A Spooktacular Disney Trip 9/30/09 to 10/10/09

[Nutz4Dizney]

Since this is my first official trip report on Dis, let me give you a little background on my family. My name is Tracy and I’ll be 35 next month eek. I am blessed to be a mother to my son Zachary (8), wife to my wonderful husband Michael (52) and daughter to the greatest mom Mary (59).

Mike and I will be married 11 years this coming March and together 17 years this coming June. We are parents of 2 boys. Sadly, our first son John Michael is up in Heaven with my dad fishing. In May 2001 on Mike’s birthday we were blessed with Zachary. Zachary is our pride and joy. Of course he knows how to drive us crazy just like every other boy I know but we are very blessed to have him in our lives.

Mike is a HUGE Disney World freak. He went for years before I met him, I think he is up to his 30th trip or so. My first trip was in 1996 with him and I fell is love with Disney as much as I loved him (maybe more . We honeymooned in April 1999 at the Polynesian. My son is 8 and this year’s trip is his 8th trip. He also loves it. He’s not so much a character freak like me but he will get over that fact .

My family ALWAYS went to Disney the 1st or 2nd week in September but we were ALWAYS beating a hurricane in or one hit when we left. In 2007 we decided one year we will actually be unlucky enough to be in Disney when a hurricane hit so we decided to change our trips to the end of November/beginning of December. We can’t go January or February because we are from Jersey and the lovely snow has a habit of disrupting flight times. On top of that Mike is the BIGGEST Christmas freak there is and there is no better place to be to get into the Christmas Spirit than Disney.

Our favorite resort was the Contemporary (MK view). Last year (2008) we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter for the first time. Although the Contemporary will always be our favorite, French Quarter seems to be the best for traveling. You seem so centralized and you never seem to be on the bus for long. When you are going from the Contemporary to DD it's seems you are on the bus FOREVER. It might take you 20-25 minutes on a boat ride from French Quarter to DD but it seems it goes faster. And let's not forget the atmosphere is just wonderful.

This year Mike, Zach, my mom and I had plans to visit Disney the end of November/Beginning of December (same time as 2007 and 2008). We had all our ressies done. Staying at the French Quarter in 2 rooms, MYW Park hopper passes for 11 days etc. Well, at the last minute Mike decided that he didn't want to put our puppy up in the Pet Hotel again because during our trip last year my puppy got hurt. So he made the decision to stay home and let me, Zach and my mom go.

I have always wanted to go to the MNSSHP but hubby being a Christmas freak I knew I never would be able to go. We have done the MVMCP a couple of times so I thought this would be the PERFECT opportunity to change our plans from Nov/Dec to Oct since Mike was not going. I talked to mom and she agreed, so I changed my plans to the end of Sept/beginning of Oct. On top of that we got FREE DINING so we were even happier.

OK I think that is enough background. I hope I didn't bore you.

Traveling Dates: September 30 – October 10, 2009

Where we laid our heads: Port Orleans Riverside

Introductions of Characters:

Me (34): My name is Tracy - some people know me as Nutz or Nutz4Dizney. I am a SAHM to an 8 year old named Zachary (Zach). I am a scrapbooker who LOVES LOVES LOVES all things Disney; I even loved the “Pink Castle”. So far Disney has only done one thing that I hate which is that stupid parade in HS now. My hubby tells everyone if you want to know something important don’t ask her. If you want to know anything Disney, she’s the girl to ask. LOL I really don’t have a favorite character but I do love Prince Charming, Dumbo, Grumpy and Dopey more than the rest
last year's photo

Zachary (8): Zach is my only child. He is in 3rd grade and to smart for his own good. At this point Zach is so over and done with photos, it’s so sad. I have to bribe him to smile for one. When he was little I was go through 4 rolls of film (before I went digital) a week so I don’t blame him LOL. Zach is a collector of the Disney Racers and he loves Pluto, Mickey Mouse and Stitch.
last year's photo

Nanny (59): Nanny is my mom and her name is Mary, some know her as NannyHas2many2. She has 17 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild and 2 more great grandchildren on the way. Her first trip to WDW was in 2000 (I believe) and she has become as addicted to it as I am. I also got her into scrapbooking Mom’s favorite movie is Snow White and her FAVORITE character is Dopey.
last year's photo

Pre-Trip Report link:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2265047&highlight=nutz4dizney

To Be Continued........

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

I know my trip doesn't start till September tomorrow but I have to start from the beginning.

Mike and I dropped Zach off at school. We came home, I finished packing, doing laundry and cleaning then spent some quiet time with Mike.

Mike went to bed because he had work that night while I went to pick up Zach from school.

Zach came out of school and I grabbed his backpack to help him carry all his school work for vacation. I lifted his backpack off his back and it was light. I asked him "How much homework do you have?” He said "none.” I said "Why?" I turned around and spoke to the teacher’s aid. I asked her “Why didn’t he have any homework?” She said “She (meaning the teacher) didn’t give him any". Then she said “Go talk to her (meaning his teacher).”
I went in his class to talk to the teacher and asked why he had no homework (I gave them a little over 2 weeks notice of our trip). The teacher said “I don’t like the books going to Florida.” I said “We are not leaving till 12 tomorrow. He has the rest of today and the beginning of tomorrow to complete whatever he can. Then we come home on a Saturday so he has Sunday and then Columbus Day to finish what he didn’t finish before we left.” I started to laugh and said "I'm not taking any books to Florida to spoil my trip".
Finally, she was convinced to give him something. Since she didn’t have anything prepared she gave him the next 11 sheets in each of his Math books. So in total he had 22 pages of Math to do.
We got home he took his 15 minute homework break then went straight to his Math. He did 11 pages in 1 Math book. I finished the last bit of laundry and we were in bed by 9:30-10:00 because I didn’t feel well.

I hope I feel ok for the trip is all I kept thinking.


To Be Continued.....
Next up The day we depart.......

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

Today we depart for our 11 day Disney Trip. How excited am I!?!?!? Do you really have to ask?

I woke up at 8:00 am. I heard Mike and Zach already downstairs started on homework. I jumped in the shower headed downstairs to eat and help with homework. At about 9:30 I headed to Mom's to pick her up. As usual she was not dressed or completely packed so I had to wait.
After she was dressed and packed we headed back home. On our way we stopped at the cemetery to see my son John Michael, my dad and my Aunt Barbara. I never go on vacation without stopping by here. As we were about to leave the cemetery Mom realized she forgot to pack her medicine. So she called my Aunt to see if she can drive it down to my house.
We got home and Mike (bless his heart) had all the homework done. I put Zach in the shower and made sure everything was together. I thought the car service was picking us up at 12:00 but it was 12:30. My Aunt got to my house at 11:57 with mom's medicine. At 12:30 the car service got there, we packed the truck, kissed Daddy goodbye and we were on our way to the airport.

We arrived at the airport with no problems. We bought drinks for the plane and found great seats to wait in. All Zach wanted was his DS to play. Finally, I gave him his DS case. When he opened it his face was of shock. Inside he found a brand new DS game (Fossil Fighters) that he has been begging us for.

Of course nothing can draw him away from this game so we pretty much had a quiet wait. At about 2:05 we called Mike to let him know we would be boarding at 2:15 for a 3:00 flight. Well, at 2:15 there was NO plane waiting for us. At 2:45 still no plane. The plane finally showed up but now we had to wait for it to be cleaned.

Woohoo we are boarding the plane but now another problem a raised. Apparently the man about 4 rows behind us started a fight with someone. The Security Guards were called to talk to him. The SG said to the passenger that "they" wanted him off the plane. The SG and the passenger talked for a bit and then the SG talked to the crew. At last the crew let the man stay and our problem was solved. After an hour of delay we were finally up in the air. The flight was peaceful. Zach had his DS, a drawing pad and colored pencils. Mom had her crossword puzzle and I had a book to read. We were also on a new plane so we had games on the screen in the headrest in front of us.

At last we arrive in Orlando, got to the baggage claim where John from Murray Hill was waiting for us. We got our bags and were gone in matter of minutes.
Next we stopped at Publix for cereal, soda, Milk and snacks.
Last stop we arrive at our resort Port Orleans Riverside. We couldn't wait to get our swimsuits on and jump in the pool.
At check-in we found out that we were put in a room without a trumble bed. We had to be put in a regular room for the first night and switch in the morning. OK not a problem. We checked to see if mom's scooter was at he resort and it wasn't, it was at POFQ. We decided to walk to our room (Manor Oar room 1927) change into our swimwear and go swimming.
We walk into our room at 8:00 pm and find a welcome basket for each of us.
Mine: Mickey & Minnie dressed for Halloween and a Mickey Kooky pen

Zachs: 2 Disney Racers, A Mickey Bat and $25 Disney Dollars

Moms: A Dopey Pin, A Disney Scrapbook and Minnie holding a Celebrate Everyday Balloon.

We waited awhile for our luggage and it never showed up. We were all starving by this time we went to eat. We stopped by Bell Service to see if the scooter showed up yet. Nope, not yet. So off to Riverside Mill to eat. Mom & I ate Chicken Tenders with Fries. She had a coke and I had Lemonade. Zach had Chicken nuggets with fries and Chocolate Milk. He also ate most of my fries.

After dinner I decided to check the front desk to see if we could get a portable cot for Zach to sleep on the rest of the trip instead of changing rooms. The young lady explained that it would cost $15.00 a day. I explained that we were supposed to have a room with a tremble bed and maybe we could get a cot for the night. Mom and I were sick and didn't want Zach to get sick his first night of the trip. She spoke to her supervisor and we got the cot for free for the night. Next, we stopped at bell services again to see if the chair was there yet. FINALLY, the scooter was there. We went back to the room and still No luggage.

We called bell service to see where the luggage was. After about 10 minutes it showed up. The cot came right after that. They didn't give us a blanket so we had to call for 1 of those. Unfortunately it was to late to go swimming by the time the luggage and cot arrived. SO we got in our PJ's, set out clothes ready for tomorrow, got the luggage ready for the move tomorrow and on to bed we go.



Next up our first day in the parks.....
To be Continued...

 

[mom2rtk]

Hi Tracy! I'm in and can't wait to hear all the details and see all the pictures!

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

glad your here. Do you have a trip report yet? After my trip I got sick so I'm pretty much behind on everything.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great start! I love those gift baskets!

 

[mom2rtk]

glad your here. Do you have a trip report yet? After my trip I got sick so I'm pretty much behind on everything.

I'm sorry you got sick! I saw in your first day's report that you didn't feel well on the way out. I hope you were able to get through the trip before it hit! I was absolutely paranoid before we left. 2 days before leaving, my sister, who lives in another nearby suburb, called to tell me her daughter had swine flu and that it was tearing through her high school. I was all worked up about that, then promptly tripped on my lower stair and twisted my ankle right before going.

This was of course after our last trip when I woke up to sounds of my daughter vomiting at 4:00 AM on the day we were leaving....

I thought about a trip report, but my 14 year old son came along and wouldn't appreciate being part of my report, so I'll have to pass. I did make myself sit down and do a lengthy journal of the trip though as soon as we got back. I'd share it with you privately, but it's really long and full of many details others might not care about.

I'm so glad you decided to do a report. I was very touched by you stopping by the cemetery on the way out of town and appreciated you sharing that private moment.

I hope you're feeling better!

 

[Rozz]

Great start! Looking forward to enjoying your trip report!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm subbing! I'll post more after I'm caught up.

 

[disneyscrappinjan]

Tracy, I am in great report. You are ahead of me, I need to get started on mine.

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

I'm subbing! I'll post more after I'm caught up.

Glad you can make it. I think I'm all caught up on yours but I have to check maybe you snuck a post past me LOL

Great start! I love those gift baskets!

thank you. Mickey loves to leave baskets for us

I'm sorry you got sick! I saw in your first day's report that you didn't feel well on the way out. my sister, who lives in another nearby suburb, called to tell me her daughter had swine flu and that it was tearing through her high school. I was all worked up about that, then promptly tripped on my lower stair and twisted my ankle right before going.
OUCH...Was it better for your trip

I did make myself sit down and do a lengthy journal of the trip though as soon as we got back. I'd share it with you privately,
I'd love to read it. I can just picture you lugging that huge bag around. There has to be some funny stories to share about that
I'm so glad you decided to do a report. I was very touched by you stopping by the cemetery on the way out of town and appreciated you sharing that private moment.

You're welcome. Some people get sad about me sharing those kinds of moments but going to see my son and dad is part of my life.

I hope you're feeling better!

thanks. I have gone through a whole bottle of nyquil (HUGE BOTTLE) since I got home. I HATE that stuff.

Great start! Looking forward to enjoying your trip report!

Thank you. I'm sure I have babbled on. As I mentioned I am a scrapbooker so I pretty much journal EVERYTHING (right, Janet & Vanessa LOL). I actually kept a moment to moment journal book with me at all times. When I had down time I wrote in it. Let's see how much you enjoy it when I keep going and going and going LOL Thanks for reading

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

Tracy, I am in great report. You are ahead of me, I need to get started on mine.

Welcome welcome LOL Hey didn't you go 2 weeks before me. You are late late late LOL. Right now I'm going through my photo pass photos so you have time to catch up LOL

 

[DisneyMissy318]

Hey Tracy! I'm here too - can't wait to hear more about your trip! We are looking forward to ours in December - especially MVMCP!

Melissa in VA
Mom2Madi

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

Hey Tracy! I'm here too - can't wait to hear more about your trip! We are looking forward to ours in December - especially MVMCP!

Welcome Melissa. Hopefully it doesn't take me till December to finish my report LOL
I love MVMCP. I'm planning next years trip so I'm excited about that party LOL

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

My husband works nights and gets in about 6:00 am. I wanted to talk to him everyday before either of us got busy or in his case went to sleep. So the clock alarm went off at 6:00 am, the phone alarm went off at 6:01 am and Mike called at 6:02 am. I talked to Mike for awhile and he sounded horrible. His voice was all raspy. I felt so bad that he’s home sick and I wasn't there to take care of him. Zach and I miss him very much.

I finished talking to Mike and went in the shower. After the shower I woke up Mom and she went in the shower. Mom said Zach climbed in bed with me during the night but I didn’t know. When I woke up he was comfy in the cot. I took 4 Nyquil’s ( don’t tell) to get rid of the cold before it really started, I guess it let me sleep great

After mom got dressed I called the front desk to confirm that I still wanted to switch rooms then we woke Zach up, who by the way was pretending to be sleeping. He got dressed; I called bell service to get our bags. They said they would be there in 10 minutes. As I was brushing my teeth they showed up. Of course that would happen. Right? SO I continued to brush my teeth and help get the bags on the luggage thingy. I know, Gross. But a Disney girl has to do what a Disney girl has to do to get her day started faster.
We were out of our room at 7:00 am. Two Magic Kingdom buses showed up before one Hollywood Studios bus came at 7:20. We had reservations for Hollywood & Vine at 8:20 so we were still good. We arrived at Hollywood Studios at 8:00 am. Since the park was not opened we got some great shot of us. We took photos in front of the blue tow truck (Hubby’s favorite thing in the park). Last year the truck was out for a paint job so we HAD to stop by for a nice photo for Dad and in front of the Sorcerer Hat without anyone else “ruining” our photos

Mom has never been here for the Play & Dine so this was a little must for this trip so she could meet the Einstein’s. Breakfast was good: I had eggs, potato casserole and a danish. Zach had bacon, ham, eggs and of course Mickey waffles. Mom had a bunch of stuff. I didn't take that much notice. As soon as we sat down to eat Jojo was there then came Leo and June. Goliath must have come by why we were getting our food.
As you can see Zach is not happy taking Character photos LOL

Since the characters came by so fast we just sat back relaxed, ate and laughed. At one point Zach bit an ear off his Mickey waffle and said “Look, He’s tone deaf”. Come on, that is very funny coming out of an 8 year olds mouth.

After we finished eating we made a “pit” stop. As we were about to leave the restaurant, I asked if we could grab a fast photo with Goliath. The CM was more than happy to let us snap some shots.

Stay tuned we had a VERY interesting end to our night..Much much more to be continued on the next post.....

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

After we left Hollywood & Vine we went to the Park Customer Service for an assistance card for Mom. My mom us handicapped hence the scooter. On top of that she can’t be around strong smells. She gets severe headaches and vomits. So this card is very helpful in her aide not to get sick from strong orders. For some reason people in Disney pour gallons of perfume on them. Anyway, I just wanted to explain the card before people think we just get it to cut.

After getting the card we headed to Toy Story Mania. The fastpass was already at 2:00 pm at 9:11 in the morning. Stand-by was only 30 minutes. We showed mom’s card to the attendant and was let in the fastpass line. There was one family in front of us and we waited about 5 minutes. Zach and Mom went in the front while I went in the back alone. This is a great ride. Our scores were: 127,800 for me, 80,700 for mom and 6,500 for Zach. After TSM we went straight to Buzz & Woody’s autograph line. While on line we watched the Jr Lighting Dance. OMG this is the cutest thing ever. I have never noticed him up there before. You really need to stop and check him out.

I never waited on this line to see Woody & Buzz before but the waiting was great. There are many things to keep the kids occupied. I got some cool shots of Zach.

After Buzz & Woody we headed to see Carl, Russell and Doug the “UP” characters. We went through the “back way”. This line was not open yet and we were the 2nd family. Nanny went on line while Zach played and I watched. About 7 minutes before the line opened Zach decided it was the perfect time to tell me he had to “GO”. OK GREAT. We hurry to the bathroom (clean our hands) and rush to get back. We had to wait about 2 or 3 minutes before the characters came out. These guys were great. Zach said “Look a squirrel” to Doug. I wonder how many times he’s heard that LOL.

Next we went to visit Mickey. I had to make sure my tattoo was seen by all

After visiting Mickey Zach had me sing into a monitor to Heigh Ho Heigh Ho. At the end of the song Ursula said she now had my voice. We all thought that was hilarious since my singing was terrible.

To be continued tomorrow. I'm to tired today.....
Remember to stay tuned to what happened this night

 

[wdwgirl03]

That is sooooo cool you got to see the Pixar light! I never knew that even existed until I read it in another TR.

Love all the pics with Buzz and Woody too.

 

[mom3sonstt]

I subscribed a couple days ago - but just had a chance to read your TR today. Can't wait to hear about the rest of it.

Where is the Pixar light? Is he over the TSM signs - I'll have to look for him in 20 days (yippee!!!)

 

[vamassey1]

Great start Tracy! Tell Zach we did the squirrel trick to Doug too!

What happened at night?

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

sorry no update
I had 2 swap kits due on the 31st that I started on MOnday. I filled in an angel spot last night. I completed all 3 kit sets so I'm ready to give you some updates. Just give me a little bit. I got my photopass CD yesterday but it's not working on my computer so I have to upload them to hubbys then upload them to winkflash so I can add them to the updates.

Thanks for reading and waiting LOL