Honey, I Shrunk the Checkbook, Really final, some Feb shots, 7-27, pg82.

[Heluvsme]

Pontius, the Pilot..........hilarious!!!

And Smidgy wrangling the microwave---LOVE IT!!!!

Thanks for the diversion from my day!!

 

[Disneydad99]

hey Nebo & Smidge...sorry I just got to the New TR....

Have to catch up....

see you Katz LaterQ!!!!

 

[Philadisney]

ok, they OBVIOUSLY HATED DISNEY... ie, crocs, disney bags, etc....\ however she STARTED OUT looking GREAT!!!!. (and the money they spent on spike shoes , well Jaimee(tiggerbell) would have a field day with!..but.. she ended up looking like ... well. a MODEL!!! if producing doesn't work out......pretty , pretty.
thanks for letting us in the the ground floor!!! remember those of us who "knew you then!"
ps nebo and I are your "original mom and disney dads". tee hee

Yes you are! Thank you both so much for tuning in with me! Oh it was such a blast I was so sorry when it was over Thank goodness they cut all the embarrassing stuff!

Jaime agrees - I could never bring myself to spend that much on an inndividual piece of clothing anyway - and I'm sure it shows... oh, well. I loved the show, Kelly, and you took it a lot better than I could - the side trip to the World of Disney was priceless!!!

Meg wandered through the livingroom while I was watching it and saw the Crocs get talked about. She wandered off mumbling something about them not even trying that with Mom...

I picked up some fun stuff at the WOD, including a lime green mickey shirt! Woohoo! I'm not allowed to wear it to work though

Philadisney, I can't believe I missed most of your show! I watched until you had to throw away your Alice bag, and then went to sleep during the commercial--I guess it was too painful and my mind just shut down! I LOVE Alice, so I hope you replaced her!

Can I just say I didn't have to?

Thanks again Nebo & Smidgy for giving me a plug on your ever-popular thread! Now back to the story, they should be arriving at WDW any time now!!

 

[Angelrose]

Philadisney, I watched you on What Not to Wear. You were wonderful. You looked so cute at first, but at the end??? All I can say is WOW. You could definitely be a model. By the way, I'm 62 and I have two Tink purses, around 8 Tink t shirts, and a Tink jacket. No way is ANYBODY going to throw away my Tink! LOL

 

[Rapunzel]

NEBO! YAY!!! I'm only on pg 5 here, but your drive sounds thrilling. My DH might have a chance to get to DW at the end of Feb and I'm trying to think of ways that it would be possible to pack the kids up and go too.

Would it be possible for you to Post or PM me the route you take?

We live right off of 80, and since you guys probably come down 294 I'd be ever greatful if you could let me know how you get there - and also how long it takes (driving time)?

 

[k_reile]

subbing

 

[longneckthree]

Any chance that show might be broadcast or saved into a file (illegally or not!) onto the net? We're too cheap to pay for cable. Yeah, it's sad and we know it's sad but it's what keeps us visiting my parents fairly often, since they do have cable.

Anyhow, if anyone knows where I can get a copy of it, let me know.

Same here.
In fact, in a few weeks we won't get any chanels at all!
We'll still be able to see DVDs and vidios, but no chanels!

Any copys?

WTGG!

 

[nebo]

NEBO! YAY!!! I'm only on pg 5 here, but your drive sounds thrilling. My DH might have a chance to get to DW at the end of Feb and I'm trying to think of ways that it would be possible to pack the kids up and go too.

Would it be possible for you to Post or PM me the route you take?

We live right off of 80, and since you guys probably come down 294 I'd be ever greatful if you could let me know how you get there - and also how long it takes (driving time)?

Hey, ex Algonquin girl, you're right there, just take 80 to 65, in Nashville transfer over to 24, then in Chattanooga over to 75. Take that all the way past Ocala, to the Florida Turnpike, the easy way then is to exit at I-4 and follow the signs. There is a shorter way from the turnpike, called the Western Way, if your going directly to Disney, just ask the toll booth person about that if you want to save a few miles. By the way, if you go to I-4, you want the exit that says "to Tampa", NOT, to Orlando.

subbing

Cool, K, whatcha call your reile is going to sub for me this chapter. So, any complaints or accolades should be now addressed to her. Or him.

Same here.
In fact, in a few weeks we won't get any chanels at all!
We'll still be able to see DVDs and vidios, but no chanels!

Any copys?

WTGG!

Emily, not sure I can help you here. We did tape a bunch of it, but I do mean tape, and not sure if it came out.


Chapter 4.

It's cold.
Very cold.
Windchill is at ten degrees.

As I sit here writing I am surrounded by a barren and desolate world.

I look out the window, and am confronted by a bleak landscape made up of all the different shades of gray in the spectrum.

Is anybody out there?
Can anybody hear me?

I think not.
Knowing that this may well be my last entry, I have decid,,,,,,, "Steve"?

"Hello"?
"Huh?"

"Geez, what's the matter with you, yes I know you're a bit depressed from the winter blahs, but "C"MON!" "Now you're beginning to depress me!"

"Oh, ok, sorry. MY BAD. Won't happen again. Honest. At least until tomorrow. "

Take TWO.


Thursday morning, the sixth of December, we awoke in Kissimee, and got the heck out of there before our stalker/buddy, showed up.

I felt a little guilty doing the cut and run, but this was one heck of a busy day planned.

And it begins with a non continental breakfast.
They didn't even have a "state-inental breakfast".
But they did have coffee, and soon we were on our way.
I had one more chore before we left, remember?

Yeah, I tried to put the microwave back on the dresser where it was mounted, but couldn't figure out how to make it look normal.
The bolts and brackets were all in the way, and it sat there kind of like a "Leaning Tower of Pizza" microwave. After one last potty run, when I came out, somehow, it looked all normal again.

I walked past, gave it an elbow, and the thing didn't budge. Not an inch!
There is magic in Diane, I'm still discovering it to this day.

First stop? Walgreens.
Oh, you betcha, I have been a complete saint this far.

But enough is enough!

With great trepidation, I handed over my bottle to be refilled, knowing that I am really still 3 days early for the refill.

My heart soared when he got off the computer and said it will take about 20 minutes.

(Yes, I know, heart soaring isn't what it used to be)

So, for about 20 minutes we played the little ducks just quack, quacking around the store. Then she found the clothes aisle.

Overhead, was a big sign.
"Big Blowout Sale" "All Disney merchandise half off!" "Last Week!"

And I looked at the sign.

Anybody know what's coming?

C'mon, if you don't, then it's probably just me.

"Holy Cow, how stupid is that?"

"What," she asked?

"That sign, why is it there, just to tease?"

Even Smidgy wasn't catching on, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Right there, it says big blowout sale, last week, geesh, talk about rubbing something in,,,,sorry we couldn't make it last week."

She stood there and looked at me, as if I wasn't even there. Then she walked away.

I have that effect on women.

I got my drugs, and on to Disney.
Yay, whoo hoo, All Star Music here we come.

At registration, things are much simpler now. No smoking for everyone!

We were assigned a room, and Diane asked if it was a parking lot view.

The girl didn't seem really to sure of herself in answering, nor was she interested in looking into the matter. I told Diane, hey, it's 48 a night, who cares, if anything, our car will be closer. So Smidgy didn't argue, and after check in we went over to concierge.

All we needed to do was add one day to the passes.

You wouldn't believe how long this took. At least 20 minutes. The girl even left to go check with someone else, and moved like a snail.
Finally, it was set.

WHoo Hoo! On to the room!

And then I heard these words come out of Dianes' mouth.
"Can we have a printout of all our dinner reservations?"

I wanted to strangle her!
I think the inept girl back there wanted to also.

At last I pull the car around to the section where our room is, and we grab a few light things and head out in search of.

The rooms facing the parking lot,,,, uh uh, no room for us here. And we just started following the signs on the wall. It turned out, our room was second from the end by the cut-through, and facing the couryard closer to the piano pool section.

It was an outstanding room location! For once, Diane actually thanked me for telling her not to complain. I had a feeling the girl didn't know what she was talking about. We were about 3 rooms away from being in a "preferred section."

With our car not too far away, we brought our own luggage in ourselves.
With smiley faces, all around, we also brought out happiness into the room.

I took a picture!

And that was the end of all smiley faces concerning out stay at the All Star Music Resort.



No, I'm not going to leave it at that. Good times where still had there.

But it sure wasn't because of the resort, itself!

We had just enough time to unpack, then it was time to hitail it over to Epcot, for lunch at the Coral Reef, and catch the 5 o'clock show for the Candlelight Processional.

But our resort was just mobbed, it seemed to me. And mobbed with youngsters and a google amount of teenagers.
And all running and yelling every which way.

When I booked this resort, it actually started out as a AS sports, stay.

The code was good for music, or sports, or PO Riverside. Having just stayed at Riverside, plus, that was 104 a night, we chose sports because we have only stayed there one single night in out life. At Music, 4 years ago we stayed there 7 nights.

So I chose Sports.
And then I found that one of the pools was closed, so for the heck of it, I tried to change it to Movies.

Uh uh, no dice. But Music was available, so I switched to that.
AH, what I didn't know!!!!

I'm going to skip around here a bit, and just tell you it was utter, complete mayhem there.

There is this little thing going on there called Pop Warner, and football teams of all ages converge on Disney World.

At night it was a madhouse. I changed the name to "All Shout Music Resort."

And I'm not talking about "good shouting"

Twenty of them would come at you on a walkway, and dare you to step aside! And no, I didn't, nobody, BUT NOBODY!, tries to terrorize me at Disney!

Believe me, I am not making this up.
When we returned from Epcot, the first night early, they were everywhere, they had completely taken over all the smoking areas, the pools, the arcades, swearing and roughhousing, I knew it was just a matter of time before fighting broke out.

We went and complained to security, and got the "head nod" "I know, I know".

Let me tell you, nothing has ever sucked out the magic of being at Disney World like this stay did. From little kids to big kids, to groups of girls practicing their home team chants, it sucked. Trust me, at times it got even scarier, you could just see the mob mentality breaking out.

They would have to give me my room for free before I would ever stay there again, but it get's even better.

We were going to meet friends we met on this thread, from Cleveland, Disney fanatics like us, who were also bringing with them a newbie.

And I didn' want the newbie to see this as her first Disney experience.

On our second night we returned to find the whole resort in a youth mob chaos. At eleven at night, Diane went and complained again, and I went in search of chaperones.

Yeah, I found them. A group of moms huddling together drinking and smoking in the picnic area. And a huge group of dads smoking and drinking by a staircase.

Meanwhile, kids are just running everywhere, yelling and swearing, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and then I saw them. A family came in about midnight that night, and looked like they had been on the road all day. My heart went out to them, as they trudged to their room, about fifty teenagers were surrrounding them, all swearing and having a good ol time.

I wanted to run up to them, tell them, This is not how Disney normally is!

But I didn't, and I regret that even now.

I'm sorry, but it can't be all just laughs and jokes.

On a final note concerning the Pop Warner Debacle, we heard that 3 teams were evicted after a fight on Sat. night. Holy Cow! How do you get evicted from Disney? A fight between two Hawaian teams and one from Baltimore.
Sent on there way at 3 in the morning!

That's lovely, just lovely.


I can't leave it here. Nope, nope, nope.

Anywhoooo,,,,,

Once we settled in, I ran over to the pool area for a shot.
No, not that kind of shot, this kind of shot:

Then, we were on our way through the bus system over to Epcot.
We used one of our dining dinners for the Candlelight Processional. We have lunch at Coral Reef at two, then the early CP at five.

We got there about 11 teen, and immediately got a fastpass for SOARIN.
The fastpass said good from 2;05 to 3;05.

Perfect!

Time to try out my new theory.

Lunch was just fine, as I knew it would be, we have eaten here twice before, we both got the blackened catfish, it's not for everyone, kind of spicy, but we still like it a lot. Good thing too. I was out of commas.

After a smoke we headed over to the Land Pavillion. You know, to use our Soarin pass.
Uh oh, we are a half hour past the deadline. Oh, dear, what shall we do?

We went down, and showed our fastpasses.

And got waved right through.

Yes! I knew it. Good for the entire day.

No longer do I have to hurt innocent Japanese men trying to make my fastpass appointment, no longer do I have to throw my back out trying to get to BTMR. No longer do I have to worry about passing up the restroom and trying to keep it ,,,,,,, uh, anyway, I'm sure you get my drift.

On the way out, I grabbed a couple more. I knew we wouldn't use them today, but, hey, once again, I gotta know.

Now, please understand, we are Disney World veterans, if we aren't, then I'm not sure what the requirements would be.

But every once in a while, Disney throws me a change up. Yep, something I never saw coming, or didn't even know existed.

Like this picture you're about to see. We came into World Showcase from the Mexico end, and just enjoyed looking at all the sights , when one of the sights was this.

I never even knew there was a bridge there, much less one that opened up like it did. I guess they did this for the special fireworks that night?

The strange thing was, this happened again later on this trip. But never once had it ever happened before!

Oh well, Disney is just full of surprises!

good night all, hugs

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Yay I'm first now I gotta go read

Great update as usual!!

Sorry about the rowdy kids.

 

[Donald is #1]

But our resort was just mobbed, it seemed to me. And mobbed with youngsters and a google amount of teenagers.
And all running and yelling every which way.

At night it was a madhouse. I changed the name to "All Shout Music Resort."

And I'm not talking about "good shouting"

Twenty of them would come at you on a walkway, and dare you to step aside! And no, I didn't, nobody, BUT NOBODY!, tries to terrorize me at Disney!

Believe me, I am not making this up.
When we returned from Epcot, the first night early, they were everywhere, they had completely taken over all the smoking areas, the pools, the arcades, swearing and roughhousing, I knew it was just a matter of time before fighting broke out.

We went and complained to security, and got the "head nod" "I know, I know".

Let me tell you, nothing has ever sucked out the magic of being at Disney World like this stay did. From little kids to big kids, to groups of girls practicing their home team chants, it sucked. Trust me, at times it got even scarier, you could just see the mob mentality breaking out.

Your description is exactly my fear of staying at one of the value resorts. To be surrounded by unsupervised school groups is cruel & in-human punishment!

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

Your description is exactly my fear of staying at one of the value resorts. To be surrounded by unsupervised school groups is cruel & in-human punishment!

We had no problems with kids or noise when we stayed there over Spring Break.

 

[CJsMom]

Originally Posted by nebo

At night it was a madhouse. I changed the name to "All Shout Music Resort."

And I'm not talking about "good shouting"

Twenty of them would come at you on a walkway, and dare you to step aside! And no, I didn't, nobody, BUT NOBODY!, tries to terrorize me at Disney!

Believe me, I am not making this up.
When we returned from Epcot, the first night early, they were everywhere, they had completely taken over all the smoking areas, the pools, the arcades, swearing and roughhousing, I knew it was just a matter of time before fighting broke out.

We went and complained to security, and got the "head nod" "I know, I know".

Let me tell you, nothing has ever sucked out the magic of being at Disney World like this stay did. From little kids to big kids, to groups of girls practicing their home team chants, it sucked. Trust me, at times it got even scarier, you could just see the mob mentality breaking out.

Arrgghh - wasn't it terrible? We stayed at All-Star Sports for one night, 12/8, and I have never wanted to get out of a place so badly. I'm quoting from my trip report so I don't have to type it all over again:

"The boys swam for about an hour. Then we headed back to the room to get ready for our dinner at Chef Mickey’s. This was the end of Pop Warner week – and note to self here – we will never stay at an All-Star Resort during Pop Warner week again! Even for one night! The kids were all over the resort unsupervised. The language was pretty bad. Luckily my kids didn't pick up on it. The resort was a mess – with trash and food all over the pool area. Disgusting."

AND

"We got back to the All-Star Sports about 8:30. Yahoo – our luggage arrived! We also found empty beer cans and pizza crusts on the railings. The police were there dealing with some drunk adult cheerleader coaches. Repeat – never stay at All Stars again during any part of Pop Warner week! "

Now, I have stayed at All-Star Movies and All-Star Music before, and some cheerleading groups were at the ASMo when we were there - but it was absolutely nothing like what we experienced during Pop Warner. Luckily my kids don't know the words they were hearing were bad, or they would have acquired a whole new vocabulary from that one night. And the trash and food and empty beer cans were still sitting all over the place the next morning when we left! Never, never again - did I say that already?

Rant off - Nebo, you may proceed!

 

[Quacktatty]

Lurker coming out of hiding to let you know that the bridge is opened every night that Illuminations is done. It lets through boats with Illuminations "stuff". I only know this because I got stuck waiting for it once and asked the CM who was guarding the gate. Overall it is a relatively quick process though.

 

[HaleyB]

Yep, we think it is really cool to watch the barge of explosives go past. We spend a prodigious amount of time in the World Showcase and have caught the barge going out a few times.

So now I am dying to know if they let you use the fastpasses on another day. We have known about the return window being a 'suggestion' for many moons. I'd of told ya, if I knew you didn't know. We thought about trying to use our M::S fastpasses a few days late, but we have such bad luck with that ride we decided not to try it.

Sorry about the winter blah's. I'll refrain from giving the Austin weather report just now.

 

[LeeLee2U]

That would definatly be AWFULL, HORRIBLE just plumb unlawfull throw them all in jail for a newbie to have to go to DW and put up with all that!!!
We were 1st timers and that was a big part of the "magical" feeling. THe family friendly atmosphere. Of course I'm sure a few ears heard "THE WRATH OF NEBO!!!"

I love the check in CM. Now that is what I call experienced professional service!!!
Yah for getting the meds refilled!!!!!!! DH had 2 surgeries a couple of weeks ago and when released there was no pain meds prescribed. The orders said to use the Vikes at home. Now these were NOT prescribed by the surgeon these were for something else. Now he's several days away from being able to refill and only has a few left!!! He's trying to set up an appointment with his GP to throw hisself on their mercy!!

 

[smidgy]

it's such a shame,because usually the Values are great! last time we were at AsMu I loved it. sure, we prefer the moderates, but if you need a disney fix and it's the only affordable option......

2 times I called front desk in the middle of the night(different nights) to ask somone to make the kids go to their rooms and stop running up and down the resort yelling and swearing (the chaperones obviously weren't going to ) there should be a curfew, just like anywhere else. like nebo said, finally 3 big groups were kicked out.

but don't be afraid of the values. be very afraid of pop warner week, though!

 

[jcc0621]

Yeah, I tried to put the microwave back on the dresser where it was mounted, but couldn't figure out how to make it look normal.
The bolts and brackets were all in the way, and it sat there kind of like a "Leaning Tower of Pizza" microwave. After one last potty run, when I came out, somehow, it looked all normal again.

I walked past, gave it an elbow, and the thing didn't budge. Not an inch!
There is magic in Diane, I'm still discovering it to this day.

Diane to the rescue again

First stop? Walgreens.
Oh, you betcha, I have been a complete saint this far.

But enough is enough!

With great trepidation, I handed over my bottle to be refilled, knowing that I am really still 3 days early for the refill.

My heart soared when he got off the computer and said it will take about 20 minutes.

And I looked at the sign.

Anybody know what's coming?

Don't say it!

C'mon, if you don't, then it's probably just me.

"Holy Cow, how stupid is that?"

"What," she asked?

"That sign, why is it there, just to tease?"

Even Smidgy wasn't catching on, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Right there, it says big blowout sale, last week, geesh, talk about rubbing something in,,,,sorry we couldn't make it last week."

You said it

She stood there and looked at me, as if I wasn't even there. Then she walked away.

Which is what any sane person would do

I took a picture!

Great View

And that was the end of all smiley faces concerning out stay at the All Star Music Resort.

Uh oh

Twenty of them would come at you on a walkway, and dare you to step aside! And no, I didn't, nobody, BUT NOBODY!, tries to terrorize me at Disney!

You tell them Nebo!

Yeah, I found them. A group of moms huddling together drinking and smoking in the picnic area. And a huge group of dads smoking and drinking by a staircase.

Meanwhile, kids are just running everywhere, yelling and swearing, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and then I saw them. A family came in about midnight that night, and looked like they had been on the road all day. My heart went out to them, as they trudged to their room, about fifty teenagers were surrrounding them, all swearing and having a good ol time.

Figures and they'd be the first one's arguing if someone said something to "thier kid"

I wanted to run up to them, tell them, This is not how Disney normally is!

But I didn't, and I regret that even now. {/QUOTE]

On a final note concerning the Pop Warner Debacle, we heard that 3 teams were evicted after a fight on Sat. night. Holy Cow! How do you get evicted from Disney? A fight between two Hawaian teams and one from Baltimore.
Sent on there way at 3 in the morning!

That's lovely, just lovely.

This made the national news, and of course according to the teams Disney was wrong for throwing them out This is waht is wrong with the world today (OK, sorry - off the soap box now)

Like this picture you're about to see. We came into World Showcase from the Mexico end, and just enjoyed looking at all the sights , when one of the sights was this.

You saw this but can't find Devine



Which narrator did you see for the Candlelight Processional, or is that your next chapter

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Meg wandered through the livingroom while I was watching it and saw the Crocs get talked about. She wandered off mumbling something about them not even trying that with Mom...

Bwaaahahahahaha

Stacey and Clinton would have absolutely met their match!

ok...going back to read now...

 

[winkers]

Disney should have to warn you about pop warner when you book!The cm's would have gotten sick of hearing from me if I had to deal with it! We stayed at asmu in may and loved it. It's too bad you had to deal with all of that.

Diane must be wonderwoman on the side!

I got the joke about the sign at the pharmacy! What's my prize???

 

[kindakrazy2]

I have heard nightmare stories of Pop Warner week.

If you have to go during that time and stay at values - I have heard that they don't use POP. Not sure if that is true or not though....

Anyways....

We saw the bridge open too! They open it to move the barges out for Illuminations!

Keep it coming Nebo!