It will be my last trip for a loong time

[magicaldisney11]

Morning!!! Been at work for an hour and got some work done and now it's my "good job" reward time....WDWdisboards
I'm sure my boss will totally agree that I deserve a break after a whole hour of work.

My schedule is like that all the time Pakey, it used to keep me from thinking too much about the divorce, then it became a way of life, now it's just making me tired,lol. I have cut back a lot, I was on three youth group board of directors and had all 4 boys in year round sports and activities. Now that 2 are no longer under my "reign" I have cut back with the younger two with a million things going on at once.

As we all know it is only 12 days to go for us and I am beyond excoted. When we went last year I lost some of the anticipation the week or so before but not this time baby, I am getting more and more psyched


I was reading last night on my TGM forums and here about people worried about hitting every ride and not wanting to take the time to do table service meals and wanting to just go from ride to ride & attraction to attraction. I feel bad for them, they are missing out on the "magic".

It's not a contest, it's not "I did it all" kind of thing. Taking the time for the table service meals (and I am not talking about the people who can't afford it or have such small kids that it would be hard to enjoy it since it does take so long) has been some of the best memories of our trips. I think that because we are sitting, relaxing, and enjoying our company within the walls that are built with such detail and magic that it makes the vacation for us.

Not being able to stop and have a cup of coffee and look around (smell the roses kind of thing) and take a few minutes to relax makes the stress of rushing go away. Don't get me wrong, been there and done that kind of thing with this but have learned to "slow it down"

Pakey...please please please come and clean my house, please

 

[magicaldisney11]

This is my raincoat for WDW. It's very lightweight and folds up into the pocket on the bottom, fits right in my purse

Simba's autograph book (as you can see his name is Ryan,lol)
and this is the inside of his book...

the charachters on each page and the top of the page is the photo pocket

journal section of his book

 

[magicaldisney11]

My Disney book:

This is the parks with all the times, parades, fireworks, etc....

Maps of each of the parks are in here...

Each day I have our general agenda...

Budget page is just one of the types of pages in the back...

 

[imhzgrlnotu]

Thanks for telling me about the pins! I didn't realize you could trade them in the resorts too. Is that usually at any resort, or just certain ones?

Paxey, I really like the idea of cutting off the backs and using them in scrapbooks. I'm hoping I can make a scrapbook when we get back. I've never done it before so hopefully it'll come out ok lol.

Less than 2 weeks left! 1-10, how high is your excitement level?

 

[magicaldisney11]

imhzgrlnotu...I am under the impression that all gift shops in the resorts have a pin board (but that doesn't mean it's true,lol) Also, any castmember that has a lanyard on or vest with pins will trade with the kids. The kids can pick any pin on their lanyard or vest and they can't deny them, with adults it's a different story. Some adults get great pins from the cast members and sell them so they are a bit different with them over it.

My excitement level (1-10 scale) is a 20!!!! The night before last I took out all the cool stuff we bought for the trip and laid them all out on the table and just looked at them and took pictures so I wouldn't forget everything we did ahead of time to make the trips so special. I hope my boys appreciate it,lol

Right now I should be working and working hard to get all my stuff done before we leave and I can't even think about the data I should be doing right now, my mind keeps wandering to the parks, and the relaxing that is ahead of us.

 

[Pakey]

Your books are awesome; I know you didn't whip those out in an hour, or even two.....

I love your raincoat too. I have mine from Disneyland Paris that I bought that folds into a nice little pouch too. It's much easier to haul than the ponchos.

imhzgrlnotu (wow, that's tough to type), scrapbooking is very easy. There are no wrong ways to do it. I'm so sick of Disney scrapbooking that for Disneyland Paris, I just bought a photo album and instead of pics in some of the squares, I put some Disney paper and made journaling tags. I cut 4x6 squares of paper and taped my park tickets centered on the paper and put that in one of the picture spots. Stuff like that; it's easy to do.

12 days? Wasn't it just 22 days yesterday? Wow, the time is flying by. I too am not a park commando person. We sometimes spend all day smelling roses; we've had days where we never got on a ride or anything. I like the thought of not doing everything because that leaves me something to look forward to on the next vacation there. Even after 20 +/- vacations there, I have things I have not done; I'm pacing myself.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Pakey, thank you with the cudo's on the books. I will be very honest though. I did the books in a matter of a couple hours, the problem was that I kept changing things, adding different pictures, deleting things, I am never satisfied. At work it is not my job to create things along these lines but when my boss saw some of the things I made for my kids and family she let me go nuts and now I do all the published reports with grafts, charts, art images, etc. It's a big change from doing data and computer work all day


okay time for me to get some stuff done and then off to my meeting.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Long day has ended and three more to go before at least a little down time (okay very little,lol) but I look at it as one down 11 to go!!!!! Actaully it's 10 days and 8 1/2 hours and I will be on the plane to .......

The magical world of Disney!!! (insert old theme song here )

 

[magicaldisney11]

Only 10 days to go and I tried the on line check in, it was easy, no glitches and I have my confirmed resort check in my hands!!!!

Now when we get there we go to a seperate line, get our packet, and go!! YooHoo!!!!!!

 

[magicaldisney11]

Oh baby...we are on our last week before we go...will I have enough cash for spending money...will everything be packed (well that is really not a problem,lol) ....will my house be clean...will the weather be good to us when we go....will Simba's stomach problems be a problem when we go....it goes on and on and on!!!!! My mind won't stop so I come on the boards and read and type and read some more, it's calming. Donald made it home safely from college yesterday so we add one more person into the mix now.

First today...I am up and wating for Goofy to get dressed to bring him to karate, we have baseball team pictures at 9:30, run to the store to buy Mother's Day presents for my Mom and my Mother in law. After I screw that up we will go to the parade starting point to line up for our Opening Day baseball parade. It is very small, 2 firetrucks, 2 police cars and about 100 kids walking in lines in thier uniforms to our park so that the Mayor can through out the first pitch. 4 leagues in our city and we are the only ones who have a parade and we've been doing it for more than 20 years. After opening ceremonies Simba has a game. When that is all done then we go grocery shopping. Well I do and the kids go home to shower and crash. Okay here is the big problem. They are calling for thunder storms from 11:00 to 9:00 today, if there is rain, there is no pictures, no parade, no games. I am torn between and bad Mom, bad bad Mom.

Tonight I am going to reconfigure some of the packing and do laundry.

I think the girls at work can't wait for me to go on vacation too. They are all into asking "how many days" but me breaking out in song (It's a Small World) is starting to get to them. Of course after I sing that song they are all singing it the the rest of the day and that is the problem, they hate that song but it sticks with you!!

One professor asked me what I'm going to do when I come home...what will my countdown baord say then...I of course tell them it's time to start planning AGAIN for the next trip.

 

[Pakey]

It might not seem like it to you but the time is going by so fast. I wish I was at home packing instead of being at work at 6am on a Saturday morning. Oh well, at least I can go onto the DVC website every day to see if my December waitlist is coming through.

I'm glad to hear that you were able to do the resort online check in. I've seen posts here on the boards where people have had some problems with it. I hope it speeds up the process because I'm a pretty patient person but nothing gripes me more than getting to WDW, all that adrenline pumping, only to have to wait in huge checkin lines (I swear, Beach Club has the worst checkin lines).

Here's hoping for no rain today so that your parade, pictures and game go off without a hitch.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Hi Pakey...it does seem to be going by real fast for me now. That's what's causing the panic,lol. It seemed like I had so much more time to finish everything. I will say that my house is half done and after the puppies leave Monday I can get a lot more done and it will stay clean,lol. The rain stayed away today but we had very bad winds and it has wiped us out. Simba even laid down after we got home at 4:00 (from 9:00 am)

I still have to go to the grocery store but will hit that later on.

So my documents for the trip that I need...
birth certificates
id's (for plane)
magical express pass's
plane tickets
documents for the resort from our on line check in

am I missing anything?

 

[magicaldisney11]

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!!!

 

[magicaldisney11]

Well only 6 days to go! I've had a bad couple of days so the excitement of the trip has been put aside. I am hoping that over the next day or two it will come back.

Hope you are all doing well and will wait to hear from you again.

 

[Pakey]

Sorry, we are closing escrow today on our rental property and have been busy.

You are down to what, 3 days now? You must be in panic mode by now.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Yep..3 days to go...beyond panic...I am in total denial that we are even going away,lol.

The last puppy left us today after work and I thought I would jump into scrubbing the floors, etc but alas there is no energy left in this body. Been to the doctors this week and I have a test at the hospital tomorrow on my thyroid ( a scan) after I work from 8-2 for graduation. After that it will be full steam ahead. At least all but the beach towels are washed and folded for the trip. I bought everything we need (plus some extra's,lol) My biggest thing is making sure we actually BRING everything I bought,lol.

My brother in law is bringing us to the airport. We leave at 4:30 am on Monday. Simba asked if we can just stay up all night.....wait for it....wait....NO WAY!!!! Of course I probably wont sleep much but it's a fun kind of not sleeping, right? PLEASE TELL ME IT IS A "FUN NOT SLEEPING ALL NIGHT" KIND OF NOT SLEEPING!!! Thank you.

Okay I have to number the cards for the graduates for tomorrow. Yeah my life justcan't get any better,lol, oh wait yes it can...I'm going to wdw in 3 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[magicaldisney11]

I forgot to ask Pakey...are you buying or selling?

I got 90% of the packing finished but have to readjust a few things to fit all the "stuff" I am packing.

Remind me to make sure I don't go away next time when there are 1,000 other things going on the weekend before I go.

Okay that was it

 

[magicaldisney11]

Morning all! I have one more day and we are out of here,lol.

We have some things to get done today in order for me to enjoy being away.
1.) Clean the house up for the last time
2.) Bring all the luggage down to make sure the older ones did okay and make sure none weigh over 50 pounds (and not forget to put the magical express tags on them)
3.) Double and triple check all our paperwork and tickets, etc
4.)My son's are going to cut the grass and all of that stuff before going to their father's for the day (that means I have to get them out of bed in 20 minutes, ugh!)
5.) Run over to my Mom's and best friend's to say good bye
6.) Get the car some gas
7.) Water all the plants
8.) Dye my hair (all the OCD planning has made me grow some gray's,lol)

That should be about it.

Tink called me from the "world" last night. SHe arrived safely and had just gotten up from her nap!! Simba and I could not believe our ears, her first day there and she got something to eat and took a nap!! She called me as she was walking around the resort and taking it all in. She has stayed at the POFQ many times and loves it there too. Her hub was still napping as she strolled. They are spending the day today hanging out at the pool and relaxing before we get there.

Only 23 hours to go befoe we are boarding the plane.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Yep, 12 hours and we will be in the sky on our way to see the Mouse. the excitement is back. I am still bummed about not loosing the weight before we went but the doctor assured me that it wasn't all my fault,lol. Of course exercise will help but that is a whole other report.

So the house is clean, the lawn is cut, the plants are watered, the goodbyes done and the boys get home from thier father's house in 2 hours to head to bed.
I will get up about 3:30, get showered, dressed and then get the boys up at 4:00. They will only need to get some clothes on (which are laid out already) brush, wash and we will head to Tim Horton's before going to the airport.

I have a list of "thank you" gifts to buy while I'm there.. nephew and brother in law for watching the dogs, my god son (he makes his first communion while we are away and I promised him a special gift) my daughter in law gets something special for her college graduation today. I always get something for my Mom and in laws (small but cute) so I have my list completed.

Well that will be the end of my pre trip report and thanks to all who read it and special thanks to Pakey for being with me the whole time. Next up....our trip report.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Got back tonight and a trip report will follow in the next few days.