he would get overtime pay as well as the customary double time for working a holiday. Since he would not be the official shift supervisor, he could leave at 7pm...and they like to eat dinner late.

So, HE gets about $700 for a day's work, gets out of the house for the day, gets to eat dinner with his family, and has extra Christmas money! HE has to give up beer and football!

WE get to go back to our regular plan for the trip!

I see it as a win-win for us! Hubby was so proud of himself, there was a problem and he fixed it!

The only possible fly in the ointment is that it still has to be approved. Hubby has a back up plan...he still has a copy of the duty roster from last week showing him as off...as well as his copies of his original request to be off marked approved. He did remind the first in command that he had these items...and there were tons of reporters with cameras just itching to get a good local election story....

A bit of political blackmail... but hopefully they get the message!

With this crisis averted....I can now report that everything that can be has already been packed! My living room resembles a cheap motel room with 20 people crammed in, but progress has been made! Our Disney box needs to have the coffee, creamer, and sugar added and then it is ready to hit the road!

Oddly, I panic over ponchos each and every trip! The ONLY time we have ever actually used them was two years ago during MVMCP..it was cold, and they wanted to ride splash mountain...so they wore ponchos....

Anyway, I put all the ponchos in a plastic container and discovered I have the 2 yellow adult Disney ponchos (that I got at a Garage sale for $1 each) and some 20 dollar store ponchos...I think for the 4 of us this should be sufficient! Especially since we never wear them!

Today, I am off to make a trip to Joann's as well as take my laptop to my Son in law's house to repair and/or replace the hard drive (not really sure what he is going to do but I got the parts in yesterday!). Then we have our weekly family football dinner, this week at my daughter and son in law's house.

Everyone have a fun weekend!

Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

I am so relieved that your DH was able to get TG off!! I hope he doesn't have to use his blackmail option - but glad he has one at his disposal just in case.

I love your "cheap motel room" visual - that is great!

So glad you are getting your packing accomplished - I think you have enough ponchos too. I plan on bringing ours from our last trip - I also plan to use them FOREVER. LOL

Have a great weekend Nini!

D~

 

[NiniMorris]

A quick note that won't mean anything to anybody but me!

I have my computer back!

It has been repaired, contains a new hard drive...NO data was lost...and I now have a super big hard drive that can be used on the X box!

The old hard drive checked out ...nothing wrong what so ever. They could find no reason it kept giving me hard drive errors...except that maybe it was a glitch in the original hard drive...it didn't appear to be installed correctly.

I could have used the old hard drive as a ginormous thumb drive...but since I have a 1.5TB external hard drive I could not see a reason why I should mess with it. So later on today I will put it on the Xbox...(we bought the X box on a Thanksgiving day sale last year (?) and it only came with a tiny memory...so we can't download anything to it...now we can!)

All of my previous posts in the last week or so have taken me hours to type out...this one has taken less than 2 minutes! So wonderful having a big screen and normal keyboard!


In case I haven't said it...Korey Dickens is the greatest son in law in the world! (and a pretty awesome IT guy as well!)


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

That is awesome Nini! I am so glad you have your computer back!

D~

 

[cogero]

Great news about the hard drive being fixed. That is fabulous

 

[EEs*Mommy]

Sounds like things around your house have been productive! I hope there is room to shove a shirt in for a certain princess lol. I am hoping to get to it next week with the rest of the things that I need to get done So glad hubby got the problem solved!

 

[NiniMorris]

I am so relieved that your DH was able to get TG off!! I hope he doesn't have to use his blackmail option - but glad he has one at his disposal just in case.

I love your "cheap motel room" visual - that is great!

So glad you are getting your packing accomplished - I think you have enough ponchos too. I plan on bringing ours from our last trip - I also plan to use them FOREVER. LOL

Have a great weekend Nini!

D~

LOL...I don't USE the ponchos forever...I just KEEP the ponchos forever! There is a major difference!

I normally let the luggage hang out on the dining room table (since we rarely use it for dining) but since I am home schooling two littles now...it is the school room. Of course, it really is just a big table strewn with a ton of various papers and folders all over the place...but we like to call it school!

That is awesome Nini! I am so glad you have your computer back!

D~

The best part was he cloned the old hard drive so I lost NOTHING! Even all the cookies were there...meaning I didn't loose any of my passwords to the both the sites I WANT to visit as well as those I NEED to visit! Since I use a different browser for business and pleasure that was a real relief! (Has anyone else noticed that the Disney sites prefer IE over any other browser? And if you have technical problems they always tell you to go to IE...and like a miracle, your problems are all solved....I HATE IE!

Great news about the hard drive being fixed. That is fabulous

My kids think the best part is that I have an external hard drive for the X Box! But I have to say, looking at a full screen and typing on a full screen is sure nice! Now, I just have to figure out where the wireless mouse ran off to.

Sounds like things around your house have been productive! I hope there is room to shove a shirt in for a certain princess lol. I am hoping to get to it next week with the rest of the things that I need to get done So glad hubby got the problem solved!

LOL...That princess still doesn't know about it...I'm thinking I will wait and let her 'discover' it in her luggage after we get there... or as the way things are going with us right now...when I need to earn some extra points from her...(I have a feeling her teenage years are going to be the death of me! She is so much worse than the older three! I had a relatively easy time with them...this is my payback! Only 12 and already ready to strangle her most days....then she does something sweet...and I see my baby in her again...and wonder how long it will be before her sweet side comes back to live with us! LOL)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

No news on the Disney front...except I did color my hair (finally) last night! I missed my last color job because it was only 6 weeks until Disney and I didn't want to have to mess with it right before we left (I know...very flawed logic!) When I was quoted a price of $195 to get the cut and color....I decided I would spring for the $10 box and do it myself...still have to decide about the cut part...I am thinking I might run out of time so I will probably just do it myself...

Just a little more than 17 days until Disney...like 3 hours less than 18....I am really getting excited!


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

Whoot!!! I can't believe how close your trip is getting!!! Awesome that you got your hair colored... I go in to get mine cut tomorrow - and I should have had it colored too, but I decided last month to push it to December - bad decision. Oh well. I am a lot more gray than I was a few months ago... Sigh.

D~

 

[babynala]

Sounds like everything is coming together for your trip. I can't believe you are all packed up and ready to go (besides the sugar and creamer) . So glad you got your computer fixed and that everything was saved. I hate computer issues!! Glad your DH was able to schedule Thanksgiving off. That drive doesn't sound fun on a minimal amount of sleep but at least everyone will have warm butts!

 

[NiniMorris]

Whoot!!! I can't believe how close your trip is getting!!! Awesome that you got your hair colored... I go in to get mine cut tomorrow - and I should have had it colored too, but I decided last month to push it to December - bad decision. Oh well. I am a lot more gray than I was a few months ago... Sigh.

D~

Just imagine skipping one color...I had 3 MONTHS of gray! There was all kinds of teasing that if I cut my hair first, it would be ALL gray...then I could choose any color I wanted!

I'm still thinking of just cutting my own hair again this time. I am really a cheap person...and the thought of shelling out 100 to get my hair cut when I have a million pairs of scissors around just doesn't make sense! Who needs to be stylish? Right?

Sounds like everything is coming together for your trip. I can't believe you are all packed up and ready to go (besides the sugar and creamer) . So glad you got your computer fixed and that everything was saved. I hate computer issues!! Glad your DH was able to schedule Thanksgiving off. That drive doesn't sound fun on a minimal amount of sleep but at least everyone will have warm butts!

We are only about 90% packed...still some last minute items that need to be put away...like I am still trying to decide if I should go ahead and buy some more jeans...or just deal with what I have. My problem is the sizing...I am apparently in between sizes. The smaller size is too tight to walk, and the larger size fits when I first put them on, but an hour later I have to keep pulling them up.

I did not meet my weight goal for the trip...which I had promised a whole new batch of jeans to myself if I made it. So I'm thinking I might get a new belt instead! LOL! Much cheaper!


++++++++++++++++


Well, I have 6 shirts to finish, The Grand Princess' dress has some elastic and a button hole to complete it, and I need to make her a shrug (in case it is a bit cool). After that I will be done with my Disney sewing. True, I did cut it in half this year... but with trying to get the Princess caught up with her school work, and trying to get the house presentable again...well, I am quickly running out of time!

While it is true I have bunches of tiny bursts of time through out the day, none of them are long enough to make it worth my while to go down to the studio and get anything done. I still do not like making a bunch of trips up and down the stairs. Adding to that, if I go down, both kids seem to think they should go with me! Then once I need to come back up...I have to bring them back up!

(How is that for a pretty good excuse!)

Only two weeks! Ok...in exactly two weeks it will be Thanksgiving morning, and we don't leave until the morning after...so it is actually 14 days and 21 hours and some few minutes....but close enough to 2 weeks!

Now that most of our plans are set in stone, I will post a brief plan of attack for each day....but not right now! LOL! It is almost time to get the one off to public school and one to get ready for home school, one will be arriving in a few minutes...and hubby seems to be taking a bit too long to get to work!


Nini

 

[DMGeurts]

Just imagine skipping one color...I had 3 MONTHS of gray! There was all kinds of teasing that if I cut my hair first, it would be ALL gray...then I could choose any color I wanted!

LOL... While, my color hasn't been done since my trip to Charlotte... So that was 2.5 months ago - I am getting there. By the time I get it done before Christmas, it will be 3.5 months. It looks awful right now - but I would much rather look nice for Christmas, than Thanksgiving - where I won't see anyone.

I'm still thinking of just cutting my own hair again this time. I am really a cheap person...and the thought of shelling out 100 to get my hair cut when I have a million pairs of scissors around just doesn't make sense! Who needs to be stylish? Right?



We are only about 90% packed...still some last minute items that need to be put away...like I am still trying to decide if I should go ahead and buy some more jeans...or just deal with what I have. My problem is the sizing...I am apparently in between sizes. The smaller size is too tight to walk, and the larger size fits when I first put them on, but an hour later I have to keep pulling them up.

I did not meet my weight goal for the trip...which I had promised a whole new batch of jeans to myself if I made it. So I'm thinking I might get a new belt instead! LOL! Much cheaper!

I shouldn't laugh - but I agree - a new belt is a good consolation prize.

Well, I have 6 shirts to finish, The Grand Princess' dress has some elastic and a button hole to complete it, and I need to make her a shrug (in case it is a bit cool). After that I will be done with my Disney sewing. True, I did cut it in half this year... but with trying to get the Princess caught up with her school work, and trying to get the house presentable again...well, I am quickly running out of time!

While it is true I have bunches of tiny bursts of time through out the day, none of them are long enough to make it worth my while to go down to the studio and get anything done. I still do not like making a bunch of trips up and down the stairs. Adding to that, if I go down, both kids seem to think they should go with me! Then once I need to come back up...I have to bring them back up!

(How is that for a pretty good excuse!)

I love your reasoning!

Only two weeks! Ok...in exactly two weeks it will be Thanksgiving morning, and we don't leave until the morning after...so it is actually 14 days and 21 hours and some few minutes....but close enough to 2 weeks!

Now that most of our plans are set in stone, I will post a brief plan of attack for each day....but not right now! LOL! It is almost time to get the one off to public school and one to get ready for home school, one will be arriving in a few minutes...and hubby seems to be taking a bit too long to get to work!


Nini

LOL Can't wait to hear the final plans.

D~

 

[cogero]

I can't believe it is only 2 more weeks for your trip.

 

[NiniMorris]

So, I think I wrote about our Thanksgiving Day plans and our drive down plans, and a generalized idea of our daily plans…so I thought I would attempt a detailed description of our daily plans.

This is easier said than done.

With all of Mr D’s issues, we use a GAC. It is the ONLY way we can have a Disney vacation. The first time after the accident, was a nightmare. On our last day (or maybe it was the next to the last day) one of the CM’s told me about the GAC. At that time Mr D was totally un-medicated. Meltdowns happened at least once an hour, and a lot of things were left undone simply because he could not last in line more than a few minutes. He doesn’t like to have people he doesn’t know close to him, hates loud noises, and does not understand the concept of standing in line. You can imagine going to Disney!

I got our first GAC at AK. The CM that helped me with it, was a blessing. She explained the various options we could have and how it would best work for us and our situation. I wish I had known about it sooner! It made such a difference in our stay!

With that in mind, we don’t have a regimented touring plan. We have a generalized touring plan. I have index cards for each day, which contain things like: where we are going to eat, park hours, parade times, fireworks times, favorite rides, and most importantly, every ones ‘must-dos’ . We each choose one thing that we will be happy if we get to do just that.

On Friday, after we check in, unpack, pick up the stroller, and relax for a minute or two…we will head to Magic Kingdom. It should be about lunch time, so our plans are to head towards Be Our Guest for lunch. I know that this may be a bit busy, so if it is, we will grab another CS meal… although the kids are usually so eager to get started; they are willing to forget about lunch and just grab a snack. (another advantage of having a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel!)

Our main focus this day will be to check out the new Fantasyland. Of course, if the crowds are crazy, we will head to a less crowded part of the park.

The GAC will allow us to miss the lines. I did NOT say we get to skip the lines, but we miss the lines. We are punched for Alternative Entrance. Sometimes this allows us to go in the FP lines, but sometimes (a lot of times) it gives us a separate place to wait. This place allows Mr D to not feel enclosed. Some times it actually makes our wait longer, but it is rarely in an actual line…so everyone is happier! We also have the Stroller as Wheelchair stamp, so we take the stroller in so he has a place to sit and can pull the sunshade over him and completely hide.

We do plan on having Cosmic Rays for dinner. We plan on being there just before the Castle lighting. If you sit in the back, towards the rest rooms, you can sit and eat and watch the lighting. A wonderful way to start our Christmas trip!

Of course, we will attempt to see MSEP as well as the Fireworks. Magic Kingdom is open until midnight tonight, so if we actually make it to closing we will have spent 12 hours here…but I seriously doubt it will happen! LOL!

The one fly in the ointment will be my husband…he has gotten approval to be off on Thanksgiving, but there is the whole issue of how much sleep he will actually get before we leave. If he has not gotten enough sleep, we plan on leaving him in the room to nap and then he will join up with us at a later time.

My son’s party will consist of him, his wife and daughter and his wife’s Grandmother. They plan on visiting Downtown Disney for lunch and then head over to Magic Kingdom. They have dinner at Be Our Guest. If we leave early, they will probably send the Grand Princess and Granny back to the room with us, so they can stay out late. We usually end up taking our grand Princess back to the room about half the nights. She loves it. With Granny going as well, I might have some competition for my Grand Princess’ time! LOL!

Of course, this will be their first trip actually using a GAC. The Princess is doing 1000 times better than she was, but if she walks too much her foot swells up and starts to ...ooze. (sorry, I couldn't think of any other way to put it) So she will be using the Stroller as Wheelchair stamp as well.

I am curious as to how this will affect their touring style...

 

[NiniMorris]

Today is our first Epcot day. While I know that the previous night ‘could’ be very late, I am 99% sure it will not. We all like our sleep too much, so I am pretty sure that after the fireworks are over, we will be heading back to the room.

I am an early riser. I normally get up at 5. On the weekends, I sleep in to about 6. I really have a problem with migraines if I get too far off my normal schedule, so I will sleep until 6. I will then spend a bit of computer time, and then get the kids up at 7. Since they normally get up at 5 as well, they are sleeping in every day we are there! (Don’t you love my logic!)

We plan on leaving the room by 8:15, getting us to the park in plenty of time for ‘the minute or so after rope drop’. Mr D would not do well with the actual rope drop…so our plan is to be going through baggage check at rope drop, keeping us well behind the actual crowds.

My tip for going through baggage check…pack in zip lock bags. While waiting, grab the zip lock bags so the checker can see in the bag. Simple. Don’t wait until you are standing in front of him/her to bother with even opening the bag! We try to have one person carry everything in, then readjust. We keep a large plastic bag in the stroller containing things like a blankie or towel, some ponchos … things like that. Pack like things together in a bag. In my park bag I normally have everything packed so it is easily removable.

Of course, THIS year I will pack a bit differently since I have a D~ original! We will carry a second bag with all the things I normally carry and leave it in the stroller.

Anyway, back to EPCOT!

We are hoping that Test Track is actually open; all reports say it will be. It and Soarin’ are two of Mr D’s favorite rides. Add to those, Figment , Spaceship Earth and Malstrom and he is a happy camper! SO we will hit all those at least once.

Epcot will be a more relaxed day. We love to walk around the ‘World’ and shop! Even the kids enjoy this part, so very leisurely stroll with a few rides thrown in. This is actually my husband’s favorite park. Not because of the rides, but because of all the Country Pavilions. He could spend HOURS in each one!

It has become a tradition to eat lunch at the Land Pavilion. I would love to try a different spot for lunch, but it is not happening on our FIRST Epcot day.

We MAY take a break in the middle of the day…our plans are to leave around 4, returning at 6 for dinner at 7… however, that is the schedule we follow when it is hot. We always go back to the room for a shower and change of clothes…if the weather is cool, we will forget the break. Dinner tonight will be at 7 at Biergarten. Spending 2 and a half years in Germany, it is one of our favorite places to eat.

IllumiNations is how we will close out the night.


See, I told you we don’t tour like other people…

 

[DMGeurts]

These plans sound great Nini!

And thank you for explaining the GAC card a little bit. I have already determined that if I can ever get Josh to go back to WDW, I am going to see if he qualifies. I am not sure - but I think if he could avoid the crowded lines like that, he would actually enjoy WDW? But I doubt I will ever get him back.

I love that you can tour however works best for you at WDW.

D~

 

[cogero]

Love all your plans so far. We love our GAC.

 

[NiniMorris]

Today is the day we have all been waiting for…we go to MVMCP! For me, it is a do over. Last time I went, I was in a drug induced fog and I was freezing to death! It was in the low 30’s…and only 10 weeks after major neck fusion surgery. For anyone that has had that surgery, you will know what I mean. When that metal is first put in, it reacts to the cold in a very painful way! Now that bone has grown around the fusion site, it is not so sensitive to cold… but that night I thought I was going to die!

We will start the day much like other days … leaving the room by 8:15. The difference is we will head to church services, then back to the room to change and hit Magic Kingdom in time for lunch at Crystal Palace. (I am not 100% sure of my son’s plans today other than they will eat at Tony’s for dinner and then do the party.)

We will then hit our favorite rides in the park. This is a hard one to predict and plan. Mr D has many favorites, as does Miss B. Since I can’t ride most of them, Dad will be the partner in crime! It all depends on how many times he wants to ride a ride before we know how it will go!

Around 4 ish we plan on being close to Stitch so we can get our arm bands. We plan on making the most of our party night, so we will hit the fireworks and the second parade. As for the rest, we will have another ‘play it by ear’ kind of night. Since last time Mr D only wanted to ride Space Mountain ….over and over and over…. We are expecting that to remain our mantra for this time as well!

For dinner tonight, we are planning on Counter Service… not sure where but since we will have a large lunch we will only be looking at a light meal.

Party is over at midnight…but I have no clue how late we will stay.

 

[NiniMorris]

Today is our main Disney Hollywood Studios day. Normally we try to arrive right after rope drop, but since we might be staying late at the party last night, I have no idea when we will arrive!

I know that we plan on arriving at least by lunch time.

This is my least favorite park (although I still LOVE it) but both of my kids list their favorite rides of all times as being here. We will hit the usual…Rock N Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania, and Star Tours. I would like to see some of the shows that we missed last time, although I believe we have seen them all at least once (with the exception of Fantasmic! (Mr D is afraid of fire to the point this would never work for us!)

At 6 pm we will be eating at Hollywood and Vine. Let me just say here and now, this used to be one of our don’t miss favorites. Our last trip ended all that. Our meal was less than magical. Our server came to take our drink order…and we never saw him again. Well, that is not entirely true. We saw him flitting all over the restaurant, but never at OUR table. We had to grad another waitress to get our drinks…as we were starting our desserts!!! The food was lukewarm, and nothing tasted the way it normally did. Our server was probably very upset when I refused (yes, REFUSED!) to tip him. I made sure the manager knew about my displeasure.

For those who don’t know, my family was a restraint owning family. I grew up in restaurants. I have worked every single job imaginable in the food service industry. I am unusually sympathetic to the servers. So for ME to refuse to tip it had to be bad service!

We are only returning to H&V because we don’t have any other options! We are wanting to see the Osborne lights, so it is necessary to eat in the park…

Yes, I have allowed at least an hour for the Lights! We love, love, LOVE them! My family has actually asked if we are going to have enough time to fully enjoy them! LOL!

 

[babynala]

Your plans sound great. Your Epcot day sounds like it will be very enjoyable and a relaxing way to see the park. HS sounds like fun too. The Osbourne lights are my DHs absolute favorite thing about DW. I am so excited you guys are going to do the Christmas Party and I love Cinderella's castle all lit up for Christmas.

I'm so glad that Disney has the option for the no crowd waiting area. It does seem that the people in those areas are waiting longer then the regular lines. I hope the Grandprincess does well with her foot. I have a feeling it will be hard for you guys to keep her off her foot but hopefully having a GAC will allow them to keep her in the stroller.