How Much Do You Ladies Charge to Haunt the Castle? -- Departure Day up (See index

[mommy2mrb]

you know Kathy...a trip during/after Thanksgiving would be wonderful too! then you could meet us going 11/26 - 12/6 2013...come on your know you want to come and meet us

 

[englishrose47]

A day or 2 late but I LOVE the Photo pass pix !! Especially the Princess and the frog , Have not seen that before !!
My TR is moving very slowly , Hint Hint I don't think the Rosie Link has worked !!!

 

[emmysmommy]

Awwww Kathy, I loved all the smoochy photopass pictures!! You guys are too cute and after 29 years - way to go!

How exciting that you have less than 4 weeks before your return trip! This is one TR for which I will be looking forward to hearing all the details regarding the big reveal for Mark's surprise!

I was just saying to my DD today that we will be decorating the house soon for the holidays. Glad to see that you are clever and putting the lights up in advance of the cold weather.

Enjoy your weekend.

 

[pas130]

I wish I'd had my chapstick.

Thank you.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Sorry to hear of your hot water heater troubles! Its always the worst right before a vacation.

When we were on vacation in April we got the call from our renters that the AC went out and that it needed to be completely replaced! Not the sort of call you want on vacation, so I understand how frustrating it is!

Great photopass pics, you can tell you guys were having a blast!

 

[goofy4prez]

Sorry to hear of your hot water heater troubles! Its always the worst right before a vacation.

When we were on vacation in April we got the call from our renters that the AC went out and that it needed to be completely replaced! Not the sort of call you want on vacation, so I understand how frustrating it is!

Great photopass pics, you can tell you guys were having a blast!

I can relate to this as well. For our Jan. 09 trip to WDW, the day before we were to leave we woke up with water dripping from the ceiling in front of our bay window. The carpet was soaked as were the curtains. Turns out we had ice dam build up on the roof and the water leaked into the house. Fortunately we were able to get this handled that day... But there sure was a whole lot of stress knowing we were planning on flying out the next morning.

 

[englishrose47]

Yuck for the new Hot water heater !! Great to have a day off !! I have taken about 3 days off next month just because , usually I have something to do like babysit , these are just gonna be Rosie days !!

 

[Millie12591]

Well that was fun traipsing through the WS!

You and Mark always make the WS look like so much fun, I'm going to try and shoot for seeing all the countries I've not seen yet. There are only a couple. I'd also like to see in detail a couple of places that I've not really explored yet, we'll just have to see how it goes this next trip.

I can't believe it's just a few short weeks away for your trip! It just hit me saying that how close Christmas is!!
There has been so much craziness over the last few weeks it just hasn't felt like Thanksgiving time is just around the corner.

You know how some years it feels like the holiday season it is and some years it doesn't? Or maybe that's just me and it's because I live in a state where we don't really get the season changes like y'all do to constantly remind you.
This week will provide a bit more of the Fall feel (the weather is getting cooler), so hopefully that will get me more in the mood.

 

[KatMark]

bummer about the hot water tank .... not a fun purchase

hope your get everything done on your list and enjoy dinner with your mom!

yah, you'd better not miss the wedding, you'd have some explaining to do "well you see Markie, Mickey wanted me to stay and play a bit longer "

No household item is a fun purchase; but I was told I was lucky that it was this year and not next year because of new government regulations and the new way they have to do them (hooking them up and through the wall to the outside) they will cost around $4000 next year.

We got the whole house done with the lights, I cleaned the house, and I packed 90% of my Precious Moment statues to get them out of my house (I have over 400 of them).

Yes, I don't think Markie would understand it if I stayed in Disney an extra day or two when he was getting married. He doesn't understand my obsession now.

New water tank? So no fun to have to buy before a trip!
New yeans for Mark's surprise trip? Much more fun.
And having ANOTHER trip in the works ......... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess June is going to be one really busy week for you!

It was definitely NOT what I had in mind to do with the money I had put away, that's for sure.

Yes, new jeans...mine were a little too big.

June will be busy but I figure at least I'll have a nice tan for the wedding.

OH no about the water heater... I just mentioned that in my PTR yesterday - I think ours is dying... Thankfully we have a few weeks left of the warranty. Unfortunately, we have such hard water that the average life span for a water heater in our town is only 6-7 years. Even though we have a whole house filter as the first thing after the meter - we still manage to get rocks and sediment in our tank????

Whoot for booking a girls trip!!! You will have so much fun! I need one of those - seriously!

D~

GET IT DONE before the warranty goes out (as you'll see in my post above, next year the prices will be insane).

I am so excited about the girls trip...and even more excited when Mary told me where we are staying.

Better than it breaking on your return! We came home from a cruise one February (when we lived up North) and our furnace stopped working...it was 36 degrees in the house!

That's true; or while my mom and brother were housesitting. It was still working, but it had a leak which was getting worse as the days went on. We came home one year to no air conditioning and a flooded basement...nver fun.

One of our new neighbors was putting up their Christmas decorations yesterday. Because you know, it's getting colder (it's been in the low-70s lately.)

Gee....I wish we had to deal with 70's as "getting colder."

And even more exciting is where we are staying.

OHHHHH BOY!!!!!!
Where are you going to be staying????
We will be back at the parks, on the 8th until the 15th.
Maybe we could plan a meal and swim day at Beach Club!!!!
Sooo excited that we get to meet....

Mary is making all the plans, what parks we go to on what day, etc. (we do coordinate on the meals). I figure since she is letting me tag along that I will let her be in charge of all the arrangements. But I am sure that she and I would LOVE to meet up with you. I'll be sure to tell her about it the next time I talk to her. Announcement of where we are staying coming in my next update.

you know Kathy...a trip during/after Thanksgiving would be wonderful too! then you could meet us going 11/26 - 12/6 2013...come on your know you want to come and meet us

I would love to go a little earlier next year at Christmas time; but it will all depend on when Todd and Nicki go because if we make this an annual trip, it will be with them. But hopefully the dates will work out with your dates (and I think they might as she has to go the first weekend in December).

A day or 2 late but I LOVE the Photo pass pix !! Especially the Princess and the frog , Have not seen that before !!
My TR is moving very slowly , Hint Hint I don't think the Rosie Link has worked !!!

Thanks, Rosie; we really lucked out on a lot of our Photopass pix this year. I caught up on your TR last night.

 

[KatMark]

Awwww Kathy, I loved all the smoochy photopass pictures!! You guys are too cute and after 29 years - way to go!

How exciting that you have less than 4 weeks before your return trip! This is one TR for which I will be looking forward to hearing all the details regarding the big reveal for Mark's surprise!

I was just saying to my DD today that we will be decorating the house soon for the holidays. Glad to see that you are clever and putting the lights up in advance of the cold weather.

Enjoy your weekend.

Hi, Brenda. I hope you had a good visit with your son and his wife.

Thank you.

I truly cannot believe how fast this trip has come up.

I also can't believe how fast the holidays are coming. We're off to Dubuque this weekend to see the kids because they can't come in for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Who knew we'd be kissing so much?

Sorry to hear of your hot water heater troubles! Its always the worst right before a vacation.

When we were on vacation in April we got the call from our renters that the AC went out and that it needed to be completely replaced! Not the sort of call you want on vacation, so I understand how frustrating it is!

Great photopass pics, you can tell you guys were having a blast!

Luckily, we still had hot water until it was fixed and just a leak. But that was one hunk of change with the trip and the holidays I was not planning on. We're on the verge of needing a new air conditioner too...dread that day coming up.

Thanks...we did have a blast.

I can relate to this as well. For our Jan. 09 trip to WDW, the day before we were to leave we woke up with water dripping from the ceiling in front of our bay window. The carpet was soaked as were the curtains. Turns out we had ice dam build up on the roof and the water leaked into the house. Fortunately we were able to get this handled that day... But there sure was a whole lot of stress knowing we were planning on flying out the next morning.

OUCH! We have two spots on our cathedral ceiling from two years ago and that is what it was from. That's on the list of things to be fixed.

Yuck for the new Hot water heater !! Great to have a day off !! I have taken about 3 days off next month just because , usually I have something to do like babysit , these are just gonna be Rosie days !!

I get six weeks vacation so it was no big deal to take the day off. I actually "cashed in" five days of vacation because we can only carry over so many days into the next year and I just don't use six weeks (although at the rate I'm going with trips next year, I just might use all of them).

Well that was fun traipsing through the WS!

You and Mark always make the WS look like so much fun, I'm going to try and shoot for seeing all the countries I've not seen yet. There are only a couple. I'd also like to see in detail a couple of places that I've not really explored yet, we'll just have to see how it goes this next trip.

I can't believe it's just a few short weeks away for your trip! It just hit me saying that how close Christmas is!!
There has been so much craziness over the last few weeks it just hasn't felt like Thanksgiving time is just around the corner.

You know how some years it feels like the holiday season it is and some years it doesn't? Or maybe that's just me and it's because I live in a state where we don't really get the season changes like y'all do to constantly remind you.
This week will provide a bit more of the Fall feel (the weather is getting cooler), so hopefully that will get me more in the mood.

I hope you get to spend more time in World Showcase. There is just so much to see and learn.

I don't like the fact that Christmas is so close...I am not prepared at all. I actually thought of not decorating since we won't be home for a week, but I couldn't figure out how to tell Mark that I thought we shouldn't decorate.

We have two seasons in Chicago -- summer and winter; it seems we never really have a spring or fall anymore. It was 70 degrees yesterday and today when I got up, it was a whopping 28 and it feels like 16. ONLY in Chicago.

 

[KatMark]

We are up to Wednesday of our trip (September 19). This was going to be our "no park" day in our plans, and we kept it (so proud of myself!).

We slept in and got up around 8:00; we got ready for our day and then hopped the first bus for a park that we saw, and we ended up here:

Can you tell where we are? We are at the bus stop at the Magic Kingdom. But we did NOT go to the Magic Kingdom. We got on a bus and headed here:

Any one know where here is???????????

































We were going here for our 10:00 a.m. ADR:

This has become a must do for us every trip. We just love the breakfast buffet; but I would go for this alone:

We went and got our food and here are our plates:

Mark --

Mine --

Our waitress was an absolute doll. After having filled my juice twice, she came back with this:

Trust me...she got a much nicer tip from us for being so kind.

Mark's second helpings --

Bellies full and bill taken care of, we left Boma and walked around the AK for a bit.

We stopped in the shop because we absolutely love it...one of the best gift shops on property:

Loved this pillow:

We got back on a bus to the MK and then a bus, which was sitting there waiting for us, back to OKW.

We were spending the rest of the day at the pool. I told Mark to go ahead while I gathered the laundry and I'd meet him there. This is where I found him once I arrived and had put the laundry in the washer (LOVE free laundry at the DVC resorts):

Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

Continued from previous post

There was one annoying couple there who brought a portable radio with them and had on some political station. I try not to talk politics with people becasue it can be a very hot topic and I thought it very rude of him to have this darn radio blaring this political mumbo jumbo.

I went back to the room with the laundry and brought another small load back. Just as the second load was finishing up in the dryer, this happened:

It poured for a good 2-1/2 hours. So what does one do when it is pouring rain? We took a nap.

After we woke up and the rain had stopped, we took showers to refresh ourselves and headed to the bus stop to go to Downtown Disney (the boats still weren't running because there was still some lightening in the distance).

We stopped for some pictures before we headed to dinner:

Then it was time for dinner at one of our favorite "counter service" places:

I don't know why it took us so long to try this gem, but now it is a must-do every trip.

Our bellies full once again (but not too full as we had one more place to stop for a little bite), it was time to do some shopping:

This one is for Camille:

Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

Continued from previous post

I had promised Mark for weeks that we would stop at Ghiradelli and he could have some ice cream.

This is what he ended up with:

I had a cappucino (just wasn't feeling ice cream at this point).

Love the detail in the chair:

Time for some more shopping and strolling:

Our shopping mission accomplished, we took a boat back to OKW:

Once off the boat, I decided I needed a cocktail and Mark was going to smoke his cigar.

At MaryEllen's suggestion, this year I tried the Turtle Crawl from the Gurgling Suitcase:

It was a beautiful night, and we just sat outside and relaxed and talked about what we were going to do the next two days before we headed to Marco. We also talked to Mark and Alisha on the phone for about an hour which was reallly nice:

And, by the way, MEK, that drink was so darn good that I had two of them.

Up next, day Five and what new thing do we do?

AND A LITTLE UPDATE ON OUR GIRLS' TRIP IN JUNE: Mary booked the resorts!!!! I am so excited (work better let me off the week of this and the wedding). Mary booked Old Key West for June 6 - 9 (I'm going to try really hard to catch the evening flight on Thursday) and June 9 - 12 at the Beach Club. I have never stayed at the Beach Club and it is the one resort that I still wanted to try.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Really? Listening to politics while at the pool? I'm afraid that my husband would have said something to them. Especially if it was an opposing view.
Good thing the rain came.

I agree that is was a perfect afternoon for a nap! This picture really shows that Florida drenching rain!

So, did Marc say if the ice cream was wonderful? It always smells so good when we pass by. I'm afraid it won't taste as good as it smells.

Disney Shopping! What a great way to spend an evening.
I think I'll have the Rum Runner.
After the Turtle Crawl times 2 did you have to crawl back to your room?

 

[KatMark]

Really? Listening to politics while at the pool? I'm afraid that my husband would have said something to them. Especially if it was an opposing view.
Good thing the rain came.

I really couldn't get over it. You are on vacation. You seriously need to listen to that????? Mark would have probably said someting in the next 30 minutes if the clown didn't leave.

I agree that is was a perfect afternoon for a nap! This picture really shows that Florida drenching rain!

When it rains, it rains!

So, did Marc say if the ice cream was wonderful? It always smells so good when we pass by. I'm afraid it won't taste as good as it smells.

Mark LOVED his ice cream and was very happy with his choice.

Disney Shopping! What a great way to spend an evening.
I think I'll have the Rum Runner.
After the Turtle Crawl times 2 did you have to crawl back to your room?

I love Disney shopping...and it was a lovely night.

Well, I didn't quite crawl, but I was a little wobbly. The bartender had told me if I didn't like the dirnk, he would replace it with anything I wanted. Well, I loved it and I think he made the second one much more potent.

 

[FancyNancy]

That Boma Breakfast looks yummy! I have never been but want to make an adr for dinner there in Sept. Have you and Mark ever been for din din? If so how did you like it?
That would have annoyed me to about the portable radio blaring politics. Never a good subject for me!

 

[KatMark]

Thursday, September 20

We woke up bright and early, showered and we were on a bus and here at 7:45 a.m. for EMH's:

We only had a couple of hours at the MK this morning because we were going off site later in the afternoon and evening.

First stop:

The only time we will ride Peter Pan is if we go to EMH's and get there for one of the first rides. Otherwise, the lines are way too long and we would rather use our Fastpasses elsewhere.

A picture of the construction as we walked to our next ride:

We then went to one of my favorites:

Hi, Tigger

On the way to Mark's favorite:

One very happy boy:

Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

The new splash area for the kids is absolutely great (although they will get very, very wet):

Then my husband had the brainy idea that we should ride Goofy's Barnstormer. I was okay with that until he decided we should sit in the same car together. Seriously, we are too old and "wide" for that. But we had a blast on the very short ride:

From there, it was off to Tomorrowland:

It was time to fight the evil Zurg:

Yes, he cheated again...and I took no pictures of the scores. I told him next trip we are getting in separate cars.

Peoplemover time:

Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

Then it was time to meet some old friends:

And then I told Mark we were doing this ONE TIME only as a favor to my friend, Marv (yes, I did it in January with the girls so that Cayley would do it, but Mark and I had never done it together). We saw Marv's favorite:

On our way to our breakfast ADR, we stopped for another set of photopass pictures:

We were then arriving at my all-time favorite character breakfast at The Crystal Palace...who doesn't love Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet?

Mark's plate --

Mark's second plate --

My plate (and yes, there is a LOT of puffed french toast under all that) --

Up first, Tigger:

Pooh bear:

Eeyore:

And last, but not least, Piglet:

After breakfast, we headed towards Main Street and stopped for a couple of more pictures before heading out for our afternoon/evening adventure:

Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

As we were leaving, the special parade was coming through, so we stopped and watched and I, of course, snapped a few pictures for my DIS friends:

Mark said we couldn't leave without a hat picture because we hadn't taken one that day yet:

Up next, where will our adventures take us for the afternoon/evening?