halloween cruise/ Magic: October 28th-nov..4th 2006

[captaincrash]

Wow...

Kristen... I CANNOT let my spouse read your romance and proposal story! All I'd get fromher is another stiff poke in the ribs and a critical look from her (again). LOL!

And as for the question thing... it's really up to you and everyone else. If someone has what they think woul dbe fun - or an evolutionary progession from where we are - well then - just toss it into the thread!

But - your husband sounds like 1 in a million! And, of course - I am a one in a million spouse too - but probably at the opposite extreme on the romance scale when it comes to how to pukk off a proposal an' all!

It's late an' I gotta turn in... Great story Kritter!

TTFN!

 

[kritter]

Ok lets start a new question since Capt. it seems to be just you and me....

So here goes...What is the most odd or off the wall gift that you have received???

 

[akghutton]

"What is the most odd or off the wall gift that you have received???"

I received a can of potted meat, a can of sardines, and a pack of shoelaces for Christmas a few years ago from my husband. He had waited until the 24th to shop and the only shop open in the small town, where my parents live (we were visiting them for the holiday) was the Family Dollar. We had decided not to get eachother gifts that year, as we a big vacation planned, but my husband wanted me to have something to open Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with my second son, and I had horrible morning sickness. Needless to say the sardines and potted meat went straight in the trash. I did keep the shoelaces though.

 

[kritter]

"What is the most odd or off the wall gift that you have received???"

I received a can of potted meat, a can of sardines, and a pack of shoelaces for Christmas a few years ago from my husband. He had waited until the 24th to shop and the only shop open in the small town, where my parents live (we were visiting them for the holiday) was the Family Dollar. We had decided not to get eachother gifts that year, as we a big vacation planned, but my husband wanted me to have something to open Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with my second son, and I had horrible morning sickness. Needless to say the sardines and potted meat went straight in the trash. I did keep the shoelaces though.

oooh that is an odd gift....

Ok what it your next question.......

 

[akghutton]

Oops, I forgot to add one!

Ok, Which resort is your favorite to stay at while visiting WDW?

 

[kritter]

Oops, I forgot to add one!

Ok, Which resort is your favorite to stay at while visiting WDW?

Our new favorite it is Saratog Springs since we are DVC owners..But our old favorite was GF since it is on the monorail and is sooo ever convient with the kids and all...
I am not going to ask another question since I too want to see what others say to this question....

 

[captaincrash]

Oops, I forgot to add one!

Ok, Which resort is your favorite to stay at while visiting WDW?

Why the Polynesian of course! Well... not so obviously since we have not actually stayed at many DCL resort properties. But - even so the Polynesian serves well enough.

 

[akghutton]

I'll answer my own question: The Boardwalk! We too are DVC members and love our home resort. Animal Kingdom Lodge would be our second choice. Now if they would only put DVC at AKL!!!

 

[kritter]

ok whose is up to another question since only three of us are around this weekend it seems...

What is your favorite ride at WDW????

 

[akghutton]

I love Splash Mountain! But I must say, that after taking a trip to WDW when my youngest was 14 months old, the People Mover(TTA) in TomorrowLand is now up there as one of my favorites. My DH and DS, who was 4 at the time, enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear ride, as my youngest DS and I rode the People Mover(TTA) at least 4 times. He napped on the ride, and I relaxed and tried to spot my DH and DS in the Lightyear ride.

I will wait for Captain to respond to this question before posing a new one.

 

[captaincrash]

OK...

The last time we were there was a LONG TIME ago... and I even think we did not have kids then! Yeah... the last 5 years (6 counting pregnancy) have been a change for us being simply beautiful and blissful in experience while at the same time relatively challenging with in effect, forced lifestyle changes, mild sleep deprevation and near constant discovery of new ideas and concepts as new parents. So... that said we have always been more West Coast Disney entusiasts than WDW.

The last ride I remember that was sort of a fun was this car ride (probably sponsored by GM or Honda) that went around a track under it's own power. That we did twice or more since it was a quiet day at the park. That may seem sort of lame but I'll contribute it as my best answer! More hot coco.... Yeah - the last time we stopped NEAR or INSIDE the park was during or right after Hurricane Frances had passed. DCL had provided Ultra passes but we arrived in the area 90 minutes before the park was to close. So we decided it was pointless to travel the 30-40 minutes (hotel to point of 1st attraction) to go in and just hang out for 60-45 minutes. We rested and visited Downtown Disdney instead. And the next day as we waited in line for the transfers to Fort Lauderdale to meet the Magic we were fortunate that DCL CMs exchanged our 1 day Ultrapasses for a new set that would be good for a readmission any time in the next 10 years. And for what it's worth, this coming October we are meeting with family who are coming down from Boston to visit WDW. So we'll get some time wandering about again this year!

AND... I'll volunteer a question! What has been your most gruelling or challenging travel adventure? All the juicey off color stuff can be left off the posting - we just want the politically correct nonsense!

 

[kab407]

AND... I'll volunteer a question! What has been your most gruelling or challenging travel adventure? All the juicey off color stuff can be left off the posting - we just want the politically correct nonsense

Truth be told, it was this morning. Getting on a plane to come back to cold NJ after spending four days at DVC's Vero Beach was not fun. Come to think of it, the start of the trip was an adventure too. I never would have thought I would be sitting on a plane on April 5th having to be de-iced. It snowed when I left on Wednesday.

Next to that would have to be flying to Milan the day after my Brother got married. Can you say hang-over! Of course there was the Honeymoon trip. San Francisco in October 1989. Yes, I was there for the Earthquake. Right smack in the middle of the City when it hit. I should have realized it was a sign for the impending doom of the marriage.

 

[kritter]

ok what is the next question????

 

[captaincrash]

AND... I'll volunteer a question! What has been your most gruelling or challenging travel adventure? All the juicey off color stuff can be left off the posting - we just want the politically correct nonsense

Truth be told, it was this morning. Getting on a plane to come back to cold NJ after spending four days at DVC's Vero Beach was not fun. Come to think of it, the start of the trip was an adventure too. I never would have thought I would be sitting on a plane on April 5th having to be de-iced. It snowed when I left on Wednesday.

Next to that would have to be flying to Milan the day after my Brother got married. Can you say hang-over! Of course there was the Honeymoon trip. San Francisco in October 1989. Yes, I was there for the Earthquake. Right smack in the middle of the City when it hit. I should have realized it was a sign for the impending doom of the marriage.

Wow....

Unbelievable... almost. You've had a number of uNusual occasions with dreary travel. And then some... to say the least. Of course - this is only a tiny fraction of your travel episodes... right?

I'll volunteer an answer as well... I would say the 1st most challenging travel was the hurricane flights and drive 2 years ago to make the Magic sailing. (forgive me if you've read about it elsewhere on the DIS).

The ordeal involved our trying to time the flight into Orlando so we could meet the Magic on monday to embark. The cruise was being shortedned by 2 days and we reasoned that it was OK at 5 days. So to make a long story short... we had to change our flight arrangements 7x with I think 6 changes while we were enroute. In the end we could not fly in any closer to Orlando than Charlotte. From there we drove to Jacksonville to overnite in anticipation of driving the next morning to Port Carnaveral. Well... in the morning DCL advised us the debarkation had been moved to the next day in Fort Lauderdale. They offerred to provide accomidations for a nite, WDW passes for the day and transfers to Fort Lauderdale. After that we took 6 hours to drive the 100 miles or so into Orlando and were exhausted from that afternoon of travel. So we skipped the park. At any rate, the next day we met the ship and had a great voyage.

The second most challenging trip was a drive through the UK we undertook about 2.5 years ago. The car we reserved was not there when we got to the UK; we got lost a couple of times driving around in the English countryside (the maps we had were inaccurate and badly out of scale); the tube in line London broke down and we scrambled to get around it to make it to the theater to see the Lion King but were late on account of the tube problems. And our hotel in London failed to get us onto the concierge floor we had reserved for and we had a tolerable but inferior arrangement. And... we had some moody and slightly rude inn keepers at the farm where we reserved a B&B stay. They were pretty nice about making the reservations when we called ahead and all - but something must have made them pretty moody that weekend. We did have a nice series of other lodgings aside from the Farm and the London Hilton. There were other things too that individually were not a problem but CUMULATIVELY were quite annoying. It was a strange convergence of annoyances that made it seem like it was a messed up trip.

A third problem flight - was the ONE ocassion when our then 1.5 year old cried the ENTIRE FLIGHT from St Thomas to Miami. She was just miserable from the huge torrential rainfall we had endured that day. And at our connection in the longe of Miami - I overheard someone recanting to someone else about the baby that cried the ETIRE flight over from St Thomas. I do not believe these folks could see I was listening... and our baby was one of two who were crying on the flight. I was feeling pretty exhausted and embarassed a little over the episode. Other than that our kids have always traveled very very well.

So Kritter... we have not heard YOUR reply on travel ordeals or challenges? DO you have any worthy of sharing?

And to close the weekend - Here's another "fun" question - how about sharing one of your most memorable travel pleasures you've experienced? Any of those which are "G" or "PG" rated which are suitable for sharing?

 

["Ginger"]

I just wanted to drop in to say HI! .

 

[kab407]

Wow....

Unbelievable... almost. You've had a number of uNusual occasions with dreary travel. And then some... to say the least. Of course - this is only a tiny fraction of your travel episodes... right?

Capt, you are correct. I travelled about 50% of the time for my past job. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. It got to be a running joke, never travel with Kathy, you were certain to be delayed or diverted to some far off city. My corporate travel office would never place me on the same flight as others in the group. I kind you not! There were never any dangerous situations....except for the United flight coming up from Dulles.

 

[captaincrash]

United from Dulles? What happened on the UAL flight?

Kathy, I used to travel about 50% as well but I don't think my travel luck was very colorful. I think the most interesting thing that I can recall having happened didn't even invlove me directly but ... remember the TANK that was stolen and driven through the streets of San DIego? Well, I was in San Diego but it had no effect on me. And the other occasion I can think of that had any abnormality (at this moment of reflection) is the ROdney King riots... on that evening I was enroute to the airport to catch a flight and a friend called me to warn me about the chaos that was unfolding NEAR the airport (close by communities). Of course, nothing involved me directly, I boarded my flight and was on my way without mishap but later I looked back on the video replays and I thought - if I were in danger I would have been clueless until I was attacked most likely. I often dislike listening to the radio when in the car as it heightens my tension and I usually can schedule my travel around traffic - so I do not usually care about traffic reports. In this case I'm sure the radio warnings would have been very thought provoking had I been listening to their descriptions of the rioting.

Oh well... gotta go lpick up my older daughter from P-school.

TTFN

 

[kritter]

oh my gosh all of your travel stories are scaring me!!!!Are you people safe to be cruising with????

 

[captaincrash]

Yeah Kristen....

... we're probably safe. Well ... at least MY family is safe to travel with! And I bet Kathay is OK too.... but I mighyt not want to be on her FLIGHT coming in or out of Orlando! LOL! OK... seriously, I would be willing to fly on her flights ... just give me a chance to load up on travel insurace 1st! LOL!

Seriously, I bet since you/Kathy have had a few odd experiences than I think the odds of anything else disruptie happening at random is even more unlikely!

I think I make for a fine contrarian investor! IE, I am the sort who buys on negative news or during - or right after a stock or real estate bust or crash. And yeah, sometimes I lose too in spite of my "how much lower can it go?" tactics.

So --- Kathy --- what happened on UAL to Dulles?

 

[kab407]

unlikely!

So --- Kathy --- what happened on UAL to Dulles?

I was coming back from Seattle by way of Dulles. I ended up on a small 12 -15 seater for the flight up to Newark. It was raining and started to get foggy the closer to EWR we got. Normally when you are flying south to north into EWR you can see the NJ Turnpike. Not this trip. We were in the soup so to speak. On top of that the plane was bouncing. The Capt. made one attempt to land but pulled back up due to another plane crossing the runway. When we did land, the plane slid towards one side with the wing almost hitting the runway. I was knocked into the window when we touched down. They ended up having EMS meeting the plane at the gate. Luckly no one was hurt. This was the only time I have ever been afraid flying.

Most of my other adventure have been extreme delays, cancellations, redirects to cities I really didn't want to go to and rather strange seatmates. Yes, I've had my share of drunks, BO and obnoxious idots sit next to me. I've sat next to people who prayed the Rosary an entire flight from EWR from to SFO. I've sat next to couple who made-out for the entire flight. I sat next a woman who wore PJ's on a red-eye back to ERW. I've sat next to people who I wonder how they find their way to the bathroom in the morning. I've been on airlines that I will never fly on again if my life depended on it (US- maybe-I'll-get-there-Air). And others that I hope are around for awhile (JetBlue).

My two favorite of all time are, first, the couple who were about to change their kid's diaper right there in their seats on the tray tables while we were all buckled in. Needless to say, I made it known I was not going to be a witness to a crappy diaper.

My other favorite were the couple who packed a picnic lunch. Yes, lunch complete in the coleman cooler. So what's wrong with this, you ask? The man was in the aisle seat, the woman in the window s eat and yours truely in the middle. I asked if one of them wanted to switch seats. Both said no. Now, I am working on report that needed to be complete when I got to where I was going. They started passing food back and forth. Needless to say when the pickle dropped in the middle of my report, I lost it. The Flight Attendent asked that they either change seats with me or put the food away. They said no to both. A few minutes later they moved me to First Class.

Yes, I love flying!