A Tale of Two Castles: A Summer PTR! (Update 7/16)

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Sadly, there was a 0 survival rate for last week's swim. I was able to do an early upgrade (after some finagling/manager talking) and my new phone arrived yesterday. It's so...thin! I'm terrified to take it around with me after last week!

oh, that is sad RIP old phone.

But hellloooooo new phone

I am so jealous of your Con haul and all of the voice actors your mom got to meet!! I saw the picture this morning on Instagram and I was just shouting "Ruffi-O! Ruffi-O!" I am also a fan of Avatar and the character Zuko, so it is doubly exciting.

The Small World print for Le Sport Sac is my favorite! I just love it.

Hooray for ears!! Your chevron ears are so pretty. I do love how Brooke personalizes each pair. She opened again last night and I forgot all about it (like I really need more!)

I can't wait to see your covers for the magic bands!

 

[KathyM2]

That is so cool that you got to to to a Comic Con....I would love to! I also love that bag...so perfect.

 

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oh, that is sad RIP old phone.

But hellloooooo new phone

I am so jealous of your Con haul and all of the voice actors your mom got to meet!! I saw the picture this morning on Instagram and I was just shouting "Ruffi-O! Ruffi-O!" I am also a fan of Avatar and the character Zuko, so it is doubly exciting.

The Small World print for Le Sport Sac is my favorite! I just love it.

Hooray for ears!! Your chevron ears are so pretty. I do love how Brooke personalizes each pair. She opened again last night and I forgot all about it (like I really need more!)

I can't wait to see your covers for the magic bands!

I'm so excited about the new phone! But, especially until I get my new case (hopefully today) I'm treating it so delicately. There's a reason why I always have phones in what is basically a step down from an Otterbox!

Hook's one of my absolute favorite movies, and I love Avatar (may need to binge it again soon, but with 16 days to go until South Carolina I'm not sure how that'll work!) and I'm so glad Dante's as nice and relaxed in person as he is. We met him Saturday with the rest of the guys and my mother was beaming. Sunday Dante had a panel where he basically just talked about his favorite fan theories and how awesome it was to have Mark Hamill as is father.

Not of Dante, but I have some videos to post up on Wordpress - I'll leave a link if you're interested

Small World is one of my favorite rides. I love the look and the colors and I'm so glad I managed to snag that purse. I had to keep myself from buying another pair of ears from Brooke though! There was a really cute pair in her ready to ship store but I didn't think it was really necessary when I need the money to get the things I need for vacation lol.

I'm hoping the Coverbands show up before I leave for South Carolina. Fingers crossed! If I do I'll be sure to put them on and show them off!

That is so cool that you got to to to a Comic Con....I would love to! I also love that bag...so perfect.

Thanks! I love Small World and Small World inspired things....my phone case is also Small World themed and I tried very hard to find a Small World wristlet but was unsuccessful in that.

I love going to smaller, more relaxed cons! We have some great ones around here. MASSive is actually run by the same comic book shop up in Manchester that runs Granite Con, which is a great little con (though last year it was too special-guest oriented as their guests were all GoT actors), and MASSive had the same feeling but with more space to do more panels and things. I love listening to actors talk about their experiences acting so the more actor q&a panels the better in my opinion!

 

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Listing Time

So am I the only one who makes heavy-duty packing lists? I'm having issues here. The list I usually have for Disney is helpful(ish) I guess, but today I think I'm going to have to break down and make a piece by piece breakdown of what I'm actually bringing for each trip so I can figure out what I need to bring with me for each of my three trips. I figure that way next week or later this week I can just figure out what I'm bringing for each trip, what I need to move from one trip to another, and what I'm going to have to throw into the laundry to get ready for the next one.

Now, I've got some compulsions thanks to my good friend Anxiety. And listing is definitely one of the things I do to make myself feel better about things. It's also what I use to put things off and procrastinate. Which I realize. That's besides the point.

What I'm doing right now? Yeah, this is way more list-y and broken down than I do even for work! I'm only about half-way through my beach packing list and I'm breaking it down by what needs to be in each bag. Oi. Please tell me I 'm not the only one?!

On Disney news, my cover band came for my magic band!

Obviously, it's Daisy themed. Because I think we all know my love for that sassy duck lady. Jey and I have been having some silly conversations about Disneybounding as Daisy and Donald but I dunno if we'll have time to do it. I also bought one for my aunt, with blue flowers on it, but I bought it separately the day after I bought this one. I wanted it to be a surprise for her but my dad told her about it accidentally on the 4th "cook out" (it was rainy on and off all day so we just ate inside) but she doesn't know what it looks like. I thought it would show up today in the mail since mine showed up two days ago, but it hasn't yet. I'm hoping it shows up soon! I'm sure the holiday messed up the way things were coming in.

 

[KathyM2]

So am I the only one who makes heavy-duty packing lists?

I'm sure you aren't. I make a loose list usually and helps make sure not to forget things. But YOU have to ....your trips are complicated and I think without lists...it could get messy...so no one could fault you for being list obsessed right now.

 

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I'm sure you aren't. I make a loose list usually and helps make sure not to forget things. But YOU have to ....your trips are complicated and I think without lists...it could get messy...so no one could fault you for being list obsessed right now.

That makes me feel a little better! I started writing it out in my notebook and had to switch to Microsoft Word because I just couldn't deal with writing and re-writing things

 

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Another Trip to Merrimack


If you saw my PTR last year you know about my favorite outlet. If not, well, last year while we were living out of a hotel the week before we went to Disney while our ceiling was getting fixed, Jey and I decided to head up to the Merrimack Outlets in New Hampshire. It's only an hour away and we loved them! The best part about them was that the Disney Outlet had (and still has) an influx of Disneyland merchandise at a greatly reduced price. For example, last year we bought Disneyland jackets for $7 which was one of the best deals we had ever found. We ended up going back up two more times that week with our respective mothers just to get them coats too.

Back in April my mother said she wanted to go back up there. I was totally fine with it. But then we never got to go. So I asked her last week if she'd like to go up before I went away so we could get some other stuff at the other stores for our respective vacations.

This is my haul from the day. As you can see, it's mostly from the Disney Store lol.

Excuse my blankets. I normally try and move them off the bed to take pictures but my cat was taking up most of the bottom of the bed. The Minnie is just for my bed - my mother has a Stitch tsum that size that I use for a pillow occasionally so I got my own for reading in bed. I also got a Mickey towel for the beach because I couldn't remember where I put my Dr. Who towel after I moved, a pair of Crocs sandals (I have the same pair with leopard print that I bought last year that are ridiculously comfy so I figured getting another pair would be a good idea), some Crabtree & Evelyn travel stuff, and three Disney t-shirts. I probably won't wear them in WDW (I have my shirts pretty much figured out for that) but I'm planning on wearing the Peter Pan shirt a week from today (!!) when we're traveling to SC, the towel will get use down in SC, and I think the other ones will be brought to Disneyland.

 

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THAT LITTLE MERMAID SHIRT OMG.

It's so pretty!!

You're not alone in list making. I'm sitting here going over our list right now, making sure DH has everything he needs. He keeps coming out of the bedroom in things asking, "does this look ok?"

It's worse than me.

I feel for you as you get ready to pack for all of your trips. I hate it for ONE trip, I don't want to think about making it work out for three trips so close together, so good luck!!

Also, I love your Daisy vinyl for your band!! It looks great!

 

[KathyM2]

the Merrimack Outlets in New Hampshire. It's only an hour away and we loved them!

LOVE outlet shopping and your haul is awesome!! That little Mermaid shirt is the best!!!

 

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THAT LITTLE MERMAID SHIRT OMG.

It's so pretty!!

You're not alone in list making. I'm sitting here going over our list right now, making sure DH has everything he needs. He keeps coming out of the bedroom in things asking, "does this look ok?"

It's worse than me.

I feel for you as you get ready to pack for all of your trips. I hate it for ONE trip, I don't want to think about making it work out for three trips so close together, so good luck!!

Also, I love your Daisy vinyl for your band!! It looks great!

I have gotten so many compliments on that Little Mermaid shirt and I almost didn't buy it! It's so pretty that I'm glad I did (it ended up being $10 - how can I pass that up?).

I managed to bring my suitcase upstairs lol. In the words of Bobo the Bear: baaaaaby steps.

LOVE outlet shopping and your haul is awesome!! That little Mermaid shirt is the best!!!

Isn't it neat? It's such a great shirt and I almost didn't get it! Glad I did!

 

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4 Days More!

I have four days left until I set off on my epic vacation plans!

So, the current plan of action for SC is this:
* Thursday I get my hair done at 6 pm
* Jey gets out of work at 6 so she's going to take the train in, probably to Worcester. Her mum will pick her up from there and drop her off at my house. We're thinking that with the train stops and the traveling to South Station/driving to my house we'll end up getting home around the same time.
* She'll stay the night, then Friday morning will be a relaxing day - I plan on sleeping as much as my body will let me.
* Friday afternoon we'll go see Ant-Man, possibly go to Walmart or Target to get any last minute things if we think of them
* Friday evening, around 5 pm we set off! We're stopping in CT to get our friends Avery and Jacqui, then we'll be heading down to SC.

This past weekend I bought some goldfish crackers, some Nature Valley biscuits, and a 1.5 litre bottle of water for each of us. That way the first leg of the trip we'll be set. We may pick up some fruit leather before we leave just for something sweet.

Either Friday night or Saturday night (they're all melted together now!) I spent making my lists on the computer. I broke down exactly what shirts I plan on wearing in what places (at least for the first two trips. I'm going to see what was comfiest of the group to use in Disneyland), including which tops I knew I'd have to throw into the laundry quickly to clean an repack. It actually worked out pretty well! Though I feel a bit like I overpacked for SC and underpacked for WDW. Part of the latter feeling is definitely because I have at least 3-4 shirts that are packed for SC and are not in the WDW pile yet. As for overpacking, well, as we get closer to the trip my friends have been talking more and more about doing all these things - going to a baseball game, going to a brewery, going out to see our friend's girlfriend perform, etc., so it's kind of changed my packing style a bit. I have enough laid-back, comfy shirts for every day things, then packed a few nicer tops for going out at night and one dress just to be safe (not a fancy one - one I bought for Disney last year).

The only thing I know we're definitely doing is eating at Medieval Times. We wanted to last time we were in SC and didn't so now we've already bought the tickets! Expensive but fun. (Hopefully.)

I've been saying "packing" but I'm kind of using the term loosely at the moment. I DO have my Vera Bradley Weekender mostly packed. I just need to repack it a bit more conservatively as I've been kind of throwing stuff into it as the weekend's gone by, and I do have to make sure my makeup bag and my hanging travel organizer both fit inside of it. My "packing plan" for SC is to put my every day stuff in my Weekender bag and my beach stuff in my beach bag to kind of consolidate packing a bit. Buuuut well, my beach bag has been out since I've moved so I've thrown any and every bit of travel-sized thing into it.

Today I brought my suitcase and carry-on (which is currently inside of it) upstairs with every intention of packing and going through what I need. But my room's so hot right now that I couldn't face it. I plan on doing it tonight after the sun goes down.

My biggest problem with packing? All my nice, lightweight shirts are being packed! lol!

But I WAS productive today! This morning my dad said that if I cleaned out my car (which I was planning to do Wednesday) today he'd take it to get vacuumed either this afternoon or tomorrow. He then took my desk chair from work (I brought it to use and didn't want to lose it when they were waxing the floors over vacation) and brought it to his classroom so I didn't have to bring it up to storage later. It also made it a lot easier to clean out my car. It wasn't bad - I had cleaned it out in like April - but with the end of the school year there was a lot of little papers floating around. I also had a small pile of books from my classroom library that were starting to accumulate. And of course, being a New Englander, the good ol' travel shovel and ice scraper were still in my back seat so I took those out for the time being.

I still haven't gotten my aunt's cover band. I'm starting to get worried as it's been over a week since I got mine and I bought hers the next day. If I don't get it by tomorrow I'll just buy her a new one (no point contacting customer service for $6).

 

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The Name of This Chapter is Inappropriate For the DiS

I leave tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, for SC but it's the beginning of the three leg, cross country journey that culminates in twocoats of Disney!

I don't think there are enough exclamation marks in the world to express how I feel.

Jey's supposed to be at my house tonight. She gets out of work around 6, so she said her mother should be dropping her off here around 8-9. I'm actually a tad worried because she sent me a text this morning saying that she meant to set her alarm for 7:30 to finish packing before work but her alarm never went off. She woke up and had to book it to work. Hopefully she'll still be able to get here tonight, even if it's a little later than planned - I don't mind waiting up for her!

So I just finished packing I think. Except I'm already second-guessing my bag choice for travel for tomorrow. Well, let me just show you all....

My dear, DiS family, this is what trying to pack for 3 trips in 3 weeks is like:

Let's see....that's my beach bag (the blanket will be taken out when I pack my car it's just easier to keep it in the bag for now), a duffle bag for this trip, my carry on and suitcase for the airplane flights, my makeup bag, brush bag, the clothes I'm wearing to drive tomorrow, the tank top I'm wearing on the plane to Florida (I wore it last year too; it's the most comfortable shirt to wear with yoga pants and a sweater for comfort), the clothes I'm definitely taking to California, my park bag, and my purse.

My issue comes from the fact that my makeup bag doesn't fit in the duffle bag, and I still have some cords, my iPad, my hair brush, etc., to still fit into it. But it's not meant to be packed for 8 days; it's meant to be packed for like a long weekend at most. I have some smaller bags that I may try to even things out into. I'm just worried because we need to fit four people's stuff (2 of us being over packers) into my trunk.

Honestly, this much stuff for 3 vacations is more than I packed when I moved out of country lol.

 

[KathyM2]

this much stuff for 3 vacations is more than I packed when I moved out of country lol.

That's pretty hilarious actually!! But when you're on vacation it's different because you don't want to have to waste time shopping for things you forgot and stuff. You seem pretty organized for everything as much as possible! I hope you have an amazing time and I look forward to hearing all about it after!

 

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Have fun and be safe! Can't wait to hear how all of your adventures turn out

 

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WDW Tomorrow!

Since this PTR is for two different Disney trips within a week of one another I'll probably update it at least once more after I get back from WDW with Disneyland information. But for now, I'm sitting on my bed, waiting for my laundry to dry as I repack the things I had used for South Carolina.

I'm so excited, guys! I want to share my adventures with you all in real-time. If you don't already follow me on instagram or twitter I'll be tweeting and taking pictures of everything - it's wildvictorian_ on Instagram and wildvictorian on Twitter. I'm Wildvictorian on Snapchat too if you'd like to get random things. Since Jey won't be with me I'll be pretty much doing a visual tour of Disney lol.

Once my laundry's done I'm going to try to sleep - I got home around midnight tonight and slept until 10 (14 hours is a LONG drive in one day) but I need to be up and ready to go by 3:45 in the morning so that my dad (who is being kind enough to drive my aunt and I to the airport) can pick up my aunt and get us to the airport. So, I want to get as much sleep as possible.

I'll probably just spend my time reading trip reports to psych myself up though lol. Thanks for the well wishes! See you all in a week!

PS: If anyone's interested in SC, I'll do a quick write-up at the very beginning of my trip report once I get back from the World and share a tiny amount of pictures

 

[KathyM2]

Just followed you on Twitter and IG...looking forward to seeing all your pics!! Have an amazing time and I still want to hear all the details here when you get back...such an amazing trip you have planned!