Leaving the hubbies and kids behind - A May 2010 PTR, TR has begun!

[cdotla]

I read your update this morning about Mother's Day plans and found it funny that I am returning home that day. I will of course hate to leave WDW but coming home in time to spend the afternoon with my kids I think will be the best way to spend the day (most years I tell hubby I want a day off so it's funny I will feel the opposite this year)

What a wonderful Mother's Day present you will have waiting for you when you get home!

 

[eyor44]

eyor!! Glad to hear there is another Diser planning for that week. did you read about our Cinco do Mayo meet? Join us and say Hi if you will be in the area!

Thanks for the invite, but I will be in training during the day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Only have evenings free those three days. But hey part time at Disney is better than no time at Disney.

 

[MEK]

What is this I hear....self doubt? Of course you deserve this trip....but, I suggest you make a very comprehensive schedule for your DH and kids to refer to while you are gone. And while you are at it, I think you better leave map quest directions to all the kids after school activities.

 

[brookelizabeth]

So glad the bag is working out! I am very fond of the Baggalini as well (as you know), it just fits SO much without being uncomfortable.

Very cute Disney shirts too! I have perused the design board a few times, but haven't taken the plunge due to my craft-ineptness! It totally intimidates me....but might make for an extremely entertaining PTR post someday.

I've been so out of the Disney loop I didn't hear of the Muppets rehab! THAT IS GREAT NEWS!!!!!! I'm excited to find out what they are doing to it!

And you COMPLETELY DESERVE THIS VACATION!!!! (and I have to second MEK's recommendation of the directions for DH! )

 

[sunny_stace]

You actually were the one I was thinking of when I wrote that I MIGHT be talked into it someday. I guess now we have to have overlapping trips someday

I'm not a huge history buff but I would go to HoP if Beth really wants to

Considering the number of steps, it would surprise me if the treehouse were open past dark.

Aww Katie! Someday we will have to Tiki together!
And by the way Miss Thing, you totally deserve this trip! You are a great mother, wife and all-round person. You deserve to relax and have fun, and not have to cater to anyone elses' needs and wants except for your own (and perhaps Beth's ). You will be a better person for it and it will give you a chance to regroup and be happier when you come home! Heaven knows life is tough and we all need a chance to relax and take it easy - including you!

And: Hi Daniel!

And Patrick too!

And Greg too!

 

[kschafer]

What a wonderful Mother's Day present you will have waiting for you when you get home!

yeah, I think it will be a special day to come home and spend with the boys

Thanks for the invite, but I will be in training during the day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Only have evenings free those three days. But hey part time at Disney is better than no time at Disney.

After I checked out your PTR I realized you wouldn't be able to join us. What a great way to take a solo trip!

What is this I hear....self doubt? Of course you deserve this trip....but, I suggest you make a very comprehensive schedule for your DH and kids to refer to while you are gone. And while you are at it, I think you better leave map quest directions to all the kids after school activities.

Luckily, the calendar looks pretty bare that week. Scouts on Monday (only 2 blocks from our house, Patrick can walk) and piano on Tuesday (not far, he is wanting to ride his bike when the weather warms up). I will be sure to not schedule any appointments so the biggest thing Greg will have to deal with is getting the boys up in the morning and ready for school (not necessarily an easy task, especially earlier than normal)

Very cute Disney shirts too! I have perused the design board a few times, but haven't taken the plunge due to my craft-ineptness! It totally intimidates me....but might make for an extremely entertaining PTR post someday.

I've been so out of the Disney loop I didn't hear of the Muppets rehab! THAT IS GREAT NEWS!!!!!! I'm excited to find out what they are doing to it!

I talked with Beth this morning and sent her some of the designs I found. We are meeting for lunch next week and will do some t-shirt shopping. I'll have to post pictures of how it goes!

I'm bummed I will miss it but it will be exciting to hear what upgrades are done.

Aww Katie! Someday we will have to Tiki together!
And by the way Miss Thing, you totally deserve this trip! You are a great mother, wife and all-round person. You deserve to relax and have fun, and not have to cater to anyone elses' needs and wants except for your own (and perhaps Beth's ). You will be a better person for it and it will give you a chance to regroup and be happier when you come home! Heaven knows life is tough and we all need a chance to relax and take it easy - including you!

Thanks sweetie! Hopefully someday we will be there together!

***********************************

I'm working on a bit of an update...stay tuned!

 

[kschafer]

50 days till Disney!!!!​

I have been pondering what to do to fill the time on this PTR while we wait for the next 7 weeks so I thought I would take some time to share our Disney histories. I have enjoyed other PTR's where people share their pictures of past trips so I thought I would follow suit.

I’ll start with Beth’s WDW history…..



















The End. Did you like it? Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Beth has never been.

The other day she told me she had been offered a trip back in high school. She was the regular babysitter for a family who was going to the world. They offered to buy her plane ticket, park ticket and room in their hotel if she would come along and take care of the kids occasionally while they had some adult time. Beth's mother said no and she has always resented it. She is VERY excited for this trip since it has been so long coming.

You can probably imagine how jealous her boys are that she is going for the first time without them. Sorry boys...Mama time!

On to my histor...I would love to do this chronologically but due to a lack of pictures from my early trips, I will work backwards instead. Hopefully I will get a chance to stop at my parents house and scrounge their photo albums for trips further in the past. If you read my last TR, this is a repeat but I will condense it down a bit!

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2007 and decided to celebrate they wanted to experience WDW with the entire family (my parents, us, both of my brothers and their families - 15 in all). Our plans were to fly to Florida and rent a car. My parents had rented a house about 20 minutes from the world for a week and we would all spend the time together. We only planned for 4 park days in that week thinking each family could choose what they wanted to do in the days between.

After that week, our little family spent 4 nights onsite and spent some time with just the 4 of us. We also had the chance to visit my parents place near Venice where we spent a couple days just hanging out and the boys got their first visit to the ocean. The 4 of us then returned to Orlando and spent a couple days at SeaWorld. It was a really great trip!

So to start I’ll share our first Disney day as a large group. The choice for this day was Hollywood Studios. The plan was to start with the just opened TSMM. Little did we know what being in the back of the rope drop crowd and stopping for autographs would do! Yes, we were looking at over an hour wait by the time we made it back there. All that research I did, all that planning and day 1 was out the window on step 1!! We grabbed FP’s and headed to Playhouse Disney.

What a great show! The kids loved the music and bubbles and steamers! Next we went on a movie ride

I didn’t love it but I think it was that this was the first long line we encountered and we were figuring out how to keep 7 kids patient…not a small task

By this time our FP time was up so we did TSMM

Everyone LOVED it of course but since it had only been open a week we had no prior knowledge about the ride so it really surprised me at the time how appealing it was to all ages. We grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet, visited the Muppets and took a play break

We visited Sounds Dangerous (obviously I wasn’t as good of a Diser as I should have been!) then grabbed ice cream and waited for Block Party Bash

The party began and boy was it fun!!

We had grabbed a couple more FP’s for TSMM but not enough for everyone so my Dad and I headed out with Daniel while others rode one more time

We were all pretty wiped out from our first long day and still adjusting to the heat so we went back to the house, went for a swim and got the kids to bed because the next day was Magic Kingdom!!

 

[kcandbella]

Katie, of course you deserve this trip! It is hard being a stay at home mom. I do it in the summers and trust me, sometimes I am READY to go back to work! It will be good for you and for the kids and your DH to really appreciate what you do for them!

Love all of your flashback pics!

And....50 days!

It seems like we were just celebrating 100. Here's to hoping the next 50 go by as fast as the last 50 did!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I think 7 weeks sounds shorter than 50 days - so we'll go with 7 weeks!

Beth's WDW history looks just like my mom's We should have fun breaking in a couple of newbies!

Love your flashback! I may borrow that idea as well, as I don't know what all I'm going to talk about in mine for the next 7 weeks.....

 

[Megablocks]

I love all the flashback pics! It's so much fun sharing pictures from past Disney trips.

Seven weeks already? I remember the double digit dance! That's awesome!

 

[eyor44]

Love the picture of you and your Dad. You got me to thinking of the first time I went. I was 10. I wonder if Gram still has those pictures......

 

[Cory's Gal]

Sorry, the blank history of Beth's WDW trips made me laugh Katie, I needed that today after all of this rain we have been having!! LOVE looking at the pictures of the past! I like looking at the Block Party Bash pics, we are really looking forward to that parade this time!!

WOO HOO for 50 days!!!

 

[MEK]

Katie - I can't believe your last trip was in 2007. For some reason I thought it was 08....maybe you wrote it later. I remember that TR and how much I enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing those memories and those pictures. Really fun way to pass the next 50 Days!!!!

 

[MeMom]

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I think this will be a picture you will come to appreciate more and more as the years go by. I love that one.

 

[MHTeacher]

I love looking at "old" pictures, even somebody's elses!

Sweet pic of you and your dad!

 

[kschafer]

Katie, of course you deserve this trip! It is hard being a stay at home mom. I do it in the summers and trust me, sometimes I am READY to go back to work! It will be good for you and for the kids and your DH to really appreciate what you do for them!

Love all of your flashback pics!

And....50 days!

It seems like we were just celebrating 100. Here's to hoping the next 50 go by as fast as the last 50 did!

Are you a teacher too Kayce? There sure are a lot of us on the Dis, must be something about loving youth that they make such a common pair!

I think Greg knows and appreciates what I do, he just isn't very vocal about such things. I think my going on this trip is his way of showing that.

I agree, 100 days didn't seem like that long ago so I'm hoping the next 50 go as fast!

I think 7 weeks sounds shorter than 50 days - so we'll go with 7 weeks!

Beth's WDW history looks just like my mom's We should have fun breaking in a couple of newbies!

Love your flashback! I may borrow that idea as well, as I don't know what all I'm going to talk about in mine for the next 7 weeks.....

I can't wait to see it through her eyes! I'm sure sharing that with your Mom will be a lot of fun.

Glad you started that PTR!

I love all the flashback pics! It's so much fun sharing pictures from past Disney trips.

Seven weeks already? I remember the double digit dance! That's awesome!

7 weeks baby! I'm excited to go dig up the older pics, I think I'll get that way next week

Love the picture of you and your Dad. You got me to thinking of the first time I went. I was 10. I wonder if Gram still has those pictures......

I was just laughing with a friend this morning about how many pictures we take these days with digital compared to what our parents took on film. I'm sure I'll only find a handful from the older trips but they are fun to see!

Sorry, the blank history of Beth's WDW trips made me laugh Katie, I needed that today after all of this rain we have been having!! LOVE looking at the pictures of the past! I like looking at the Block Party Bash pics, we are really looking forward to that parade this time!!

WOO HOO for 50 days!!!

Block party is really great! the performers interact with the crowd and get them moving to...way fun!

Katie - I can't believe your last trip was in 2007. For some reason I thought it was 08....maybe you wrote it later. I remember that TR and how much I enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing those memories and those pictures. Really fun way to pass the next 50 Days!!!!

Sorry to confuse you. Yes, we went in 2008. Their anniversary was in 2007 and we originally talked about going then but decided to wait a year so the littlest ones would be older and hopefully get more out of it.

I think this will be a picture you will come to appreciate more and more as the years go by. I love that one.

You are right about that MeMom! I wasn't a daddy's girl growing up exactly but he is very special to me now of course

I love looking at "old" pictures, even somebody's elses!

Sweet pic of you and your dad!

Thanks, I'm looking forward to sharing more...maybe tomorrow

 

[cdotla]

Love the flashback Katie!

And I agree - you are long overdue for a trip! This will be a fun one as you will be able to tour as an adult this time, spending more time doing things that you want to do, but that you may not be able to do with the kiddos. Shopping at the countries around World Showcase, taking leisurely photographs of the parks, enjoying long leisurely meals (and drinks!)

Are you getting excited yet?!!!!

 

[kschafer]

Love the flashback Katie!

And I agree - you are long overdue for a trip! This will be a fun one as you will be able to tour as an adult this time, spending more time doing things that you want to do, but that you may not be able to do with the kiddos. Shopping at the countries around World Showcase, taking leisurely photographs of the parks, enjoying long leisurely meals (and drinks!)

Are you getting excited yet?!!!!

Oh yeah...I've been excited for awhile but I love how different this trip will be! You are right, instead of rushing around all morning then crashing back at the hotel, we can take our time and enjoy our in park breaks with meals (and drinks! )

Is it wrong that I am already thinking about how I can spin my wish for my next trip to convince hubby? The problem is going to be I want to go for my birthday next year but it falls during both the school year and basketball season That's going to be a hard sell!

 

[kschafer]

The second day of our all-family trip was our Magic Kingdom day. The original plan was to get there for rope drop, tour until early afternoon, take a break then return for the evening festivities.

About half of our group made it to rope drop

The rest weren’t too far behind and we stopped amid the masses to take the only photopass picture we managed to get of the entire group. I was happy it turned out pretty good, with 7 kids under 7, that is not an easy request! ( everyone was turned to the camera, nobody was crying and no fingers were in noses)

We spent the morning touring Fantasyland

We had planned only 2 ADR’s as a large group and the first was this day. We were going to Crystal Palace for lunch with the gang from the 100 acre wood. If you read my TR from 2008 you might remember why Pooh and the gang are so special to me. If you missed it and are curious, that story is the flashback can be found HERE. So I was particularly excited about this lunch

They brought my parents an anniversary cupcake and they celebrated appropriately

We headed to frontierland where the kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa while Moms and Dads got to ride a couple big “kid” rides

Unfortunately, even with the FP’s we grabbed before lunch, these took us until much later in the day than we had planned. We were hot and when we got to the house the private pool was calling our names

By the time we laid the kids down for a nap, it was clear we weren’t going to make it back for the evening. I was disappointed to not share that with them but knew we would have a chance later in the week and going with the flow was the name of the game!

Next up…Greg and I get a night out without the kiddos!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Looks like a great day! I bet that pool was inviting after a long hot day in the park

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