Bittersweet trip last one before DH leaves... again

[ellie05]

I have some very exiting news to share. It is Disney related but not to this trip.

Ok so yesterday I was talking to my BFF. We are very close and our DHs have deployed together before and even were roommates when they first join the military. Well we have a Thanksgiving tradition were we spend it in our house with them. So yesterday late at night we were talking and I was telling her about our Disney trip and she said we should go to Disney together maybe spend Thanksgiving 2013 there together! YAY!!! So that will give me something to do while DH is deployed (other than going back to college) plan another Disney trip.

On the not so good news is that my hip has been bothering me the past few days. In 2009 we were rear-ended by a 17 year old boy that was texting and didn't even attempted to slow down. So we were hit at about 40 mph. The seatbelt hold me but it hurt my hip. I went to physical therapy for 8 months and it got better but now it is starting to bother me again. I think I need a trip to the doctor soon so I get this taken care of before we leave for Disney.

Also I added a table of contents so it will be easier to find the posts.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Disney at Thanksgiving with your BFF? How fun does THAT sound!

So sorry to hear your hip is bothering you again. Hope it's something that doesn't require a ton of treatment and is feeling better soon.

 

[ellie05]

Oh goodness!! That binder is too cute!! I love it!!

You are going to be there at the same time as me. Well, we are arriving the same day, but we are leaving on the 13th.

When we went to Universal we stayed at the Royal Pacific Hotel! It was very nice. Very quiet. We found that it was easier to walk to the parks rather than wait for the boats.

Thanks for that suggestion I been in the Universal website all morning and I am extremely confused and have a headache . So hard to navigate and find information. Have you done the 3 broomsticks breakfast? Any other suggestions for food or shows? We been to the parks before but never stay at the resort or done anything special.

Disney at Thanksgiving with your BFF? How fun does THAT sound!

So sorry to hear your hip is bothering you again. Hope it's something that doesn't require a ton of treatment and is feeling better soon.

Thanks . You know what that means another PTR after this one is done .

 

[Dream426]

What a great idea your friend had. Planning another trip will def. keep you occupied. You girls will have so much fun.

I am sorry about your hip. I agree about making an appointment with the doctor so it is better for your trip.

 

[ellie05]

Yesterday was a weird day. I didn't' get much done and even after spending most of my day trying to figure out Universal hotels, restaurants, etc didn't really got me very far. Their website is terrible and finding information was very hard. By 9pm I just wanted to be done with it so I called and made a reservation at....

The Royal Pacific! We are staying at a water view with a King bed.

I have to be honest I don't know much more of what we are doing in Universal yet. In my frustration yesterday I ordered the Beyond Disney: The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando, SeaWorld & the Best of Central Florida, hopefully this will help with universal plans. I might add that part of my over planning is reading as many guides as possible so right now I am working through my favorite guide Unofficial guide to Walt Disney World 2012 ( I read the guide almost every year) and I have others that haven't started yet, but I plan on finish them all before we get there .

An update on my hip issue: Yesterday I had a Doctors appointment so I grab my purse and step outside to leave and what do I see ?!?!? DH car pulling into our street! DH was not supposed to be home until friday so I drop everything and called the Doctor's office and cancel my appointment. Well once DH step off the car he was only staying home for 40 min . Just time to change his wet uniform and boots and take a shower. Well at least I got to see him for a little bit. So I called and made another appointment but they didn't have anything open until Saturday. Needless to say yesterday night was a bad night I couldn't' find a comfortable position for my hip. I finally felt sleep at 2am only to wake up at 5:30 because it was hurting so bad.

 

[ellie05]

What a great idea your friend had. Planning another trip will def. keep you occupied. You girls will have so much fun.

I am sorry about your hip. I agree about making an appointment with the doctor so it is better for your trip.

Glad to see you around! That trip will be a blast for sure.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Awww. So sorry to hear your hip is hurting so badly. I hope you can get some answers tomorrow and are feeling better soon.

Are you as obsessed as I am with the Disney guides?!? I just finished the UG2012 that I checked out of the library on my Kindle, but I'm going to buy the 2013 version.

Glad to see you got your Uni. hotel picked. It looks beautiful!

 

[ellie05]

Awww. So sorry to hear your hip is hurting so badly. I hope you can get some answers tomorrow and are feeling better soon.

Are you as obsessed as I am with the Disney guides?!? I just finished the UG2012 that I checked out of the library on my Kindle, but I'm going to buy the 2013 version.

Glad to see you got your Uni. hotel picked. It looks beautiful!

Yes I am obsessed with Disney guides. A few weeks ago I got a huge box from Amazon. DH thought I was crazy and he doesn't know I bought another this past week . I love my kindle but for the guides I have to have the paper version because I like to put tags all over it (and the notes in the kindle just don't do it for me) I will post a picture as soon as I am done with this guide. Then I organize the ideas I tag and put them all together in my binder. Another confession is I already pre-order my UG 2013 don't tell DH.

 

[BearcatsFan]

Yes I am obsessed with Disney guides. A few weeks ago I got a huge box from Amazon. DH thought I was crazy and he doesn't know I bought another this past week . I love my kindle but for the guides I have to have the paper version because I like to put tags all over it (and the notes in the kindle just don't do it for me) I will post a picture as soon as I am done with this guide. Then I organize the ideas I tag and put them all together in my binder. Another confession is I already pre-order my UG 2013 don't tell DH.

My DH was actually *encouraging* me to pre-order the UG2013 because I kept complaining how hard the Kindle version was to use. I won't make that mistake again. I was trying to be frugal! (read: cheap)

 

[BearcatsFan]

Hope your doctor's appointment goes well today.

 

[ellie05]

My DH was actually *encouraging* me to pre-order the UG2013 because I kept complaining how hard the Kindle version was to use. I won't make that mistake again. I was trying to be frugal! (read: cheap)

DH just thinks I am crazy because he says there is not enough time to read all of those. I am starting to agree with him .

Hope your doctor's appointment goes well today.

Thank you! It has been a long day... it didn't go anything as I thought it would go. They took some x-rays and everything seem fine. She thinks the inflammation is in the socket . She gave me predisone and alive for two weeks. If it doesn't get better she wants me to see an orthopedic doctor to give a shot directly into the socket . I feel it is more of and alignment issue than inflammation to be honest (The best way to describe is I feel it needs to be push in). But if it doesn't get better in two weeks I am going to ask her to see a chiropractor before I go getting injections into the socket. For two weeks I can't walk for too long or do much of anything.

Tonight we went to see a movie and it was miserable to have to seat for that long. I am hoping this gets better soon otherwise I am not sure how this trip is going to go .

 

[ellie05]

We had a great weekend (hip problem aside), I love having DH home . I usually plan our trips, but we make decisions together so I was having a thought time trying to decide things by myself. I love to have DH input. It is not a secret I love all things Disney, but seriously DH is starting to love Disney as much as I do! Here is a perfect example of that. Sunday DH woke up before me and went to get us breakfast. He then brought us breakfast to bed while we watched Beauty and the Beast . After we got all chores done, the house picked up, etc it was time for dinner. We watched the muppets while eating dinner. We love Disney movies, who doesn't right?

Ok back to the trip, there has been a few changes this weekend. Let me start by saying we are not the type of people that can lay one whole day by the pool while on vacations. We are the type of people that just go, go , go all the time. Well this vacation was supposed to be somewhat relaxing and not as crazy as we usually make it. But who am I kidding? we can't really do that. This weekend we added at least 5 more things to do on our "relaxing" trip.

First we talked about the Food and Wine festival, this will be our first time at this festival. We went through the the choices and I was feeling a little overwhelm by so many new things to choose from. We first thought we wanted to do party for the senses, but after reading reviews we decided to choose something else. Our first addition is "3D" Disney Dessert Discovery . I will be waking up tomorrow very early to make sure we get reservations for this. If you have been before and have suggestions please let me know.

We also decided we will do a couple of mixology Seminars we will take whatever we can get into. After we saw the Eat to the beat concert schedule we wanted to see 3 bands but only had two days at Epcot and had not hoppers. Third addition to our trip Hoppers, we already had the fun option !

I been trying to get a photo session done with DH before he leaves, but his crazy schedule had been making very hard. This weekend I had the bright idea why not do it while we are at WDW? Seriously how did I fail to think about this before? Ok so that is the fourth addition to our trip. Now I am having trouble deciding on this one. We saw the disney events website (If you are interested the link is here) I don't love the photos some seem very stiff. I would like something more natural. After calling them they told me the locations we could pick from are any Disney resort and Epcot, DHS, AK. But they suggest Epcot because you can get there before park opens. I am not sure I want pictures in Epcot. Their website doesn't show pictures in any other parks. It makes me a little uncomfortable to choose before seeing a sample. The other thing that makes me uncomfortable is that you don't really know which photographer you will get. Then more searching and I found this. Of course she can only take pictures at the resorts and not in the parks, but I am thinking either way we will have pictures taken at a resort. I was thinking the boardwalk . The only pictures in the Disney website that I like was the ones in the boardwalk. Price wise there is a $50 difference between the two so not a huge deal. Let me know which pictures you like better and if you gone through Disney before let me know your experience. I would love to get some input.

The last but not least addition to our trip is that DH grandparents will be joining us for a couple of days. Now I am a little worried about this because our itinerary just got super busy and we are a little worried they can't keep up. Of course we love them and will adjust our plans for them. I know this is going to sound ridiculous but I am not sure I want them there. This vacation was for the 2 of us and I wanted to just be the two of us. We have seen them often this year. I know they are very important to DH but I am a little sad about this .

I was planning on posting our itinerary but since we made so many changes I have to revise it again. I will post when I am done moving things around.

Ok 601 views in this PRT! There must be some lurkers here . Please stop and say hi I promise i won't bite .

 

[BearcatsFan]

Shots in the socket? Okay, first let me give you this . I hope the prednisone works for you and you do not have to go through that. I agree with seeing a chiro first, or at least get a second opinion before you decide.

I get what you mean about the grandparents coming along. Will they be staying at the same hotel? Perhaps you could suggest they just meet you at certain times of the day rather than spending the *whole* day touring together?

It sounds like you have some fun things planned. I can't advise on the photoshoot or 3D - haven't done either of them. Hopefully you will get good advice from others who have.

Breakfast in bed? How sweet!

 

[ellie05]

I woke up very early this morning to make the reservations for the Food and Wine events we wanted to do. I wake up at 6:30 grab the computer, cc and cell phone and get ready to start the calling as soon as they open. I dial 5 min before just in case they open early (yeah right). OK 6:59 is here I am ready to dial as soon as the clock changes. I dial, I get through and I have a 45 min wait . I am freaking out thinking I might not get our reservations. I am able to book the mixology seminar reservations online one out of the way! As I wait I keep thinking what am I going to do if I wait 45 min and they are sold out. Ok finally 7:45 and still on hold I am thinking Oh no there is no chance I will get this reservation. Finally at 7:50 someone comes on the line. I ask for the 3DDD sweet seats and it is still available . I pay and I am all done

Ok so with that final piece of our trip booked I can officially start our plans day by day!

Day 1
October 4th ​

We are getting there early and I still haven't made up my mind in flying or driving. I checked tickets and the latest we get there will be noon if we drive we will be there around the same time.

We will go try to check in to our Hotel (CBR). If the room is not ready we will walk around the resort for a little bit and have some lunch. If the room is ready we will nap.

3:30 we will get our costumes on and leave to the MK for the MNSSHP! We don't have any ADR's for tonight just CS so we don't waste time. We love this party and love the parade. We are so exited to go back to it. We still haven't decided what we are going to wear, we still throwing ideas around. Dh wanted to be Gaston from Beauty and the Beast he loves this song. That would make me Belle. I am not sure he realizes he will have to wear tights or something similar . We will see what he thinks then . Then I would be belle I am ok with that.

And that concludes out first day.

Hip update: I kept telling DH I feel it needs to be push in. So he push it in and it popped! It feels a lot better but it still bothering a bit. I need to get to the chiropractor before we leave. I am now convince I don't need a shot to the socket (thanks god!).

 

[ellie05]

Shots in the socket? Okay, first let me give you this . I hope the prednisone works for you and you do not have to go through that. I agree with seeing a chiro first, or at least get a second opinion before you decide.

I get what you mean about the grandparents coming along. Will they be staying at the same hotel? Perhaps you could suggest they just meet you at certain times of the day rather than spending the *whole* day touring together?

It sounds like you have some fun things planned. I can't advise on the photoshoot or 3D - haven't done either of them. Hopefully you will get good advice from others who have.

Breakfast in bed? How sweet!

Thanks! My hip is feeling a lot better! DH pushed it and it popped and now it feels much better but I think I still need to see the chiropractor before our trip.

 

[BearcatsFan]

for getting the mixology and 3DDD! Glad to read your hip is feeling better, also.

 

[ellie05]

I will add a day everyday until I reach the day we leave .

We left off at leaving the MK at midnight after the MNSSHP.

Day 2
October 5th​

We will wake up early and make it to RD at DHS. We will have CS for breakfast somewhere in DHS. We follow the touring plans until it is time for lunch. We are having lunch at Mama Melrose's, we never eaten there so I am very exited to try something new. After Mama Melrose's depending how we feel we either stay at the park or go back to the hotel and take a quick nap, because we are hoping to Epcot. We have reservations for the 3DDD! Here is a little info about that from the Disney website. We got the upgraded sweet seats and I can't wait we heard so many goos things about this event. After we see IlumiNations we will go back to our resort for another early day the next day.

"3D" Disney's Dessert Discovery

Hosted by Pinnacle® Vodka
Indulge in decadent desserts and cordials, then enjoy a V.I.P. viewing of IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.

*Upgraded Experience: You can enhance this special experience by reserving a spot at "Sweet Seats," an exclusive area within "3D" Disney's Dessert Discovery. This upgrade includes a private reserved table, entrance into World ShowPlace 15 minutes before general admission, a specialty beverage, a unique dessert offering and more. Please note, to reserve a Sweet Seats upgrade, you must call (407) WDW-FEST or (407) 939-3378. This upgrade cannot be booked online. Space is limited, so be sure to book in advance.

 

[CatNipRules]

Mama Melrose is good. It's along the same lines as Olive Garden. We are eating there on our upcoming trip and I can't wait!!

I would love to do a dessert party some day, but my DH & DS don't eat sweets so it's not worth it to me to pay the extra money for it. Especially since we are on the deluxe dining plan..

Great plans. loving it!!

 

[ellie05]

Mama Melrose is good. It's along the same lines as Olive Garden. We are eating there on our upcoming trip and I can't wait!!

I would love to do a dessert party some day, but my DH & DS don't eat sweets so it's not worth it to me to pay the extra money for it. Especially since we are on the deluxe dining plan..

Great plans. loving it!!

Oh my the deluxe dinning plan! I am always so stuffed after the regular I couldn't even imagine trying to eat anything else. I always end up giving DH half of my food anyway I am sure DH would love the deluxe DP. I am very much a dessert person and DH is too. I have high expectations for the party .

 

[ellie05]

Ok I am sorry I didn't posted yesterday, but I had a ridiculous long day. I don't think I mention it here, but we have a 7 month old puppy and boy is he a piece of work. Ok so a couple months ago our other dog decided he would jump the fence . Now we have been here over 5 years and he has never done such things, so of course crazy over protective me decided we need a new fence. I could't go on vacations knowing he might get out. So we have been getting estimates for a new 6ft vinyl fence. That took a lot of my day and in the afternoon we had dog training class. Our 7 month old puppy is great he passed his AKC STAR puppy test with flying colors and in two months we will test for the canine good citizen. We want him to be a therapy dog. Well yesterday he had other plans in his mind and decided to act out in class. He has never done this bad, he wasn't listening, he would get bored and just lay down, it was just bad and exhausting trying to work with him. I am convince he is in the teenager state. When I got home yesterday all I wanted to do is eat and sleep.


Anyway lets get back to day 3 of our trip.

Day 3
October 6th
​

Get up somewhat early to make it to AK by RD. We love this park and have accomplish to tour all of it by 3 many times before (skipping what we don't like). We have reservations for lunch at Yak and Yeti. After that we will probably leave the park and go back to our resort to take a quick nap, a shower and change our clothes, because we are park hopping to Epcot again. We want to go see the STARSHIP starring Mickey Thomas concert. We have a CS lunch plan for that night somewhere in Epcot. We are hoping we get there early enough to get sits for the first concert and be out of Epcot somewhat early. That is the end of our 3rd day.

DH is going to be gone for my birthday coming up so we are celebrating it today. He left 45 min ago and said he was going to go pick up breakfast, but the breakfast place is only 5 min away. I can't wait to see what he brings.