MelessaG
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,295
Cast of Characters
Me- WDW nut who just may love planning trips more than taking them
DH-reluctant escort who I think may enjoy WDW more than he lets us know
Little Tink- almost 7 year-old WDW vet and budding park commando like mom
Sonny Boy-4 year-old "Stitch" fan who acts a lot like 626
Bitty Princess-2 year-old Diva
Baby Girl-6 month old along for the ride
MeMe-My mom and doting grandmother
PaPa-my Dad and mentor in vacationing 'commando-style'
DSis-My youngest sis, pregnant on the trip wed last July
DBIL-Sis' new husband, an unknown quantity, and birthday boy this trip
I never got to go to Walt Disney World as a child. I have planned to open with that at my first therapy session for years, but those haven't started yet and since I've been four times as an adult, I doubt any therapist would feel too sorry for me. Seriously though, I spent my entire childhood dreaming of going and finally made it with my DH, our first child, and my youngest sister when I was 26. That's when I first learned that DH and I have two entirely different schools of thought when it comes to vacation. He and my teenage sister conspired against me to eschew all early entry and vetoed my requests to head over and watch Fantasmic every day at 5:00 p.m. It was still a good trip, but very frustrating for a theme park commando like me to sit in the hotel every day while they indulged themselves in long naps. If I knew then what I know now, I would have packed up DD and gone by ourselves, but the parks were still a big unknown and it seemed like a dangerous thing to do. I think DH realized the error of his ways when, as we drove our rental car back to Tampa (where we visit his aunts each trip), he noticed I was silently crying in the passenger's seat because I had only seen a fraction of the parks while waiting for everyone else to get their act together and go. (even DD at 17 mos. took shorter naps than he and my sister) Still, the parks themselves had lived up to every childhood fantasy, and I was only sorry to have missed so much while I was there.
Three trips later, Dh is still trying to make this up to me and my sister still manages to tag along every time, so maybe I'm not as bad a "commando" as they portray me. Having gone from one 17 month-old DD to a crew of four kids ages 7 years to six months, has also helped me put things into persepective.
My next two trips were taken with my parents who ultimately purchased a time share through Marriott because they enjoyed our time there so much. We decided to spend half of our next trip at the timeshare, and the other half on-property. Our first trip was to SOG, but I had never experienced a Mickey wake-up call or used those red and white buses and I really wanted that.
Like many others, our most recent trip was planned after enjoying Samantha Brown's Travel Channel special while I was going through post-holiday withdrawl and a very uncomfortable second and third trimester with Baby Girl. I discovered the DIS and a whole slew of new WDW info. I was in heaven . My only break from trip planning came when Baby Girl made her appearance on May 25th, my best friend got married three weeks later, and my above-mentioned little sister got married in July. Because I knew I would be busy, I enlisted the help of Marla from Dreams Unlimited and I was beyond pleased with her service. Before long, I had reservations at the AKL, PS's for the PSB, Cinderella's Gala Feast, Boma, Chef Mickey's, and a very special CP package at Rose & Crown for my parents who would be celebrating their 33rd anniversary! Of course, I was so pleased about the CP package that I called my mom and spoiled the surprise, but we did manage to keep it from my Dad.
After much budgeting, it was sadly determined it would be cheaper for us to drive. I had sworn "never again" after out 2001 trip, but to save $450-I changed my mind. At about that time, Dh's sister moved from Dallas to Lafayette, LA, so we decided to do some visiting while we were at it. With our plans in place and the baby thriving, I set about getting caught up on the coursework towards my Master's degree while pregnant, using the promise of our upcoming trip to stay motivated. Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was coming and we were packing our bags...
Me- WDW nut who just may love planning trips more than taking them
DH-reluctant escort who I think may enjoy WDW more than he lets us know
Little Tink- almost 7 year-old WDW vet and budding park commando like mom
Sonny Boy-4 year-old "Stitch" fan who acts a lot like 626
Bitty Princess-2 year-old Diva
Baby Girl-6 month old along for the ride
MeMe-My mom and doting grandmother
PaPa-my Dad and mentor in vacationing 'commando-style'
DSis-My youngest sis, pregnant on the trip wed last July
DBIL-Sis' new husband, an unknown quantity, and birthday boy this trip
I never got to go to Walt Disney World as a child. I have planned to open with that at my first therapy session for years, but those haven't started yet and since I've been four times as an adult, I doubt any therapist would feel too sorry for me. Seriously though, I spent my entire childhood dreaming of going and finally made it with my DH, our first child, and my youngest sister when I was 26. That's when I first learned that DH and I have two entirely different schools of thought when it comes to vacation. He and my teenage sister conspired against me to eschew all early entry and vetoed my requests to head over and watch Fantasmic every day at 5:00 p.m. It was still a good trip, but very frustrating for a theme park commando like me to sit in the hotel every day while they indulged themselves in long naps. If I knew then what I know now, I would have packed up DD and gone by ourselves, but the parks were still a big unknown and it seemed like a dangerous thing to do. I think DH realized the error of his ways when, as we drove our rental car back to Tampa (where we visit his aunts each trip), he noticed I was silently crying in the passenger's seat because I had only seen a fraction of the parks while waiting for everyone else to get their act together and go. (even DD at 17 mos. took shorter naps than he and my sister) Still, the parks themselves had lived up to every childhood fantasy, and I was only sorry to have missed so much while I was there.
Three trips later, Dh is still trying to make this up to me and my sister still manages to tag along every time, so maybe I'm not as bad a "commando" as they portray me. Having gone from one 17 month-old DD to a crew of four kids ages 7 years to six months, has also helped me put things into persepective.
My next two trips were taken with my parents who ultimately purchased a time share through Marriott because they enjoyed our time there so much. We decided to spend half of our next trip at the timeshare, and the other half on-property. Our first trip was to SOG, but I had never experienced a Mickey wake-up call or used those red and white buses and I really wanted that.
Like many others, our most recent trip was planned after enjoying Samantha Brown's Travel Channel special while I was going through post-holiday withdrawl and a very uncomfortable second and third trimester with Baby Girl. I discovered the DIS and a whole slew of new WDW info. I was in heaven . My only break from trip planning came when Baby Girl made her appearance on May 25th, my best friend got married three weeks later, and my above-mentioned little sister got married in July. Because I knew I would be busy, I enlisted the help of Marla from Dreams Unlimited and I was beyond pleased with her service. Before long, I had reservations at the AKL, PS's for the PSB, Cinderella's Gala Feast, Boma, Chef Mickey's, and a very special CP package at Rose & Crown for my parents who would be celebrating their 33rd anniversary! Of course, I was so pleased about the CP package that I called my mom and spoiled the surprise, but we did manage to keep it from my Dad.
After much budgeting, it was sadly determined it would be cheaper for us to drive. I had sworn "never again" after out 2001 trip, but to save $450-I changed my mind. At about that time, Dh's sister moved from Dallas to Lafayette, LA, so we decided to do some visiting while we were at it. With our plans in place and the baby thriving, I set about getting caught up on the coursework towards my Master's degree while pregnant, using the promise of our upcoming trip to stay motivated. Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was coming and we were packing our bags...
Good move, at least from where I view it. The price of plane tickets from DFW to Orlando and then renting a vehicle for a week or two weeks like we have to do makes the long drive a worthwhile endeavor. My wife always says, "Never again!" But, we do it to save the money for WDW.
