A Pirate Looks at 40! - PTR for Dec 12-20th!(NEW 12/11 - Final Update!)

[If U Had Wings]

Oh, definitely there will be pictures! Hopefully I won't be picked to be the guy that takes the punch, though! (Oh, wait...he's a ringer, right?)

Don't know if I would want to do the backlot tour one...I hate getting water dumped on me...how dry do those raincoats keep you?

If I had kept the hood up I would have been completely dry. I left it down, so my head got kind of wet. They give you the whole get up - jackets, pants, boots. Luckily neither of us were the ones who got the water dumped on us.

I love your daughter's letter on the typewriter. I feel so old knowing that I learned to type on an old manual typewriter, even though they were fairly out of date when I learned.

 

[skier_pete]

If I had kept the hood up I would have been completely dry. I left it down, so my head got kind of wet. They give you the whole get up - jackets, pants, boots. Luckily neither of us were the ones who got the water dumped on us.

I love your daughter's letter on the typewriter. I feel so old knowing that I learned to type on an old manual typewriter, even though they were fairly out of date when I learned.

From various pages of her project:
"Long ago....people lived in caves. Now...people live in buildings"
"Long ago....people used typewriters. Now...people use computers"
"Long ago....people listened to records. Now...people listen to CDs or Ipods."

So, since we have a record player and a typewriter, does my daughter now think I grew up in a cave?

 

[skier_pete]

As trip plans go on for us, they often get vaguer. You don't really know what you are going to do on Day 7 until you've seen what you've accomplished in the first six days. At this point, we will have a acheived

That said, after 7 days, we will only have had one day at MK, and that is the focus of our 7th day. We have had very good luck with going to MK on Friday. In 2007, we went and the park was dead. We won dream FPs coming off of Splash Mountain that morning, but honestly wouldn't have needed them at all. To me, today is about hitting all the things we missed on Monday. I think we will let DD decide where to start (to a degree), though the likelyhood of it being Fantasyland is high. We are going to try to make it to Toontown early. We've never really spent any time there. (I don't have much attachment, since it wasn't there in my youth.) But I think DD would like to meet Tinkerbell, and since they will be ripping it out sometime in the next few years, we should give it a look.

Depending how we feel we are through with MK, at SOME point, we will head over to Epcot. We have at 7:30 PM ADR at Le Cellier. Personally, we've never been there, and would never occur to me to go there. I have little interest in the Canada pavillion, as I live a grand 20 minutes from the country and have spent plenty of time in Canada thank you very much. And while I love a good steak, I find steak to be one of the least interesting things to go out to dinner. It's the same way I feel about going out for a spaghetti dinner. If I can make the same meal at home that is just as good for 1/3 the price, why bother. For steak, I would just as well go to Outback for their Strip Steak. But (A) we are on the free DDP, so the cost is nominal, and (B) I am curious to try a place that often gets raved about. So, we are going there for dinner. We may go over there earlier to check out some more of Epcot...we may not. I haven't got a clue right now. It's a EMH night - and MK is closed for MVMCP, so I expect it to be fairly crowded, but maybe we'll stop by Nemo one more time to check him out. Maybe we'll stay late...maybe we won't. We'll be entering the day 7 state of exhaustion, where we mostly just want to rest anyways.

Up next: Day 8 - our last full day - and the chance to see the Christmas Parade and not pay $200 to do it.

 

[skier_pete]

OK, I've been talking about best way to see me in the park...well, if you don't recognize the face from the front...here's the best way to spot me from behind. I will invaribly have this hanging off my back...you can't miss me!

Another good way to spot me if the weather is cool. I normally wear a baseball cap of some sort during the day...this is due to my lack of hair, which can lead to sunburn. However, sometimes during the day, or even in the evening, I will be able to be spotted sporting a Santa Claus hat. We were putting up the Christmas decos this year, and I came across a Santa hat that fit just right. I figured - perfect for the parks. (I am not against goofy headwear, or even Gooft headwear, but I am not spending $20 on a hat so I can look silly for a night.) We also have a couple pair of Reindeer antlers, so if you see a Santa with two Reindeer and a small child..give us a wave!

SkierPete

 

[skier_pete]

Our last full day...today we are going to hit a couple of things we missed.

First, AK, where we plan on doing a few of the less popular things...particularly, hitting Conservation Station first thing in the AM, and also checking out Flights of Wonder.

After lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, we are going to head over to MK, where we intend to catch the first "free" Christmas parade.

We'll hit a few last things at MK before heading to dinner at Chef Mickey's. This restaurant gets trashed constantly here on the DIS, but we had a really good meal here two years ago, so we wanted to try it again. After that, I imagine we head back to the hotel to pack up our stuff.

So, then on our last day, we are likely going to need to be ready for a 11:00 AM ME to catch our 2:15 PM flight. However, we wanted to hit a park for a short time in the morning. That's when I thought, let's do an early AM breakfast. DW and I have hit Crystal Palace on every adult trip we've done, but we've never done breakfast. This is a chance to enter the park at 8 AM, walk down an empty main street, and enjoy a yummy breakfast and our friends from the 100 acre wood. I've always thought the idea of entering the park early a cool one, just never wanted to be that early. So, we eat and then hit rope drop. My thought is, pick 3 favorite family rides, and hit 'em 1-2-3. Then, it's back out to the bus stop by 10 AM, to the hotel, the bus, the airport, the plane, and home.

It's almost there now!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Your plans look great. I've never hit a park on my last day. I'd be tempted to this trip, since my flight's not until 4:30, but usually I'm just too lazy.

It really sounds like your going to have a great trip!

 

[skier_pete]

There's seven days left and I just checked in on-line! That was way easy...I am wondering how well it will work at the resort.

We are pretty much ready for Christmas too. Cards are all addressed and ready to mail. (We are bringing them with us to mail from Florida...and to see who notices.) The decorations are up. Now its finishing up the gift buying and wrapping. Can we do it? Yes we can!

 

[skier_pete]

...hard to believe at this time tomorrow we'll be winging it to Florida.

God is smiling on us...though the lake effect snow machine has set up off of Lake erie as it often does this time of year, it is dumping snow today South of the City (talking 2-3 feet) and leaving us untouched....so at least we know the airport will be open tomorrow. So as long as our plane is here...we should be good to go tomorrow.

Packing is done, and the schedule is set. I find, as I often do right before a trip, my mind drifting forward to the next trip. We have two (TWO!) scheduled next year, an April quickie that we decided to do for a long weekend to surprise DD, and maybe just maybe bring a friend, and an October Halloween trip that I am planning as a "splurge" trip, doing things that we couldn't regularly afford - I hestitate to call it "Once in a lifetime" but probably "Once in a blue moon" is appropriate!

Thanks to everyone who followed along...I am sure a Trip Report will be forthcoming when we return.

Until then...Happy Holidays!

 

[skier_pete]

For the 6 or 7 of your following my PTR - I now have started a genuine trip report!

Connect to it right here, or in my signature!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2354869

Syonara PTR!