Our Rockin' Trip to the World~February TR! UPDATE 5/15 ~ LINK TO PTR!!!!!!

[tinacaplan]

I have to apologize for my extended absence. Max was pretty sick this week and I spent pretty much any time I wasn't working this week with him. He has a double ear infection and had a pretty bad case of diarrhea. One night, in particular, was pretty harrowing. But... he's better now and scheduled to have his adenoids removed March 31, which will hopefully alleviate all the ear infections and other problems he's had this winter. I swear, I think the poor kid has been sick since December!

I also have to say that I thought I had posted something similar a few days ago, and then it never appeared and once I realized that, I didn't have enough time to fix it again! Oh, well.... I'm here now.

I'm not familiar with that children's song, so I can't get any points this round.

Chew bromine, don't chew dramamine. Got it. Kinda like feed a fever, starve a cold....or is it the other way around?

Yeah, I can't keep that straight, either!

Hi Tina

Can I play too?

Glad to Have a Friend Like You...and Glad to Just Be Me - hmmmmm, could it be from Sesame Street and performed by Carol Hart?

Any new photos of Mark coming up soon?
I am home with a cold, so I have time to lurk around the boards.

Of course.... Not sure how many more pictures I have of Mark, but they're probably all equally as silly!

And you're close with Sesame Street.

Aw, glad that Max made a friend who could help pass the time. Last year we had nothing to entertain Caitlin except one of those coloring books from Crayola that had clear markers and magically color the pictures. This year she will have her DS and a portable DVD player for the wait and the flight. I'm hoping that will keep her entertained.


I am thinking that the boarding went okay. Doesn't SW let families on between the A and B if the kid is under 4 or something?


I can't wait until you actually get to Disney

Thanks...and I can't either... maybe I'll be able to do an update today! SW didn't board anyone early on the way down. We did get to do family boarding on the way home, though.

Hey Tina! I am in CT too! Can I join the party? As we always fly out of Bradley, I know exactly what you are talking about with the Travelers umbrellas. It is really cool. My DH and teenage DDs loved playing with it too! We always park and fly at Roncari as we are AAA members and get a discount and the price is very reasonable. I am afraid to hear about the bill for the parking lot!

Looking forward to more!

Kelly

Thanks! And we're AAA members, too, and I always seem to forget that there are so many things you can get discounts on when you're a member.
I will have to keep that in mind for next time.

Subscribing

Thanks! I love new readers.

You're off to a fabulous start! I mean who could ask for more than another kid to share his toys so you can have some magazine time??

Well, you could have asked for soemthing other than Mickey D's, but that's beside the point.

Actually, we were off to a great start! I was quite happy.

I'm here! Albeit a bit late...I knew I should have looked out for your TR in your siggy since this weekend! LOL.

Trip looks great so far. I am curious about your experience on southwest. I have never flown it before!

Hi! Glad you're here. Better late than never!

Oh gosh, this would never fly in my family! It is a long standing tradition that before we leave town to go on a trip, we stop and get coffee. And there are no exceptions to this rule. Since we've been doing this for so long, it just doesn't seem like vacation without that Starbucks in hand.

Also, I think your son and I could be friends - I could watch planes for DAYS.

He's very much in that stage where he likes to watch anything big like that: planes, trains, trucks.

Ok, I have absolutely no idea on the song. I'm drawing a total blank. It's not a Brady Bunch song, is it?

How sweet that an older boy took a liking Max. I always think it's so nice when that happens! And hello, a little magazine time to yourself? Usually that only happens in the bathroom at my house...

Oh my, you chewed the wrong medicine? And half your mouth went numb? Yikes, I hope that wore off quickly for you. My mom takes dramamine too and it makes her sick to her stomach everytime she flies. Yet she takes it still. I never understood that! Apparently she prefers vomiting over being dizzy?

Looks like a good start to your trip, so long as the flight went well of course!

We'll see... but I thought Dramamine was supposed to make you not vomit? I know that's why I take it!

Thought I'd posted that I was subbing, but I guess I didn't. Anyway, I've been following along and can't wait to read more!

My first thought reading this was... "oh god, what did I post that made me look like a crazy person." Then I realized that probably wasn't what you meant.

I certainly wasn't being mean!

 

[annmarieda]

I certainly wasn't being mean!

I realize that.....

 

[MickeyNicki]

Poor Max! I hope he is feeling much better....give him a hug and kiss from me!

 

[heathsf]

Hi, another teacher here!

I was at WDW at the same time as you. I can't wait to read more of your TR!!

 

[PirateKate]

So sorry to hear Max has been sick. I know there's not much worse than having a kid who feels bad. I hope he keeps feeling better!

 

[tinacaplan]

I realize that.....

Oh, good...I was trying to explain the other day that sometimes jokes and sarcasm don't translate through text messages and on-line. That had no occurred to him before, if you can believe that one!

Poor Max! I hope he is feeling much better....give him a hug and kiss from me!

Thanks, Nicki! He's much better now.

Hi, another teacher here!

I was at WDW at the same time as you. I can't wait to read more of your TR!!

I have to say that I love pretty much everything about teaching...except having to take vacations at the busiest times of the year! Actually, we found that with decent planning and the ability to make rope drop, we were just fine.

So sorry to hear Max has been sick. I know there's not much worse than having a kid who feels bad. I hope he keeps feeling better!

Thanks..there isn't. Just makes me thankful that all I had to deal with is ear infections, no matter how harrowing a couple of nights were this past week!

And hopefully, I'll have a full update before the night is over (maybe two??)!

 

[heathsf]

I have to say that I love pretty much everything about teaching...except having to take vacations at the busiest times of the year! Actually, we found that with decent planning and the ability to make rope drop, we were just fine.

Yeah, we felt the same way. We didn't have a problem doing and seeing things but the difficult part was just walking through the crowds in the afternoons.

And I'm glad to hear that Max is feeling better.

 

[tinacaplan]

While no one has of yet correctly identified the title and artist of the previous song, I do want to keep this going. I will reveal all correct answers at the end of the TR!

Departure Day, Part Three

Before we knew it was time to gate check the stroller and make our way onto Max’s very first plane. He was fascinated by the hallway leading to the plane and tried to run the whole way down.

I have flown Southwest several times in the past, but always solo, so the whole choose-your-own -seat thing had never been an issue. On-line they had mentioned family boarding, but either I missed the annoucment, or they just didn’t do it (which I think is more likely) due to the large number of families on the flight. Not sure. At any rate, we boarded in the second group.

Imagine my surprise when I walked onto the plane only to find that were no empty rows! I know that I should have been prepared for this, but I wasn’t.

How could we not all sit together for this, the most momentous of flights? Its my baby’s first plane ride, we’re talking about here, people!

Luckily, a very nice woman who was on board with her older kids, gave up her seat so that we could all sit together. She was super nice about it, too.

So far, everything about the morning had gone really smoothly....

Our pixie-dust laden run of good luck continued as we got a really fun flight crew that played Snow White music in the background before take off. One of the stewardesses was also very funny and quite aware of the fact that most of us were headed to Disney and got all of us to shout “Yee-haw” a couple of times before take-off. She added quite a bit to the fun atmosphere.

With the help of copious amounts of snacks, a lollipop, and his trusty bear, Max did just fine on the flight. Honestly, I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. When he is overwhelmed by something, Max tends to just sit back and take it all in, rather than get upset. Of course, by this point, I was loopy from the Dramamine...so who knows? Kidding aside, he really was great the whole flight. No whining or crying and the plane (remarkably) didn’t seem to bother his ears.

The view from out seat:

Perhaps even more amazing and magical was our thirty minute early arrival at MCO! Woo-hoo! Have I mentioned that I hate flying? Its not that I’m afraid we’re going to crash. Its not that at all. I just hate how it makes me feel: naseous, my ears pop badly, and I can’t hear right for a good twenty-four hours after. I hate breathing in all that recycled air. It wouldn’t be bad, if you could OPEN those windows!

Just off the plane:

We took the mini-monorail to the main terminal to find Magical Express. I am probably in the minority here, but I truly don’t think its that far, nor do I think its hard to find. After all, Disney is kind enough to provide you with a map!

Our first sight of Palm trees!!!!

Once we hit the line for the individual resorts, I broke into a full run to the next rope. I ran right past the very nice, bemused CM waiting at the other end of the queue to check off our ME passes, so I had to run right back! I was acting more like a kid than my own kid!

I was thrilled to be first in line here:

And that we got a nice Disney ME bus. Max, of course, started to complain that he was hungary as soon as we sat down at the very front of the bus. Another very nice lady was kind enough to give Max a snack pack of pretzels and cheese, which Max munched as we left MCO!

I could not wait to get to CSR! Would our room be ready? Where would our room be? Were my requests granted?

 

[All7OfUs]

Max did awesome!! You ran into some really great people who sure made things nice!

Don't you LOVE the first sight of Palm trees?? I get a small thrill from that every time!

 

[glennbo123]

I do believe today's title was inspired by The 5th Dimension....correct?

Now back to read.

 

[glennbo123]

It wouldn’t be bad, if you could OPEN those windows!

I don't recommend that!

Glad you had a good flight. And, touching down a half-hour early -- bonus!

 

[annmarieda]

Looks like you had a good flight. I love the DME pics... makes me wish I was there. Only another 9 months to go...

 

[tinacaplan]

I have to say that I was thinking back on our magical ME journey, that I find it quite amazing the way that Disney has timed that video just right so that you’re occupied during the really boring part of the ride, but the video came to an end just as you about to see this:

When you see that sign, don’t you just want to stand up and do a little dance? I know I do! The I’m at Disney dance!

And before I could even say “pixie dust,” or Max could get antsy... we were rolling into Coronado Springs!

I had done on-line check-in, so our check-in was snappy! And I was thrilled when they told me that not only was our room ready (before noon??), but we had been placed in a first floor room in Cabanas 8B. I think I might have requested 8A, but either way, our location ended up being perfect.

Since our room was ready, we decided to just take our carry-ons and walk down to our room. Max was thrilled to be at Coronado Springs! He kept pointing things out and saying, “That’s just like on Mommy’s computer!”

I should pause here for a second and tell you about the weather. As most of you know, (and many of have have experienced) this has been a winter for the record books in the Northeast. Freezing cold and more snow than I’ve ever seen in one place! Ten snow days! Totally crazy. And for anyone who followed the end of my PTR, you already know that I was checking weather.com every fifteen minutes or so for about a week before we left. I couldn’t believe what the forecast was telling me: eight degress and sunny...all week!! Do I dare to dream?

Last year, we went at almost the exact same time (President’s Week) and we nearly froze. I am not kidding when I tell you that the temperature never rose above sixty while we were there. In fact, the greater Orlando area had a very cold winter last year and many of the plans and trees that would have been flowering last year were dead.

Not so this year. There were blooms everywhere I looked and it felt like summer! I just couldn’t believe it. Our trip was off to an incredibly magical start. Everything was...um...you know...practically perfect in every way!

I wish I had taken some more pictures as we walked over to and into our room...but I didn’t. Oh well...guess I was enjoyed the sunshine too much to get my camera out!

As it turned out, our room was incredibly close to the Dig Site and Bus Stop Four! We had a room on the very first floor directly facing the small beach area in the Cabanas section. Dreamy!

Not so dreamy, however, was when we walked into the room and found all of the bedding stripped off the beds! Everything else looked as though it had been cleaned, but our beds were not made yet! Crazy! I called the front desk and they said someone would be over soon.

Truthfully, though, I could have cared less... we dumped our carry on bags in the closet area, put our swimsuits on, and hit the pool!

We spent a couple of hours hanging out at the beautiful Dig Site, where I failed to take any pictures! Oh well. Max fell in love with the kiddie pool. I have a kid who is, generally, pretty fearless but he is not a huge fan of water. This has been rather confounding to me, as I think I was born swimming. I swam competitively for years as a kid and I have sometimes felt that the water is my true natural habitat, so it has been a bit odd to have a kid who doesn’t feel the same way. CSR’s kiddie pool, though, was his dream come true: warm, shallow, with fountains in the middle! He started calling it “his water.”

We ordered lunch (which I did not photograph...sorry). I don’t remember what Mark ended up with, but I had a chicken Caesar wrap that was nothing special, but was just about perfect at that moment; light, crisp and a bit salty. Yum. Mark and I also got Mojito’s at the pool bar. Since we were on the Deluxe plan, we also picked up our resort mugs. After drinking down one delicious, but very weak, ten dollar Mojito it occurred to me that taking small bottles of rum with me (ala EANDESMOM) would have been a fabulous idea. I had no idea that sitting poolside, in the sun, was going to make Mark and I suddenly want to drink, but there it was. A cheaper option would have been good! Oh well...

After our fun in the sun, we went back to our now really clean room, and spent some time relaxing and unpacking before we went to dinner. If I recall correctly, I think Max might have even taken a nap! As it turned out, the pack and play fit perfectly inside the vanity/closet part of the room, so we were able to put that in there, close the sliding doors, and still have lights on while Max slept. Perfection!

And then we were off to...EPCOT!

 

[glennbo123]

Ooo, Katrina and the Waves!

 

[eandesmom]

late to the party but here! Now off to catch up

Ok so I'm pretty sure that, that IS the song title, (Glad to have a friend like you) lyrics by Carol Hart and sung by Marlo Thomas. Which is now stuck in my head thank you very much!

LOL

I would have freaked with stripped beds, glad you took it in stride. Honestly the whole boarding system with southwest is not something I like at all, I'm actually grateful we never fly them, while they do come here, it never seems to be the best deal to anywhere so far.

I'm glad Max is feeling better!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Tina! I hope I'm not too late for the party, just found your TR!! Loving it so far! I hope Max's ears are better, my daughter is still on a round of antibiotics from a double ear infection last week. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!

 

[amandaluvsgoofy]

So glad the trip down went fairly smoothly with a little magic!

And I'm with you on flying! I just feel yucky afterwards. The motions of the planes along with the smells, ugh! I think I'm going to take some dramamine this trip not only for the flight but also for some of the rides. As I've gotten older I've noticed I'm not as tolerable as I used to be.

That's awesome that you guys got such a great room! And I have every plan on bringing some small bottles of Rum for me and maybe Scotch for DH to enjoy by the pool!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[ChattaAlley]

Oh good I have not missed much. I love the read so far. It appears that Max is a great traveler. Can't wait to read more.

 

[tinacaplan]

Max did awesome!! You ran into some really great people who sure made things nice!

Don't you LOVE the first sight of Palm trees?? I get a small thrill from that every time!

He did and we it helped that we met such an amazing string of really nice people! The kindness of the people I encounter at Disneyworld is one of the things that makes it such a special place to me.

I do believe today's title was inspired by The 5th Dimension....correct?

Now back to read.

You are correct... I knew the song (or at least the chorus anyway)...didn't know the artist until I looked it up for this TR. That gives you a running score of two points!

I don't recommend that!

Glad you had a good flight. And, touching down a half-hour early -- bonus!

Oh....come on...think of all the fresh air!

Looks like you had a good flight. I love the DME pics... makes me wish I was there. Only another 9 months to go...

Thanks! You will be there before you know it!

Ooo, Katrina and the Waves!

And another point for you and possibly a bonus point for finding such a fun smilie to go with it!

late to the party but here! Now off to catch up

Ok so I'm pretty sure that, that IS the song title, (Glad to have a friend like you) lyrics by Carol Hart and sung by Marlo Thomas. Which is now stuck in my head thank you very much!

LOL

I would have freaked with stripped beds, glad you took it in stride. Honestly the whole boarding system with southwest is not something I like at all, I'm actually grateful we never fly them, while they do come here, it never seems to be the best deal to anywhere so far.

I'm glad Max is feeling better!!!

You're right, Cynthia! We have a winner! Oh...and (I love that one!). Its from the "Free to Be You and Me" album, which I had on vinyl when I was a kid. We got at least two CD copies for Max when he was born, too.

The beds didn't bother me because it was really early, I hadn't expected our room to be ready yet, everything else was super clean, and all we needed/wanted at that moment was to drop our carry-ons and change for the pool, which we were able to do!

I don't love the SW boarding policy, at least not when I'm with a group. But, if they offer the cheapest tickets on a direct flight from here to MCO, I'm OK with it!

Tina! I hope I'm not too late for the party, just found your TR!! Loving it so far! I hope Max's ears are better, my daughter is still on a round of antibiotics from a double ear infection last week. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!

j

and thank you for the compliment! We'll be hitting the parks soon...I promise!

So glad the trip down went fairly smoothly with a little magic!

And I'm with you on flying! I just feel yucky afterwards. The motions of the planes along with the smells, ugh! I think I'm going to take some dramamine this trip not only for the flight but also for some of the rides. As I've gotten older I've noticed I'm not as tolerable as I used to be.

That's awesome that you guys got such a great room! And I have every plan on bringing some small bottles of Rum for me and maybe Scotch for DH to enjoy by the pool!

Can't wait to read more!

Ah, yes, the air plane smells are pretty terrible. YUCK!

Oh good I have not missed much. I love the read so far. It appears that Max is a great traveler. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Soooo jealous of those margaritas by the pool right now! It sounds like the trip down was great! I only hope to be so lucky! What a great first leg of the trip!!