bunnysmum
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 495
BUNNY AND MOMMY GOIN' ON VACATION, SUNSHINE AND ICE CREAM, ALL DAY LONG...a closet first-timer's trip report
Cast:
Bunnysmum (the author): 40-ish, used to sit in front of my Moms chair on Sunday evenings while she combed my still-damp-from-the-tub hair as I watched The Wonderful World of Disney and wished that I, too, could zip around the castle spires looking just that perky and sassy.
I actually had a pixie "do" when I was about 8 years old. But I didn't look perky and sassy in it. No, I just looked like a boy. I still look at those third-grade pictures of myself wearing that trendy orange plaid zip-front dress (oh yeah!), with my enormous front teeth and shudder.
This is our first trip to WDW, but I am determined to PLAN so thoroughly to PACK so thoughtfully to TOUR so efficiently that no one would ever suspect the Bunnysmum crew of being mere first-timers.
Cause Im just like that.
Bunny (her cybername): 5-ish, very active.
Knows no strangers. Introduces me to WalMart employees every time were there by surreptitiously reading their name tags and startling them by greeting them by name. Hello Miss Katie! This is Mommy.
This has been more than a little embarassing on a couple of occasions in which Bunny took it upon herself to "introduce" me to a young single man, which tends to frighten them.
Nevertheless, I expect Bunny to run for public office before she turns 10. And win.
Nana: only slightly older than Bunnysmum (cause she was just a child bride, you know), aka Bunnys Grandmum, and Bunnysmums Mum, loads o fun
Background:
My sister, her DH (major Disneyphile), and their three little blonde boys (whom I affectionately call Huey, Dewey, and Louie) have gone to WDW every year for the past several. Every year, wed ooh and ahh at their stunning vacation photos, sit gamely through their fabulous vacation videos, and admire their nifty vacation souvenirs. Bunny and I watched this annual pilgrimage with growing interest, and well, unchecked envy.
I am now going to do what is called a rather depressing flashback. I say this up front so as not to unduly confuse anyone with my clever use of this ingenious writers tool, and to provide fair warning to any readers who would rather not take part in such a thing (you folks can just skip ahead a couple of paragraphs). I realize that things could get a little iffy given that this flashback is occurring in a segment of my trip report that has already been billed as background, and for that I apologize. Try to hang on here, the flashback will be a thing of the past, momentarily.
So to speak.
When Bunny was nearly two years old, BunnysDad and I parted ways, largely due to what I will call his inability to behave himself properly. The years that we were married were a very dark time in my life, and I now feel as if it were all a hopelessly bad dream.
Bunny and I moved to another state to live with my parents (God bless them!) until I could get back on my feet again. For the first year, I think I was depressed and in shock.
About a year later, I decided to return to grad school to get another masters degree in a related field so I would have an easier time finding a job in almost any area of the country.
(End of flashback within a flashback.)
Shortly after I started my second round of grad school, I began to feel rather guilty about all the study and commute time that was robbing Bunny of having me all to herself, and so I did what any rational and desperate parent would do. In an effort to ease my guilty conscience, and at the same time give myself a really killer motivator to finish school, I promised Bunny that we would go see Mickey and begin amassing our own collection of nifty vacation memorabilia once I graduated. Cause every newly divorced mother back in grad school facing a 75 minute commute twice a day needs to be able to look forward to one day having her own cool Buzz Lightyear twirling flashlight.
It was a really great plan, and eventually I did graduate.
With another masters degree. Cause evidently, one just isnt enough. Unfortunately, I neglected to mention to Bunny that I would also have to WORK for a period of time in order to pay back certain financial obligations (grad school is like that) and to save money for this monumental trip.
BUNNYSMUMS HELPFUL DISNEY PLANNING TIP #1: Small children have correspondingly small frames of reference. Avoid spilling the beans about any exciting upcoming event more than one year in advance. (Just a friendly little suggestion and sanity-saver that would be intuitively obvious to any thinking person.) 
Once Bunny realized that I was no longer spending all my free time studying, she caught on to the fact that it must be time to go see Mickey. Like, that day. I tried to explain. Really I did. I told her that I needed to work for a while so I could get money to pay for our trip. This did not compute with Bunny, who pointed out that I had lots of money in my purse (roughly $1.38 in change). We dont have our tickets yet, I hedged. Undeterred, Bunny rounded up all her oversized Disney Princess playing cards and handed them to me with much authority, saying Tickets! I sighed. I had done myself in.
There was nothing left to do but watch Dumbo several times in succession. With popcorn.
This is what we did to satisfy our Disney cravings for several months. Then Mary Poppins, then Beauty and the Beast, followed by Peter Pan, and most recently, The Jungle Book. All with popcorn. And on especially bad nights, popcorn with M&Ms mixed in. I now believe this was a good move, on my part. The movie-watching, I mean. The M&Ms not so much. As a result, when trip time actually rolled around, Bunny was able to greet most of the Disney characters she met by name and with much enthusiasm. It seemed to heighten the whole character-greeting experience for her, and Bunny truly felt that she was running into old friends who just happened to also be real live movie stars.
Over the past summer I planned obsessively for this trip. Changed the itinerary countless times. Changed our ADRs as many times. Wrote and revised packing lists. Studied maps. Bought stuff. Stuff wed need for the trip, you understand. (Like Disney pins. My very favorite so far are the ones that look like soda pop bottle caps. Just way tooo cute!) You know planned.
We also adopted a theme song. Bunny is, unfortunately, a tv-holic. This despite my very best intentions and pre-children vows to the contrary. Had no tv in the house, in fact, until she was about 20 months old. And that, I believe, was BunnysDads doing. Lets just say it was his doing.
So one day, Bunny is watching Bob the Builder on tv. Bob (the Builder) was taking his his friend, Wendy, and her sister to the airport to go on vacation. (It unnerves me, in a way, that I remember this so well...) One of Bobs animated pieces of chinery (I think its name was Smelly, or Schmuck or something like that maybe or maybe it was that scarecrow that looks like an onion-head Im not particularly Builder-savvy, so anythings possible). THE POINT IS someone on this show breaks into song Wendy and Jenny, goin on vacation, sunshine and ice cream, all day long! Its really more of a chant than a song, but I like the weather and treat references, so it becomes my theme song. Only I change the words a little bit, Mommy and Bunny, goin on vacation, Mickey and Minnie, all day long! Goofy and Pluto, Donald and Daisy, sunshine and ice cream, all day long!"
I sing this mantra loudly, and I sing it often. Probably a little too often. At some point, Bunny forbids me to sing it ever again. Can you imagine? I just laugh and continue to hum it under my breath.
Well, time marches on, and at long last, I am sitting at work trying hard to pay attention to a half-day inservice. The district is springing for lunch, but I have a plane to catch, so as soon as I politely applaud the speakers inspirational closing statements, Im outta there! Its raining, a cold, icy, wintry rain that just makes me laugh. Cause Ive been checking the Weather Channel and its a lot warmer where Im headed!
I drive just a little faster than is legally permitted to the home of Nana and BunnysGrandDad (they are watching Bunny for the morning, too). We have an early evening flight out of Chicago, and we live roughly 2.5 hrs from the airport. I have stayed up late the night before packing and repacking, checking, and rechecking. And not sleeping. Not much.
Just before I call Bunny out to the van, I stuff the Pal Mickey that I scored on eBay under my jacket, and arrange him in her booster seat with a little card that says, Hey Bunny! I cant wait to see you at Disney World! Bunny is pleased, but not $60 worth of pleased, in my estimation. Oh well, she does warm up to him later when she realizes he can tell corny jokes.
Bunny is at that age when children fancy themselves comedians. Hey Mommy! she begins, Whats against a crocodile, a rooster, and a poodle? (She means, but cannot get straight, What do you get when you cross .) Then she howls, A croc-a-poodle-doo! Get it? Okay, well, at least that one does sort of make sense. But then she lapses into several miles worth that make no sense whatsoever. Hey Mommy, whats against a shoelace, a car seat, and Nannas purse? Give up? A shoelace carseat purse! Hahahahaha! Get it? That was a good one, wasnt it. Youre supposed to laugh!
So with BunnysGrandDad at the wheel, and Bunny spouting her own version of kindergarten entertainment, were off to the airport. The trip was uneventful, except for the fact that Bunnys GrandMum painfully chipped a molar on a drive-through burger en route. Not exactly the auspicious beginning I was going for.
At the airport, we arrived at the gate and began the waiting game with a most impatient Bunny. Predictably, our flight was delayed. Not exactly the auspicious beginning I was going for. Then later, it was delayed AGAIN. Not EXACTLY the auspicious beginning I was going for!
We had no choice but to eat ice cream. Ben and Jerry's, I think. Bunny was very keen on this particular coping mechanism of mine.
If you look closely, you can see the vestiges of our Ben and Jerry's coping strategy lingering on Bunny's face.
Later, I learned an interesting factoid about Bunny and airports...she wishes to have moving walkways installed in our house, her school, and our small town. In an effort to amuse Bunny while waiting for our late plane, she enjoyed a multitude of trips on the moving walkways, and, I believe, seemed to view them as sort of preview of coming attractions.
Eventually, our flight began boarding, and the three of us had the good fortune of being seated together. On Southwest airlines, no less.
Once seated, Bunny began a rather intense interrogation related to our take-off. When are we taking off? How many more minutes? Is it almost time? Why are we waiting? Who is that? Do you know that lady, Mom? Hello there, my name is Bunny, whats your name? What are we waiting for? How much longer is it going to be? When will be flying? Wheres my snack? Whats this for? Arent you listening to me? Can I help fly the airplane? Can I? Why cant I? Dont you trust me?
The only other time Bunny has traveled by airplane was when she was 15 months old and we endured a very long flight to Alaska. I will not go into all the details of that memorable experience, but let me just say 1) there are excellent reasons why I have elected not to attempt air travel with Bunny for the past four and a half years, 2) I should have realized after that trip that Bunny was a prime candidate for an ADHD diagnosis, and 3) one ought never EVER to attempt air travel with a toddler unless one also has at least one change of clothing for both said toddler and the accompanying adult.
She was very excited indeed, and not the least bit nervous when the engines powered up, and we began to taxi down the runway. Her wide eyes were glued to the window until we were airborne, at which point she looked at me with eyes the size of small cheeseburgers and declared, Mommy! We taked off!
I love that child.
She enjoyed everything about the flight, from the nifty fold-down tray table, to her apple juice aperitif.
When we finally landed, a good while later (at around 1 am), she was a tired Bunny. We all three were. Unfortunately, we still had miles to go before we could sleep....
Cast:
Bunnysmum (the author): 40-ish, used to sit in front of my Moms chair on Sunday evenings while she combed my still-damp-from-the-tub hair as I watched The Wonderful World of Disney and wished that I, too, could zip around the castle spires looking just that perky and sassy.
I actually had a pixie "do" when I was about 8 years old. But I didn't look perky and sassy in it. No, I just looked like a boy. I still look at those third-grade pictures of myself wearing that trendy orange plaid zip-front dress (oh yeah!), with my enormous front teeth and shudder.
This is our first trip to WDW, but I am determined to PLAN so thoroughly to PACK so thoughtfully to TOUR so efficiently that no one would ever suspect the Bunnysmum crew of being mere first-timers.
Cause Im just like that.Bunny (her cybername): 5-ish, very active.
Knows no strangers. Introduces me to WalMart employees every time were there by surreptitiously reading their name tags and startling them by greeting them by name. Hello Miss Katie! This is Mommy. This has been more than a little embarassing on a couple of occasions in which Bunny took it upon herself to "introduce" me to a young single man, which tends to frighten them.
Nevertheless, I expect Bunny to run for public office before she turns 10. And win.
Nana: only slightly older than Bunnysmum (cause she was just a child bride, you know), aka Bunnys Grandmum, and Bunnysmums Mum, loads o fun
Background:
My sister, her DH (major Disneyphile), and their three little blonde boys (whom I affectionately call Huey, Dewey, and Louie) have gone to WDW every year for the past several. Every year, wed ooh and ahh at their stunning vacation photos, sit gamely through their fabulous vacation videos, and admire their nifty vacation souvenirs. Bunny and I watched this annual pilgrimage with growing interest, and well, unchecked envy.
I am now going to do what is called a rather depressing flashback. I say this up front so as not to unduly confuse anyone with my clever use of this ingenious writers tool, and to provide fair warning to any readers who would rather not take part in such a thing (you folks can just skip ahead a couple of paragraphs). I realize that things could get a little iffy given that this flashback is occurring in a segment of my trip report that has already been billed as background, and for that I apologize. Try to hang on here, the flashback will be a thing of the past, momentarily.
So to speak. When Bunny was nearly two years old, BunnysDad and I parted ways, largely due to what I will call his inability to behave himself properly. The years that we were married were a very dark time in my life, and I now feel as if it were all a hopelessly bad dream.
Bunny and I moved to another state to live with my parents (God bless them!) until I could get back on my feet again. For the first year, I think I was depressed and in shock.
About a year later, I decided to return to grad school to get another masters degree in a related field so I would have an easier time finding a job in almost any area of the country.
(End of flashback within a flashback.)
Shortly after I started my second round of grad school, I began to feel rather guilty about all the study and commute time that was robbing Bunny of having me all to herself, and so I did what any rational and desperate parent would do. In an effort to ease my guilty conscience, and at the same time give myself a really killer motivator to finish school, I promised Bunny that we would go see Mickey and begin amassing our own collection of nifty vacation memorabilia once I graduated. Cause every newly divorced mother back in grad school facing a 75 minute commute twice a day needs to be able to look forward to one day having her own cool Buzz Lightyear twirling flashlight.
It was a really great plan, and eventually I did graduate.
With another masters degree. Cause evidently, one just isnt enough. Unfortunately, I neglected to mention to Bunny that I would also have to WORK for a period of time in order to pay back certain financial obligations (grad school is like that) and to save money for this monumental trip. BUNNYSMUMS HELPFUL DISNEY PLANNING TIP #1: Small children have correspondingly small frames of reference. Avoid spilling the beans about any exciting upcoming event more than one year in advance. (Just a friendly little suggestion and sanity-saver that would be intuitively obvious to any thinking person.) Once Bunny realized that I was no longer spending all my free time studying, she caught on to the fact that it must be time to go see Mickey. Like, that day. I tried to explain. Really I did. I told her that I needed to work for a while so I could get money to pay for our trip. This did not compute with Bunny, who pointed out that I had lots of money in my purse (roughly $1.38 in change). We dont have our tickets yet, I hedged. Undeterred, Bunny rounded up all her oversized Disney Princess playing cards and handed them to me with much authority, saying Tickets! I sighed. I had done myself in.
There was nothing left to do but watch Dumbo several times in succession. With popcorn.
This is what we did to satisfy our Disney cravings for several months. Then Mary Poppins, then Beauty and the Beast, followed by Peter Pan, and most recently, The Jungle Book. All with popcorn. And on especially bad nights, popcorn with M&Ms mixed in. I now believe this was a good move, on my part. The movie-watching, I mean. The M&Ms not so much. As a result, when trip time actually rolled around, Bunny was able to greet most of the Disney characters she met by name and with much enthusiasm. It seemed to heighten the whole character-greeting experience for her, and Bunny truly felt that she was running into old friends who just happened to also be real live movie stars.
Over the past summer I planned obsessively for this trip. Changed the itinerary countless times. Changed our ADRs as many times. Wrote and revised packing lists. Studied maps. Bought stuff. Stuff wed need for the trip, you understand. (Like Disney pins. My very favorite so far are the ones that look like soda pop bottle caps. Just way tooo cute!) You know planned.
We also adopted a theme song. Bunny is, unfortunately, a tv-holic. This despite my very best intentions and pre-children vows to the contrary. Had no tv in the house, in fact, until she was about 20 months old. And that, I believe, was BunnysDads doing. Lets just say it was his doing.
So one day, Bunny is watching Bob the Builder on tv. Bob (the Builder) was taking his his friend, Wendy, and her sister to the airport to go on vacation. (It unnerves me, in a way, that I remember this so well...) One of Bobs animated pieces of chinery (I think its name was Smelly, or Schmuck or something like that maybe or maybe it was that scarecrow that looks like an onion-head Im not particularly Builder-savvy, so anythings possible). THE POINT IS someone on this show breaks into song Wendy and Jenny, goin on vacation, sunshine and ice cream, all day long! Its really more of a chant than a song, but I like the weather and treat references, so it becomes my theme song. Only I change the words a little bit, Mommy and Bunny, goin on vacation, Mickey and Minnie, all day long! Goofy and Pluto, Donald and Daisy, sunshine and ice cream, all day long!"
I sing this mantra loudly, and I sing it often. Probably a little too often. At some point, Bunny forbids me to sing it ever again. Can you imagine? I just laugh and continue to hum it under my breath.
Well, time marches on, and at long last, I am sitting at work trying hard to pay attention to a half-day inservice. The district is springing for lunch, but I have a plane to catch, so as soon as I politely applaud the speakers inspirational closing statements, Im outta there! Its raining, a cold, icy, wintry rain that just makes me laugh. Cause Ive been checking the Weather Channel and its a lot warmer where Im headed!
I drive just a little faster than is legally permitted to the home of Nana and BunnysGrandDad (they are watching Bunny for the morning, too). We have an early evening flight out of Chicago, and we live roughly 2.5 hrs from the airport. I have stayed up late the night before packing and repacking, checking, and rechecking. And not sleeping. Not much. Just before I call Bunny out to the van, I stuff the Pal Mickey that I scored on eBay under my jacket, and arrange him in her booster seat with a little card that says, Hey Bunny! I cant wait to see you at Disney World! Bunny is pleased, but not $60 worth of pleased, in my estimation. Oh well, she does warm up to him later when she realizes he can tell corny jokes.
Bunny is at that age when children fancy themselves comedians. Hey Mommy! she begins, Whats against a crocodile, a rooster, and a poodle? (She means, but cannot get straight, What do you get when you cross .) Then she howls, A croc-a-poodle-doo! Get it? Okay, well, at least that one does sort of make sense. But then she lapses into several miles worth that make no sense whatsoever. Hey Mommy, whats against a shoelace, a car seat, and Nannas purse? Give up? A shoelace carseat purse! Hahahahaha! Get it? That was a good one, wasnt it. Youre supposed to laugh!
So with BunnysGrandDad at the wheel, and Bunny spouting her own version of kindergarten entertainment, were off to the airport. The trip was uneventful, except for the fact that Bunnys GrandMum painfully chipped a molar on a drive-through burger en route. Not exactly the auspicious beginning I was going for.
At the airport, we arrived at the gate and began the waiting game with a most impatient Bunny. Predictably, our flight was delayed. Not exactly the auspicious beginning I was going for. Then later, it was delayed AGAIN. Not EXACTLY the auspicious beginning I was going for!
We had no choice but to eat ice cream. Ben and Jerry's, I think. Bunny was very keen on this particular coping mechanism of mine.
If you look closely, you can see the vestiges of our Ben and Jerry's coping strategy lingering on Bunny's face.
Later, I learned an interesting factoid about Bunny and airports...she wishes to have moving walkways installed in our house, her school, and our small town. In an effort to amuse Bunny while waiting for our late plane, she enjoyed a multitude of trips on the moving walkways, and, I believe, seemed to view them as sort of preview of coming attractions.
Eventually, our flight began boarding, and the three of us had the good fortune of being seated together. On Southwest airlines, no less.
Once seated, Bunny began a rather intense interrogation related to our take-off. When are we taking off? How many more minutes? Is it almost time? Why are we waiting? Who is that? Do you know that lady, Mom? Hello there, my name is Bunny, whats your name? What are we waiting for? How much longer is it going to be? When will be flying? Wheres my snack? Whats this for? Arent you listening to me? Can I help fly the airplane? Can I? Why cant I? Dont you trust me?
The only other time Bunny has traveled by airplane was when she was 15 months old and we endured a very long flight to Alaska. I will not go into all the details of that memorable experience, but let me just say 1) there are excellent reasons why I have elected not to attempt air travel with Bunny for the past four and a half years, 2) I should have realized after that trip that Bunny was a prime candidate for an ADHD diagnosis, and 3) one ought never EVER to attempt air travel with a toddler unless one also has at least one change of clothing for both said toddler and the accompanying adult.
She was very excited indeed, and not the least bit nervous when the engines powered up, and we began to taxi down the runway. Her wide eyes were glued to the window until we were airborne, at which point she looked at me with eyes the size of small cheeseburgers and declared, Mommy! We taked off!
I love that child.
She enjoyed everything about the flight, from the nifty fold-down tray table, to her apple juice aperitif.
When we finally landed, a good while later (at around 1 am), she was a tired Bunny. We all three were. Unfortunately, we still had miles to go before we could sleep....
Life was good. We even found POR without much difficulty. However, to be truthful, that was the only time during the entire trip that I found POR without much difficulty. Every other time I attempted to drive back from the parks at night, I became lost, frustrated, and ended up in Celebration feeling anything but festive. It was enough to convince me to give up on driving altogether midway through the trip and become a HAPPY busriding Disney guest.
Y'all rock out loud. (Yeah, I live in Illinois, and not even southern Illinois, but all of "my people" are from Kentucky, so I'm entitled to use "y'all" from a hereditary standpoint)
Well, I vaguely remembered where I had parked it, so we hiked out to the front of POR and clicked the remote control locking device until a likely-looking SUV responded by popping its locks. 
I didn’t realize things had gotten so out of hand.
