"I Can" and "I Will" Go To The World...UPDATED 10-9-10 WITH PICTURES!!..

[jenniferkeala808]

hey!! Just joining in! Looks like our trips will overlap a little. we will be at the world april 26-may 6!! Your kids are soooo cute! Especially that Skyler...your little vampire!! LOL! So precious! Well, I'm gonna go back and catch up!!

*keala*

 

[tyandskyesmom]

hey!! Just joining in! Looks like our trips will overlap a little. we will be at the world april 26-may 6!! Your kids are soooo cute! Especially that Skyler...your little vampire!! LOL! So precious! Well, I'm gonna go back and catch up!!

*keala*

Thanx for reading...and posting...I think I am talking to myself here! Yep, she is a cutie but she is trouble too, I can see it already!

I jumped over to read your PTR and it sounds like we will be at opposite ends of The World when we are there. If I got to live in Hawaii everyday, I don't know that I'd be in such a hurry to leave...well, maybe to Mickey's! We are hoping to get to Hawaii when the kids are a little older just because it would be an expensive trip and probably our "once-in-a-life-time trip so I want to make sure they are old enough to throughly enjoy it and to take part in everything they want to...so maybe someday we'll get there!

 

[Angies1274]

Hi!!Joining in too!! Your kids are so cute!!-and your plans sound great so far! We'll be at Pop Century in April too..but the week before! Can't wait! Your son sounds very similar to my oldest son. He feels the same way about the bigger rides...for that reason DHS has always been ranked our 4th park as well. I think I finally convinced him and his younger brother to ride EE this year!! Hope you are able to convince your son as well!!

Oh and YAY!! for the surprise!! I don't know if I could ever keep a secret like this!! Good for you!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Hi!!Joining in too!! Your kids are so cute!!-and your plans sound great so far! We'll be at Pop Century in April too..but the week before! Can't wait! Your son sounds very similar to my oldest son. He feels the same way about the bigger rides...for that reason DHS has always been ranked our 4th park as well. I think I finally convinced him and his younger brother to ride EE this year!! Hope you are able to convince your son as well!!

Oh and YAY!! for the surprise!! I don't know if I could ever keep a secret like this!! Good for you!

Hey!!!! Thanx for joining!

Seems to be more of us April people coming out of the woodwork lately...

I am hoping Tyler will agree to Everest this year too!!! Skye will still be too little but she and Grammy could do something else while we ride. Grammy actually tried to get him to go on Tower of Terror by telling him she will ride to (she's afraid of heights and does not do thrill rides...I'll get to her introductions soon) but so far he says no...but he does seem intrigued...and I think Skye would go if he went...becasue I really think a lot of what he likes or doesn't like really affects her (that's why we thought about keeping them seperated for her first 5 or 6 years of life initially...but we also said we were not going to teach her to talk or walk and that didn't pan out either!!! ). So we'll see what ends up happening once we're there. Surprizingly enough we were cleaning up some old toys and stuff and Skye fell in love with Tyler's Saurolophus from when he was first able to ride Dinosaur...he hasn't ridden it since. Well, who are we kidding? It scares me! But she decided right then and there that she was riding it...so I told he if she rides it she can get her own dinosaur...and from there Tyler chimes in "If I ride it can I get one too?". I'm not above bribery but in the past, even that was not enough to pull Tyler in...so we'll see...I may be bringing home two new dinos this time around!!!

Oh, and it's not a secret anymore...but I really need to get on with this PTR so I can let the cat out of the bag for you guys!!!

 

[Peter Pan Fan 22]

Hi there! Just checking in to see your plans since we'll be there on some of the same days.

Love the hidden Mickey oil spot!!! I've been seeing Mickey heads in weird objects and strange places as well. I just tell my family it's Mickey fever and the only cure is a trip to Disney!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Hi there! Just checking in to see your plans since we'll be there on some of the same days.

Love the hidden Mickey oil spot!!! I've been seeing Mickey heads in weird objects and strange places as well. I just tell my family it's Mickey fever and the only cure is a trip to Disney!

Seems like there will be a lot of crossovers...I keep thinking I will be walking around The World for eight days thinking everyoen looks familiar and not knowing why...and not remembering that they are form reading eveyone else's PTR...


I love your countdown calendar ...we have done the same kind of calendar for the last three trips but were always looking for a new idea...we might steal yours next time...

Thanx for reading along!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So now it's time to introduce...ME...

SHERRY​

I am a mom to two wonderful and very active kids. I work full time in the busness department of a hospital corporation (based very near Orlando...a transfer would be great!) collecting from insurance companies. I love to read. I love to scrap book but do not do it that well and lack the time and organization to get much done.

I did not get married until I was 25 and I was 28 before I had Tyler so I was ready to just be a mom.






Now at 39, I cannot see doing anything without my kids. I mean, they come with me grocery shopping and on errands and Tyler has only spent the night away from me when I had Skye, and he was at my parent's house across the street. I figure it will be soon enough that they will have their own lives and I will then get to be just me again. Until that happens, I am happy to be with them, to watch them change and grow, to encourage them to be the best they can be, to watch them explore their world and make it what the want it to be. If it does not involve them, most likely it does not involve me.



I also love planning vacations...especially to Disney World. I will plan a lot and that helps me to know where we can change the plan and what good options for the change will be.



At this point in time, I am the bread winner in our house as my husband was a Union Carpenter and, well, that is not a business to be in when the economy crashes!

There are not a lot of pictures of me partially because I am usually the one with the camera and partially becasue as of the birth of my 11 pound 2 ounce daughter almost six years ago, I do not like the way I look. I have however, recently found out that at least part of that is due to an underlying medical condition and am now being treated for it so hopefully, I can get back to liking the person who looks back at me from the mirror again!

I tend to be an extreme person...meaning, middle of the road is not usually where you'll find me. I believe that parents have a major effect on how their children turn out (barring medical issues), that rewarding kids for hard work is a good thing all the way around, that just becasue your parent paid for you to play a sport does not mean you will, that being better than the next guy is an important thing to strive for (and I don't mean in a sarcastic, rub-it-in-your-face kind of a way, rather in a having something to strive for kind of a way) no matter what your school or work or coach tells you, that presentation is half the battle, that kids we need to teach to all levels of all kids not just the average and below kids but the advanced kids need to be taught to and shoudl be expected to stay advanced, and that it is never too early to push children to succeed.

It is so hard for me to pick favorites because I love everything Disney. When people ask why we are going to Disney AGAIN I tell them becasue it is the one place that we can all have fun. It is the one place that we all get to just enjoy eachother with no football, baseball, no dance or gymnastics, no school and no work, no cooking, no launrdry, no dishes, no cleaning, no driving. All of that is done for us! We do a lot of things around home together normally...in fact the kids are usually the kids that friends are calling to come hang out but we are almost always doing something...and we all like it that way...but when it comes to vacation we want to only do what we want to...and Disney lets us do that. When people ask how we can afford to go to Disney so much (and our last two trips for around two weeks each) I tell them it is all in the planning!!! And offer to do theirs!

I guess if I have to pick favorites, my favorite character would be The Cheshire Cat (in fact I think our Petey would make a great Tim Burton Cheshire Cat if I streaked her hair blue!), my favorite ride would probably be The Safari, my favorite show would be Fantasmic!, my favorite restaurant would be Narcoossee's, my favorite hotel would have to be Animal Kingdom Lodge but I really, really, really would love, love, love to stay at the Grand Flroidian and The Contemporary in a Tower Magic Kingdom View room...and my favorite park would probably be, if I absolutely had to make the unbearable choice would probably be Magic Kingdom but I really do have a very difficult time saying that.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We got the rest of our MICKEY MAIL!!!!!!!!

I was very impressed with the little booklet we received...in the past it was not as prettily organized...Skye and I were home alone while the guys were at Baseball Practice so we had to do our own sort of victory dance!!! (and we may or may not looked like those bananas too!)

Oh, and I almost forgot (well, you all know that's a lie )

22
MORE
DAYS!!!!​

 

[jenniferkeala808]

yay for mickey mail!! It's always exciting to get mail from the mouse!! It makes it feel more real!! Woooohooo for 22 more days!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

yay for mickey mail!! It's always exciting to get mail from the mouse!! It makes it feel more real!! Woooohooo for 22 more days!!

It sure does make it more real!!! I think we even forgot to tell Tyler...or maybe we just wanted to keep it for ourselves...naw, the more excited, the better...I better remember to tell him when I get home!

We have so much going on in the next 22 days it shoudl feel like nothing!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I have a question for you guys...

My dad has some points on one of their Disney Visa's that he wants to cash in for us to use while we are there. But he called yesterday and was told there was not enough time to guarantee the cards would get her in enough time before our 22 DAYS. He was told he could order it and they would have the cards at Guest Services waiting for us when we got there.

Does anyone know which Guest Services this would be? Or is it something they will actuall produce when we arrive and so we can go to any Guest Services?

Has anyone done this before? Did everything go smoothly?

Thanx Guys!!!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

I've never done the Guest Services thing before but I did order my Rewards Card online and it came in 7 days! I don't know if you want to take your chances. Maybe have your dad call them back and ask which one? Or can they mail it to the resort?! Let us know what you decide!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I've never done the Guest Services thing before but I did order my Rewards Card online and it came in 7 days! I don't know if you want to take your chances. Maybe have your dad call them back and ask which one? Or can they mail it to the resort?! Let us know what you decide!!

Ya, I know...when I did it, which was a while ago...I am sure I got it within a week but do we take the chance? What good is it if we don't get it??? We don't know when we will get back...this is the longest stretch we have had and we're at around a year and a half...I have a feeling it may be longer next time.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

Joining in!!! I haven't read much of your PTR, but I look forward to finishing it!!! Can't wait to read more

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I look forward to finishing it!!!

ME TOO!!!!

I feel like I should be so much furhter than I am...I have so many things I need to talk about before we leave, I have not even scratched the surface...especially compared to other people's reports!!!

Thanx for reading along...

 

[Leleluvsdis]

WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!...but the kids don't know...this is the longest I have ever kept a secret like this from them!!!

I think it's awesome you are keeping it a surprise!!!

A little more background information on us here...we recently discovered the usefulness of Extra Morning Hours and getting there early...and we have always loved the Extra Evening Hours. So we usually try to plan with those in mind...which is apparently what a lot of other Disers try to avoid.

So back to decisions...so one day at each of these is grating on me.
So i'm looking, and looking, and re-looking. And thinking, and thinking, and re-thinking. And this is what I came up with...

Hoppers would be a waste of money this time around.

BUT

For about $25.00 more or something crazy like that I could add two more days to our passes!

So that's how we got to eight day base passes.

You know, I figure, if worse comes to worse and for whatever reason we decide we NEED to hop, we can always add it there.

We ALWAYS use EMH! It think they are great!!! Not so much the AM EMH we aren't early morning people, but PM EMH DH and I LOVE b/c it's like you have been invited to special party of only select guest. In other words... the park is EMPTY!!!

I've never thought about adding days rather than adding park hopper. We only use the park hopper 1 or 2 days, and it's definetly better to add days vs the park hopper!! Thanks for ths tip!

Another sinde note on us as a family...we don't do sports just becase they are cute...if you're playing, you're playing to play the best you can...we don't like participation trophies...we think you should earn it...and that is not coming from a parent with two super-duper athletic, driven kids...Tyler is very laid back about ambition...everything in school has always been easy for him, in sports in our area (ie. baseball and football) if you show up you play...so Tyler has not had to have the drive to be good he just had to show up...and he is not the best (he holds his own) and he is not the worst...so he'd be one of those kids right in the middle who probably would not get a trophy. Skye, on the other hand, has been dancing and doing gymnastics since she was 3, she could not wait to be able to be a cheerleader! She was recently asked to join a competition team by her dance coordinator for next year...she was the flier in her first year as a cheerleader doing stunts that out other level coaches did not think possible and her team took second in State Competition (it is kindergarten, first, and second graders)...she has recently learned to do a flip-flop almost by herself (she did two by herself on Sunday) even though she cannot seem to master a backward roll!!! The girl has more ambition in her little finger than Tyler has in his whole body...she'd probably be getting the trophies. A funny side note...this is how I know she is paying attention...after her dance coordinator told her about the competition team we got in the car to go home and she said to me "See Mom, sometimes hard work pays off!"

That's awesome that she does so well. My teen girl next door to me is like your daughter, and she has won nat'l several times and asked to be a part of the travel team (decided not to b/c of time constrants) She loves it!!! She flips back and forth b/t gymnastics and cheer team, but she always cheers at school.

Our Magical Express package came today...yay!...Our Magical Express package came today...yes!..Our Magical Express package came today...yahoo!!!!

WOOT WOOT!!! We're hopeing to use DME in sept. Can't wait to hear your experinces!!!

...when you are waling into work in the morning and the oil spot in the drive way looks like a hidden Mickey!!!

HAHA We were cutting down a tree a couple weekends ago, and I said look the stump has a mickey head in it... Dh laughed and said "That's my wife... never a dull moment, and doesn't take much to excite her" lol as everyone else was staring at me with concern lol

I have a question for you guys...

My dad has some points on one of their Disney Visa's that he wants to cash in for us to use while we are there. But he called yesterday and was told there was not enough time to guarantee the cards would get her in enough time before our 22 DAYS. He was told he could order it and they would have the cards at Guest Services waiting for us when we got there.

Does anyone know which Guest Services this would be? Or is it something they will actuall produce when we arrive and so we can go to any Guest Services?

Has anyone done this before? Did everything go smoothly?

Thanx Guys!!!

I forgot to get my before we left in May, and I just went to guest services in DTD and they gave me a card with a number to call. I had to do was call and give them the rewards card number and the points were transfered right then. I thought it was much easier then having to try and remember to get it mailed to me.

LOVE you PTR so far, and can't wait to read more!!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Ok, so I think we have it figured out. We are planning on (and I have not given you guys this info yet but really do plan on getting there soon!!!) arriving at Pop by NOON and having lunch at Everything Pop. Then the kids are intending to invade the pool for a while.

After that, and hopefully after getting into our room, we will head over to Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. Apparently we can go to Guest Services there and they will give us the card. Then we will need to call my dad with the number on the card becasue card is in his name and he will have to call Visa and they with immediately transfer the points to the card. Sounds easy enough. We'll see if it really is. It won't be a ton of money and we don't intend to use a ton (well, me and the kids don't, I cannot speak for Mom but she is usually pretty tight in the wallet, if you know what I mean...) but it will be money that we won't have to spend...so that's great!!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Now, at long last, please allow me to intorduce...

LAUREL
MY MOM
GRAMMY​

What to say, what to say...

She is my mom and the kid's grandma...who has always just been called Grammy. She is in her 50s. She loves her grandkids to death and loves being a Grammy. She has helped us out a lot over the years.





She is a nurse, Labor & Delivery/Post Partum as of the past year or so. She went to college when I did. It took her a while to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up but once she did, she loved it.

She and I were at odds a lot while I was growing up and that has not changed too much since...just the reasons have changed. We are very close but not very close all at the same time. I think a lot of our closeness is becasue of the kids but they are also a lot of our conflict. She lives across the street from us and she watched Tyler until he went to school and then Skye until Lou got laid off. They are all very close. But she and I have some very different ideas about parenting...and who should do it. See, I am not the kind of person who lets my kids go on vacation without me or spend the night at other people's houses, I don't go out without my kids and leave them somewhere else. I want to know what my kids are doing and want to be consulted when they go somewhere. Well, I don't think my mom knows how to seperate mom from grandma. She resents me wanting to have control all the time. The one thing she has said that has stuck with me was "I want to be the grandma not the babysitter" which is all great but at the same time I am the mom...and at the end of the day, that trumps grandma. The way I see it, she had her chance to be Mom, now it is my turn! And I am really glad that she is so close to my kids. I think she pushes harder on me for my kids because my sister-in-law does not allow her much access to her two girls.

But beyond that, she is very judgemental. She is pretty frugal most of the time...except when she wants to spend money. She likes to travel and she and my dad along with my aunt and uncle can get the most out of a trip for two weeks and only end up spending a quarter of what I would spend for a budget trip to Disney World. She likes to remind me that there are other vacation spots out there besides Disney but benefits greatly from my Dis-pertise!

Our travel styles are pretty different. The last time we have vacationed at Disney together was when Tyler was two...it was me, Lou, Tyler, and Mom. My other not finished TR goes more into that trip but just for the recap...my main memory is in a shop in MGM, crying and telling my mom that this was the worst vacation ever and that it was becasue of her. It wasn't, of course, but it felt like it at the time. It was a long time until we vacationed together again. We have gone on other little trips with them (like Wisconsin or Michigan) and a couple of other Disney trips but they were not group vacations...they were more like two vacations that just happened to be at the same time. That's what works for us. We also get along better when there is not Dad (to drive her crazy!) and Lou (to drive me and her crazy!)...so this trip will be a great test.

So on with the favotires...Grammys' favorite ride is Kali River Rapids. He favorite show is Festival of the Lion King (I think) and the rest is anbody's guess. I know she eally liked Wilderness Lodge when they stayed there...they really enjoyed Teppan Edo the last time they were in The World...and I am assuming she would pick Magic Kingdom as her favorite park, but again that is jst a guess.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Well, there is my dad. Not many pictures of him. The kids call him Pa...Tyler used to call him Grumpy but somehow by the time Skye came along he was just Pa. He is crazy about them and they pretty much have him wrapped around their little fingers...and he likes it that way.



Then there is Lou...the Daddy. He loves Disney but he knows that we could not go if he didn't sacrafice. He has missed our past three trips but as we go along we all find things we cannot wait to show to Daddy. So when he does get beck, watch-out!



Dakota...Coda...Big Dog...D Doggie...you name it, we've called her it. She is our 12 year old shepard mix. She hates when she sees the suit cases come out becasue she know what is happening. And when we all get up and get ready in the dark hours in of the morning, like a week ago when we were all up for a football game at 5:30am, she gets a little paranoid (becasue we usually leave for the airport at 4:30am).



That's not her real hair, by-the-way!

Lita...Pete...Petey...Stinky Pete...Our 1 year old kitty. When we adpoted her she was very sick and ended up back in the shelter vet's office for almost two weeks...she was Cody's birthday present...and surprizingly enough the old dog can learn to get along with new pets. She is crazy. She wil attack the corner of the wall for no reason and jump half way up the all. She loves to hide unde the bed and then jumps out to attack whomever is there...usually th dog.



She did not like that shirt at all...but we did!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I had to put the obligatoy Magical Express and Travel Document pictures...


Magical Express...


My Magical Journey's envelope...


I absolutely love the book with all my travel documents in it...itn't that much more fun than a bunch of pieces of paper?!?!?!


This is how our luggage tags came...that is different this time too.


Here's a close-up of the tag folder...

Getting the mail is so much fun and really makes is feel like it is getting closer!