Adventures of the "Moms" Panel

[Crazy4Disney72]

Who knew what?

All of the finalists knew that some of the Disney interviewers were reading the posts, because they mentioned during the interviews that they wanted to clear up some confusion about the prize trip that had been "posted on some of the Disney Boards."

Regarding "ratboy", I also was concerned that they would not pick me because of this DIS username. I even tried to figure out how to change it, but it didn't seem possible.

Erica doesn't even know where the name comes from, but I'll let you in on the secret (not really very exciting, I must admit)...The username is simply a nickname I had when I worked at a supermarket company in S. Florida many years ago. One of the ladies that worked in a nearby cube was a buyer and always had free food from vendors. She would often share some of it with me (box of frozen buffalo wings, a 25 lb. salmon, etc.) -- sometimes by passing the food through a crack in the cube partitions between our cubes. Others at work thought this looked like I was being fed through a crack in the wall, like a rat, and they started to affectionately call me "RatBoy." As far as nicknames go, I kinda liked it, so I thought I'd use it again here. It has no connection to Disney whatsoever, and I'm soooo glad it didn't hold me back.

Now to go and figure out what else my dear sister is writing about me...

-Bret

LOL, great nickname story!

 

[Colmenares3]

Your sister is dear: I had the wonderful experience of doing Seaworld with her a couple of years back and she is a fun person!

Hey, thanks, Jud.

Erica
forevermore to be known as RatBoy's sister

 

[5/4Disney]

Hey, thanks, Jud.

Erica
forevermore to be known as RatBoy's sister

Erica, you forgot "Sharkbait",

 

[poohmomof5]

Hello everyone!

I just want to let everyone know I did a GREAT job of waiting and with my whole family around (yes, all 7 of us) we opened the package. I, of course, sobbed like a baby.

The gift is perfect and the letter that came with it is very kind.

My excitement about being on the panel and making my family and friends proud is gone, BUT, I still have Disney fever and I am looking forward to our trip in March to watch my DS15 and his High School band play at Disney World. Most of the kids haven't ever been to Disney and I am helping alot of the families plan their trip to go watch. It always surprises me how many people have never been to Disney! So I have my own hometown Disney Mom Panel to staff! That will have to do it for now!

Night everyone, since I am lucky enough to have all 3 of the teens home with me at the same time, I am going to go try to beat them in Guitar Hero! Wish me luck...

Nicole

 

[dollhouse]

Hey, thanks, Jud.

Erica
forevermore to be known as RatBoy's sister

Quiet night on the thread!

You must be so proud!!!!

Once again, awesome job everyone!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!


Leslie

 

[dollhouse]

Hello everyone!

I just want to let everyone know I did a GREAT job of waiting and with my whole family around (yes, all 7 of us) we opened the package. I of course sobbed like a baby.

The gift is perfect and the letter that came with it is very kind.

My excitement about being on the panel and making my family and friends proud is gone, BUT, I still have Disney fever and I am looking forward to our trip in March to watch my DS15 and his High School band play at Disney World. Most of the kids haven't ever been to Disney and I am helping alot of the families plan their trip to go watch. It always surprises me how many people have never been to Disney! So I have my own hometown Disney Mom Panel to staff! That will have to do it for now!

Night everyone, since I am lucky enough to have all 3 of the teens home with me at the same time, I am going to go try to beat them in Guitar Hero! Wish me luck...

Nicole

Poohmomof5!

You are so awesome and a winner in my book! If you can beat 3 teens in guitar hero, you are a very talented lady! My bf has 2 teenage boys and wow can she play that game. I just sat there and stared at her with my mouth open! We are getting the Wii and dance,dance, revolution for Christmas. I can't wait to do it with my girls!

GO GIRL!
Leslie

 

[Twende]

Kim and everyone else, I have found two additional panelist.




Kimberly LaPaglia
Laura Spencer
The PassPorter has them listed on their board along with Heather.
I'd like to say Congrats to these two as well. I will keep searching for the other 4 who are hiding.

Bit by bit we seek and search....


So we are still short 4 panelists.

I wonder how long it will be before Disney announces the entire panel?

 

[poohmomof5]

Poohmomof5!

You are so awesome and a winner in my book! If you can beat 3 teens in guitar hero, you are a very talented lady! My bf has 2 teenage boys and wow can she play that game. I just sat there and stared at her with my mouth open! We are getting the Wii and dance,dance, revolution for Christmas. I can't wait to do it with my girls!

GO GIRL!
Leslie

I can beat everyone but the DS15, he is scary good!

Anyway, back to Disney again for a moment. They actually have a connection to our Guitar Hero fun...

We were at DisneyQuest a few years ago and we saw a girl playing a really fun looking game called Dance Dance Revolution. So my daughter and I played it and fell in love with it. Then a young lady came along and when it was her turn she was sooooooooo amazing. So I asked her how she got so good at it and she told me that it was a video game on the PlayStation system. We were there for Thanksgiving and since Christmas was coming up, I looked into it and that was our big family present that year. We got Dance Dance Revolution and Kaeroke Revolution and the PS2 system.

That Christmas we all played Kaeroke for hours and hours, even my mom and dad! It was so much fun. That is one of my favorite Christmas memories ever!

Since then we have continued to add the play along/dance along/ sing along type games. It is our only game system that is NOT in the basement because mom likes to play just as much as the kids!

When Guitar Hero for PS2 came out last year, we got totally addicted to that too!

 

[EEFOSTER]

I take it this was a phone call? Did you record it? If so, and it is on cassette, you run a line from line out to line in on your puter (see user manual, which should be a PDF on your harddrive, for locations) and use a program such as the free Audcaity (cnet.com) to digitze it, clean it up, and then you have it as a file, whatever kind you chose, MP3 being my usual choice. Most current CD players will play those.

It wasn't a phone call. It was a link to a site where there was an audio message. I'm going to have to ask the computer teacher at DD's school to help me figure it out.

 

[EEFOSTER]

I work in the department -- and love my job so much that I don't tell anyone anything any time, any how.

I retired as a secretary from a University job in Indiana, moved down here and got a dream job.

Awesome! Will we get to meet you?

Glad to hear the execs are excited because we sure are too

Erin

 

[2goofykids]

I just got back from ds's soccer game. Man am I cold, I can't seem to get warm. Thank goodness next friday is the last one.

The platter sounds beautiful. So it sounds as if you 3rd rounders will have another chance at the panel in six months. That's great. I wonder if us 2nd rounders will have another opportunity also.

So will you guys be getting some sort of itinerary? I'm curious to know where you'll be eating and what activities they may have you doing. I wonder if you'll be doing MVMCP on the 9th?

I'll be in and out this weekend. My kids are "taking" me shopping tomorrow because my birthday is Sunday. It will be interesting to see what they decide to buy me.

 

[BellaBuggy]

Swandiverpatt - Thanks! I figured I wasn't the only one with a huge reaction so maybe I wouldn't sound too silly. I'm sure they heard my 4 year old yelling, "We won a trip to Disney!" That's the only part of this whole process that she's concerned about - when she gets to go back!

Tabitha - I'm not sure what I'll do with the baby. Dh thinks I should leave her at home and either wean her or pump and dump while I'm there. I'd feel more comfortable with her and my mom coming along, but I don't know if that would even be feasible. We will be busy with training and I have this mental picture of my mom rushing from park to park following us, just in case Lilly should need to eat. LOL

I have not asked about the possibility of them coming because I don't know if that's even what I'd want. I guess I need to make a decision and then call and inquire.

I did try to get her to take a cup and she wanted nothing to do with that, so I don't know...she'll have to get more flexible over the next few weeks! lol

 

[2goofykids]

Heather- My dd's name is Lilly too! Actually Lillian, but we always call her Lilly. She has just started calling herself Lilly-in.
Does dd take a bottle at all? I just wondered if you took her along maybe you could bf when with her and pump and/or ff with a bottle other times. I suppose it all depends on what you'll be doing and how busy you'll be. Maybe you should call them and just discuss it to see how difficult it might be. It just seems ashame to have to wean her if you & she aren't ready. I wanted to bf my kids but I had a hard time and didn't not have the support I needed to keep trying so I gave up. I've always been sad about that.

I was just checking out the wdw site and my kids saw the Christmas events slide show ad and they both stopped in their tracks to come over and look at it. They were oohing and aahing. I can't wait to tell them we are going next month. I hope I can hold out till Thanksgiving like we planned!

 

[ejud]

Hi Erin,

"It wasn't a phone call. It was a link to a site where there was an audio message. I'm going to have to ask the computer teacher at DD's school to help me figure it out."

Ah! Well, play it, and then go look in <Temporary Interenet Files> (I keep a shortcut on my desktop and what I would do is delete everything in it; then go to the site and play the message; then look for the file in Temp Int Files; then drag it to your desktop. This will work in many cases, but soemtimes things are in a certain format that this won't work for.) (Note also that there is another folder called <Temp Interent Files> and another called <temp> and that is different!)

Is this something I could access or just panel members?



Jud
iJud.blogspot.com
webshots.com/user/ejud2001

 

[BellaBuggy]

Heather- My dd's name is Lilly too! Actually Lillian, but we always call her Lilly. She has just started calling herself Lilly-in.
Does dd take a bottle at all? I just wondered if you took her along maybe you could bf when with her and pump and/or ff with a bottle other times. I suppose it all depends on what you'll be doing and how busy you'll be. Maybe you should call them and just discuss it to see how difficult it might be. It just seems ashame to have to wean her if you & she aren't ready. I wanted to bf my kids but I had a hard time and didn't not have the support I needed to keep trying so I gave up. I've always been sad about that.

I was just checking out the wdw site and my kids saw the Christmas events slide show ad and they both stopped in their tracks to come over and look at it. They were oohing and aahing. I can't wait to tell them we are going next month. I hope I can hold out till Thanksgiving like we planned!

My Lilly is actually a Lillian as well. It's a Small World after all.

She has never had a bottle - none of my girls ever did. Because I never left them - ever. Is that weird? lol I BFed until they are around 1 (slightly longer for my first, slightly shorter for my second) and I just never bothered trying to have them take a bottle. I'm a SAHM so I didn't have any pressing reason to do it.

I'm going to keep trying to get her to take a bottle and see how that goes. My sister said that I would enjoy the break of going alone and she may be right. Hard to imagine having never been away from the kids, but the idea of taking a long shower, or eating a warm meal, or finishing a complete sentence does sort of sound appealing!

 

[BellaBuggy]

Heather- My dd's name is Lilly too! Actually Lillian, but we always call her Lilly. She has just started calling herself Lilly-in.
Does dd take a bottle at all? I just wondered if you took her along maybe you could bf when with her and pump and/or ff with a bottle other times. I suppose it all depends on what you'll be doing and how busy you'll be. Maybe you should call them and just discuss it to see how difficult it might be. It just seems ashame to have to wean her if you & she aren't ready. I wanted to bf my kids but I had a hard time and didn't not have the support I needed to keep trying so I gave up. I've always been sad about that.

I was just checking out the wdw site and my kids saw the Christmas events slide show ad and they both stopped in their tracks to come over and look at it. They were oohing and aahing. I can't wait to tell them we are going next month. I hope I can hold out till Thanksgiving like we planned!

Ugh, I backed out and lost what I had typed!

I think it is SO cool that you are doing that as a surprise for them! I cannot even imagine how exciting that would be! I think I'd be just as excited doing it for my kids as I would be getting it when I was a kid!

My dh has a relative that did that for their kids. They woke them up in the morning on the last day of school and told them that when they picked them up that afternoon they'd be heading to the airport for WDW! Can you even IMAGINE??? I'd have exploded!

 

[BellaBuggy]

Hi Erin,

"It wasn't a phone call. It was a link to a site where there was an audio message. I'm going to have to ask the computer teacher at DD's school to help me figure it out."

Ah! Well, play it, and then go look in <Temporary Interenet Files> (I keep a shortcut on my desktop and what I would do is delete everything in it; then go to the site and play the message; then look for the file in Temp Int Files; then drag it to your desktop. This will work in many cases, but soemtimes things are in a certain format that this won't work for.) (Note also that there is another folder called <Temp Interent Files> and another called <temp> and that is different!)

Is this something I could access or just panel members?



Jud
iJud.blogspot.com
webshots.com/user/ejud2001

I am having a hard time finding a temporary internet files folder that i can open and see content. I can see the cookies, and i can delete the files, but I don't see where I can see the actual list of files.

It was an email sent to us with a link to the audio, so I don't think it could be accessed otherwise.

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

Ugh, I backed out and lost what I had typed!

I think it is SO cool that you are doing that as a surprise for them! I cannot even imagine how exciting that would be! I think I'd be just as excited doing it for my kids as I would be getting it when I was a kid!

My dh has a relative that did that for their kids. They woke them up in the morning on the last day of school and told them that when they picked them up that afternoon they'd be heading to the airport for WDW! Can you even IMAGINE??? I'd have exploded!

Our trip to DL next week is a surprise to the kids! We are telling them that Dad has to go out of town on business and we have to take him to the airport, which isn't unusual, so that won't make anyone suspicious. However, once we get there, we aren't just letting him off, we are going to a hotel right by the airport and checking in for the night. By then they will be wondering what's going on and we will tell them SURPRISE, we're spending the night here because very early tomorrow morning we have to get on a plane to CA, WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND! I can't wait to see their reactions! The hard part is I have to do all the packing without them knowing, which might be good, it could help me from overpacking!

 

[2goofykids]

I had thought about waiting until the day we leave to tell them but I decided against it. I would have had a hard time packing and an even harder time keeping quiet. My ds loves to plan and talk about disney almost as much as I do. So I wanted to give him a little time to enjoy being excited about the trip before we go. Also because some of my family are giving the kids disney dollars for Christmas early so they will have spending money on the trip.

Heather- I don't think it is weird you never left your dds. I am a SAHM too. When my ds was little I don't think he stayed with anyone else until he was two or three and that was only for a few hours. He didn't actually stay overnight with my parents until I was pg with dd and that was so he was prepared to be with them while I was in the hospital. My dd wouldn't even let other people hold her for the longest time. Now she stays with my parents every so often, but she hasn't stayed the night yet. I do have to agree with your sister a break could be very nice, a little hard, but probably very nice overall.

 

[dollhouse]

My Lilly is actually a Lillian as well. It's a Small World after all.

She has never had a bottle - none of my girls ever did. Because I never left them - ever. Is that weird? lol I BFed until they are around 1 (slightly longer for my first, slightly shorter for my second) and I just never bothered trying to have them take a bottle. I'm a SAHM so I didn't have any pressing reason to do it.

I'm going to keep trying to get her to take a bottle and see how that goes. My sister said that I would enjoy the break of going alone and she may be right. Hard to imagine having never been away from the kids, but the idea of taking a long shower, or eating a warm meal, or finishing a complete sentence does sort of sound appealing!

Hey!

I just thought I would make a suggestion to your problem. I went to NYC when my little one was 9 months. I was concerned about the same thing but I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. I started freezing then supp. with formula. That way I knew she was having a little bit of the good stuff too. Then I just pumped/dumped. I would talk to your dr. and see what the options were for formula. Our Dr. is awesome, I would just explain to her what the situation is and she what she suggests. I would probably make a decision soon because you only have a month. This way any transition would be smoother for the baby and you won't worry so much. You are going to worry regardless but maybe a little less if you know how things are going.The baby won't even remember, that is the good part! It is going to bother you more than her!

Good luck, it will work out!
Leslie