Oh, has it Been Raining? No, this is Just Sweat. Sept/Oct 2022 Trip Report! (Updated 9/16!!)

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Hello everyone! I just realized I never posted the last part of this TR, so I'll be working on getting that up this weekend. Sorry about that, been preoccupied with life!

In other news, less than two weeks until DISNEY!!!!! EEEK!!! I started pre-packing, basically putting together my list, and pulling all the non-regular life stuff I only really use in Disney (gift cards, Mickey sunglasses, magic bands, ears, etc) and getting that into my bags. Also spent a lot of time trying to find stuff I don't use often, like some swimsuits, which I still can't find, but I have time to figure out where I put them after the last trip!

Also, I'm not sure if I've mentioned much about this previously, but if you recall my mom fell down the stairs back in July and ended up breaking two bones in her leg and needed surgery to put plates in to realign them and get them healed properly. Well, her cast came off about two weeks ago, and since then she's been going to PT and making great progress, but it's really starting to look like she may not be able to do a whole lot of walking in Disney. She can walk a bit, but definitely not all day. So we're looking into renting wheelchairs during the day so she doesn't need to be on her feet all the time. We've never had to use a wheelchair before, so this will be an experience!

I just hope they have wheelchairs available throughout the day, she doesn't want to rent one for the whole trip from an outside company since she wants to start the day walking and then just get one at the park once she starts getting tired, so we'll see how this goes! I did convince her the morning of MNSSHP to use a wheelchair so she's fresh for the party and hopefully can make it without needing one!

Alight, that is about it for real life updates today, need to get back to work. Hope everyone has a great day!​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hurrah for less than two weeks!! So happy to hear your mom is making progress with PT. I think the wheelchair is a smart idea to ensure she doesn't over-do it and is still able to enjoy herself. I've never rented one but the disABILITIES forum might be a good place to ask as to whether planning to rent mid-day is a good idea. Still hoping stars might align so we could potentially say hi this trip. Fingers crossed!

 

[KPeterso]

Hello everyone! I just realized I never posted the last part of this TR, so I'll be working on getting that up this weekend. Sorry about that, been preoccupied with life!

In other news, less than two weeks until DISNEY!!!!! EEEK!!! I started pre-packing, basically putting together my list, and pulling all the non-regular life stuff I only really use in Disney (gift cards, Mickey sunglasses, magic bands, ears, etc) and getting that into my bags. Also spent a lot of time trying to find stuff I don't use often, like some swimsuits, which I still can't find, but I have time to figure out where I put them after the last trip!

Also, I'm not sure if I've mentioned much about this previously, but if you recall my mom fell down the stairs back in July and ended up breaking two bones in her leg and needed surgery to put plates in to realign them and get them healed properly. Well, her cast came off about two weeks ago, and since then she's been going to PT and making great progress, but it's really starting to look like she may not be able to do a whole lot of walking in Disney. She can walk a bit, but definitely not all day. So we're looking into renting wheelchairs during the day so she doesn't need to be on her feet all the time. We've never had to use a wheelchair before, so this will be an experience!

I just hope they have wheelchairs available throughout the day, she doesn't want to rent one for the whole trip from an outside company since she wants to start the day walking and then just get one at the park once she starts getting tired, so we'll see how this goes! I did convince her the morning of MNSSHP to use a wheelchair so she's fresh for the party and hopefully can make it without needing one!

Alight, that is about it for real life updates today, need to get back to work. Hope everyone has a great day!​

Glad to see this update. We are one week from leaving. Looking forward to my vacation. I am not always sure if they always have the wheelchairs all day. But you could always rent one early and then push it empty. Can also give her something to hold onto when walking for additional stability. Or rent one from an offsite place (we love Gold Mobility) and leave it in the room in the mornings and then bring with you later in the day. Will help with the walk back late at night. We bring our manual one for my Mom on our trips for the airport (and sometimes Disney Springs) and also rent a scooter from Gold Mobility for the parks. Best of all worlds for us.

 

[VAtink]

Hurrah for less than two weeks!! So happy to hear your mom is making progress with PT. I think the wheelchair is a smart idea to ensure she doesn't over-do it and is still able to enjoy herself. I've never rented one but the disABILITIES forum might be a good place to ask as to whether planning to rent mid-day is a good idea. Still hoping stars might align so we could potentially say hi this trip. Fingers crossed!

I'm so excited! I can't believe how close the trip is!

Yeah, the wheelchair just seems like a good idea. My mom isn't 100% on board with it, but I keep reminding her we typically walk something like over 20,000 steps a day at Disney, and currently she's only going for 30 minute walks, which isn't quite hitting that step count! So we're going to see how she's doing each day and make a game time decision if we get one.

Oh yes, it you're there that weekend it would be so fun to meet up!

 

[VAtink]

Glad to see this update. We are one week from leaving. Looking forward to my vacation. I am not always sure if they always have the wheelchairs all day. But you could always rent one early and then push it empty. Can also give her something to hold onto when walking for additional stability. Or rent one from an offsite place (we love Gold Mobility) and leave it in the room in the mornings and then bring with you later in the day. Will help with the walk back late at night. We bring our manual one for my Mom on our trips for the airport (and sometimes Disney Springs) and also rent a scooter from Gold Mobility for the parks. Best of all worlds for us.

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

Thanks for the ideas for the wheelchair, I actually like the idea of having one for her to use as extra support just walking around. From what I've read on the disabilities boards, wheelchairs aren't too hard to come by during the day, but it is definitely a concern if she's really going to need one. I'll look into getting one from an outside company just to have in case, thanks for the recommendation on company!

 

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Ok, so another quick RL update, but I promise I'm getting the final chapter of this TR done this weekend!

So I'm sure many of you have seen all the announcements today, which, many were meh, but I have to say I am SO excited the OG Soarin' is coming back during our trip! I love that one so much more than the current, it'll be great to see it again!

Also, why oh why does Disney keep premiering new fireworks show's while we're down there? Like we don't go down there ALL that often, usually just once a year. But so far we've been there for the changeover from Wishes to HEA, Illuminations to Epcot Forever, and now Epcot forever to Luminous. What are the chances? It's not like its the same dates either, or even months, we're talking May, October, and December (and we *just* missed EF to Harmonious by a few days). I'm starting to think Disney is purposefully trying to increase crowds the weeks that we go!

So fingers crossed the new show doesn't increase the Epcot crowds too much, it'll be my dad's first trip back in a decade, and he HATES crowds (although does anyone love crowds?), so we were hoping for a less crazy week. Oh well, if it's nuts I guess we'll just spend more time hanging out at the hotel or the club level lounges.

Alright, that's it for tonight, hope everyone has a great weekend, and I will work on getting this TR completed tomorrow! Wahoo! ​

 

[MikeWsGirl]

Have a great time. I love the dynamic between you and your Mom so I hope you write a trip report.

 

[VAtink]

Have a great time. I love the dynamic between you and your Mom so I hope you write a trip report.

Thank you!!! I definitely plan to do another trip report, I love doing them, it's basically like reliving the trip for months afterwards!

 

[VAtink]

Ok, so I failed at updating the TR this past weekend, I'm so sorry. I totally planned to, but then things just got busy, and the next thing I knew I had to go to bed so I wasn't a zombie at work.

Speaking of sleep schedules. I was thinking about this tonight. So typically when I got into the office I need to be up by 5:30 if I need to dry and style my hair, but on days I'm lazy (more often than should be allowed), I'll just shower and throw my hair in a bun and then I can sleep until after 6! Now, why do I bring this up? Well, I'm sitting here tonight thinking I should go to bed since I have to get up by 6, and then it hit me, it's 9:30, I have more than 8 hours until I need to wake up. Can you imagine being in Disney getting to bed by 9:30 for a 6am wakeup?!?!? Typically we're getting into bed around midnight or 1am for a 6 am wakeup, and here I am complaining about lack of sleep at home with this schedule Yeah, I know, in Disney it's easier since we're getting up in the morning to do fun things, but still, for some odd reason, 7 hours of sleep at home feels a lot worse than 5 hours of sleep at Disney!

Anyways, all that being said, I will get this TR complete before my trip. Things around here should settle down this weekend, so in theory I should have time!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! ​

 

[erinch]

Love your reports and updates!

 

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Love your reports and updates!

Thank you! Been more updates than report lately, but I'm working on fixing that!

 

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Ok, this is a two part update (I swear the TR will continue SOON). First, I need some opinions here. It looks like the La Cava experience is available during our trip, and I'm tempted to book it. Has anyone done this before and would they recommend it? We LOVED the tequila lunch when it was offered during F&W, and this looks similar. My only reservation is that we're already pretty booked for a short trip. We're only there for 5 days, and we have MNSSHP, Sangria University, Monsieur Paul, Tiffins, and Caring for Giants already booked. So I don't want to overwhelm our schedule, but it does look like this is available on the day we're in Epcot for the entire day so it works (although it's only bookable for parties of 3+ and we're a party of two....need to see if this is a pay ahead or I can book and modify). Anyways, basically looking to see if anyone has done this and recommend it...and if you're there on the 21st and want to be our #3 that might be an option too (beware it is $180 and before noon)!

Now second part, and this has been probably far more stressful than it should be, but whatever, I hate spiders. So this morning when I let my dog out in the yard to do his business, he seems to have brought back inside a unwelcome guest, a massive wolf spider. Seriously, these things are huge, they're basically the tarantulas of Virginia. Now I'm not exactly what you would call great with spiders. Like, I'm not going to faint, I've only screamed a few times because of them (once at work when one fell from the ceiling and landing on my nose...neighboring offices even came to make sure no one was murdered ), but for the most part if I find one inside I trap it and release it outside at the property line and hope it moves it's territory over to my neighbors house.

Anyways, so I let my dog out to do his business this morning a few minutes before I had to leave, and he comes back in afterwards and per usual goes and lays down on his bed next to the couch. I sit down on the couch to finish a few emails before leaving, and suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I notice movement near the dog bed, but not from my dog Dug. My first thought is that it's one of those creepy house centipedes (which oddly don't bother me at all, unlike spiders), but then as I'm watching, it moves again. My goodness, this was a spider, and it was HUGE! Now as mentioned previously, I try to catch them and release them, so I grabbed an empty glass on the table in front of me (thank goodness I finished drinking my water!) and went to catch the spider. Well, the first attempt made me realize how big this thing was, I was using a standard pint glass, which at the top is maybe 3ish inches. The spider was well over half of that, I would guess ~2 inches.

The first attempt to catch the spider did not go well, apparently wolf spiders are ridiculously fast, which this guy was, I didn't even see him escape the glass, he was that fast! Of course once I realized I didn't catch him, I started hunting for him, at this point I'm already going to be late for work. I find him again, and once again try to catch him, but he sprints off faster than I swear most jets travel, and makes his way behind this tall bookcase I have. Now at this point I'm already going to be about 10 minutes late for work, and my boss has a policy that we cannot be more than 15 minutes late (he apparently has never dealt with the traffic in the DC area), so I HAD to leave, with the spider loose in my house. UGGGGH.

So I ended up heading out to the office, and I spent half the day checking my pet camera to see if I could spot the spider running around. This may have been the first time EVER I have had no desire to leave work to go home. I had images in my head of opening the front door and walking into this massive spider web and getting eaten alive (this is why children should not watch Arachnophobia. Even though I know this exact thing didn't happen, I still have fear of turning on table lamps from this movie, it's seriously traumatizing). Eventually I did leave the office and made it home. I was very careful when I first got inside, checked the ceiling first (after that earlier experience), and walls and floors, and I saw nothing. Ok, so far so good, but I was still totally paranoid this spider would reappear.

Well, while I was at work I devised a game plan. I knew from previous issues with spiders that they don't like peppermint, so I already had a bottle of peppermint anti-spider spray, and I also learned over lunch today that vinegar kills spiders. Now I don't necessarily want to kill them, but this stupid one is so fast it's a struggle to catch him, and I want him out of my house! So when I got home, after checking to make sure there was no massive spider visible, I found my bottle of peppermint spray, and sprayed my house top to bottom with it (which btw smells amazing, it's like Christmas in here). Next up was finding some vinegar and a way to disperse it if needed. Well, as you may recall, I recently adopted a kitten, and due to this I had bought some cheap water guns to spray the cat/kitten if they got too aggressive when they were first introduced face to face. Anyways, I had an extra water gun, and that is now filled with vinegar, so it will be a last resort.

At this point, no sign of the spider, but apparently they are nocturnal, so maybe it won't come out until the lights are off? There is also the possibility that sometime during the day one of the pets ate it, my one cat Ham loves eating spiders, so that's another possibility. The worst part though is this thing could still be in my house, and one day could just crawl on my lap with no warning (and I suspect some may say spiders never willingly crawl on your lap, but I've had three so far randomly crawl on my lap...maybe I'm the spider whisperer).

Anyways, that was a really long update to basically complain about a spider I will finish up this TR soon, in the next few days. ​

 

[erinch]

Oh sweetie! May the wolf be hounded outdoors soon. And your boss? Seriously?

 

[2xcited2sleep]

There are a few videos on YouTube that show the tequila experience so that might give you a better idea of what it's like. It sounds very much similar to the lunch in terms of how they explain tequila and have you smell something like a cinnamon stick and then taste etc. I think if I were you I might save it for another time just because it does seem similar and it sounds like you have a pretty full schedule.

Your boss sounds like something else. I get needing people in by a certain time if they have to fill certain roles in order to be open for business but in an office environment that's just weird. I do not know what a Wolf spider is and I cannot google it if I have any hope of ever sleeping again but I feel your pain. Hopefully it is long gone by now but the not knowing sounds awful. As does a spider landing on your nose!

 

[VAtink]

Oh sweetie! May the wolf be hounded outdoors soon. And your boss? Seriously?

Haha, thanks! Still no sighting, but I suspect it's still in hiding. And my boss is a whole other story. He's a nightmare. This is apparently his first time managing people and he is totally lost, thinks micromanaging is the only way to manage. He tried to make us have to sign in and out every time we took a break as well as when we arrived and left for the day. Fortunately he gave up trying to make us sign in and out of breaks, but we still have to sign in and out for the day. Last time I had to do that was when I was an hourly employee in high school, not something I ever thought I'd have to do as a salaried employee in an office environment! And that's just the start of it, I have a whole file on him documenting all the crazy stuff he does, many of it borderline illegal.

 

[VAtink]

There are a few videos on YouTube that show the tequila experience so that might give you a better idea of what it's like. It sounds very much similar to the lunch in terms of how they explain tequila and have you smell something like a cinnamon stick and then taste etc. I think if I were you I might save it for another time just because it does seem similar and it sounds like you have a pretty full schedule.

Yeah, I looked at some of them this morning. It looks like it has changed a bit over the past 2-3 years, and from what I've watched it doesn't include any food. The price tag seems a bit steep for not having any food, wasn't the tequila lunch only like $90 back in the day which was basically this plus lunch?

Your boss sounds like something else. I get needing people in by a certain time if they have to fill certain roles in order to be open for business but in an office environment that's just weird. I do not know what a Wolf spider is and I cannot google it if I have any hope of ever sleeping again but I feel your pain. Hopefully it is long gone by now but the not knowing sounds awful. As does a spider landing on your nose!

Yeah, my boss is horrible, and he's super weird about people's hours. Like when I started I was told I had to be in the office by 8, no later, and when I told him my contract said my hours were flexible, he flat out lied and told me his boss made the rule that we all had to be there by 8. Well, I've become friends with my bosses boss, so I asked him about this, and sure enough, he never said that, he doesn't care when people arrive. My boss just blamed him for this arbitrary rule he made up. So yeah, I'm not a fan, and there are a ton of even worse things this man has done. It's shocking he still has a job!

And I have no idea where the stupid spider is, I'm hoping it's gone. Maybe a cat ate it. Fingers crossed!

 

[piglet1979]

I had a wolf spider in my house yesterday morning too. Those things are horrible. The are huge and fuzzy and fast. I am not as nice as you though. I don't kill them if they are outside. That is their domain. Once they cross the threshold to the house and I find them, they are dead. So I killed the one yesterday.

 

[erinch]

Your boss? Do you have an HR department? Is there an employee handbook?what would happen if you were say, 19 minutes late?

 

[VAtink]

I had a wolf spider in my house yesterday morning too. Those things are horrible. The are huge and fuzzy and fast. I am not as nice as you though. I don't kill them if they are outside. That is their domain. Once they cross the threshold to the house and I find them, they are dead. So I killed the one yesterday.

You are smarter than I am, I'm kicking myself for not killing this one. I guess the silver lining is I get to ignore this problem for a bit since I'll be in Disney this week!

 

[VAtink]

Your boss? Do you have an HR department? Is there an employee handbook?what would happen if you were say, 19 minutes late?

Oh yes, this has been a lot of fun to deal with. Essentially there is procedure to go through to make complaints, and I've found that it seems the purpose of the procedure is to just frustrate people so they give up. All the higher-ups in my department are aware of the problems, most refuse to do anything even though they admit my boss should not be in management, and one even told me that it's my problem and I need to find a way to deal with it. (Yes, I'm aware I work in a very hostile environment)