Losing our jobs... but still went to Disney! A Halloween 2009 TR - FINAL Update 3/1

[Simba22]

I really wish that costume shopping for adults was easier.

The costume that Lumar wants is not even AVAILABLE until 10/1. Then we still have to order it, wait for shipping, try it on and hope that it fits, otherwise return it and go from there....all in 22 days as we leave on 10/23.

My costume is not a problem...I ordered my boots the other day. They should be arriving soon. I was a little nervous at first because they have a 5 inch heel on them. But I'm only wearing them to the Halloween Party one night so I think I'll survive. I'll bring a change of clothes, just in case.

Does anyone know approximately when my DME stuff should be arriving? I can't remember if it's 40 days out or 20 days.... Not that I need another set of luggage tags....

And instead of buying new luggage this year, I decided I'm going to get a few Disney iron-on patches and give my old luggage new life. Now I just need to buy an iron....

Oooh! I forgot to tell you guys my exciting news! Well, it's not all THAT exciting. At least not yet....

At least I hope it BECOMES exciting at some point in the near future....

The animal shelter I volunteer for did a tag sale last Saturday. We had boxes of books so I stopped to look through some of them. I found a few comic books, which I pulled out of the box for Lumar.... They are actually books, with about 6 individual comics condensed into it. They are all original from the 70's and in pretty good condition. Of course, I know hardly anything about comics but Lumar said that they might be worth money so I took them home. Well, he was in the shower the other morning and I was flipping through one of the books....I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that one of them was actually autographed by the creator of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee! Again, I don't know anything about comics...but I know that a Stan Lee autographed one has the potential to be worth A LOT of money.

I'm afraid to bring them to a comic shop, as they might try to rip us off.... We're still working on a game plan. If anyone has any experience with this...or knows someone who is reliable who may be able to help us out, please let me know!

I swear, I HATE tag sales but I have found such great stuff!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

OMG that's so exciting about the comic!!! I can't believe you found that, how awesome!

 

[Simba22]

OMG that's so exciting about the comic!!! I can't believe you found that, how awesome!

I hope it ends up actually being WORTH something! Wish me luck!

 

[Simba22]

Sooooo.........


Look what came yesterday!!

36 days to go!

Oh and the boots for my costume came this past weekend...holy moly are those things enormous! I have never worn anything like them in my LIFE and I petrified that I am going to hurt someone. Of course, I also TOWER over Lumar with them on...by about 4 inches! Pray for me, people!

 

[BlueBayou]

Sooooo.........


Look what came yesterday!!

36 days to go!

Oh and the boots for my costume came this past weekend...holy moly are those things enormous! I have never worn anything like them in my LIFE and I petrified that I am going to hurt someone. Of course, I also TOWER over Lumar with them on...by about 4 inches! Pray for me, people!

Hi - enjoying your pre-trip report. Seeing this picture made me realize something.

We are headed down next month for my dream vacation with the kids. We are DL vets, but I have not been to WDW since 1976.

Anyway, when our magical express docs came - I did not realize that the Mickey Head had any significance. Ours is black with a double D. I guess they are color and letter coded for the area you are staying in. We are DD for Downtown Disney (POFQ).

So I have learned something tonight

 

[Simba22]

Hi - enjoying your pre-trip report. Seeing this picture made me realize something.

We are headed down next month for my dream vacation with the kids. We are DL vets, but I have not been to WDW since 1976.

Anyway, when our magical express docs came - I did not realize that the Mickey Head had any significance. Ours is black with a double D. I guess they are color and letter coded for the area you are staying in. We are DD for Downtown Disney (POFQ).

So I have learned something tonight

Hi Blue! Thanks for reading!

Yes, I found out the same thing the EXACT same way, actually! We have always stayed at a Values which are all in the AK area so the green Mickey with 'AK' in it, never really meant anything to me. Inn 2007, we stayed at Coronado Springs, which is ALSO in the AK area so our luggage tags looked the same. Last year, we stayed at POFQ and the tags said DD and that's when it occurred to me! If you have never stayed at FQ, you will love it! It's beautiful! I wish we could go back to a moderate but for now, I'm happy just to be going at all!.


PS - anyone know if they are still doing the "package" deal where you get the actual luggage tags and the vouchers for Planet Hollywood and the free 5 x 7 picture? Literally, what you see in the picture above is what came in my envelope. We will probably still eat at Planet Hollywood since it's kind of become a tradition, but if we don't have the discount I might consider eating somewhere else.

 

[jordanyosh]

Yes, the package does still include the Planet Hollywood voucher and the luggage tags....

Can't believe your trip is coming up so soon!!!!!

 

[Simba22]

Yes, the package does still include the Planet Hollywood voucher and the luggage tags....

Can't believe your trip is coming up so soon!!!!!

Well how come I didn't get them?

I know, we are getting so excited! 8 more days and we can finally order our costumes. I could have gotten mine already but I have a discount coupon if I buy 2 at once so I was trying to wait until Lumar's is available...


30 days to go.......

 

[jordanyosh]

Well how come I didn't get them?

I know, we are getting so excited! 8 more days and we can finally order our costumes. I could have gotten mine already but I have a discount coupon if I buy 2 at once so I was trying to wait until Lumar's is available...


30 days to go.......

I don't know where your stuff is? Is there someone to call?

 

[Simba22]

I don't know where your stuff is? Is there someone to call?

I actually got it that night...they sent it to my old address so I had to wait for it to be forwarded. It's so nicely packaged now! It's like a booklet with all of the vouchers in a coupon format!

28 days to go!

 

[Elevationist]

Oh my gosh, I kinda wish I was going to WDW The same time as you because you have such a FUN personality! I usually take the most interest in PTR/TRs that chronicle the adventures of couples around me and DBFs ages, and you have me cracking up laughing! Subbing right now! I can't wait to read more!

 

[Simba22]

Oh my gosh, I kinda wish I was going to WDW The same time as you because you have such a FUN personality! I usually take the most interest in PTR/TRs that chronicle the adventures of couples around me and DBFs ages, and you have me cracking up laughing! Subbing right now! I can't wait to read more!

Well thank you! You should check out my TR from October 2007....that was....let's just say it was an adventure.....

I wish I actually had something to update but everything is going smoothly so far.... Not even a flight number change, so far!

not counting today: 24 days!

 

[Elevationist]

How many days now, lady? I'm at 60 days to go, woo!

 

[Simba22]

So I'm officially off the clock for the week, but still at work waiting for Lumar to come and pick me up. I have a few things to share with you all...

Thing # 1:
Not counting today (cuz it's over as far as I'm concerned!): 20 days to go!!

Thing # 2:
Our work hours have FINALLY changed! I've been working the same shift for almost 4 years... 11:15am - 7:15pm. It wasn't horrendous because it gave me time to sleep in the morning...and I got an 8% differential in my paycheck for working 2nd shift. This worked out to about $200 a month.
Lumar was working 10am - 6pm since this past March. He was offered an earlier shift, as the company was in need of people who speak Spanish in the wee hours of the morning (8:30am). So he changed his shift to 8:30 - 4:30pm. Since we share a car, it made sense for me to change my shift as well... so I now work 9:30am - 5:30pm. I left that extra hour in the morning so that I could work some overtime if they offer it. If I have to be here anyway to drop off Lumar, I might as well get in some OT when I can. But staying later than I should just doesn't work for me. I tried working OT until 9pm one night and thought I was gonna pass out by 8pm. So now, we get up at 6am every day, and leave the house at 7:45am to get here for 8:30am. Let me tell you...getting up before the sun rises is just not natural. Most of you are probably thinking something along the lines of "welcome to the real world." But it's been a whole week of this new shift and my body is not adjusting well. I am so tired halfway through my day that I could literally fall asleep at my desk. And today...I started feeling signs of a cold coming on. Nothing drastic yet..just sneezing and that general feverish feeling in my face. Although I would rather get sick now than while we're in WDW. That happened on my birthday trip in 2006 and it sucked big time.


Thing # 3:
Lumar's costume was supposed to become available yesterday, October 1. We rushed home to order it, along with mine, since I had a coupon for like $30 off if we ordered 2. Lumar's costume was "Out of Stock." How is something out of stock on the very day it became IN stock? This isn't like Cher's (40th) Reunion Tour...how do you sell out of a Halloween Costume within 12 hours??

So I signed up for the email to get notified when it becomes available again. I got the email today while I was at work so on my lunch, I went online to place the order.....

wait for it.....



wait for it.....




Wouldn't ya know that now MY costume is out of stock?


So I requested the email notification again, this time for mine...and ordered Lumar's anyway. I did get 99 cent shipping though, which is better than the $4.99 they usually charge.


I also got some email today from Southwest talking about having to update my profile with all kinds of information....Full name as it appears on the Government issued ID I will be traveling with, my SS#, and my DOB. Something about TSA and new travel guidelines or some hullabaloo. I plan to do that when I get home tonight.

And let me just say that I am officially looking forward to the F & W Festival this year. We didn't do much with it when we went in 2007 but I was checking out the menu on wdwinfo.com yesterday....O M G I was like drooling at my desk.

OK people, it's 6pm and time for me to hit the road and get home for the weekend. TTFN!

 

[jordanyosh]

Sorry about the costumes....

I hope the time change at work works out for you in the long run.

You are in the teens now...won't be long now.

 

[Elevationist]

Take care of yourself lady! Take some preventative meds, and get to bed earlier if you can. I don'tk now about you, bu when I get sick, it lingers in some form for weeks and takes a while to kick it completely.

And you only got 20 says until you're at WDW!

 

[ILMICKEY]

Oh my goodness, it's almost here. I am so excited for you. Start getting some meds in you, NOW! I'm sorry about the costume issues. That stinks. I can't wait to start reading your trip report.

 

[Simba22]

Thanks for the well wishes! I was able to get some rest this weekend so I'm feeling much better! I think the new shift was just kicking my butt that first week! I started week 2 today - the alarm went off (for the first time) at 5:30am scared1, then I actually crawled outta bed at 6:15am. And don't you know, we STILL left the house late. Clearly, this issue with punctuality is something that haunts me everywhere I go.... Wait, let me backtrack....I got up at 6:15am and was outta the shower and dressed by 6:30am, at which point I woke up Lumar. Could he get outta bed and feed 8 rabbits? 3 birds? empty the dishwasher? make coffee? No. He slept until 6:30. Then he rolled outta bed at 6:35, and didn't emerge from the bathroom until 7:05am. Soo...lets jump back to us leaving late. Anyone care to venture a guess as to the CAUSE of leaving late? Anyone? Anyone?

And since he is clearly too busy to grace us with his presence here on the DIS, I can talk all the trash I want!


Any my costume is still not available, for those of you playing along at home. It's October 5. We leave in 17 days. Lumar's costume was shipped on Saturday so it should be here within a couple of days.


At some point before we leave I need to call maintenance to come fix some things here at the apartment....there is a giant crack in the wall in the shower, the bathroom closet door has magically become dislodged from the track (you know how things are in perfect working order one day, then suddenly it's broken and mysteriously there was no one home when it happened?), the bathtub is seemingly permanently clogged (3 bottles of Foaming Pipe Snake later), and the refrigerator is leaving puddles on the floor in the kitchen.

In other news, my momma bought us tickets to see Mary Poppins on Broadway on November 7! Still trying to go see The Lion King but tickets are so expensive! We got the Mary Poppins tickets for $40 for mid-mezzanine...they're usually like $80 I think, so we got a pretty good deal. No specials for TLK though....not even with the Disney Rewards Visa. Well, one thing at a time, I suppose.

Oh yeah, did I mention we're leaving in 17 days!

 

[jordanyosh]

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

And your getting very close!

Would that costume just become available already?!!!!! do you have alternate plans or have I just forgotten?

 

[ILMICKEY]

Wouldn't you know it! Lumar late because he was in the bathroom.

17 days!!!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!