If it's Tuesday, this must be Epcot. ALL FINISHED, PLEASE MOVE ME OUT. SO TIRED.

[nebo]

"WHAT?" here we go. "AGAIN?" yep, shoulda kept my mouth shut.
"You were just there last year and you're going back?" no, we were there twice last year. "How many times can you ride Dumbo?"

And so it goes.

 

[nebo]

Introduction

Hello, my name is Steve and I'm a Disneyholic.
(everyone) Hiiii Steeeeve
How many of you Disney vets have heard those comments from your friends?
Amazingly, most of the people that give me flack have never been there, or did, but didn't do it right. They still just picture Disneyworld as dumbo and a castle.
I have had friends come up to me and say, " We're thinking of going to Disneyworld and hear you are the expert so teach me. "Yes grasshopper, I will show you all things wise in the way of the mouse."
So I show them.
I keep it simple, just tell them the three most important things they need to know.

1, try to go in the offseason
2. stay on site
3. be at the parks when they open, especially if you're new to Disney.

Then, I run into them a few months later.
"Hey, we just got back from Disney." how was it? "It was ok, I guess, but too crowded." when did you go? "We were there over the fourth of july."

shake my head

"Got a good deal though just 5 miles away at a Days Inn."

grrr

"One time we couldn't even get in the park cuz it was too full."

gonna hurt him. Moe, Larry, cheese.

Then they hit me with the clincher:

"Yeah, Disney was ok, but we liked Epcot better."

At this point, my wife sees the look in my eyes and says come along Steve, time to go.

Well, we tried. And most of these people just rent a cabin in Wisconsin for two weeks every year.

Every year.

Oh well, we like the World and we're proud of it.

 

[KathyRN137]

I like the World, too. Can't wait to hear about anyone's latest adventure! Don't keep us hanging too long, though, okay?

BTW, great classic movie reference!

Kathy

 

[nebo]

Hi, I'm sorry, I have been sending this out in little pieces because I keep getting error messages that prevent me from posting. So if it seems like I'm avoiding a proper noun, it's because of the "urls" it says I'm including. But I'm not. Not. (stamping my feet)

 

[nebo]

It started back in '91, after a driving trip that took us to that big cave in Kentucky, the Smokies and up to that big amusement park up north of Sandusky.After I added up how much that trip really cost I shook my head. A few months later I was going over some Disney brochures that I sent away for and said "Honey, can you come here?" "I don't see why we can't go to Fla. for
next summer's vacation.

"No." "Really?" "Ya think?"

So we went. And fell in love with it.

It was the only time our kids didn't argue.

Ok, this brings us up to the present. We went for two weeks in may, and we're going back in september.

 

[nebo]

This is going to be a bit of a different flavor trip report.
For one thing, we're empty nesters.

For another thing, I can barely type.
Doubt that my grammars that spiffy either.
I have even been known to dangle my participle at inopportune times.
and.......

Sorry, no cute kids doing cute things to laugh about but I hope you will enjoy this anyway.

Your protagonists on this sojourn are me, Steve, and wifey, Diane.
Wait, maybe I'll make her an antagonist. heh. just kidding honey
I recently crossed over the 50 marker, she's working on it.

Just a little boring background about us right here, it may be necessary.

This is my second marriage.
It's also her second marriage.
She was also my first wife.
I was her first husband.

That's right, we divorced in '99 after a series of unfortunate events and remarried in '03 after living together for almost 2 years.

She likes to say the divorce just didn't work out.

When I introduce her I always say "She's much nicer than my first wife."

This can cause some interesting situations like when she shows people pictures of the kids, now in their 20's, and says "yeah, we've been married two years now."
One time at our son's wedding last year they played that anniversary dance thing where they tell everyone that's only been married 5 years or less to go sit down.
As she tried to walk away I grabbed her, we kept dancing.
Then 10 years.
We kept dancing.
I could see the bride's mother glaring at us.
15........20......we kept dancing. I smiled back.
At 25, we sat down.
Back at the table, our other son said "yeah dad, I was wondering what you were going to do about that dance."
I just said " Hey, they didn't say the years had to be all in a row!"

Disney is part of the reason we got back together. We both loved it there and couldn't find anyone else to go with.
Since we kept running into each other anyway due to the same social circles I just asked her one time, "Hey, got any money?" "Wanna go to Disney?"
It had been almost ten years since either of us were there so we went.
And loved it all over again.
And each other.

 

[nebo]

As you can see, we love it there. So everytime we have an argument, we plan another trip. Way things are going, I'll soon be having my mail delivered at CBR. heh, just kiddin honey.

I'd like to say : coming up,The mother of all vacations. ............. but I haven't yet figured out why some parts are accepted and others are rejected. I'm working on it, believe me. Just haven't gotten any answers on why they keep saying I'm including URLs in my post when I'm not. Help!

 

[nebo]

I believe I have this posting problem licked. Something to do with cookies and what not. I've deleted all the oreos and chocolate chips, but sorry, the pecan sandies aren't going anywhere.

next: The mother of all vacations.

 

[nebo]

I know an empty nesters trip report is unusal, that's maybe why I want to do this so much. For all you youngsters out there with toddlers and just starting out, it may give you an idea of what to look forward to.

So, I hope you'll give this tr a chance coming from a couple of DINKs.

You know, Duel Income, No Kids.

I used to say we were DITKAs.
Duel Income, Two Kids Arguing. But they're just starting out and couldn't get time off. So, heck withem, we'll go ourselves, thank you very much.

The reason i call this part the Mother of all Vacations is that planning this trip turned out to be a Mutha!

It just grew, and grew until after awhile, I had no idea where we were going to be on what date. Kinda like when you go to the store to pick up milk and bread and ground beef and come back with half a cow worth of steaks and ribs.

We were going to do a 3 day stay at the evil empire down the road, then 7 nights at French Quarter.
Simple, right?
UH uh.


The 3 day part turned into 4 because of the special they were running.

But then it got tricky.

Last fall we had a taste of the Dining Plan, and we loved it. Now, how to work it into this trip? A 7 day stay just costs too much money for the 2 of us.
But, you have to purchase the DDP for the length of your stay. Last time I was actually embarrassed by the fact that I couldn't eat that much. HUH? This can't be possible.

We even left 2 counter service meals untouched so we thought a 3 day DDP would be about right since you can drag it out over 4 days with day of check out.

Sooo,, we've got 4 nights at the RP, 3 nights at FQ , with the dining plan, and 4 nights at Wilderness Lodge booked through triple A, room only.

Was that enough? Au contraire.

Found out B.j. Thomas was playing at Epcot. Shoot, gotta see bj.

Pop Century was the chosen resort for this. What, are we nuts? Yeah. But now we get to try the last 3 resorts we've never stayed at and want to try.


You really do have more flexibility when it's just the two of you, without the kids.

Now, I have to say something about that other place I mentioned. I'm not going to include that in the report cuz I can hear some of you guys teeth grating, but I do think it's our responsibility to at least keep them in business.

Just like you never see a whopper place without a mickey d's nearbye, the two of them competing is in our best interest.
For example, fastpass brought us uni express pass which brought us extra magic hours that brought "stay four, pay for three" which begat free dining which begat Isaac and so on.
So, it was our duty to spend a little time there for all the DISers.
Your welcome.

This is what we ended up with.
4 days at RP, 3 at FQ, 4 at Wilderness Lodge and 3 at Pop.
And we're driving down from NW of Chicago, so add another night somewhere in Georgia on the way down, and southern Illinois the way back.

We should be home sometime in 2007.


I'm going to pause and post here, just incase i hit the wrong button and lose it. Right back.

 

[nebo]

I guess you can figure out which one I am. I plan everything. She packs everything.

I probably have as much fun planning as I do actually being there.
Yep, I'm as annoying as hell.

We not only have all our dinner reses all set, but which parks for which days, pool time, drink times, relax times, potty times and sleep if we get around to it.
Since we're staying at so many different resorts, driving was a must. That way we can bring a lot of food in the cooler and cut down on spending.
Ok, I'm cheap too!

I have this other annoying thing I do when we drive down. I will download whatever theme I come up with for this trip and put them on cd's. This year it was all Disney themed stuffage. Two cd's worth. Everything from Illuminations to the Tiki bird song. One time it was an entire cd of movie quotes or theme songs. Had 57 tracks on that mother, she had to tell me which movie it was from before the next track started.

She scored 38.

Like I said, I'm annoying.

Now when I said she over packs, I wasn't kidding. We took my little Tiburon down 4 years ago, a subcompact, for one week and it was fine. She filled it but it was fine. This time it's a Santa Fe suv, and it's barely big enough to fit it all in? huh? Something to do with " but I have to have a choice of what to wear, you never know what you feel like until that day."
Okay, fine.

To be honest, I probably prefer to drive.
Rather than fly.
I don't know, it just feels like more of an adventure this way.
Plus, I get to make my cds. heh

There is one more thing about drivin.
It's because I'm not crazy about flying.
Yes, I know it's safer but my brain doesn't think so. Planes don't have small accidents or fender benders. You either get where you're going or your dead.
NO middle ground.

Plus, I just never feel like I belong, that I'm doing something wrong. Can't put my finger on it.
The last time I flew I kept thinking if I make eye contact with the flight attendent she'd stop, look at me and say "YOU." "How did you get on board?"
"Captain, turn this plane around this minute, HE got on it somehow!"

Like I said, can't put my fiinger on why I feel this way.


So, it's about to be friday, may 5th. The Santa Fe leaves the driveway at 3:15 in the morning. Your all welcome to come along with, just be ready on time.

Any feedback so far would be welcome, I promise to keep up with it now that the kinks in posting seem to be worked out, steve

coming: the vacation begins

 

[Linxzy]

Hi, enjoying your report so far...

 

[dznyfanatic]

Great start! Can't wait to read more!

 

[quietgirll]

lol...i am completely enjoying your trip report, even tho it still hasn't gotten to the trip portion!! I can tell it will be a blast, thanks for sharing!!

 

[Camp Rd. Lady]

GREAT! Keep it coming!

 

[nebo]

HEE HA, OH BOY, WE ARE ON ARE WAY!

Ah, the sun's up, it's a beautiful day, we are flying on the open road, got the top down,
"Get your motor running, Head out on the highway.....hold it. huh?

top down?

You can't put the top down on this suv. Whose car is this? And why is it now blu.....

"Hey, wake up. C'mon, it's time."
"Unh."
"No, I mean it. Time to wake up."
" Yeah, yeah. I said "Unh."

Okay, that's me doing the grunting. Guess I wasn't on my way after all.
That's the problem with alarms that go off at 2:15. See, I'm a morning person, she's a night person.
Problem is ,,, at this time, it's falling right in the middle of us. Still too early for me, too late for her. Now, I slept, just not enough. She barely slept at all.
She just kinda flopped around all night.
You know,,, what am i forgetting, all that kinda stuff.

I know she flopped around a lot because she was the flopper and I was the floppedon.

So, the two zombies just staggered around, doing what needed to be done.

Any other time ,,,, this woulda turned ugly.
Ah, the things we do for Disney.
Luckily, all we really had left to do was pack the cooler and bathroom bag.
Everything else was done the night before. She took care of most of that, and I didn't cry when a lot of the beer had to come out to make room for the lunch meat.

I saw a tear in her eye though.

So, got everything taken care of, we are loaded and in the driveway doing the checkpoint thing. Remember when I said we are leaving at 3:15? I look at the dash and it's 3:09. YES

Umm,,, by the way, when I said you guys were invited to come with? Well, afraid not. The only way anyone else could of joined us is by the Griswald method. You know, tying aunt Edna to the luggage rack on the roof. Not kidding, there wasn't room for a hamster to fit in the back by the time she was done packing.

Now, we are off. Really.

I love this part.
You see, it's the same route in the beginning, that I take every day to work. About 35 miles. 'Cept this time I get to go right past my work exit,,,,what a great feeling.

Gotta get off. "NOT" ha ha, bye bye, see ya yup, great feeling.

Okay, we make it through all the expressways to the south side of Chicago and hit I57.
This is very important to Diane cuz now she knows she can sleep.

A deal we have always had, I need her for the signs, she needs me to actually drive.

"Ok hon, we have about 350 miles on this sucker till we get to Kentucky, might as well,",,,,I look over and she is already out. Brought her pillow with and I think she's now in that convertible with the top down that I started this with.

I really do love this part. Set the cruise, and just sit back and aim. I only set it for a couple miles over at this time,,it's still dark and I'm checking the sides for deer. Would kinda ruin the trip by taking out Bambi on the way to Disney.

No, I'm not gonna bore you to death with a mile by mile driving trip, I do just have to say that when I got on 57, a minivan or something merged right before me. I had my cruise control set, and was about ten lengths behind him.
It stayed that way for 300 miles.
Not kidding, it was like we were both locked in at the exact same speed, not a hundreth of a mile different.

I got so used to looking at his taillights, it was like I was following family.
When I saw his turn signal come on to exit i was "Hey, where you goin?" I'm not ready for gas just yet. Geesh, felt like I lost a friend.


Allright, the kid is staring and aiming. Suns up now, not too worried about Bambi anymore, and I got to thinking. I look at her and the mouth is hanging open, yeah, still cute. Check the door locks again and go back to the thinkin thing.
I'm going to leave you here for a few, but I want to tell you my thoughts.

coming, WARNING! THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

 

[nebo]

Back.
I truly mean this as a friendly warning. Just something to think about when you're planning.

It happened like this.

Last year, in '05, we went down in may. For this trip it was 2 nights in Tampa, we had never seen Busch, then 3 nights at Uni, then 3 nights at the Dolphin, 3 nights at POR.

The Days Inn at Tampa sucked, Royal Pac. is nice. And then , finally to Disney.

It was our last full day. At MGM, staying at Riverside.

And I lost it.

Not kidding, I mean really lost it. We were doing Little Mermaid, and when it got to the high point of her chorus, tears just started rolling down my face.

I just couldn't believe this was our last day already. Didn't we just check in to Days Inn?
What's the matter with me? It's been a great trip. How can you feel sorry for yourself now?

To be honest, I scared myself. I'm not bipolar.

I just couldn't believe it was the last day already. So now, I'm like "Holy cow , we have to do TowerofTerroragainand then MuppetvisionandtheGreatmovieride and,,,no,,, let'sgetbacktotheresortandswim in thepoolsomemore,relaxrelaxrelax. DW looked at me like I was nuts.
\
well, we did relax, and went and saw the Lovin Spoonful at Epcot that afternoon but it still scared me how I felt.

On the drive home, I put my finger on it.

It was just too many little vacations combined into one.

I just couldn't wait to get to the next resort, even if I'm having a nice time at the one we're at.
You just never got the feeling of being settled in.
And we are not going anywhere for awhile.
If anybody else knows what I'm talking about, I'd love to here from you.

We made up for it when I saw the free dining plan for last sept.
Stayed one full week at Coranado and it was wonderful.
Problem solved.



Sooo, here I am, driving down I57 and thinking,,, Holy ship, we're doing it again!!
But, no, no Days Inn this time, and four day stays instead of three. Plus, we're meeting a couple down at Uni's Royal Pac. So it'll be different. Yeah, I think so. I just still had to smile to myself.

Ok, back on the road, the trip down was pretty uneventful.

Well, for me anyway.
She is still not that comfortable with highway driving. She did good until the part of rt.24 that heads into Chattanooga. You don't realize you have been climbing, until you see all the signs,,, and I mean SIGNS,
CAUTION! STEEP GRADE AHEAD. TRUCKS, CHECK YOUR AIR BREAKS.

And then you see the runaway truck ramps.
Those will get your attention.
She's right to be nervous, I didn't touch the gas peddle for 6 miles.

"Steve, the speed limit is 45, and you're doing almost 46."

This is how I remember which car we took to Disney.
It's the ones with the fingerprints embedded in the dashboard.

And somebody please tell me how they can have 10 lanes going through Atlanta, and they are all backed up?

ok, I"m done, thanks for reading, seeya thursday

coming, the eagle has landed

 

[Catrin]

I am loving your report!!

Thanks for sharing the play by play.... have a safe rest of your trip!
Cathy

 

[Hersheybar417]

Totally enjoying your trip report, thanks for the laughs. Waiting for more....

 

[tiggerbell]

I am LOVIN' this report!!! Keep it coming!

 

[Nanajo1]

This is how I remember which car we took to Disney.
It's the ones with the fingerprints embedded in the dashboard.

I feel your DW's anguish. We can't drive because DH would probably put me in the trunk!
We are empty nesters too. I'm looking forward to comparing our strategies.