All of my training has prepared me for this moment -The FULLY AWESOME Pre-Trip Report

[lynnielou]

Hi Ab,

Congrats on getting your pre-trip started. You are off to a wonderful start. I am SO very happy for you and your upcoming trip to WDW. I am confident that the 3 of you will have a wonderful time.

Do not worry about Zoe while you are gone, your Dad and I are happy to babysit the "grandkitty", and glad to do our part. She is such a good cat and it will be a joy to her her in our home for a visit.

Your ADRs sound great, only wish I could be there to enjoy the food along with you.

Holly, where are you?

 

[pl'smama]

Your PTR is off to a great start Abby! Thanks for the heads up on it. I can also live through you and your friends for awhile. It sounds like you will have a blast!!!

I can't wait to see what your PTR holds for us...

Suz

Oh, did you get the book, "Harry, A History" yet?

 

[abbybeth]

Hi Ab,

Congrats on getting your pre-trip started. You are off to a wonderful start. I am SO very happy for you and your upcoming trip to WDW. I am confident that the 3 of you will have a wonderful time.

Do not worry about Zoe while you are gone, your Dad and I are happy to babysit the "grandkitty", and glad to do our part. She is such a good cat and it will be a joy to her her in our home for a visit.

Your ADRs sound great, only wish I could be there to enjoy the food along with you.

Holly, where are you?

Hi mom! Cross your fingers that my computer will work at home on Friday so I can make the ADRs or that the phones will be answered ....

Your PTR is off to a great start Abby! Thanks for the heads up on it. I can also live through you and your friends for awhile. It sounds like you will have a blast!!!

I can't wait to see what your PTR holds for us...

Suz

Oh, did you get the book, "Harry, A History" yet?

Hey Suz!!! "Harry, A History" is on it's way to me. Hopefully I'll have it in hand next week so I can dive in

I'm hoping to get some pictures posted tonight/tomorrow if my home computer cooperates. Things are much more fun when there are pictures to look at!

 

[BellaSoleil]

Hey there! I think you may have sealed the deal on POFQ. I was on the same page, but got a little distracted by the beauty of the mansions.

Anyhow.... I'm signing on board for your PTR. Just read your entire trip report and enjoyed it very much. I teared up when I saw the sign at Coral Reef. How sweet! And you really do look so much like Belle. Great costume!

 

[abbybeth]

Hey there! I think you may have sealed the deal on POFQ. I was on the same page, but got a little distracted by the beauty of the mansions.

Anyhow.... I'm signing on board for your PTR. Just read your entire trip report and enjoyed it very much. I teared up when I saw the sign at Coral Reef. How sweet! And you really do look so much like Belle. Great costume!

Hey Soleil! Glad you dropped in I think that POFQ is such a great size, so cozy and manageable and w/ POR just a 10-15 minute walk away you can still mosey over there and you've got the best of both situations.

Glad you liked the TR - it was an amazing trip. My dad really pulled out a lot of surprises for both my mom and myself. I also followed along with your TR, but joined pretty close to the end. I'm glad I'm in on the pre-TR at the beginning, though you are not healthy for my newly reformed shopping habits! BTW - fellow Vera lover here

Belle version 2.0 will be quite improved I hope .. but I've gotta get going on that costume, time is really starting to slip away!

 

[abbybeth]

Well, sorry dad (and any other guys reading this pre-TR) but what I'm about to reference is much like the jeans wiggle dance: something pretty much only the ladies will identify with.

How many of you, like me, were horse obsessed little girls?

I had my Breyer horsies, the Barbie horse (with pastel mane extensions!), my loving parents took me to see the Lipizanner Stallions, I read all the Saddle Club books. I loved horses in fact, I was completely convinced that we could have a horse and it could live in our backyard (we lived in the city) or it could even share my room! The closest I got was when our town got a mall and they installed a carousel. I rode the same horse almost every time we were out there and I knew that would have to do. Since then, I've been fortunate enough to have some close friend who had horses - my best friend in high school and Eren! (we'll see if we can get Eren to post some pictures of her Sabre Tooth Tigress aka Sabie)

This past weekend I was headed to Ohio for a dance competition and had invited my parents along for the trip. I figured they missed the long drives and stress of going to competitions and might enjoy watching dancing outside in high heat with the haze of hair spray filling the air.

Dad decided that we should surprise my mom with a side trip to Mansfield, Ohio. While it is known for being home to the prison where Shawshank Redemption and Air Force One were filmed, it is also home to the US's only 2 factories producing wooden carousels. There's also a huge wooden carousel operating in the middle of downtown. Horsies and ponies and carousels! Oh My!

So here is a recap of our excursion!

The animals were gorgeous - all handcarved and highly detailed.

Carousel Cats!! See the pirate cat? I would ride on him later

After our first spin on the carousel, we headed off to Carousel Magic, one of the 2 factories to take a tour. They not only create new carousels, but also restore vintage ones.

A vintage rooster waiting for restoration...

They rough out the animal, carve it, sand it, prime it and paint it. It's a pretty labourious process, but very impressive!

A row of animals primed and ready for painting

Carousel Shamu?

Here's lookin' at you, kid!

Our tour guide with one of the animals in the painting area - part of an order for a carousel in Canada. Since we're really familar with Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ ) we recognized this as a replica of one of their horses right off! It even has a maple leaf on it's rump - when the RCMP are out, the use a stencil to brush the horse's coat into the image of a maple leaf - awesome attention to detail!

More animals in the painting room, including carousel pandas!

After the tour, we headed back to the carousel for another ride before heading off to our final destination.

A close up of my pirate cat steed - complete w/ parrot and wooden peg leg!

Attempt at a self portrait of my mom and I on our respective cats

and my other favorite animal, a hippocampus, or as I liked to call it - the sea horse!

Apparently there are approximately 170 working wooden carousels in the US. I think it'd be fun to try to ride most of them .... and Cinderella's Golden Carousel in WDW is one of them! So when you take a spin around there, you're riding on some wonderful, handcarved works of art.

So that was our weekend adventure! This weekend marks the fourth of July, so I hope that you all are safe and have a wonderful time with family and friends. This may be the weekend I pull out the fabric to start on Belle v2.0, after all I did order our MNSSHP tickets this morning!!!

 

[Hedy]

That is awesome. I rode on my personal favorite wooden carosel last weekend (Flying Horses in MA). And I, too, loved horses when I was younger-I miss riding, but had a less than magical time riding in college.

 

[pl'smama]

Great photos of the carousels Abby! I have always loved carousels ( not a huge fan of real horses though). What a wonderful place to visit. That would be a dream to see all the animals being carved, painted etc.. I have always wanted to have a carousel horse in our backyard. A bit strange I know, but still neat.

Any idea where the horse for the RCMP was headed? Was it intended for a park or for display at a station? Either way, very cool.

How did you do at the dance competition? Any photos of that to share?

Happy July 4th to you and yours. We celebrated Canada Day yesterday, July 1st. Yucky weather, but fun at any rate.

Enjoy Harry when it arrives. I am interested to hear what you thought of it.

Suz

 

[abbybeth]

Great photos of the carousels Abby! I have always loved carousels ( not a huge fan of real horses though). What a wonderful place to visit. That would be a dream to see all the animals being carved, painted etc.. I have always wanted to have a carousel horse in our backyard. A bit strange I know, but still neat.

Any idea where the horse for the RCMP was headed? Was it intended for a park or for display at a station? Either way, very cool.

How did you do at the dance competition? Any photos of that to share?

Happy July 4th to you and yours. We celebrated Canada Day yesterday, July 1st. Yucky weather, but fun at any rate.

Enjoy Harry when it arrives. I am interested to hear what you thought of it.

Suz

Well I want a carousel animal in my living room someday, so I don't think having one in the backyard is terribly odd!

One of the really cool things they offered at the factory was that for $500 you could come there for a week and they would teach you how to carve your own carousel horse! At the end of the week, you go home with a completed (or nearly completed) horse ready to be painted! Sounds like a pretty awesome vacation if you ask me. There was a lady in the shop doing that while we were on our tour .... it wasn't a full size carousel horse, but one that would be perfect for display.

We think that the RCMP horse might have been part of the animals for a complete carousel order they got from Canada, but I'm not sure since it had a nice real horse hair tail instead of a wooden one.

The dance competition went ok, I didn't place in my individual dances, but our studio's group choreography took third. My dad has some pictures, but I'm pretty much out of position in all of them. I've got another competition coming up next weekend, maybe that will result in some better dancing on my part which might give us better pictures!

Thanks for the holiday wishes! I'll be hanging out at Holly's tomorrow - she's got a big 4th of July party planned so hopefully the weather cooperates!

 

[abbybeth]

So my initial plan was to try out the online reservation system. I started scoping it out 2 days ago to get a feel for it. It lets you put your Disney reservation number into the system so it can pull up your information - well, we booked through a TA and the online system told me my number was invalid. NICE.

When I called to order our MNSSHP tickets yesterday I asked the CM if that meant that maybe it was a different number since it was through a TA and she said that may be a possibility, but the CM I would speak to to make our ADRs would be able to pull up our information anyways.

WRONG.

or I got a newer CM. I did give him the confirmation number I had and it did pull up the information, so I don't know why it wouldn't on the website. I was beginning to get concerned that we weren't booked or something

So, here are the ADRs, all of which are noted with the fact that we are celebrating my birthday. I'm really hoping for some cute table confetti!!

Friday October 2: 1900 Park Fare Supercalifragilistic Breafast 10:05am

Friday October 2: Liberty Tree Tavern 4:25pm

Saturday October 3: Rose & Crown Pub 7:15pm

I got all 3 restaurants we wanted and 2 out of 3 ADR times. 1900 Park Fare pretty much ruins our touring plan for that day now. We wanted as early as possible, preferably right at 8am. Our plan was that we would eat, go to MGM for a few hours, then go back to the resort and get into costume for MNSSHP. We'll need to get ready around 1/130 since we're doing costume and then need to be at the MK gates promptly at 4 so we can make LTT.

MGM doesn't open until 9 and no EMH so we can't go before. By the time we get out of breakfast and get over there, we might have an hour in the park. I'm going to keep calling back and checking and see if we can't move that earlier.

The other two ADRs are good. We were aiming for 4:30 on LTT and were trying to time R & C with Illuminations, so I'm ok with those.

I'm seeing conflicting reports on WDWinfo as to MK EMH on that Friday morning. In the list of dates, the 2nd is not one of the EMH mornings, but on the calendar it is. Hypothetically we could hit MK before 1900 Park Fare, go back to MK afterwards and then go get ready for the party. (we could leave and come back to the same park and have that be using the same single park admission, right?) Saturday remains an Epcot day all day, but then that throws a wrench in Sunday. We're back to choosing between MGM and AK and since Eren's flight leaves earlier than Holly and I's, she will only have about an hour in a park before she'd have to go back to the resort to catch ME.

Needless to say, I think I'll be stalking the WDW-DINE people from now until the trip to try to get 8am at 1900 Park Fare. It's pretty much crucial to our touring plans unforunately.

I think today is a crafting day, perhaps a sewing day if I can get around this beastie ...

 

[abbybeth]

If you want to see some handsome little guys, go here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1550901&page=70

My friends Cody and Lisa have recently posted updates on their triplets (and you can hop on the wagon for more updates and a little trip report thrown in for fun)

If you like babies, you'll love their posts. If you're like me and don't like babies, you'll love their posts. I don't even think babies are all that cute, but their boys are adorable! (so you know they must really be somethin'!)

 

[Hedy]

Zoe's no fool.
Good luck with the 1900 Park Fare ADR-it's a nice 8am ADR to have.

 

[Abby's Dad]

I have always wanted to have a carousel horse in our backyard.

Hi Suz! Carousel Magic will fix you right up - even doing one custom-designed for you. To my thinking the RCMP horse would be very cool - we've seen the Musical Ride several times and always enjoy it, and the horses and Mounties are just so majestic. Seeing the detail in this carousel horse, including the maple leaf, was just sooooo cool.

And a belated Happy Canada Day to you - Sarnia had a big fireworks display on the 1st, as they usually do - couldn't make it because Lynn had to get up early for work, but we could hear it and it sounded good. We really enjoy living in a border city and getting to enjoy the two countries (and how cool is it to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice a year?).

- well, we booked through a TA and the online system told me my number was invalid.

The old travel agent trap - and probably the reason why, if we ever get to go back, that I will not use a TA. Even though you have paid the TA, the TA owns the reservation, not you, and so you have no right to change anything within that ressie - only the TA can. As you found out, they can pull up your info with the confirmation number and allow you to make ressies over the phone. With their system and the TA owning the ressie, I would be curious as to who owns the ressie if the TA goes belly-up. I would think that you would still have a leg to stand on, as WDW has been paid, at least partially, and they do have your name and address on it. You also can't check out your ressie on line, because you need the ressie number for that - total bummer.

Friday October 2: 1900 Park Fare Supercalifragilistic Breafast 10:05am

1900 Park Fare pretty much ruins our touring plan for that day now.

Keep trying, once a week, or so, and more often as it gets closer to the time (call early in the morning) - they get cancellations and you may be able to get an earlier ressie, and then you can cancel the 10:05 after you get the better.

I'm seeing conflicting reports on WDWinfo as to MK EMH on that Friday morning. In the list of dates, the 2nd is not one of the EMH mornings, but on the calendar it is.

On the calendar on the actual WDW site, it indicates no EMH on that Friday, but on Thursday of that week. It looks like their pattern was early EMH on Fridays until the end of August, where they switch it to Thursday. They have been doing a lot of switching things around, and if the economy improves, they may change more.

If you want to see some handsome little guys, go here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1550901&page=70

If you like babies, you'll love their posts. If you're like me and don't like babies, you'll love their posts. I don't even think babies are all that cute, but their boys are adorable! (so you know they must really be somethin'!)

Not as cute as you were - where is that picture? Maybe I need to do some scanning to post a comparison pic. But actually, I do have some experience in regards to how newborns look, having been present for the arrival of somewhere over 10,000 of them (a whole city!), and P-A-N rank right up there with the very best of them (which includes The Abby), and certainly the best looking of the multiple births. They looked absolutely fantastic for triplets and being, obviously, early.

 

[pl'smama]

Okay, I have to say that photo of Zoe is adorable!!! She is such a cutie!!

That "make your own carousel horse" thing sounds so cool. The price tag seems very reasonable to me, although my vacation funds go strictly into my Disney fund!!! Maybe someday if lady luck shines bright we can investigate it.

I am sorry about your 1900 Park Faire ressie Abby. Hopefully you will get an earlier one. I am sure that you will. I can remember that for our first trip, back in Dec 2006, I really wanted a ressie at the Castle for dinner with Cinderella, for my DD's sake. Emily adores Cinderella. We booked late in the game so I was trying to get a ressie only about two months out from our trip. I called about seven times and I finally got an ADR. The first six times they had nothing for the evening I wanted, not one opening. So, I am proof you can get what you want. Just be patient and have faith.

By the way, POFQ is awesome. We have stayed there twice now and I love it.

And to your daddy, thanks for the Canada Day wishes!! I would imagine being in a border city would be kind of nice. We had some fireworks down here, (Brampton area), but not much. The lousy weather did not help.

Happy Independence Day to my neighbors to the south!!

Suz

 

[Lease]

If you want to see some handsome little guys, go here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1550901&page=70

My friends Cody and Lisa have recently posted updates on their triplets (and you can hop on the wagon for more updates and a little trip report thrown in for fun)

If you like babies, you'll love their posts. If you're like me and don't like babies, you'll love their posts. I don't even think babies are all that cute, but their boys are adorable! (so you know they must really be somethin'!)

Thanks for the plug Someday we'll get back to the actual TR, as we have a lot of spare time

We didn't like babies for a very long time. We didn't even want kids until we got a nephew. He softened us up. Now I wouldn't trade it for the world since they are pretty stinkin' cute (I'm not biased in any way).

 

[abbybeth]

Zoe's no fool.
Good luck with the 1900 Park Fare ADR-it's a nice 8am ADR to have.

I in fact did not get sewing done that day. I attempted to scrapbook, which also did not sit well with her highness. I was interrupted every 5-10 minutes to her tapping on my back with her paw and meowing pitifully. So I would stop and pick her up/pet her/wait on her and then she'd be bored with me and move on. Until another 10 minutes or so went past .... it went on all day. I got 1 scrapbook layout done

Not as cute as you were - where is that picture? Maybe I need to do some scanning to post a comparison pic. But actually, I do have some experience in regards to how newborns look, having been present for the arrival of somewhere over 10,000 of them (a whole city!), and P-A-N rank right up there with the very best of them (which includes The Abby), and certainly the best looking of the multiple births. They looked absolutely fantastic for triplets and being, obviously, early.

no, we do NOT need to scan some pictures.

Okay, I have to say that photo of Zoe is adorable!!! She is such a cutie!!

That "make your own carousel horse" thing sounds so cool. The price tag seems very reasonable to me, although my vacation funds go strictly into my Disney fund!!! Maybe someday if lady luck shines bright we can investigate it.

I am sorry about your 1900 Park Faire ressie Abby. Hopefully you will get an earlier one. I am sure that you will. I can remember that for our first trip, back in Dec 2006, I really wanted a ressie at the Castle for dinner with Cinderella, for my DD's sake. Emily adores Cinderella. We booked late in the game so I was trying to get a ressie only about two months out from our trip. I called about seven times and I finally got an ADR. The first six times they had nothing for the evening I wanted, not one opening. So, I am proof you can get what you want. Just be patient and have faith.

By the way, POFQ is awesome. We have stayed there twice now and I love it.

And to your daddy, thanks for the Canada Day wishes!! I would imagine being in a border city would be kind of nice. We had some fireworks down here, (Brampton area), but not much. The lousy weather did not help.

Happy Independence Day to my neighbors to the south!!

Suz

Zoe is definitely aware of her cuteness - and has been from a very young age! What Zoe wants, Zoe gets - with very few exceptions. She's especially got my dad wrapped around her paw - when we go visit my parents, all she has to do is get on the kitchen table and start meowing and he'll come in, open the window curtains for her and put down a pillow so she can watch birds in the utmost comfort She's actually on my lap as I type this right now...

I thought that the price for the week was very reasonable - for a whole week of one-on-one carving lessons and you get to take it home with you too. Plus being in a smaller area, hotels and food wouldn't add all that much to your total cost. I'm definitely keeping it in mind for down the road!

and it's nice to find another POFQ fan - I haven't stayed anywhere else, but I feel like I was so spoiled the first time that I don't want to stay anywhere else!

Thanks for the plug Someday we'll get back to the actual TR, as we have a lot of spare time

We didn't like babies for a very long time. We didn't even want kids until we got a nephew. He softened us up. Now I wouldn't trade it for the world since they are pretty stinkin' cute (I'm not biased in any way).

What are you talking about?!?! You have tons of free time, babies are like cats, all they do is sleep right? Besides, I think what you're doing now still counts as a trip report - you just didn't go to WDW this time and it's going to last longer than a week or two!

 

[abbybeth]

While usually this phrase would apply when playing with Holly's 5 year old daughter Skye, right now this totally applies to ME!

I began my 89 day crusade of annoying Disney dining into submission yesterday morning at 7:04am. (note, not right at 7:00am - Zoe kept me up and I kind of got a later start to the morning than I had planned)

After being on hold for exactly 9 minutes as the automated voice told me I would be, I was put on with a CM named .... Abby! This, my friends, was an excellent sign. I explained that I was looking for an earlier ADR for Friday October 2 at 1900 Park Fare and she found ....




8:35am!




Which I promptly snapped up!

The original touring plan is now back in motion and our quest to hit 4 parks in 3 days is back on track. (not to mention some diabolical plotting on my part that required an earlier ADR at 1900 Park Fare) I'm planning on getting over to the GF by 8am so we can wander a little bit and take in it's fabulousness, check in a little early for the ADR (in hopes that maybe we get seated a tad earlier) and have a wonderful kick-off breakfast!

Life is good!

So I am off to be productive today! Got some of this , some dishes to wash, and some other miscellaneous tasks to get done! Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

Also, go visit Hedy/Heather's Pre-Trip Report here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2184576

 

[pl'smama]

Awesome news on the ADR front Abby!! That was fast to. Now you can relax and enjoy the rest of your planning.

Happy Sunday,

Suz

 

[abbybeth]

Yes indeedy, our MNSSHP tickets have arrived. I'll get a picture up tonight, but they are cute and fall in with the "Celebrate" theme. I do have to say that I prefer the ticket theme from 2007, but they're still cute. There's a purple one for Eren, a green one for Holly and I'll be keeping the red one for me. They could have made it really perfect and sent blue instead of the red, but red is probably my second favorite color, so I'll go with it.

In other news, Northwest sent an email last week announcing that due to flight consolidation and other financial savings mumbo-jumbo that our previously perfectly timed flights that would depart at 9:20pm (and thus preventing Eren from using any extra vacation time) will now be leaving at 7:00pm. This means that Eren will have to ask for a couple extra hours off and I'll probably need to ask for an extra hour off too to allow enough time to get to Metro and get through security comfortably (I tend to err on the side of allowing more time than necessary. I would hate to miss the flight because I didn't budget the appropriate amount of time)

Other than the issue of taking more vacation time, I think it's actually for the best. Now we'll get in to POFQ around 10 or 10:30 as opposed to 12 or 12:30am. We can get a little bit settled, maybe stroll around the resort and grab a snack from Sassagoula Floatworks. We'll also be more rested for our kickoff breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and since that's also the evening of MNSSHP, the extra sleep the night before will be important too.

But I have to say I've not really had to deal with flight changes before and I'm really hoping that this doesn't cause other problems or bring on other flight plan adjustments. I like having everything set in stone and taken care of.

In other events, I had another dance competition this weekend in Saline, MI - placed in 3 out of my 4 dances, which was awesome. I'll get some pictures around for you all later today as well.

We're officially at 78 days to go people! I have several projects in the hopper that I can't talk about since Eren and Holly read this (oh I've missed diabolical planning!) but needless to say I'm keeping busy. I'm also putting together an adorable quilt for one of the dancers in the studio who will be off to college in August. (it's super cute too BTW) and I've still got to work on a couple of my own dance costumes. This pre-trip report may actually just turn into the "What's Abby sewing today?" report .... (much to the amusement of my mother who probably never figured that my summer sewing lessons that she fit in in between basketball camps would explode into this big hobby once I hit my twenties.....)

pictures to come tonight!

 

[hmillerbarilla]

We're back from our week at Disney and it was fabulous. We floated in the pool and relaxed... we didn't try to do everything at all, and it was wonderful!

I ended up loving OKW. Wayyyy more than I thought I would. It's so lovely!

I'm excited to hear more about your plans! And these dance pictures.. how fun!

Keep us updated!