Going, going, GONE... almost!!!

[armychap]

Okay, I have been so fascinated by all the trip reports I have read here that I decided to make an humble attempt to share my WDW experience. Actually, I thought it would be neat to create one as a journal to pass on to my son someday since he won’t remember this trip. So here goes…

The Characters

DH: A 35-year old goofy guy who spends his time helping me raise our son and working full-time as a security officer and part-time as a police officer. He had never been to WDW until we went there for our honeymoon. He grew up going to Disneyland but had never ventured to visit WDW. This trip will make visit #3 to the World.

DS: A 9-month old curious about everything little boy who spends his time playing, smiling, laughing, sleeping, eating, and filling diapers. He also accompanies me to one of my part-time jobs where he is always the center of attention and the number one distraction for the other employees. This trip will be his #1 trip to the World (unless you count the trip he made when he was in my belly).

Me: A 28-year old kid at heart who spends her time raising our DS and working part-time as an administrative assistant and part-time as a chaplain. I grew up going to WDW every few years from the time I was 5, but it wasn’t until I participated in the WDW College Program that I really fell in love with the place. I don’t know what number visit this trip will be for me but I know it will be just as wonderful as all the others.

As of today, we have seven days and a wake up (8 days technically) until we're officially on vacation!

The Reservation

I have to explain this because this WDW trip was an accident of sorts. My husband and I had entertained a few conversations about how “someday”, as in three or four years in the seemingly incredibly distant future, we would take our son to Disneyworld and show him all our favorite places.

Then one day as I was logging into my e-mail account at work, I got one of those crazy banner pop-ups. I usually ignore such intrusions but this time I noticed it had a very Disney look to it. I scrolled over the box and sure enough, it was an ad for the WDW free-dining in September package. My curiosity captured, something not hard to do, I clicked the link to the WDW website and started plugging in dates for approximate costs, interested to see if I could really get a good deal or if the promo was just a bunch of hype. Six days, five nights with park hopper, water park option tickets at the All-Star Sports resort for just over $1000. Mmm. I thought for a minute, then another minute, then another. Well now how on earth could I pass that up without having to do an insanity check?! Besides September would be the perfect time to go! My part-time jobs are super flexible and my husband has vacation time to burn. I then proceeded to come up with all the reasons I could think of for why we just “had” to go to WDW in Sept!

And then I did something I don’t usually do! Maybe I need an insanity check after all! I booked a trip to WDW right then and there on the fly without asking my DH! I think it was about the time I was printing out the confirmation information when I started to feel a little guilty about it.

I think it was at the moment my husband came home that I started to feel A LOT guilty! I was going to have to tell him, more precisely sell him on the idea of another WDW vacation. We had just been to WDW and on a Disney cruise summer 2006 and are planning a Disney cruise in January 2008. Now I would love to go to Disney every year, but I haven’t yet been able to convince my DH of this necessity. I was sure he was going to say something along the lines of “enough Disney trips already”. Anyway, our conversation went something like this:

Me: You’ll never guess what I did today?
DH: What’s that?
Me: I was checking my e-mail and I saw this ad and Disney has this package deal going on and it would be a lot of fun… <I ramble when I’m nervous>
DH: <curious but calm> Deal?
Me: Yeah… a week at the World, park hopper, water parks, All-Star Sports…
DH: <suspicious> Yeah? How much?
Me: Around $1000. <The final bill came to a few dollars over that>
DH: <losing interest> Well that is a pretty good deal.

It was at this point that my DH began to show signs that he was ready to move on to another topic. By contrast, I was about to jump out of my skin from an odd blend of excitement and anxiety. I think any guilt was gone at this point, but I was getting frustrated that my DH was still clueless to my “surprise” and a little nervous that he wouldn’t like it. We’ve been married almost 5 years… couldn’t he tell I was about to burst?

Me: So, you think it’s a good deal?
DH: What? Oh, yeah.
Me: <silence for a moment, then finally> It would be in September. I checked our calendar. And free dining… you know we’ve wanted to try some new places…
DH: <more silence and frustrating suspense, then suddenly> Well maybe we should think about doing it.
Me: <guilty silence>
DH: Well why don’t you go ahead and book it. It’s good timing. Sounds like a good idea.
Me: <even guiltier silence>
DH: Well? Only if it’s something you want to do? You brought it up so I assumed you were interested… we don’t have to.
Me: <gulping> Um, um, um. Really? You want to do it?
DH: Yeah, you make the reservation though.
Me: Oh. <gulping again> Well… um… um… I already did.
DH: Did what?
Me: Made a reservation. I mean I can always cancel it. It was just an idea.
DH: <awkward potentially problematic silence> Oh. Well, you know what this means then?
Me: What’s that? <bracing for a possible negative lecture on mutual decision making or in this case the lackthereof>
DH: <suddenly beaming> I get to take my son to DISNEYWORLD!!!!

My DH then proceeded to tell me all the attractions and character meals he was going to take his son to in September. I’m not sure who ended up more excited. I think I was more relieved that my DH wasn’t upset. I don’t think I’ll make any more surprise reservations.

Okay, I have more but I have to do a couple things for my boss since I'm at work, and then I can post some more.

 

[armychap]

Okay, if you're reading this, then I haven't bored you to death yet... so here's more.

Reflections on Why I Love WDW

I started having doubts as I was booking our flights to Orlando and making the ADR’s. I was suddenly wondering if going to WDW with a 9-month old was a completely insane idea. It’s not like he was going to remember anything and it was going to be a lot of work to take him there. We took him to northern Minnesota for a week when he was 5-months and I was remembering how much energy and planning that took. But then I started thinking about my first trip to WDW in 1983.

I was 5. I remember bits and pieces – like being scared to death in the Haunted Mansion and being absolutely delighted by It's a Small World. Not long after that trip, my family moved out to California. It took a few years, but in 1989, we finally made it to Disneyland for a quick, one-day not nearly long enough visit. I’m not sure why my family could never tolerate Disney for more than one day at a time. Over the next few years, we made periodic visits to WDW and DL, but always as one-day side trips on the way to something else. I would get so frustrated because just about the time I started to enjoy the place, it was time to go home. In high school, I visited Tokyo Disneyland while I was in Japan visiting a friend. Same scenario – a hurried day trip. I always heard of families spending entire vacations at WDW. I was SO jealous!!! I could hardly imagine what that was like, although I had a pretty good idea it was absolutely wonderful and a whole ton of fun!

When I was presented with the opportunity to participate in the College Program after my freshman year of college, I jumped on it without hesitation. It was like a dream come true! For one glorious semester, I was immersed in the World. And I had a blast! I did everything I could possible do and saw everything I could possibly see – there is nothing quite like being able to jump on a ride real quick before going to work. One of my roommates chose to do this with Tower of Terror… she successfully rode it 98 times in four months!

But after the program was over, I left WDW behind to focus on other things. I’m not sure if I lost interest or what. Maybe I got Disneyed out, if that's possible! Then in 2003, while in Germany, I had a chance to visit Disneyland Paris. I had high hopes that it would be a great experience but was disappointed to find my visit rather unpleasantly spoiled by the individual – a coworker – I was with at the time. He didn’t want to ride any rides or do anything but walk around the park a few times and then leave - obviously he didn't get it!

The cool thing about the Disneyland Paris disappointment though is that it sparked my interest in revisiting WDW. I missed the rides, characters, dining, atmosphere, etc. And what better timing?! My husband and I, married in November 2002, were looking for a place to go for our rescheduled honeymoon. The first honeymoon, an all-expense paid trip to Maui, was canceled when I was unexpectedly deployed with the Army following our wedding. So, as soon as I received redeployment orders, my husband and I started looking for possible honeymoon destinations. We couldn’t afford to go to Maui, our all-expense deal was long gone, so we were open to other options. Somehow during our search, I found myself on the WDW website, exploring it as a honeymoon option… and then before I knew it I was plugging in dates.

Once I had all the information, I sent an instant message to my husband (our primary means of communication while I was deployed). I actually asked him this time before making the reservation but since I was in Germany and he was in the US and I couldn’t see facial expressions or hear his voice, it was hard to get an accurate picture of his real response.

Me: So you have any ideas for our rescheduled honeymoon?
DH: No, not really. No, not yet.
Me: Mm, well I’ve been thinking… I have one.
DH: What’s that?
Me: <stalling> Not sure if you’ll like it, but it’s a really good deal, not too expensive, but romantic, fun…
DH: What is it?
Me: Are you sure you want to hear it? I could look for other options…
DH: <impatient> Tell me!
Me: <pause, gulp> How about Disneyworld?
DH: Disneyworld?
Me: I knew it… stupid right?
DH: Disneyworld?
Me: Yeah. It would be fun. Magical. Romantic. You know fairytales and stuff.
DH: <again!> Disneyworld?
Me: <suddenly really self-conscious> Um, yeah.
DH: I guess. I don’t know.
Me: Well it fits our budget. We could actually do more for our money there. And it would be fun. I worked there… it’s a fun place. I think you’d like it.
DH: I guess.
Me: Is that a yes or a no? Do you want to do it?
DH: Yeah, okay. Sure.

Well I had been hoping for more than just a “yeah, okay, sure”, but I made the reservation anyway. I was sure my DH would love it, but he wasn’t sure. He had been there once and apparantly it didn't make his top 10 list of places to revisit, especially for a honeymoon. He had images of screaming kids, and long lines, and immature entertainment, and annoying cartoon-like characters – things not exactly reflective of a romantic environment. But I knew WDW and knew it was not totally like that. Sure I’ve seen the screaming kids and waited in long lines and well I enjoy the childish entertainment, but I knew WDW had much more than that to offer.

So, I vowed I was going to make sure he loved it. I booked six days, five nights with park hopper, water park option tickets at the All-Star Sports resort. I know the All-Star Sports maybe doesn’t seem like the most romantic of resorts, but my husband LOVES sports and he LOVES baseball, so I figured he would LOVE staying there. I made sure to note on the reservation that we wanted a room in the baseball area (Home Run Hotel). I also added the romance package with the carriage ride, and dinner, and a few other things.

And so we went to WDW for our honeymoon in September 2003 (only ten months late!) and had an absolute blast!!! We even got the bride and groom Mickey ears.

I didn't want the Mickey ears at first-I'm not one to want unnecessary attention-but my DH thought we HAD to have them. So we bought them, wore them, and ended up having a lot of fun with them. The ears seemed to be a magnet for free stuff - one guy even gave us his treasured Mickey/Minnie wedding pin.

When we had this pic taken, they told us not to come back to Mickey's House until we had a kid with us. We'll I guess we followed their instructions cuz we'll have a kid with us this time.

Okay, someday maybe I’ll write a trip report from that trip…

But back on topic, we had so much fun on our Disneymoon, I was even surprised! We had so much fun, we got home and booked a cruise for May 2006 as a present to ourselves for finishing graduate school. And then we couldn’t stop with the cruise. I got this crazy idea that since we were going to be flying into Orlando anyway, we might as well add a few days on before the cruise to go visit Mickey. So we spent five nights at the CBR. I think this was the beginning of the Disney addiction for both of us!

And now, we’re going again. But why? Why were we going again, besides for the fact that we had so much fun the previous trips. Another insanity check here. All our friends think we're crazy! So, I had to ask myself what makes WDW so addicting? Why are you all addicted??? Well for me I think it’s because I still feel like a little kid and there are so many places where feeling (and acting) like a little kid seems inappropriate. But at WDW, it is totally appropriate. I think that’s what made our honeymoon there so great! And now we’re taking our son so we can feel and act like a little kid along with him. He won’t remember but who cares. We will get to see WDW through his curious eyes and that will make the trip totally worth it. I can’t think of anything else better to do than share such a fun place with my two favorite people, my DH and DS. I can hardly wait!

Itinerary

Here’s our initial itinerary. I’m an obsessive planner so everything gets charted out almost minute-by-minute. Of course, we will most likely not be able to do everything on our itinerary, but in my previous experiences, by attempting to schedule all the things we want to do, we have a better chance of getting to do most of them. So here it is…

Tuesday, September 11 – Day Zero
1500 – Finish loading car, pick up DH from work, pick up dinner, leave Michigan
1800 – Arrive at hotel in Chicago, eat dinner, relax
2100 – Go to bed and try to sleep!

Wednesday, September 12 – Day One
620 – Leave Midway, to Orlando (I love these early flights… stinks to get up so super early, but it leaves us with most of the day to enjoy WDW)
955 – Arrive in Orlando, Magical Express to All-Star Sports
1130 – Check in at All-Star Sports
1200 – To Blizzard Beach, lunch
1500 – Mini-golf, then back to resort to shower, rest, etc.
1800 – Feed DS
1900 – To AKL, look around (I’ve always wanted to stay here… we’re going to try and do a family reunion here in 2010)
2050 – Dinner at Boma (the earliest ADR I could get!!!)
2300 – Bed

Thursday, September 13 – Day Two
730 – To Magic Kingdom (breakfast to go, meaning bagels brought from home)
830 – Morning EMH’s at Magic Kingdom, hit Fantasyland first, jump over to Frontierland while DS naps
1140 – Character lunch at Crystal Palace
1300 – Magic Kingdom Adventureland
1500 – Parade
1600 – Tomorrowland and anything we missed
1800 – Dinner at Cosmic Rays
1830 – Leave Magic Kingdom, back to resort for pool time
2100 – Bed

Friday, September 14 – Day Three
800 – Breakfast at All-Star Sports food court
830 – To Epcot
900 – Epcot (Seas, Land, Imagination Pavilion), Test Trak while DS naps
1200 – Lunch somewhere in World Showcase (to be determined)
1300 – World Showcase
1630 – Character dinner at Akershus
1800 – Epcot (things we missed or want to repeat)
2100 – Illuminations, back to resort (evening EMH until 2300 if DS is not too cranky)

Saturday, September 15 – Day Four
700 – To Polynesian (super early morning after super late evening might be a problem, but I couldn’t get a later ADR for breakfast?)
805 – Character breakfast at Ohana
930 – To Typhoon Lagoon
1430 – Leave Typhoon Lagoon, back to resort for nap (by this time, we’ll probably be running out of steam)
1600 – To Boardwalk
1730 – Dinner at Spoodles
1900 – To MGM, Fantasmic at 2030 (not sure we’ll do this one if we’re too tired)
2200 – Bed

Sunday, September 16 – Day Five
700 – To MGM
805 – Character breakfast at Hollywood & Vine
930 – MGM
1200 – Lunch at ABC Commissary
1300 – More MGM
1500 – Leave MGM, to Downtown Disney for shopping
1800 – Dinner somewhere Downtown Disney (any suggestions out there for this one?!)
1830 – Leave Downtown D, back to resort for pool time (this one might get skipped and we might go straight to the MK)
2000 – To Magic Kingdom for parade, fireworks, and evening EMH (if not too tired)
2300 – Bed

Monday, September 17 – Day Six
800 – Check out of resort, to Animal Kingdom (breakfast to go)
900 – Animal Kingdom
1230 – Leave AK, back to resort
1300 – Lunch at All Star Sports food court
1430 – Leave WDW, to airport
1730 – Leave Orlando, to Midway and then home

Wow! Now that I look at this again, it seems rather ambitious. A lot of late nights and super early mornings. I’m not worried about my DS because he naps through just about anything, but my DH and I will probably be completely worn out. Of course, there is a lot of flexibility… times we can go back to the resort or find something else to do.

We’re Nuts!

Okay, I have to explain what happened over the weekend. I think we’re officially crazy! We invited another person to come to WDW with us. We have this friend who is really struggling with life right now. She works long hours for practically no pay. She is having issues with an incompetent manager at work. She is having problems with her landlord. She can barely pay her bills. She is always tired. She was dumped by her boyfriend like six months ago and is still pretty bummed out about it (she thought he was “the one”). Her car broke down to the point where she had to scramble to buy a new (used) one. And in all this she never takes time off from her job because she can’t afford to go anywhere. And she never does anything fun for herself because she feels like she can’t afford it. And when she ends up with some extra money, instead of spending it on herself, she spends it helping other people.

So, my DH and I were talking the other day and this idea popped into my head. Let’s take Regina to WDW with us! Okay I sometimes speak before I think things through. With just over a week before we leave, it seemed like a ridiculous idea. I mean we’d have to add her to our reservation and hope we could get the free dining plan for her too. We’d have to book a flight. And we’d have to make sure all the other logistics matched up. And we would end up paying for it. Surprisingly, my DH actually liked my idea. I mean what better way to repay someone who is always doing stuff for other people. Regina sacrifices so much to help others, she has definitely earned an all-expense paid vacation to WDW, right?! Well, I thought so… and my DH did too.

So we decided we would do it, but only if the price was right, meaning within our budget, meaning no more than $600. We prayed about it and then called up WDW and asked if we could add Regina to our trip and how much it would cost? $435 was the answer – and that included the dining (basically the same package my DH, DS, and I are on). So then I looked up airfares from Chicago to Orlando on Southwest. $148 was the answer there (which made me mad because we paid more than that for ours!!!). Anyway… so for $583, Regina could come with us. An awesome answer to prayer – God is so good! So we called her up. The conversation went something like this…

DH: Hey Regina. We’ve got a question for you. What are you doing Sep 12-17?
R: I don’t know. Why?
DH: Well, actually what’s the likelihood you could get those dates off from work?
R: Probably not because I’m taking a bunch of vacation time for my sister’s wedding later this fall, and I want to go to this alumni thing, and I want to do this thing with my dad, and I… (the list of excuses continued for what seemed like forever).
DH: Mmm.
R: <finally!> Why? What did you have planned?
DH: Well, we were wondering if you’d like to come to Disneyworld with us? At no cost to you.
R: <a looooooooong silence, then> Wow. I didn't expect this. Well, let me see what I can do. Wow. Let me see if I can get time off from work. Wow. (notice how the excuses disappeared!). Let me get back to you in a few days.
DH: We’d have to know sooner because of the airfare. Could you let us know later today or tomorrow?
R: Wow. Yeah. Sure. I’ll work on it today. Yeah. Wow. So what would it cost me?
DH: Nothing.
R: Nothing?
DH: Well, you’d have to pay for your own souvenirs. But the rest is covered.
R: Wow. Thanks! Oh wow! Thank you. Okay. I’ll work on it right now. I’ll let you know.

My DH said a few other things and gave her a few other details. By the time the phone conversation was over, Regina was so excited, I think she was probably in danger of exploding – made me want to cry. I mean she was trying to think of all the ways she could try and get that time off from work so she could come. And of course then my DH and I had to wait in suspense for a definitive answer. Darn, I am so impatient!

So as I'm writing this I just got the word that Regina got the time of from work and IS COMING WITH US!!! I am so excited! She is so excited! She keeps asking us if she’s dreaming. She keeps saying, “pinch me, pinch me!” I feel like we really put some magic into her life. And the cool thing is… my DH and I had set aside some money to do something special for her several months ago, but could never agree on what to do. When I went back and looked at how much we had set aside, it came to a total of $640. Well, with adding her to the package at $433.88 and getting her airline tickets at $178 (had to add tax to the $148), that left some money for us to cover her for our mini-golf game (a tradition my DH and I have) and for a few souvenir items. She’s essentially going to Disney at no cost to her! And since we had the money set aside, it really doesn’t hurt us that much either. I’m going to cry just thinking about it. Anyway, so I have to add her to “The Character” list, although I don’t have a picture of her yet.

Regina: A 28-year old sweetheart who works as a cook and nutritionist for a nursing home. She’s only been to WDW twice in her life. The first time her dad took her to the MK a few weeks after her mom passed away so it wasn’t exactly a “happy” experience. And the second time her now-ex boyfriend took her to Epcot – a guy (jerk) that basically dictated to her what they would ride/not ride and see/not see for the entire duration of their visit. So, her opinion of WDW is rather skewed. We’re out to change that though! We’re going to have so much fun, I can hardly stand it!!!

Okay I’ll have to post more tomorrow. I’ve got to get some work done, although I'm probably too excited to be productive.

 

[armychap]

Okay, I'm replying to my own post but I need some recommendations!

We're still trying to figure out where we should try to eat at when we visit Downtown Disney. We'll have quick service points to use there. Only place we've been before in the DD area is Planet Hollywood. Any suggestions???

Also, what are your favorite quick service places to eat at Epcot? We're still undecided here too!

 

[armychap]

Who would have thought going on vacation would be so much work?!?!?!

Seriously, packing for a 28-year old to spend a week at WDW is hard enough. Packing for a 35-year old DH to spend a week at WDW is even harder. But packing for a 9-month old to spend a week at WDW seems almost impossible. I think he’ll have the biggest suitcase of all of us - actually I know he will because he's sharing with me! I think I might go crazy! I have every nitty-gritty item on a packing list, but I’m sure we’ll still forget something. And it doesn't help that my DS thinks it's funny to take stuff out of the suitcase that his mama has just put in. As in the pic below...

Here's the finished product...

until I decide to take everything out, double check everything to make sure it's all there, add a few more things, and then repack it so it will fit nice and neat again.

Itinerary Cards

I took the time to make little cards for each day, an idea I got from a DISer... I am so sorry but I can't remember who. I've read so many TR's with so many great ideas, I sometimes lose track of where I read what. So, DISer with the great itinerary card idea... if you're out there... thank you SO much for the idea!!! Of course the cards are not nearly as fancy, but they are serving their purpose well. The cards have the day’s schedule, the park hours for the park(s) we’ll be at that day, our ADR info., a list of things we just can’t miss, and a quick summary of what we’re supposed to wear that day (mostly for the sake of dressing my DS than for anything else). I also put Disney clipart all over them and plan to use them in the scrapbook I will make for my DS when we get back.

Here's the cover for the itinerary cards.

Suitcases and Luggage Tags

Okay one of my favorite parts of packing is putting on the luggage and Magical Express tags - makes departure day seem that much more real.

My DS wouldn't not let go of the luggage tag until it was thoroughly coated in slobber. I guess he's excited too.

Regina

Speaking of excited... Regina just told me she spent her entire day off from work yesterday pouring over the maps I gave her. You see, I always collect maps to all the parks each time I visit so I can take them home and use them for scrapbooks and future trip planning. Most of the maps I had for her were old... like from 2003! But I had a few from last year. Either way, she is getting the general idea. So she spent the whole day looking them over and she said the longer she studied them, the more excited she got. And then she had to call me to ask me yet again "Am I dreaming? Are we really going?". She's turned into a little kid - I love it!!! It will be such a magical week for her!

Oh yeah... this is me excited!!! And my DS wondering what the heck is going on!

I'll have to write more after the weekend… I've got a busy Friday and an even busier weekend.

NEXT POST: A hidden Mickey in my house!!!

 

[Carrieannew]

Hey! I love your report. Your baby is adorable. What you and your DH are doing for Regina brought tears to my eyes. That is what the magic is all about. Cant wait to hear more!

 

[armychap]

Well not a real mouse (although we had that problem a few weeks ago - see below!), but a hidden Mickey mouse! I came home from work to find this...

on the living room floor. My DH and DS made it for me out of some mixing bowls I've been letting my DS bang on!

We did have a real mouse in our house a few weeks ago though! We woke up one Sunday morning to a rather strong unpleasant aroma coming from our kitchen. I figured we might have left some food out or had some fruit in our fruit bowl go bad. After an hour "treasure hunt", we eliminated all the possible sources of the odor... but the odor was still there, only now stronger. Then my husband said it, the dreaded words... "it smells like something died". Yuck!!! I did not like the thought of that. But I wanted to get rid of the smell so we continued our hunt, although we were becoming increasingly afraid of what we would find.

I don't know what prompted me to unscrew the fan/hood above our stove - maybe it's because the odor seemed to come from that general area - but I unscrewed it and pulled it down a few inches to discover mice droppings on the casing that covers the vent for the stove fan. And two really big holes in the wall behind where the stove hood rests. Okay we've had some problems with mice in our garage but we thought we had solved that problem. But maybe one got into the wall and died there. Well since we currently rent our house, we would have to talk to the landlord before we did anymore digging. So, we would have to live with the smell until the next morning (Mon). Great!

But since the stove hood couldn't be left dangling as it was from the cupboard above it, I though I would push it up and screw it back in place. Well as I was pushing it up, it slipped and fell to where the only things holding it up were the wires that went to the stove fan and a deteriorating piece of duck tape. And then we found it or I should say them!

Behind the duck tape, on a ledge inside an aluminum casing (one that leads up to the attic to a pipe that sticks out of our roof), just above where the fan would be once I screwed it back into the cupboard, was what we were able to makeout as fur. My DH - who can't stand dead things - just about hurled. Then he told me he wouldn't touch it. Well I wasn't going to touch it!!! But we couldn't leave it there so after five minutes of protesting, my DH finally went to garage for some rubber gloves and a trash bag.

And then he started to pull out the mouse and then we realized that it was a badly decomposed mouse - one that should no longer smell bad. He put it in the trash bag and reached into the ledge again and pulled out another badly decomposed mouse - again not the source of the smell. And then he pulled out a mouse skull - actually this was kind of cool. We oooohed and aaaahed over it for like two seconds. Then my DH finally pulled out the freshly dead mouse, the one causing the extremely disgusting odor. NASTY!!!!! YUCK!!!! I even managed to take a few pictures (for our landlord) in between trying not to throw up... but I won't share them here because they really are gross.

Anyway, with the mice removed, we then had the wonderful job of cleaning the area and patching the place where they might have entered - turned out later our landlord found a hole on our roof. By the time the whole ordeal was over, we were rather exhausted and rather turned off to anything remotely having to do with mice.

The only reason I mention our mice trauma is because a few days later, we were sitting around in the living room hanging out and my DH suddenly says to me, "guess what? we had a hidden Mickey in our house... actually several hidden Mickey's". ARG! He got slapped for the comment. I'll take the real Mickey Mouse anyday over the furry little critters we've encountered since we've moved into this house - thank goodness it is only temporary and we'll be moving again in January. There's only one mouse I want to see ever and that is the one I get to see in 4 days (okay two mice because Minnie counts too)!

Wow, I wasn't going to write more here until after the weekend. I can't help it though... with only a few more days before our trip, it's been hard to keep myself away from anything Disney, like when I just had to stop by the Disney Store on my way to work today. I actually ended up not getting anything, which was hard (I've got to save my money for WDW), but it definitely put me in a great Disney mood.

More on Monday...

 

[armychap]

The annoying thing about COUNTDOWNS and other last minute thoughts.

Does this happen to you? You have a countdown to something exciting like a trip to WDW and in the weeks leading up to the trip, the countdown seems to get stuck in slow motion if not frozen altogether. But then it happens! Like three or four days before “the day”, the countdown goes into super speed and before you know it – boom, crash, bang – you’re packing your last minute items, confirming reservations, and smacked with the reality that “oh no, I’m leaving tomorrow”! I mean it is exciting when the day finally arrives, but why does it always have to be such a surprise, at least to me. Or maybe this doesn’t happen to you. Maybe I’m the crazy one!

Anyway, that’s how it’s been for me for the last two weeks. It seemed like our vacation would never get here – every day seemed like it lasted a month and at one point I was sure time was standing still.

And then last Thursday, it happened. All of a sudden I blinked and here I am on Monday afternoon with 24 hours until I get to pull out of my driveway and wondering what the heck happened to these last few days! Where was I? And it’s amazing how my “to do” list just multiplied by five pages!!! It doesn’t make it any easier that I went tubing yesterday and bruised just about every muscle in my body!

I think I’m almost completely packed. I got detoured on Friday. When my DH and I sat down to calculate our vacation budget one more time, we discovered that there was suddenly extra money in the funds we had set aside to take Regina with us. I was sure it was a math error (probably my weakest subject), so I went to recalculate it again. Okay, adding her to our package + the airfare + the breakfast we have to pay out of pocket + the refillable souvenir mug we were going to buy her + the round of mini-golf we were going to pay for (because we’re sucking her into the silly tradition my DH and I have) = $35 less than what we budgeted. I added the numbers again. Still the same. I’m not sure what happened, but we had $35 leftover. So what to do now? We thought about lumping it into our budget - $35 could pay for another souvenir or two for my DH or DS or me. But we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to do that. We were trying to create a magical experience for Regina so the $35 was hers, but how to give it to her – I hate to just hand people cash and say “here ya go”. And then it hit me – Disney money! Disney Dollars! How fun would that be? So I went to the Disney store and got some Disney Dollars.

But I couldn’t stop there. I had to make a card to go with it and finally came up with this…

I even added some Mickey confetti – leftovers from when I worked at WDW (seems like my supply never runs out, like the little Mickey heads multiply on their own or something).

Oh and I had to inspect my DH’s suitcase. He has this really bad habit of sticking items in his luggage at the last minute that I have labeled obnoxious and not fit for wear in public. Well I am glad I did because I found this…

Okay it doesn’t look so bad in the pic… but the shirt is NEON green… and I mean NEON. It could probably glow in the dark.

Thankfully, I got him to replace the shirt with a Mickey one (sorry no pic) I got as a parting gift from the College Program. It was too big for me so I gave it to my DH and he loves it. It has a huge Mickey on the front and says something like "Magic Kingdom" on the back. Anyway, he was very happy I suggested that he bring it along.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned we’re excited?!?!?! Even my DS is excited! He doesn’t know where we are going, but he knows something’s up the way we’ve all been acting with packing and planning and jumping up and down and other crazy stuff.

 

[armychap]

We're going to Disney today! Okay so that's not totally true. We leave home today... but we’re not headed to Disney until tomorrow so today counts but it doesn’t count at the same time. My countdown goes up until I know I will have my two little feet on the WDW property, which is still one day away. But I am excited that our trip begins today with a drive to Chicago.

I have to focus on the excitement because I've had like one of those "everything that could go wrong has gone wrong" days. My son woke up in a super cranky mood. He refused to eat his breakfast and refused to take his morning nap and then he continued to be cranky. So I decided to put him in the car and take him to go get bagels for our trip - we always take bagels for the days we don't have ADR's for breakfast. Well, I drove to the bagel place and realized that my wallet was still at the house on the kitchen table. So, I had to go back home to retrieve the wallet and then back to the bagel place to get the bagels. The only good thing about this second trip was that my DS finally took a nap!

I was planning to spend the rest of the morning cleaning the house and packing the last of our bags, but my DS decided to use that time to get into everything and make a general menace of himself. It seems like every five seconds I was pulling something out of his mouth... carpet fuzz, an ant that he squashed, the luggage tag he tore off my suitcase. Arg. Why couldn't he just play with his toys! Finally, I just decided to play with him which helped the crankiness a little but it didn't help my cleaning/packing. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch - another meal where my DS refused to eat. I don't know if it's the excitement in our house or what? I eventually gave up on getting anything done at the house and went to work - my DS comes with me - and that's where I am now.

And of course the first thing I got when I arrived at work was the question of the day... “where are you going on vacation"? Well I answered “Disneyworld” expecting a "that's cool" or "how fun" kind of response. No. Rather, I got the "are you nuts", "have you lost your mind" kind of response. Well I’m not sure what part of going to WDW indicates that I have lost my mind? I mean we even have a kid now so it seems even more of a natural fit. Oh well, it could be worse, I suppose. Before my DH and I went on our Disney cruise last summer, a coworker told me I was immature for wanting to cruise with Mickey Mouse. Since when did Disney become synonymous with immature or even crazy for that matter? Either way, I’ve shrugged it off, but still find it interesting that our vacation has given me such a label. I suppose these people just don’t know what they are missing.

Oh well. I have a few more things to finish up at work and then I will be outta here! I have to go finish that packing - hopefully my DS will cooperate - and then pick my DH up from work and then wait for Regina to come over. And then it’s off to Chicago we go… finally... yippee!

I hope to write a trip report when I get back. I'm a pictureaholic so I should have plenty of pics to share along with it.

Thanks for reading...

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

I hope your drive is good and you have no problems! Please come back and tell us how your vacation went!