and we're back. [Walt, Wizards, and....Woolungasaurus?]

[bumbershoot]

Sadly, we aren't planning any DLR trips before the WDW trip. Gotta pay off that car...finally realized it just didn't feel right to pay scads of interest (hubby had neutral credit when he got the loan, only one bank would give him the loan, and the interest rate is sick and wrong) on the car while spending $$$ at DLR. Took us awhile to get to that point mentally, but we're there!

I mentioned that maybe we should change the trip to October (which would be my b'day, cousin's son's b'day, cousin/husband's anniversary month) but Robert got this scared "OMG that's less time to save for this trip" look in his eyes and I dropped it.

Hopefully they'll have it WELL covered with refurb walls so E doesn't even notice the Star Tours area...


And hello Hedy!

 

[kaoden39]

Any word on what they are doing with Star Tours? At least if we do go in June we will get to ride on it.

 

[bumbershoot]

They are changing the storyline; perhaps putting in more than one. Which of course means they are changing the motion of the simulators, etc etc.

As long as it is not ONLY podracing I'm sure it will be fine...though I don't see anything wrong with the old story, either. I could leave it with the old story until time immemorial, and it would be just as fun!

 

[kaoden39]

That's my thought. I just love it. But I do see a lot of people complain that they think it is boring.

 

[Brady's Mom]

My kids really love the ride, too. I could do without it. It gives me a motion sick headache every time - and I don't usually get motion sick.

I don't mind the story line, I don't really know that much about Star Wars. I didn't see the movie when I was a teenager, I walked out of the theater. And even though I have 4 boys, I still haven't seen ANY of the movies from start to finish. I'm sure I've seen enough pieces of them at different times to have actually seen some of the movies, but never start to finish. Most people are shocked to learn that I don't really care for Star Wars. Just never my cup of tea.

And we're not planning a visit to DLR any time soon, either. It seems a little sad and somehow a little wrong. We have some other stuff we need to do as well and that is taking precedence over a return trip. Although I keep trying to figure out if we could manage spring break (week after Easter for us), but haven't been able to do it. Our AP's are active until about May 25, so it is just travel and hotel and food, but still, more money than we want to spend right now.

 

[bumbershoot]

That's my thought. I just love it. But I do see a lot of people complain that they think it is boring.

I've seen the "boring" reports, and I've seen it picked apart on another board...I think sometimes people forget that not everyone goes EVERY week. Some talk about kids needing something "from" the later-made movies...but the ride's story is hardly "from" the first 3, and new kids (and grownup kids!) are constantly discovering it for the first times...

I don't mind the story line, I don't really know that much about Star Wars. I didn't see the movie when I was a teenager, I walked out of the theater. And even though I have 4 boys, I still haven't seen ANY of the movies from start to finish. I'm sure I've seen enough pieces of them at different times to have actually seen some of the movies, but never start to finish. Most people are shocked to learn that I don't really care for Star Wars. Just never my cup of tea.

And we're not planning a visit to DLR any time soon, either. It seems a little sad and somehow a little wrong. We have some other stuff we need to do as well and that is taking precedence over a return trip. Although I keep trying to figure out if we could manage spring break (week after Easter for us), but haven't been able to do it. Our AP's are active until about May 25, so it is just travel and hotel and food, but still, more money than we want to spend right now.

I'm shocked too! My brother and I loved it when it came out, and DS has loved it since he first saw the first movie (though it was WAY too young, caused bad behaviour and had to be shelved for a year).

The storyline of the ride really isn't from any one movie...you're just in a tour shuttle with a new pilot. The place you're going is a place from the second movie (third? both?), then you ultimately come across a battle between the bad and good guys (lasts throughout all movies), but other than that there's nothing really from a movie. Which is why it BUGS me that they might be putting things directly from the movies into it! I like the "inspired by" stuff, not the "and here is the podracing scene", "and now it's the speederbike scene" etc etc.

I agree that it feels wrong to have no plans to go to DLR. And I feel SO bad for hubby; last year we got to go for DS and my birthdays, but not for DH's. The money just wasn't there, but that's b/c of so many '08 trips then the diva trip in early March, etc, and then suddenly we had the money for the trip in May ya know? I feel bad for him. He refuses to do a solo trip though, even while he supports mine; he just doesn't think he'd enjoy it! Well, he'll probably be back to traveling around that time anyway...

 

[Brady's Mom]

Well, even though he won't get a Disney trip for his birthday at least he's been able to go to some places he hasn't been before.

My hubby hates to travel by himself - if he has to go somewhere for business - and he isn't really adventurous when he's alone. When we're together we are MUCH more adventurous and try and see a lot of new/fun/different stuff. I think I'm the more outgoing one when it comes to travel. After high school I toured Europe with a group and didn't know a soul when I first started traveling with them. It was great. I flew from Nor. Cal to Wash. DC to serve a congressional internship during college without knowing anyone or anything about what I was getting into, either. It turned out great, but I'm pretty sure hubby would have never done anything like that.

So maybe R gets his solo travel bug out of his system when he goes on business trips and the place doesn't really matter. KWIM?

I would love a solo DLR trip, but I think hubby might be mad since he loves DLR as much (or more) than I do!! I have thought about the girls only trip, but ANY sort of traveling has to wait until after our son gets home from Taiwan and then it's off to San Francisco. Hotels there are ridiculously priced and we have to get some sort of suite or 2 rooms since we have 6 people. We also need to be accessible to other parts of the Bay Area, since hubby has relatives spread all over and the trip is to re-connect or connect with some relations he's never met or hasn't seen in 25 years. Thank goodness we already know the safer places to stay and the areas to avoid.

 

[kaoden39]

Well, even though he won't get a Disney trip for his birthday at least he's been able to go to some places he hasn't been before.

My hubby hates to travel by himself - if he has to go somewhere for business - and he isn't really adventurous when he's alone. When we're together we are MUCH more adventurous and try and see a lot of new/fun/different stuff. I think I'm the more outgoing one when it comes to travel. After high school I toured Europe with a group and didn't know a soul when I first started traveling with them. It was great. I flew from Nor. Cal to Wash. DC to serve a congressional internship during college without knowing anyone or anything about what I was getting into, either. It turned out great, but I'm pretty sure hubby would have never done anything like that.

So maybe R gets his solo travel bug out of his system when he goes on business trips and the place doesn't really matter. KWIM?

I would love a solo DLR trip, but I think hubby might be mad since he loves DLR as much (or more) than I do!! I have thought about the girls only trip, but ANY sort of traveling has to wait until after our son gets home from Taiwan and then it's off to San Francisco. Hotels there are ridiculously priced and we have to get some sort of suite or 2 rooms since we have 6 people. We also need to be accessible to other parts of the Bay Area, since hubby has relatives spread all over and the trip is to re-connect or connect with some relations he's never met or hasn't seen in 25 years. Thank goodness we already know the safer places to stay and the areas to avoid.

You know Fairfield might be convenient place to stay. There are a couple places out in the Cordelia part of the town, that were built just a few years ago.

 

[bumbershoot]

I flew from Nor. Cal to Wash. DC to serve a congressional internship during college...

WOW! How exciting that must have been.



OMG it's so cold....Robert said it's going to be 17 in the morning as he makes his way to the bus...brr....

There's this plaza in our downtown that's just pathetic. My best friend is a city planner, and she says it was *supposed to be* great, but then the city employees made it and changed the plans. In the summer it's this vast plain of burning hot concrete; in the winter it's the steppes of upper Asia it's so plain and cold (actually I imagine Mongolia is much more beautiful than this plaza). In typical Tacoma way, people who love Tacoma are trying to create happenings, to make things better. And so this one guy, the guy who runs the downtown Farmer's Market (which is actually quite awesome), has created a holiday tree lot down there. We walked there the other day to check it out...bought a tabletop tree for E's room, which we have never had (ever) before. Today was the day we wanted to buy a big one, but our other errands (the guys playing "Molly's Santa" behind my back after I conveniently stopped in front of the things I liked, LOL) too much longer than expected, and we got there just after the sun went down. BRRRRRRRR. And I'd turned the heater off before we left, so it was fuurrrreeeezzzzzzing in the house.



In other news, I got my Orlando Official Vacation Guide in the mail. Sure, a bit early, but that's OK. And we came up with a plan for January; there's a huge urge to run away to a local B&B right after Jan 1 (while everyone else is getting over their hangovers), but we'll buy one WDW ticket instead. Woo!

Now...where to keep that thing?

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Here's a tip I've heard for vegetarians, Molly. You've probably heard it already since you're interested in AKL but I've always heard Boma is the best place for vegetarians on property. Also Cantina de San Angel in World Showcase is supposed to be good. We ate inside Mexico not at the Cantina and liked it and I eat mostly vegetarian.

Looking forward to reading your pretrip. We are off to DLR in 12 days for our second December trip and definitely want WDW to be on the agenda some December soon. Maybe 2011? So I'll live vicariously through you.

 

[Brady's Mom]

In other news, I got my Orlando Official Vacation Guide in the mail. Sure, a bit early, but that's OK. And we came up with a plan for January; there's a huge urge to run away to a local B&B right after Jan 1 (while everyone else is getting over their hangovers), but we'll buy one WDW ticket instead. Woo!

Now...where to keep that thing?

WooHoo - your first ticket. That will totally make the trip seem real. Ummm....how about a safety deposit box??? I would be worried about the dumb ticket for months. We had friends buy us the AP's from Costco last Feb. when they were in Cali. and didn't use them until the very end of May and I am sure I checked on them in hubbies drawer every day - just to make sure they were okay. 3 months was long enough. 10 or 11 months would have killed me!

 

[bumbershoot]

teacherlisa1978, hello! I've definitely heard that Boma is good for veggies. Hadn't heard that about Cantina, but it's good to know!

I'm so jealous you're going to DLR soon!


Brady's Mom...we have a sd box right now, but we got it for MIL. So she has access. And she's making some interesting choices* right now, so I don't think we'll put anything of ours in there. I do have a Disney drawer in my closet; everything goes in there. It'll probably need to be put in there, too, but maybe I'll buy a little locking "cash box" to put it in so it can't slip through a crack or something.


*choices...back before FIL got sick and (through a long process of him harming himself while drugged and then getting some incompetent doctors at an incompetent hospital) died, my BIL's partner left. He held the mortgage on two sides of a duplex that BIL/him shared with MIL/FIL. MIL had put down a HUGE amount of cash for the mortgage. And they paid rent. But partner hadn't paid mortgage for something like a year. Shortly before he left, taking all the cars in his name (not all were bought by him), he had "borrowed" about 20K for a heart thing b/c he was uninsured. Soon after he disappeared, the notices of auction started showing up on the duplex doors. IT was well beyond the period that anyone could have saved the house.

So he basically stole 50K plus 20K plus a year's worth of rent from MIL/FIL. He also helped, we found out after FIL's death, empty MIL's life insurance policy, by being the second signer on a loan from the policy, that FIL forged MIL's signature on. We believe that FIL loaned him that money (another 20K) to try to save the duplex, but obviously that didn't happen...at the time that partner left, we couldn't figure out why FIL was almost exploding with anger, and later we realized that was likely the reason.

Well, it's one thing for BIL to take him back. After all, love does nutty things to our heads.

But now once-and-current partner is totally back, showed up at FIL's 3rd year memorial torment, er, service that MIL forces her kids to go to (they are all Buddhist, and MIL and SIL pretend FIL has found nirvana...BIL and DH flat out TOLD MIL this year that that just did NOT happen...at the funeral they were standing in the back wondering if the cockroach he had likely come back as had been stomped yet). He helped MIL move on Saturday. etc etc.

BIL is the eldest son, which is important in Korea. Therefore, his partner is important (even though MIL/FIL didn't speak to BIL for 5 years after he was outed by a former boyfriend). BIL would have access to everything, therefore partner would too. MIL has a key to the sd box. Therefore, we're not keeping *anything* in it. And once MIL's time comes...we're not actually expecting to find anything in it.


*******

Poor hubby! He went to walk to the bus today, slipped on the icy sidewalks (as he turned his body to look at a crash he'd just heard), and hurt himself so bad he had to call in sick! Just last night we ordered him some snow boot/shoes with nice tread. Too bad the transporter beam hasn't been invented, or maybe this wouldn't have happened in his big tread shoes!

 

[bumbershoot]

Whew. He slept a whole bunch, then had a 3pm appt with our chiro. All better now!


The nice thing was that after his appt, he joined us at the Y for this special holiday month class they are doing...instead of a "swimming lesson" they are having mini lessons in specific strokes. Today was the crawlstroke. This was the first time Robert got to see E swimming after all the classes, and it was very exciting for him!

While sitting there watching and imagining E's first Olympics, I realized that if the timing works, this time a year from now we'll be hip deep in our WDW vacation! Woo!

 

[bumbershoot]

Talked with my aunt today. Now she's pressuring me for a quick solo trip out there so that cousin can show me the resorts!

And what's painful is that I just found an early Jan fare, over a weekend (plus a day on each side), for 99 each way.

And what's nutty is that Robert *supports* this. He just likes me to have fun, even if fun means I go to Orlando for a few days while they hang at home.

But this would be nutty. I don't need to see these places; we have, what, 45 years of timeshare ownership to see the places! I'm happy going site unseen. As long as they aren't like the cruddy Super8 we stayed at in '07 in Southern Oregon, I'm good.

I was able to make sure they understood that, even though all we're *talking* about is WDW, that is only because it's the part that needs to be planned...the visit is very much to *visit*. Thankfully they all understand that!

 

[kaoden39]

Oh my goodness, you are a strong woman. I might have gone....maybe.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, well...if there were offers to help compensate...I might. I mean, obviously I'm worth being paid to visit, right?

 

[kaoden39]

Well of course you are.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Yeah, well...if there were offers to help compensate...I might. I mean, obviously I'm worth being paid to visit, right?

You Bet You Are!!

I don't know if I could have said no to the ticket prices. And a chance to scope out the area and figure out what's what and where it is. But, then I might have needed park tickets since I'm so close I might as well see them while I'm there and not "waste" my airfare. . . .

Man, there's even a WDW snowball and you just missed being run over by it!

I've never actually checked out the cost of a sd box at the bank. I suppose you could always consider a post office box to lock it up in. But that might be the same price or more or whatever.

I like the idea of a cash box, but have you considered a fireproof one that you could also keep other important papers in - insurance policies, car titles, social security cards, that kind of thing. DH and I have talked about getting one, we just never have. It seems like a good idea, we may have to revisit it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was wondering what the noise was as I closed out the southwest page....now I realize it was the snowball whizzing by!

But really I haven't said no. I've just said it has to be a perfect fare, perfect timing...any days Robert has to take off to be with E means a shorter vacation next year. I'm mighty tempted, that's for sure!


We have definitely thought about a fireproof safe. The cost has really bugged us! Which is stupid, b/c of course it's worth it.


Just watched Prep and Landing. Cute little show!

 

[bumbershoot]

Just wrote this to Robert...

I think there would be worth and value in going out and hashing it (where they want to stay, when, explanation of "points") out with them face to face. But a whirlwind of looking at the resorts doesn't have huge value ot me.

But maybe THEY need me to see the resorts so they can have the convo with me.