9/30- 9 Day, 8 Nights- WITH MY MOTHER!!!

[Eyore4Ever149]

Que spooky music similar to that in Haunted Mansion.....perparing myself to get in my Doom Buggy! ...........Just Kidding!!!!

So...first I should introduce who our "Cast" consists of... (I will eventually post photos)

ME-34- AKA "The Planner"
(a little history, my first trip of memory was my honeymoon. Which was hands down the worst trip in history. (August 2003) HOT! HOT! HOT! And I was tired after planning a large wedding. But DH wouldn't let me take mid-day breaks (he was worried Id want to stay at the resort for the rest of the trip) I had a mental breakdown on a MK park bench somewhere in Frontierland. Trips since I took over hte planning have just gotten better and better.

DH-36 - Loves Disney World, says Donald Duck is his favorite character. Will follow whatever plan I have because he knows our trip will be great with it. We have always gone to WDW as an adult couple. Easily goes with the flow or changes gears to suit DD's needs (ex-arrive at beach, DD is not doing well, helps pack up with no beach time, never a complaint or backward glance)

sporting his DIS green tshirt (do they still sell them?)

New Additions to this trip.....

DD- will be 17 months on the trip
she is a total unknown on how flying will go, I predict mornings will be good for her, afternoons could be hairy. She will like dumbo type rides and scenery, dont know about characters or dark rides.
(Ok I dont have any recent pics on webshots, Ill have to upload some, I think she's 4 or 5 months here)

My Mother, 64
boarderline snobbish about WDW. (My Father, who has cancer and has limited years declined coming) We have invited her to help give us a hand with DD, as well as viewing it as a time that she will be able to enjoy seeing her granddaughter. My Mother, while I love her very very much, seems to have a myriad of mental issues, which have become worse as she ages. Negativity and complaining in a passive-agressive style is her most common communication style. I worry the most about her. I keep telling myself that I will NOT be reactionary to any comments or jabs she makes.

My Mom- where you usually find her-on the back of a horse. sorry its so small

slightly better. On our Cape Cod trip last Aug parents and brother rented seperate house, but vacationed together. Heres Mom with Megan

While not going on the trip, these deserve honorary mention
Bella-8lb foster cat we decided to keep-has litter box issues do to dominant male cat we already own. Super cuddly and friendly after a year of patience.

Boaz-18lb rescued from Bridgeport Pound

Darby-now 13yrs old, in really good health






We purchased an OKW DVC ownership and this is our first trip as DVC owners. Im excited, but nervous. VERY EXCITED!!! This will be our most plush experience ever- the giant whirlpool tub in our room looks divine!

Pros- 2 bedroom villa with 3 TVs and a kitchen and washer and dryer will be spacious for our group.
-playground and kiddie pool
-CS and TS restaurant and Im determined to experience The Gurgling Suitcase Pool Bar because in all our trips we have never done a pool bar.
-we are renting a car
-ferry to DTD (like our favorite resort POFQ)
-watermice to rent, shuffleboard, surray bikes (another dream is to have all of us do this)
Kitchen-for DDs meals

Cons- large resort, I can only hope we can get a room with an elevator nearby the Hospitality House. I also worry that my Mom gets disoriented easily and could get lost just taking DD to the playground.

-kitchen (to argue over if meals should be cooked) and pots washed.

This past week I have really started getting serious.
My Annual Passes have arrived
Airline tickets are purchased
Will be buying DDE on Aug 8 per recommendation from Dining Experience Customer Service.
Have ADR's booked, but not sure if I will change speadsheet schedule again.

I purchased a 5 Day Park Hopper with 3 water park days for my Mother. If she wants to add more days she will have to pay for it. We are not asking for any $ for the room. She seems to forget this, or is just perpetually cheap because she pushed to fly out of the airport closest to her so she could use her airmiles (which as it turned out she didn't have enough of)

She has balked at the length of our trip (which she didnt mention until after the airline tickets were purchased) And has told me she isnt sure she will like WDW. I was fine until this week, now Im worried she will ruin our trip.

I read stories about ppl surprising family members with virtually free trips to WDW and happy responses. Not my Mother. She has to pay for her airfare and food and her SeaWorld ticket. I am really hoping to make this a magical trip for her and that I wont "bite" when she baits me. She never does this knowingly. She tends to say hurtful things in an off-handed way, that she doesnt seem to understand her comments sting and then she accuses the other person of being the problem if you engage with her. She can be very helpful and funny and friendly at times too. She loves her granddaughter and is happy to experience things with her. I suspect she has a vision of keeping DD at the resort while we do parks- which is NOT my plan. But Ill wait and see how DD does at the parks.

DM wants DD to sleep in her room. I dont know how I feel about this.

Again, this is a WDW vacation- more magical than any other vacation, I will not engage in arguments, I will find a way to diffuse myself IF issues arrise.

My Mom also has a bad ankle, I worry she will have difficulty. I have advised her to walk and get in shape for walking, she doesnt really hear me and is not walking.

DH is a great diffuser for the most part and I see him being a great middleman and invision DH and My Mom (DM) riding together when we do rider switch. Im hoping DM can do at least the tamer coasters- BTMRR, perhaps SM?

I know this trip will be far slower than in our past.

Our evening out- DH and I are going to MNSSHP

Next installment coming soon......

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Wow, my pre-trip report sunk faster than a lead balloon on the thread list!!

Okay- car rental. I have chosen a Standard Size SUV, it's bigger than a smallish SUV and and not as expensive as a mini van.
Using National- $266.00 is my current total using a AAA contract ID and a $30 off coupon from www.mousesavers.com
Flying Delta- arriving at OKW estimated at 12:00, loooong day on our last day- don't leave til 7pm

DH and I were doing the Vegetable Soup Diet the last 3 days (its suppose to be 7, but neither of us made it. Im just too tired and lack of energy. We agreed to eat Chinese tonight.

Waiting for my "tour of WDW" from www.relivethemagic.com to get us excited and see if DD reacts to watching it. Its been 10 days already of waiting!!

 

[rentayenta]

If my DH and I went to WDW with my mother, they have to dredge the lake to find the body.


I envy women who can travel with their mothers and I look forward to reading more!


We like pics around here too!

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Well we shall see how this works out. Im really really hoping my Mother doesnt spoil the trip, but adds to it. I think the key will be how I react to her.

We may be taking a trip to ME (about a 7 hour trip) just Mom and DD and me at the end of Aug. I see it as "Training Camp" (like the football players) it would probably be for 3-4 days. I think if I do well on that trip it might even make my Mom "softer" on our WDW trip.

Resources:
Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, Im embarassed to say I have been skipping my bible and devotionals at night to read up on whats new since our last trip

PassPorter- I was upset last night to realize I loaned my new 2007 book out and it hasn't been returned and Im not 100% who I loaned it to. Phone calls need to be made.

Unofficial Guide's WDW for Kids

Tour Guide Mike- love his site, but I really wish he would come out with a book because I dont like to read from a computer- I far prefer a book.

DisBoards

www.mousesavers.com
www.allears.net

Photos, Im typing on my laptop and need to go downstairs to our slower computer where all the photos are toured. I use Webshots and have issues with posting on here.

Suggestions for a different photostorage website that is easy to post from will be taken and considered!!

webshots is either too big or too small with out downloading to photoshop each and everyone.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Here's a pic from June 3 2007 of DD

Very active- loves to go through and tear toy chest, DVDs, books, anything...apart. Vocal and outgoing.

check out added pics above!

Here are Darby (black lab) and Jessie (yellow lab-shep mix)

New pics taken today at Sears!

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Sigh.....
We sat down and reviewed finances today. It looks like we will cut several things out of our trip

Cirque du Soliel
Dine with Shamu
Fantasmic Package
will probably need to cut some of our ADRs out
No Universal

I would consider "roughing it" and cancelling our rental car, but with a 17mo old and a LARGE resort I dont think thats wise. Its best to have quick access to leave a park at will.

we have debt that needs to be addressed. It would be really nice if we could sell the sports car my husband bought when he was single, and now never uses- Dodge Viper. We have had it on the market for a while.

So now it looks like the way to go is to sell our house. To be honest, now that we have a baby- this house has a large very sloped lawn- with lots of Asian Maples, beautiful to look at, crummy for a toddler to play on. So a nice flat lawn would be great. We have redone the existing bathroom and expanded the laundry room into a full bath and plan to pave the driveway.

I usually get to shop to my heart's content- but doubt I'll get to do that this trip.
I also usually splurge and order at least one grand basket from DisneyFlorist. I may limit this to flowers for my Mom's birthday this time.

We will be cutting back on
Groceries
Misc
clothing
Pet stuff

selling the house will wipe out all of our debt and leave us with enough left over to put a down payment on another home. We were planning to move anyway, but there is a penalty for paying off our home equity loan early.

Not exactly fun to discuss finances during Disney planning. I guess we will just have to leave some things to look forward to on our next trip.

The house as appreciated quite a bit. So that's a great thing.

Can't breath a word of this to my Mother or she will lord it over us "Can you Afford that??" and if she doesnt say it to your face she'll go home and tell others you bought a $50 Mickey Mouse sweatshirt.

On the other hand, I have to remind myself- we are selling the house about a year earlier than we planned. DH will have a shorter commute, we could get a place with a lawn to play outside on. We will wipe out ALL our bills and have money left over!

Okay, I sort of feel better. But man will I miss those baskets!!!!

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Well WOOT! WOOT!
We sold our Dodge Viper while we still have bills to pay, we are not eating peanutbutter sandwiches for dinners.

My Mother on the other hand is going to drive me mad! I love her and I try to think of times when I have been with her and had a great time ( a couple years ago I had a wonderful weekend of hitting tag sales). But she has changed since then.
A. My Father has prostate cancer, and we are way past the point of having hope that it will be cured. Its growing fairly fast, but doesnt seem to have matasteses yet- or at least hes not telling anyone.
B. While my Mother and I were visiting relatives about 8 hours away on a 4 day trip my Father, who has always been as honest as the day is long, decided to go see a woman he dated before he married my Mother (45 years ago) AND he has found he still has feelings for this woman, but will continue to stay with their current spouses. This is a very surreal situation for me, and I wouldnt even be typing about it except that I know, no one on here knows who I am. It's painful and embarassing.

My Mother now keeps thinking she doesnt want to go to WDW with us- but then changes her mind again. I told her if she needed to cancel she could- oh, thats such a relief she says- maybe she will, but she'll just think about it. I tell her this is not an open ended thing- I would have to redo a lot of my itenerary and she would need to tell me now. Well, that upset her again.

My Mother also seems to have a LOT of mental issues going on. For one thing she has been taking some new anti-depressant for the last several months and its causing a lot of anxiety.

We are stuck with her at this point. Shes one of those people who will complain about everything. I used to really enjoy being around her, now shes a basketcase and all she does is self-analyze, if shes not doing that she's saying something negative about me.
Sorry, I think I have turned this post into a bit of a diary.

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

My plan

arrival Sept 30
OKW

catch lunch perhaps at Capt Jacks in DTD
Epcot F&W
Biergarten at 5:30

Monday
Magic Kingdom (Babys 1st haircut!)
break
MGM afternoon
Brown Derby for dinner

Tues
Animal Kingdom
break
Liberty Tree for dinner
Spectro and WIshes

Wed
Water Park/Rest day

Thur
Epcot morning-Coral Reef???

1900 Park Fare for early dinner
MNSSHP (just DH and me)

Friday
Mom's 63rd birthday
Water Park
Jiko's for dinner

Sat
MGM
break
Epcot-Illuminations
Rose and Crown

Sunday
SeaWorld

Monday (Columbus Day)
Revisit favorite Park
Flight home 7:15pm

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

To Do List-

create attraction agenda for each day (Go here, Grab FP here, Ride this, etc)
Print xcel file of our schedule and ADRs
Print TGM least crowded park info
Print TGM sample park touring plans
Call at 14 days to order birthday cake for Jiko's
Ship box to resort via UPS with misc items
pack for me and DD
begin packing for DH
Gather all AP,DDE,SeaWorld, and other misc ticking info together.

Make luggage tags that are highly visable.
Buy neon ribbon to help identify stroller and car

I have decided to not make phone calls to my Mother unless absolutely neccessary- the less we talk, the less chances of her annoying me and the better chance that I will keep a positive attitude about bringing her on this trip.