Like Mother, Like Daughter - I've Turned Her Into a Disney Freak!

[babytrees]

Forgot to mention it earlier, but

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

(it is today, right? I think I remembered reading that.)

Happy Birthday Miss Cammie!!

 

[TigerKat]

I knew we had a lot in common, I had a birthday last week too!

 

[punkin413]

hope you have a great birthday!!!!!!!

 

[kathleen27]

Hope you had a nice birthday.

I had some free time today, and read your wonderful trip report.
Your DD is so cute! I love the 10 year apart pics by the elephant.
The pin she bought you is so sweet!

I am taking just my son who is 12 to Disney in the fall. I'm really looking forward to the one on one time, and being able to concentrate on what he wants to do. My kids have such different interests, fear levels, and energy levels. It was good to hear about your experience, I think we will have those late nights too.

Sounds like you had lots of great meals & drinks as well!

 

[pooh52797]

Happy Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!!!!

 

[podsnel]

Hi Cammie!! Hope you had a WONDERFUL birthday!!

 

[Camster0307]

Count on it, just let me know when you start it!!!!!

OH, you MUST start a pre-trippie!! That way, we can share ideas along the way! Let us know if you do...and i'll subscribe.

Okey-dokey - as long as I know at least two people will read it, I just may have to do it!

Note to self regarding your dinner at Raglan Road: don't look at food porn while on a diet!

ITA! I can't diet while looking at Disney food porn; and I can't diet while at Disney enjoying the food - so I just don't diet! (Raglan Road was delish!)

 

[Camster0307]

Forgot to mention it earlier, but

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

(it is today, right? I think I remembered reading that.)

Thanks for remembering, Alan! Yep, it was the 18th.

Happy Birthday Miss Cammie!![/COLOR]

Well, thank you!

I knew we had a lot in common, I had a birthday last week too!

Kathy - Happy Belated Birthday! What day was yours and why didn't you announce it loud and proud? We may have to have a late birthday toast together in Nov.!

hope you have a great birthday!!!!!!!

Thanks Dawn - hope you enjoyed your day also! (that Princess pic cracks me up!)

Hope you had a nice birthday.

I had some free time today, and read your wonderful trip report.
Your DD is so cute! I love the 10 year apart pics by the elephant.
The pin she bought you is so sweet!

I am taking just my son who is 12 to Disney in the fall. I'm really looking forward to the one on one time, and being able to concentrate on what he wants to do. My kids have such different interests, fear levels, and energy levels. It was good to hear about your experience, I think we will have those late nights too.

Sounds like you had lots of great meals & drinks as well!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I'm glad you're enjoying the TR. It's great you can take that trip with your DS - it is nice to just be able to focus on the one child's interests. It makes them feel so special! And, yes, with all my Disney trips, I make sure good food and drinks are involved!

Happy Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much!

Hi Cammie!! Hope you had a WONDERFUL birthday

Thanks Ellen! That's alot of jumping smileys! (I had to delete them from my reply because it put me over the "image" limit! )

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes everybody. Had a lovely day on Friday then had family from NJ here for the weekend. They all left today and the girls and I are enjoying the peace and quiet. Will be sure to get the last installment done tomorrow!

 

[podsnel]

By the way, Cammie- I forgot to tell you how much I LOVED the pics of your DD from the 2 different years- I LOVE that!! Recently I made a book on Shutterfly with pictures from 3 different trips, each 2 years apart. The best pics are the ones where they were in the same pose year after year. So cool to see how they've grown...but, at the same time, of course it's bittersweet.

 

[disneyquilter]

Hi there Cammie! Happy belated Birthday!!

I couldn't sleep and decided to peruse the DISboards and came across your TR. It was wonderful and I can't believe the "trip" is over. It has definitely encouraged me to write my own TR in a year (our next WDW advenure isn't until next year ). You gals look like you had an awesome time.

I now can't decide if the family and I are going to stay at WL or BW. Boardwalk looks wonderful, but WL looks just as great too. Were there things at BW that you like better then WL? I love the fact that it is in close proximity to Epcot (our fav park as well).

Again, great report!! I hope you do another one with a PreTR for your November trip.

 

[Camster0307]

By the way, Cammie- I forgot to tell you how much I LOVED the pics of your DD from the 2 different years- I LOVE that!! Recently I made a book on Shutterfly with pictures from 3 different trips, each 2 years apart. The best pics are the ones where they were in the same pose year after year. So cool to see how they've grown...but, at the same time, of course it's bittersweet.

Makes me so sad to see how much my kids have grown!

Hi there Cammie! Happy belated Birthday!!

I couldn't sleep and decided to peruse the DISboards and came across your TR. It was wonderful and I can't believe the "trip" is over. It has definitely encouraged me to write my own TR in a year (our next WDW advenure isn't until next year ). You gals look like you had an awesome time.

I now can't decide if the family and I are going to stay at WL or BW. Boardwalk looks wonderful, but WL looks just as great too. Were there things at BW that you like better then WL? I love the fact that it is in close proximity to Epcot (our fav park as well).

Again, great report!! I hope you do another one with a PreTR for your November trip.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

As for the two resorts - our hearts belong to the BW so I do have a biased opinion. I like that, from the BW, you can walk to two parks - Epcot and DHS. And we've never had a problem with the buses to MK, AK, or DTD. Keep in mind though - we generally go in early Nov. or Dec. so it's not real busy. We also like the nighttime activity that is going on at the BW when we get back from the parks - it's just so lively. WL was very convenient to go back and forth to MK; but I found the buses to anywhere else were a pain. The WL bus stops always seemed to have the longest waits at the end of the nights! It is a beautiful resort though - and pretty quiet. And, I swear, being there at the end of June, I believe it was about 10-15 degrees cooler back at the resort than the parks!

I think you need to figure out how you do your park touring. Believe it or not, my family rarely does MK at night unless it's a special ticketed party. Most of our nights are spent at Epcot; with a dinner one night in DTD and a late night at DHS for Fantasmic. Because of that, I just love the ease with getting back to the BW from those areas. I've always said, there's nothing like watching those massive crowds head out to the front gates of Epcot while we leisurely stroll around WS and out through IG. Lovely!

 

[TigerKat]

Kathy - Happy Belated Birthday! What day was yours and why didn't you announce it loud and proud? We may have to have a late birthday toast together in Nov.!

Can't wait to have that toast! Mine was on the 9th.

 

[Camster0307]

It's our last day - DEPARTURE DAY! Also known as THE WORST DAY! I just hate everything about this day. Our wake-up call goes off at 8am and I let out a great big sigh! I am a grown woman and I can't even explain the dread I feel about leaving. I swear, I want to live here!

So we both get up and quickly get everything thrown into our suitcases. I throw away way too much food (note to self - snacks in the room are a waste!) Our flight tonite is at 6:35 and DME has scheduled our pick up time for 3:30. I hate that they do this three hours in advance and I always find myself seriously considering a car service to return to the airport; but I talk myself out of spending about $80 for just one extra hour. So 3:30 is the time we have to leave.

We're going to MK this morning. Game plan - ride just our faves: BTMRR; HM, POTC; JC, have one last lunch at Casey's and do some last-minute browsing through the shops on Main Street. So off we went; I took some shots from the WL's open-air boat to MK.......

We pass through the turnstiles one more time and head up Main St. I'm trying to soak up as much as I can........

It's is sooooo hot, once again! And the only reason we're wearing shirts with sleeves is for the plane ride. We will regret not wearing tank tops rather quickly!

We head right on over to HM - 10 minute and we're in!

We then went right to BTMRR, which also had just a 10 minute standby time; we grabbed FPs for later (return time noon) and jumped in standby. At this point, we've now ridden this ride 6 times, I think! I can now officially say I really enjoy this ride and feel completely comfortable raising BOTH my hands in the air and we ride!

We're doing pretty good with time so we jumped on over to POTC and then browse through the gift shop. Once again, DD and I are very tempted to purchase a Capt. Jack doll; or a coffee mug; or a t-shirt; or just about anything with his picture on it. But, we resist. We tried to ride JC but the standby time was 50 minutes and we were now approaching our return time for our FP for BTMRR. Jungle Cruise will have to wait until November!

We get to BTM and see that the FP line is alot longer than the standby line; but the CM at the front gate is telling everyone that standby is at least 90 minute wait! Well, what she doesn't tell us is that the rumored wait on the
FP side is 60 minutes! I am seriously questioning getting in this line - 60 minutes? In this heat? But DD insists we should give it a try - so, of course, I suck it up. Well, fortunately, it turned out to be only 40 minutes but still - with a FP? This was now our last ride for the day.......

We were now heading back to Main St. It was 12:30 and we still wanted to get lunch and shop a little. Being the worry-wart that I am, I was figuring we should be at the WL boat dock around 2pm; if we just miss a boat, we would have to wait 20 minutes for another one. I just wanted to make sure we were back at the Lodge by 3pm so bellservices could retrieve our bags and we would be ready for the 3:30 bus.

I took some pix along the way back: Ye Old Christmas Shoppe - I usually buy some ornaments here but decided to wait until I'm back in Nov. - it would feel more "Christmas-y" then!

Continued in next post......

 

[karajeboo]

Oh Cammie, I'm so sad, cause I know what that last day feels like! Who knows, maybe in November you'll meet a really cool DISer!

 

[Camster0307]

We head right to Casey's Hot Dogs - the second time eating there this trip. I really need to convince DD to try someplace else every once in while but she's just addicted to the cheese fries here. Seriously, look at how many cups of cheese we get -- and we usually go back for more!

After finishing up lunch, we hit the shops........Main St. Confectionary; we just looked, didn't buy!

Headed into the main shops for DD to purchase a little something for her dad; I just browsed - so cute........

We went outside and posed for one more castle picture.....

DD grabbed a Tinkerbell Slushie from the Sleepy Hollow snack stand......

And we officially departed MK! and headed to the boat docks. As luck would have it, there was a boat ready and waiting. It was nice to not have to wait but it now meant that we arrived at the WL by 2:20 - we still had an hour before our DME bus. DD sat and sulked about leaving.........

I took some shots of the gorgeous lobby.......

DD actually thinks if she lays down and pretends to sleep, I'll let her stay one more day........

Finally, it was time to collect our bags and wait for the ME bus; I took a few more shots outside.....

Look at the sad, little girl sitting on the steps.......

Our bus pulled up and we were on our way. Of course, for the trip TO the airport we get the official DME bus and have to watch the "Goodbye" movie with all the characters. Man, that just makes it all even more painful!

We get to the airport - flight is delayed an hour! I feel like I've now missed out on two extra hours at MK because of the waiting around we had to do today. Just nothing about this trip home is making me happy.

All in all though, it was a wonderful trip. I'm so glad I got to spend this time alone with my DD Lauren. She was so happy to have me all to herself. And who knows how many more opportunities we'll have to do these things?

We're fortunate enough to be going back in Nov. and I'll have both my girls with me; but I'm already thinking of planning another mom/daughter trip for early next year.

I know I mentioned doing a pre-trippie. I've never done one of those before either; so I'm a little on the fence about what trip to do it for. The one in November is pretty much planned already - have all my ADRs set. My mom, sister and her family will be meeting us down there so this will be a first - a WDW trip with relatives! But plans still will need to be made if I do the trip in February, so I may choose that one instead. Would look forward to getting some input for that because we would be celebrating Lauren's 13th birthday!

I will post a link when I decide. It will be soon though; I just need to get through this week. As I've already mentioned my older DD, Amanda is having surgery tomorrow and, because of her pre-existing medical issues, we'll probably be in ICU through Friday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers; she's such a trooper and has been through way too much in her short life already!

Thanks to all for reading! I had so much fun writing this! Because of all of you, I would certainly do it again!

 

[Camster0307]

Oh Cammie, I'm so sad, cause I know what that last day feels like! Who knows, maybe in November you'll meet a really cool DISer!

MAYBE? I'm planning on it!

 

[karajeboo]

MAYBE? I'm planning on it!

I know, me too! And I'm really looking forward to it!!!!

Great report, Cammie - I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and reliving your mother/daughter trip - makes me look forward to mine in November even more! Great job!

 

[tttessa]

Hiya Cammie -

really enjoyed the trip report, sounds like you both had a great time. I thought WL looked good - though I mistakenly added 2 of the photos of the lobby together in my head - it looked REALLY tall!!!!

Looking forward to the pre-trip - even if you already did some of it it is still good for us occasional visitors to see the planning a regular does.......

Tessa

 

[DisneyBarlans]

Cammie, best of luck on the surgery tomorrow, I'll keep Amanda in my prayers. And HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! I wish we were going the same week in November as you guys, but we'll be battling the crazy Thanksgiving week crowds. Can't wait for that November pre-trippie.....(maybe I'll get my act together and start one myself). Have a great day!

Anne

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Loved your report! What great memories for you and Lauren.

I'll be saying a prayer for Amanda (and you) tomorrow.