"Do You Mind?" - Disney Adventures with Teens August Trip Report

[swwake]

Ok, all my "welcome"s and responses will have to come another day, when I feel like I have time to adequately address them without offending anyone.

I had a little fun with my camera tonight. First, one of the surprises about Katie's birthday party. I ordered these:

They are the custom M&Ms. I selected the colors of the candy and the bow. Half of the M&Ms say "Happy Birthday" and the other half say "Katie & Tate". They are smaller than I thought they would be, but still very cute.

I just got this camera for Christmas and haven't played much with it. Obviously, I don't know how to focus up close. I hope it will take better close-ups than this, but we will have to see.

Anyway, we have 20 of these little favors. I am saving three. One for me, one for Katie, and one for Mom. I'm really excited about them, and Katie really liked them when she saw them. Teal is Katie's favorite color, and her room is all decorated in teal (4 walls), with black and white 12x12 inch checkerboard on one whole wall. Thanks to my sister for coming to Austin and spending a week helping me paint that sucker!

Speaking of that, here are a couple of pics of the room (during construction):

 

[Native NYer]

Love the custom M&M's. And the room looks great. I like the checkboard wall. It's a great contrast to the teal. Planning birthday parties is so much fun!

 

[swwake]

My planning books. (It's an addiction!)
Two of my favorites:

My third favorite:

Others:

The Imagineers Guides have lots of behind-the-scenes info, but a little too deep for me on most days. Like someone over on Native NYer's PTR mentioned, I also can't find one of these for DHS.

Zagats is typical Zagats. Reads alot like the Zagat food guides. It helped me with our ADR selections, based on ratings.
I wasn't a big fan of Hassle-Free. It's a very quick read, but the touring plans are almost opposite of UG, so I just get confused.
Luxury Guide is good, but not much more info than what I can find in UG or Passporter. I could have predicted which items would be tagged with the "luxury" icon.

Here's the famous Mouse Map, with several select pages:

My old standby UG from 1995:

I am so psycho that I have sometimes pulled both out to compare them and see not only what WDW offerings have changed, but also how the recommendations have changed. It's an illness, I tell ya.

And look at the difference in the sizes of the two:

In summary, my current planning library, all in one shot:

 

[swwake]

Ok, last little tidbit for tonight. This one has two origins. First, Native NYer posted pics of her shoes the other day. Hers are much more impressive than mine

Second, if you recall a few pages ago, when Mom was here for spring break, I got my shipment of Reefs. That was when she said she didn't know she had given birth to a centipede.

Tonight, while I had the camera out, I took a shot of my new shoes.

> I wore the wooden ones on the middle of the bottom row today. They are quite comfy and dressy enough to dress up jeans for work.
> Top left and bottom left are called Gingers. These are my favorites because they mold to my feet and are very comfy. I wear them all the time. Top is brown, bottom is black with white accents. So I have some to go with everything!
> Top right are pink suede. I thought these would look nice with some pink capris or khaki shorts and a pink top or something.
> Bottom right are more athletic. I will see how these go and these may be my Croc substitutes at WDW, since I really can't get comfortable with how ugly the Crocs are.

And this is why I had to get new ones:

A little worn out, huh?
> The ones on the left I wore when building and painting the house, so they are really worn.
> The ones on the right are from a few years before the Gingers, but they just aren't as comfortable. These are from my boating days. Probably 10 years old or so.
> But the real reason I had to get ALL of these new Reefs is that I had a pair of brown Gingers with pink accents that was in my suitcase, in the Excursion when it was stolen last October. So I had to replace them. Now, why I had to replace them with FIVE NEW PAIR is still a mystery!!

Oh, and I meant to take a pic of the ones I got Katie, which are black with zebra thong straps. Very "Katie", and she loves them, though I haven't seen her wear them yet... But I forgot to go upstairs before I put my camera away.

 

[Native NYer]

The Mouse Maps book looks great! I want to see if I can order that one. Also, I think the Imagineer books would be interesting to read.

Have you seen the Hidden Mickey's treasure hunts book? I'm considering ordering one and doing a few with my nephew.

I LOVE flip flops!!! I practically live in them during the summer. Do you wear yours at Disney? I can walk all of NYC in flip flops, but I can't manage more than a couple of hours in them at WDW. Maybe I'm buying the wrong brand

 

[Native NYer]

Where did you order Mouse Map?

 

[MeMom]

I just happened to trip upon this report. Trip...report. Pun intended.

Anyway, several things stuck out to me, so I thought I better join in on this ride.

First, I noticed the Tennessee connection. We live close to Nashville. My daughter and son-in-law went to college in Jackson (Freed).

Second, Grandma was a principal. I'm a teacher. Never want to be a principal! Too much chaos going on in that office every time I go down there. I try not to frequent the office or the teachers' lounge. I stay in my room and mind my own business. It's quieter that way.

Third, you have a mother-daughter writing thing going on, and so do Jill and I. We write Baby and the Tramp, so if you want to see us sometime, check out the link in my signature. Forgive the first few pictures of the boys. Jill was being silly. They get better. And it has a cute baby in it, so it's worth checking her out, anyway.

Fourth, Grandma is looking forward to Disney. I'm sort of like that. Like, I might have some Disney things in my classroom. I could have a Mickey Mouse TV in the back room at home. There is a slight chance I listened to the SpectroMagic CD on the way to work this morning. I for certain celebrated my birthday (50th) in Disney World.

Fifth, last, and most important, family is VERY important to this MeMom, too. My kids are it for me. Life changed the minute my oldest was born, and it's been a fun, challenging, rewarding, exciting roller coaster ride ever since. My kids are all big boys and girls now. I loved them as babies, I loved them as kids, and I love them as adults. We have so much fun together, and we always have. We love being in Disney World together. I have said more than once that being in Disney World with my family is my heaven on earth!

So, I'm joining in on your report now. Since I just came across it here at school, I'll have to see the pictures when I get home tonight. The school computers aren't good about letting us see pictures, so I have to wait until I'm home to see all the fun stuff.

Oh yeah, and Katie made a good choice when she said she wanted to vacation at Disney World. Good for her!

 

[dddisrunner]

DDDisrunner,
You have the right idea, Susan's clients are paying for Katie's "Sweet 16". They just don't know it!

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!!!
TIGERS BEAT THE LONGHORNS!!!
YES! YES!! YES!!

My cousins live in Olive Branch , MS now but went to U of M for college and my female cousin is a HUGE Tigers fan! As a matter of fact her DD first word was "TIGERS" I know they are getting excited right along with you!


OK Susan, HOLY COW you are a book freak! You are on fire with your posts! I love the personalized m&m's they are soooo cute! Katie's room looks great too! Yes, it seems you definitely needed some new shoes!

 

[swwake]

128 Days!!!

 

[NMAmy]

Holy cow, woman, I thought I'd stumbled into my own child's bedroom when I saw all the flip flops. That's a lot of shoes, my friend! Are you taking all of them with you? At least they're easy to pack!

 

[AnnieDan_Artlover]

Hi Susan!

Loved the last couple of posts with all the pix!
That map book looks sooo awesome and fun! Pretty sure, as you said so yourself, that it's probably "home made" and self edited... Would never find such a thing here... except if I made it myself! haha!

 

[Native NYer]

Are you serving Lapu Lapus over here?

 

[swwake]

Are you serving Lapu Lapus over here?

Coming right up.....

 

[swwake]

How's that?

 

[swwake]

Anyone ready for another round??

 

[Beana9802]

Someone said something about Lapu Lapus....I am here from NativeNYer's PTR....I will come back to read it tomorrow...I am WAY PAST my bedtime!

 

[BrittBritt]

You hooked me in with the promise of Lapus! Now I'm off to start reading from the beginning!

 

[Beana9802]

You hooked me in with the promise of Lapus! Now I'm off to start reading from the beginning!

Hey, me too! But I will do it tomorrow..it's bedtime for Bean-zo!

 

[stagemomx3]

Anyone ready for another round??

Yum! How did I miss getting one of those on my trip? Where do you get those?

 

[Native NYer]

How's that?

Thanks

DIS cocktail party

If I have that many Lapu Lapus, I'll be on the bar dancing