Beast. The awesome PTR of awesomeness June 2012 last update: Universal Resort

[BrerMama]

Chapter 19
Day Four: Epcot

Huh. Who knew that we were going to Epcot before Animal Kingdom?

Dan the Budget Man is not going to be happy.

Since I worked for hours on my spreadsheet and touring plans, I'm going to have to assume that Epcot was the best choice for us crowd wise.

Epcot. Sigh. I have memories of visiting Epcot 30 years ago when I was a teenager. It was brand new and so different to me.

So now we have Test Track and Soarin', except Test Track is closed so we only have Soarin. Tater may or may not ride Soarin. It's not his favorite. I'm over trying to get him on rides. I am horribly frightened by heights (like can't walk up more than one flight of stairs frightened) but Soarin doesn't scare me. Maybe a bit if I'm on the top but just for a moment until I get so into it that I forget I'm way in the air and just fly.

I have no idea what we're supposed to do after Soarin. My brain tells me we'll walk next door to the Living Seas, which is pretty much my Living Nightmare. Fish phobic. I have nightmares about the aquarium walls bursting. I do love the manatees, though. And dolphins. I'll suffer through the *ick* fish to see my mammals.

Wow. It sounds like I have a lot of issues, doesn't it? I swear -- heights and fish. That's my two big phobias. And they're right next to each other at Epcot. Not my fault.

Then over to Figment. That's not what it's called, but that's what we call it. Ches loves Figment (the character) so we'll do Figment the ride and then probably watch Captain Eo. Just cuz my kids have to watch it.

If Dan and Kiah want to ride Mission:Space, we can head over that way to let them spin. Literally.

I'll be praying we're close to lunch by this time. This will require heading back to The Land for lunch at the food court.

If it all works perfectly, we could then head over to Ellen, which my children have never done. I did it once, but it was long before it was Ellen. Just dinosaurs. Brady will probably love it. He seems to love what others find boring. Either that or he really likes to annoy us.

I'd like to actually stay in the park for a full 12 hours today, so that will require some nice long rest periods. Ellen will be a nice one.

Now we're off to World Showcase. We normally would start with Mexico and go around, but maybe we should go the other direction for once.

Kiah has one wish for this trip, and that's the veggie platter in Morocco. I'd like to land there about time for an afternoon snack. I'd also like to really explore each of the countries and spend some serious time enjoying them. We've never really done that. I'm thinking we go on a quest for candy from each country. It will give us a mission and hopefully keep us busy and in the parks.

Plus... it's candy. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and Tater, in addition to liking the boring, likes the odd.

I do have two other ideas for nice, cool breaks while we're in the parks. First, there's Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. I really enjoy the performances here.

Second, there's that tequila bar in Mexico. I can always use a good margarita, and they have fun little appetizers. The kids can drink smoothies or something while we sit and relax.

If it all works out OK, we won't get around the showcase until around 7 pm. I'd like to head back towards Germany around 8 pm and find us a nice spot for Illuminations. I like watching from Germany because they have the best candy. And now there's a caramel shop. Seriously well located.

So relax and enjoy the *hopefully* cooling night as we wait for Illuminations. Watch the show. Make a slow walk back to our rental car.

It will be a very long day for us. However, both the days before and after will not be full days. We'll be back at our villa in time for dinner on those days. So we can do one full day. We may hate each other by the end of the day, but that's why we're going for margaritas. I find margaritas for mom cure all kinds of issues.

At least from my point of view.

 

[Angies1274]

The ponytail holders are so cute!! Great job!!

Your Epcot day sounds like a lot of fun! Good plan to use Ellen and the American Adventure as breaks. We'll probably do the same.

Can't wait to try the candy in Germany! Yum!

 

[glennbo123]

Okay, over the last couple of days I've gotten caught up.

We're POR people too, but it doesn't fit our family of 5 too well these days either. I kinda miss the place though, so we make an effort to get over to see Yeehaa Bob.

We stayed at the Vistana back in '05 I think. I think it got a mention in a "flashback trip report" in my last PTR. I don't think I have any pictures whatsoever of the room or the resort. Shameful, I know, but I wasn't on the DIS back then. We liked the suite a lot, it had lots of room, and the pool was nice as well. But we were on the go so much that we only got to the pool once, and that was a special night-time run when I took the girls for about a half-hour because they wanted to try it out so badly. Unfortunately our room-rate deal obligated us to a morning of a timeshare pitch, and that was not enjoyable, at all.

 

[BrerMama]

The ponytail holders are so cute!! Great job!!

Your Epcot day sounds like a lot of fun! Good plan to use Ellen and the American Adventure as breaks. We'll probably do the same.

Can't wait to try the candy in Germany! Yum!

Thanks! I also just discovered that Epcot has the "Sounds Like Summer" concert series while we're there and the Billy Joel tribute group will be playing 3 concerts the day we're there. Sounds like a good way to kill time to me.

Okay, over the last couple of days I've gotten caught up.

We're POR people too, but it doesn't fit our family of 5 too well these days either. I kinda miss the place though, so we make an effort to get over to see Yeehaa Bob.

We stayed at the Vistana back in '05 I think. I think it got a mention in a "flashback trip report" in my last PTR. I don't think I have any pictures whatsoever of the room or the resort. Shameful, I know, but I wasn't on the DIS back then. We liked the suite a lot, it had lots of room, and the pool was nice as well. But we were on the go so much that we only got to the pool once, and that was a special night-time run when I took the girls for about a half-hour because they wanted to try it out so badly. Unfortunately our room-rate deal obligated us to a morning of a timeshare pitch, and that was not enjoyable, at all.

Yeah for catching up! I'm so hoping we enjoy Vistana. We travel often and for at least a week at a time and people are always telling us we should buy a timeshare. I can't figure out how it would make financial sense... we can rent points or book through sites like Last Minute Travel and get a much better deal than we would get just paying yearly fees. That doesn't even include the price we'd actually pay for the time share. I think our future vacation plan -- for at least the next six years while we still have kids at home -- will probably involve renting points to stay in Timeshare resorts. I'd love to do DVC but it's still a little more than we'd like to spend and we don't mind being offsite at this point. I do love reading about your experiences at AKL. That's our dream resort, so maybe someday.

Have a great Friday everyone! I'll be back on Sunday to talk a bit about how I plan to document this trip -- photography, trip report notes, etc. Kiah is off to state forensics today. I imagine I'll be consumed with checking for texts for the next 36 hours or so. Praying she breaks finals at state. That would be huge as a sophomore!

 

[MHTeacher]

We call it "Figment" too! Epcot plans sound like a full, but fun day!

Enjoy your weekend!

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Epcot day sounds fabulous!! We are fans of "Figment" too!!

 

[DMGeurts]

Your Epcot day sounds perfect Kim!!! I love that picture with your kids in front of Nemo...

D~

 

[BrerMama]

We call it "Figment" too! Epcot plans sound like a full, but fun day!

Enjoy your weekend!

I'm so hoping we make it the full day! We're so not full day people.

Epcot day sounds fabulous!! We are fans of "Figment" too!!

All this Figment love makes me smile. Love that we all enjoy a silly little... figment of our imaginationn.

Your Epcot day sounds perfect Kim!!! I love that picture with your kids in front of Nemo...

D~

I look at that photo and just sigh. Gosh, they were so young. Five years between trips didn't seem like that much until I really started looking at pictures. My kids have gone from kids to young adults.

 

[BrerMama]

Chapter 20: Documenting Our Trip

About a dozen years ago, I started scrapbooking as a hobby... because I wanted to document our upcoming trip to WDW. We spend thousands on our trip. I just wanted to keep our memories of that trip. Photos and stories. I like to put them on paper.

I thought I took a lot of photos during that trip. 14 rolls of film.

It was nothing compared with what I want to do on this trip. A huge piece of my trip planning has been finding way to document our trip.

First, I'm writing this pre-trip report. Documenting my planning process.

Next up: documenting the trip. I want to capture the little stories that happen often during a trip. The funny thing that makes us all laugh at the airport. How we decided which one would be our rental car. Check in at the hotel. Story, upon story, upon story.

Our trip is over two weeks long. I have to have a way to record stories to keep them fresh.

First, there's this:


IMG_2500 by miss kim 09, on Flickr

I created this notebook when I saw a really good coupon for Paper Coterie, a newer online photo creation website. So every night, this will be my journal in which to jot notes for my trip report. I'm in the habit of going into my bedroom in the evenings for a half hour or more so I can get some time alone. During this time, I'll write notes. Have Kiah check it over in the morning to make sure I didn't miss anything huge. I imagine my notes will not be narratives, but random scribbles. Lists.

For those little things that happen during the day that could easily be forgotten, I have downloaded an app called Evernote. The great thing about Evernote is that I can access from my laptop or my phone. I can forward email to Evernote and they'll stay there forever. All of my dining reservations, car rental reservation, etc. are now in Evernote, where I can pull them up quickly. If something happens that I want to remember, I can take a few moments, sit down and type up a note in Evernote. When I want to remember it, I can pull it up on my laptop... while I'm writing my trip report, for example.

In addition to getting memories on paper, I plan to take a lot of photos. I'll be taking my larger p&s (considered a "bridge" camera... not your pocket point and shoot camera but also not a dSLR that requires lens changes). I plan to wear it crossbody most days so it's there when I want to take a photo. Number one way to take more photos: have the camera available at all times.

I'll also have my iPhone and I take a lot of photos with it. I'm pretty good at composition on an iPhone... if I may sound a little self-centered for a moment. I use the Camera+ app and love how it allows me to choose a focus point and exposure. I can edit the photo when I get time using the same app and send to Facebook from the app, or save to my Photo Stream and share from there.

Dan and I talked yesterday about my Mother's Day gift, and I suggested he just give me the Photopass+ option for Mother's Day. I love Photopass because it allows me to be in the pictures. We buy a lot of ride photos anyway, and we have two meals scheduled that offer the photo packages that would be included with Photopass+. It seems a no brainer for me. I actually had the regular Photopass CD preordered before the price went up. After reading some experiences from people trying to upgrade from the CD preorder to Photopass+ and the time they spent getting that transaction accomplished, I decided to just call Photopass and cancel my preorder. This will have the purchase price refunded and I'll just pay the full $199 for Photopass. Since I wasn't getting any discount on Photopass+, there's no difference in cost to do it this way. It sounds like it will make the actual purchase go much faster as well.

Once we're home, I plan to spend much of July creating the most awesome Disney scrapbook ever.

I have a whole plan for my album and expect it to go together fairly quickly. I won't actually be creating a layout, but planning how to tell my stories and then slipping stories into divided page protectors. For those who are scrapbookers, I'll be using the Project Life system by Becky Higgins. It's going to be awesome.

Today is our 40 days till Disney day. No celebrations here. Kiah had state forensics yesterday. Her first trip to state, and she didn't do great but she did her best. She's exhausted and cranky. I, on the other hand, discovered that the energy drink mix I was using to try to fight my constant fatigue contains aspartame. I'm allergic to aspartame and it causes chronic migraines in me. So I'm tired, I drink the energy drink, don't realize it's causes my headaches, which cause me to think I need more caffeine... it's been a cycle. Now I have to cut out the energy drink, which means my only source of caffeine is one glass of iced tea in the morning. (I can't drink pop and the thought of coffee makes me gag.) I have to adjust to not drinking as much caffeine. It's been a long weekend but I'd rather go through the adjustment now than when I'm at school.

Have a great Sunday! More plans to come this week. Just working on editing photos to accompany our plans!

 

[momabaarjo]

Love your trip journal!

The day at Epcot looks great...too bad Test Track is still down, or is it? I thought I saw something about it on facebook the other day...maybe it was just a sneak peek. I have to say that the Kim Possible or now Phineas and Ferb was a lot of fun according to both my little boys and Big Boy husband...Ab and I were waiting for a photo op with Marie when they did it...might be fun to try and put a teen spin on it. Love the candy idea...we tried to eat our way around one day...but we were full by the time we hit Japan...next time we will try to split it into 2 days! Your trip is getting so close!

 

[DMGeurts]

I just wanted to say... I love your trip journal! I think it's perfect!

I also wanted to add... This was the first trip I did a trip journal - I am so glad I did it, it is such a lifesaver now that I am doing my first TR, there would have been so many forgotten details with out it. However... During the trip - I was very disappointed at how much time it took to keep up with it... I felt like I was writing every night for hours, and it took a bit of time away from our trip. Maybe I should have carried it with me during the day and updated as I went? I am not sure. But I thought I would let you know that.

I am super excited for your TR though - I can't wait to see all the marvelous pictures you take!

D~

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Ok, I think we might actually share a brain!! I am determined to keep really good notes and really capture the memories on this trip, too. I love your notebook from Paper Coterie! But the biggest thing is that I have decided not to do the "traditional" scrapbook either--going to use the BH PL system! I just need the Journaling cards to come back in stock so I can stock up! DH really likes how the PL pages look--he says it's easier and more enjoyable to look at!

We are getting the PhotoPass + too! Getting SO excited!!

 

[BrerMama]

Love your trip journal!

The day at Epcot looks great...too bad Test Track is still down, or is it? I thought I saw something about it on facebook the other day...maybe it was just a sneak peek. I have to say that the Kim Possible or now Phineas and Ferb was a lot of fun according to both my little boys and Big Boy husband...Ab and I were waiting for a photo op with Marie when they did it...might be fun to try and put a teen spin on it. Love the candy idea...we tried to eat our way around one day...but we were full by the time we hit Japan...next time we will try to split it into 2 days! Your trip is getting so close!

Yes, Test Track is still down. I have a feeling Dan is going to pout the entire day. Tater and Ches love Phineas and Ferb so the Agent P thing is a possibility... if I can just convince Dan that we could stay all day. He's back to grumbling that we have to go to Epcot at all.

I just wanted to say... I love your trip journal! I think it's perfect!

I also wanted to add... This was the first trip I did a trip journal - I am so glad I did it, it is such a lifesaver now that I am doing my first TR, there would have been so many forgotten details with out it. However... During the trip - I was very disappointed at how much time it took to keep up with it... I felt like I was writing every night for hours, and it took a bit of time away from our trip. Maybe I should have carried it with me during the day and updated as I went? I am not sure. But I thought I would let you know that.

I am super excited for your TR though - I can't wait to see all the marvelous pictures you take!

D~

I'm used to writing in my Passporter every evening of a trip, and I like to have some time to myself in the evenings so I think I'll be OK. It is something to think about, but I really want to document this trip well so it's a priority to take notes every day.

Ok, I think we might actually share a brain!! I am determined to keep really good notes and really capture the memories on this trip, too. I love your notebook from Paper Coterie! But the biggest thing is that I have decided not to do the "traditional" scrapbook either--going to use the BH PL system! I just need the Journaling cards to come back in stock so I can stock up! DH really likes how the PL pages look--he says it's easier and more enjoyable to look at!

We are getting the PhotoPass + too! Getting SO excited!!

How fun that we're both using PL! I'm using Cobalt and got most of my supplies back in January. Bought the plastics when they restocked in February... and of course now there's new designs coming out in July. I'm primarily a digital scrapbooker (although I did paper first for 4 years so I know what I'm doing). I bought the journal cards digitally and plan to do them on my laptop and then print them at home. I did also buy the PL journal cards, but we're using those for our "autograph book." We'll have the characters sign the journal cards and then slip them right into the plastics. I'm so excited that I thought of that!

This is Tater's last week of high school. Ever. I'm not sad, just a little dazed. Can't believe how fast his school years have gone. Busy weekend next weekend with all his graduation stuff. In addition, this weekend will start the "something to do every weekend until our trip" countdown. I really think that starting today, our countdown is going to fly.

 

[smile5sunshine]

your trip seems like it's coming together very nicely! I've enjoyed reading all your plans and updates.

Would you mind either posting or PMing me a link to the tutorial you followed for the ponytail holders? Those came out ADORABLE and I think my two older girlies would enjoy working on that type of project.

Thanks and can't wait to read MORE!

Sunshine

 

[JayhawkFans]

As always I really enjoy keeping up with your trip report. Maybe this will be the year I finally attempt a scrapbook of some sort for our vacation.

I'm curious about the flip flops you mentioned in a previous entry. I'm off to see where I might find a similar pair. I love flip flops but can't ever seem to find a pair that I find comfortable to wear for long distances. I recently bought a pair of Croc flip flops and so far they are my favorite but after a few hours in them at Silver Dollar City yesterday it left me still wishing to find something a bit more comfortable.

It won't be long and you'll be LIVE from WDW ...

 

[BrerMama]

your trip seems like it's coming together very nicely! I've enjoyed reading all your plans and updates.

Would you mind either posting or PMing me a link to the tutorial you followed for the ponytail holders? Those came out ADORABLE and I think my two older girlies would enjoy working on that type of project.

Thanks and can't wait to read MORE!

Sunshine

The tutorial is here. It's actually a great site for tutorials for hair stuff. I don't think I managed to follow the tutorial exactly, but I came pretty close.

As always I really enjoy keeping up with your trip report. Maybe this will be the year I finally attempt a scrapbook of some sort for our vacation.

I'm curious about the flip flops you mentioned in a previous entry. I'm off to see where I might find a similar pair. I love flip flops but can't ever seem to find a pair that I find comfortable to wear for long distances. I recently bought a pair of Croc flip flops and so far they are my favorite but after a few hours in them at Silver Dollar City yesterday it left me still wishing to find something a bit more comfortable.

It won't be long and you'll be LIVE from WDW ...

I smiled because I started out with Crocs flip flops (bought at Jigglin' George's in Branson) and tried them at SDC. Loved them so much I bought another pair that same trip. Now those same shoes just don't do it for me. I LOVE the Ohana flips. They are amazing. A little heavier than most flip flops, but my feet feel great in them. I love the Yoga Mats a little less, but they're great too. I'm definitely going to buy more Ohana in the future.

 

[BrerMama]

Chapter 21: The One Where She Has Nothing to Say

No projects last weekend for me. I just needed to sit and rest and not do a single thing. I do have one last project I'd sort of like to do before we go, but I don't know that I'll get it accomplished. And it's one of those things where we'd wear it at WDW... but never again. Not sure it's worth spending the money for supplies for something I'd maybe wear twice.

I did want to share this picture:


IMG_2521 by miss kim 09, on Flickr

That's my Disney corner of the master bedroom. It's starting to overflow. Most of it is the clothing we've purchased for the trip. We're pretty much rightthere in having everything ready to go. I ordered Ches a 2nd swimsuit last weekend. She's at a very awkward stage. She's too tall for girls clothing (actually taller than Kiah, who is 4 years older). But her body is still a girl's body and junior size clothing doesn't look right on her (except t-shirts). I got an XXL girls swimsuit from Old Navy. I'm praying it fits. When it comes to swimsuits, none of the junior size options are even vaguely appropriate.

Kiah and I are deep into touring plan creation. Despite what I've written, it seems like every day one of my family members will pipe up with something they want to do that I hadn't planned to do. So I'm in the revision stage. I am a student of touring plans and I feel that I pretty much have it down and can tour without a plan just because I know what we need to get done before lines get unbearable, and what needs a fastpass. However, I'm a bit of a mess trying to figure out how to fit everything in and make everyone happy.

Especially when I have a husband who is convinced Epcot is going to be boring without Test Track and we might as well walk in, ride Soarin and leave.

In other Disney news, yesterday I got an email from Disney Visa offering us a special deal for Art of Animation. I would *love* to stay at AofA. There's a huge attraction to staying in a brand new place. The discount was 15%. The cost per night of a suite during our trip is $325-375.



Thank you so much for the meager discount, Disney. We'll stay at Vistana. (Just to refresh your memory, our cost there is $125/night. Even with parking and the rental car, we're still only at $155/night.) No way I could convince my dh to double our lodging budget at this point.

Honestly, we're much more focused on the whole getting done with school thing right now. Tater has finals today and Thursday. Friday morning is graduation rehearsal. Saturday I'll be spending the day doing prep for his graduation luncheon. Sunday is graduation.

My girls have finals next week and their last day is next Thursday.

I go until the 23rd, so I've got 12 more days of school. Did my last IEP yesterday. Now I just have the progress reports and goal updates to finish and I'm making progress there. I'm so overwhelmed by all this end of the year stuff right now. I don't usually have to do IEPs because I generally only have my students for a 9 week period, so it's been a change for me to have to get back into the paperwork routine.

We're getting so close. I just want to get the school stuff done so that I can think. Hoping it goes quickly!

 

[Angies1274]

Love the trip journal! I'm thinking about keeping one for our trip as well.

My corner of the bedroom is looking similar. I was thinking the other day of starting to throw some stuff in our suitcases...just to get them out of the way.

I got that same email for AoA and for a second thought how nice it would be to change resorts. The pictures look amazing and it would be so much fun to stay there. That is until I saw the 15% discount...that barely makes a dent! I think we'll just stay where we are and maybe go visit instead.

 

[glennbo123]

Your trip journal sounds like what I've done in the past. I just had a little notebook and for a half-hour or so each night I'd sit and jot some notes down. Like you say, it wasn't much of a narrative (it was actually more of one than I wanted to take time to do, but it's hard not to), but I captured where we went, what rides in what order, any funny comments someone said or observations I had. Between that and the pictures, it's amazing how much of the trip can come back into your mind when you're writing the report.

 

[MHTeacher]

Things are looking good!

Great to know your IEPs are written and finished!

I hear you about being busy between now and then--can't believe how early your son graduates and y'alls school finished up. My daughter graduates next Sunday on the 20th, and then Reid and I will go for two more days. My other daughter will have to go for three days to finish exams. It's going by so quickly!