Seattle Goobers' January '12 Trip! UPDATE 1/30: The TR has begun! :)

[poisonapple_PRINCESS]

Okay I quickly QUICKLY scanned the previous updates (gotta go to walmart....love walmart) AND OMG OMG OMG I was holding those exact pants and shirt from Old Navy on monday and PUT THEM BACK! IDK WHY?!



Now I'm completely and utterly jealous....

I will be moping about my lack of awesome Mickey clothes on my way to walmart....

 

[danimaroo]

Oh goodness, no night swimming for me. I might freeze during the walk back to the room. I cannot wait to *hopefully* see the Electric Light Pageant for the first time this trip!! I am thinking we will go to the Poly one night and try to catch it and Wishes from the beach. It's never too late to start a new family tradition, right? :

Sounds like you're having a pretty good work day. I can't believe tomorrow is NYE!!! Then we will be in January and only have a few weeks left!

Hahaha, it can be a COLD walk back to the room, but I figured if we do night swimming it'll be in the quiet pool at BCV, which is really close to the rooms, so it shouldn't be too bad!

I hope you get to see the ELP because it's so awesome! I can't wait to see it again, too.

NYE has come and gone, caaaan't even believe it's actually JANUARY! WE ARE SO CLOSE!!

 

[danimaroo]

Okay I quickly QUICKLY scanned the previous updates (gotta go to walmart....love walmart) AND OMG OMG OMG I was holding those exact pants and shirt from Old Navy on monday and PUT THEM BACK! IDK WHY?!



Now I'm completely and utterly jealous....

I will be moping about my lack of awesome Mickey clothes on my way to walmart....

That is so funny that we both had the same clothes!! I AM OBSESSED WITH THE PANTS! They're so comfy... even though they're Christmassy ones, I'm still going to wear them. And the shirt I haven't worn yet but will during our trip for sure!

I'm sorry for your lack of Mickey clothes though, wompwomp. Just means you need to go out shopping and buy some!

OMG also, I showed Matt the photo of you and your BF with Jessie and Woody and he told me he really liked those shirts, so we'll probably be on the hunt for some during our trip so we can match. I love those t-shirts because they've got a vintage look to them. So cute.

 

[danimaroo]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope everyone had a fantastic NYE! I did hear that people are super disappointed by the big Disney announcement. Now that I've seen what it was, I can't blame them! Though I'm sure it would be fun to be at WDW while it's open for 24 hours!... On second thought maybe not, because I'm sure it's going to be insane.

But on that note, it's January 1st. And you know what that means? WE ARE OFFICIALLY GOING TO DISNEY WORLD THIS MONTH!!!! We are now in full-on Disney mode! I might even start to put aside some of my clothes that are specifically for our trip, just because... We have been talking about our trip a lot, and actually I'm going to be doing some ADR work today.

Buuuut not for myself! Our in-laws are going to be in Disney World 2 days after we get back (the trip we were invited to but declined), and they're doing the dining plan for a few days before my sister-in-law and niece get there. Problem is, they're not very good at the whole ADR thing, nor do they know how to do it online, so they asked the "expert" (aka me, in my MIL's words, haha) if I could help. I don't mind as long as they give me an idea as to what plan they're on and where they're looking to eat... It's kind of fun making ADRs!

Anyway, onto a new day of the photo challenge!

Day 15: A picture of what you do when it rains in the park

Haha, so this uber dorky photo is from our honeymoon on our first day. When we arrived in Disney World, it was raining harder than I've seen in a very long time. Upon arriving at the Grand Floridian, the rain had let up a little bit, but not much! We picked up some ponchos (I know they're totally overpriced but there's something fun about having official Disney ponchos! I still have them and plan on packing them again) and braved the torrential downpour!

We went to Magic Kingdom and everyone was hiding out away from the rain because of how hard it was raining, but we trekked on and man, I would do it again in a heartbeat! I think we only stopped once due to the rain, but otherwise we were walking onto rides with literally no lines. In fact, our first ride we went on was Pirates, and we had our own BOAT! It was awesome and I am actually kind of hoping it rains again during our trip at least one day so we can be some of the few crazies who walk around in the downpour, if that means we get to see way more attractions than normal!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

THIS MONTH!!!!!!!

 

[poisonapple_PRINCESS]

That is so funny that we both had the same clothes!! I AM OBSESSED WITH THE PANTS! They're so comfy... even though they're Christmassy ones, I'm still going to wear them. And the shirt I haven't worn yet but will during our trip for sure!

I'm sorry for your lack of Mickey clothes though, wompwomp. Just means you need to go out shopping and buy some!

OMG also, I showed Matt the photo of you and your BF with Jessie and Woody and he told me he really liked those shirts, so we'll probably be on the hunt for some during our trip so we can match. I love those t-shirts because they've got a vintage look to them. So cute.

YEES! I love those shirts! We wore them on Christmas day too! They have them everywhere! I'm sure they wont have the ones with the santa hats anymore...but they had the regular ones everywhere too! YAY FOR MATCHING SHIRTS! I loved it!

 

[okw19]

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S JANUARY!!!! WOOHOOOOO

That's fun that you get to make ADR's for your in-laws! I wish someone would ask me to plan for them.
I LOVE it when it rains in DW! My dad and I always brave it and there are NO lines. It's awesome!

 

[danimaroo]

THIS MONTH!!!!!!!

IT'S GETTING SO SO CLOSE!!!!

YEES! I love those shirts! We wore them on Christmas day too! They have them everywhere! I'm sure they wont have the ones with the santa hats anymore...but they had the regular ones everywhere too! YAY FOR MATCHING SHIRTS! I loved it!

I am excited to track them down! Definitely no need for the Santa ones, but I'm hoping we can both get the normal ones and wear them around. They are so cute.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S JANUARY!!!! WOOHOOOOO

That's fun that you get to make ADR's for your in-laws! I wish someone would ask me to plan for them.
I LOVE it when it rains in DW! My dad and I always brave it and there are NO lines. It's awesome!

I KNOOOOOW! I am so so excited. 16 days until we are on a plane to Disney World! 17 until we are hanging out in Epcot and MK!!! AHHH!

Haha, I THOUGHT it would be fun but it turned into more of me rehashing everything I'd already told them. They have a hard time listening sometimes or remembering what I've told them. It doesn't help that they're doing a split stay since when my SIL and niece show up they're not doing the DDP (they're paying for the trip and I've nicely told them that if they want to save money, they really shouldn't do the DDP as my SIL and niece don't eat much at all)...

So between trying to tell them about good places to eat for their part of the stay, and then also good and less expensive places to eat and pay OOP when they want to do sit-down meals with SIL and niece... It was kind of a frustrating conversation. More because they just hadn't really figured everything out with my SIL.

It's like, I have no issues helping to make the reservations, but you need to have an idea of exactly what dining plan you're doing, what days, and then figuring out how often you are going to go out to dinner as a group, how many park days you'll be doing... Basically, they're leaving in a month for Disney and have like, nothing planned, outside of staying at OKW. I don't think they understand the amount of planning that has to be done for Disney World trips, and my SIL isn't really helping at all so...

Ugh, it's just annoying and the whole situation irks me, but I'm just happy Matt and I are doing our own trip, THAT's for sure!

 

[danimaroo]

Can I just state how much I LOVE long weekends? Ugh, I needed this weekend and am so glad it has been a nice long lazy one! We've done not much outside of enjoying video games and board games, which has been exactly what we both needed after Christmas weekend being a total blur.

Funny story. Last night we ordered Chinese food and after dinner I pulled out some fortune cookies for both of us. This was my fortune:

HOW PERFECT, right?! It definitely made me happy and even more excited for our trip (though I'm not sure that's entirely possible)... 16 days until we are on a flight to Disney World, and 17 days until we are driving under that wonderful sign and checking into Beach Club Villas!

Oh and one other fun fact before moving onto today's photo... I was perusing the DIS and was reminded of the Leave A Legacy photos that are in Epcot, when it suddenly dawned on me...

I think Matt's family has one of those Magic Kingdom stones on the walkway where years ago people could buy stones with the family name on it!

Confirming this with Matt, who can't remember exactly where it is (he says he thinks it's on the walkway from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom), I told him we are going to make a serious effort to track it down so I can take a photo of it!

During our honeymoon I think I remember us looking for all of 2 minutes before moving on, but this time I really want to try to find it! I know they don't sell them anymore, but Matt said at one point you could ask Guest Services and they would tell you where your stone was located. I doubt they do this anymore, but I would love to try to find it because I think it's pretty fascinating to have a stone on the walkway to the Magic Kingdom! Fingers crossed that we are able to hunt it down.

Anyway, onto Day 16!

Day 16: A picture of your favorite place to shop

This is kind of cheating but whatever, haha. I am trying to use one of my photos whenever possible, and this seemed kind of appropriate since it IS right at the entrance of DTD, which IS, in fact, my favorite place to shop. I can't really choose just one store as I find lots of places in DTD excellent places to shop...

I love leisurely walking around DTD and finding all sorts of goodies to bring home! We always make at least 2-3 trips to DTD during our stay. We have an ADR for Raglan Road, and I am most definitely going to eat at Earl of Sandwich, too!

 

[okw19]

That has to be pretty frustrating trying to get them to listen to you. I would probably pull my hair out! They'll have a pretty stressful trip if they don't understand the DDP before they get there.

17 days til we leave/check into Pop!
18 days til we check into OKW and go to AK/Epcot!!!

That fortune cookie is PERFECT!! Also, I would love it if we had one of those stones in front of MK!!
I love DTD too! When DF was in Orlando for school I went to visit him twice, and both times I went to DTD while he was in class just to get a Disney magic fix. I actually went there after we got into a little tiff and then sat down on a bench soaking up Disney air...I might have shed a few tears sitting there just because I had been so stressed that morning and being in Disney made it all okay.
Lame story, but I now have an emotional attachment to DTD.

 

[danimaroo]

That has to be pretty frustrating trying to get them to listen to you. I would probably pull my hair out! They'll have a pretty stressful trip if they don't understand the DDP before they get there.

It's frustrating because the last time they went to WDW was in 2002 and that was around Christmas so they just figured it was busy then and whatever. Before that, the last time they'd been was 1999 and that was before the DDP even existed.

Between that and the fact that I don't think they realize how much busier things have gotten over the years and that yes, you need ADRs if there are specific places you want to eat at, I'm just frustrated in helping them figure it all out, since my SIL and niece are super picky eaters and don't eat much...

Also, I think I'm more annoyed with my SIL not helping them because honestly, she's a lot more comfortable with computers and could very easily jump in and help them figure our ADRs. But she hasn't said a THING about the vacation and it seems like she isn't excited about it at all. If my vacation was being 100% paid for and I was going to Disney World, I'd be jumping all over the place and would be thanking my in-laws profusely!

17 days til we leave/check into Pop!
18 days til we check into OKW and go to AK/Epcot!!!

YAAAAYYYY! We are 15 days until we leave on our flight, and 16 days until we are checking into Beach Club Villas!!!! THIS IS GETTING TO BE TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT FOR ME TO HANDLE! Okay maybe not, but oh man am I excited!

That fortune cookie is PERFECT!! Also, I would love it if we had one of those stones in front of MK!!

I laughed so hard when I read it. It could not be more perfect! And yeah, I totally forgot his family has one, so I told him this time we are going to find that darn stone on the walkway. It's just too cool to not hunt down and take a photo of!!

I love DTD too! When DF was in Orlando for school I went to visit him twice, and both times I went to DTD while he was in class just to get a Disney magic fix. I actually went there after we got into a little tiff and then sat down on a bench soaking up Disney air...I might have shed a few tears sitting there just because I had been so stressed that morning and being in Disney made it all okay.
Lame story, but I now have an emotional attachment to DTD.

I love it because it's a great way to go shopping but still feel like you're in Disney World.

That is a good way to do it though! I swear, there is something in the Disney air that makes everything okay and better. Like when I had a meltdown in the middle of Epcot due to my blisters, I was upset but then just trekked on and dealt with it the rest of the trip because I was in Disney World! Even when I look back at our vacation, I tend to not even think about how I had the worst blisters I've ever had (well you know, until I actually think about what I'm packing this time to prevent it from happening again )... But I totally get what you mean, Disney is pretty good at making everything okay again.

 

[danimaroo]

15 days. In 15 days from this very moment, I will be sitting at work for my final day before getting on a plane that night and making our way to Disney World! How exciting.

Matt and I are big fans of advent calendars for Christmas. It's fun to do a countdown to Christmas! Last night Matt mentioned how he wished we'd done a countdown to Disney World. I told him that I was JUST thinking about that the other day and told him it wasn't too late, that we could do a countdown from now until we leave.

Sooooo I'm going to print off an outline of Mickey for all 15 days, put in a number for each day, make them all pretty and stuff, then tape them up tonight so every morning before work/on the weekends, we'll pull off a number and will be one day closer to our vacation! I'm really excited about this and I'll definitely post a photo tomorrow once I have all the Mickey heads up on the wall.

On another fun note, I told Matt this morning that I am going to pull out our luggage bags and slowly start packing! I have t-shirts, shorts and other clothing that I am not going to wear until our trip, so it only makes sense to start packing it all up. We are planning to go to the family cabin the weekend before our trip, so we'd like to ideally have everything ready to go (and the house mostly clean, aside from some last-minute vacuuming and dog toy pick-up) before then.

It's so so exciting to actually start packing for our trip! We're also working on lists of everything we need to get at the store (travel-size items, detergent, smaller snacks, etc.) so we can start picking that stuff up this weekend/next weekend.

Okay, onto today's photo challenge!

Day 17: A picture of your favorite PIXAR character

I changed this one up; it originally said Disney character, but I already covered that with my photo with Eeyore, so I'm changing it to Pixar (I'm a rebel like that).

OF COURSE IT'S WALL-E! I know it's a photo you've seen in my TR before, but I figured it's a fun way to show off my love for Wall-E on a hoodie I made for the trip! Wall-E makes me so happy; I just finished reading my "Art of WALL-E" book that Matt got me for Christmas and was reminded as to why I love that movie so much and how beautiful it truly is. They told such a wonderful love story with so little words during the first half of the film.

I don't think I ever showed off my cake toppers for our wedding:

If I could own my own little Wall-E (aside from my little figure collection I have at home), it would make me the happiest girl in the world!

 

[danimaroo]

I'm being a total dork with a quick update to show off my super duper colorful Excel spreadsheet for our PACKING LIST! This is only part of it as it goes down a bit further and I'm sure I'll think of a few more items, but I had to post it here since I know you guys will totally understand the wonderful world of Disney spreadsheets.

 

[okw19]

Disney does make everything better.

I think you've inspired me to make a countdown calendar for us.

I wasn't going to pack shorts, but now that I see that you are I'm second guessing. I'm kinda cold natured though so I can't imagine wearing shorts if it's getting in the 50's during the morning/evening. I wish I had a Wall-E hoodie to wear though!! I'm so jealous!!

I completely agree about Wall-E being an adorable love story and just an awesome movie. SO cute. I really like your cake toppers! Makes me want to see more wedding pics.

I'm definitely impressed by your Excel spreadsheet. I haven't had the time to do that yet, I just have a legal pad with a few things jotted down. I should probably make the whole list so I don't forget anything.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hey!! You're at two weeks!!! YAY!! Gonna be looking for a TR when you get back!!

 

[danimaroo]

Disney does make everything better.

I think you've inspired me to make a countdown calendar for us.

It sure does! And you should totally do a countdown calendar! I'm about to post about the one I made because it is seriously super cute and gives me something to look forward to when my alarm goes off every morning at 6:45.

I wasn't going to pack shorts, but now that I see that you are I'm second guessing. I'm kinda cold natured though so I can't imagine wearing shorts if it's getting in the 50's during the morning/evening. I wish I had a Wall-E hoodie to wear though!! I'm so jealous!!

Yeah I'd say it depends. I HATE being hot, and totally love doing a shorts and hoodie combination, so that's what works for me. I like wearing shorts during the day when it's sunny and in the upper-60s. Night time I'll sometimes change into jeans or just keep wearing shorts but put a hoodie on.

I'm in love with that hoodie. I just put it in my "to pack" laundry basket last night actually!

I completely agree about Wall-E being an adorable love story and just an awesome movie. SO cute. I really like your cake toppers! Makes me want to see more wedding pics.

It really is; I just fell in love with it when we saw it in theaters. And thank you! They're actually part of my little Wall-E collection I have at home, so we thought it'd be fun to put them on our wedding cupcakes! Maybe I will post some wedding photos here soon for fun.

I'm definitely impressed by your Excel spreadsheet. I haven't had the time to do that yet, I just have a legal pad with a few things jotted down. I should probably make the whole list so I don't forget anything.

Haha, yesterday was a sloooow day at work, so I threw it together. Oh, and I had a LOT of help from some ultimate Disney World packing list I came across, I believe, on mouseears.com? I think I just googled "ultimate disney packing list" and it came up. Definitely check it out!

Hey!! You're at two weeks!!! YAY!! Gonna be looking for a TR when you get back!!

AND YOU ARE AT 1 DAY! You guys must be SO excited! Have a blast, and I can't WAIT to hear about the whole trip! And I will definitely be writing a trip report when we come back!

 

[danimaroo]

First, I'm going to start off by saying... 2 weeks.

Second, I did some awesome trip-related stuff last night! After we got home from work and had dinner, while Matt played Skyrim, I colored in and cut all of my Mickey ears for our 15-day countdown to our trip! It took me awhile but it was actually really fun to make all of the ears and color. Maybe that's just the 10 year old in me but it reminded me of how much I love coloring/drawing. I wish I was more talented in that area (I'm a crafty gal, but not amazing at drawing), because there's something so relaxing but fun at the same time when you're working on projects like that.

Anyway, here's the countdown and photos of us taking down the number 15 this morning, as we are now 14 days away from leaving!

Yay! I love how the countdown looks and it's really fun to look forward to taking down another day every morning (even when we're half awake while getting ready for work ). You'll probably see me bugging you guys for the next few weeks of starting off my updates with a photo of whatever day we're on, but that's kind of fun! I think I'm also going to integrate the ears into my TR, too.

Second trip-related thing I did last night? I PACKED! Or well, I put aside the t-shirts and other clothing items into a laundry basket so when we are ready to put things into our bags, I'll be in good shape. I pulled out around 8 t-shirts, though I think I'm going to shoot for bringing 10 total, since I feel like t-shirts are something you go through really quickly. At least I know I do, as sometimes I like to go back and take a shower before the evening and change into something clean.

I also packed our official (and yes, overpriced, but we're making good use of them again!) Disney ponchos, 3 pairs of shorts (though I'm planning on bringing more, I'm just using some of them for going to the gym so those have to wait), and I think that's it. But it's still a good start! I'm thinking I'll also pack my little journal for the trip and our laundry bag, since those are still sitting in the American Eagle shopping bag.

Anyway, that's definitely been fun to finally start the process of getting ready for the trip! Let's move onto today's challenge, shall we?

Day 18: A picture of your favorite guilty Disney pleasure

I pondered over this one for awhile, but I think this photo kind of sums it up. One of my favorite guilty pleasures is totally trying to see if I can pull the sword out. Now, I totally know it'll probably never happen for me since it tends to magically pop up for little kids , but it's still ridiculously fun to try!

I also think this photo resembles more of an overall "guilty pleasure"... Basically, it's being able to act like a kid again. Whether it's wearing mouse ears that you would never catch me wearing outside of Disney parks, trying to pull a sword from a stone, getting REALLY excited about seeing Eeyore at Crystal Palace, or being absolutely WOWed at the first sight of Cinderella Castle, it's all one big guilty pleasure of feeling like a kid again and not having to worry about the real world for a few days.

 

[okw19]

Your countdown is SO stinkin' cute!! I love it!
I am starting to set stuff aside that I won't need in the next couple weeks, but I'm doing as good as you are.
I totally get the guilty pleasure thing! My sister is in high school so she is acting like I'm an idiot for being so excited about Disney! She's excited too, but she won't go all out with Disney clothes, ears, etc. I guess she's too "cool" for that since she is in HS, but I keep telling her that we can act however we want down there. She also told me that I'm too old to get this excited for Disney. Silly girl. 20 somethings can have just as much fun as kids down there.

 

[danimaroo]

Your countdown is SO stinkin' cute!! I love it!
I am starting to set stuff aside that I won't need in the next couple weeks, but I'm doing as good as you are.
I totally get the guilty pleasure thing! My sister is in high school so she is acting like I'm an idiot for being so excited about Disney! She's excited too, but she won't go all out with Disney clothes, ears, etc. I guess she's too "cool" for that since she is in HS, but I keep telling her that we can act however we want down there. She also told me that I'm too old to get this excited for Disney. Silly girl. 20 somethings can have just as much fun as kids down there.

Aww thanks! It actually took me longer than I expected to but it was really fun to make. I swear I turn into a 5 year old when it comes to coloring.

I just don't get how people cannot be REALLY excited for Disney World! Even my niece doesn't seem that excited for their trip and she's 11!

Meanwhile Matt and I are really really excited for our trip, thinking about all the things we want to do and see and eat. I'm just thankful that my partner in crime loves Disney so much; it makes this trip (and future trips!) way more fun to talk about.

20-somethings TOTALLY can have as much fun, if not more, than most kids! We typically come along with being meltdown-free... sometimes.

 

[jenjolt]

Loving your countdown...it is so cute!!

No worries, I try to pull the sword out of the stone too! Probably will never happen but you never know when the pixie dust might be sprinkled your way!!!

You are going to have an awesome trip!