Disney...Take me AWAY. (With LOTS of Pics) **Now Complete**

[J and R's mom]

PreTrip:
MAY 2003---Princess J arrives—WAAAAAAAHHH WAAAAAHHHH WAAAAAAAHHH

NOVEMBER 2004—Princess R arrives AND Princess J hits a new phase—WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

All together now: WAAAAAAH WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE WAAAAAAH WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!

March 2006: Momma looks over at daddy (AKA TEEBEE) and says, “Let’s go to Walt Disney World. ALONE. Call your parents.”

The cast, crew…and story....to follow. But for now…here’s a look at our two little princesses that made this trip possible (or should I say necessary?) and our new puppy that we adopted in Jan 2006, so we better add some yipyipyipppss to the mix--oh and that last bit reminds me, let's add some pppsssssss to the mix as well--being a puppy and all.

Edited To Add--Below is a list of installments and their post numbers:

Cast: #2

Day 1: #5, #11, #14, #20, #25

Day 2: #41, #51, #58, #67, #71, #77, #78, #86,

Day 3: #91, #98

Day 4: #105

 

[J and R's mom]

The Cast:

You’ve already been introduced to Princess J (3) . She’s high-strung and hyper—like her momma. She won’t sit still for very long. Too much to do. Her favorite pastime is whining. She might tell you it's something different, but don’t be fooled, whining seems to be her favorite hobby. At least to me it does.

You’ve also been introduced to Princess R(18months) . Although I doubt she’d appreciate being called a princess. At least not yet. Quite the opposite of her sister, really. She’s VERY laid back and easy going—like her daddy. BUT OH, can she throw a tantrum. At least they pass quickly.

TEEBEE —My sweet, tolerant, patient husband. Most of the time, anyway. He tolerates my Disney obsession but doesn’t share it. I’m just thrilled he agrees to go with me as many times as he does.

Momma —(me)—but you can call me mom. Heh. Heh. [Please don’t, though. I hear it enough on any given day.] I am addicted to Walt Disney World. Shameful, I know. I have been addicted since my first trip when I was 11 years old. I’ve had many trips since then. TEEBEE and I were even married there and had our honeymoon there.

Now, Princess R was a surprise. We had only planned on having one child. But I touched TEEBEE’s foot one night and Princess R was on her way. And only 18 months, 5 days after I had given birth to Princess J. Having two kids that close together is…hmmm… welll, challenging. [Heh, heh. That’s like calling Mt. Everest a hill.] Anyway, both sets of grandparents (our parents) live three hours away. They are our only babysitters (at least until my youngest turns two…I’m just weird that way…I make no apologies). So TEEBEE and I don’t get alot of alone time. That’s alone time together (is that an oxymoron?) or alone time apart. We are typically in the company of our two princesses. Once a month or so we go visit the grandparents and let them babysit while we go see a movie (in a theater….I had almost forgotten what those were like) or eat a dinner out.

But sometime in March 2006, after my 18 month-old threw yet ANOTHER tantrum and my 3 yr-old was whining, YET AGAIN, I looked at TEEBEE and said…well, you already know what I said if you read the first post. So, let’s get a move-on, shall we?

Day One, May 11, 2006

I really have a hard time calling anything “DAY” when it’s still dark outside, but technically it was morning, 4:30am to be exact. I’d rather be going to bed at 4:30am than waking up at that hour. I am NOT a morning person. But for Disney, I’ll make that exception.

Mornings and my husband go together like investments and Enron. It’s just not a good mix. We’ve learned over the years that minimal talking is best until after lunch. And neither of us drinks coffee. So you can just imagine.

We toss the last few remaining items into our carry-on bags and go kiss the princesses good-bye as they sleep. My mother-in-law gets up to tell us to have a great trip and wish us well. TEEBEE grunts at her (or something similar to a grunt) and I thank her once again for coming up to babysit for us. We jump into the car at 5:00am and pretend to head to the airport. I say pretend because we had to come back to the house since I remembered--a few blocks after leaving-- that I needed to get my hat. It gets sunny in Florida, you know. TEEBEE didn’t say a word. He didn’t even grunt. He just turned the car around and drove back to the house.

Our flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until 7:20pm (since we thought TEEBEE would be working that day) but he had taken the day off so we decided to try and fly stand-by on the 7:45am flight instead. A whole 12 hours early. Woo Hoo. More WDW time for us. We hope. If not, it’d be a LONG wait at the airport. But I had called the night before and was told that we should not have a problem getting seats. The flight still had over 30 seats available.

As we neared the exit for the airport I mentioned to TEEBEE that we should try the parking lot that had the yellow shuttles with all of the black dots all over them. He grunted his agreement and we exited for the airport. As we drove right past the Yellow-Spotted parking place, I looked at TEEBEE and said:



Me: So, you didn’t want to try it afterall, huh?

TEEBEE: What?

Me: The yellow spotted place.

TEEBEE: Oh. No. I guess not.



He zones a little that early in the morning. I just laughed. We parked in our typical lot. The shuttle pulled up before we could even get out of our vehicle. We only had two carry-ons (we can pack LIGHT when we’re not traveling with little ones) and the shuttle driver looked at the back of the car and asked us, “Is this it?” Yes, sir!

And we were off. Headed to the airport.

Up next: So, what are our chances of getting on that early morning flight? Did 30 people end up booking up all of those seats?

Oh yeah, and I will have pictures. But not until we actually MAKE it to WDW. Assuming that we do.

 

[pooksma]

Oh boy Im settling in again! You guys keeping writing these great TRs and I'll never get any work done!

 

[JustEngagedNicole]

I can't wait to read what happens next! Your writing is very entertaining!! Good work : )

 

[J and R's mom]

Day 1 Continues:

I didn’t even know that many people would be awake that early, let alone at an airport. The place was CROWDED! I’m assuming that they’re all there to make sure that those 30 seats get filled up before TEEBEE and I can get our seats, darn their hides.

We make it up to the Continental check-in , do-it-yourself, computer thingy. It asks me to enter a card. So I pull out my Mickey Visa and tell TEEBEE to do the same.



TEEBEE: No way. I’m not sticking that in there.

Me: Well, you need to put something in there so it can identify you.

TEEBEE: Well, I’ll put my driver’s license in there.

Me: It won’t be able to read that. USE MICKEY!

TEEBEE: GRUNT!



Of course, my computer won’t work. The nice little airline worker comes over to help me. She assumed, of course, that I was just another moron. At least that’s what her tone implied.



Airline Assumptress: Put your card back in there, Sweetie. Okay, now you just touch the screen right here….Hold on….touch..the…screen…Hey Ray! Pull up this passenger on your terminal and check her in will ya’? This machine’s broken.

Me: Thanks.

TEEBEE: Hey look! It recognized me when I used my driver’s license!

Me: GRUNT!



Well, Ray gets me checked-in and TEEBEE gets himself checked in….using a driver’s license. Smarty pants. And we head on down to our gate to check in at the counter there. Mr. I’m-Not-In-a-Chatting-Mood takes our stand-by requests but refuses to fill us in on our chances. He said, “We’ll call your name right before boarding if we have seats for you.”

So TEEBEE heads down to get something to eat. I don’t eat breakfast. Never really have. I just don’t have the stomach for it most mornings. TEEBEE, though, MUST EAT or he’s a bear….that grunts even more.

While he does that I decide to go to the ladies’ room and put on some make-up. Yep, you read that correctly. I was going to put on some make-up. Since most of you don’t know me, I’ll fill you in. I don’t wear make-up very often anymore. Before I became a SAHM (Stay-at-home-mom), I’d wear it to work--and maybe church. But that was it. Now that I’ve been home, I wear it maybe once a month and sometimes to church.

This is my theory on make-up. When Eve ate that apple and God kicked both of them out of Eden, God handed Eve a bag of make-up and said, “You will now be cursed with the need to feel like you must wear make-up to look pretty. And Adam, you will be cursed with DEALING with women and their make-up routines and costs. Now BE GONE WITH YOU.” Or something like that.

Anyway, I go sit next to TEEBEE and he looks at my face and says:



TEEBEE: What’s on your face.

Me: Make-up silly.

TEEBEE: Why’d you go put that stuff on your face?

Me: To make me look pretty.

TEEBEE: I like you better without it.

Me: Tough. GRUNT!



We then hear, “Will stand-by passengers TEEBEE and Momma please report to the check-in counter.”

Yep folks. WE GOT OUR SEATS! And we’re off. Finally. To WDW.

Up next: Pictures from Day 1...and one was taken redneck style (or so I've read).

 

[cjhinch]

I'm so jealous.......a trip......ALONE......to Disney World??? I can't wait to read more!

 

[kpk89]

OK, J&R'sMom, I'm in! I can very much understand that desire to get away without the little precious ones. Can't wait to read the rest of your vaca!

 

[precious pixie]

Great writing I can't wait to read more!

 

[twoprincesses]

Haven't had a trip with out the DDs yet! After this report I may have to start planning.... I'm hooked already...

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[J and R's mom]

Day 1 STILL Continues:

The sun had finally risen. I felt a little more human, even if I did have make-up on my face.

We board the plane and get fairly decent seats (not together). We don’t really mind sitting apart. We just revel in the silence. It’s not something we get very often. I look around at my fellow passengers and notice a mom and her 14-month old daughter (I asked the age) that were crunched in the center seat an aisle over and back from me. I just smiled. I didn’t have to contend with my dear little ones on this flight. I was going to get to read a book. Without getting smudges on it and pages torn while reading it….unless, of course, the person sitting next to me had some health problems I wasn’t aware of. Anyway, the little girl was fussy during taxiing and take-off so I tried to divert her attention by making faces at her and playing peek-a-boo. It's so much easier to entertain OTHER peoples’ kids. And it actually worked. Soon after take-off the little one fell fast asleep and I read my book.

I am happy to report that my fellow passengers did not have any health problems that interfered with my reading. We had a great and un-eventful flight and arrival at MCO.

I know some folks make fun of MCO’s faux monorails, but I LOVE that part. It gets me ready for the real thing at WDW. It sets the mood. At least for me. So we jump on one and head down to find a cab. We decided against taking Magical Express this trip. I’m glad we did. TEEBEE and I spent most of the time zoning on the way over to WDW. I swear he can sleep with his eyes open. He’s perfected the art by practicing it on me while I’m having discussions with him.

We wake up in time to see the sign for the Epcot Resorts. That’s us BABY! We pull into the driveway of the Boardwalk and I get tinglely all over. We checked into our 1 bedroom villa. Although it wasn’t ready, I’ll post the pictures here since I promised some--a few pictures of the view from our balcony:

And here's one of our towel animal:

We left her just the way we found her...so the next family could enjoy her.

Since our room wasn't quite ready, we decided to head on over to MGM and ride my ALL-TIME FAVORITE RIDE--ROCK-N-ROLLER COASTER!

Here we are on the boat to MGM (I'm taking the picture so it looks a bit odd) but take notice of the HAT...I'm sure glad we went back to get it!

And here's where we exited....

I'm not entirely sure why I took this shot, but mainly because I'd never seen it deserted like this before.

Up next: The redneck photo I mentioned and a few others....

 

[scanne]

Loving your report and pics! Glad you got the early flight, too!!!

 

[KerriSue]

Im enjoying your report. by-the-way, I think you look nice with make up one

Keep the report and pics comin

Kerri

 

[J and R's mom]

Day 1 Continues on:

I was HUNGRY. So we headed over to the counter service area next to Rock-N-Roller Coaster. It was going to be our first attempt with the Disney Dining Plan (DDP). Luckily for us, I have no funny story to add here or boring tangent to inflict on my readers. Everything went really smoothly. And I really like the DDP.

We chose our table carefully. We had some inside information. We knew that the storm that was in east Texas the night before was going to be getting into Florida that afternoon. We even had to fly around it on the way in. Keeping this information in mind, we snagged a table under one of the larger canopies that house three tables. We sat at the middle table. We were just about finished with our hamburgers when the rain hit. We had ALOT of fun watching the folks scramble or just try to figure out what to do. It was an attraction all unto itself. Here is a picture of a cute couple taking refuge under the canopy at the condiments bar:

But we took pity on some of our fellow diners. TEEBEE scooted over to my side of the bench and we invited a family of six to share our table…. well as much of it as they could anyway. They were quite a pleasant family. Wish I had a picture of them. They were from England, Nottingham to be exact…(as the son said to me, “You know, like from the movie Robin Hood.” ) I chuckled when he said that. I guess we Americans aren’t known for our geography skills.

I’m the chatty sort (in case you haven’t already figured that out) and so bombarded them with questions:

Me: What’s your favorite ride?
Me: What’s your favorite park?
Me: Where are you staying?
Me: How long will you be here?
Me: So, have you MET Robin Hood?

Now if only I would learn to let people answer some of those questions. Joking. They had already been there for a week and planned on staying another week. And they were staying off-site somewhere.

By the time I finished harassing our new friends, the rain had let up and they made a run for it. So I figured what better time to hit my FAVORITE ride?! A full belly and a husband prone to motion sickness. Perfect timing, I say. Our conversation went like this:

TEEBEE: I swear you get me full just before we ride this ride EVERY time. I think you do it on purpose. Do you just hate me?
Me: Heh. Heh. Heh. Come on toughie. I’ll race ya’!

What a fun ride. I have a picture of the picture that they took of us on the ride. Want to see it? I’ve heard that this technique is called the “Redneck” version of getting the ride photo. I’m pretty sure my Maelstrom buddy LaLa coined that phrase. Anyway here you go (the arrows are pointing right at us):

Now TEEBEE really likes Tower of Terror. I think it’s one of his favorites. The lines at these two rides are practically non-existent so we sail right on through and after a brief pause or two hop on the ride. LOVED IT! As usual. Took another Redneck shot:

And I finally realize that my hat is missing. CRAP. The last I saw of it, I was sitting on it during our RnRC ride. I force TEEBEE to ride it with me again and ask the CM as we’re disembarking (a Disney word) from the ride if there’s a way to see if someone found my hat. She goes and gets a box of lost items and THERE’S MY HAT! Woo Hoo! I notice TEEBEE just shakes his head at me. That’s TWICE in one day that hat has haunted him. Since there was hardly a line, I wanted to ride again. TEEBEE was done. It was time to go check out our room anyway.

On the way out we see Pluto. He decided to flirt with me. How sweet. Good dog!

And then I decide to get a picture of my hat with the BIG hat in the background...just to do it...and irk TEEBEE some more:

Plus, I might need a picture of it to show the CM the next time I lose it. Heh. Heh.

Next up: Belly dancing, pasta and blue thong…oh MY!.....and, yes, the END of Day 1.

 

[twoprincesses]

Love it so far... the two of you are a cute couple.

 

[exwdwcm]

enjoying your report and can't wait to hear the rest! how long were you there for?

lol at the 'redneck' photos.......we do that too sometimes!

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

I am enjoying this much.

Your dog is pretty darn cute.

I'm so glad you rode Aerosmith.

I love it too.

I can't believe you ate at a DS COUNTER SERVICE.

You are both foolish and brave.

Kudos. Or Cudos. I'm confuselled now.

Thanks for clearing up something for Me(l): I always thought you were JR's Mom. Miss Ellie.

Keep 'em comin'. From Dallas.

Cheers, Mel.

 

[AshClan]

Great start on your trippie! And you and DH are cuties! That dog must eat a lot. He's pretty big. I'm just sayin.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I was reading. And enjoying. And waiting. For the next installment......

 

[missummer]

Can't wait to read more! I'm really enjoying this!

 

[J and R's mom]

Day One DOESN’T Come to a Close (Yet):

Because the weather was nice and cool after the rain shower, and because the boat had just pulled away, TEEBEE and I decided to walk back to the BWVs from MGM. Now, we’ve taken this walk before and KNOW how long it actually is. But we enjoy taking it. And racing the boat. Did I mention that TEEBEE is competitive? Well, so am I really, but on this day, he was a bit more competitive than I was. He couldn’t stand that the boat was pulling away from us. When he started to speed-walk (something this laid-back person RARELY does) I had to rein him back.:



Me: Whoa, boy. Slow down.

TEEBEE: That boat’s not going to beat me.

Me: Define “beat.”

TEEBEE: What?

Me: Well, if you run and get yourself all tired, I’d say it beat you anyway. Plus, if you run, then I’ll have to run (since I’m competitive, too) and then I’ll have to beat you…but with my fists. For making me tired. ON OUR FIRST DAY HERE. Besides, it has a few stops to make before it makes it to BWV. So CHILL!

TEEBEE: Grunt. (Still grunting after lunch even. I got him up WAY too early.)



We continue at a relatively nice pace over to the Boardwalk. I must add here how much I like the Epcot resort area. It’s a little town unto itself. A town that has its own lake and easy access to two theme parks, not to mention nightlife and more restaurants than someone can eat at in one visit. What more could a vacationer ask for? Miniature golf, you say? Hmmm….well, Fantasia Gardens is just on the other side of the Swan and Dolphin.

The other reason I’m so attached to this area is that TEEBEE and I were married at Sea Breeze Point—the white and green gazebo on the Boardwalk. Here is some proof:

And we honeymooned at the BWI (more "proof"--heh, heh):

OH WAIT! That's the WRONG picture...here you go:

Man is he handsome. I’m one LUCKY woman! So anyway, it’s a special place for us.

We make it into the lobby and check into our room. I’ve shown you some photos of our view (and you can see Sea Breeze Point from our balcony) but here are some shots of the living room and kitchen:

You've seen this shot, but I'll post it again since the gazeebo might hold a bit more sentiment now (plus, I really like this shot):

And here are some shots of the bathroom (a side-note for those that are interested--the 1 bedroom units come with a split bathroom—the tub, vanity and closet area….)

…and then a sink, toilet, shower area:

It’s interesting to note that I took pictures of the bathroom but didn’t get pictures of the actual bedroom area (It has a king bed, TV armoire, table and chairs, and another balcony--for those that are interested). Nice to see where my priorities lie. Or disturbing. I’ll leave that up to you.

Up Next: I didn’t make it anywhere near the belly dancer, blue thong or pasta in this installment but I’m hoping that at least ONE of them makes it into the next installment.