It will be my last trip for a loong time

[HeatherBelle614]

We haven't done the water parks in so long, but they're so much fun. I have a horror story from the last time we went, though. Some female lost a used lady product in the wave pool; it was floating around and almost hit me. I was so grossed out; maybe that's why I haven't been back...

 

[magicaldisney11]

Ugh!!! That is too gross to fathom!! My kids are trying to talk me into 2 days at the water parks, one at each this trip but I'm not feeling it. One day is enough for me and as I have said in other posts...I'm paying so I'm saying!

Our Easter Egg hunt last 20 minutes, it was 27 degrees, super cold and strong wind blowing and the egss were rolling everywhere (they had to do it on the concrete cuz the grass area was all flooded from all the rain.) The kids ran, they grabbed, they drew names for the big prizes, we left!

Yeah that was totally NOT worth it, but SImba still enjoyed himself.

BIG NEWS!!! Mickey and Minnie got married this week (Tuesday.) They did it by proxy and weren't with each other and did it for financial reasons 0 Air Force pays a lot more for married couples, plus the insurances, and other benefits. I was told I get to plan their real wedding (about 75 people) next summer and they are planning the day after picnic for about 300 people,lol.

I am thinking a candle lit evening wedding then right to the reception. They don't want all the bells and whistles simple but elegant. They are more interested in the picnic with games, food, family and friends. I can go with that.

 

[magicaldisney11]

I have a quandry (did I spell that correctly?) Our last full day is MK day (our second MK day) and I have Tony's Town Square down for our dinner. I have read 81 reviews this week and not too many (about 10%) were good reviews. From the bland food to the service, I wasn't too thrilled that our last dinner could be a bummer. So I am thinking that since we don't want to go too far away from MK we might go to 1900 Park Lane at the Grand Floridian for the buffet. Has anyone been there for dinner before?

 

[magicaldisney11]

It is, yes it is....ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY!!!

I love, and I mean LOVE Animal Kingdom!!! When you walk into Animal Kingdom you are completly transformed into another world, the plants and sounds and humidity, it's all of it that creates this super place. I know lots of people aren't as enthusiastic as I am about this park but man go into the smoking area in Asia, you take a few steps down onto a patio with seating right by the water, you can sit there, here the sounds of the birds and the water, look up and see all details on the walls and figurine's, it's just amazing. You can also sit over in the Africa area with a glass (plastic of course) of lemonade and watch all the musicians, the colors of the costumes, listen to the excited children coming off the safari, it's another great area.

Of course if you want to stay in this mind set of magic and traveling from one exotic place to another stay away, and I mean far away from the "carnival" area near the Dinosaur ride. Nope does nothing for me, really who thought of this area? Not a real Imagineer I tell you!!!!

After we hit all the countries inside of AK and see Nemo, Lion King, the parade, buy some cool stuff we will then travel to Epcot where we have ADR's for Coral Reef. After our scrumpsish meal there we will go through all the countries in World Showcase (again) or they may elect to go back to POFQ and take a swim.


I am still waiting for my new swim suit to be delivered from JC Penny's and I bought our sunblock yesterday, yes another purchase for the trip!!

 

[Pakey]

Wow, I have missed a lot of goings-ons here in the past few days.

First of all, congrats to Mickey and Minnie. No sense missing out on those great military benefits. My son and his fiancee are still trying to figure out what they are going to do. Since we are in the process of buying a house for them, they are thinking they will be skipping the big wedding to have money for the house and will just go to Las Vegas. All of their friends will go (and so will we as we love to go to Las Vegas) and having a small wedding over here is so much cheaper than here.

I love the WDW water parks. A nice way to spend a day away from the parks. I just wish I could stand myself in a bathing suit.

I have not eaten at either of the places you are considering for your MK day. I've heard better things about 1900 than Tony's. I've eaten at every other place at GF and have thought they were decent. Plus if you have not visited GF, it's a beautiful resort to check out.

I too love AK, even DinoLand (except that there is no shade there and it's horribly warm). AK and World Showcase are my favorite parks. Our fav place to sit at AK is at the Dawa Bar by Tusker House. Nice and shady and seeing all the happenings, with fruity tooty drink in hand. It's a great area to catch the parade too (my fave Disney parade).

Sorry your weather is still so awful. We are in the 70's here. My hairless dogs are loving it; it's sunscreen weather for them now.

 

[magicaldisney11]

See what happens Pakey when you go away from your computer? People get married!! My ex hub and family (and me) took Minnie out to dinner last night to celebrate he marriage to our son, it was too bad he couldn't be there.
Today Me, Simba, Goofy and my Mom are taking her to a different place for dinner.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Just sitting here chilling and thought I would add another post. I didn't do justice to my Animal Kingdom day and that bothers me,lol.

When we went in April 08 we missed Nemo so that is at the top of our to do list. We went in the back area (side area?) to see Lion King and found the whole Camp Mickey/Minnie area. We had never made it back there before so it was like finding a treasure. After we saw Lion King which Simba was a part of and so was my neice we sat by the character signing for a break and a cast member was playing his guitar and making up songs as he met people. He made up a song about Simba and my neice and added in some other family members (who weren't with us) after asking them a bunch of questions. I got my video camera out just in time and got it all on tape, it was priceless!!!
SOooooowe will make sure we go in that area again this year. One of my fav's about this park is the Tiger's and how close you can actually see them. In our area zoo they all hang out in the tree's (okay thier just big bushes) and we never get to even glimpse them or the lions.

Not a fan of the bat area but my guys are,lol.
We did the counter service in April 08 near Asia but for the life of me can't remember the name. It was super busy but we managed to snag a table in the shade that came with ducks (live ones) but we coped and the food was really very good. It wasn't the normal hamburgers, and wraps kind of food either. I will have to look at the map to see which one it was.

Okay, I'm tired now. Time for an early night and since my guys are on a 2 week vacation (I get 4 days off during this time on top of the weekends) they will be up late lots of the time so I am going to get to bed early tonight while I can,lol.

 

[Pakey]

Your CS, complete with shade and birds, sounds a lot like Flame Tree BBQ.

We love Camp Minnie Mickey too. Great character interaction there. I think a lot of people just don't realize it's there which works out great for me.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Here is my Magical Express packet, when it came in the mail today I was freaking out! It means it's real, it's coming in 40 days, my trip, my vaca, my escape from the real world!!

The blue notebook has my ADR's, mini maps, park times, etc. There is a section where I can keep notes or a journal of the trip.
The yellowish book is Simba's autograph book with sections for his pictures with the characters.

 

[Pakey]

Here is my Magical Express packet, when it came in the mail today I was freaking out! It means it's real, it's coming in 40 days, my trip, my vaca, my escape from the real world!!

The blue notebook has my ADR's, mini maps, park times, etc. There is a section where I can keep notes or a journal of the trip.
The yellowish book is Simba's autograph book with sections for his pictures with the characters.

WDW must be on top of things if they have gotten your Magical Express packet 40 days out.

Did you make Simba's autograph book?

 

[magicaldisney11]

Hi Pakey!

Yes we made Simba's book. There are pages with characters printed on them and some blank ones in case we forgot one or two that he might see. This was a picture album and I added the pages for auto's into it. After I print out his pictures then we can put them right into the auto book. It's a 2 for 1 book,lol.


When I saw the picture of Mickey on the envelope I tossed the rest of the mail and ripped it open!

 

[magicaldisney11]

Just went on to some other sections of the wdwinfo forums and saw some pictures of the lines for the rides from this week. HOLY COW!! 210 minute wait for Test Track at 9:20 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Parks closed cuz of capacity at 10:00 AM!! Thank goodness we are not there now!

 

[Pakey]

We went once when spring break and Easter week coincided and yes, it's pretty amazing how crowded it can get. We had a 220 minute wait on Soarin on that trip.

When you get a chance, can you post some pics of the inside on Simba's book. I remember you describing it before but I need photos.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Morning! Only 37 days, there is so much excitement going through my mind right now it is hard to contain!!

I will try to post some pictures of the auto book on Monday, I need to downlaod and erase all the pictures off my camera so I can take more this weekend. I've been painting this morning. I decided to change the white cupboards in my kitchen (which were just plain wood only a few months ago) to off white/cream color. My black counter top (yes I painted that black also) now has a cooper swirl/swipe to it to make it look almost black and cooper marbleish. The black was too much for the cupboard colors so I added stuff.
See what happens when I have time to do things, I paint like a mad woman. I will finish the counters and cupboards by tonight and then Monday I will seal my dining room floor and stairway and then I can start to concentrate on cleaning the attic, and painting the upstaors bedrooms. I HAVE to have this done before our trip so when we get home it will be all outside work, painting the house, trim, gardening, etc. I am thinking of trying to build the decl myself this summer but will practice using the saw on some scrap's first,lol.


Okay all my do dad's are all packed and all we have left to pack is the clothes and even some of those are already packed since they were new and not allowed to be worn until the vacation.

 

[Pakey]

I cannot believe how brave you are to do these things to your home. I not only have no skills for home repair, I also don't have the courage to change things like that. We've always had new houses so there wasn't much need but now that we are buying the home for my son and it's a bit older, I might have to actually help with some projects. How scary!!!

Only 37 days to go. I know you must be excited.

 

[magicaldisney11]

My house was built in 1917 and even though we updated almost everything in it after we bought it I love to try things. I wasn't "allowed" when we were married but I can do whatever I want now,lol. Since 90% of it is paint products I don't worry cuz you can always strip it or repaint if you don't like it. The colors of my rooms over the years have shown the mood I've been in from dark to very bright and now more of a comfortable tone. I wish I owned a beach house, farm house and a cabin in the mountains, that would make me super happy. Then when my mood changes I can just go to one of the other homes,lol.
Maybe when I win the lottery.

Can I ask what homes are going for in your area? In our city a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home (about 1500 square feet) goes for $40,000 to 80,000. There are some more expensive ones but they are in the elite area and are very very old and BIG (about3,000 sq feet)

 

[magicaldisney11]

Happy Easter to all!!!

 

[magicaldisney11]

Morning all! Well my whole family was together this weekend and half of it will be going to WDW in Sept for the free dining. I sat down and was trying to figure out how I can go again this year with them, alas $ won't allow it ,lol.

 

[Pakey]

No free dining trips for us either. Well, since we own DVC, we have never done free dining anyway since you can't stay DVC and get it. I'm not even sure when we'll be going again; we have not discussed it.

Homes here are now going for 50% of what they were going for a year or two ago, which is the reason we are buying a home for our son. We are in the cheap part of California, lucky for us, so we can get a 1400 sq ft home for anywhere from $150,000-$200,000. This would not be a newly built home, those are still going for over $200,000, even in the less desirable parts of town.

Our son who lives in Los Angeles paid $650,000 for a under-1000 square foot home. They had to purchase "outside" of LA to get a price that reasonable.

 

[magicaldisney11]

Hi all! I'm back after a few days off from Disney trip plans. Work and life had to come before the trip but I am back on track Which is a bit hard with 3 puppies running around now (and they are toe biter's!!) Pakey, OH MY GOSH ON THE REAL ESTATE PRICES!!!

I am a bit depressed right now cuz I went and tried on new bathing suits, yep, depression has set in! I have gained weight over this past year since my last trip so none of my shorts or swimsuits fit. That's my goal over the next week or so, new stuff. It eats into my trip budget though so I have to be very careful. I found some swim shorts on line so I ordered those and will then find the top to go with it.

Good news though...ONLY 30 DAYS TO GO!!!!

Simba and I have been still doing the "what will be doing in ____days" Last night we went through the first day from wake up at 3:45 am to getting to the airport, flying, landing and that first glimpse of the Orlando airport transporter We even talked about the directions to get to the magical express check in desk,lol. Our bus ride to the resort, check in and then.....
You get my point (that I have really dragged out,lol)

Today we have a busy day but plan on going over the packing list to make sure everything everyone wants to bring is on the list. We are changing Simba's autograph book some to include a journal section in the back so he can write about the trip each day (if he wants) so years from now he can reread and remember.

How are all of you doing?