November 2010 or bust (or how to make the time fly)

[tarak]

Once home, I start inspecting the clams to see if any have expired on the trip from the store. Only one doesn’t shut like, well, a clam, so it goes unceremoniously into the trash. The rest take a swim in a bottle of beer at the bottom of the soup pot.
The crab cakes go into the broiler and the watermelon gets cut up, along with a pineapple that was dropped off at the house earlier this week by my MIL who doesn’t like pineapple. The Dude would happily eat his own weight in fruit for every meal, so if he hates the crab cakes, he’ll still be happy.
The only rule I really enforce in our house with respect to food is you have to try at least one bite of something. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it again, but you have to at least give it a chance. Heckle is repulsed by the clams, but eats two of them. She doesn’t like them, but gets high praise for trying them. Jeckle cries. Jeckle does not want to eat the clams, the crab cakes or anything else. She wants to be left alone to watch “Gamera the Brave.” She has watched this movie 5 times since we bought it from Amazon a week ago.

 

[tarak]

Just an aside to explain the Gamera love. Jeckle gets night terrors. At one point, she would get them a few times a week. Usually when she’s overly tired, hasn’t napped. At the advice of a friend, we started to go into her room at night a few minutes before she’d usually get one and nudge her a bit. We’ve been pretty successful at stopping the night terrors that way. When she does have one, she will cry and cry and cry unless we wake her up. I’ve read that you’re not supposed to wake someone up from a night terror. But quite frankly, it seems worse to have her sob uncontrollably for an hour when we could get her back to bed much faster. So we wake her up. We usually watch something brief on youtube (searching for things like “funny cat video”), and she goes to bed without further incident. One night, my husband found a preview for a movie called “Gamera the Brave.” Little turtle hatches, flies, breathes fire, grows up and saves Toyko. She quickly became a big fan of Gamera. After a few months of watching the preview, we finally decided to spring for the movie. I think it broke her heart a little to find out Gamera isn’t real. We might have to break the Disney mold and have a Gamera theme night.

 

[tarak]

I give her the smallest piece of clam possible. She chews for five minutes, states “not bad,” and asks for more watermelon. Well, at least she tried.
For the first game, the girls have to name 5 things you could find in the ocean or under the sea. Jeckle, unsurprisingly, names the sea turtle as one of her five things. We also play a game of “Sea Witch, May I?” and have mermaid races (in which they put a pillowcase over their legs and then crawl across the floor).
The final event before the movie screening is “fishing.” I write up a few notes to hook to the fishing lines (I managed to fix the one and bought a second so they would stop fighting over them). I also pick out a fork, a few pretzels, and put the lanyards and pins into some small bags. We then head out to the clubhouse in the back yard. The girls go up the ladder and I sit underneath. Apparently I don’t go out there nearly often enough with a broom because there are spiders EVERYWHERE. Normally, I’m not a fan of killing bugs when in the out of doors – I figure it’s their home, not mine. There are a few exceptions, of course, such as mosquitoes. Well, there are just way too many spiders and egg sacs near my head. And not one web sports a message like “Nice Pig,” or “I’m a Vegetarian,” so I vow to go out and clean up the joint in the morning. Or at least vow to send out DH to do it for me.
My DF has picked up some wonderful gifts for the girls, like a sticker book and coloring book and various candies. The fork keeps falling into the mulch and the pretzels break. We have varying degrees of success with the notes. “Sebastian says to sing a song,” for example, results not in a vocalization of “Part of your World” but a duet of the Imperial March from Star Wars. Which is sort of troubling, actually.
Heckle is jealous that Jeckle got an Arial pin and she got Ursula and Flounder. I let her swap Flounder for the Tinkerbelle pin I had in reserve. She seems excited about the swapping idea (I never would have guessed she would dislike Ursula as much as she did). Jeckle becomes irate at the idea that someone would take her pin of the Eels. I tell her she doesn’t have to trade anything if she doesn’t want to. And if they ever want to trade the pirate pins, I get right of first refusal.

 

[tarak]

To my surprise, DF has never seen the movie. At one point, she asks me a question about something coming up and Heckle says “you just have to watch and find out.” Which is what I always say to her, so it’s sort of funny but also embarrassing.
We end the evening with a discussion about our next theme. Heckle wants something more girly. Not sure if that was a comment on the Little Mermaid, or a response to my suggestion that we watch Monsters, Inc. So Cinderella it is! And we might have it coincide with the camping trip we have planned for late September. Our DHs are not fans of camping and think a stay at the Fort Wilderness Cabins would be a stay in purgatory at best, so it should be interesting.

 

[Flossbolna]

I like your party idea! It sounds like a lot of fun - even with bathroom dramas along the way!

We stayed at the Poly this January and it really is a very beautiful hotel. Being so close to the MK is wonderful. I loved sitting at the beach in the afternoon with a book and see the castle in the distance!

 

[julluvsdisney]

Just an aside to explain the Gamera love. Jeckle gets night terrors. At one point, she would get them a few times a week. Usually when she’s overly tired, hasn’t napped. At the advice of a friend, we started to go into her room at night a few minutes before she’d usually get one and nudge her a bit. We’ve been pretty successful at stopping the night terrors that way. When she does have one, she will cry and cry and cry unless we wake her up. I’ve read that you’re not supposed to wake someone up from a night terror. But quite frankly, it seems worse to have her sob uncontrollably for an hour when we could get her back to bed much faster. So we wake her up. We usually watch something brief on youtube (searching for things like “funny cat video”), and she goes to bed without further incident. One night, my husband found a preview for a movie called “Gamera the Brave.” Little turtle hatches, flies, breathes fire, grows up and saves Toyko. She quickly became a big fan of Gamera. After a few months of watching the preview, we finally decided to spring for the movie. I think it broke her heart a little to find out Gamera isn’t real. We might have to break the Disney mold and have a Gamera theme night.

I am a sleep tech and have alot of night terror patients and it is ok to wake a person up dring a night terror. its actually safer before they hurt themselves (which is common with night terrors / rem behavior patients).just wanted to help you !ps loving the ptr! we are going to WL in DEC 2010! Cant wait!!! Have you booked your room yet?

 

[tarak]

I am a sleep tech and have alot of night terror patients and it is ok to wake a person up dring a night terror. its actually safer before they hurt themselves (which is common with night terrors / rem behavior patients).just wanted to help you !ps loving the ptr! we are going to WL in DEC 2010! Cant wait!!! Have you booked your room yet?

That's good to know about the night terrors. She doesn't get them as often anymore, thank goodness.
I'm not sure whether I want to just make the room only reservation or wait until the package prices come out. I'll probably book room only in August, but it sort of depends on what's happening at my office (I work for the state and because the budget didn't pass on June 30, I'm working for no pay until they get it resolved - which is sort of stressful. I'll get paid eventually, just not sure when). I loved the WL - I thought it was so grand and beautiful. And the decorations in December are just amazing.

 

[julluvsdisney]

That's good to know about the night terrors. She doesn't get them as often anymore, thank goodness.
I'm not sure whether I want to just make the room only reservation or wait until the package prices come out. I'll probably book room only in August, but it sort of depends on what's happening at my office (I work for the state and because the budget didn't pass on June 30, I'm working for no pay until they get it resolved - which is sort of stressful. I'll get paid eventually, just not sure when). I loved the WL - I thought it was so grand and beautiful. And the decorations in December are just amazing.

I am so excited to hear about the decorations! Its my mother 50th so we figured we would go all out!! I'm sorry to hear that your not getting paid at the moment! Thats tough!! Just keep thinking about disney!! Thats what I do to when work is awful!!!

 

[FeFeMJ]

I'm so excited that I found this. My family told me I was crazy for planning our disney trip this far in advance! We're going the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2010 and staying at the Contemporary. I am dying for the prices to come out already....




Felicia

 

[tarak]

julluvsdisney - I think the decorations are great. This next trip is going to be longer because I want to add in time to just relax and enjoy the atmosphere. I think we packed in way too much the last trip. We're also going all out for the December trip - my sister and BIL will be with us and possibly his daughter (not sure if her schedule will allow it or not).

FeFeMJ - my husband thinks I'm nuts. The nice thing is having the disboards to go to so I don't drive him crazy with every question. And my good friend from work who will be joining us for this trip is the perfect sounding board as well.

Lately, my daughters have been obsessed with watching videos of Expedition Everest on youtube. Neither of them want to go on it - Jeckle hates roller coasters and Heckle thinks it might be too much for her. But they love watching the video for some reason. Of course, Jeckle is currently obsessed with Japanese monster movies, so it's possible the Yeti just ties in with that.

 

[karenwwu]

I am lurking but had to say hello since we are tentatively booked at the Poly that first full week in December 2010! Can't wait. Thoroughly enjoying your PTR. Okay, back to lurking....

 

[tarak]

I am lurking but had to say hello since we are tentatively booked at the Poly that first full week in December 2010! Can't wait. Thoroughly enjoying your PTR. Okay, back to lurking....

Hi, there! I have the first part of this trip booked (two nights at AKL to take the Sunrise Safari). We'll be eating at Ohana for the trip we're taking in September and I'm looking forward to seeing the Poly again. I keep thinking of adding days to our trip next year and wondering how many I can add before DH starts to protest.

 

[tarak]

Okay - this poor trip report has been sadly neglected. I'm almost done with my trip report from this past month, so I thought I'd start back with this one.

So we're now heading to WDW the Friday after Thanksgiving, so I'll have to change the title of this thread. So we're now staying at AKL for three nights and then the Poly for 6.

My SIL has a plan to have Thanksgiving down in Florida (we have a place to stay at in Lakeland if we want to) and then spend the three nights together at AKL. We already have the three nights booked. I mentioned the possibility of Thanksgiving travel to DH and he thinks we're both insane. My MIL also thought it would be nuts. But my FIL was actually supportive of the idea. We have plenty of time to work on them, but I'm somewhat optimistic that it might actually happen! For us, it's a matter of leaving a few days earlier. Our school district is closed the Monday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after, so the kids won't be missing any more time. We'll see how it goes.