a girls-only birthday weekend w/ the mouse! MY TR HAS MOVED...LINK IN MY SIGGIE

[TKDisneylover]

Whoo Hoo, we get to hear about the trip!!! Welcome home Dawn, can't wait to hear about all the fun!

 

[punkin413]

thanks for all the welcome homes! i'm swamped with work this week and then i'm hosting a bachelorette party saturday and a bridal luncheon on sunday, so i'm thinking it'll be next before i get an update out. sorry, guys! please be patient with me. i promise i'm not deserting this TR!

 

[MA pigletfan]

we will wait ever so patiently.... ( don't worry, its light popcorn )

 

[timandlesley]

Hey Dawn,
Welcome home, good luck getting everything organized in your life and taken care of, I'll be patiently waiting for an update now that I'm all caught up with this thread.
Lesley

 

[Disneylush]

I am new to the Dis boards. I am a lifer when it comes to Disney but just found the tr's on this site. Your other trip was the first report I read on here and I can't wait to hear the results of this trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

[snowbell]

Welcome back!!!!

 

[MeMom]

thanks for all the welcome homes! i'm swamped with work this week and then i'm hosting a bachelorette party saturday and a bridal luncheon on sunday, so i'm thinking it'll be next before i get an update out. sorry, guys! please be patient with me. i promise i'm not deserting this TR!

So you're putting work, WILD parties, and fancy schmancy luncheons ahead of us! Hmmmmfffhhhh! Fine, then, be that way. You know we'll wait.

I hope your very busy weekend plans all turn out beautifully for all involved. Those kinds of things add fun to our lives.

If you don't get back before Wednesday night, however, I'll be high-tailing it out of here on my way to have a wild party of my own with Mickey and pals. I'll catch up on the other side of that.

Our summer trip report is coming to a close. Just the last full day and departing day left. It's sad to write it, truthfully, because I truly do remember, with each post, the fun we had. We're going to do a Halloween/Jill's birthday report, too, but it won't be nearly as long. Knowing how slow we are, though, a Thursday to Sunday trip report could last almost all the way until we leave for the Christmas trip! Hopefully not. Maybe we'll do better on Episode Two. Jill's already two scrapbooks behind, also. There just aren't enough hours in the day for us to get it all done and live out here in the real world, too!

We'll look forward to reading when things slow down for you.

 

[monymony3471]

Just wanted to add my welcome home. I've seen you over at other threads. Just wanted it to be official over here.

Patiently waiting to hear the scoop.

 

[punkin413]

hey, guys! i'm finally caught up on work and have the bridal stuff behind me (until october 20th when i go to florida for the wedding). so i promise you my first update will be out at some point tomorrow. sorry to keep you waiting!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Very funny! I saw a post - got all ready to settle in and read, and PSYCHE!!!! Okay, I forgive you - the wait will be worth it!

 

[monymony3471]

Good to know!

 

[punkin413]

so......i'm finally starting on this TR!!! sorry to make you guys wait for something that's going to be so short. this installment will actually be kinda short because i thought i'd be off work today and, of course, they've called me in for a hearing this afternoon. figures! anyway, on to the TR.....

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after work on friday i got home around 1:00 and started getting everything ready to go. erin finally called me around 4:00 and told me she was leaving. it's so hard to wait on someone when you're going to disney world! we didn't actually get on the road until about 5:00 because we had to pack the car with her stuff and then get gas, but alas, we were off!

i drove the whole way because erin was on pain meds for her back. i didn't care though. for some reason driving long distances doesn't get to me when i'm on my way to disney! erin played rollercoaster tycoon for awhile and i drove through the torential downpours we had on the way. it was raining so hard i could barely see!! lexmelinda called me when i was stuck in friday evening traffic somewhere south of atlanta. she and her family were about an hour ahead of us on the road. we stopped at dairy queen somewhere south of macon to eat dinner, then back on the road. the rain finally stopped once we got into florida. i took the new highway 429 road to disney instead of going to orlando and it cut a good bit off the trip. i'm so glad i knew about it!

i had told erin about all the signs on the florida turnpike advertising disney tickets, but we couldn't see any of them because it was dark and they weren't lit up. what a rip off!

on the way down, tara texted me a couple of times updating me on her flights. her plane in atlanta was like 45 minuetes late. not fun!

somewhere around 12:30 we finally saw this.......

it's like the heavens were singing!!! i know the picture is awful, but it was 12:30 and we were DEAD, so i didn't have the energy to stop and take another one.

we made our way over to OKW with me pointing out things to erin the whole way.....oh, look, there's coronado springs. oh, and there's the tower or terror. oh, and there's the giant golf ball. i'm sure it was really annoying for erin!

i forgot to mention.....the whole way to florida erin was asking me about certain rides she'd heard about. every time i'd describe a ride, she'd say, "i'm not going on it." finally i figured out she was just kidding around with me. so that was her mantra for the rest of the trip. every time we'd say, "let's go do this," erin would say, "i'm not going on it." but don't worry......she was just being silly!

we got to old key west and went inside. i asked the guy at the front desk if i could use the bathroom and he said no. i never did understand that one. he said it was closed. okay.....whatever. i told him we were waiting on a DVC member that we were staying with to arrive from magical express. he told us to have a seat in the lobby. so we went over to the lobby and kinda of just collapsed. i started thinking that maybe i could get some of our ticket stuff taken care of and get erin's birthday button, so i went back up to the desk and rang the bell. a different CM came out and i told him the same thing i'd told the first guy. he said, "oh, if your name's on the reservation, you can check in. she doesn't need to be here." why didn't the first CM know this???

anyway, we checked in. they had my name spelled "don" on the room key, but oh well. when i asked to make sure the DDP was on our plan, he says, "no. it doesn't say anything here about it." so i told him i'd have tara come and straighten it out since she's the one who changed it. i called tara to let her know we'd gotten the room keys and everything and she said they were pulling into the resort, so we just waited for her. the bus pulled up a couple of minutes later and i saw tara for the first time! it was so nice to finally meet her in person! i didn't take any pictures because it was too late and my brain was fried.

we went inside to take care of the DDP problem and they said they could do nothing about it right then, that she had to call member services, get it straightened out and then come by the hotel lobby to pick up new cards. well, that wasn't going to work because we would be in MK before member services opened and we were NOT going to come all the way back to the hotel to get new cards in the middle of the day! we only had 2.5 days.....we couldn't spare any park time!

after much discussion, the CM told her to just pay for all our meals, keep the receipts and they'd reimburse us once they got the DDP put on our tickets. okay....done!

we made our way to the room and it was VERY close to the main building....just across the parking lot! here's a pic i took the day we left....2nd floor, far righthand corner.

and here's a pic of the main area where you get on the busses and where all the shops and lobby is....

we finally got all unpacked and settled in. we had the TV on the top 7 things in disney and erin was enthralled while tara and i could pretty much quote everything! here's erin checking out my nifty laminated itinerary. okay.....really she was making fun of it!

oh, and here's a little friend we had waiting on us in the room.....

erin decided to play rollercoaster tycoon before she went to sleep and about 5 minutes after laying down i heard her breathing become steady and i turned over to see her asleep with the computer on her chest, the screen shining in her face....i wish i would've had my camera! i finally went to sleep around 2:30. our alarm was set for 6:30 because we had an 8:10 ADR at kona cafe.

how will MK be on 4 hours of sleep????? come back to find out!

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

YAY!!! I've been waiting for you to post!!! I'm sorry you had to deal with all that rain on the drive down - no fun! So, it's a 5-6 hour drive? I'm glad the new highway worked out for you. It sounds like the timing of getting to OKW the same time as Tara wasn't tooo bad. Bummer about the DDP. I hope it got straightened out. Only 4 hours of sleep?!

Can't wait to read more!
-Michelle

 

[Disneyolic]

Thanks for the update! Er, I mean beginning of your short TR. No matter, it was good. About this new Rt 429. About how much time do you think it shaved off?

Looking forward to more!

 

[Hedy]

I don't think I've seen the sign lit up at night before. It's pretty.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Yay! Another trip report from Dawn. I read through your last one and it was great.

 

[LISAMWDW]

 

[punkin413]

ATTENTION!!! i have moved my TR to the TR forum as opposed to the pre-TR forum. i will no longer be posting updates on this thread. here is the new link....please subscribe to get updates! thanks! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=21104244&posted=1#post21104244

YAY!!! I've been waiting for you to post!!! I'm sorry you had to deal with all that rain on the drive down - no fun! So, it's a 5-6 hour drive? I'm glad the new highway worked out for you. It sounds like the timing of getting to OKW the same time as Tara wasn't tooo bad. Bummer about the DDP. I hope it got straightened out. Only 4 hours of sleep?!

Can't wait to read more!
-Michelle

it's actually about 7 hours. it took us about 7.5 because of the rain, so not too shabby!

Thanks for the update! Er, I mean beginning of your short TR. No matter, it was good. About this new Rt 429. About how much time do you think it shaved off?

Looking forward to more!

it only shaved off about 20 minutes i think. but that's the last 20 minutes of the trip and so it made it really seem like a lot more!

I don't think I've seen the sign lit up at night before. It's pretty.

i wish i could've gotten a better picture! my windshield was dirty from all the rain/bugs.

Yay! Another trip report from Dawn. I read through your last one and it was great.

thanks for following me to this TR!!!

i hopefully will be able to update soon!

 

[TKDisneylover]

Great start to your TR Dawn! Sorry to hear you had to go through all that rain, yikes! And I hope the mix-up with the DDP was cleared up. Looking forward to hearing about your breakfast at Kona, we have that on our itinerary for December. And your first day, MAGIC KINGDOM! SWEET!

Thanks for sharing!