Laid off & cheering up w/a PTR: updated 4/29- I hit my goal weight! plus CM's & EPCOT

[GinnyBear's_mom]

I'm going to be up waaaay late tonight- DD came down with a cold today and as usual it got worse as soon as we put her down to sleep. DH has to finish his final paper for a course he is taking by tomorrow night, so I'm on call if DD wakes up crying. She already did about 15 minutes ago, but I was able to get her to go right back to sleep, poor baby. I think I'll get started on the plans for our first full day in WDW- we're hitting Hollywood Studios!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

aww i hope Ginny gets better soon!! poor little girl!! I can't wait to here about your hollywood studios plans...

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Our first full day in WDW will be spent in Hollywood Studios Last summer DHS was a date night so Gin was left at the hotel with my mom and step-dad. This summer we all get to experience the park! We've never been able to ride Toy Story Mania- the line was listed as being over 200 minutes long when we tried to go on it last summer


important info: park hours 9am-9pm; we're using 1 day of our Give a Day Get a Day fast passes- I've seen that the GAD fast passes at DHS are good for Tower of Terror, Rock n' Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania, as well as Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Stunt Show and Star Tours

Here's the plan for DHS on Thursday June 24

In the morning:

• Have breakfast at the house, leave for DHS at 8:00ish. We should be parked and up to the front gates by 8:30ish
• We'll be using our GAD fast passes so we'll need a little extra time at Guest Services to pick these up, hopefully we'll still have enough time to be there at rope-drop
• Head over to Animation Courtyard
• Go to Toy Story Mania and get a Fast Pass for later. Use 1 of our GAD fast passes to ride now
• Depending on when the next Playhouse Disney Live! show is, we may kill some time by visiting Walt Disney: One Man's Dream or The Magic of Disney Animation (bummed that Up characters won't be there when we are- we'll have to see Toy Story 3 as soon as it comes out so we know who Lotso is- the new character that will be replacing Up)
• Can't wait to see DD's reaction to Playhouse Disney Live!
• Use our GAD fast passes for Voyage of the Little Mermaid
• Stroll over to Sunset Boulevard
• Use GAD fast passes for Tower of Terror, maybe this time I will actually keep my eyes open during the freefall! I know my step-dad won't go on this ride, so he'll stay back with Gin. My mom LOVES the Twilight Zone, so I think she'll get a kick out of this ride
• Use GAD fast passes for Rock n' Roller Coaster, same thing again- my step-dad won't ride this so he'll stay with Gin
• Grab a fast pass for Tower of Terror so we can ride later
• While we are at Sunset Boulevard, I may ask my step-dad to take Gin to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set. He absolutely loves spending time with Gin (he watches her 3 days a week while I work) so I think he will get a kick out of walking around there with her
• Depending on the time and DD's mood at this point we may leave for DD to take a nap- she's not a stroller napper.
• We'll have lunch back at the house, rest and recharge. Then DH and I will head back to DHS while my mom and step-dad watch Gin (trust me, they are being rewarded later in the trip for all of their babysitting!)

In the evening:

• We have an ADR at 50's Prime Time (my first time there!!) for dinner- I think at 5:00 but I'll have to check my binder
• DH and I will use the fast passes we collected earlier for Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror
• Star Tours using our GAD fast passes
• Either walk around the shops or see Fantasmic. I've never seen Fantasmic before (other than on youtube) and from the reviews is does seem great, but it sounds VERY CROWDED and after dealing with crowds all day that may be the last thing I want to do, I also don't want to waste my only day at DHS waiting for Fantasmic to start- decisions, decisions!!

So does this sound like a crazy unattainable plan? Or is it slightly reasonable? Without the Give a Day fastpasses it would not be possible, but I think it should be fairly painless with the special GAD fastpasses. We need to get a good night's rest, we have an early ADR the next morning- 7:30am at Chef Mickey's!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

i think your hollywood studios plans sound great!! I am personally not a big fan of fantasmic only because of the crowds its kinda scary! its the one show that i can take it or leave it!! i think you will love 50's prime time Its a lot of fun! very good comfort food-- and not a overwhelming amout either just perfect thats awesome that you will get GAD fast passes

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

i think your hollywood studios plans sound great!! I am personally not a big fan of fantasmic only because of the crowds its kinda scary! its the one show that i can take it or leave it!!

Last summer we were in DHS near Tower of Terror and we got caught in a HUGE crush of people coming out of Fantasmic, it kind of turned me off seeing the show.

i think you will love 50's prime time Its a lot of fun! very good comfort food-- and not a overwhelming amout either just perfect thats awesome that you will get GAD fast passes

I've been looking at the menu, but I'm undecided about what to eat- but I do think this would be a fun place to order a Shirley Temple to drink I used to order them all the time when I was little whenever my parents took me out to eat.

I totally forgot that I never explained anything about my GAD volunteer opportunity... I feel a big post coming!!

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

When I searched through the Give a Day Get a Day volunteer list I saw an opportunity that I had to take. The local Ronald McDonald House needed volunteers to collect toiletries for their family bathrooms. RMH charities is an organization that is near and dear to my heart. DD was born about 6 weeks early and was in the NICU for almost 3 weeks. DH and I relied heavily on RMH during that time. I was released from the hospital after 6 days (it was an emergency C-section) and wanted to spend every available moment at my daughter's incubator. Since the local RMH was near capacity we decided not to take a room away from a family who had absolutely no means of transportation to get back and forth from the hospital. I had several friends and family who were able to drive me back and forth (about 30 minutes) to see DD in the hospital (DH couldn't take any more time off of work, he had already taken all of his vacation time to be with us while I was in the hospital and wanted to save the rest of his sick time for when DD was coming home- we had no idea at the time when that would be). Gin had issues with her heart, lungs and her digestive system. One of the neonatologists said that her brain hadn't turned the light switch in her body to the "ON" position yet- she wasn't ready to be born and her body was having a difficult time making the transition.

This was taken the day she was born- just 5lbs, but somehow she still looked a little chubby! You have seen lots of current pics of DD- she's fine now, just a little on the tiny side

Most days my best friend (who had just had her own baby 8 weeks earlier and lived 45 minutes away) would drive to my house in the morning, do any housekeeping I needed and drop me off at the hospital. I would then spend about 12 hours at the hospital with DD. When I needed to take a break, I would go to the Ronald McDonald family room and sleep on their couch or send pics by email to family and friends. When anyone came to visit we would spend a little time relaxing in the RMD family kitchen, which is also where I ate most of my meals during DD's time in the hospital. DH at the time was mostly working nights and he would come to the hospital around 10pm, spend an hour or so with DD and then we would head home. It was a very draining experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone and the tiny comforts that RMH was able to provide were worth more than words can express. Then one day her body literally turned the switch "ON" and everything started working like normal! After a few days without any problems we were able to take her home and the strangest part was taking care of her without having the nurses helping or the million machines she was hooked up to telling us important information on her vitals. As any parents would be we were so excited to finally have her home

So needless to say I was very excited to see a volunteer opportunity for Ronald McDonald House. They had 20 family rooms (sort of like hotel rooms) and each has a bathroom. They wanted a gift bag to be placed in each bathroom that contained soap, shampoo, kleenex, notepads, pens, lotion etc. DH and I collected almost 300 items and we filled more than enough toiletry bags and also gave them a big box of extras (we ran out of the gift bags).

I tried to get my mom and step-dad involved with the RMH volunteer opportunities for GAD, but by the time they got on the site the opportunities were gone. They did however gather food supplies for a local food shelter.

If we were just adults going to WDW, I probably would choose the free ticket option. But since we have an almost two year old in tow, we figured we could get a lot more accomplished with the GAD fast passes.

So there you have it, my GAD volunteer story While I was on the volunteer list I happened to see a listing for Project Linus- I contacted my local chapter and I have made several blankets for them already and I am considering having my Media Club at school make some tie fleece blankets for our end of the year service project.

 

[deslynnpatterson]

wow what a wondering and touching story! I am so glad the RMH was able to help you and you were able to help them in return
aww poor little ginny was soo tiny!! I bet that was such a stressful time I would have been just like you staying in the hostpital the whole day not leaving my son or daughters side! I don't have any little ones yet-- but soon I cannot even imagine all the emtions you had-- excited, scared, worried, anxious all at the same time. The GAD fastpass sounds great! and i am sure it will work out great with having little Ginny. Thanks for sharing your story with us I really enjoyed reading it-- and its so nice to know that there are still places like the RMH that are out there to help people

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

wow what a wondering and touching story! I am so glad the RMH was able to help you and you were able to help them in return
aww poor little ginny was soo tiny!! I bet that was such a stressful time I would have been just like you staying in the hostpital the whole day not leaving my son or daughters side! I don't have any little ones yet-- but soon I cannot even imagine all the emtions you had-- excited, scared, worried, anxious all at the same time. The GAD fastpass sounds great! and i am sure it will work out great with having little Ginny. Thanks for sharing your story with us I really enjoyed reading it-- and its so nice to know that there are still places like the RMH that are out there to help people

Thanks Desiree! Before my experience with my daughter I never really understood what Ronald McDonald House did exactly and I'm glad to be able to share this with everyone

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Onto our plans for day 3- Chef Mickey's and EPCOT

We have an ADR at Chef Mickey's bright and early on Friday the 25th at 7:30 AM - nah it shouldn't be that bad, I wake up at 5:30 am everyday for work anyway and DD is a pretty early riser. This will be Gin's official birthday celebration in Disney. Since the characters are Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy I think I'll have her wear the pretty Minnie pillowcase dress my sister bought from Etsy and I'm thinking of using my crafty skills to make DD a matching birthday had with an appliqued Mickey head. We'll see how that goes!

I've already called ahead to Disney Dining and let them know we have an egg allergy but I will call and confirm this a week or so before our trip. On our last trip to WDW they had one of the chefs come out and walk through the buffet with us and tell us which foods DD could have at Chef Mickey's so hopefully they will do the same on this visit!

We'll probably spend some time after breakfast walking through the Fantasia gift shop and looking at the mural in the Contemporary. I absolutely love the work of Mary Blair the artist of the mural -She has such a fun and unique vision. Mary Blair also has several children's books, my favorite is I Can Fly

After we take a bazillion close-up pics of the tiles in the mural

we'll take the monorail to EPOCOT. I'm thinking we won't arrive at EPCOT until a little before 10.

I don't think we'll be using a GAD fast pass today (we will still have 3 left). There just isn't that much that the GAD fast pass offers that interests me: Test Track, Soarin, Maelstrom, Mission: Space, Living with the Land, Honey I Shrunk the Audience. I don't go to EPCOT for the rides, I'm more of a World Showcase kind of gal.

In Future World:

• Visit the Living Seas Aquarium, we may skip the Living Seas with Nemo if the line is too long and just head straight to the aquarium
  [*]Grab some fast passes for Soarin for my mom and step-dad (he LOVES this ride!! He has a bad back and can't go on too many rides in WDW)
  [*]Stop by the Coke Pavilion to trick my mom and step-dad into drinking some Beverly
  [*]Stop by the children's fountains at the connection between Future World and World Showcase to see if Gin wants to get out and get soaked
  

In Canda:

• Northwest Mercantile Store- I'd love the see the Kitras Art Glass ornaments and maybe buy a bottle of ice wine- I've heard of it but never tasted any!
• Trading Post- I'm sure DH will have a field day looking at the hockey items here and I'm always a sucker for maple candy

In the United Kingdom:

• Tigger's maze- I love mazes and think this hedge maze will be fun. I've heard very little about it and never seen pictures
• Toy Soldier- who doesn't love toys?
• Tea Caddy- They have my favorite candy bar that is very hard to find in the US- crunchies!! There isn't any other candy bar that tastes similar to this - it is a honeycomb center covered in milk chocolate. I try to grab at least 4 or 5 since they are so hard to find! I also love tea, so I'm sure I'll grab some here.

In France:

• La Maison du Vin- 'Wine house'-need I say more??
• L'Esprit de Provence- kitchen gadgets, spices, etc. = awesome!
• Crepes des Chefs de France- we'll probably split a yummy chocolate crepe before heading out for DD's nap (we'll have to bring a snack for Gin since there's eggs in crepes )

In Morocco:

• The sole purpose of walking through Morocco is to pick up a Sultan's Colada!

In Japan:

• Mitsukoshi Department Store- there are 8 zillion things DH and I would like to buy at this store!

We're leaving my mom and step-dad in EPCOT (they have a 12:15 ADR at Biergarten) for the rest of the day while we go back for Gin's nap. DH will also need time to work on any assignments for his summer class- although he gets a vacation from work, he still has some school obligations during the trip . Later we'll all meet back at World Showcase to explore (a.k.a. shop) a few more countries.

We do have a dinner ADR at Rose and Crown, but I may cancel it if I don't get a job before the beginning of June.

When we return in the late afternoon (around 4) we'll attack the World Showcase from the other side:

In Mexico:

• nada (a.k.a 'nothing) I lived in Guadalajara Mexico for awhile a few years ago and I have every little trinket, nick-nack and doodah from the country. Although the mango margaritas are pretty good here, I have more exotic tastes in mind. No need to shop/eat/drink at this pavilion in EPCOT

In Norway:

• Kringla Bakeri- SCHOOL BREAD!!! This will have to be eaten out of eyesight of DD since it has eggs

In China:

• Yong Feng Shangdian Shop- almost as cool as the shop in the Japan pavilion
• To wash down the school bread, I'll have a Canta Loopey

In Germany:

• Der Teddy Bar- TOYS!!
• Volkskunst- DH collects beer steins so he'll want to look around and I love to look at the cuckoo clocks (especially the ones that cost over $1000!!!)
• Weinkeller- yup, more wine!
• Sussigkeiten- a yummy candy shop where I'll pick up some treats for my half German grandmom
• die Weihnachtsecke- I want to pick up a cute little Advent calendar for DD
• Kunstarbeit In Kristall - I will only enter if I have a job!

We'll be skipping Italy and American Adventure due to time constraints. We need to get over to Downtown Disney so we have enough time to get our Christmas ornaments personalized! Last time we were there you had to wait 2 days to pick up your personalized ornaments.


In Downtown Disney
of course since it will be a Friday night, we'll easily get parking
So after looking around for a parking spot for 45 minutes we will:

• Disney's Days of Christmas- this may be the only store we visit at DTD on this day, we have some serious ornament shopping to do! My mom has 3 different Christmas trees in her house and my Christmas tree has to be anchored with cable to a wall so it doesn't fall over from the weight of the ornaments. We are Christmas FREAKS!

You may have wondered- where's dinner? (I mentioned before that unless I have a job we won't be eating at Rose and Crown ) Sometimes DD eats SO MUCH during the day that she rarely eats dinner, she has been that way for months. If she isn't hungry we won't stop to eat until we get to DTD, then we'll probably grab some yummy grub at Earl of Sandwich

Coming up on Day 4- do we have any money left after all of that shopping in World Showcase? I hope so, we have a pre-rope drop ADR at Crystal Palace and FINALLY a day in the Magic Kingdom!!

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

WOOT! I hit my goal weight!
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So super excited! I actually went past my goal weight by 1.5 pounds I know that I can lose more, but I think I might wait a week or so before creating a new goal. I'd like to just enjoy the fact that I reached THIS goal . For the first time in about five years my BMI (Body Mass Index) now says that I am a "normal" weight instead of being 'overweight'. YAY!
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[julezdisney]

congrats on ur wt loss goal! thats awesome!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

congrats on hitting your weight loss goal such a accomplishment you did that really fast too! Congrats and how awesome I also ready through your epcot plans and love your epcot plans too everything sounds great so far for you trip!

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

It has been forever since I updated this PTR- sorry about that. I've been spending most of my time online searching for jobs, updating my resume etc. and I'm happy to say that I FINALLY have an interview today The school is about 45 minutes from where I live, but in this job market I'm not being picky!

congrats on ur wt loss goal! thats awesome!

congrats on hitting your weight loss goal such a accomplishment you did that really fast too! Congrats and how awesome I also ready through your epcot plans and love your epcot plans too everything sounds great so far for you trip!

DH has been bitten by the free dining bug and he'd like to move the dates of our trip. As of right now, we're sticking with the original dates, but in case I can't find a job at all, we will switch our dates to the very last week of free dining (which happens to be DH's birthday) so we can enjoy MNSSHP and one day of the Food and Wine Festival. Plus there's a 5k on the morning of October 2nd that I'd love to run in the Magic Kingdom. But again, the dates would only get changed if I didn't find a job. Many teacherd dreams of visiting Disney in the fall and if I'm not tied down to a traditional school schedule why not take advantage of it???

 

[my2disneyboys]

Hey!! Are you not on DIS anymore!?