I'm Not As Tink As You Kronk I Am - Final Thoughts on Mustard's January Trip to WDW

[Tat2ddisneymom]

I didn't know you had a pretrippie! You need to announce this stuff. Pimp yourself!!

Chapter 1 - The grand idea and Cast of Characters

It is late spring of 2006 and a spark of an idea starts to grow in the dark recesses of a slightly unsettled mind. A mind sitting loosely in the cranium of our intrepid planner, prodder, and born again Disney fan. The idea is to have members from his family and DW's family all meet for a meet/reunion at The Land That Walt Made

What are you, nuts?? Or just a glutton for punishment? Just kidding, it'll be great.

After many e-mails, phone calls, and the occasional misinterpreted hand gesture a timeframe of January 9th - 18th, 2008 as our "go time." And with that our basic cast of characters was set:

Me, I'm Mike (38) - I work as a network administrator and help desk coordinator at a community college - I keep the computers talking I enjoy photography, camping, bowling, and computer/PS2 games. I'm currently working my way up through the ranks on Pirates of the Caribbean Online (the whole family actually plays)

DW Roxy (33) - she's an executive assistant at a precision machine shop. Along with that she's got supermom syndrome doing work for DD2's PTO, acting as secretary for DD1's PTA, working at the gym where both girls go, and coaching DD1's volleyball team. And her bowling team is currently in 1st place and jus won their last block - w00t!

DD1 Kyra (11) - dealing with the transition to middle school and the increased homework load, she's a dedicated student former gymnast, and is currently in the playoffs for volleyball along with getting ready for the competition season for cheerleading In the spring she also does fastpitch softball.

DD2 Gillian (8) - this is our free spirit/daredevil She like to run and jump and play and does gymnastics off and on along with softball. To give you an idea about the kind of kid she is - she rode ToT at Disneyland 7 times at the age of 5
DM Mariah (62) - she does some office work in relation to DF's job and is very big into genealogy - tracing branches of the family tree back to 1673 in Scotland. She has post-polio syndrome and mostly gets around in one of those scooters. She works part time doing office/accounting stuff for DD.

DF John (60) - works as an industrial park manager, construction foreman, and general jack of all trades for a guy who owns properties in a half dozen states. He lives to work and will never retire if he can help it.

MiL Ann (66) - She's the office manager at the same place DW works at. She's struggling with the transition to retirement but is getting to the point where her health isn't going to let her keep working full time. She has sciatic, hip, and back issues and is also going to be getting around on with some help via an electric wheelchair.

Sis Maria (42) - She works at a framing shop and is an ameteur photographer. She just e-mailed me and said she'd be there for the first part of our trip - yay!!!

Nephew Matt (24) - Asst manager for a big food chain. I haven't seen him since he was 16 so I'm really not sure what he's in to other than...

Nephew's Fiancée Sarah (24) - sounds like a great girl - it'll be our first time meeting her.

We also have my BiL & his fam that still aren't sure, but might be there too.

Wow, nice long vacation! Where is Matt from that you havent seen him in 8 years?

Here's a pic of DD1:

Aww, its only a matter of time til the boys start calling.

And one of DD2:

This is the one that had chiari? She's precious!

And one of the girls, Roxy, and I:

Woo hoo. Nice family.

OK, for background I went to Disneyland when I was 7 years old, but it was just a day there and it was part of a week-long theme park hopping adventure put together by my parents and was all a blur I only really remember the bicentennial theming (we went in '76) and the electric light parade, along with Pirates of the Caribbean.

That was the year before I was born.

DW went to WDW as a kid and also only had one day there, mostly spent at EPCOT and left feeling like she missed most of the magic

I don't understand why people only go for one day.

I was born in Georgia and bounced around through Tennessee, California, and then spent the bulk of my childhood in Arizona. My fam moved to southern Oregon when I was 15 and I did HS there except for my senior year, which was done partially back in Georgia (long story).

Wow, that's a lot of moving. My stepsister lives in Arizona.

I did 4 years in the Army as a rocket artilleryman and did time at Ft. Sill, OK, Ft Hood, TX, and Baumholder, Germany. I was in Germany to see the Berlin Wall fall down, which was very cool. I was also in during Desert Storm, but our unit didn't deploy so I spent it pulling 12-hr gate guard shifts in the snow making sure our Bavarian paradise didn't get invaded by a non-existent terrorist threat.

for our military men!

Back to the Disney side of things we realized that our girls hadn't had the experience and we wanted to give ourselves the ability to have a longer, more enjoyable time there. We're west-coasters so it was an easy choice to go to Disneyland. We did a 3-day package there in January of 2005 doing DL and CA We went there with my BiL and his fam.

It happened to be a time of pretty bad rains, which scared most of the populace away from the parks. It was overcast 50%, drizzled 40%, and was full-on downpour the other 10%. The rain itself wasn't an issue since Oregon is a pretty wet place, and the temps were 65-70 degrees, which for us was workable

The end result was only a couple of rides being closed (unfortunately including Haunted Mansion - grrrr) and us being able to ride all the rides we wanted. The longest wait we had was 10 minutes other than waiting for timed shows. We rode everything at least once and several rides multiple times - in some cases not even having to get off.

Rainy days are the best time to go!

I know we won't get that lucky as far as ride waits when we go to WDW, but I'll be happy with whatever the outcome is. I think that's enough of the background stuff, next time we'll delve a bit into what I have planned for our grand adventure!

Maybe not quite that lucky, but you're going in January. It won't be bad at all.

Hey All - Itinerary time!


This is my first stab at this so we'll see how it goes



Although we will have other family members early on, this trip is mostly about my DDs (ages 8 & 11). Myself, my DW will be trying to keep up with them and both of our mothers, who will be driving a scooter & a electric wheelchair respectively. They've both promised to give the kids rides if they get tired ...so DW and I will be the ones with the sore feet


Mon, Jan 7
Breakfast: at home
9:30am flight to SFO
Lunch: At SFO
1pm flight to MCO
Arrive in Orlando at 9:21pm
Drive to Grand Beach Phase II on Lake Bryan
Sleep

You will be traveling to WDW on my DD's bday.

Tues, Jan 8
Breakfast: at resort
Touring Orlando
Lunch: McDonalds w/largest play area in the world (DD's saw it on TV and are insisting ...darned Travel Channel - hehehe)
Ripley's Museum
Back to the resort to rest
Dinner: Pirates Adventure Dinner at 6pm

I always wanted to do the Ripley's museum. And on the Pirates Dinner.

Wed, Jan 9 – Magic Kingdom (9am-7pm) - DTD (9am-11pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Be there for rope drop
Hit Tomorrowland and some of Fantasyland
Rope drop at Toontown
Lunch: counter service
Dreams parade - watch from Liberty Square HC area
Try to hit Pirates before lines form back up
Head back to the resort to rest for a couple of hours
Head to DTD for dinner/shopping
Dinner: ADRs - Fulton's Crab House at 7pm (Dad’s 61st B-day!)
Walk off some of that good seafood by checking out the shops

Sounds like a good plan.

Thu, Jan 10 – EPCOT (FW 9am-7pm/WS 11am-9pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Be there for Future World rope drop
Go for FP for Test Track while fam gets in line for Soarin’
Maybe check out the Land Pavilion
Check out Living Seas Pavilion & do Turtle Talk
Maybe ride Test Track
Get FP for Mission: SPACE
Lunch: counter service at Sunshine Seasons
Go on Mission: SPACE
Hit Maelstrom and/or the Grand Fiesta Tour
Back to the resort to rest for a bit
Dinner: ADRs - Coral Reef 4:30pm
Hit whatever else catches our eye/isn’t too crowded until Illuminations 9pm

Another good plan. I can't believe you're doing rope drop again!

Fri, Jan 11 – Disney's Hollywood Studios (9am-7pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Be there for rope drop
Try and beat the crowd to RnR/ToT
Get FP for Rock'n'Roller and get in main line
Do ToT and then Fastpass RnR
Hit MuppetVision
maybe do another attraction or two depending on lines
Go back to resort for a leisurely lunch and rest
Back to Disney's Hollywood Studios
Stars and Motorcars parade at 3pm
Hit some more attractions
Dinner: ADRs - Fantasmic! Dining – Hollywood and Vine at 5pm
Wander around a bit to walk off dinner
Fantasmic! At 7pm
Back to resort

No, you can't call it that, its still MGM!!

Rope drop again??

Can't wait to read your review on Hollywood and Vine. I've always wanted to go there.

Sat, Jan 12 – SeaWorld (9am-6pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Walk around and catch shows
Lunch: counter service
See more shows/exhibits
Leave when we're tired
Dinner: at resort
Have a restful evening

Are you going to be there as soon as they open, too?

Sun, Jan 13 – SeaWorld (9am-6pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Leisurely morning at resort
Lunch: at resort
Back to Sea World
Catch whatever we hadn't seen on Saturday
Dinner: SeaWorld Orlando's Backstage at Believe...Dine with Shamu

I wonder if they get as busy as WDW on weekends. Did you pick the weekend to go here for any specific reason?

Mon, Jan 14 - Typhoon Lagoon (10am-5pm)/Magic Kingdom (9am-8pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Be at Typhoon Lagoon when it opens
Splash splash splash
Lunch: counter service
Leave when we’re tired/done being wet
Back to the resort to rest
Head to MK between 4 & 5pm
Catch a couple of fast passes or just check out the shops
Dinner: Pecos Bill’s (counter service) at 6pm eat outside by the fence for Spectromagic Parade
Wishes

You are very ambitions. I wonder if it will be warm enough to be swimming first thing in the morning.

Tue, Jan 15 – Animal Kingdom (9am - 5pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Be there for rope drop - go in via Rainforest Cafe's separate entrance
Get FP for Expedition Everest on the way to the ride so we can ride it twice without too much of a wait ;-]
Head to Dinoland USA
If the timing is right go to Finding Nemo The Musical
otherwise let the kids ride Primeval Whirl
Hit DINOSAUR
Back to Asia for Kali River Rapids & Maharajah Jungle Trek
It's Tough to Be a Bug
Get FP for Kilimanjaro Safari
Lunch: Flame Tree Barbeque (counter service)
Hit Kilimanjaro Safari
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
See Festival of the Lion King
4pm Catch Jammin’ Jungle Parade
Wander & shop
Dinner: ADRs - Rainforest Café 5pm
Back to the resort

Rope drop again?!?!? You're insane! That's like getting up at 4 a.m. your time every day!

I love Rainforest Cafe, but I've never been to the one in AK.

Wed, Jan 16 - EPCOT (FW 9am-7pm/WS 11am-9pm)
Breakfast: at resort
Get to EPCOT when we feel like it
Check out the different country exhibits
Check out anything else we didn't have time for on the first day
FP for either Soarin or Mission: SPACE
Lunch: counter service
Use FPs
Leisurely strolling/checking out more exhibits
Back to resort to rest
Dinner: ADRs - Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion 5:10pm
Hit whatever else catches our eye/isn’t too crowded until
IllumiNations (if we have the energy)

for Le Cellier. I wanna go there!

Thu, Jan 17 - Discovery Cove (9am - 5:30pm)
Breakfast: provided at DC
Lunch: provided at DC
Dinner: Thai Thani - just down the road from DC

Take lots of pictures!

Fri, Jan 18 - Magic Kingdom (9am - 8pm)/Downtown Disney (9:30am - 11:30pm)
Breakfast: at resort
At MK for rope drop
Route will depend on what we were able to get through on 1st MK day
Lunch: ADRs - Cinderella's Royal Table (2 tables) 12:15pm
Try for fastpasses on rides we really need "one more time" on
Catch 'Dreams' one last time
Do a couple of more rides or head back to resort
At some point head to DTD so the ladies can shop one last time
Back to MK
Dinner: Find a spot around 7pm at the Plaza Pavilion for Wishes
Wander around and catch another ride or two - stay until they kick us out

Rope drop AGAIN!

I can't wait to hear what you think about luch at CRT.

Sat, Jan 19 - Heading Home
Breakfast: on the way to airport/at airport
8am flight to SFO
Lunch: at SFO while we wait for connecting flight
12:45pm flight home
Arrive at home around 3pm

Wow, that's a long trip. So it would actually be 6 pm Florida time when you get home, right?

 

[mnmrmustard]

What fun!!! That really is a great itenerary! You guys will get to see and experience so much!

We are also going to MK on Fri. the 18th. Maybe we will see you there too

On your AK day, what does go in the Rainforest Cafe exit mean/do? Is it a quicker route to EE?

Thank you - it should be a pretty magical trip

You're at MK on the 18th? Coolness We'll keep an eye out for your LGMHs!!!

The Rainforest Cafe at AK has it's own entrance. You just go in and head to the gift shop on the right. On the other side of it is entrance doors that open at the same time as the main turnstiles. You can shop for some cool gifts and beat a good chunk of the crowds - hehehe.

 

[mnmrmustard]

I didn't know you had a pretrippie! You need to announce this stuff. Pimp yourself!!

sorry, I'm still trying to get my bearings and catch up on yours, cherbears, and leger's TRs (among others) and didn't want to shake my maracas at y'all until I did ;-]

What are you, nuts?? Or just a glutton for punishment? Just kidding, it'll be great.
Wow, nice long vacation! Where is Matt from that you haven't seen him in 8 years?

Of course I'm nuts and as far as punishment, it depends on who's doing the punishing


...JK back atcha


I figured if we were going to got to the expense of flying back there that we better stay long enough to make it worthwhile My whole fam live in Georgia ...but I was mistaken, I haven't seen him in 6 years, not 8. Tks for catching that!

Aww, its only a matter of time till the boys start calling.

She's already in that 'tween' stage ...boys will be coming along soon enough and I'm not looking forward to it.

This is the one that had chiari? She's precious!

Yup, that's her! She's our little mischief maker ...hehehe

Woo hoo. Nice family.

Thankyeee!

That was the year before I was born.

Oh fine, make me feel old why doncha

Wow, that's a lot of moving. My stepsister lives in Arizona.

My fam was always on the move - I went to 7 different schools between K to 12th grades and have technically lived in 8 states, but did most of my growing up in AZ and OR.

for our military men!

Thank you very much - I'm glad that I did it.

Maybe not quite that lucky, but you're going in January. It won't be bad at all.

That's the idea :-]

You will be traveling to WDW on my DD's bday.
I always wanted to do the Ripley's museum. And on the Pirates Dinner.

Really? That's cool! I wish we were in the parks before her b-day so we could send her a postcard from her favorite character Yeah, Ripley's looks pretty cool and the Pirates Dinner was a must!

No, you can't call it that, its still MGM!!
Rope drop again??
Can't wait to read your review on Hollywood and Vine. I've always wanted to go there.

Yes, we're going to try for rope drops and then go back and rest every day to make up for it. We'll have to see how it pans out. Hehehe, I knew I'd get people commenting on putting it down as DHS instead of MGM. I'll certainly let you know how H&V is

Are you going to be there as soon as they open, too?

I wonder if they get as busy as WDW on weekends. Did you pick the weekend to go here for any specific reason?

Haha - cute. Probably not. From what I've read you can get through all of Sea World in about 3/4 of a day, so even with it being a weekend doing it over the course of 2 days should be plenty to see what we want to.

We are going here over the weekend because the yearly marathon and 1/2 marathon is being run at WDW at that time.

You are very ambitions. I wonder if it will be warm enough to be swimming first thing in the morning.

We're from the northwest so what people consider 'cold' weather we consider quite nice

Rope drop again?!?!? You're insane! That's like getting up at 4 a.m. your time every day!
I love Rainforest Cafe, but I've never been to the one in AK.

Yup, we're crazy ... and I have no idea if we'll be able to pull it off, but if we can avoid the crowds it will be worth trying! If it doesn't pan out that we can hack it we'll just make it when we can.

for Le Cellier. I wanna go there!

I've heard very good things about it and can't wait to dig into one of their steaks

Take lots of pictures!

Oh, I have a 4GB card and 2 1GB cards for my dSLR ...I can basically take 1500 hi-res pictures per day if I want

Rope drop AGAIN!
I can't wait to hear what you think about lunch at CRT.

Oh, I'll let y'all know for sure! I'll be taking the week after we return to go through pictures/video, get my TR going, and make digital scrapbooks for each family.

Wow, that's a long trip. So it would actually be 6 pm Florida time when you get home, right?

Yes - almost 2 weeks. And yes, it'll probably feel like evening when we get back. Luckily we'll be able to collapse for the remainder of the weekend - lol

 

[mnmrmustard]

Great itinerary

Do you do spreadsheets? I found it gives you a nice "big" picture of your trip.
I've emailed mine out to others if you'd like to take a look.

Thank you! I appreciate the offer - I do have a spreadsheet with a half-dozen tabs covering different topics. I even have an online version of it, but it is in dire need of updating from the original - lol

 

[jordanyosh]

Thank you! I appreciate the offer - I do have a spreadsheet with a half-dozen tabs covering different topics. I even have an online version of it, but it is in dire need of updating from the original - lol

Niiiicccceeeeeee.

Nothing like a good spreadsheet.

 

[bettyann29]

Hi there.. I just came across your pre trip and wanted to stop in and say hi..

Wow.. you guys are gonna have such a great time..

Your girls are soooo cute! I had a blonde moment though when I first read the picture that said DD2 (Im brunette).. I thought you were saying she was 2 yrs old and my first thought was wow she's big for 2.. ..

Cant wait to hear more..

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hi there.. I just came across your pre trip and wanted to stop in and say hi..

Wow.. you guys are gonna have such a great time..

Your girls are soooo cute! I had a blonde moment though when I first read the picture that said DD2 (Im brunette).. I thought you were saying she was 2 yrs old and my first thought was wow she's big for 2.. ..

Cant wait to hear more..

Hello BettyAnn - thank you very much for stopping by - sorry I was away catching back up with work and getting through the busy Turkey Day holliday

Thank you for the compliment on my girls and yes, I think I'm going to have to change the DD2 thing as it should be representative of age, not which one was born first - lol

I'm getting back on track now and will be posting more info today

 

[mnmrmustard]

OK boys n girls, are we having fun yet

I had a frantic couple of weeks and unfortunately the trip took a back seat to RL

I made the mistake of taking a "vacation" week at the end of October because I had built up too many hours and HR sent my boss a notice to make be get my butt outta there. The week off was filled with errands and projects and a very belated b-day party for DD11 (her actual birthday was at the end of August but there were so many activities going on that it kept getting postponed).

So the week ended with 7 11-12yr olds spending the night and staying up until 2am. Unfortunately by the end of the weekend DD11 and DW were sick with sick with some sort of cold bug DW recovered after a couple of days but DD11 had a constant cough for that literally lasted for almost a month. She was only able to go to sleep by sheer exhaustion coupled with heavy medication. We tried everything and had her in to the doctor three times, first for prescription Sudafed and Tylenol w/codeine, next for a steroid, and then for a scary mix of codeine & phenergan and the 'z-pack' in case it is some sort of infection. She was negative for strep and her lungs have stayed clear.

While she was sick I stayed home with her since I had a bunch of sick leave/comp time built up. I mostly slept on the couch in the living room with her propped up in a recliner next to a humidifier. I kept her on her meds and as comfortable as possible. She was sick through Thanksgiving and the rest of the fam was exhausted so we didn't worry about cooking this year and had a very enjoyable meal of Chinese take-out - lol.

The cough finally broke around Thursday and she's back to her cheerleading practice and will be going to school on Monday. She was out for 4 weeks and that caused all kinds of problems with her school. When she hit the 10-day mark I got a call stating that she HAD to come back or she would be dropped from classes! So I sent her in with a strongly worded note that she was still sick and possibly contagious and that she would be allowed cough drops and a bottle of water in class. I dosed her up on meds and sent her in but I was very unhappy about the situation. She made it to 3rd period and her math teacher said that this was ridiculous and sent her to the office and I came and picked her up.

The school's principal got involved and ended up being a big help once he knew the situation. He even offered to set up an in-home tutor if it illness continued. We had been picking up/dropping off homework assignments to keep her up to speed but there is still in class assignments and labs that she'll have to deal with. Another big concern was that the state says that a child isn't supposed to miss more than 13 days in a year and she has been out a total of 18 from this

We had known about this reg and took it into consideration when we settled on the timeframe for our trip, which will take her and her sister out of school for 10 days. We sent out a letter to the administration and to each of her teachers at the beginning of the school year letting them know about it, but now with all of these absences we were VERY worried. We spoke with the principal and he assumed us that there would be no problems and that family is of the utmost importance to him and his school Needless to say he has made it onto our Christmas card list

So in the aftermath I've used up all of my sick leave, 2 contract days, and all of my comp time. Luckily I still have 266hrs of vacation built up As a diversion I really went to town on Christmas decorations - we had the tree up the afternoon after Thanksgiving and all the indoor stuff up by the following day. I got a start on the outdoor stuff but had to take brakes due to rain. It is all up now and I must have done something right because people slow down to look at the house at night Here's a pic:

Well that's been our RL - we spent most of yesterday hitting stores for Christmas presents and DW's company Christmas party which she plans with MiL. I finally have a down day if DW doesn't try to drag me out to more stores today. I'll post again with trip-related stuff soon - only 36 days to go - whoohoooo!!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Sorry to hear your DD was so sick! Wouldn't the school accept a Doctors' note? What if a kid was in the hospital???

 

[jordanyosh]

I was talking to some parents at church and they were saying how strict schools had become about sickness which of course is all tied to money. So sad.......Glad she's feeling better.

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Sorry your DD was so sick. My son still has a cough from a cold that he's had for over a month, but nothing compared to what your little girl went through. Glad to hear she's feeling better!

 

[DisneyDaughter5589]

I was looking around and saw that you and your family are going to be in WDW some of the same time as me and mine. Your Plans look great. My DDad wanted to go to SeaWorld while we are there but just couldn't see putting out more money... One day. (Our trip has progressed from a 5day to 7day though) yay.
I'm glad everyone is fealing better. I was feeling sick over thanksgiving as well just not as bad.
Hope you are doing well.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Well there was some more weirdness (see below) but the great news is that today was the beginning of the new semester there and with her class work and the homework she did while she was sick she managed all As and A minus's

Sorry to hear your DD was so sick! Wouldn't the school accept a Doctors' note? What if a kid was in the hospital???

A doctor's note apparently only goes so far now, but it all worked out ...after one last kink. I dropped her off to school this morning and the principal hadn't checked his messages from the end of the week (they had clerical days). Soooo, DD was dropped from all of her classes and assigned an in-home tutor anyways. The administration was cool about it though, she just ended up sitting in the office for about 45min while they did the paperwork shuffle to get her back in her classes

I was talking to some parents at church and they were saying how strict schools had become about sickness which of course is all tied to money. So sad.......Glad she's feeling better.

Yup, you hit it right on the head. It is all about headcount and funding. I feel for the school administration with all of the hoops the state/feds make them jump through ...especially with the 'no child left behind' thing. Because of that 'glorious' piece of legislation my younger daughter will probably not be able to do the 5th Grade History Museum. This is a wonderful program that has the kids enact the parts of different figures from history. They have interactive roles and present pictures, timelines, an are able to answer basic questions about the figure they are portraying. This is a pic of DD11 when she did it last year:

But because of the extreme emphasis on reading that has come in the 5th grade teachers don't think the students will have time for it. They're still trying to find a way, but it won't be easy. I hope they can for DD8's sake.

Sorry your DD was so sick. My son still has a cough from a cold that he's had for over a month, but nothing compared to what your little girl went through. Glad to hear she's feeling better!

There seems to be a LOT of that persistent cough going around, I hope your son kicks it soon I'm very relieved that she is better. Now we get to go back to wrestling with her schedule. She is playing catch-up at cheer practice for their competition season, which starts on the 15th. She also has a band concert tomorrow evening and is frantically trying to learn the last 2 songs and get back in tune with the ones she does know. AND she starts up fastpitch practice on Sunday. Wheeeeee!!!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

I was looking around and saw that you and your family are going to be in WDW some of the same time as me and mine. Your Plans look great. My DDad wanted to go to SeaWorld while we are there but just couldn't see putting out more money... One day. (Our trip has progressed from a 5day to 7day though) yay.
I'm glad everyone is fealing better. I was feeling sick over thanksgiving as well just not as bad.
Hope you are doing well.

Cool - glad to hear it ...maybe we'll see each other in the parks I understand your DDad's PoV about the extra $$$ for SeaWorld, but we don't know when we'll be able to swing another trip back to Florida and we don't want our DDs to be too old to enjoy the whole thing as kids. So we went into this with an attitude of doing it all up right and making it our one big blowout vacation

Good deal that your trip got extended another 2 days, every day counts. And sorry to hear you got a case of the ickies too ...hope you are feeling better.

And I am doing very well - thank you for asking and glad to meet you I know you and your BF are going to have a great time there with your mom n dad. Hopefully your DDad won't give you two too much grief Of course I say this knowing full well that I'll probably give my DD's BF no end of grief if he went on a family vacation with us - lolol

 

[earthfaries]

I was looking around and saw that you and your family are going to be in WDW some of the same time as me and mine. Your Plans look great. My DDad wanted to go to SeaWorld while we are there but just couldn't see putting out more money... One day. (Our trip has progressed from a 5day to 7day though) yay.
I'm glad everyone is fealing better. I was feeling sick over thanksgiving as well just not as bad.
Hope you are doing well.

If you decide you want to go to SeaWorld, I have a 25% off code I can PM you and you get the 2nd day free also

 

[earthfaries]

mnmrmustard~ it's getting close now!!! Have you started packing?
Sorry to hear about your daughters sickness and school troubles. I'm so glad I homeschool
Just think how good it was it happened now and not at Disney, that would be so awful I keep hoping no one will get sick , and if they do please let it be over before the trip!!!
It's so hard on me when the kids are sick, it's just awful seeing them in so much pain
Glad she's better. Did the rest of you not get it too? Poor thing

 

[Mrs. Bee]

I just caught up on your report. RL got in the way here too (because of everything with my sister having the baby early.) We also all got sick. We caught it from my 2 year old niece while we were all up at the hospital with my sister. Luckily we got better before we took our California trip last week.

I love your house and Christmas lights! We haven't even put our tree up yet. And I've done no shopping yet.

 

[mnmrmustard]

mnmrmustard~ it's getting close now!!! Have you started packing?
Sorry to hear about your daughters sickness and school troubles. I'm so glad I homeschool
Just think how good it was it happened now and not at Disney, that would be so awful I keep hoping no one will get sick , and if they do please let it be over before the trip!!!
It's so hard on me when the kids are sick, it's just awful seeing them in so much pain
Glad she's better. Did the rest of you not get it too? Poor thing

No, no packing yet except for organizing my electronics and making and remaking lists

Yes, homeschooling would have made things a lot less complicated, that's for sure! I think I'm in the same frame of mind ...if they're going to get sick let's get it over with now!

My DW is much the same, doesn't deal well with them being sick. For that reason it worked out better for me to be camped out in the living room with DD. If DW had been out there she wouldn't have slept at all and would have been up with every cough to try and make it better Only DD11 and DW got it, and DW was over it within a week.

Lets hope that all of us traveling to the world stay healthy at least until after our trips!

 

[mnmrmustard]

I just caught up on your report. RL got in the way here too (because of everything with my sister having the baby early.) We also all got sick. We caught it from my 2 year old niece while we were all up at the hospital with my sister. Luckily we got better before we took our California trip last week.

I love your house and Christmas lights! We haven't even put our tree up yet. And I've done no shopping yet.

Well it sounds like a busy time - sorry y'all got sick but happy you got over it quickly. 2yr olds have a way of crawling all overy everyone and 'sharing' anything they have - lol.

Thank you for the compliment on the house I was actually out there last night replacing a string of icicle lights that had fried out Good luck with the decorating and the shopping!

 

[mnmrmustard]

I have been having problems staying focused on any one thing. Friday will bring us to the one month mark! It will be time to get out the count down calendar ...which means I have to get the darned thing together - lol

While my mind spins around all there is left to do I'll indulge in a little interlude from or last trip to the land that Walt made We went in January of 2005 and drove from Oregon with a rainstorm rolling along with us. Oh and as a disclaimer my younger DD may look a bit like a boy in some of the pics ...that's because she decided to experiment with the art of cutting her own hair a couple of weeks before the trip All of these shots were taken with the still camera feature of my camcorder so the image quality isn't great but it makes for small files to post and load on the page

DW, DD8 & DD5 heading towards the entrance to CA

Heading towards DD5's favorite ride in the whole wide world

The ladies with the ladies

Day 2 doubled our numbers with the addition of BiL's fam

Mickey gives a hug

Conquering CA

The genie hams it up

Grand Finale

Me embracing my geekdom

Zombie girls with Halloween Mickey!

The girls and I posing with one of my favorite bad guys ...heheheh

The catch of the day

I have pics of the girls next to a BUNCH of these custom painted mickeys - this was one of their favorites :-]

Ye ole matterhorn

monorail to DTD

Lego R2-D2

Tomorrowland at night

One last goodbye look at the castle

Sadly it was too wet for any fireworks/evening parades on any of the 3 nights we were there, but we still had a fantastic ...if a bit soggy time

So even if it is wet at WDW while we're there it'll be old hat for us - lol