Can't she sleep in the tub? I don't want to share my bed! A pretrippie

[steelfish535]

Yeah, that’s what DH said when I told him I was going to do this. Oh well, he just doesn’t understand. He can have his FOUR fantasy baseball leagues the endless football leagues, the endless hours of ESPN, and I can have the DIS.

This all started about two years ago, when my parents came to us with an offer we couldn’t refuse. One week at a DVC two bedroom at Old Key West with them and my brother and sister in law. After promising my husband that this would be painless (family vacations in his family were “interesting”), we started planning. Dinner meetings about where we’d have dinner. Endless emails about everything under the sun. Shopping excursions to figure out what we were all going as for the Halloween party. DH getting more and more apprehensive that he was going to the world with a bunch of dorks. “I’m not wearing some lame matching shirt!”, “Don’t even think about buying me ears with my name on them! I’ll kill you all!” So I figured this would be the only trip for us, at least for a while.

Needless to say, one week after we got home from that awesome trip, the family is eating dinner and DH (yes, Dh) says, “When are we going back?.....”

….and the race was on. I called my mother (The Disney Whisperer, as my husband likes to call her. Owning DVC and taking multiple trips each year, makes her the expert in the family. She has since become a certified Disney travel agent, so that’s even worse… ) and the planning began. Free Dining? Saves money! Halloween party? Even better! Where to stay? Where to eat? Endless possibilities. Twenty minutes later….we had a plan. Ok, my MOM and I had a plan; I just had to convince DH of the plan.

Now, on to the current cast of characters:
Me, steelfish, 30
DH, his nickname? He wanted something “Not lame”. So we’ll call him Lame!, 31. His catch phrase from last year’s trip? “I’m going because I know it’ll make my wife and kids thrilled.” He’s already discussing purchasing DVC and our ’08 and ’09 trips with the parents. Huh! Think we’ve converted him? Now, to just get him to wear the matching shirts and Mickey ears. Maybe that’ll be the ’08 trip…..
DD, Urbie, 9. Disney lover since birth. She took trips to Disney with her grandmother at 1 ½, 2 and 3. She can still recall details of those trips. Amazing!
DS, Our Dennis the Menace...so we'll call him Dennis, 1 ½ (he’ll be a little over two at the time of our trip). I should elaborate more about Dennis here. He’s a very sweet, loving little boy who is a whirling dervish. Since the trip planning from last year’s trip began before he was even born, he does not know of a world without Disney. Every person dressed in character is “Mickey”. The Easter bunny last week? Mickey. Chuck E Cheese? Well, we’re trying to teach him that’s the wrong rat. But the kid would rather watch our home movies from WDW than Blue’s Clues. Now that’s devotion. Gotta love ‘em.

So fast forward. Here’s what we’ve got:
POP Century, 9/14-9/22. FREE Dining thanks to mom and Disney Visa today!

Ok, off to bed!
Next installment, now where the heck are we eating? Do they have chicken nuggets there?

 

[Deemarch]

How come no one was interested in responding? I've never read a Pre-Trip Report before, but I like it!!

 

[steelfish535]

Ok, so after whining to Mom that I started my pre-trip and no one jumped on board, she replies to tell me I'm a good writer... Thanks for the vote of confidence Ma!

So, if for no one other than Mom, onward!

I was PM'd yesterday and told that we are now going to be hosting our own Crocker on this trip...Fauna! DD was thrilled to hear it, and already started planning what pictures she wants to take with her. She informed me that she is in charge of Fauna. We plan on taking her to try the Ice Station Cool in Epcot, along with a few other surprises. Lame now just says the trip has taken a deeper, darker turn into the world of "Dork". I bet that he's sad to see Fauna go when it's time. Just a hunch.

I promise, next time we'll talk dining!

 

[Deemarch]

Are there pictures of this Crocker?

 

[meeskamouska]

Yeah, another trip report by a commrade in arms....a Crocker Foster!!! Can't wait to see how this gets going!!

 

[steelfish535]

My obsessive/compulsive Disney planning has gone to new levels.

This is only my second trip as an “adult” (and I use that word loosely), and the first time, we had the aforementioned Disney Whisperer with us, so we didn’t need to plan much. It was all taken care of for us. So I’m left to plan and be responsible for the family. DH doesn’t really care what goes on, as long as he’s not working and you feed him. He’s a simple man, really.

So I peruse the menus. The kids don't care. Well, at least Urbie doesn't care. Chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs, grapes, it's all good. Since Dennis the Menace doesn't talk much yet, he eats what we give him. So I print some out and give them to Lame. After much consideration and some changing, this is what we've got:

9/14 - Dinner @ Teppanyaki. This is our travel day. We might be tired. Hopefully the flight won't be delayed and mess up our schedule. We figure we'll check in and then head to Epcot at some point that night. It's an EMH, so even though it might be crowded, it's where we're heading.

9/15 - Dinner @ O'hana. We MUST be in the MK for Spectro that night. With our sked for the week, this is the night we have alloted for Spectro. Thursday is our back up day in case the parade is cancelled. When we went in October, the little one fell asleep for the parade. We taped it and we've watched it on you tube and wdwinfo.com a million times. He knows the music as soon as the first note hits. He'll dance around the room like a madman. So we HAVE to see this with him.

9/16 - Dinner @ Marrakesh. We've never been, and no one we know has ever been. So we're having a new adventure.

9/17 - Dinner @ Brown Derby. I also made early lunch ADR's at Sci-Fi. We would like to see it, but don't know if we'll get there, or cancel them.

9/18 - Day off. Bfast at Chef Mickeys and dinner @ Cape May Buffet, my fave!

9/19 - Dinner @ Coral Reef - our anniversary

9/20 - Dinner @ Whispering Canyon.

9/21 - Dinner @ ltt the night of MNSSHP

So now, what's left? Plane tickets, check. Room, check. Free dining, check! Rental car, check. Ordering MNSSHP tix on 5/1. Trying to convince DH to buy DVC while we're there, check. Reading other trippies that are making me sad, check.

Read my husband parts of "The Man Report" trip report from Buzz & Linnie. So now we're arguing about a flag and the proper GAT maneuvers. Uh oh. Who was the dork again?

Four+ months to go. You've GOT to be kidding me.

 

[Goofyluver]

Okay...I'm in...now you have to catch up on mine...

 

[steelfish535]

Meeska and Goofy-
You two are hilarious! I'm still catching up on your report.


Ok...so next installment. Not much to write about, but jonesing for a little Disney information. There are still 114 some odd days until we go (not that I'm counting the seconds or anything...approximately 9.8 million)

My parents just went to Disney (they are there now, actually) and they just did carry on baggage this time. So we are thinking it might be a good idea for us to do that also. Are we nuts? Two small children and three small carry on suitcases? Yup. But I found the information for GardenGrocer.com, and we can order diapers and wipes and all that stuff to have it delivered when we arrive. Plus breakfast stuff and snacks. So that'll work. Any souveniers we buy, we can always have shipped home. So now we added a carseat to the car rental ($80 more dollars...don't tell DH!) and that eliminates one more thing we have to worry about taking with us.

We also had a change in the CrockerFocker Exchange. We now have Fritzie von CrockerFocker, our German-Irish pal. We are thinking of changing an ADR to take him to Biergarten, so he can learn a little of his German heritage. Not sure yet. DH is still confused by the whole thing. We're carrying what around all week? A Croc? Aren't they those ugly shoes? I give up with him...lol.

After spending hours and hours and days and days on the disboards, I think I might go to the dismeet that will be at POP on the 16th. Strange people I've never met before? Sure! Meeting new people? Sure! What the hell! I talk to people on the grocery line (yeah, they normally give me funny looks back, but oh well... ). Convincing DH to attend this with me? Not so much. He's not much of a socializer when it comes to strangers. But I'm working on it. I figure the fact that we're meeting at the hotel pool BAR will be a selling point for him. Otherwise I'll just take my daughter with me.

Our next order of business? Deciding what we want to be for MNSSHP on the 21st. Hmmm....we were pirates last year, and it was too hot for all that costume. So, something easier.

Want to hear something sad (my three subscribers, one of whom is my mom?) I broke out the suitcase this weekend and put our Disney shirts in it. Oh boy