A Sept '10 pre-trip report on how Disney addicts kill time before vacation!

[justplaingoofy]

Hi girils... You two are a riot!

I had a couple of suggestions..

-there is only 1 place that I know of to find Donald Duck.?
-take a pic of someone wearing socks with sandals or you could make it black socks and sandals..or socks pulled up to the middle of their shins..
-how about getting an (exactly lined up)pic of the girl wearing the crown at MK.

In the event of a tie (both people having a pic of a person brushing a goat)
Now that is a sentence I never thought I'd type You could set your cameras to list the date & time.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I'd love for her to do the Kiss Goodnight, but someone isn't planning to stay out late... What do you think the chances are it happens after MNSSHP?? We may stick around for it.

What's a good snack in DHS???

are you trying to say I'm an ol' fuddy duddy I might stay out late, its just of we stay out to late then DBF won't want to get up early and thats when there re less crowds

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

are you trying to say I'm an ol' fuddy duddy I might stay out late, its just of we stay out to late then DBF won't want to get up early and thats when there re less crowds

Of COURSE not! Confession: I tried to find a granny smiley but I couldn't find one.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

First off, a quick intro on how to read and understand this post… The purple type is by Erica (“E”or“Speedracer”) and the teal-ish type is by Jenn (sorry for some reason I never gave her a nickname, she always seemed to enjoy giving them to me). Enjoy and welcome to the official start of our Pre-Trip Post

I didn’t bestow Speedracer upon you… that was Chris B. in FP1 or was it BA3?? I dunno which it was, I just remember it had something to do with softball…

Actually I got it because of the racing ticket I received from my car 4 months after moving to Santa Barbara and I had took a picture of my ticket for a class project and then of course Chris asked what it was and tada “Speedracer” was born))

So Jenn and I met our first day of college at Brooks Institute of Photography. I’ll never forget out first meeting because it was then that I knew she was a girl who did and spoke what she felt. For you see, we ended up being partners to get to know each other and introduce the other to the rest of the group. We went to a small college so amazingly enough it was possible to do that.

Anyways… So there we were finding out each other were from small towns in the Midwest and we both were a little crazy . The thing I remember most was how I had specifically told her to not mention the car I drive

(so do not remember that part…)

and to just leave it out of the who introduction. You see my parents had bought me a new 1999 yellow mustang convertible for my HS graduation and well I didn’t want the other kids thinking I was spoiled or something.

Your car was WAY better than my dinky Neon, Richard.

So back to the intro… we talked for a good 15 minutes so we should know quite a bit about each other right? Well when it came time to introduce each other Jenn said, I swear on my grandfather’s grave, “This is Erica, she is from South Dakota and drives that yellow mustang down there” and with that statement came a hand gesture to it and she sat down. Well I was mortified ;

(what about when your dad introduced himself as your “carpenter”???)

if I could have seen myself I am sure my mouth dropped to the floor...

(yes, yes it did)

I was so shocked that I had completely forgotten what I was going to say about her, in fact I don’t even remember standing up and saying anything,

(oh, you did… you said, “This is Jenn”)

what she did to me has completely taken over that memory of that time and it is all I remember of that day. Here is the infamous car, I got in quite a lot of trouble with this baby, some with Jenn, but more of it was on my own.

So anyways, needless to say we have been BFFs ever since and my life is better because of her.

(Aw shucks! Same to you buddy!)

We have so many memories from school, most I can’t speak of since this is a family site but you get the idea. In short I corrupted my friend to party and we had a great time away from home . Below is one of the only pictures I have us during school and it is with our “Main Man Kevin”, it was so nice of him to pose with us at Universal Studios.

HEY, WHAT ABOUT OUR DOUBLE TROUBLE PICTURE???? And THANK YOU for not posting the picture from Jurassic Park.

OMG! I totally forgot bout that pic so you see I told my at the the time BF and Jenn to stand infron of the Jurassic park ride for a pic, little did the know I was waiting for the giant wave before I took the pic HAHAHAHAHAHA! I took the pic pic super quick then ran away as they got soaked. Man that was awesome!

I suppose you guys might like to hear a few stories about our “crazy days” at collage… I suppose I can think of a few that are PG-13… still thinking…

Still thinking…. Hold on it will come to me here soon… Ah I think I… wait nope… hmmm… you would think I could... just one… man this is hard. Perhaps there aren’t an…. wait I think I might have one…

During school we were being trained to use big fancy cameras and well Jenn and I liked to rebel against this training and we would spend our free time taking pictures of random people with our $15 Polaroid cameras and them we would write comments on then for our own entertainment. Though one time we just went around and took pictures of all the boys that we thought were cute. Then we would have them right their phone numbers on the Polaroid’s because we looking for models for our photography assignments. Were we brilliant or what? Below are a few of those Polaroid’s for your viewing pleasure.

Don’t forget our Sharpie habits on the bad prints out of the machine… I still have one somewhere!

For my last story I would like to tell our about our first trip to Disney together. Because of said above partying I can’t tell you many details who knows many Jenn can add more… Anyways we were on a week break from school and decided to drive to Long Beach for the day and go to the aquarium. While on the drive down there we saw a sign for Disneyland and I do believe we both looked at each other and said hey we gotta be close to Anaheim right?

(CORRECTION: I looked at the dinky Yahoo map and saw Anaheim… “wonder if we could get to Disney from here? I swear I saw steam coming out of your ears trying to decide if we should go or not)

Maybe would should do that instead? So we quickly called up a buddy

(my ex)

and got directions to Disneyland and we went to The California Adventure

(both parks for $50)

((we went to both parks..wow I really did way to much damage to myself in college))], which was a first time I think for both of us. Did I mention that we had to get Jenn wheelchair? She had some sort of surgery

(torn meniscus repair)

that made it had to walk, so we thought it would be a great idea if we got a wheelchair that way we would not have to wait in line, especially since we didn’t get to the park really early or anything.

(plus going on crutches was a little much… I barely made it out of the parking lot… remember when we fixed the Photopass photog’s flash?? And California Adventure is accessible… we were taken in the backdoors at Disneyland)

Yes I know it was a terrible thing for us to take advantage of but it is over and done with. I have to be honest thought it was nice to feel a bit like a VIP. On some of the rides they just let us keep riding since the lines weren’t long

(Grizzly River Run 3x in a row anyone?? My goodness we were soaked!).

I think we rode the raft ride like three times in a row. That was the one and only time we ever went down to Disney, strange huh. You think we would have gone more times than that; we did live there for 3 plus years. It could have been perhaps we were to busy . Below is a terrible picture of us at the park… You see we didn’t take very many pictures of us during college because we were not allowed to use point and shoot camera, it was like against the professional photographer bible. So the two pictures I have shown you 2 of three pics I have of us together while during college, pretty sad huh?

You skipped over my favorite Disney moment… when I found your Disney CD hidden in the back of your CD case in your car! You went inside Jefferson, came out, and I had it blastin’! I thought you were going to slug me for touching your radio!

During college we began a tradition of going to Las Vegas because I convinced my parents to take three of my girlfriends and I to Sin City for my 21st birthday. We had no idea that going to that town would be come such a tradition. Since my birthday (I’m now 28) I have been there 7 times (Jenn unfortunately was not there for all of them). Whenever she could come I always looked forward to seeing her

(me too… super secret of mine? I bawled the last time we parted… I knew I was going to miss you sooooooo much!)

since it seemed to be the only time I could see her since we didn’t live in the same city, or state anymore.

I technically started going for my 21st, then 6 months later your 21st, then 6 months later was New Years! BONZAI! Oh, and then there was the time I drove over with your dad and some idiot in a sportscar tried to run us off the road while passing a semi… ah memories! Your dad cracked me up on that drive. Dear Voodoo Lounge… those were the days! I love being an honorary South Dakotan on those trips!

You may have noticed somewhere in the post that we have not seen each other for the last 3 1/2 years.

(for the record, I missed my son’s first crawling experience for a Vegas trip…)

For you see Jenn has been a baby-making machine and was unable to attend and “Get drunk and party like there’s no tomorrow” trips to Vegas, being the responsible mom and all.

(I am responsible solely for the fact that I’m raising my children the right way: on Disney!)

So that leads us to where we are now.

Next Post: The Start of a New Tradition!

 

[justplaingoofy]

I'm ready... I have my popcorn...

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

It's going to be a great ride! Can you tell we are moderately excited?

P.S. - I'm still looking for scavenger hunt ideas!!!!

 

[justplaingoofy]

It's going to be a great ride! Can you tell we are moderately excited?

P.S. - I'm still looking for scavenger hunt ideas!!!!

Did you not like my idea about taking a pic of someone wearing black socks with sandals? Or socks pulled up most of their legs??
....or the idea about putting a date/time stamp in the case that both of you get the same pics as a tie breaker?...jeesh....

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Remember, some part or all of one of us has to be in the shot! I need a couple of things from DHS (my least favorite park so I don't know as much about it).

I think I just need to sit down and dig in!

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Did you not like my idea about taking a pic of someone wearing black socks with sandals? Or socks pulled up most of their legs??
....or the idea about putting a date/time stamp in the case that both of you get the same pics as a tie breaker?...jeesh....

I persoally LOVED the sock photo idea sorry sometime I don't hink to share my thoughts, I new to this DIS thing, plus I do have a bit AD so I'm busy doing something else I will forget to comment and then well your out of luck unless you remind me

As to the goat idea... not so much (don't hate me) But we do need a tie breaker prize though...

 

[justplaingoofy]

As to the goat idea... not so much (don't hate me) But we do need a tie breaker prize though...

I feel that I need to clarify that I did not come up with the goat

Hollywood studios has those hand prints in the concrete by the Great Movie Ride. Maybe you say that you needed a pic with "?so & so's?" hand prints and someone with black nailpolishes hand in the pic or someone wearing clothes that don't match (ex.stipes & plaids together)? (can't be your own)?or someone wearing a goofy hat or mickey ears..?

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Hey All sorry no update yet... Jenn and DH went on a trip to Chicago this weekend it is her turn to start the update. Hopefully by Monday. have a Great weekend guys!

 

[-Hope-]

Oh, I love Chicago!!! Jenn, I hope you're having a great time- you'll have to fill us in on what you guys did when you get back.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Hey All sorry no update yet... Jenn and DH went on a trip to Chicago this weekend it is her turn to start the update. Hopefully by Monday. have a Great weekend guys!

ARGH!!! NO PRESSURE!!!!

Oh, I love Chicago!!! Jenn, I hope you're having a great time- you'll have to fill us in on what you guys did when you get back.

I'm actually at a baseball card show. Believe it or not, I found Disney trading cards and bought them! 4 boxes actually... a set of Alladin, 2 Pixar sets (one has a statue of Mr. Incredible, the other has a statuette of Flik), and a box of Disney collectibles... I got 2 full sets out of them! Only I could go to a baseball card show and find Disney amongst a bunch of athletes!

I also got to meet a childhood hero of mine, Andre Dawson and I get to meet Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings tomorrow! If I don't hit the too hard tonight (my favorite poison is on special at our super sweet hotel - it's sooo awesome!) I'll be straight enough to tell my side of the story.


COMING SOON TO THE DISBOARDS NEAR YOU...


strap on your and prepare te learn how I convinced DH to return to the World 2 years in a row! SHOCKING?!?!? Yeah, i know, it's not, but it is to his family! He never travelled before meeting me!!! Now I have him going places and willing to get on a plane!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Flashback Easter Week 2009… A family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) pack up in the car and head for sunny Florida after a particularly bleak winter. All but 1 of the family members had never been to this place called Disney World before. DH stayed grumpy all the way there, DS(2.5) was over the moon at the thought of meeting Mickey and friends, DD(6 mo) didn’t care either way.

A two day drive later the family arrived at the Happiest Place on Earth. DH finally copped to being excited cloud9 and DS was wondering where Mickey was. I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE IN ONE PLACE, AT ONE TIME (and I’ve been in Vegas for New Year’s!)!!!!

While I was completely mortified , I slapped a happy look on my face and we attacked the parks, hitting up all the major attractions that we could. Our main plan of attack was to sleep late and utilize the late EMH to ride everything that had ridiculous queues only a few hours before. It was the best trip I have ever been on in my entire life! There is just something cool about EP at 12a.m. and it's cool to see MK at 2 a.m.! (P.S. - NO ONE is in the parks at that time!!)

At one point during our daybreak at CSR, I hear DH mention booking bounceback, and I’m like, “naw… let’s wait awhile and see what happens.” (WOW, did I just say that?!?! )

We return home and make a tentative plan to return to WDW in 2-3 years, you know, when our youngest is truly “old enough” to understand what is going on… I hung around the DIS regularly and attempted to help DMom plan for her trip in the fall with DDad, DS(3) and Dneph(3). DH grumbled a little bit, partly because he wanted to go back, the other part was that he didn’t want DS to go without one of us.

Now, a little aside, my mother is a technological idiot … she has no idea how to get her pictures from the camera to the computer, but I guess that’s why they allowed me to go to photography school… without going there, I would have never met E! (aw shucks!)

And now, the rest of the story… Mom, Dad, and the boys returned after a hot, sticky 6 day trip. I inherit DS AND mom’s camera to take care of the pictures from their trip.

DS and I sat down to review their entire trip through the pictures. DH hears the two of us talking about everything they did (“Mommy, I was too short to ride Stitch and I was really upset,” oh if he only knew what he missed!) and suddenly I feel DH lean my chair back – he’s looking at the pictures. Then he starts to ask questions about the decorations, MNSSHP, etc. He hears me going on and on and on about the characters they saw and how I’d love to meet them too, someday. We all laughed at Rafiki's butt.

Long story short, he tells me to book a trip for this coming fall. I ran to the computer before he could change his mind! Shortly after we decided to book, I remembered a conversation I had with E. We had agreed not too long before that our next trip together would be to WDW. I picked up the phone…

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Hey All sorry no update yet... Jenn and DH went on a trip to Chicago this weekend it is her turn to start the update. Hopefully by Monday. have a Great weekend guys!

HAPPY NOW!?!?

And I beat the request by 2 whole days!

P.S. Chicago is AWESOME (in my best Jack Black voice...)!!! I pulled a John Cusick and Ron Howard autograph card, (one guy per card) AND I found those Disney cards...

Hey, does anyone think/know if baseball cards are too small for the characters to sign? I'd love to get some of them signed for the kids.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

WOW! Was I that boring?

 

[-Hope-]

HAPPY NOW!?!?

And I beat the request by 2 whole days!

P.S. Chicago is AWESOME (in my best Jack Black voice...)!!! I pulled a John Cusick and Ron Howard autograph card, (one guy per card) AND I found those Disney cards...

Hey, does anyone think/know if baseball cards are too small for the characters to sign? I'd love to get some of them signed for the kids.

I'd say it depends on the character. Some of them have big costumes to deal with, others don't. It would definately be worth a try!

 

[-Hope-]

WOW! Was I that boring?

No way! I've been super busy and didn't have time to respond. I think it's so great that your DH is so excited and on board. Mine is a willing captive.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I'd say it depends on the character. Some of them have big costumes to deal with, others don't. It would definately be worth a try!

I'm so excited! DS and I sat down and opened up his Alladin cards last night. There were enough extra for me to bring along for Genie, Alladin, and Jasmine to have them sign. I figure we can definately score Alladin and Jasmine (hopefully Jasmine will be at Akershus...) Does Abu appear at anytime?? Doesn't Genie roam around MNSSHP??? I'm going to bring Abu's card just in case. I'm bummed I didn't have any extra Jafar cards...

We also opened up the Pixar cards and were pleasantly surprised to see 2 cards with film. One from Monster's Inc, the other from Toy Story. DS was mad we would let him take those to his room. Poor guy, if he only understood why...

 

[LilMommyBug]

We are going in September too, so I'll be reading along to help pass the time.