I Can't Believe I Invited My MIL -I'm BAAACK! And determiend to finish this thing!

[sublimekel]

subbing, hoping Heather comes back!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Oh no! She left us again.................pleeeeeeeeeease come back!

 

[logansmummy]

Forget the Bell, we need a leash.

 

[Dylan_&_Blake's_mom]

just checking in to see if she had returned yet. HEATHER!!! Where art thou?!

 

[disneygirlinnj]

yayyyyy i just saw you're back...but have disappeared again..boooo!

 

[jhnsnfamily]

just checking in ... ?

 

[Hedy]

Heather? We miss you!

 

[OhMari]

Bump to the front and back opened.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

She's baaaaa-aaacckkkkkkk!

Long long ago in a galxay far far away, I started this TR. Then I dropped it like Tiger Woods drops his flavor of the week when the next table dancer comes along. Bad, bad me. I have flogged myself repeatedly for this offense. I wore a hairshirt for 1.5 years. I have atoned. And now I have returned to set things right.

When I logged back onto the Dis for the first time in a LONG time a few weeks ,I found 607 private message asking me where I was and was I ok. Geez. I felt really guilty... Basically, here is what happened: my computer got a virus and had to be burned and then beaten with a sledgehammer. Ok, so that is just what I fantasized about doing to it. But truly, it was scrapped. I then lived with no computer for about 3 months. All the way into March 2008. At that time, my DH took a new job and we MOVED TO TEXAS, people! This was May 2008. Now, the shock of such a move was enough to keep me burrowed in a hole for years, but beyond hat, we began building a house on a piece of land where WE HAD NO HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS. NONE. Untill about 6 months ago, when the good people at AT&T saw fit to bring DSL to our isolated corner of the universe, I have been using my phone as my main internet conenction. I ask you, can you imagine writing a trip report from your Blackberry? Even after I upgraded to the iPhone the thought was daunting.

Ok, so now are living in TX. We have been back to WDW two more times since the trp documented here. We are also going back in March 2010.

I am going to finish this TR I started. Like, soon. It will be succinct and condensed, but it will be finished. I realize no one cares anymore, but dadgummit, I'm a gonna do it anyway.

So there.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

One more thing: I forgot something else I was busy doing in the time I was MIA... Here ya go...

 

[DWGal210]

Welcome back!!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Ok, so, before abandoning this TR in the same way I abandoned the piano I begged my Mom for in 2nd grade, I was talking about our first day in the parks, which we spent at MK (of course - it is the only way I will begin a trip and then only time I will deviate from TG's best parks recommendations). MY MIL was underwhelmed, but having fun watching her grands have fun. At least, her sister told me months later that she enjoyed that. other than that, we might as well have taken her Kohls and out to lunch at Oilve Garden. her excitement level for an afternoon like that and our trip to WDW was about the same. At least, that is what she showed on the outside.

Ok, so... On the evening of our first day (we had arived at ropedrop, you'll remember, actually you probabl remember nothing) we stuck around long enough to see this:

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The kids, who were aged 3.5 and 5.5 at the time, LOVED this first parade of their WDW experience. I was so glad that they are "parade people" like their Momma. Even DH, who I figured would tolerate the parades but not love them, was tapping his feet and pointing out characters excitedly. After the parade, we did some shopping. DH wanted a baseball Mickey bobblehead from one of the shops on Main St, again, I was surprised, and he talked MIL into buying it for him. It wasn't hard to do. Before long, it was time for dinner, and we went here:

Name that restaurant!

We enjoyed the food and characters at this meal. I thik it was MIL's favorite food of the trip. I thought it was pretty good homestyle food. My favorite part of the meal was watching DD's face as Minnie Mouse approached the table. She was so happy and starstruck. Adorable. we also ran into a fellow DISer during this meal.. MrsKSomeday and her paramour. They were so nice! I only wish we had met them earlier in the meal so we could've talked more.

Ok, so now it was time tofind a good seat for this:

This parade is a CAN"T MISS for us ever since this first night. We all love it. This parade makes me tear up and sometimes sob like a baby for some reason I cannot explain. I love the music and the motions of the dudes with the instruments. This parade is just so DISNEY to me.

At this point we;d been in the park since 9am rope drop. The kids were begging to stay for Wishes, but I knew we'd be back the next night for that. I wanted to be sure the next day was as nice as this one had been, so we headed for the buses. DS was skipping all the way. I could not believe his little elgs wer enot exhausted. DD had been in the stroller, but he had walked everywhere. What a champ. We got back to ASMu and watched our video from the day on the TV. MIl went to bed but the rest of us seemed too keyed up to sleep. DD talked to herself in the bed next to me for what felt like hours.

Would the next day go as smoothly??????

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

All righty, so here we are at Day 2... Man, this trip took place on Nov. 2007. Good thing I take lots of Ginko Biloba. Just kidding. I kept a travel journal for this trip!

We woke up early!!! I was hoping to sleep in and arrive at MK around 10am or so, but the kids would have none of that. They wanted to see the "train show" again. So back we went to rope drop. Once again we were NOT picked to be the family up on the trestle. WHATEVER. hehe MIL and I stopped at the bakery for some coffee and DH took the kiddos for another spin on Dumbo. They loved that ride and all its copycats - Magic Carpets and the Dinosaurs at AK. MIL and I went to get FPs for Buzz, even though it was not crowded at all, then we all hit Toon Town. Oh my stinkin' heck. What is up with these princesses? The park is more or less dead and still the wait to talk to Cinderella is 6 miles long. So, us girls got in the princess line from HADES and the dudes got into the Donald/Pluto/Goofy line.

After all those autographs, we headed to Tomorrowland. We'd done all the other parts of the park yesterday, so today the pressure was off to get a bunch done. We could relax and redo some favorites if we wanted. DS and DH loved TTA... we rode it twice I think. Maybe thrice. My kids lvoed seeing the people in the gift shop. They are easily amused.

At some point, the kids enjoyed one of these:

We all loved Buzz, but dadgummit - DH won. The stinker. It was my goal in life to beat him. I still have not beat him to this day. We also did AO and Laugh Floor - hilarious! We then had lunch at Pinnochios and went on IASW, which was down yesterday when we passed it. Oh - we also did the COP, so we were all singing that song all day!!! It even trumped the catchiness of IASW!

Guess where we had dinner??

DH, who is a carnivore to the max, loved this meal and has insisted on going there on each subsequent trip (two). For our upcoming trip in March 2010, we are only doing the QSDDP, so he insists we pay OOP for O'Hana. We'll see.

After dinner, we took the uber cool monorial back to MK for Wishes. Upon entering the park, guess who we encountered? My main man!!

Wishes. Was. Amazing. Neither of the kids were scared - just in awe. I laughed. I cried, I saved 5 bucks. Some lady stepped on my toe in high heels (who wears those to WDW?) but I just smiled and tried to hug her - I was so filled with good will towards mankind. Who could be grumpy or hateful after such a show??

Another full 12 hour day in the parks. Another meltdown-free day. This was a dream!! Could this be real?? When was it all going to go into the crapper???

Day 3 is DHS, up next. (I still call it MGM. I am old school).

 

[hucifer]

I am REALLY late to this party, and I am very sorry about that. I did bring beer, though.

Your trip report is HIGH-larious. I'm only on page 3 right now, which means I'm woefully behind everyone else, but I'm slowly getting through it. Just wanted you to know that I just found it today and I'm hooked.

Oh, and you're gorgeous. Seriously.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Welcome back!!

Thanks!! Great to be back!

I am REALLY late to this party, and I am very sorry about that. I did bring beer, though.

Your trip report is HIGH-larious. I'm only on page 3 right now, which means I'm woefully behind everyone else, but I'm slowly getting through it. Just wanted you to know that I just found it today and I'm hooked.

Oh, and you're gorgeous. Seriously.

You are my new best friend. Seriously. haha. This TR was actually started about 2 years ago, so you ar enot the one who is late - I am!! I went on hiatus for awhile. but now I am back! I am determined to finish this TR before beginning a PTR for my march 2010 trip!!!

Glad you are here!! We'll pass around the beer!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Once again, our Stitch wake up call was not needed. The kids woke us up at the butt crack of dawn to begin another day of fun in the parks. This day had been predicted to be the warmest of our trip (74, maybe??) so I asked the kids if they wanted to swim. Negative, ghost rider. They were ready to get their Disney groove on. We got ourselves presentable (it was very country-come-to-town, I am sure) and then we had breakfast in the good ole ASMu food court. Actually, I truly do like the vittles at this place. The breakfast was really good. My MIL got the Nasty-Cafe once again, and once again she hated it. She is a big time coffee drinker, as am I, and I knew it was going to be hard for her.

Ok, so we got to the park formerly known as MGM at 9:45am. We immediately got FPs for ToT, and using my son's and my MIL's, we also got FPs for RnR (shhh....we worked the system, because DS and MIL had no intention of setting foot on that ride, but please don't tell. We promose to say an extra rosary before bed tonight). We then went to see the Muppets show. Next up: Little mermaid. we used some Fps. Everyone was having fun...

All in all we enjoyed this day and this park. DH loved RnR and TOT. But it kind of felt like we were wandering aimlessly, even though I had a plan. Said plan was printed out and pasted carefully into my little travel sized notebook. But I never really looked at it and we just went with the flow. There wasn't much we were DYING to do, so it was all good this way.

Gratuitous (and ubiquitous) pic:

We had lunch at Pizza Planet. Not something I would recommend to anyone, but we lived through it without contracting food poisoning or botulism, so not terribly awful, either.

We all LovED the parade. This was back in the Stars and Motor Cars days... what fun this one was. I did have a scary moment though. My DS was on a huge Star Wars kick in those days (still is, actually), so when I saw Darth Vadar, I really wanted him to come slip my DS some skin. I started calling him:
"Hey Darthie, come over here and shake my kids hand! Hey darth - you neglected your own son, so don't neglect mine."

Well DH was like, "Honey, I don't think DV shakes the hands of little kids anyway -it doesn't fit his image. So pipe down and quit embrassing me."

He didn't say this last part, but I could see it in his eyes.

Ok, so DV begins SLOWLY walking in my direction with his finger pointed at me. When he got in front of me, he stood there for a full 30 seconds or so and just started me down. I had deoderant malfunction. Sweat was copiusly pouring out of my armpits. It really kind of freaked me out. I think he was trying to mentally choke me or whatever he does to the soldier dude on the Death Star in one of those movies. My MIL took a picture of it...

Everyone around me got a good laugh, but I had to cry myself to sleep that night. I'll never heckle a villain again.

Ok, we took in the Indy show and a few other things, and DS was really jonesing to see Cars. He was 5.5 and they were stll pretty new at that point. This was back when they still drove to their meet and greet, they didn't just park them in a garage and let you help yourself. So, we waited in line for A LONG TIME. Actually, everyone went and did Star Tours while I waited. Then they jined me and we waited some more. Finally, those slow poke cars got the lead out and joined their fans. Here is a pic:

DH actually got hollerad at by a CM for leanign on Mater like he is doing here. Bad boy. I was humiliated.

We had dinner soon after this - Prime Time , baby! Very good! My MIL did NOT like the CM's telling he rto eat her food. She does not like veggies, so she had quite a little pile on her plate (can't remember what she ordered) and of course along comes the waitress telling her to clean her plate! No veggies, no dessert! The waitress even tried to do the airplane feeding trick, but MIL was so embrassed and uncomfortable she cut her a break and ended it. DS was begging the waitress to feed him, so she did!

Next up was the best part of the day - FANTASMIC. Man, I love this show. Afrer it was over, I foretold the future. I said, to anyone who would listen, "I bet they quit doing this every night one of these days. It just has to be so pricey!"

I know have my own 900 number telling futures. Call me anytime, dahlin.

 

[betsywdw]

Welcome back I was so happy to see your trippie updated!

about Darthie...I would have been

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Yep - Darthie was intimdating. I can't believe it truly freaked me out like that!! Even my DS thought it was just hi-larious. A few seconds later Maleficent came along and glared me down, too. I was clearly on their naughty list that day!

Glad you are still around!!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Heather !!! I am so happy you are back . You and KathyRN137 both disappeared right around the time you were going to post that you had met me in Disney and I thought I had jinxed everyone .

So sorry about the computer issues and the internet problems, but OMG that baby is goreous!!! I am loving your updates, your pictures are great!! I can't wait to read more!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

mrs K!!

How are you, my dear?? Have you officially become "Mrs. K" yet?? You definitely did not jinx me...just a weird series of events keeping me away from my beloved computer!!

My baby is a precious thang, ain't she? Sometimes I wonder if I just think that due to Mommy blindness, so it is nice to hear!!!

have you been back to the world since our 11/07 trip??