Coming from the Great White North in August WE'RE BACK.2nd DAY PTs1&2POSTED PAGE 23

[Diamondintheruff]

Welcome home!



Sorry about the head cold. I've flown with them before. Have you ever seen the scene in Total Recall when Arnold and the main chick leave the safe enclosure on Mars and their heads start to ballon up complete with bulging eyeballs? That's what I always think of during takeoff and decent.

 

[Disney Brat]

Hi Peg! Glad to hear you are home safe and sound! Sorry to hear about your cold, I hope it is doing much better now! Can't wait to hear and see your trip when we are back from ours!! Our flight leaves tomorrow at 5:20am!!!

 

[Hypermommy]

Okay now... it's been days and days and we have yet to see the first pixel. What, are you waiting for Queen to get back before you start? She probably threatened you, didn't she? I know I would... no telling what rotten things you might say that need defending.

 

[purplepeg]

Welcome home!



Sorry about the head cold. I've flown with them before. Have you ever seen the scene in Total Recall when Arnold and the main chick leave the safe enclosure on Mars and their heads start to ballon up complete with bulging eyeballs? That's what I always think of during takeoff and decent.

I have never seen that scene but it sounds about right!

Hi Peg! Glad to hear you are home safe and sound! Sorry to hear about your cold, I hope it is doing much better now! Can't wait to hear and see your trip when we are back from ours!! Our flight leaves tomorrow at 5:20am!!!

Thanks for the good wishes and I totally missed sending you off! Have a great trip, by my estimates you should be on your second plane and that much closer to the magic!

Okay now... it's been days and days and we have yet to see the first pixel. What, are you waiting for Queen to get back before you start? She probably threatened you, didn't she? I know I would... no telling what rotten things you might say that need defending.

Yeah yeah, she sent me a text yesterday saying she was just going to have a Grey Goose slushie, not fair! Well it turned out a storm moved in and she didn't get oneTalk about timing, I wonder if I have a direct link

 

[purplepeg]

Saturday, August 8, 2009

It seems like forever ago that we bought into DVC but it was only 12 short months ago! Now here we are about to embark on our first DVC holiday. We’re so excited!
Last night we did our usual pre-vacation dinner at The Keg restaurant. It’s a steakhouse and a favourite of ours. Queen already mention the whole potential shellfish allergy Thomas had that evening. As Geodoc was outside with him I told Queen, “from now on it’s no boyfriends allowed”. He’s a nice kid but really, he could have potentially started our vacation off poorly!

Queen, Geodoc, Mini Montana, and Jasmine

Me, Snow White, and Thomas.

We made our way home after dinner and finished up a few things and had to make sure everything was all set for the Tooth Fairy to visit because Mini Montana lost her first tooth during the day just before swimming lessons. The girls fell asleep very quickly. I had made sure to get them up early that day so they would be tired for sleeping. I tried to go to bed at 10 pm but then remembered I forgot my cell phone, got up then went back to bed. Still couldn’t sleep. Finally got up at 11:30 and went out to the couch, watched a bit of TV and finally fell aslepp until about 2 ish, the kids heard the TV and were up by 2:30 and had to come show me the toonie the Tooth Fairy left! We weren’t planning on getting up until 3 but I figured they wouldn’t go back to sleep so they got dressed and ready for the plane. We (meaning Geodoc and myself) got up and got ready too.
Crossing off the last day!

We were all ready by 4 but the limo wasn’t coming until 4:30. Now don’t think we’re some high falootin’ people here, it’s just not that much more than a cab from our house to the airport and there’s more room for the luggage! The limo was on time and it was drizzling a bit.

Do they look excited or what?!

Luggage on the sidewalk, oh I hope it's enough!

standing by the limo.

Inside the limo.

We arrived at the airport by 4:50. We had tried to check-in online the day before but the website said they needed more information from us so we had to through the regular line. The agent couldn’t figure out why we couldn’t do it online but we were checked in very speedily and were off to security with a quick bathroom break first (this will be a recurring theme during the trip).
We were quickly through security after I found my plastic baggie with my hand sanitizer in it (at the bottom of my purse). We stopped at Tim’s for coffee and a muffin for me, donuts for everyone else and milks for the girls. They were calling for pre-boarding when we were standing in line at Tim’s! Yikes, we better hurry up! We got settled on the plane, one row behind each other with a window for each child.

I sat with Snow White on the way to Toronto and I got the window seat because as we all remember from last summer Queen totally damaged the poor child for flying! Snow did very well, I didn’t even have to hold her hand, and after the in-flight T.V.’s started up she was in heaven with Discovery Kids especially since our cable provider doesn’t supply that channel anymore. Mini Montana fell asleep and I enjoyed my Saturday paper, sitting at the front of the aircraft does have its privileges.
Sleeping angel.

Geo doc enjoying some quiet time.

The flight was fairly bumpy to Toronto and that was after the captain had come on and said it was going to be smooth except for some bumps during approach to Toronto. Mini Montana woke up and had to...you guessed it, use the bathroom. Just as they got in line the seatbelt sign came on. They had to return to their seats. The flight attendant came by and asked Mini Montana if she thought she could “hold it”? Geodoc said “I hope so”. She did and we hit the bathroom as soon as we landed. Phew, ‘cause I didn’t pack a change of clothes! Toronto and customs went very well, because of our restroom stop by the time we got to the luggage carousel ours was the only luggage on it so while Geodoc picked up some luggage carts I took the luggage off the carousel and once it was loaded on the carts we were off to customs. We made it through customs with hardly any wait, I kept saying, “I could have gone to duty free”. When we got to security the line up was really long. I had decided we would each bring our laptops and now that it was feeling really heavy on my shoulder and I was trying to juggle taking off my sandals and taking the laptop out of the case and putting everything on the security belt, I was wondering if I had made the right decision! I beeped, as usual, I think it may have been my Mickey watch. We were at the gate by 10:05 Then we waited to board ( we had to wait for another crew member who turned out to be from our first flight) and I said again “I could have gone to duty free” sadly it was not to be and we boarded the Orlando leg of the flight. I sat with Mini Montana on this leg.
Here we go!

Sleeping again!

Outside the window.

Guess who had to go the restroom? As soon as we were in the bathroom the flight gets bumpy and the seatbelt sign comes on with the announcement to go back to your seats. Does this kid have timing or what? Man those washrooms are small when there are two of you in there together! As I’m hurrying her along because of the announcement she swings the door open superfast and catches the flight attendant right on the elbow! Oops, I felt so bad, made Mini Montana apologize and skulked back to our seats. I might add that we were in row 5 and Geodoc and Snow White were in row 20 something. The man that let us up to use the restroom positioned himself so we had to go all the way to the back of the plane to use the facilities instead of the one 5 rows ahead of us! We arrived at magical express about 1:30ish and since we already had our booklet we didn’t need to check in we could just get right in line.

Getting off the plane.

On the Mini Monorail.

At Magical Express.

So we did and not so patiently waited for the bus.

We boarded about 1:40 and didn’t leave until 2pm.

Heading to SS.

Just getting a glimpse we're really here!

We arrived at Saratoga Springs at 2:28 to be exact!

I was so excited, our first DVC stay and we have always stayed at a value resort except for the one night before a cruise at a moderate. I waited in line to check in and soaked up the lobby.

When I was checking in she read all the names out except for Geodoc’s. I said “and my husband”. She said he wasn’t on the reservation! What the..? She says “I’ll be back” and leaves and doesn’t come back for quite some time. Meanwhile I’m stewing and Geodoc comes over to find out what’s taking so long and he says “what do you mean I’m not on the reservation!?” I wasn’t any happier having that pointed out to me either!


I have to leave you with that for a bit!

Coming up next:
Does she find Geodoc on our ressie and does he get to stay with us?
Where do we go our first night?
Is pixie dust with us?

 

[Hypermommy]

What a great start!!!!! Love the pics and absolutely love the cliffhanger!!!! Can't wait for more.

 

[DisneyMomLiz]

Glad you're home safe and sound

Wow, what a great update and what a long day for you all! Can't wait to find out more about that cliffhanger

 

[lisalonglash]

Welcome home!!!

What a great update!! I can't sleep on the last night before a vacation either How awesome that Snow did so well on the flights! Maybe it's just having Queen beside her on the plane that freaks her out?

Sorry you weren't able to get to the duty-free Duty-free rocks! Getting on the Magical Express bus made me feel like I was officially on vacation Such a lovely resort!

Poor Geodoc - has to sleep outside now, hey? I hope you did have tons of pixie dust!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

I love the Keg. What a great night-before tradition.

Glad the flights went well. Love the picture of you and snow on the plane. You both are glowing!

Must have been hard waiting all that time for the ME bus to get going.

 

[Charleston Princess]

You started!!!

Goodness, what a lot of bathroom breaks!

SSR looks so pretty from your pictures -- I do hope Geodoc is allowed to stay with you! LOL!

 

[purplepeg]

What a great start!!!!! Love the pics and absolutely love the cliffhanger!!!! Can't wait for more.

Thanks for the kind wordswhat the heck is up with thatyou're supposed to be packing aren't you?

Glad you're home safe and sound

Wow, what a great update and what a long day for you all! Can't wait to find out more about that cliffhanger

Oh it was such a looong day but knowing we were going to Disney and getting to Disney just makes it all bearable

Welcome home!!!

What a great update!! I can't sleep on the last night before a vacation either How awesome that Snow did so well on the flights! Maybe it's just having Queen beside her on the plane that freaks her out?

I'm sure it is Queen but she would never admit it

Sorry you weren't able to get to the duty-free Duty-free rocks! Getting on the Magical Express bus made me feel like I was officially on vacation Such a lovely resort!

Poor Geodoc - has to sleep outside now, hey? I hope you did have tons of pixie dust!

Yeah, it really was too bad about duty free, oh well. Sleeping outside, yeah how did you know? That's what the balconies are for isn't it? The resort was lovely.

I love the Keg. What a great night-before tradition.

Glad the flights went well. Love the picture of you and snow on the plane. You both are glowing!

Must have been hard waiting all that time for the ME bus to get going.

I'm so glad you love the Keg too, I know lots of people who don't like it but it's always been a favourite of ours.

We were pretty excited on the plane. Snow took lots of pictures herself so I will post some of those throughout as well.

I was gritting my teeth thinking "how many mor people need to get on this bus?"

You started!!!

Goodness, what a lot of bathroom breaks!

SSR looks so pretty from your pictures -- I do hope Geodoc is allowed to stay with you! LOL!

Oh bathroom breaks should be the name of the reportshe's cute but teeny bladder

The resort was so beautiful. Will he get to stay with us...stay tuned.

 

[Geodoc]

Oh Boy Oh Boy........I can't wait to hear what happens to Geodoc too!!!!

 

[Hypermommy]

Maybe it's just having Queen beside her on the plane that freaks her out?

Come to think of it, that'd freak me out too!

Thanks for the kind wordswhat the heck is up with thatyou're supposed to be packing aren't you?:rotfl2

I am, I am... a little bit at a time. This is the hard stage of packing... knowing that KC and the eating machines have 3 more months here, I can't pack up stuff they're gonna need. Can't pack the kitchen (yeah, like they're gonna do more than microwave ). Can't pack summer clothes because it's still hot (you were just here... you know). Can't pack the winter clothes because it's likely to be cold (well, what we call cold) before they move at the end of November. Fun, fun, fun.

So what'd y'all do with poor Geodoc ... buy him a tent?

 

[Queenofallthings]

Hello friends....we're back!! Arrived at 10:35pm last night which was actually 30 minutes early, not sure what happened there but had great flights both from Orlando to Toronto and Toronto to Winnipeg!!!

Jasmine did great, no crying at all this time.....well not for the flying part at least, we both had a moment of tears on Magical Express as we left the hotel

Great start to the trip report Peg....it really was the best vacation ever I will get my suitcases unpacked and download the pictures so by the time Peg gets to the 10th, I'll be able to jump in as of right now, I got nothin....we were still in Winnipeg

Hey Diamond, you were so right about doing laundry at Disney, as I sit here on a beautiful sunny morning, I know all I have to do is put the cloths away I may have had a cocktail or two by the way

I have missed you all terribly and am off to catch up on all my subscribed threads

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

I am so glad you two started the trip report!

I hope everything works out with the hotel reservation!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Welcome home, Queen!!! Looking forward to hearing your side of all of the adventures!

 

[purplepeg]

Hello friends....we're back!! Arrived at 10:35pm last night which was actually 30 minutes early, not sure what happened there but had great flights both from Orlando to Toronto and Toronto to Winnipeg!!!

Jasmine did great, no crying at all this time.....well not for the flying part at least, we both had a moment of tears on Magical Express as we left the hotel

Great start to the trip report Peg....it really was the best vacation ever I will get my suitcases unpacked and download the pictures so by the time Peg gets to the 10th, I'll be able to jump in as of right now, I got nothin....we were still in Winnipeg

Hey Diamond, you were so right about doing laundry at Disney, as I sit here on a beautiful sunny morning, I know all I have to do is put the cloths away I may have had a cocktail or two by the way

I have missed you all terribly and am off to catch up on all my subscribed threads

On here but no word to your dear sister so she knows you've arrived home alrightIt's alright....I'll tell them all what REALLY went on while we were away

 

[Queenofallthings]

On here but no word to your dear sister so she knows you've arrived home alrightIt's alright....I'll tell them all what REALLY went on while we were away

Maybe if you were home to have answered your phone

Home safe and sound.....you've been home a week and one post....I am disappointed....I can't start until you hit Monday.....psst...hurry up girl

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am so glad you two started the trip report!

I hope everything works out with the hotel reservation!

Can't wait to read more!

Hi Princess Caitlin, it's still so hard to believe it's over and we're back home, but we truly had the best trip ever I called Peg tonight but she has some sort of meeting so won't be posting tonight, what is up with that, she definitely has her priorities messed up

Welcome home, Queen!!! Looking forward to hearing your side of all of the adventures!

Thanks CP.... it should be interesting to see the differing opinions....as you can well imagine I'm sure

 

[purplepeg]

Sorry I've been a bit busy but here goes part two!

So after the girl left me to stew for awhile she comes back and says “we had to rebook your reservation to include your husband”. I, of course, am thinking well I made all these requests and now they’ll be lost, how can they not have him on the reservation? So I don’t normally say anything in cases like this because I hate confrontation, but I thought it and out it came. I said “I don’t understand how he isn’t on the reservation when I called two days ago to confirm everything including the dining and I have my confirmation with him on it.” She replied, in a not so nice tone, “Well he’s not on mine!” and left! I was so not happy but I had used all my courage to ask in the first place so didn’t ask for a manager. She returned shortly and in an oh so sweet tone said, so everything is great and you’re in Grandstand (which I had requested) and here’s the charges for the first two nights. I had made a cash reservation for two nights and then we started using our points for the rest of our stay and then we would be moving to AKLV the next week. The bad thing about this was that we had to pay for dining for Jasmine and Queen even though they wouldn’t be here. It was because it was the same room type and the ressies were linked. I had to pay for the first two nights and the dining for the first two days. I asked if I needed to come back down and put the credit card on again in two days and she replied “no, it’s already on file and the reservation will be linked and continue so there is no need.” Again, not a nice tone but it would come back to bite her in the butt and be good for me!
Now that Geodoc was able to stay with us our room wasn’t ready! We had ADR’s at T-Rex for 4:30 and it was almost 3 by now so we thought we’d just get them to text it when it was available and head to Downtown Disney. We stored our stuff with Bell Services and were off. The only problem was we forgot to let Geodoc change into his shorts. He was still wearing his jeans from travelling! Oh well, as he said, it was too late now! We walked through the building to get to the boat launch and took a wrong turn and ended up by the Spa. Well I would be able to see that place later in the week! We followed Geodoc, who had been listening to the directions better than I had, and ended up near the boat dock when it started to pour rain. We decided to wait it out a bit and took in the local wildlife (geckos)while we waited .

Then we took off to Artist’s Palette for some drinks. We were so thirsty. The rain settled in to a sprinkle and we headed to the boat. As we walked down the stairs the girls veered left and we were saying no it’s this way. The girls had seen a cast member holding out stickers for them. I said “oh, they knew where they were going!” The boat came after about 5 min only to tell us it wasn’t running anymore due to lightning in the area.
Boat Dock

Here comes the boat...not!

We went back up the stairs to get to the bus stop and there was Jackie, the Cm who had given the girls the stickers. He had a golf cart and asked where we were going. There were two young, attractive girls ahead of us that he was talking too, but I figured since we were right behind them he meant us too! He said he would drive us to DD since he knew the boats just stopped running. How fabulous was this?! It had stopped raining by the time we got to DD and we just soaked it all up. My heart was racing at the shopping possibilities but I tried to restrain myself. We headed right to World of Disney and Snow bought an autograph book and Mini Montana bought a Pegasus with a blanket carrier. We headed over to T-Rex at 4:30 and were seated almost right away in the Sequoia room which is right next to the ice room so we got the benefits of both and we were close to the bathrooms!
Always stop for a picture with our friends!

Having fun with merchandise!

Getting pixie dusted by the Fairy Godmother in Training, "not enough to fly but enough to have luck"(or something along those lines)

Pixie dust

T-Rex restaurant.

Our room for the next several shots.

See how close to the restrooms we are? You can see the sign.

Ice room changing color.

Continued in next post!