jillyb
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,437
Its been almost two years since our first trip to WDW. Ive been chomping at the bit ever since we got back! Clay and I originally planned on going for our anniversary November 2009 but it quickly became apparent that we just couldnt afford it. Then I suggested that we go for Thanksgiving 2010 since we would have Alison for Thanksgiving. Clay was agreeable with that idea so I read others trip reports, bought some planning books and pined for a return to my happy place.
April 6, 2009 was a life changing day. At the end of that day I was informed by my supervisor that the position Id had for eight years was being eliminated. I wasnt too surprised because Id seen this day coming for the past year. I just didnt know when it would happen. Surprisingly, I wasnt even upset about it. I loved the job and there were people I was going to miss but that was all. I was given a very good severance package so that probably helped numb the sting a bit! That Spring and Summer were so nice. I really enjoyed the time with Hannah and she was enjoying having Mommy around. I had interviews but wasnt getting job offers. It was still early days so I wasnt too concerned. Plus, knowing the economy was tanking, I knew it wasnt going to be as easy as in the past.
The end of the year came and went and by now I was starting to get a bit worried. I was seeing more job postings in my field but I wasnt getting the interviews like before. Clay hadnt said anything about my lack of employment but as the months passed and it was getting closer and closer to the expiration of my unemployment benefits he began expressing concerns, which only made me worry even more. There would be no WDW trip this year for sure if we ended up losing everything because I didnt have a job. I was beginning to feel like not only would I not be able to get a job but wed never be able to go back to WDW. I was trying hard not to get in a funk but it was getting harder and harder each passing day.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted that she was leaving her job. A job thats in my field. (Let me explain the quotes: Im a member of a local Moms group. Its an online community with message boards. They also do things like play dates, Mothers Night Out and other special events. Just like Ive not met any of you in real life, Id never met this Mom.) When I saw her post I immediately sent her a PM telling her I was interested in the job and asked for some more information. She told me about the job and I was interested in pursuing it. I e-mailed my resume to her boss and then waited. A week went by and I didnt hear anything. Then my friend posted that her boss had been on vacation all week. OK that explains why I hadnt heard anything so I figured Id follow up after he got back from vacation.
On Tuesday I was out of the house until later in the afternoon. When I got home I had a voice mail from my friends boss saying hed like to speak with me about the position. Yay!!!! My friend had also sent me a PM telling me that shed made him look at my resume and that hed tried to call me. When I called back he was with a client so I left him a voice mail. He called me back and we talked awhile. He then said he was interested in meeting with me and asked if I could come in on Wednesday for an interview. The interview was set up for Wednesday morning and when I got off the phone with him I had a very good feeling about the job. The interview went well and by the time it was over I was offered, and accepted, the job. My first day was Friday!
Its a big pay cut but its a job. So of course the first thing I thought about was a Thanksgiving trip to WDW!
On Thursday, I signed us up for GAD. The e-mail response I got from the organization we were helping said to hurry and do Step 2 ASAP because Disney was at 90%. What???!!!!
I got us a date and time for Saturday and got a response back from the organization that they had our information. Then I started reading posts on here and on TGM that Disney was ending the promotion on Friday. Whew! Just made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin! That night, I told Clay that wed need to do some shopping on Friday to buy items to donate to this organization. He said OK and left it at that. I told him there was a reason why we were doing this and when I told him what that reason was he immediately said Were not going to Disney this year! Ugh! 
OK
its early yet. I figure Ive got plenty of time to work on him! I don't remember how the subject came up, but as I was cooking supper Friday night the subject of going to Disney was brought up and Clay said In February. I said How about November? We were talking about going for Thanksgiving this year. He said That would work. Yay!!!!!!!!!!! We chit-chatted about it for bit and then that was it. After supper, the girls and I went to Target and got our items to donate.
Saturday morning we dropped off our donations and now anxiously waiting to see if well get a voucher. And, while it would be nice to have the free day or special fastpasses, Im not going to be upset if we dont get them. We still did a good thing and I hope the girls learned a lesson today in helping others. There but by the grace of God go I ya know? Then Hannah had cheer practice from 12:00-3:00. At 5:00 she left to go to church with a friend and she also spent the night with her. We have Alison this weekend and Clay wanted to go see The Lightning Thief. I had no interest in seeing it; plus, weve got tickets to see Alice in Wonderland this afternoon. We went out to eat and I dropped Clay and Alison off at the movie and I drove to the nearby Starbucks with a book. I finished the book and walked to the mall, which is right beside the Starbucks. I went in to Borders and bought my very first PassPorter. Picked Clay and Alison up after the movie and they wanted to go to Starbucks. I took my new book in with me and when Clay saw it he says Youre a Disney crack addict.
He gets his coffee, sits down and says Let me see that book and proceeds to look through it. Yeah
who you callin a Disney crack addict?! Of course Alison has to check it out too and then we begin to talk about going to WDW for Thanksgiving.
Clay has told me that even though were getting a really good tax refund this year that we wont be using it to go to WDW. There are things that need to be done around the house and my van needs some work so well need to use that money for those things; and save some if we can. IF we go to WDW well have to save up for it. OK Im on board for that. The girls will have to miss two days of school but Im not too worried about that. Im sure they wont be doing much of anything those two days anyway. As I told Clay there only obstacle (other than money) would be Alisons Mom. I want to be there November 20-27. The first problem is that the weekend of the 19th is Alisons weekend with her Mom so Clay would have to talk to her about that and two she may make the excuse that Alison cant miss two days of school. Now, if she and her DH wanted to take Alison out of school it wouldnt be an issue but if Clay wants to do it then its the end of the world. So, well have to see how that plays out. Weve told Alison not to say anything to her Mom about us going to WDW; not because were trying to keep it a secret but because we dont know if were even going. Im debating on whether to let the school know about the trip and getting permission for the girls to be out those two days or just take the days and send in a note. I know this is a hotly debated subject and I dont know how Im going to handle it just yet. We have expressed to the girls our feelings on their education and how important it is. On the other hand, though, two days isnt going to make or break it for them.
On the drive home we talked about things on our must do list. Alison said Dinoland was on her must do list; no particular ride just the area in general. She won a stuffed dinosaur at one of the games last time we were there so maybe that has something to do with it! Space Mountain is also on her must do. Clays must do was: Expedition Everest (Alison added this one! It was down on our AK day and they didnt get to ride it. We ended up giving away their fastpasses for it), Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean (it was closed for refurb when we were there in 2008). My must do was: Haunted Mansion, Mickeys Philharmagic, BTMRR (I didnt get to ride this in 2008), Dinosaur and Test Track. Alison said she didnt want to do Spaceship Earth (what???!!!) or the princess meal. We went to 1900 Park Fare for Hannahs birthday and saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremain and the Stepsisters. Alison will be 13 when/if we go at Thanksgiving so shes way past the princess stage. I told her that Id read the breakfast was really cool so that may be something we do. Clay has requested that we not go, go go. I dont feel like we did that last time but apparently he did so Ill have to keep that in mind when doing our itinerary.
Clay has also said that this time instead of stopping on the way down that he wants to drive through the night. He said he felt more tired from stopping and spending the night and then getting there around 3:00 than he would have if we had just kept going. Coming home it took us about 10 hours because of stops for bathroom breaks, meals and filling the van up with gas. If we drive through the night the girls will be asleep so that should cut down on the number of stops. Clay figures that realistically it would be about 8:00 pm on Friday the 19th before we got on the road and, if it takes us 10 hours to get there it will put us getting to the World around 6:00 am 7:00 am at the latest on the 20th. Hopefully well be able to check in, get a few hours of sleep and then hit whatever green park there is for the day. We went to Epcot in the evening for our first day in 2008 and Clay said that he really liked that as we didnt really do a whole lot other than just look around and check things out.
So the big question is: will we stay or will we go? Time will tell!
April 6, 2009 was a life changing day. At the end of that day I was informed by my supervisor that the position Id had for eight years was being eliminated. I wasnt too surprised because Id seen this day coming for the past year. I just didnt know when it would happen. Surprisingly, I wasnt even upset about it. I loved the job and there were people I was going to miss but that was all. I was given a very good severance package so that probably helped numb the sting a bit! That Spring and Summer were so nice. I really enjoyed the time with Hannah and she was enjoying having Mommy around. I had interviews but wasnt getting job offers. It was still early days so I wasnt too concerned. Plus, knowing the economy was tanking, I knew it wasnt going to be as easy as in the past.
The end of the year came and went and by now I was starting to get a bit worried. I was seeing more job postings in my field but I wasnt getting the interviews like before. Clay hadnt said anything about my lack of employment but as the months passed and it was getting closer and closer to the expiration of my unemployment benefits he began expressing concerns, which only made me worry even more. There would be no WDW trip this year for sure if we ended up losing everything because I didnt have a job. I was beginning to feel like not only would I not be able to get a job but wed never be able to go back to WDW. I was trying hard not to get in a funk but it was getting harder and harder each passing day.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted that she was leaving her job. A job thats in my field. (Let me explain the quotes: Im a member of a local Moms group. Its an online community with message boards. They also do things like play dates, Mothers Night Out and other special events. Just like Ive not met any of you in real life, Id never met this Mom.) When I saw her post I immediately sent her a PM telling her I was interested in the job and asked for some more information. She told me about the job and I was interested in pursuing it. I e-mailed my resume to her boss and then waited. A week went by and I didnt hear anything. Then my friend posted that her boss had been on vacation all week. OK that explains why I hadnt heard anything so I figured Id follow up after he got back from vacation.
On Tuesday I was out of the house until later in the afternoon. When I got home I had a voice mail from my friends boss saying hed like to speak with me about the position. Yay!!!! My friend had also sent me a PM telling me that shed made him look at my resume and that hed tried to call me. When I called back he was with a client so I left him a voice mail. He called me back and we talked awhile. He then said he was interested in meeting with me and asked if I could come in on Wednesday for an interview. The interview was set up for Wednesday morning and when I got off the phone with him I had a very good feeling about the job. The interview went well and by the time it was over I was offered, and accepted, the job. My first day was Friday!
Its a big pay cut but its a job. So of course the first thing I thought about was a Thanksgiving trip to WDW! On Thursday, I signed us up for GAD. The e-mail response I got from the organization we were helping said to hurry and do Step 2 ASAP because Disney was at 90%. What???!!!!
I got us a date and time for Saturday and got a response back from the organization that they had our information. Then I started reading posts on here and on TGM that Disney was ending the promotion on Friday. Whew! Just made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin! That night, I told Clay that wed need to do some shopping on Friday to buy items to donate to this organization. He said OK and left it at that. I told him there was a reason why we were doing this and when I told him what that reason was he immediately said Were not going to Disney this year! Ugh! OK
its early yet. I figure Ive got plenty of time to work on him! I don't remember how the subject came up, but as I was cooking supper Friday night the subject of going to Disney was brought up and Clay said In February. I said How about November? We were talking about going for Thanksgiving this year. He said That would work. Yay!!!!!!!!!!! We chit-chatted about it for bit and then that was it. After supper, the girls and I went to Target and got our items to donate.Saturday morning we dropped off our donations and now anxiously waiting to see if well get a voucher. And, while it would be nice to have the free day or special fastpasses, Im not going to be upset if we dont get them. We still did a good thing and I hope the girls learned a lesson today in helping others. There but by the grace of God go I ya know? Then Hannah had cheer practice from 12:00-3:00. At 5:00 she left to go to church with a friend and she also spent the night with her. We have Alison this weekend and Clay wanted to go see The Lightning Thief. I had no interest in seeing it; plus, weve got tickets to see Alice in Wonderland this afternoon. We went out to eat and I dropped Clay and Alison off at the movie and I drove to the nearby Starbucks with a book. I finished the book and walked to the mall, which is right beside the Starbucks. I went in to Borders and bought my very first PassPorter. Picked Clay and Alison up after the movie and they wanted to go to Starbucks. I took my new book in with me and when Clay saw it he says Youre a Disney crack addict.
He gets his coffee, sits down and says Let me see that book and proceeds to look through it. Yeah
who you callin a Disney crack addict?! Of course Alison has to check it out too and then we begin to talk about going to WDW for Thanksgiving.Clay has told me that even though were getting a really good tax refund this year that we wont be using it to go to WDW. There are things that need to be done around the house and my van needs some work so well need to use that money for those things; and save some if we can. IF we go to WDW well have to save up for it. OK Im on board for that. The girls will have to miss two days of school but Im not too worried about that. Im sure they wont be doing much of anything those two days anyway. As I told Clay there only obstacle (other than money) would be Alisons Mom. I want to be there November 20-27. The first problem is that the weekend of the 19th is Alisons weekend with her Mom so Clay would have to talk to her about that and two she may make the excuse that Alison cant miss two days of school. Now, if she and her DH wanted to take Alison out of school it wouldnt be an issue but if Clay wants to do it then its the end of the world. So, well have to see how that plays out. Weve told Alison not to say anything to her Mom about us going to WDW; not because were trying to keep it a secret but because we dont know if were even going. Im debating on whether to let the school know about the trip and getting permission for the girls to be out those two days or just take the days and send in a note. I know this is a hotly debated subject and I dont know how Im going to handle it just yet. We have expressed to the girls our feelings on their education and how important it is. On the other hand, though, two days isnt going to make or break it for them.
On the drive home we talked about things on our must do list. Alison said Dinoland was on her must do list; no particular ride just the area in general. She won a stuffed dinosaur at one of the games last time we were there so maybe that has something to do with it! Space Mountain is also on her must do. Clays must do was: Expedition Everest (Alison added this one! It was down on our AK day and they didnt get to ride it. We ended up giving away their fastpasses for it), Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean (it was closed for refurb when we were there in 2008). My must do was: Haunted Mansion, Mickeys Philharmagic, BTMRR (I didnt get to ride this in 2008), Dinosaur and Test Track. Alison said she didnt want to do Spaceship Earth (what???!!!) or the princess meal. We went to 1900 Park Fare for Hannahs birthday and saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremain and the Stepsisters. Alison will be 13 when/if we go at Thanksgiving so shes way past the princess stage. I told her that Id read the breakfast was really cool so that may be something we do. Clay has requested that we not go, go go.
I dont feel like we did that last time but apparently he did so Ill have to keep that in mind when doing our itinerary.Clay has also said that this time instead of stopping on the way down that he wants to drive through the night. He said he felt more tired from stopping and spending the night and then getting there around 3:00 than he would have if we had just kept going. Coming home it took us about 10 hours because of stops for bathroom breaks, meals and filling the van up with gas. If we drive through the night the girls will be asleep so that should cut down on the number of stops. Clay figures that realistically it would be about 8:00 pm on Friday the 19th before we got on the road and, if it takes us 10 hours to get there it will put us getting to the World around 6:00 am 7:00 am at the latest on the 20th. Hopefully well be able to check in, get a few hours of sleep and then hit whatever green park there is for the day. We went to Epcot in the evening for our first day in 2008 and Clay said that he really liked that as we didnt really do a whole lot other than just look around and check things out.
So the big question is: will we stay or will we go? Time will tell!
Truely the most magical place on earth!
It kind of hurt my feelings. Tonight he told me he was telling one of his co-workers about it and he got a good laugh out of it too. Apparently the spreadsheet I'm using is exactly like one they use for projects so they know where they are and what needs to be done next. I guess that's what he found so funny about my spreadsheet. It still hurt my feelings though. Men...pfffttttt.
Thanks for joining in!
If she is then she'll definitely be on the list!
