Just Back From POR - 9/27 Thru 10/4 MORE THAN JUST A VACATION-VALUABLE LESSONS

[MOMOFMNM]

Loving your reports!


I gave up

ME TOO!!!

I wore hats all week!!

 

[princesslibby]

ROTFLOL
I was just @ WDW 10/15-10/19 with my DS9. It was a birthday surprise for him. My DH stayed home with DS7 and DS3,boy am I married to a great guy!
Anywho... We were @ MK waiting in line for a turkey leg,close to Pecos Bill's,when I look up and see some BIG birds up in the tree. Just as I'm saying to DS9 "Pumpkin, You should move there's(Big bird starts to pee,I can't move fast enough,bird pees on my flip flop(thank goodness they are easy to wash))a bird up in the tree." There was two ladies in front of us who didn't speak english,but I'm pretty sure they got the message,as they moved up FAST!

Before the bird pee I was standing in line thinking how nice it was to be @ the world with only DS9 aka pumpkin. After the pee I was standing in line thinking how nice to be in the world w/ pumpkin and how much easier to wash bird pee off of flip flops instead of tennis shoes.

libby

 

[tinkermell]

Twotommygirl,
I can remember (the COP as you call it) as a little girl. We go to DL all of the time, and the COP use to be there. They took it out years ago. Maybe they sent it to WDW??? Anyways, it will be fun to see it again, and now my children who are mostly married can see it also! That along with Country Bear Jamboree and Tom Sawyer Island which looks alot like it use to be in California. They took out most of the caves, the barrel bridge and most of the fort at DL. It's really not that fun anymore! Do they still have figures of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebson there at the fort??? Can't wait to see all of WDW. Never have been. We're so excited!!!

 

[Nevergrowinup]

HI Again Twotommygirl, as usual a great post. In your last installment you said:

<<We then go into my favorite COP. They make this big deal in the beginning over not filming or photographing in there. Do you think they would send out the mickey police if you filmed it? With the rumors that they may be cancelling this, it it tempting. Who thinks I filmed it? >>

I don't know if the Mickey Police would come, but I agree it is tempting to find out. I too LOVE the COP. Our family always tries to ride it at least once while we are there; more if we can. I worry about it being replaced. I understand it is a bit dated now, but it is SO Disney. It is one of my first memories at WDW (early 70's so it has been there a while), and more importantly (to me at least) it is also one of the remaining few rides and attractions that Walt himself worked on. I have enjoyed seeing him (thanks to old video clips and now on DVD) interact with the Character on the stage for many years. It is simple and not too exciting which I guess will bring about its downfall, but its simplicity and opptomistic look at the future make it a priceless leagacy of Walt Disney. I for one hope it can survive. I will truely miss it when it is gone.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I really have enjoyed your report. I am calling tomorrow and making an ADR at Boatrights for our December trip, I have to try those pancakes!

 

[kimwim8]

I'm dying to know how this all wraps up! I'm sure you're busy....so please Twotommygirl.....don't forget about us!!

 

[Drizzo67]

As a fellow "Islander" I love reading trip reports from those who live near me. I almost feel like I'm there too.

That being said, I have never, never, never laughed so hard at any trip report as I have with yours. My sides are hurting and I have to go to the bathroom from laughing so much. I'm reading most of this at work and have found myself laughing out loud. Thank goodness noone else is in today. Actually my boss is in Florida dealing with Hurr. Wilma right now (no elec, downed trees etc. only thing working are the phones so he's checking in every 5 minutes.)

You sound like me. I am the planner of the trip, the Disney "guru" of the family and all around Nut when it comes to Disney. I work full time and feel I don't see the kids enough. Our last trip (Feb 05) I did the same thing you did - I reconnected with my kids. I spent day at DTD shopping with my DD and my DS spent time with me while I did laundry (he too caught up on school work). This trip we are bringing the extended family so that DH and I could get some time alone too.

Keep posting. I am anxiously awaiting the finale.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Fran- Great report can't wait for the rest, but at the same time will be sad its over, Love Leah

 

[twotommygirl]

Ah, you see now guys. I got up at this ungodly hour and said, "I'm gonna go finish that trip report". I feel, though, that I have to write back to all my "friends". If I don't get to the report, I'll try to have it done by tomorrow.

Leah - I'll be kind of sad too! Maybe I can just keep coming on and posting my day to day happenings. I'll miss the feedback.

Drizzo67 - Wow, thanks for ranking me up there with the incredible trip reporters - but I don't think I come close. Good for you finding time with your hubby. Too many of us neglect that part being so wrapped up in the kids. It's always nice to find that fellow "islander". Do you ever feel, when you leave NY, that people just don't like us? What's up with that? Two years ago when we stayed at POR with another family, we were in the River Roost to watch one of the World Series games with the Yankees. We weren't loud or cheering, but we are evidently NYers. Well, everytime the Yanks screwed up, the whole bar would hoot and holler and turn around and look at us. Thats just one example. What's with the southern hostility towards NYers? Before I get flamed, its not ALL southerners. But it is prevelant.

kimwim8 - Aw, I'm not forgetting. It's gotten to the point to where I'm bothered that I've kept you all waiting. I'm going to try and get the last full day done within the next 24 hours. Sorry to keep you hanging.

Amy&Dan - Good, I'm glad I could get them the business. If I were you, I would schedule it for a day that you planned to go to Downtown Disney. (Maybe a weekend day when the parks are too crazy.) This way right from breakfast you can take the boatride to DTD. I love that trip.

Nevergrowinup - Are you sure you're not my long lost sibling? Just between us, the Mickey Police never came.

tinkermell - When are you coming and where are you staying? I'm all excited for you. Enjoy the COP. You are going to have a wonderful time.

princesslibby - How freakin funny are you? You are so lucky to have had that time with your son. Since this trip, I have made a concerted effort to spend individual time with each of my kids - but nothing like a WDW vacation! I would love to be able to do that with my 9 year old son. He's such a great kid and I miss the times I used to have with him. It all goes so damned fast, doesnt' it? Anyway, keep an eye out for those birds!

MOMOFMNM and MazdaUK - I've seen both of your photos my frizz sistas - you don't know what frizz is!

That's all for now. I'll try to finish up later today. Thanks to you all for finding my story worth coming back to!

 

[dsmom]

Twotommygirl, This is without a doubt, the BEST trip report I have ever read!!! The way you interact with your children is amazing! I have one son, seven years old, who is severely autistic, and I have never had a conversation with him. The way you cherish your children is so touching, it makes me cry that you really do appreciate everything about them. You must be one incredible mom!!
I went to college in New York, I was born and raised in Florida and live here now but I loved New York more than any place in the world! The five years I was there were wonderful and New Yorkers were some of the nicest people I have ever met! ( and I am still a huge yankees fan!)
Thanks again for the great reports! Keep them coming!!!

 

[twotommygirl]

OK, do you see? I came here to sit down and write before I have to get my daughter from preschool, and dsmom has me crying now! I couldn't possibly attempt to be comical after that message!

dsmom - I HAVE YOU CRYING! YOU HAVE ME CRYING! My very dear friend has an autistic son, 6, and a son, 7, with delayed auditory processing. Let me tell you something, she is the most wonderful mother I know. I guess the man upstairs saves people like you and her for these special children. And you have conversations with your son everyday, they are just not spoken. As for my kids, they are pretty damn wonderful - hands down the greatest things I've ever done. They are all amazing and have made it pretty easy for me. And thanks for the vote for my trip report. It means so much that you all appreciate our story. Thanks also for giving us NYers the thumbs up. But, really, why do people have such a problem with us?

 

[Drizzo67]

Twotommygirl, This is without a doubt, the BEST trip report I have ever read!!! The way you interact with your children is amazing! I have one son, seven years old, who is severely autistic, and I have never had a conversation with him. The way you cherish your children is so touching, it makes me cry that you really do appreciate everything about them. You must be one incredible mom!!
I went to college in New York, I was born and raised in Florida and live here now but I loved New York more than any place in the world! The five years I was there were wonderful and New Yorkers were some of the nicest people I have ever met! ( and I am still a huge yankees fan!)
Thanks again for the great reports! Keep them coming!!!

dsmom - Thank you for your support of New York (and the Yankees, LOL). I haven't really found too many problems with Floridians and New Yorkers (since alot of Floridians are displaced New Yorkers to begin with.) People do tend to look at New Yorkers as a whole a little differently. Almost like we have two heads (which some of us are loud enough to sound like we have two heads, LOL). Still as much as I love NY a little piece of my heart belongs to FL.

As a friend of mine is in the same situation you are with your son, she has her conversations with her daughter in her head (and in her heart.) God bless you. It takes a special parent to raise a special child.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

tommytwogirl - My parents have a place in Boca Raton and there are about a million New Yorkers there When they purchased there I asked them why they are going to the east coast of Florida - you see Chicagoans generally go to the West coast - my dad said "because I want to be with the New Yorkers, there is a certain energy about them that I find exciting". After meeting all his wonderful friends I agree with him. At least with our family (Greek and Sicilian) we "blend" well with the New York state of mind. Hurry up with the report.

 

[dsmom]

Tommytwo and Drizzo67, Thanks for the kind words, hope I didn"t sound like I was complaining! David, my son, is the best thing that has ever happened to me( at age 40 after 7 surgeries and told to give up, David was our miracle baby!). David was non-verbal for four years, he is at the echoing stage now- he can repeat back what you say but can not answer a question, etc...
I just think it is so great that you GET IT- the way you talk to your children and take the time for them is beautiful! I like to people watch and it breaks my heart when I see children trying to talk to their parents and are told to be quiet or "not now honey!" So reading your reports has really made my day.
About the way some people feel about NewYork- in my own personal experience- the people who say they HATE New York have usually never even been there! I lived in Fla. for 15 years and S.C for 7 years and the people who said they hated New York were usually insecure people that felt they had to put it down- I think it's an inferiority issue. Because everyone KNOWS that New York is the biggest and the best
Please keep the reports coming!!

 

[tinkermell]

TwoTommyGirl, Thankyou very much. I'm sure we will have an unforgetable time. We are coming in December from the 19th-25th. So we will be spending Christmas Eve and part of Christmas there. We are staying at your sister resort, the POFQ. Can't wait to see everything and how different it is. I'm used to DL and finally convinced my husband to take the whole family for Christmas. This is our present to them. They're pretty much all Disney fans too!! Our oldest DS is 26 and DD in-law 25, next DS is 24 and DD in-law 23 with 1 grandson and one on the way, next DD 22 with DB 24, and last but not least our DD 12 years old. Don't know how soon we will all be able to do this again, so it will be a very special holiday for us. Thanks again for your great stories and eveyone else too!!!!!! God Bless!

 

[twotommygirl]

Thanks again guys! On with my story.........

When we get off of COP for the last time, it is approx. 8:00 p.m. and Spectromagic is beginning. Oh no, we have 9:00 reservations at Whispering Canyon. We have to fight our way thru the crowd watching, I HATE DOING THAT. It really bothered me because my 9 year old really wanted to watch. As I was dragging his little butt thru the crowd, I notice he is crying - which he never, ever does. So I pick up his 72 lb. @ss and put it on my shoulders. OUCH - What the hell was I thinking? Honestly, I thought I would die and that walk to the front gate never seemed so long! But he got to see the parade - so chalk it up to one of those mommy sacrifices. We get to the boat launch for the WL and there is already a bit of a line. My husband was so looking forward to this boat ride all day. Finally, about 20 minutes later the boat arrives. We were the last ones to make it on, close one. The boat was covered in bugs. And they didn't move when you went to sit on them either. I thought my daugher would die. On the line we met a really nice family from Miami and we sat with them on the boat. They had a family member who worked for Disney and got them a villa at WL for peanuts. I was so jealous. We had never been to WL before. I thought it was beautiful, but very buggy. I thought it was funny since POR was on the river, you would think it would be buggy there but it wasn't at all. The pool area here was very big, but too big for 2 parents with 3 kids. I like to be able to see them all and it seemed almost impossible here. We won't be staying here anytime soon. We make our way thru the resort to Whispering Canyon - right on time. They seated us in about 15 minutes. Now had my husband been in a better mood, he would have really enjoyed it here. But he was annoyed and tired, so it wasn't a good night to eat here. It's very loud and he wasn't in the mood to interact. We had a sweet waitress who picked up on his mood very quickly and was smart about it. She played a bit with the kids, but I really didn't want my middle guy (one who had the fever) running around the place with the other kids - so our fun was limited. The food was alright, but we were tired and ready to go home. We leave the restaurant and head on down to the bus stops. We waited here for what seemed like forever, and my middle guy was starting to feel sick again. About 1/2 hour later, a bus finally arrives to bring us to Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, we have to stand again. The bus stops at the Grand Floridian, and I see someone get up from a seat to get off. After they exit I tell my sick son , "Honey, why don't you go sit in that seat, someone just left." Well the words aren't out of my mouth when this man, about 40ish, sticks his arm and leg in front of my son - you know the way kids do when they are trying to get in front of someone on line - and knocks him over! Then he doesn't even help, he jumps in the seat. I was totally flabbergasted. My husband was stuck in standing in the front and missed the whole thing. I didn't want to make a scene in front of my kids and upset them. So I did what I always do when people are rude and don't thank my kids when they hold the door for them. I pushed my way through to my son, helped him off the ground, all the while exclaiming in the loudest sweet voice that I could muster, that some people are just very rude. Maybe they're not happy people or maybe their mom never taught them to be kind and act like gentlemen. Well apparently he was with a large group and they all started snickering and making fun of him. Do you know the guy didn't even have the guts to apologize? He knocked a 6 year old on hiss @ss and never even acknowledged that he did it. Seriously, I wanted to cry, but I was too mad. By now, I'm ready to head back home. As we arrive at DTD, our bus driver announces where to go to meet our connecting bus. He says POR is #1 and we are shocked because it seems that POR is always one of the furthest. Well, he drops us off at like #10 - it figures! So we walk and walk and see this huge crowd up ahead. Wow, I wonder whats going on. Oh nothing is going on, it's our bus stop! Great! By now we are tired and disgusted and it seems like so is this huge crowd waiting. When a bus finally pulls up, the damn thing is packed. From where I don't know. Then a second bus pulls up, but out of the crowd comes a scooter person. The bus driver does the ritual of opening the back door while preparing to load this person. While this is going on, another bus pulls up behind it and the people start running for the third bus. Most of them were young people without any children. We stayed put, not wanting to fight our way like animals. Well this second bus driver wouldn't open his doors until the first bus was loaded and left. Well all these wonderful young people then push their way back to the front of the line for the second bus, I mean aggressively like animals. I was so disheartened by this scene and so were others with us. We waited like normal people and finally got on the third bus, which was empty. Funny thing was, we actually had empty seats on our bus while the one in front was packed like sardines. And they didn't get there any faster. We actually passed them up at POFQ because they had to unload the scooter and we had noone for that resort on our bus. We asked the bus driver to turn the lights on as we passed and we all waved to them. Mean, I know. But priceless. We get back to our room and are just too tired for our last nightly swim. We fall asleep, happy to know that at this time the following day, we will be home. This is honestly the first time I was anxious to leave, and it was all because of selfish people. I went to sleep like Dorothy, "There's No Place Like Home".

 

[twotommygirl]

I wake up at about 5:30 because I am anxious to get my packing finished. Also, I can hear the rain is really coming down outside. I walk over to the window and peak out the blinds. Who do I see out there in the pouring rain at 5:30? It's that gorgeous woman who taught me that wonderful lesson. Once again, I am amazed at her dedication. She's out there in the pouring rain doing her laps. I so admire people like her. I hope when I'm older and have the time, I will be like her. Damn, I hope to look half as good as this woman when I turn 40 next year! Yikes, did I say 40? So I finish up and lay out everyones clothes then take a shower. When everyone wakes we get ready for breakfast. Now I didn't hear this conversation, but my husband calls for them to get our suitcases being that it is pouring. Now he claims they asked what airline we were flying, are we taking Magical Express, and when we are meeting the bus. After telling them all the information, the guy tells him not to worry he will take care of everything. Just leave the gratuity under the bags and he will be there shortly. We actually saw him come as we were walking to breakfast. We head to Boatwrights for one last fix then head on over to the food court to try to use up some of the food credits we still have. We get a couple of sandwiches and use up approx. 5 of our snacks - still leaving 11 snacks. I don't know how we managed that since it felt as if we were eating constantly. We head over to the front to await the ME bus. Now while waiting I see people waiting with suitcases to which I exclaim, "Honey, I think you have to get our luggage." To which he replies, "The guy on the phone told me he would take care of everything." Me = "But honey, (in my trying to sound sweet so as not to accuse him of being wrong voice) we are flying Southwest and they are not one of the airlines included in the departure/boarding program." Husband = "You screwed up the luggage tags on the way here, why don't you just trust me and let me handle this one?" O.K. smarty pants. Now I'm sure he is wrong but it is so worth me losing my luggage after this smart@ss remark. Alright honey - you're the man! Note to self - remember his little comment exactly when you want to shop to replace everything. So we get to the airport and I'm starting to regret letting him make this stupid mistake. I go over to the Southwest counter after getting off the bus, not seeing our luggage come off. She quickly refers us to the ME counter where I let the "big man" take over. I wish I had the camera out when she informed him he was wrong.

Sorry folks, I have to end here as I now have some unexpected company. I promise to pick back up in the a.m.

 

[Nevergrowinup]

Ah, you see now guys. I got up at this ungodly hour and said, "I'm gonna go finish that trip report". I feel, though, that I have to write back to all my "friends". If I don't get to the report, I'll try to have it done by tomorrow.

Hey Twotommygirl!
First don't wear yourself out and please don't burn yourself out writing. We would miss you alot more if you got to the point that you never wanted to write again.

Nevergrowinup - Are you sure you're not my long lost sibling? Just between us, the Mickey Police never came.

Well I would honored to be your long lost sibling I do indeed love the COP, the JC, POC, the old Tiki Room, and honestly has a lot to do with why the Contemporary is still one of our favorite hotels. It is all apart of the WDW I first saw in the early 70's (yeah I am giving away my age here ) and it is all part of the WDW Walt had a hand in. We go to ride, people watch, and have fun, but one of the main reasons I go to WDW is the feeling I get of just being there and feeling the nostalgia (is that too corny?). On the COP I always get that feeling. I sure hope it stays around. I already miss things like the Sky Cars, the old Mission to Mars, and the Mike Fink Keelboats. I guess Ia m just an old fashioned guy.

So keep writing but take your time, we'll all wait to read it when you have time to finish!

 

[MazdaUK]

We asked the bus driver to turn the lights on as we passed and we all waved to them

Not mean at all - hopefully taught them that all things come to those who wait

Hope you find the time to complete soon - can't wait to find out what happend next

Make sure your unexpected guests know what they're putting us all through! The suspense

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Fran, isn't your company staying a bit too long? Fondly, Leah

I just looked to see if you had posted.....have you noticed how many "views" you have on this thread? OMG you have almost 11,000 in such a short period, that must be a record.

Topic/you owe us a post......we've be patiently waiting.