Pluto0809
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 4,447
Yes, I know, I know! I said I was not going to go back to WDW in 2015. Of course if you’ve read my previous TRs and know me even a little bit, you would realize that was highly unlikely. And yes I did go back for even longer than my last trip. I was there for 10 glorious days from 11/13 – 11/22. I had some personal reasons for not posting about the trip ahead of time on the DIS but those details are boring so we will skip over them.
Just realized I haven’t introduced myself yet for anyone who is new to this TR. I’m Ariana, I’m 42 years young and live outside of Atlanta, GA. I did a photo share for Memory Maker this time and don’t have the photos yet so here is a picture with me and my favorite Disney character from December 2014.
So a few more facts about me. I’m married but my husband, Jim, is not the biggest Disney fan. He has come around a lot and we were planning a quick May 2016 trip for Star Wars Weekends. Then Disney did the unthinkable and cancelled SWWs. Jim was devastated as he is a huge Star Wars fan. Amazingly he still wanted to go but not in the heat of May. So we moved the trip to January. Yep, we are headed back in less than 60 days! I’m furiously planning for that trip right now as it is very last minute. But we can talk about that later.
We don’t have any children in the traditional sense, ours all have four legs and fur. We have four dogs, the oldest being Eddie. He is a Schnauzer and is 14 years old and in pretty bad shape. He is completely blind having lost both eyes to glaucoma and he has gotten quite senile in his old age. He was also diagnosed with cancer last April and we were given an estimate of 5 months left with him. Well we are now over 7 months out and he has shown no signs of further decline and is beating the odds for now.
Our second “child” is Alex. He is the first one that “followed” me home from the Animal Shelter I volunteer at. He is a Schnauzer mix, his mom was a pure-bred schnauzer who went for a walk one day and came back pregnant. We brought him home as a puppy a little over 9 years ago and he has been my baby ever since. He’s almost always in the same room as me unless he’s going for a car ride with Jim. He loves car rides. He’s also obsessed with socks and steals them from us all the time. I have to tell guests to hide theirs as he will dig through suitcases in search of them.
Third on the list is Jim’s baby Sierra. She is very devoted to her daddy and has to follow him everywhere. Unlike Alex, she hates riding in the car because she gets sick. Plus she is deathly afraid of windshield wipers. She even freaks out if she sees them on TV. She is our youngest at 5 ½ years but we got her as a puppy so we’ve had her longer than our last baby.
Last but certainly not least is Remy. Two Christmas’s ago, a friend at the shelter asked me to foster this pathetic little Yorkie over the holidays while the shelter was closed. He was badly underweight and it was obvious he wasn’t well taken care of for the first 4 years of his life. Well once he got into our home and our hearts there was no way he was going back. He will be 6 years old next month and he and Sierra are best buds. He is all of 6 pounds but thinks he is a huge dog. He likes to “guard” our yard from the “evil” dogs that our neighbors own.
OK, so enough about me, you’ll learn more as we go. But before I start, let me give you a quick synopsis of how this trip came about. If you could care less about those details, no problem, just skip on down to the next installment.
So how did this trip happen after I said I wasn’t going in 2015? Honestly I was already planning this trip during my December 2014 trip. I mean who isn’t already dreaming about the next trip? I said I was going to take a year off but I knew in my heart that there was no way I could do that. So I started looking at dates shortly after I got back. I thought I wanted to do the Halloween stuff again but going in September and October is hard with my work schedule. So I looked at the first week of November which would include the last Halloween party and I could catch some of Food & Wine. But I quickly realized that that week would be extra crowded due to Halloween. I then looked at the second week and realized there was a marathon plus Vetern’s Day so crowds would be crazy. I finally settled on the third week of November (the week before Thanksgiving) because crowds were predicted to be the lightest. I gave up the idea of Halloween and Food & Wine.
But then two things happened, Food and Wine was extended and I found out some DIS friends who I really wanted to meet would be there that week. At that point I was certain I was going to go but I still hadn’t booked. Then free dining came out and I was just done. I was planning this trip as solo but I did ask my Mom. We go together a lot and I didn’t want to not include her. But she retired this summer and also went to France with her sister so she said not this year. I then asked Jim knowing he couldn’t take time off in November due to work. He actually did consider joining me for a bit but quickly realized the timing wouldn’t work. So I booked a solo trip from Saturday, November 14 through Sunday November 22nd. I wanted to stay at POP Century but free dining was not available for my week so I ended up at All Star Music.
And then things changed once again. Flights came out for Southwest a few weeks after I booked and outgoing flight times for Saturday 14th were awful. I could either leave Atlanta at 6 am or not until late in the afternoon. I considered other airlines but Southwest’s two checked bags free just wins for me every time. I discussed the flights with Jim that night and lo and behold he suggested I look at Friday flights instead. Yes, he actually suggested that I add a day onto my trip! I wasn’t going to argue that one and the Friday flights were much better. I called Disney to add a room only day at the beginning of my trip but fortune was with me again. There was still free dining left so for $20 more than room only I was able to add another day of dining and park tickets. I was all set!
I decided for some personal reasons that I wouldn’t discuss this trip on the DIS. I even considered not telling the DIS friends that would be there that I was coming. But that seemed a little too stalkerish to me. So I told them and they were excited that we would finally be able to meet. While I did follow their plans to make mine, my intent was a few meet ups and maybe a ride or two with them. But instead I was pretty much adopted by Mo (Chicago Mo) and her family for the week. We even shared a few table service meals together. The other two DISers I planned with were D (DMGuerts) and Suzi (solana131). Both Mo and D are doing TRs also so if you want to read theirs, here’s some links:
D’s: So the crowds in WDW were frightful, but the weather was so delightful.
Mo’s: Let it Snope Let it Snope Let it Snope! A Very Merry Crowded Christmas
I also met several other DISer’s who will be mentioned as we go along. Oh and apology to the one I met on Sunday night at the Osborne Lights. I got a bit flustered at being recognized and totally forgot to ask your name or DIS name. If you are reading, please say hi and let me know who you are!
Alright enough of the preliminaries, let’s move onto the actual trip!
Up Next: The Tale of the Exploding Ketchup
Just realized I haven’t introduced myself yet for anyone who is new to this TR. I’m Ariana, I’m 42 years young and live outside of Atlanta, GA. I did a photo share for Memory Maker this time and don’t have the photos yet so here is a picture with me and my favorite Disney character from December 2014.
So a few more facts about me. I’m married but my husband, Jim, is not the biggest Disney fan. He has come around a lot and we were planning a quick May 2016 trip for Star Wars Weekends. Then Disney did the unthinkable and cancelled SWWs. Jim was devastated as he is a huge Star Wars fan. Amazingly he still wanted to go but not in the heat of May. So we moved the trip to January. Yep, we are headed back in less than 60 days! I’m furiously planning for that trip right now as it is very last minute. But we can talk about that later.
We don’t have any children in the traditional sense, ours all have four legs and fur. We have four dogs, the oldest being Eddie. He is a Schnauzer and is 14 years old and in pretty bad shape. He is completely blind having lost both eyes to glaucoma and he has gotten quite senile in his old age. He was also diagnosed with cancer last April and we were given an estimate of 5 months left with him. Well we are now over 7 months out and he has shown no signs of further decline and is beating the odds for now.
Our second “child” is Alex. He is the first one that “followed” me home from the Animal Shelter I volunteer at. He is a Schnauzer mix, his mom was a pure-bred schnauzer who went for a walk one day and came back pregnant. We brought him home as a puppy a little over 9 years ago and he has been my baby ever since. He’s almost always in the same room as me unless he’s going for a car ride with Jim. He loves car rides. He’s also obsessed with socks and steals them from us all the time. I have to tell guests to hide theirs as he will dig through suitcases in search of them.
Third on the list is Jim’s baby Sierra. She is very devoted to her daddy and has to follow him everywhere. Unlike Alex, she hates riding in the car because she gets sick. Plus she is deathly afraid of windshield wipers. She even freaks out if she sees them on TV. She is our youngest at 5 ½ years but we got her as a puppy so we’ve had her longer than our last baby.
Last but certainly not least is Remy. Two Christmas’s ago, a friend at the shelter asked me to foster this pathetic little Yorkie over the holidays while the shelter was closed. He was badly underweight and it was obvious he wasn’t well taken care of for the first 4 years of his life. Well once he got into our home and our hearts there was no way he was going back. He will be 6 years old next month and he and Sierra are best buds. He is all of 6 pounds but thinks he is a huge dog. He likes to “guard” our yard from the “evil” dogs that our neighbors own.
OK, so enough about me, you’ll learn more as we go. But before I start, let me give you a quick synopsis of how this trip came about. If you could care less about those details, no problem, just skip on down to the next installment.
So how did this trip happen after I said I wasn’t going in 2015? Honestly I was already planning this trip during my December 2014 trip. I mean who isn’t already dreaming about the next trip? I said I was going to take a year off but I knew in my heart that there was no way I could do that. So I started looking at dates shortly after I got back. I thought I wanted to do the Halloween stuff again but going in September and October is hard with my work schedule. So I looked at the first week of November which would include the last Halloween party and I could catch some of Food & Wine. But I quickly realized that that week would be extra crowded due to Halloween. I then looked at the second week and realized there was a marathon plus Vetern’s Day so crowds would be crazy. I finally settled on the third week of November (the week before Thanksgiving) because crowds were predicted to be the lightest. I gave up the idea of Halloween and Food & Wine.
But then two things happened, Food and Wine was extended and I found out some DIS friends who I really wanted to meet would be there that week. At that point I was certain I was going to go but I still hadn’t booked. Then free dining came out and I was just done. I was planning this trip as solo but I did ask my Mom. We go together a lot and I didn’t want to not include her. But she retired this summer and also went to France with her sister so she said not this year. I then asked Jim knowing he couldn’t take time off in November due to work. He actually did consider joining me for a bit but quickly realized the timing wouldn’t work. So I booked a solo trip from Saturday, November 14 through Sunday November 22nd. I wanted to stay at POP Century but free dining was not available for my week so I ended up at All Star Music.
And then things changed once again. Flights came out for Southwest a few weeks after I booked and outgoing flight times for Saturday 14th were awful. I could either leave Atlanta at 6 am or not until late in the afternoon. I considered other airlines but Southwest’s two checked bags free just wins for me every time. I discussed the flights with Jim that night and lo and behold he suggested I look at Friday flights instead. Yes, he actually suggested that I add a day onto my trip! I wasn’t going to argue that one and the Friday flights were much better. I called Disney to add a room only day at the beginning of my trip but fortune was with me again. There was still free dining left so for $20 more than room only I was able to add another day of dining and park tickets. I was all set!
I decided for some personal reasons that I wouldn’t discuss this trip on the DIS. I even considered not telling the DIS friends that would be there that I was coming. But that seemed a little too stalkerish to me. So I told them and they were excited that we would finally be able to meet. While I did follow their plans to make mine, my intent was a few meet ups and maybe a ride or two with them. But instead I was pretty much adopted by Mo (Chicago Mo) and her family for the week. We even shared a few table service meals together. The other two DISers I planned with were D (DMGuerts) and Suzi (solana131). Both Mo and D are doing TRs also so if you want to read theirs, here’s some links:
D’s: So the crowds in WDW were frightful, but the weather was so delightful.
Mo’s: Let it Snope Let it Snope Let it Snope! A Very Merry Crowded Christmas
I also met several other DISer’s who will be mentioned as we go along. Oh and apology to the one I met on Sunday night at the Osborne Lights. I got a bit flustered at being recognized and totally forgot to ask your name or DIS name. If you are reading, please say hi and let me know who you are!
Alright enough of the preliminaries, let’s move onto the actual trip!
Up Next: The Tale of the Exploding Ketchup
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We did. my kids LOVED you... 
