Mom Needs a Do-Over! A 9/26 - 10/3 Pre-Trip Report

[mantysk8coach]

Hey everyone, and welcome to my first ever attempt at a trip report! I thought I’d start with a pre-trip report, to kill time before it is time to leave on September 26. I’m not sure I have the ability to be all that interesting, or that I write as well as others on here do, but I’ll give it a try!

My name is Melissa, and I’m a Disney veteran, this makes #11! Three of those trips were when I was younger, but since I became a “grown up” and could book my own trips, I’ve really gone nuts.

We’ve never actually been to Disney alone – meaning just myself, my husband, and our two kids. We always have family or friends tagging along, and this coming trip is no different. In previous years, we have gone with our best friend, my husbands parent’s, my dad, my aunt and cousins, grandparents, etc. This time, we are bringing my mom. She hasn’t been to Disney since 1994, before my parents divorced. We are really looking forward to reuniting her with Disney!

I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to introduce the cast of characters!

Me – Melissa (32). I’m the one who does the planning. I work part-time in healthcare marketing, and also coach figure skating if you couldn’t tell by my user name!

My husband – Patrick (31). The Disney Gene seems to be rubbing off on my husband, as he now gets almost excited as I do about planning and taking Disney trips. He is a great guy who will truly do anything if it makes me and our daughters happy. He is a surgical tech at the same hospital that I work at.

Daughter #1 – Jenna (6). This trip will be Jenna’s 4th since 2006. She loves all things Disney, especially Alice in Wonderland. She already has her Alice costume for MNSSHP, and dreams of meeting Alice and taking a spin on the teacups with her! Jenna is a thrill ride junkie, and fell in love with Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain at the ripe old age of 3. However, she “never, never, neverty-ever wants to ride Dinosaur ever again”. She is now past the 48” mark, and will be able to try Space Mountain and Rock ‘n Rollercoaster this year!

Daughter #2 – Miley (2). Yes, her name is Miley. She is not exactly named after Miley Cyrus. We liked the name, and kind of figured a few years from now, no one will remember who Miley Cyrus is, and it will just be a unique name. Anyway, Miley is a big Ariel and Tinkerbell fan. She already has her Tinkerbell costume for MNSSHP too! This will be Miley’s 2nd trip.

Jenna and Miley

Grandma Karolyn (50 something!) – Grandma Karolyn is my mom. She has been through a lot the past few years, dealing with the death of both her husband (my stepfather) and her father, only 4 ½ months apart. They both died of pancreatic cancer, which is a horrible, horrible disease. Anyway, she is thrilled to be coming with us to see Disney in the eyes of her granddaughters, and we are happy to have her!
(Need to find a good picture of Grandma later - she doesn't really like being in pictures!)

Our family during our last trip at Sci-Fi:

You may be wondering while this trip report is called “Mom needs a do over!” Our last trip, exactly a year before this one was less than magical for me. We were undergoing some major changes at work, and I was super stressed. I just couldn’t let go of the stress at work the whole time we were in Disney. Even the few months leading up to the trip, I just wasn’t even looking forward to it as much as usual, and just wasn’t excited. I had guilt about having to ask coworkers to help with a few projects while I was gone, and I worried about that. I was just stressed, and couldn’t quite let go, even at the happiest place on earth. As a result, I was crabby a lot of the time, and just wasn’t a pleasant person to be around.

This year I am determined to not let that happen. I can already tell that I am in a better frame of mind than I was a year ago, and am soooo looking forward to the trip this time! I don’t know if work has gotten better, or if I have just gotten better at dealing with it, but I am not letting anything get in the way of enjoying time at my favorite place, with my favorite people.

Up next – the details, and the other reason for this trip!

 

[mantysk8coach]

We weren’t supposed to be going on this trip. This trip, and the one last year are because of my cousin Joe, who has dreamed of doing the Disney College program, and someday becoming an Imagineer, for as long as I can remember. He had originally planned on doing the CP during the fall semester of 2009, so we booked the trip to go visit him, and see him living his dream. Well, some things got switched around with his classes, and he wasn’t able to do the CP until this fall. So, of course we didn’t cancel the trip last year, and him and his mom ended up coming with us anyway, since we were going for MNSSHP, and Joe is a HUGE Halloween junkie, and had never been to the party.

So fast forward to this year, he has actually been accepted into the college program, and we have again planned this trip to go visit him. He knows that he has been assigned to attractions, and his dream role is Haunted Mansion. He won’t find out what he gets until he arrives on September 2, so we’ll see! We never planned on going two years in a row, because we actually have a big trip planned to Disneyland next year in conjunction with a skating competition I coach at, but we couldn’t resist the temptation! We were just going to go for a long weekend, but since we talked my mom into coming, we decided to make a full trip of it, since we don’t know if we’ll ever get her to go again!

Future CM - my cousin Joe

We are staying at Pop Century from September 26 – October 3.

Next up – Day by day plans and meals!

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Hi Melissa!

Great start to your PTR! Fellow Wisconsinite here - I had to join right in! I also work for the marketing department of a healthcare organization, but I only work part-time (less stress...I was fulltime for a while).

Your girls are adorable! Sorry to hear your last trip was not quite to magical! Hope this one is much better for you!

I see you're staying at Pop this trip - have you stayed there before? We are going on our frist trip in 2 weeks and staying at Pop - it looks really cute and read lots of good things about it.

Looking forward to reading more of your plans!
Karen

 

[mantysk8coach]

Hi Melissa!

Great start to your PTR! Fellow Wisconsinite here - I had to join right in! I also work for the marketing department of a healthcare organization, but I only work part-time (less stress...I was fulltime for a while).

Your girls are adorable! Sorry to hear your last trip was not quite to magical! Hope this one is much better for you!

I see you're staying at Pop this trip - have you stayed there before? We are going on our frist trip in 2 weeks and staying at Pop - it looks really cute and read lots of good things about it.

Looking forward to reading more of your plans!
Karen

Thanks for reading! I work part-time too, about 28 hours per week, but I always say, part-time job, full-time stress! I was also full-time at one point, but went part-time after my second daughter was born.

Yes, we've stayed at Pop several times, and LOVE it! The atmosphere is just so fun. I'd love to stay at the Polynesian someday, but for now, the Pop is just perfect.

Have a great trip!

ETA - Just saw in your trip report that you are from south of Green Bay...where are you? I'm from Manitowoc. Do you work for one of the Green Bay hospitals?

 

[MommyMcQueen]

Thanks for reading! I work part-time too, about 28 hours per week, but I always say, part-time job, full-time stress! I was also full-time at one point, but went part-time after my second daughter was born.

Yes, we've stayed at Pop several times, and LOVE it! The atmosphere is just so fun. I'd love to stay at the Polynesian someday, but for now, the Pop is just perfect.

Have a great trip!

ETA - Just saw in your trip report that you are from south of Green Bay...where are you? I'm from Manitowoc. Do you work for one of the Green Bay hospitals?

Hi Melissa-

Yeah, we live just outide GB - between BG and Appleton. I work for a healthcare system out of Appleton. I"m fortunate though that I'm able to do most of my work from home (web-related) so I've been working from home the last 3 years with them...it's been awesome.

How are your trip plans coming?? Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
Karen