If you can't put your money in the stock market, might as well give it all to Disney

[mickeystoontown]

Our daughter lives in Cleveland, Georgia (attends missionary college there) which is about 90 miles from Atlanta. To get to her apartment, we have to go through Atlanta. I hate it. People drive like maniacs and we always get stuck in some kind of traffic jam.

 

[cjackearl]

Ugh, the drive. I think you've got a good plan, with a go with the flow attitude about arrival time. Ok, now I'm downright frightened of Atlanta driving. I wonder if I could get a prescription for a single Xanax, to be used in case of Atlanta driving anxiety. What is the Varsity?

 

[999ghostslover]

Cjackearl, The Varsity is a greasy little steakburger joint right next to the Georgia Tech stadium and I think there are a couple of newer ones out in the burbs. There is a guy who has worked there for like 60 years and when you walk in he sings the menu. When you live in Atlanta proper you are told you have to eat there. Yuck! I have been there twice and the second time I found a BRAID in my burger. That makes me gag thinking about it and it was like 8 years ago. You also have to eat at Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles if you ever go to Atl. That is actually really good soul food.

CP, I will def. get your recommendations for travel. If you want you can PM me anytime b/c I already have directions in my binder but will happily toss them out if you know a better way. Tom is to chicken to get over to the HOV lane. It is kinda funny. When we lived in midtown he rode his bike to Tech every day. I worked out in Roswell and had to drive (luckily I was going the opposite of traffic most times). So I am the Atlanta driver in this family. He is the long stretch of highways with just you and the trucks driver. I hate trucks. But I can handle all the speedy little Audis in Atlanta. What is the the trffic guy in Atlanta always says about driving in the rain there? "Instant idiots; just add water." And he used to always say that there was a "ubiquitous ladder" on the downtown connector. And there really always is. And that is a great word.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Cjackearl, The Varsity is a greasy little steakburger joint right next to the Georgia Tech stadium and I think there are a couple of newer ones out in the burbs. There is a guy who has worked there for like 60 years and when you walk in he sings the menu. When you live in Atlanta proper you are told you have to eat there. Yuck! I have been there twice and the second time I found a BRAID in my burger. That makes me gag thinking about it and it was like 8 years ago. You also have to eat at Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles if you ever go to Atl. That is actually really good soul food.

Ewwww! I was going to sing the praises of the Varsity -- LOVE it! Now, I will just stay quiet.

CP, I will def. get your recommendations for travel. If you want you can PM me anytime b/c I already have directions in my binder but will happily toss them out if you know a better way. Tom is to chicken to get over to the HOV lane. It is kinda funny. When we lived in midtown he rode his bike to Tech every day. I worked out in Roswell and had to drive (luckily I was going the opposite of traffic most times). So I am the Atlanta driver in this family. He is the long stretch of highways with just you and the trucks driver. I hate trucks. But I can handle all the speedy little Audis in Atlanta. What is the the trffic guy in Atlanta always says about driving in the rain there? "Instant idiots; just add water." And he used to always say that there was a "ubiquitous ladder" on the downtown connector. And there really always is. And that is a great word.

Okay, I will PM you later this weekend! The HOV lane, in my opinion, is a godsend -- I just get all the way over to it, and then I don't have to worry about all the cars that weave in and out of lanes. I used to work at Lenox Square (before I became a teacher), so the traffic doesn't bother me too much since I drove in it everyday -- it's when it comes to a standstill that I want to gnaw my arm off.

 

[999ghostslover]

Ewwww! I was going to sing the praises of the Varsity -- LOVE it! Now, I will just stay quiet.



Okay, I will PM you later this weekend! The HOV lane, in my opinion, is a godsend -- I just get all the way over to it, and then I don't have to worry about all the cars that weave in and out of lanes. I used to work at Lenox Square (before I became a teacher), so the traffic doesn't bother me too much since I drove in it everyday -- it's when it comes to a standstill that I want to gnaw my arm off.

sorry if I ruined it for you! It is great college food. Great soak-up-the-alcohol food. Great drown-your-sorrows-in-another-loss-to-Georgia food. But that is about it. Why not do what other Atlantans do when it comes to a standstill? Like work on your laptop, read a book, do your nails. And then when it starts up again you can be free to go back to texting and putting on your makeup while driving. I'm giving it such a hard time. We really love Atlanta. It is a great city to be young in and great metro area to raise a family. There is culture and entertainment and it is generally clean with a great quality of life. I just wish there was a magic highway OVER it when you don't actually need to go in it.

 

[Charleston Princess]

sorry if I ruined it for you! It is great college food. Great soak-up-the-alcohol food. Great drown-your-sorrows-in-another-loss-to-Georgia food. But that is about it. Why not do what other Atlantans do when it comes to a standstill? Like work on your laptop, read a book, do your nails. And then when it starts up again you can be free to go back to texting and putting on your makeup while driving. I'm giving it such a hard time. We really love Atlanta. It is a great city to be young in and great metro area to raise a family. There is culture and entertainment and it is generally clean with a great quality of life. I just wish there was a magic highway OVER it when you don't actually need to go in it.

Yes, a magic highway would be so nice!

 

[999ghostslover]

We are planning on getting up bright and early and hitting Epcot for EMH early. We are going to drive to Epcot because we have the double stroller and we do not want to have to do too many buses with it. Once we hit Epcot we will make a dash for Soarin. Abby and I will ride and get a baby swap ticket for Tom. He and Brady will go and get Fast Passes for Abby and himself to Test Track. When he makes it back to the land he and Abby will do Soarin. Then we are hoping to get over to Nemo and friends and Crush while enjoying some air conditioning. Basically the morning will be spent doing Future World.
We will head back to the Lodge via bus or monorail/ferry. We want to keep our good morning parking spot. Brady and I will nap and Tom and Abby will explore. When we wake up we may go for a swim for a bit. We'll get dressed and head back over to epcot for dinner.
We have dinner at San Angel Inn at 5:30. If they haven't, Tom and Abby will ride Test Track but mostly we will try to knock out a few countries. We aren't planning on lasting til Illuminations but who knows. We will drive back to the Lodge when we are ready. The Mexican pavilion has been closed the last THREE times I have been at Epcot. 1999, 2005, 2007 so I really want to eat at San Angel and ride the 3 Caballeros.
Must dos:
Soarin
Tom and Abby ride Test Track (neither of them have done it)
Spaceship Earth
3 Caballeros ride
Snack: School Bread in Norway
Wish List:
Nemo and Friends
Turtle Talk
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Mexico, Norway and China
CS lunch at Yorkshire County Fish Shop

I would love your thoughts!

 

[999ghostslover]

So it is 1 month and 4 days until our trip. Where has that time gone?
Here are some other big things we are counting down to.
7 days until I host a baby shower for two very good friends.
12 days until my brother graduates from Clemson University.
21 days until Abby's big dance recital.
25 days until Abby graduates from preschool.
28 days until my sister gets married.
(for those counting that means we have to drive through Atlanta 4 more times before our Disney trip even kicks off)
and of course
36 days until Brady turns 1!
159 days until our new baby is here.
We are busy.

Here are some pics just because.
Tom and I at a wedding last night.

My sister as my MOH at my wedding. And look how young my brother is. He was a sophmore in high school then.

Abby at her recital last year.

 

[cjackearl]

Your Epcot plan looks good. I think its wise not to try to deal with the double stroller on the buses.

Thanks for the extra pictures. What a nice looking family.

 

[ladybugmom]

Thank you! Abby is September 15th. How funny! Ally is off to kindergarten next year, right? Abby is not going to kindergarten next year. AL is RIDICULOUSLY strict about the cutoff being September 1. She is reading and can do basic math and stuff and she is second tallest in her class. It is so unfair. I was due with her September 5 and I wish now that I had been induced early. I wanted to go natural and ended up being induced 9 days late! Her 4 year old teacher is furious and has helped me look into possibilities but even some of the preschools that offer kindergarten have warned us that when she goes on to public or private school she will have to repeat kindergarten. So, she is going to do half day pre-k at the church school she attends now. And what makes me sad is that all of her friends are moving on and it is hard to explain to her why she has to stay at preschool. Okay, rant over.

Yes--Ally will start K in August. The cutoff here is Sept. 30th. Abby sounds a lot like Ally. Ally is reading, writing, can count to 100, simple addition & Subtraction, etc. (I used to teach K so she is OVER prepared!) Ally is SUPER tall as well. She is 45 inches tall (95th percentile for her age). Does Huntsville not have testing for those like Abby who have just missed the cutoff but are ready? They are strict here, too but they do have a testing option. My youngest, Claire, will have the same issues as Abby--her birthday is Oct. 10th--misses the cutoff here by only 10 days! So sorry--I know how frustrating that is!

 

[ladybugmom]

Erin--LOVE Abby's dance pics from last year! She is SO cute! LOVE the curls!! I read that you are from NJ?! Which part? My dad grew up in Cherry Hill and my mom in Cranford. We were just in Cherry Hill at Christmas visiting my grandmother and aunts and uncles!!

 

[999ghostslover]

Yes--Ally will start K in August. The cutoff here is Sept. 30th. Abby sounds a lot like Ally. Ally is reading, writing, can count to 100, simple addition & Subtraction, etc. (I used to teach K so she is OVER prepared!) Ally is SUPER tall as well. She is 45 inches tall (95th percentile for her age). Does Huntsville not have testing for those like Abby who have just missed the cutoff but are ready? They are strict here, too but they do have a testing option. My youngest, Claire, will have the same issues as Abby--her birthday is Oct. 10th--misses the cutoff here by only 10 days! So sorry--I know how frustrating that is!

No testing option. I would have to homeschool her until 3rd grade and then they would test her. Maybe. Some homeschoolers have told me that. But I haven't personally researched it. I thnk once next schoo lyear begins and we meet some new kids and everything I will become more okay with it. It is just hard at this time of year when everyone that we have played with since she was a little baby will go on to kindergarten. This next baby is due Oct 2 so we may be right in the same boat again. I have heard that they got stricter during the testing craze of No Child Left behind. the thought was if the kids were a little older they might be a little smarter and then test better. But all of theresearch has proven that this is not the case.

Erin--LOVE Abby's dance pics from last year! She is SO cute! LOVE the curls!! I read that you are from NJ?! Which part? My dad grew up in Cherry Hill and my mom in Cranford. We were just in Cherry Hill at Christmas visiting my grandmother and aunts and uncles!!

I grew up in Cranford! And so did my mom and Dad. They graduated from CHS in 1970. I graduated in 1996. They both lived on the northside as did I when I was growing up. What a small world. We love Cranford.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Nice Epcot day!! I want to eat school bread in Norway also, I can't wait!!!

 

[999ghostslover]

I have made some ADR changes. I guess it is contagious. Here is the why and the what.

We are eating at CRT on our last day before departure. It will be our second magic kingdom day. The lunch reservation is for 2:10. The timing of that is just not really good for Brady. He will for sure have needed a break by that point. Plus there is the fact that nothing on the menu really excites my DH and It is going to take 2 TS credits per person. But there is no way Abby can or should miss this. Brady gets his special 1st birthday meal at Chef Mickey's and she gets this. That is the deal. So our first thought was that Tom and Brady would head back to WL for a break and he could use his 2 TS meal credit to order room service for himself. Well, looking at that menu didn't really excite him any more than going to CRT. I mean a burger for 2 TS credits? He travels a lot for work and gets room service so the thrill of eating in the room is lost on him. Plus he really needs to be quiet with a hopefully sleeping baby in the room. So we decided to use his 2 TS credits and make another reservation for some point in our week. He can grab some roaring fork on his way up to the room.
So, what to choose?
At first I tried to add Ohana a couple of different nights but no go. And I almost gave up. But Tom and I agreed on Sci Fi for lunch (he really wants this, I think it won't be a great experience with little ones) or some dinner at Magic Kingdom on our first MK day. I called and was not able to get Sci Fi but got 50s primetime for lunch. And I got LTT for dinner. So I booked them both. I don't know which one to give up and I may hang onto them until I think about it some more. I would love to hear opinions.
Here are my musings on each.
50s prime time. That night we have ADRS for T Rex. We are only spending a half day at this park total. Maybe 8am to 1pm. I don't think we should waste precious time there at a sit down. I think our kids would like this place more in a few years. But, if we eat a big lunch here maybe we get smaller dinner at T rex which is OOP. And there are no stellar CS places here. I really like this menu.
LTT. That day we have ADRS at Chef Mickey for a late (10:55) breakfast. This ADR is late. 7pm. But that is really 6pm Alabama time. But this is the one day we really want to make it to the parade and maybe Wishes. Or at least see it from the boat back. When I was a kid we always did Disney on the cheap. We split everything and would go off property to eat at a McDonalds. Cheap. We would bring in peanut butter sandwiches and fill our coke cans at the water fountain. Cheap. But the one nice meal we ever had was at LTT. It was pouring rain out and my dad decided to splurge. It was so nice and fun. It is my only "real" eating memory except for a vague memory of a character breakfast where Fulton's Crabhouse is now when I was like 4. So that would be nice nostalgia. The menu does not thrill me but I know we would eat it all. We already have one all you can eat meal that day although maybe with 10:55 breakfast and 7pm dinner we won't need to eat another thing all day.
I dunno.
Or maybe I will cancel another aDR altogether.

 

[999ghostslover]

Nice Epcot day!! I want to eat school bread in Norway also, I can't wait!!!

I know, I can't wait! Especially since none of the desserts at San Angel look that great. I'm not a flan girl. But school bread looks right up my ally.

 

[cjackearl]

What time is your Prime Time ressie? Is it late enough that it could be the last thing you do before heading out? I've never eaten here, so no review, but we took a reservation here for our June trip after not being able to get into sci fi and will probably cancel it and have lunch at Beaches and Cream instead. Is there a resort resteraunt you're interested in trying?

 

[999ghostslover]

What time is your Prime Time ressie? Is it late enough that it could be the last thing you do before heading out? I've never eaten here, so no review, but we took a reservation here for our June trip after not being able to get into sci fi and will probably cancel it and have lunch at Beaches and Cream instead. Is there a resort resteraunt you're interested in trying?

It is at 11:10 when they open. I am leaning toward canceling this one. I know it is one we will get to for sure at some point but not right now. We did a lot of resort restaurants last trip (Boatright's, Boma, Cape May Cafe, ESPN) and we have a few this trip (WCC, Kona, Chef Mickey's). The more I think about LTT the more I think it will be a great break at a great time. I'm actually glad there won't be characters as we will be eating at CM that day. Maybe it will be getting dark as we leave and we can hit a dusk riding of my FAVORITE ride, HM, or jump on the paddle boat and relax and digest our food.

 

[ladybugmom]

I grew up in Cranford! And so did my mom and Dad. They graduated from CHS in 1970. I graduated in 1996. They both lived on the northside as did I when I was growing up. What a small world. We love Cranford.

NO WAY!! What a small world! We used to come up to Cranford every summer to visit my grandparents. My mom graduated from CHS in 1968!

 

[CherylA]

I have made some ADR changes. I guess it is contagious. Here is the why and the what.

We are eating at CRT on our last day before departure. It will be our second magic kingdom day. The lunch reservation is for 2:10. The timing of that is just not really good for Brady. He will for sure have needed a break by that point. Plus there is the fact that nothing on the menu really excites my DH and It is going to take 2 TS credits per person. But there is no way Abby can or should miss this. Brady gets his special 1st birthday meal at Chef Mickey's and she gets this. That is the deal. So our first thought was that Tom and Brady would head back to WL for a break and he could use his 2 TS meal credit to order room service for himself. Well, looking at that menu didn't really excite him any more than going to CRT. I mean a burger for 2 TS credits? He travels a lot for work and gets room service so the thrill of eating in the room is lost on him. Plus he really needs to be quiet with a hopefully sleeping baby in the room. So we decided to use his 2 TS credits and make another reservation for some point in our week. He can grab some roaring fork on his way up to the room.
So, what to choose?
At first I tried to add Ohana a couple of different nights but no go. And I almost gave up. But Tom and I agreed on Sci Fi for lunch (he really wants this, I think it won't be a great experience with little ones) or some dinner at Magic Kingdom on our first MK day. I called and was not able to get Sci Fi but got 50s primetime for lunch. And I got LTT for dinner. So I booked them both. I don't know which one to give up and I may hang onto them until I think about it some more. I would love to hear opinions.
Here are my musings on each.
50s prime time. That night we have ADRS for T Rex. We are only spending a half day at this park total. Maybe 8am to 1pm. I don't think we should waste precious time there at a sit down. I think our kids would like this place more in a few years. But, if we eat a big lunch here maybe we get smaller dinner at T rex which is OOP. And there are no stellar CS places here. I really like this menu.
LTT. That day we have ADRS at Chef Mickey for a late (10:55) breakfast. This ADR is late. 7pm. But that is really 6pm Alabama time. But this is the one day we really want to make it to the parade and maybe Wishes. Or at least see it from the boat back. When I was a kid we always did Disney on the cheap. We split everything and would go off property to eat at a McDonalds. Cheap. We would bring in peanut butter sandwiches and fill our coke cans at the water fountain. Cheap. But the one nice meal we ever had was at LTT. It was pouring rain out and my dad decided to splurge. It was so nice and fun. It is my only "real" eating memory except for a vague memory of a character breakfast where Fulton's Crabhouse is now when I was like 4. So that would be nice nostalgia. The menu does not thrill me but I know we would eat it all. We already have one all you can eat meal that day although maybe with 10:55 breakfast and 7pm dinner we won't need to eat another thing all day.
I dunno.
Or maybe I will cancel another aDR altogether.

I vote for keeping LTT and cancelling 50's Prime Time. I like the food at 50's but having a lot of fun there IMHO is better with a larger group or an al adult group. Kids just don't 'get it'. Did they bring characters back to LTT? The characters were always great there. The food is fine. Also I like the idea of a late BF and then a dinner, both sit down. We've done this in the past and it works out well. We'll be doing it again on our Aug trip. It also gives you a chance to splurge on some fun snacks midday and not feel guilty!

 

[999ghostslover]

I vote for keeping LTT and cancelling 50's Prime Time. I like the food at 50's but having a lot of fun there IMHO is better with a larger group or an al adult group. Kids just don't 'get it'. Did they bring characters back to LTT? The characters were always great there. The food is fine. Also I like the idea of a late BF and then a dinner, both sit down. We've done this in the past and it works out well. We'll be doing it again on our Aug trip. It also gives you a chance to splurge on some fun snacks midday and not feel guilty!

I think I am leaning this way. Do you know how far in advance I have to cancel prime time so that I am not charged. We may just sit on this one a bit.