I can't believe they gave us a trip to WDW!

[goodfood4ursoul]

OK, I did not think I was going to do this- write a Pre-Trip Report…
I’m still Earning My Ears, never even went to WDW until I was 34 years old!
I’m an “All Things In Moderation- Very Down to Earth” kind of girl.
20th Anniversary?
"Don’t you DARE give me jewelry- we have a fridge that is God-knows how old and Bling does NOT keep the food chilled!"
Save that money, but you CAN take me out to lunch!

I NEVER thought I would get SO Excited about a vacation!
Frankly we would not even be going on this vacation if not for my parents (the Wonderful Grandparents who are staying Home with our Teenagers!)

We always went to Nags Head for vacation when I was a kid- which was awesome! (Is it obvious? I'm a "glass nearly-full" kinda girl!)

In fact, I met DH there 21 + years ago so NH is one of our Favorite Places for sentimental reasons.

We never did an “all inclusive” style vacation- we always cooked & did dishes, etc on vacation.

So almost 5 years ago the Wonderful Grandparents gave us a family trip to WDW for Christmas.
We had NO IDEA what we were getting!
So the first week of May 2005 we flew off to Orlando...

Hmmm… I see I’ve neglected to tell who the CM’s were…
TOLD you I was new at this!
DH – Russell, a full time business consultant and part time student working on his Bachelor’s degree, Sunday school teacher, and part time goat farmer.

DD- Kati, our then 15 year old home-schooled freshman in HS, proud 4-H member and goat farmer girl

DS- Rusty, our then 11 year old home schooled 6th grader, 4-H’er, car enthusiast and goat farmin’ boy

Me- Juliane, full time home school teacher, goat farmer, 4-H leader, Sunday school teacher and part time office manager for DH.

We wear a lot of “hats” out here where we live.
The Economic Recession hit our area about 8 years before it hit the nation, so we have to do a lot of different things just to make ends meet around here- but the quality of life is Wonderful! But we could NEVER have afforded to go to WDW on our own. Still Can’t!

Well, as I mentioned, we had no idea what we were getting into!
But we were excited to find out about the “Most Magical Place on Earth”!

So we get to security in the Richmond airport and Rusty, who saves every penny he ever earned, has collected all his change in a big, gold Russell Stover chocolate tin. So naturally, as he goes through the metal detector it… detects a LOT of metal!

So we get to all have a thorough inspection and they find the Source of the problem, which they thought was cute & rather funny. More about Rusty’s change collection to come later…

 

[mscoachung]

I'm not sure I'm following you right. Have you been to WDW or is you pre-trip report for an upcoming trip? It's great you're all excited but is it with kids, did you go before and this is the gift trip or was that the gift trip and your GP"s are staying with your teens?
Anyway hope you had a good time or have a good time if that's the case!

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

I'm not sure I'm following you right. Have you been to WDW or is you pre-trip report for an upcoming trip?

LOL
We have a trip coming up in 6 days but we went before and they gave us a trip BOTH times!!! This time- just adults... sorry for the confusion!
So much on my mind with laundry, packing & work... think i'm losing my mind!

 

[javaj]

I'm in! I want to hear the report on the last trip AND the report on the new trip!

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

So we arrive in Orlando, and I had never been to FL so that was really neat. DH used to go there on business a few times a year and now I was finally HERE! Palm Trees, Sunny Skies, Pixie Dust!

We stayed at the POP Century and had a wonderful time.
We made a lot of memories- the kids driving us around on the MK raceway, trying new cuisine in Epcot (the Folks gave us the Disney Dining too).
Rusty loved Test Track and Kati reminded us every chance she got that she could be driving soon! (If only she had known!)

We found some friends at the Affection Section in AK- seems we cannot escape our love for goats! Kati was seriously thinking about becoming a veterinarian, so all those animals were a treat!

Kati & I rode the Tower of Terror- the guys wimped out. She left fingerprints on my arm, but we did it!

The kids refused to ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster, so DH & I used their Fast passes and rode it twice in a row!

The memory that stands out for me is probably kind of weird.
Mother’s Day Sunday we were going to go to Typhoon Lagoon and DH was not feeling well. So he sent us on without him.
But we had a ball!
Rusty made it his mission to take good care of his Mom all day- he ferried me all around Ketchakiddie Creek and we had such a good time!
(Honestly, I think I will miss him terribly this trip, especially at Typhoon Lagoon! )
We had dinner at Le Cellier that night and it was Heavenly!

Rusty had been scoping out the Pop Century gift shop on numerous occasions throughout our week, and now was ready to spend his money. NO, he did not want to change his money first- he wanted to spend his coins! He took that heavy, gold chocolate tin down to the shop to buy his souvenirs and the CM at the register was SO patient! I don’t recall the people behind us in line making any comments but they must have been saints! He counted out all his money( which took some time) and he had enough. And the CM didn’t need to open any rolls of coins that day I am sure.

So we had the Most Amazing Week of our lives! It was over far too soon.
WE took lots of pics and remember it as the vacation to end all vacations.
I remember telling a friend about our Disney trip – I got so excited just telling it that she thought we had just come back but it had been 6 months since!

We never thought we would get a chance to come back to WDW again.
A lot has changed for our family in the last 4.5 years, but we still don't have $ in the budget for a WDW vacation...