"Honey are you awake?" "Mumble Mumble" - 6/17

[marcielm]

I love the comment about the last time involving 2 lines. BTDT!

 

[thewesterberg]

I'm still here! AN UPDATE! And such a great one! What a very magical day at DHS. I love that you and Bubba Mouse both always want to volunteer and get picked for stuff, it's so much fun! And nice walk there Bubba Mouse! What great videos! Sorry you miss RnRC again, but August is coming quick!

I can't believe we were so fortunate to have our family involved in these things back-to-back. And there's another cool thing coming up too!

Congratulations again on the DVC! It was LOVELY staying at SSR, I know AKV is going to be even more up our alley! DVC is awesome. We have blown away a lot of our points in planning too - it's so much fun to dream, isn't it?

We realize our 40 pts aren't going to go too far! But it's what we could afford, got our foot in the door, and now it's time to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE for an add on!

The Grand Gathering sounds really great! Are you going to do a PTR on it, or just spill little details here and there?

I may do one, but didn't think it would be right to start one before I finished this one up.

It's a fun group that we'll be traveling with. One couple owns DVC (they actually threw some points our way to cover our last night as we were a couple short.) They got a 2 bedroom at AKV and their daughter, grandaughter (she's 1 and this is her first trip!), and her sister's family (DW, DH, and DS13) will stay together. Then we're hoping another friend and her family (DW, DH, DD12, DD9, DD4) will be able to go as well. But it depends if we can find them a deal. Right now the Buy 4/Get 3 ends 4 days before our trip. We're hoping a good deal covers the week we're there. The oldest just found out she needs braces so a hunk of money will be going to that. We're willing to take the youngest girl and have her stay with us in the studio so they can stay at a Value. Junior and her are good friends.

We did a trial run last April to the Wisconsin Dells to see if we could travel well together and it was a hit! Not only are we planning the Disney trip, we're going back to the Dells in April, along with a bunch of other families from church. I just called to check and we've got 9 families going at this point with more planning on making reservations!

Banana Bread Pudding. Drool.

It was so good. I found it on the allears.com recipe list. If you make it, half the amount of cream. Even with cutting it in half, I still threw some out when the pudding was all gone.

I love the comment about the last time involving 2 lines. BTDT!

Too funny! Thanks for stopping in and reading!

 

[thewesterberg]

I totally forgot to add something to the day -

While DH and Junior were waiting to see Sorcerer Mickey, a young boy pointed to DH and said, "Hey, I know you! You were in the Indiana Jones show!"



His 15 minutes of fame... and being recognized something like 8 hours later!

 

[DIZBOUND]

Way to cool! I have been anxiously waiting for you to update. made my day to open my email and see it...Congrads on the dvc. wE LOVE ours!! Those Add on its come on quickly though. Enjoy the planning, August is just around the corner. Will be waiting for more.

 

[thewesterberg]

Way to cool! I have been anxiously waiting for you to update. made my day to open my email and see it...Congrads on the dvc. wE LOVE ours!! Those Add on its come on quickly though. Enjoy the planning, August is just around the corner. Will be waiting for more.

Thanks for sticking around!

How long have you had DVC? Looks like your next trip is just around the corner... FUN!

 

[Flossbolna]

an update! I love it when trip reports that have stopped in the middle get updates again! I am alsways so sorry that I miss out on the rest of the story. So thanks a lot for coming back!!

 

[thewesterberg]

an update! I love it when trip reports that have stopped in the middle get updates again! I am alsways so sorry that I miss out on the rest of the story. So thanks a lot for coming back!!

And thank you for coming back to read! Apologies for letting this go... life got in the way and then it had been so long, I thought for a bit "why bother"... But like I said, the coolest parts of our trip were to come and I wanted to be able to share all about them!

 

[DIZBOUND]

Thanks for sticking around!

How long have you had DVC? Looks like your next trip is just around the corner... FUN!

Well lets see. We visited for the first time Easter of 2007 and by July of 2007 we purchased site unseen! We have added on 3 times thus far and if it not for the economy and our business suffering a bit, we would have done so again at Christmas. yes we are OH so looking forward to our upcoming trip...My littlest (2) each day gets up and asks if we are going to the "Lights, Motors, Action Cars today?"

Oh so looking forward to reading about the rest of your wonderful trip!

 

[PrincessV]

It's been awhile and who knows if anyone will even read it, but I thought this trip deserved to be written about.

Yay! I'm still here!

Man is it hot. Not a bit of shade. A suggestion for Disney? Build a huge Millennium Falcon over that stage to give us all a break!

AMEN to that!

The Jedi Master started picking kids from the crowd and........


Junior was picked!!!!

Hooray! And he did such a good job!

Our DVC contract went through and it's official... we're members! (This is sort of old news, but I hadn't shared it here yet, so I am. So there. )

Wooo hooo - welcome Home!

 

[thewesterberg]

Okay, I just have to share my new trip excitement. I just found out that NWA is having a sale... flights from Minneapolis to Orlando for our dates are.............................















$150/ticket ROUNDTRIP!!!!!!!

Anyone from Minnesota knows these prices are UNHEARD of! I was thinking it was going to be around $250/person. We got all three tickets for less than what 2 tickets would have cost us.

You better believe I booked those suckers quick before NWA changed their minds!! I got a hold of the other families that are going and told them to book 'em.

I am just giddy. Cheap tickets and by buying them, this makes the trip officially official!!

Well lets see. We visited for the first time Easter of 2007 and by July of 2007 we purchased site unseen! We have added on 3 times thus far and if it not for the economy and our business suffering a bit, we would have done so again at Christmas.

I love hearing about buying in sight unseen! That's sort us too - we did go on the tour at SSR and saw the model rooms of AKV, but we've never set foot on AKV property (well, except when I had to turn around after missing the Sherburth Road cut-through to our off-site house, but that didn't really count!) I'm sorry to hear business isn't going well. Here's to hoping that things straighten themselves out soon...

yes we are OH so looking forward to our upcoming trip...My littlest (2) each day gets up and asks if we are going to the "Lights, Motors, Action Cars today?"

So cute! Isn't their enthusiasm so precious?!

Yay! I'm still here!

YAY! Thanks for coming back!

AMEN to that!

Maybe it's their way of keeping the crowds down...

Hooray! And he did such a good job!

Thanks... it's good to know he can take down a Sith...

 

[brookelizabeth]

I totally forgot to add something to the day -

While DH and Junior were waiting to see Sorcerer Mickey, a young boy pointed to DH and said, "Hey, I know you! You were in the Indiana Jones show!"



His 15 minutes of fame... and being recognized something like 8 hours later!

That is so funny...and really cute!

And thank you for coming back to read! Apologies for letting this go... life got in the way and then it had been so long, I thought for a bit "why bother"... But like I said, the coolest parts of our trip were to come and I wanted to be able to share all about them!

Never think "why bother" - we will paiently wait.

$150/ticket ROUNDTRIP!!!!!!!

That really is INCREDIBLE! Our December dates aren't that low, but are $219 (w/ taxes) each, which is still a good deal. We haven't bought yet...maybe, just maybe they will extend the sale!

 

[thewesterberg]

So instead of writing my TR, I've been working on a project for our upcoming trip. Just have our DS, there hasn't been a chance for me to sew an adorable dress like those on the Disboutiquers thread. I don't think he'd go for it!

But since we'll have a little girl, just shy of 2, traveling with us on our next trip, there was the perfect reason to give it a go! So by reading different patterns/tutorials on the internet and using DH's swiss army knife to measure the width of a dress at Target , this is what I came up with:

I'm so pleased how it turned out! And I can't wait to see our friend's daughter wearing it!

 

[DIZBOUND]

WOW that looks great! You sure are tallented, I wish I could make something like that for ME!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Super cute dress!! You are so talented!!

 

[thewesterberg]

The guilt was eating away at me that I went this far in our trip, and then didn't finish. And I was thinking about a PTR for our/my upcoming trip(s) and I just couldn't bring myself to start that without finishing this. I need to wrap this baby up!

So if anyone is still reading, hold on to your hats as I buzz through the last couple days with highlights, pictures, and a foggy memory, because we had some extra special fun things happen that are too good to pass up!

It's now Saturday (I think). Which meant a day to sleep in and then head to Blizzard Beach. And the day before I set up a DVC tour for in the afternoon. We grabbed breakfast in the Food Court and talked with this wonderful couple from New York. They were there with their adult children and grandkids and were enjoying a quiet morning while the others headed to the parks earlier.

Soon we were on the bus, ready to head to Blizzard Beach. We set up our stuff in a great spot near the kid's play area (Ski Patrol Training Camp) and it was time to hit the slides! Junior loved him some of the cargo net/ice float walk. Over and Over he did this.

Some pretty nice moves!

We finally convinced him to try some of the mini-slides. And guess what? He loved them!

We did the family raft ride once, but he really liked the one at Typhoon Lagoon better and was done with that.

Next we headed to the wave pool.

And my personal favorite...

And then it started to sprinkle. And then it started to rain.



And people ran from the pool to seek shelter.



Now mind you, it was just raining at this point. No thunder. No lightening. Just rain.




And people taking shelter. GASP!!! You're getting wet???? At a water park???? Heaven forbid!!!



We laughed so hard... You people paid how much to play in the water and when it rains you hightail it to the shelters??????



At this point we decided to head to the Toboggan Racers. It was a ride I wanted to do real bad and both DH and Junior decided to come too. In the back of my mind I thought Junior would opt out when we got up to the top, but this kid kept surprising me and he was excited to give it a go! (Mind you, we've gone to the Dells the last 2 spring breaks and also stayed at a local waterpark when school was cancelled due to bad weather and he has not done one single water slide. Nada. Not even the kiddie slides on those water bucket dumping play areas. Nothing has convinced him to do any slide before this trip or since. Yet he wants to do the slides at Disney.)

So anyway, here we are racing down on our toboggans and who's going to win???? Junior, the stick boy that he is, stopped almost immediately when we got to the bottom of the slide. Me, I went further than I hoped , and DH... well he's a bigger guy and not only did he go quite a ways at the end (pretty much to the end of the track), he caught air on the last two drops!

Junior and I decided this was a must go again, but DH was feeling pretty tired and was going to head back to our chair to start packing things up. The two of us made it all the way back up the stairs when it was announced that there was now lightening in the area and the park was closing. Boo Hoo.

(And we didn't mock people now that got out of the pool. Lightening is a perfectly acceptable reason to flee the water. Rain, not so much.).

We waited for a bit to get a bus and we headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for our DVC tour!!! The nifty van picked us up and we were off! We had a great driver that was loads of fun to talk too. Soon we were pulling up at SSR and we headed on in. Junior was excited to ditch us for the play area and we met with our guide. Did the tour. Drooled a whole lot at the display rooms. And had willpower. There was no way we could buy in at Disney's minimums right now. BUT... We knew it something we wanted to do on a smaller scale. Bring on the resale listings!


It was getting close to our dinner reservation at Whispering Canyon so we each got our $25 gift card for doing the tour, skipped the ice cream sundaes, and had the driver bring us to our dinner reservation. (Having them drive us sure beat taking a bus from Pop to MK and then another bus to WL! I felt quite clever at that point!)

We went in the doors and I think I might have gasped out loud. Oh. My. Goodness. That lobby is A-mazing!! We checked in for our ADR and then looked around some.

Took a picture.

Why I didn't take more pictures is beyond me, but if I remember right, Junior was beat tonight. And was being a bit of a stinker. And we were tired so that didn't help too much. And it was a long wait for our ADR.

Eventually it was our time to eat and we were seated in a booth over looking the lobby of the hotel. We ordered the platter and milkshakes and waited for the hijinks to ensue. We got straws thrown on the table and that was it. Don't know if our waitress didn't think we'd be in to it or if she wasn't in to it, but we watched from afar all the fun other tables were having. Junior was still antsy/crabby so we tried being silly instead...

It worked for a bit. But not long. We finally got our waitress to come back and we asked for our apple pie to go. We had stayed too long. Of course it took forever to get the pie. And she came out with complimentary champagne for our anniversary, which was so sweet of her, but we really needed to go. Like now. Or 15 minutes ago. DH and I looked at each other, shrugged, and each slammed down our respective glass in a gulp or two! Yeah, we were going to need whatever little buzz to cope.

We headed for the bus stop, but stopped to take a quick picture -

Now I think this may have been where we checked our sanity at the door (or maybe the champagne clouded our judgment), because we got on a bus for Downtown Disney with the intent to maybe go to Disney Quest for a bit. I can't believe we actually thought this would work, with how tired we were and how Junior was doing. I'm really hoping my memory is failing me right now and we didn't seriously consider going there, but I feel like we did!

The bus ride from WL to DTD took us an hour. I swear our bus driver had no clue where she was going. We were all over the Disney property. I think we even saw Sea World. In San Diego. Does it really take this long???

Our judgment returned at the bus stop when we got off that bus and directly on to a waiting Pop Century bus. Sound Judgement trumped Fuzzy Disney/Champagne brain.

Next stop? Bed.

 

[Mocharilla]

YAY UPDATE!!!!

I do love the people who run away from the pool in the rain.

 

[teruterubouzu]

You are back!

The photos at the water park are great. It does sound like an exhausting day. I love that you slammed your anniversary champagne!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Yay, an update! And a possible PTR!

That is really funny about people running for shelter during the rain! Helloooooooooo, you are already wet people!

GREAT pics of Junior at Blizzard Beach - and for doing the slides too!

Sorry to hear about the antsy/exhuasted dinner though. You know sometimes when Henry is fussy at a meal, and the waitress/waiter takes foreverrrrr, doesn't bring the bill, or encourages us to linger, I just look at them like they have 2 heads. Kid is antsy=let's move it!

 

[PrincessV]

Hooray, you're back!

Junior loved him some of the cargo net/ice float walk. Over and Over he did this.

This always looks like soooo much fun! I can't wait for Leo to be tall enough to do it. You know - so I can "assist."

DH and I looked at each other, shrugged, and each slammed down our respective glass in a gulp or two! Yeah, we were going to need whatever little buzz to cope.

I can totally picture this!

The bus ride from WL to DTD took us an hour. I swear our bus driver had no clue where she was going. We were all over the Disney property. I think we even saw Sea World. In San Diego. Does it really take this long???

 

[thewesterberg]

Thank you for coming back to read after the long time away!

YAY UPDATE!!!!

I do love the people who run away from the pool in the rain.

It made us scratch our heads, wondering what was up with them! More room for us in the wave pool though!!

You are back!

The photos at the water park are great. It does sound like an exhausting day. I love that you slammed your anniversary champagne!

The waterproof disposable camera was perfect for the waterparks! I'm so glad we brought it with.

As for the champagne... couldn't let a free drink go to waste!

Yay, an update! And a possible PTR!

There's been some exciting developments (and some impulsive behavior on my part!)

That is really funny about people running for shelter during the rain! Helloooooooooo, you are already wet people!

Exactly!!

GREAT pics of Junior at Blizzard Beach - and for doing the slides too!

His nature the whole trip was to be quite adventurous, which is really unlike him! I'm hoping that trend continues on the next trip

Sorry to hear about the antsy/exhuasted dinner though. You know sometimes when Henry is fussy at a meal, and the waitress/waiter takes foreverrrrr, doesn't bring the bill, or encourages us to linger, I just look at them like they have 2 heads. Kid is antsy=let's move it!

Isn't that the truth!

Hooray, you're back!

Thanks for coming back to read too!

This always looks like soooo much fun! I can't wait for Leo to be tall enough to do it. You know - so I can "assist."

It was a blast and entertained him for quite some time. I bet Leo will have a great time (and you too for that matter!)

I can totally picture this!

I'm sure we looked really refined slamming it down!!