It's now or never... a Pretrip!

[marivaid]

We're going back, and we're bringing sidekicks !!!
Although we enjoyed our past trips to WDW, my mom & I always felt like we'd have more fun if there were more of us. Specifically, my sister and her friend.
Unfortunately they moved in the middle of nowhere several years ago, and are living off unemployment - they can barely make ends meet and there's definitely no money for trips.
They are also refusing to look for jobs seriously which is, of course, a big issue with my parents. We've wanted to take them ever since our first trip but felt like it would be "rewarding" bad behavior.

On our last trip to WDW, my mom & I discussed this at length and came to the conclusion that if we wanted to do this, it had to be soon.
We will ALL be moving next year. Grumpy & my dad are retiring and will be looking for a place of their own (we currently live on school grounds). I, hopefully, will be moving in my own place, although I won't know where until summer 2009. Jessi & Alex will move to a bigger town so they can have a shot at getting a job. If/when they do, they probably won't be able to take any vacation for a couple years.

Yes, it's now or never.

We chose April for 2 reasons :

1/ Jessi could never stand the FL heat in summer.
2/ They're not able to help us financially for the trip and flights in summer can cost twice as much as April's.

So, April it is. We chose to go April 18th - 25th in Disney, and then spend 5 days in Ft Lauderdale so the girls can see the beach.
We've been talking their ears off about Ft Lauderdale for years. And Jessi wants to see the Everglades.

I guess I shoud have started by introducing the cast :

Grumpy

59 year old junior high English teacher. Still insists that she "doesn't really like Magic Kingdom", yet that's the only park where she'll go on more than 2 rides.
Go figure that one out. Favorite characters : Pluto and Goofy.

Soeur Chérie

(Is it revealing that this is the ONLY pic of my sister that I have, and it's from Christmas 2003???)

My sister Jessica, 32 years old. "Soeur Chérie" means "Dear Sister". I usually call her that when she gets on my nerves. She hasn't been to the US for over 10 years, and the only place she's been to is New York City. Has gone to DLP once the year it opened. Favorite characters : Goofy and Donald.

Xandera

Alexandra will turn 37 years old in WDW. Soeur Chérie's girlfriend. The nickname "Xandera" goes back to over 10 years ago when we were all Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans Has never been in the US, or anywhere outside Europe. Never been to DLP even though she lived less than 10mns away for years. She has 2 younger sisters and a niece so she's actually the one who has seen the most Disney movies. Favorite characters : Jack Sparrow and Mad Hatter.


The Turkey

For those who asked me why I didn't put any pics of myself in my TRs, this above is the reason. Remember when you have nightmares, you asked for it.
29 years old. Favorite characters : Stitch and Eeyore.


The hardest part is going to be getting Jessi & Alex in Paris. When I said they live in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't exaggerating. The closest airport is 2 1/2 hrs away, they don't own a car, and there are no buses or taxis available.

 

[Hedy]

Aww-you're pretty. Your sister looks just like Grumpy.
Wow, I can't imagine trying to coordinate the middle of nowhere transport.

 

[DisneyTabby]

Just read your report and that is a nice picture of you. I do the same thing too, I don't like my picture taken either. Can't wait to hear more hear and on your other trip report. One day I will do a solo trip too.

 

[winkers]

Chérie

Hey, that's my name!! I can never spell it correctly when I type because my keyboard doesn't have the little apostrophe thingy! Isn't it sad that I'm so excited over this!

 

[marivaid]

Aww-you're pretty. Your sister looks just like Grumpy.
Wow, I can't imagine trying to coordinate the middle of nowhere transport.

Yeah I'm pretty as a turkey Grumpy & Jessi even SOUND the same. I can never tell which one is on the phone. To top it off, Jessi was born on my mom's birthday. Freaky stuff!!

Just read your report and that is a nice picture of you. I do the same thing too, I don't like my picture taken either. Can't wait to hear more hear and on your other trip report. One day I will do a solo trip too.

It's not so much having my picture taken that bothers me... mosly I hate having to LOOK at it afterwards.
If you can do a solo trip sometime, try it !! Being able to do what you want, when you want, if you want, really rocks.

Hey, that's my name!! I can never spell it correctly when I type because my keyboard doesn't have the little apostrophe thingy! Isn't it sad that I'm so excited over this!

No it's not sad!!! I'd lend you my apostrophe thingy if I could, but in the meantime feel free to copy/paste it whenever you need.

 

[TheDISneyFamily]

OMG! Look! A picture of you!

Marina, it's so nice to finally see you! This sounds like it's going to be a very interesting trip! I can't wait to hear more!

Take care,
Michelle

 

[marivaid]

OMG! Look! A picture of you!

Marina, it's so nice to finally see you! This sounds like it's going to be a very interesting trip! I can't wait to hear more!

Take care,
Michelle

Thanks for reading, Michelle ! I can't wait to be there

 

[marivaid]

The new AP rates came out yesterday morning, about 20mns before I was due to leave for work. I called immediately and was on hold for 15mns, then I had to give up Of course, ALL I could think about all afternoon was, will there be any room left when I come back home ??

There were !!!

So, where are we going this time. I'm in with the Beach Club. Grumpy adores the Poly. Soeur Chérie dreams of staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Xandera would be happy anywhere, but I think she'd be leaning towards the Contemporary.



We're staying at .... drumroll .....

Pop Century

What can I say... our budget's just not the same when there's 4 adults instead of 2. Plus, the idea of us 4 sharing 1 bathroom didn't exactly thrill me.
POP's nice, we'll be fine, but I can't help it, I keep checking the AP rates for the BC over and over.

If the reservation stays that way, it'll be the first time we stay 7 days in a row at the same resort and don't do a split stay. I would have liked to book AKL for our last night, but there was no AP rate available. All they have at rack rate is a standard and we won't pay $366 to have another rain gutter view. I guess we'll come to the Lodge early on the day we have our Boma ADR and check out the animals.

The girls got their passports yesterday too. We have these new rules for biometric passport photos, you are not allowed to smile on them. You also have to push your hair back behind your ears, so everybody looks like they just got out of prison. It's lovely.

Since I had to call to book our rooms yesterday, I bought our Pirate & Princess Party tickets too while I was at it.

Our flights have been booked for a while, as have ADRs, so now all we need to do is :

* Find a way to get Jessi & Alex to Paris (kind of a biggie)
* Book domestic flights from MCO to FLL
* Buy the girls' park tickets
* Buy SeaWorld tickets
* Decide if we want to do a Garden Grocer order or not, and if so what we should order.
* I also want to add some things for the girls' gift boxes but have no idea what??

 

[marivaid]

Today was my first full day off in a month.
I usually spend my mornings at the high school to do my internship, and then afternoons/evenings at the supermarket's gas station where I make my Mickey money. School's closed on Saturday and Sunday but the supermarket is not. It's closed on Mondays though and since it's school vacation, poof, day off

And what do you do on your day off ? You DIS. You plan your Disney trip. And you try to figure out what you forgot to plan.


We now have FOUR separate reservations for our one-week at POP. I did that so the girls could get free Water Park & More Options - they love video games and I think will love Disney Quest.
That means we can all hop now so I modified our itinerary, and changed some ADRs.


April 18th
Arrival day; Landing @ 8.20PM at MCO.
I have nothing planned for that evening, we'll probably just hang around POP.

April 19th
Morning : Magic Kingdom, with 8.10am ADR at Crystal Palace so we can see the park before it really opens.
Evening : VERY early dinner at 'Ohana 4.40pm, then Epcot for Illuminations.

April 20th (Alex's birthday)
SeaWorld all day
Dinner at Chef Mickey's 9.20pm.
Possibly go to MK for EMH after dinner if we're not too tired.

April 21st
Morning : Epcot (Future World)
Lunch at Coral Reef 11.30am
Afternoon in World Showcase
Dinner at Whispering Canyon 5.40pm
Evening at MK for Wishes, Spectro etc...

April 22nd
Hollywood Studios MGM
Hopefully Alex will come & hold my hand on TOT
Lunch at Sci-Fi 11.05am.
In the afternoon the girls want to do the shows at MGM.
Dinner at Spoodles 5pm.
Back to MGM for Fantasmic.
DM doesn't like MGM at all and plans to stay at the pool that day then meet us for dinner.

April 23rd
Morning : Animal Kingdom
Breakfast at Donald's Safari 8.15am (before park opening)
We'll do Safari, the trails, Kali and probably FOTLK.
Leave early so we can rest a bit before the
Pirate & Princess party !!!
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern 4.20pm

April 24th
Back to Animal Kingdom to do the other side of the park
Dinner at Boma 5.25pm.
Evening's open - the girls'll probably want to do Disney Quest.

April 25th
Our last morning. We'll let the girls pick out a park (or two!) and redo favorite attractions.
Our flight leaves at 4.20pm so DME'll probably pick us up around 1.30pm.


I would have liked to squeeze in breakfast at 'Ohana (we all love Stitch) and Park Fare (Alex loves Alice/Mad Hatter) but I really don't see where we could possibly fit them in. Any idea ??

 

[marivaid]

We finally found a way to get the girls up to Paris.

It wasn't easy!

We found a taxi guy in a slightly bigger village about 25mns away who's willing to go pick them up as long as we pay for the ride TO their house on top of his normal fee. He charges over $200 to go to the airport which is way more than we're willing to spend.
However he can take them to the train station for about $60. From there, we found a night train that will take them to Paris. They'll arrive at 7 in the morning of the 17th and I'll go pick them up, take them to Granny's appartment and let them rest for the day.

On the way back, my dad will meet us at the airport & take DM & I home, while the girls will take a cab to Granny's and sleep over until the next morning, when they'll go back on the train and the taxi guy will meet them at the station.
We got lucky and got really cheap train tickets, so the whole thing only comes down to about $300 for the both of them, cab included.


The last time I saw my sister & Alex was a couple years ago when they came up to bury Alex's 37-year-old brother in law.
They arrived in the middle of the night, their clothes in trash bags and their cat in a fruit box.

Meet Tchaï and Kioukiou, the furbabies.

They'll be going to Camp while we're at WDW. Kiou (the dog) went to one while they were up here for the funeral, and did good. It's a small, family-owned business and they took really good care of her. They even brought the phone to her so she could listen to "Mom's" voice

Now that the kids are taken care of, we need to get some travel things for the girls. I don't think American Airlines allows trash bags as a carry-on item.

Of course, what started as a "we need to go to the supermarket and get the girls some basics" turned into a small shopping spree. But who's complaining ???

 

[marivaid]

A couple weeks ago I couldn't sleep and was browsing online. Somehow I ended up on eBags and they were having a sale on JanSport items.

Ten minutes later, the "Disney Gift Box" had been created.

Like I said earlier the girls don't travel and therefore don't have any of the things most of us could not survive a trip without.

My first purchase was on eBags, where I got each of them a duffle and somewhat-matching backpack.

Chocolate chip "Bubbles" for Soeur Chérie :

Basic black and red/black pirate skulls for Xandera :

After I purchased those, I started looking on eBay for park things. Even though I could probably have gotten them cheaper once we got to WDW, I wanted to have gift box waiting for the girls in Paris before we left. Plus I had to buy some stuff on eBay for our trip anyway (ponchos, light up bracelets, pop up hampers....) I could probably find them here, but I don't have the slightest idea where to look. The supermarket where I work doesn't sell any of these.

Soeur Chérie & Xandera both love Pirates of the Caribbean, plus we're going to a Pirates & Princess party, so I guess the "theme" of our trip is Pirates.
So I got them a pirate lanyard, pirate lanyard pouch and pirate autograph book. I've never seen that autograph book in WDW (wasn't looking for it, either) but one of the auctions mentioned that it's one of those books where there's a place to put your pic with the characters next to the autograph. Sounded neat !

Now, what else could they need for the trip ? Personally I can't live without music and my MP3 follows me everywhere.
A 9 1/2 hour flight without it ? I'd be jumping off the plane.

Add MP3 players to the box !

The luggage and MP3s they will get before they get to Paris. Which leaves me with a whoopin' 3 things to put in the gift box they'll get at home.

Any idea ?? I wish I had the money to put in a Nintendo DS or a portable DVD player, but they're not cheap here. Stupid me was in Walmart for Black Friday and didn't even think of buying one there. They had shelves and shelves of DVD players $49. Here I can't find anything under $120.

They're kids at heart. What do you moms get for your kids to keep them busy during travel ?? Can non-US residents buy Disney Dollars and if so, how ?

 

[Hedy]

at the image of them with trashbags.

Cute furbabies.

 

[winkers]

You're such a sweet sister to do all of that!

What do they normally do for transportation? Do they walk everywhere?

 

[marivaid]

You're such a sweet sister to do all of that!

What do they normally do for transportation? Do they walk everywhere?

My mom thinks it's guilt LOL..

They have a scooter, but can't go really far with it. But then again they don't really go anywhere. Basically for the last couple years or so their days have been spent watching TV, walking the dog, and cleaning their house. Grocery shopping is an event. I try not to judge, but personally I wouldn't last a week living like that.

This trip is a huge,huge deal for them so I really want it to go well

 

[winkers]

My mom thinks it's guilt LOL..

They have a scooter, but can't go really far with it. But then again they don't really go anywhere. Basically for the last couple years or so their days have been spent watching TV, walking the dog, and cleaning their house. Grocery shopping is an event. I try not to judge, but personally I wouldn't last a week living like that.

This trip is a huge,huge deal for them so I really want it to go well

Wow. I can't imagine. I spend half my days drving my kids around to activities. Walmart calls me if I miss a day from visiting!

 

[marivaid]

Today Grumpy & I tried to make our personalized shirts. The Photoshop part I have down... here's the design of the shirt we tried to do today :

Unfortunately it was kind of a disaster. We did a test run with an old tank top and it was OK but when we tried it on one of the actual shirts...

I don't know if it was the material of the shirt (it was a ribbed tank) or because it was too dark to use with that specific paper, or if we ironed it wrong - or all of the above - but either way, it looks horrible. I'm going to try this one tomorrow on a regular non-ribbed white shirt and see if it makes any difference.

(This is the shirt we'll wear for the birthday dinner at Chef Mickey's.)

Besides the T-shirt catastrophe, things are going well for the trip so far; last night I found some cheap Delta tickets for our domestic flight (we'll get to use Airline check in!) and earlier today we paid the balance on the girls' package.

I got a few more Pirates of the Caribbean things on eBay for their gift basket and we decided to order them a gift card too. It's easier to buy than the Disney Dollars and they can use it pretty much anywhere. So they'll be able to buy themselves a few nick nacks without having to ask Grumpy or charge it on the room key.

We leave in less than seven weeks !!

 

[winkers]

I love the designs!! I think the ribbing might be the problem with the transfer.

 

[Hedy]

Cute designs.

 

[DisneyTabby]

Where did you get those designs. I really like them. We'll be there right after you. Can't wait either.

 

[marivaid]

I love the designs!! I think the ribbing might be the problem with the transfer.

Thanks ! I think it was the problem too. We're going to try the birthday shirt on a regular one as soon as DM comes back from the store. The iron hates me

Where did you get those designs. I really like them. We'll be there right after you. Can't wait either.

I found a great site that had a ton of large pics of Disney characters and put them together in Photoshop.
http://www.hossa.net/window color/disney/window_color__disney.htm


Well, looks like we'll be doing another split stay Last night I checked the Passholder site, just to pass some time you know ... and rooms had opened up at CSR ! This is the only mod Grumpy & I want to try and with the dollar being so low, we can "splurge". I didn't want to touch the girls package though so we're still going to POP, but only for 3 nights.

I want to switch our Epcot and MGM mornings unfortunately I couldn't switch our ADRs Maybe someone will cancel though. I think we could walk up to lunch at Sci-Fi, but Coral Reef is another story.