Mickey4Me
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 169
Cast: Me - 45 yr. old lover of all things Disney
DH - 47 yr. old lover of most things Disney
Dates: Nov. 14-18
Since it's been almost 2 wks since our return, I thought I'd write a quick (?) report of our mini trip before the details fade away.
A little background (OK, after re-reading this A LOT of background) - It's been a very eventful past year and a half for DH and I and this trip was much needed. In April of 2001 I left my job of 15 yrs after reading the handwriting on the wall and knowing that the company's days were numbered. In May, DH had unexpected triple heart bypass surgery and my new "job" became helping him recover and adjust to a new lifestyle (aka a healthier one). Our DD graduated from HS that June and to celebrate, we took her and a friend on a 7 day cruise aboard the Magic over July 4th.
The trip was wonderful and DH had fully recovered by the time we set sail. After the cruise we spent a few days at DVC in Vero before heading back to PA. Since the girls had just been to Disney for their Senior trip in June, we didn't spend any time at WDW. I was fine with that because I knew we'd probably be back in the fall.
A few months after we returned home, I got a call from a recruiter about a job. At the time, I wasn't actively looking for one and was content to help DH with his business and just enjoy having some time to do other things. He was persistant and so I agreed to the initial interview. Well... 4 interviews later I had a very nice job offer that I really couldn't refuse. It would eventually involve a relocation, but since our only child was in college and DH's business was portable, we were ready to make a move. It did involve some extensive training so I made a temp move to DC and was home only on wkends. This lasted from Nov until June when I was permenantly relocated to Atlanta. DH and I were both thrilled as we had wanted to head south for several years. I was raised in AL and my family is still there so it was great that we were finally going to be close to them. DD was not happy as Atlanta was too far for her to come home on wkends, but oh well...
So this past August we bought the house of our dreams, and moved to Atlanta. It was great to finally have my "stuff" back after 9mos of living in Homewood Suites! Of course we did not overlook the obvious beni of the move which was that we were now closer to Orlando
It wasn't until after we had semi unpacked and gotten settled that we realized we had not had a vacation in over a year and it had been almost 3 since we had been to WDW
Since DH's b'day was on Veterans day, I decided that it was time for a little "magic" and started to plan a mini trip to see that mouse. I was spending a lot of time at work and DH was pretty tied up with establishing a new client base, so we could only manage a 4 day weekend but at least it was better than none! Since we are DVC members and had some points left in our use year, I called MS to see what was available. All we really needed was a studio but when I realized our planned trip was during the last weekend of the F&W festival, I was not confident we could get last min. ressies. As it turned out, I did have a choice of a studio @ OKW or a 1 bedroom @ BWV. DH had wanted to go back to BWV, but the points for the 1 bed for 3 nights were 118 vs only 50 for the studio @ OKW. Neither of us could justify using that many points for a mini vacation, so we chose OKW. I was more than pleased as this is one of my favorites!
So a month and several priority seatings later, we were finally ready to leave. We set off about 10AM on Friday after giving the traffic some time to die down (man the driving is brutal around here!), dropped the Madie dog off @ the pet spa
and we were off. For some reason, I thought Orlando was much closer to Atlanta that it is. Seems like it should be closer than 7 hrs, but I guess it's still closer than it was in PA.
The drive down was pretty uneventful and we passed the time by sleeping (me) and reading billboards (DH). We did see one that left both of us scratching our heads - "Saturday is the Lord's Day. Sunday Laws = Mark of the Beast" Huh????? I don't get it. Anyway after a stop for a late lunch @ Cracker Barrell and many more billboards later, we found ourselves driving under the Disney arches with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy waving us welcome!
DH and I both looked at each other and couldn't help but grin I don't know what it is about that entrance, but it really lifts my spirit and I feel my whole body relax every time we pass underneath.
Arrived @ OKW about 6:30 and rec'd our Welcome Home from the guard @ the gate (which also makes me grin like an idiot) and proceeded to check in. I hadn't made any special room requests other than a studio, so when the CM pointed out 1910 on the map, it seemed like a good location to me. We pulled up and parked out front of our unit (another reason I love OKW) and unloaded our stuff into the room. The room was very nice and spacious with 2 queen sized beds, fridge, micro and mini kitchen area. I opened the door to the patio and that's when I realized that we were right across from the bus stop and within spitting distance of the street Hmmm, going to have to be careful about what state of dress or undress we're in if we decide to sit on the patio. Oh well, I hadn't counted on using it much anyway.
After checking out the room and the disney info channel(s) (they really need to make a new DVC video) we decided to head out to the Marketplace to check out some of the new shops. We walked across the street to the bus stop and only had to wait about 5 min for a bus to DTD. Once we got there, our first stop was the Scrapbook store. Not a whole lot of stuff here, but I did pick up a really cute mickey ear punch (not the whole head, just the ears) Way too cute and I can't wait to use it. From there we sort of meandered our way down in the direction of the Basin stopping here and there to check everything out. We stopped at the pin shop and I got about 3 of the Veterans Day pins as they had the date on them which was also DH's b'day. After several more stops (including one expensive one in the Basin store) we decided we were hungry and needed to get something to eat. We headed to Wolfgangs, but the line was long and since we didn't feel like waiting we decided to head back to the resort and get something there. Again, we lucked out and the bus pulled up to our stop right as we arrived. We hopped on and enjoyed the short ride back to OKW. We decided to grab some food from Goods to Go and take it back to the room as we were both feeling a little tired. We both ordered a cheeseburger and fries (so much for our "healthy eating") and I also got a Mickey bar. I had been thinking about these things all the way down and my mouth was literally watering when I ordered it. The girl behind the counter must have sensed my anticipation (or seen my drooling) and asked if we wanted the Mickey bar while the burgers cooked. Ah, Yeah!!!! I really like the way she thinks! So I happily munched on my Mickey, while DH gave DD a call. When she answered he asked her "guess where we are?" and when he told her where, I could hear her screams from where I was standing. She was really bummed that she couldn't be there with us, but we told her that we were planning on a longer trip that she would definitely be included on.
We hung up with her, got our food and made the short walk to our villa. Ahhhh, it was good to settle in and just relax. The burgers were great and really hit the spot. We turned on the TV and about that time (9:30 PM), the kid upstairs decided to start bouncing a ball above us. Sounded like a bowling ball to me, but DH said it was more like a basketball. He kept it up for about an hour and then it stopped. We decided to turn in but didn't leave a wake up call as our plan for the following day was a leisurely lunch at Alfedo's and a visit to Epcot.
More to follow...
DH - 47 yr. old lover of most things Disney
Dates: Nov. 14-18
Since it's been almost 2 wks since our return, I thought I'd write a quick (?) report of our mini trip before the details fade away.
A little background (OK, after re-reading this A LOT of background) - It's been a very eventful past year and a half for DH and I and this trip was much needed. In April of 2001 I left my job of 15 yrs after reading the handwriting on the wall and knowing that the company's days were numbered. In May, DH had unexpected triple heart bypass surgery and my new "job" became helping him recover and adjust to a new lifestyle (aka a healthier one). Our DD graduated from HS that June and to celebrate, we took her and a friend on a 7 day cruise aboard the Magic over July 4th.
The trip was wonderful and DH had fully recovered by the time we set sail. After the cruise we spent a few days at DVC in Vero before heading back to PA. Since the girls had just been to Disney for their Senior trip in June, we didn't spend any time at WDW. I was fine with that because I knew we'd probably be back in the fall. A few months after we returned home, I got a call from a recruiter about a job. At the time, I wasn't actively looking for one and was content to help DH with his business and just enjoy having some time to do other things. He was persistant and so I agreed to the initial interview. Well... 4 interviews later I had a very nice job offer that I really couldn't refuse. It would eventually involve a relocation, but since our only child was in college and DH's business was portable, we were ready to make a move. It did involve some extensive training so I made a temp move to DC and was home only on wkends. This lasted from Nov until June when I was permenantly relocated to Atlanta. DH and I were both thrilled as we had wanted to head south for several years. I was raised in AL and my family is still there so it was great that we were finally going to be close to them. DD was not happy as Atlanta was too far for her to come home on wkends, but oh well...
So this past August we bought the house of our dreams, and moved to Atlanta. It was great to finally have my "stuff" back after 9mos of living in Homewood Suites! Of course we did not overlook the obvious beni of the move which was that we were now closer to Orlando
It wasn't until after we had semi unpacked and gotten settled that we realized we had not had a vacation in over a year and it had been almost 3 since we had been to WDW Since DH's b'day was on Veterans day, I decided that it was time for a little "magic" and started to plan a mini trip to see that mouse. I was spending a lot of time at work and DH was pretty tied up with establishing a new client base, so we could only manage a 4 day weekend but at least it was better than none! Since we are DVC members and had some points left in our use year, I called MS to see what was available. All we really needed was a studio but when I realized our planned trip was during the last weekend of the F&W festival, I was not confident we could get last min. ressies. As it turned out, I did have a choice of a studio @ OKW or a 1 bedroom @ BWV. DH had wanted to go back to BWV, but the points for the 1 bed for 3 nights were 118 vs only 50 for the studio @ OKW. Neither of us could justify using that many points for a mini vacation, so we chose OKW. I was more than pleased as this is one of my favorites!
So a month and several priority seatings later, we were finally ready to leave. We set off about 10AM on Friday after giving the traffic some time to die down (man the driving is brutal around here!), dropped the Madie dog off @ the pet spa
and we were off. For some reason, I thought Orlando was much closer to Atlanta that it is. Seems like it should be closer than 7 hrs, but I guess it's still closer than it was in PA. The drive down was pretty uneventful and we passed the time by sleeping (me) and reading billboards (DH). We did see one that left both of us scratching our heads - "Saturday is the Lord's Day. Sunday Laws = Mark of the Beast" Huh????? I don't get it. Anyway after a stop for a late lunch @ Cracker Barrell and many more billboards later, we found ourselves driving under the Disney arches with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy waving us welcome! DH and I both looked at each other and couldn't help but grin I don't know what it is about that entrance, but it really lifts my spirit and I feel my whole body relax every time we pass underneath. Arrived @ OKW about 6:30 and rec'd our Welcome Home from the guard @ the gate (which also makes me grin like an idiot) and proceeded to check in. I hadn't made any special room requests other than a studio, so when the CM pointed out 1910 on the map, it seemed like a good location to me. We pulled up and parked out front of our unit (another reason I love OKW) and unloaded our stuff into the room. The room was very nice and spacious with 2 queen sized beds, fridge, micro and mini kitchen area. I opened the door to the patio and that's when I realized that we were right across from the bus stop and within spitting distance of the street
Hmmm, going to have to be careful about what state of dress or undress we're in if we decide to sit on the patio. Oh well, I hadn't counted on using it much anyway. After checking out the room and the disney info channel(s) (they really need to make a new DVC video) we decided to head out to the Marketplace to check out some of the new shops. We walked across the street to the bus stop and only had to wait about 5 min for a bus to DTD. Once we got there, our first stop was the Scrapbook store. Not a whole lot of stuff here, but I did pick up a really cute mickey ear punch (not the whole head, just the ears) Way too cute and I can't wait to use it. From there we sort of meandered our way down in the direction of the Basin stopping here and there to check everything out. We stopped at the pin shop and I got about 3 of the Veterans Day pins as they had the date on them which was also DH's b'day. After several more stops (including one expensive one in the Basin store) we decided we were hungry and needed to get something to eat. We headed to Wolfgangs, but the line was long and since we didn't feel like waiting we decided to head back to the resort and get something there. Again, we lucked out and the bus pulled up to our stop right as we arrived. We hopped on and enjoyed the short ride back to OKW. We decided to grab some food from Goods to Go and take it back to the room as we were both feeling a little tired. We both ordered a cheeseburger and fries (so much for our "healthy eating") and I also got a Mickey bar. I had been thinking about these things all the way down and my mouth was literally watering when I ordered it. The girl behind the counter must have sensed my anticipation (or seen my drooling) and asked if we wanted the Mickey bar while the burgers cooked. Ah, Yeah!!!! I really like the way she thinks! So I happily munched on my Mickey, while DH gave DD a call. When she answered he asked her "guess where we are?" and when he told her where, I could hear her screams from where I was standing. She was really bummed that she couldn't be there with us, but we told her that we were planning on a longer trip that she would definitely be included on.
We hung up with her, got our food and made the short walk to our villa. Ahhhh, it was good to settle in and just relax. The burgers were great and really hit the spot. We turned on the TV and about that time (9:30 PM), the kid upstairs decided to start bouncing a ball above us. Sounded like a bowling ball to me, but DH said it was more like a basketball. He kept it up for about an hour and then it stopped. We decided to turn in but didn't leave a wake up call as our plan for the following day was a leisurely lunch at Alfedo's and a visit to Epcot.
More to follow...
