Clarf
Haunted Mansion or Bust.
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2012
Hello Everyone! I'm REALLY late to this trip report game, but since we finally have another trip on the horizon, I thought I'd write a report to keep me sane until then.
This trip happened over a year ago. March of 2018. Yes, you read that right, 2018. It was March 3-13 to be exact, with March 4-9 spent at Disney. Why did I wait so long to write this you ask? I really don't know. I haven't even totally finished my last report from August of 2015. I was almost there, but I never quite got there. I really hope to be better with this one though!
But enough about that, who are we? We're a crazy family of 4 from Wisconsin. We always road trip to Florida because we're cheap and also I hate flying. HATE IT!
This is me. Clare. I'm 44. I was 43 when this trip happened, but I tend to not act my age, as is evidenced by this picture.
I work for a professional children's theater company in the box office. I'm also a personal chef, chauffer, maid, dog walker, litter box cleaner, hamster cage cleaner, and basically exhausted all the time. But I love my job and my family. I love roller coasters, the Cubs, animals, musicals, and The Golden Girls, and Halloween. My favorite ride is The Haunted Mansion, favorite park is Magic Kingdom, and favorite character is Donald Duck.
This is my husband Jason. He's 39 (almost 40!), but was 38 when the trip happened. He actually thought he was turning 40 last year.He also tends to not act his age.
He works for a software company that makes data bases for health insurance companies. I have no idea how any of it works. He's also the family diswasher, bathroom cleaner, and a professional snorer. He also loves roller coasters, electronic devices, our pets (and most animals), theater, super hero movies, sci-fi tv shows, and Halloween. I believe his favorite ride is Space Mountain (it was the last time I asked), favorite park is Magic Kingdom, and I don't know who his favorite character is.
Here he is with his true love, our fat cat Tinka.
You can tell by the look on her face that she wishes I wasn't there. She wants him all to herself.
And just to show you the kind of relationship we have, here are 2 pictures of us at our weirdest, but one is from Halloween.
If you can't read my shirt in this one, it says "Why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" 3 points if you know what movie that and Jason's are from.
Next is our oldest daughter, Lucy. She was 11 on the trip, but is now almost 13!!!!
This was right before we left on the trip last year. She had just gotten her hair cut. She's an actress, gymnast, softball player, and animal lover. She's a straight A student who loves school and makes friends wherever she goes. She was just in her first professional show this spring! Of course it was Tinkerbell! She was a Lost Boy. She hopes to be on the stage some day. She recently found out about the Disney College Program, and now has big plans for that and hopes it's in her future! She loves roller coasters too (are you sensing a theme with us here?) and has yet to meet one she didn't conquer. She is obsessed with The Simpsons. OBSESSED! She watches like 6 episodes a day after recording them on the DVR. And then doesn't delete them. And then our DVR gets full. She is also obsessed with Hamilton. We haven't seen it yet, we're going in October, but she already has the whole thing memorized. I've warned her she's not aloud to sing along during the show. People didn't pay as much as $500/ticket to hear her sing. Her favorite ride is Splash Mountain, park is Magic Kingdom, and character is Stitch.
Now here's the baby of the family. Maura. She was 8 on the trip and just turned 10 yesterday.
She is tiny but mighty. At 10, she looks more like a 7 year old, but she makes up for her lack of size in every other way possible. She talks non stop. NON STOP! She was also in her first show this season and played a sheep/ensemble in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Musical. She's also an actress, gymnast, softball player, and animal lover. She also likes to play the drums and clarinet, and also loves to argue. I really hope she takes up debate in high school. I think she alone could carry her team to victory. She LOVES Freddie Mercury and laments every day how sad she is that he died before she could see him live. She dressed up like him for Halloween last year. She also loves roller coasters and last summer rode the 312 foot Millenium Force at Cedar Point in Ohio. She wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up.
Her favorite ride is Splash Mountain, park is Magic Kingdom, and character is Stitch.
We do have some furry family members as well. They didn't come on the trip with us, obviously, but we love them lots. Here is Maura with our pug, Bowser. He'll be 16 on August 8th! He's old, but still likes to play and get crazy once in a while.
[
You saw Tinka, our fat cat. She's also known as Stinkerbell or Fatniss Everdeen. If you met her, she'd lead you to believe that she is starved to death and never eats. She looks thin, doesn't she?Here she is with Nellie, our House Panther. They don't really like each other at all, so I'm amazed they're sitting so close to each other in this picture. There was probably a hissing war right after it was taken.
And here is Nellie being read a bedtime story by Maura. Maura thinks Nellie is her cat. Nellie thinks she's Jason's cat. She'll run over anyone to get to him.
Last but not least is this tiny little ball of fur. Mochi the hamster. We rescued him from the Humane Society back in January, and we just adore him. He's so sweet and cute and gets excited to see us when we open his house.
He's a dwarf hamster and he's so tiny! He gets manhandled all the time, and is so tolerant!
We hope to add a hedgehog to our family in the near future. I lost a very dear friend to cancer last spring. I actually found out while we were at Disney that her cancer had spread and her time was limited. Her name was Erica and she loved hedgehogs. She always wanted one, and so I want to get one and name it after her. We're still doing the research, and my kids have to keep their room clean in order to get one, but it's going to happen sometime in the future.
So that's who we are. We all love Disney. Jason has family in Florida, and had been to Disney many times as a kid, mostly for just day trips. I had been to Disneyland when I was 7 when we went to LA to visit family, but my parents were never interested in going to Disney World. They always said there were "too many other places to see." I went the first time at age 25, shortly after we started dating. I was hooked the instant I set foot on Main Street USA and promised then and there they my kids would experience Disney as kids! My parents still think we're nuts for going all the time (really it's about ever 2 years, we do go on other vacations). They just don't get it!
Here's a picture from my very first trip. How about that character meet? You don't see him anymore!
Thanks for reading and I hope to make this fun for everyone. I look forward to re-living our trip!
This trip happened over a year ago. March of 2018. Yes, you read that right, 2018. It was March 3-13 to be exact, with March 4-9 spent at Disney. Why did I wait so long to write this you ask? I really don't know. I haven't even totally finished my last report from August of 2015. I was almost there, but I never quite got there. I really hope to be better with this one though!
But enough about that, who are we? We're a crazy family of 4 from Wisconsin. We always road trip to Florida because we're cheap and also I hate flying. HATE IT!
This is me. Clare. I'm 44. I was 43 when this trip happened, but I tend to not act my age, as is evidenced by this picture.
I work for a professional children's theater company in the box office. I'm also a personal chef, chauffer, maid, dog walker, litter box cleaner, hamster cage cleaner, and basically exhausted all the time. But I love my job and my family. I love roller coasters, the Cubs, animals, musicals, and The Golden Girls, and Halloween. My favorite ride is The Haunted Mansion, favorite park is Magic Kingdom, and favorite character is Donald Duck.
This is my husband Jason. He's 39 (almost 40!), but was 38 when the trip happened. He actually thought he was turning 40 last year.He also tends to not act his age.
He works for a software company that makes data bases for health insurance companies. I have no idea how any of it works. He's also the family diswasher, bathroom cleaner, and a professional snorer. He also loves roller coasters, electronic devices, our pets (and most animals), theater, super hero movies, sci-fi tv shows, and Halloween. I believe his favorite ride is Space Mountain (it was the last time I asked), favorite park is Magic Kingdom, and I don't know who his favorite character is.
Here he is with his true love, our fat cat Tinka.
You can tell by the look on her face that she wishes I wasn't there. She wants him all to herself.
And just to show you the kind of relationship we have, here are 2 pictures of us at our weirdest, but one is from Halloween.
If you can't read my shirt in this one, it says "Why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" 3 points if you know what movie that and Jason's are from.
Next is our oldest daughter, Lucy. She was 11 on the trip, but is now almost 13!!!!
This was right before we left on the trip last year. She had just gotten her hair cut. She's an actress, gymnast, softball player, and animal lover. She's a straight A student who loves school and makes friends wherever she goes. She was just in her first professional show this spring! Of course it was Tinkerbell! She was a Lost Boy. She hopes to be on the stage some day. She recently found out about the Disney College Program, and now has big plans for that and hopes it's in her future! She loves roller coasters too (are you sensing a theme with us here?) and has yet to meet one she didn't conquer. She is obsessed with The Simpsons. OBSESSED! She watches like 6 episodes a day after recording them on the DVR. And then doesn't delete them. And then our DVR gets full. She is also obsessed with Hamilton. We haven't seen it yet, we're going in October, but she already has the whole thing memorized. I've warned her she's not aloud to sing along during the show. People didn't pay as much as $500/ticket to hear her sing. Her favorite ride is Splash Mountain, park is Magic Kingdom, and character is Stitch.
Now here's the baby of the family. Maura. She was 8 on the trip and just turned 10 yesterday.
She is tiny but mighty. At 10, she looks more like a 7 year old, but she makes up for her lack of size in every other way possible. She talks non stop. NON STOP! She was also in her first show this season and played a sheep/ensemble in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Musical. She's also an actress, gymnast, softball player, and animal lover. She also likes to play the drums and clarinet, and also loves to argue. I really hope she takes up debate in high school. I think she alone could carry her team to victory. She LOVES Freddie Mercury and laments every day how sad she is that he died before she could see him live. She dressed up like him for Halloween last year. She also loves roller coasters and last summer rode the 312 foot Millenium Force at Cedar Point in Ohio. She wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up.
Her favorite ride is Splash Mountain, park is Magic Kingdom, and character is Stitch.
We do have some furry family members as well. They didn't come on the trip with us, obviously, but we love them lots. Here is Maura with our pug, Bowser. He'll be 16 on August 8th! He's old, but still likes to play and get crazy once in a while.
[
You saw Tinka, our fat cat. She's also known as Stinkerbell or Fatniss Everdeen. If you met her, she'd lead you to believe that she is starved to death and never eats. She looks thin, doesn't she?Here she is with Nellie, our House Panther. They don't really like each other at all, so I'm amazed they're sitting so close to each other in this picture. There was probably a hissing war right after it was taken.
And here is Nellie being read a bedtime story by Maura. Maura thinks Nellie is her cat. Nellie thinks she's Jason's cat. She'll run over anyone to get to him.
Last but not least is this tiny little ball of fur. Mochi the hamster. We rescued him from the Humane Society back in January, and we just adore him. He's so sweet and cute and gets excited to see us when we open his house.
He's a dwarf hamster and he's so tiny! He gets manhandled all the time, and is so tolerant!
We hope to add a hedgehog to our family in the near future. I lost a very dear friend to cancer last spring. I actually found out while we were at Disney that her cancer had spread and her time was limited. Her name was Erica and she loved hedgehogs. She always wanted one, and so I want to get one and name it after her. We're still doing the research, and my kids have to keep their room clean in order to get one, but it's going to happen sometime in the future.
So that's who we are. We all love Disney. Jason has family in Florida, and had been to Disney many times as a kid, mostly for just day trips. I had been to Disneyland when I was 7 when we went to LA to visit family, but my parents were never interested in going to Disney World. They always said there were "too many other places to see." I went the first time at age 25, shortly after we started dating. I was hooked the instant I set foot on Main Street USA and promised then and there they my kids would experience Disney as kids! My parents still think we're nuts for going all the time (really it's about ever 2 years, we do go on other vacations). They just don't get it!
Here's a picture from my very first trip. How about that character meet? You don't see him anymore!
Thanks for reading and I hope to make this fun for everyone. I look forward to re-living our trip!