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

[danimaroo]

We're at the big 1-3! I realize that my ticker definitely says 2 weeks, but we've decided (post-me making that ticker) that we're counting down until we actually LEAVE, and our flight actually leaves the night of 18th, so we're counting down to that. Makes sense though, I mean, you're on vacation the second you leave your house and are on the way to the airport! So that's why it's off by a day, since we technically don't arrive in Orlando until the early morning of the 19th.

Anyway, not much to report on. Matt and I have been discussing our plan of attack for cleaning and house and packing. I think we will be pulling out our actual luggage bags for packing this weekend. We're doing the majority of our cleaning of the house this weekend. This means steam mopping the kitchen and our private bathroom, vacuuming the stairs, our bedroom, and our bathroom, emptying the trashes upstairs, washing our comforter, giving our shower one final scrub (even though Matt just did most of it), dusting, making sure my hamper is empty, cleaning our sinks/counters in our bedroom bathroom, etc.

A LOT still has to be done, but fortunately the majority of our work is in our bedroom/master bathroom. It's kind of the one room in our house that we don't stress about keeping SUPER clean, but since our friends are staying at our house while watching our dogs, we want everything to be in tip-top shape. Plus, when we did this last year, it was SO nice coming home to a really clean house.

Buuuut yeah! I'm pretty excited about it. For some reason moving from 14 to 13 days suddenly made me realize we have a LOT to get done and not a ton of time! Adding in that we are going to the cabin next weekend (it might seem crazy to do that but we just really want to get up there since it's been awhile), and yeah... We need to get moving!

Fortunately I get MLK Jr. day off (Matt doesn't), so my plan for that day is to get a haircut (it's SO badly needed) and a pedicure (my toes need to look pretty for Disney World!), and then spend the rest of my day getting everything else ready to go for our trip and picking up any items we may have forgotten. I'm feeling really good about things, but this weekend is going to be where we do the most work I think.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Sometimes I swear I just think out loud in these posts and it becomes a little list to remind myself of what needs to be done.

Day 19: A picture of something in the park that deserves more attention

Attractions are great, as are the shows and everything else. But I think what deserves more attention are some of the details that go into the park. People, more often than not, don't even notice the little details or nods or Easter egg-type stuff, and I LOVE it. I love stopping to look at the mural at Cinderella Castle, or really looking at every details that went into the queue for Expedition Everest, or finding something new that I didn't see before on an attraction (really love doing this on Pirates and Haunted Mansion).

Stopping and taking a moment to recognize the amount of work and the focus on detail is something I think is far overlooked and deserves a lot more attention from guests.

 

[danimaroo]

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!

Thank you!

Haha, you really never do know when it'll happen, that's so true! How funny would it be if one of us ended up pulling it out this time? I would laugh so hard.

I really think it'll be a great trip. Considering that there were a few negative things that happened last trip (mainly foot/sneaker issues), but that I've seemed to block them out because of how much fun I had otherwise... I feel like I'm even 10 times more excited for this trip because I'm going in prepared and have learned WAY more than I ever thought possible from here on the DIS!

 

[okw19]

I don't have time this morning to write a novel like normal, but wanted to say I completely agree on the stopping to smell the roses thing! People don't appreciate all of the AMAZING details there are in Disney.

 

[danimaroo]

I don't have time this morning to write a novel like normal, but wanted to say I completely agree on the stopping to smell the roses thing! People don't appreciate all of the AMAZING details there are in Disney.

No worries! I know we all have days that just caraaazy. Plus you are always commenting and making me feel good about the updates, so thank you!

 

[danimaroo]

Hey guys. You ever have those days that in a SPLIT second, everything just goes south? And even worse, when you think the worst part has happened, it only gets worse? I had one of those days yesterday. I can't/don't want to get into too many specifics, but my day both at work and then after work were absolutely horrible (I will say that it had nothing to do with my job being in jeopardy or Matt's, but other dramatic things happening) and left me with the worst headache of my life, completely left Matt and I emotionally exhausted, and was just.. yeah, it wasn't a good day by any means. At one point I thought our Disney trip was quite possibly going to be called off, that's how bad it was.

But fortunately, we're still going on our trip, which is literally what is getting me through the next 12 days. The thought of escaping to one of the happiest places on earth (I know, it's really MAGICAL, but honestly it's happy, too!), that is what is keeping me from absolutely falling apart right now. So, yeah, this trip couldn't be coming at a better time, because right now it's not so much I WANT to go on this vacation, but it's become that I NEED to go on this vacation.

Any good juju or good vibes you could send my way though would be awesome. I know I'm being incredibly vague over here (and darn it, I do NOT like dramatic vague posts), but I just don't feel comfortable going into the specifics at the moment of what happened. But yeah, I'd really appreciate it.

Onto a lighter note, here's a few photos from this morning, starting off our day on a better note:

12 days.

Onto today's photo...

Day 20: A picture of the best way to beat the heat at Disney

So I know this is kind of a weird photo and probably confusing... but the way we "beat the heat" is by avoiding it as a whole.. by going in January! This was from our first day in our room at the Grand Floridian during last January, when it was cooler in the 60s and cloudy/rainy... and I LOVED it.

I swear there is nothing worse than super hot and humid weather. I dislike it beyond belief. I don't like being sweaty, I don't like feeling uncomfortable, and would much rather be cold or something. Sooooo that is a huge way to beat the heat... by not going when it's hot out.

 

[okw19]

Wow, Danielle I'm sending hugs your way. If you need to vent any more my inbox is just a click away. Sorry you had so much stress.
I'm glad you are still going though!!

I love your tip for going in January. It's really an awesome time to go!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I don't know how I missed this yesterday, but I hope today is a million times better! Just 11 days now and you will be in your happy place! I'm looking forward to the cooler weather too, I can't stand it too hot, but I'm a little nervous it will be too cool. We're packing for just about anything, so I'm sure it will be better than sweltering in the Sept. heat!

 

[danimaroo]

Wow, Danielle I'm sending hugs your way. If you need to vent any more my inbox is just a click away. Sorry you had so much stress.
I'm glad you are still going though!!

I love your tip for going in January. It's really an awesome time to go!

Thank you so much. After yesterday's post, my day actually got worse. I swear everything that could've went wrong, went wrong! But it's okay, today has been a better day, and in good part is because most of it was spent shopping for our trip and cleaning and packing.

I don't think I've ever been excited about cleaning ... but when you're cleaning up for THIS reason, it's pretty a-okay with me!

I might take you up on the offer to PM, though I've enjoyed keeping my mind off of things since it's the weekend and the previous 48 hours were a constant negative experience. But I might want to chat about it, if you don't mind.

I don't know how I missed this yesterday, but I hope today is a million times better! Just 11 days now and you will be in your happy place! I'm looking forward to the cooler weather too, I can't stand it too hot, but I'm a little nervous it will be too cool. We're packing for just about anything, so I'm sure it will be better than sweltering in the Sept. heat!

Thank you!! Today was a bit better mainly because I'm not at work and I'm focusing on trip-related stuff (I'll get into it in my next update here shortly). 11 days is right, and it'll be wonderful!

I am also hoping it won't be too cold, but if we can get weather like last January then I will be really happy. Right now I've got shorts, t-shirts and jeans packed, a few hoodies, and sneakers and flip flops. I am not planning on bringing my North Face jacket or anything like that though, as I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with a hoodie as long as it's in the 45 degree+ range. It's been pretty cold here in Seattle so I'm just happy with anything warmer than the 30s.

 

[danimaroo]

11 days! We're so close to the single digits, which is awfully exciting.

Whew. It really has been a HECK of a few days. But today has been a better day. We're not at work, which is a very-needed break, and we've spent most of our day doing fun stuff. While things are still not great, I do appreciate anyone/everyone who sent me good thoughts when I needed it most.

Onto our day! We started off our morning by going to our favorite breakfast spot that we go to around once a week. It's also the only place I go to where I order the same breakfast every single time. They make the best omelets, potatoes and toast... and their lattes are to die for.

After breakfast, we made our way to Target to pick up everything on our "need to buy" list for our trip. We got everything we needed, except for glow bracelets/necklaces and moleskin (uhh we could NOT find this at Target for some reason ). After Target we stopped by the grocery store for a few random items (and still no moleskin, darnit), then got our Starbucks fix (you can't hate me on this one; we're from Seattle and we need our Starbucks! ) and headed home. I decided to go back out on my own to Walgreens and the Dollar Tree, since Matt just wanted to relax for a bit but I really wanted to get the last few items we needed to shop for.

I'm glad I took the time to go by myself, mainly because it gave me an opportunity to listen to my music really loudly and sing at the top of my lungs. That's gotta be one of my favorite stress-relievers EVER. I grabbed the moleskin (blisters ain't got NOTHING on me this trip), then went to the Dollar Tree where I got a bunch of glow-in-the-dark bracelets (they have them 5 for a dollar, if anyone is interested). I figure they'll be fun to have during the evenings in the parks, and they'll be fun to give away to little kids waiting for parades or fireworks or whatever.

After I got home, Matt and I headed upstairs to start packing for our trip, with the items we'd just bought and any clothes we knew we wouldn't be wearing in the next 11 days.

Our dogs of course followed us to the bedroom and Milo got really sad. Whenever we pack for something he always gets really depressed because he thinks we're leaving him. Sometimes we're taking them with us up to the cabin, but unfortunately this time our little pups have to stay home. I told Milo that I don't think he'd like Splash Mountain very much, since he hates getting wet.

We also went through all of our pins we have picked up since our last trip that were up for trading, and decided we're going to bring our pin book along with us. There's something really fun about coming back after a day in the parks and putting all of your newly purchased/traded pins into your book.

After that, we spent a few hours cleaning our bedroom and master bathroom: we changed our sheets, put our comforter in the washer, vacuumed and steam mopped the bathroom, put the bath mats in the washer, cleaned and scrubbed the shower, cleaned the counters and the mirrors, dusted our shelves, and dealt with laundry.

Whhheeewwwww we got a lot done and I'm pretty happy about it! We still have stuff left to do, but we both felt pretty good about the progress we made today in prepping for our big trip. People might think we're crazy starting to pack this early, but again, with our trip up to the family cabin next weekend, we won't have much time to clean or pack next weekend except for on Sunday. Felt good to knock a bunch of things off of our spreadsheet list.

Anyway, I'm done boring you guys, but it's just been really nice to focus on positive things for today. I experienced things in the past 2 days that have never made more feel more "adult" in my life, and so I'm just looking forward to acting more like a kid in 11 days. This trip means a lot to me.

Day 21: The best place to take a picture at Disney

I LOVED sneaking photos from the front car of Expedition Everest. Being that close to the edge is absolutely terrifying, (you really don't understand how close you are unless you sit in the front car, seriously ), but it also offers you an amazing view, too! I also enjoy taking photos as you are going up the first really big hill and can see all of Animal Kingdom. It's part of why it's my favorite ride.

 

[Marshay]

checking in! So glad you mentioned your trip...will go back and read later today!

 

[okw19]

Thank you so much. After yesterday's post, my day actually got worse. I swear everything that could've went wrong, went wrong! But it's okay, today has been a better day, and in good part is because most of it was spent shopping for our trip and cleaning and packing.

I don't think I've ever been excited about cleaning ... but when you're cleaning up for THIS reason, it's pretty a-okay with me!

I might take you up on the offer to PM, though I've enjoyed keeping my mind off of things since it's the weekend and the previous 48 hours were a constant negative experience. But I might want to chat about it, if you don't mind.

I'm sorry. Glad you had an eventful day to ease your mind!! Funny, I don't mind cleaning OR laundry when it's in preparation for going to Disney!

Definitely PM, email or text me if you want! I don't mind at all. You're my best DIS friend.

11 days! We're so close to the single digits, which is awfully exciting.

YAY!!! We are at 12 days today.

Whew. It really has been a HECK of a few days. But today has been a better day. We're not at work, which is a very-needed break, and we've spent most of our day doing fun stuff. While things are still not great, I do appreciate anyone/everyone who sent me good thoughts when I needed it most.

Onto our day! We started off our morning by going to our favorite breakfast spot that we go to around once a week. It's also the only place I go to where I order the same breakfast every single time. They make the best omelets, potatoes and toast... and their lattes are to die for.

After breakfast, we made our way to Target to pick up everything on our "need to buy" list for our trip. We got everything we needed, except for glow bracelets/necklaces and moleskin (uhh we could NOT find this at Target for some reason ). After Target we stopped by the grocery store for a few random items (and still no moleskin, darnit), then got our Starbucks fix (you can't hate me on this one; we're from Seattle and we need our Starbucks! ) and headed home. I decided to go back out on my own to Walgreens and the Dollar Tree, since Matt just wanted to relax for a bit but I really wanted to get the last few items we needed to shop for.

I'm glad I took the time to go by myself, mainly because it gave me an opportunity to listen to my music really loudly and sing at the top of my lungs. That's gotta be one of my favorite stress-relievers EVER. I grabbed the moleskin (blisters ain't got NOTHING on me this trip), then went to the Dollar Tree where I got a bunch of glow-in-the-dark bracelets (they have them 5 for a dollar, if anyone is interested). I figure they'll be fun to have during the evenings in the parks, and they'll be fun to give away to little kids waiting for parades or fireworks or whatever.

That breakfast sounds awesome! The Dunkin' Donuts coffee I just made isn't hitting the spot this morning.
I can't believe Target didn't have any moleskin That's where I always get mine. I should probably pick some up because I'm taking a new pair of Vans to wear a day or two.
My mom and I got some glow bracelets at Five Below to pass out to kids and for Riley to have. We also scored at Target the day after Christmas and found Disney Princess light up wands in the stocking stuffer section for .74 a piece! I grabbed one of each Princess for Riley to hand her at night if she gets antsy and then some extras in case she makes any friends. (the extras can also be used for you and Matt if you guys are feeling extra Princess-y )

After I got home, Matt and I headed upstairs to start packing for our trip, with the items we'd just bought and any clothes we knew we wouldn't be wearing in the next 11 days.

Our dogs of course followed us to the bedroom and Milo got really sad. Whenever we pack for something he always gets really depressed because he thinks we're leaving him. Sometimes we're taking them with us up to the cabin, but unfortunately this time our little pups have to stay home. I told Milo that I don't think he'd like Splash Mountain very much, since he hates getting wet.

AWWWWHHH I'm in love with Milo. So stinking adorable! How can you resist that face??

We also went through all of our pins we have picked up since our last trip that were up for trading, and decided we're going to bring our pin book along with us. There's something really fun about coming back after a day in the parks and putting all of your newly purchased/traded pins into your book.

Oooh! I really like those key pins! Those are awesome! Is there one for "R''?

After that, we spent a few hours cleaning our bedroom and master bathroom: we changed our sheets, put our comforter in the washer, vacuumed and steam mopped the bathroom, put the bath mats in the washer, cleaned and scrubbed the shower, cleaned the counters and the mirrors, dusted our shelves, and dealt with laundry.

Whhheeewwwww we got a lot done and I'm pretty happy about it! We still have stuff left to do, but we both felt pretty good about the progress we made today in prepping for our big trip. People might think we're crazy starting to pack this early, but again, with our trip up to the family cabin next weekend, we won't have much time to clean or pack next weekend except for on Sunday. Felt good to knock a bunch of things off of our spreadsheet list.

Anyway, I'm done boring you guys, but it's just been really nice to focus on positive things for today. I experienced things in the past 2 days that have never made more feel more "adult" in my life, and so I'm just looking forward to acting more like a kid in 11 days. This trip means a lot to me.

I know it feels awesome to have all that done! Sorry I quoted everything and made this so long I just wanted to be able to re-read as I was responding since this was a long update!

I like the Expedition Everest idea! I am so excited to ride it for the first time!

 

[danimaroo]

checking in! So glad you mentioned your trip...will go back and read later today!

Awesome! It's a bit of a read as I tend to ramble (and sometimes about nothing Disney-related ), but I'm glad you are here and checking things out.

I'm sorry. Glad you had an eventful day to ease your mind!! Funny, I don't mind cleaning OR laundry when it's in preparation for going to Disney!

Definitely PM, email or text me if you want! I don't mind at all. You're my best DIS friend.

Thanks lady. Yesterday was good though and made us ten times more excited for the trip (not that it's really possible). What's funny is I'm STILL on a cleaning/organizing rampage over here. I just went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes to donate (which this has to be like the 5th time I've done this over the past year!), then went through our big closet in our entry way and donated shoes I don't wear and organized it a bit. I guess when I'm on a roll, there is not stopping me!

And thanks, I probably will tomorrow when I'm back at work and need to vent. I'm hoping tomorrow is a little less insane but with the way Friday went, who knows?

YAY!!! We are at 12 days today.


That breakfast sounds awesome! The Dunkin' Donuts coffee I just made isn't hitting the spot this morning.
I can't believe Target didn't have any moleskin That's where I always get mine. I should probably pick some up because I'm taking a new pair of Vans to wear a day or two.
My mom and I got some glow bracelets at Five Below to pass out to kids and for Riley to have. We also scored at Target the day after Christmas and found Disney Princess light up wands in the stocking stuffer section for .74 a piece! I grabbed one of each Princess for Riley to hand her at night if she gets antsy and then some extras in case she makes any friends. (the extras can also be used for you and Matt if you guys are feeling extra Princess-y )

Hooray for 12 days!! So close I can almost smell it. I'm pretty sure we were just blind and couldn't find the moleskin but at that point we both just wanted to get out of there so I told him I'd stop by Walgreens later. It was like the number one thing on my list because I'm not dealing with blisters again like last time.

That's really great you guys did that, too! I told Matt I'll probably put some on my backpack in case we get separated in some random crowd, though he laughed and told me it wouldn't help much since a lot of people will have them. I suppose he's right but they're still fun to have!

That is so awesome you found the princess wands! What is hilarious is how when I went, they had bracelets, necklaces, a lantarn , and then little glowy fairy wands. I almost bought one but realized I'd be solely doing it to give away to some little kid so I passed on it.

AWWWWHHH I'm in love with Milo. So stinking adorable! How can you resist that face??

Oooh! I really like those key pins! Those are awesome! Is there one for "R''?

Milo is such a dramatic little dork dog... but I also love him very much. It is hard to resist his face but at least while we're gone we know he's in good hands with out friends and can hang out with his puppy pals (one of which is named Beefcake ).

Those key pins are like my most prized pins I own. Not so much on the value, but how I got them. Basically during our last trip, if you spent $30 or more, you'd get a mystery key pin for $1. We spent a lot on pins during our trip, and I started collecting the key pins on my lanyard. After I had half the collection, I started pin trading with other people and eventually found myself with every single pin from the collection EXCEPT Cheshire Cat. On our last day over in Epcot, we were about to leave the pin trading area, and I was bummed out I hadn't finished my collection, when a woman who had the Cheshire Cat walked near me. I gasped and told her it was the last pin I needed to my collection and eventually we ended up doing some 3-way trade, in which I got my coveted pin and she ended up finishing a collection of her own. It was awesome and I love those pins a lot because of the memory.

Okay sorry for the rambling side story BUT unfortunately there's no R pins of those. The letters on each key are for the character they represent, and there aren't any R characters in there. Lame!

I know it feels awesome to have all that done! Sorry I quoted everything and made this so long, haha. I just wanted to be able to re-read as I was responding since this was a long update!

I like the Expedition Everest idea! I am so excited to ride it for the first time!

Haha have you SEEN my responses to your responses?! Look at this one! I always go on, but I can't help it! And yes it was a looooong update on my part, but lots of fun stuff to chat about I guess.

You are going to love it! I can't wait to go back on that roller coaster and sit in the front while Matt panics.

 

[danimaroo]

10 days til we leave! Kind of weird that tomorrow we can do online check-in. I think we are going to hold off on it though since we need to buy our park tickets when we check in and have them added to our KTTW cards. It'll be nice to not have to worry about two separate cards while walking around the parks; I found that to be a pain during our last trip. That and I'd like to try and better our chances of getting a room that possibly fits our request (higher floor, facing the quiet pool), so if we get a room that we're unsure about we can talk to someone about possibly changing it. We're not THAT picky so if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world. My main request is being on a higher floor, and then hopefully we're able to score a pool view and not the road view. No need for a big balcony, though that is a definite plus.

Anyway! I pulled out a few more items for packing, but a lot of it's going to have to wait. I need to take a ton of photos off of my iPhone and upload them on my iMac to ensure I have plenty of space for photos during our trip. I have nearly 3,000 photos/videos on my iPhone right now that I'm sure are eating up a ton of space, so I think I'll take care of that today.

Also, my DSLR needs a cleaning. I'm bummed out about this and am not sure how the heck I got dust on the sensor, but I can't get it out and also don't want to mess with it. You can destroy an expensive camera by trying to clean it yourself, and I tried using air from this camera cleaner thing I got but there are still dust spots showing up in all of the photos I take. I'm hoping to try one more thing but if it doesn't work I'll just have to pay some camera store to clean it for me before the trip.

OKAY! Onto today's photo challenge...


Day 22: A picture from your favorite Disney movie

Hey, the photo counts! My favorite Disney movie would be Tangled. I just adored that movie as a whole, and the scene featured on my iPhone case is seriously one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a movie. I am now totally in the mood to re-watch it.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

We watched Tangled while we were packing.....TOTALLY put us in the mood for Disney!! As if we needed any help! Yay for 10 days...it feels so good doesn't it? Before you know it, you will be here just like us and reporting live about what an awesome vacation you are having!

 

[okw19]

Thanks lady. Yesterday was good though and made us ten times more excited for the trip (not that it's really possible). What's funny is I'm STILL on a cleaning/organizing rampage over here. I just went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes to donate (which this has to be like the 5th time I've done this over the past year!), then went through our big closet in our entry way and donated shoes I don't wear and organized it a bit. I guess when I'm on a roll, there is not stopping me!

And thanks, I probably will tomorrow when I'm back at work and need to vent. I'm hoping tomorrow is a little less insane but with the way Friday went, who knows?

I ALWAYS do that when I clean. I think oh well since I'm already cleaning why don't I go through my closet, organize my sock drawer, etc. It's horrible because it turns a 2 hour thing into an all day cleaning extravaganza.

Hooray for 12 days!! So close I can almost smell it. I'm pretty sure we were just blind and couldn't find the moleskin but at that point we both just wanted to get out of there so I told him I'd stop by Walgreens later. It was like the number one thing on my list because I'm not dealing with blisters again like last time.

That's really great you guys did that, too! I told Matt I'll probably put some on my backpack in case we get separated in some random crowd, though he laughed and told me it wouldn't help much since a lot of people will have them. I suppose he's right but they're still fun to have!

That is so awesome you found the princess wands! What is hilarious is how when I went, they had bracelets, necklaces, a lantarn , and then little glowy fairy wands. I almost bought one but realized I'd be solely doing it to give away to some little kid so I passed on it.

Glow sticks are awesome at any age.

Those key pins are like my most prized pins I own. Not so much on the value, but how I got them. Basically during our last trip, if you spent $30 or more, you'd get a mystery key pin for $1. We spent a lot on pins during our trip, and I started collecting the key pins on my lanyard. After I had half the collection, I started pin trading with other people and eventually found myself with every single pin from the collection EXCEPT Cheshire Cat. On our last day over in Epcot, we were about to leave the pin trading area, and I was bummed out I hadn't finished my collection, when a woman who had the Cheshire Cat walked near me. I gasped and told her it was the last pin I needed to my collection and eventually we ended up doing some 3-way trade, in which I got my coveted pin and she ended up finishing a collection of her own. It was awesome and I love those pins a lot because of the memory.

Okay sorry for the rambling side story BUT unfortunately there's no R pins of those. The letters on each key are for the character they represent, and there aren't any R characters in there. Lame!

Love that story. That makes trips and pins so much more memorable. I didn't figure there would be any R characters. I wish there was a classic character that started with R so I could have more stuff like that.

Haha have you SEEN my responses to your responses?! Look at this one! I always go on, but I can't help it! And yes it was a looooong update on my part, but lots of fun stuff to chat about I guess.

You are going to love it! I can't wait to go back on that roller coaster and sit in the front while Matt panics.

Yeah we have made this TR very long. It's so fun to talk about Disney though!
I want to ride it in the front! I also want to stay til it gets dark when AK is open until 7 like you guys are gonna do. I'm really excited for that.

10 days til we leave! Kind of weird that tomorrow we can do online check-in. I think we are going to hold off on it though since we need to buy our park tickets when we check in and have them added to our KTTW cards. It'll be nice to not have to worry about two separate cards while walking around the parks; I found that to be a pain during our last trip. That and I'd like to try and better our chances of getting a room that possibly fits our request (higher floor, facing the quiet pool), so if we get a room that we're unsure about we can talk to someone about possibly changing it. We're not THAT picky so if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world. My main request is being on a higher floor, and then hopefully we're able to score a pool view and not the road view. No need for a big balcony, though that is a definite plus.

We ordered our tickets from Undercover Tourist with the MouseSavers discount. I would highly recommend them for your next trip! We saved a lot off of Disney's prices and we will just get the concierge to add them to our KTTW cards after we check in.
I'm scared of online check in too because of room location and requests. Plus I like to talk to the CM while checking in and just that whole experience. Makes arriving at Disney feel real.

Anyway! I pulled out a few more items for packing, but a lot of it's going to have to wait. I need to take a ton of photos off of my iPhone and upload them on my iMac to ensure I have plenty of space for photos during our trip. I have nearly 3,000 photos/videos on my iPhone right now that I'm sure are eating up a ton of space, so I think I'll take care of that today.

Also, my DSLR needs a cleaning. I'm bummed out about this and am not sure how the heck I got dust on the sensor, but I can't get it out and also don't want to mess with it. You can destroy an expensive camera by trying to clean it yourself, and I tried using air from this camera cleaner thing I got but there are still dust spots showing up in all of the photos I take. I'm hoping to try one more thing but if it doesn't work I'll just have to pay some camera store to clean it for me before the trip.

I can't believe you have that many pics on your phone! Is it the 32 gb one?
I'm jealous of your DSLR, but one good thing about not having one is not having to worry about cleaning. I'll stick with my point and shoot for now. I actually got a new Sony camera for the trip that I'm pretty excited about.
OKAY! Onto today's photo challenge...

Day 22: A picture from your favorite Disney movie

Hey, the photo counts! My favorite Disney movie would be Tangled. I just adored that movie as a whole, and the scene featured on my iPhone case is seriously one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a movie. I am now totally in the mood to re-watch it.

LOVE THIS SCENE and this movie!!!

 

[Marshay]

Finally all caught up. A few comments --

First -- did you publish your Dates and Parks? I couldn't find it...saw some but not all...love to see if we have any overlapping days?

Congrats on finding a great DH and one that loves Disney/DVC, too!!

Yeah, on losing weight!

Super yeah on getting into BCV on your inlaws points!!!!

Love the Jack SKellington balloon floppy arms guy.

Pumpkins were great!

Yes, riding EE at night is awesome. For some reason it just feels even more wild! We plan to ride it 1/21 since AK is open longer in the evening.

Love the zoo-lights. National Zoo in Washington, DC has one too we just haven't gone yet.

Those cake toppers are adorable!!

 

[danimaroo]

We watched Tangled while we were packing.....TOTALLY put us in the mood for Disney!! As if we needed any help! Yay for 10 days...it feels so good doesn't it? Before you know it, you will be here just like us and reporting live about what an awesome vacation you are having!

I might have to watch it again before we leave! I just love it so much. YOU ARE THERE RIGHT NOW AND I AM SO JEALOUS!! EEEE, I hope you guys are having an absolutely BLAST!

I ALWAYS do that when I clean. I think oh well since I'm already cleaning why don't I go through my closet, organize my sock drawer, etc. It's horrible because it turns a 2 hour thing into an all day cleaning extravaganza.

Haha totally! I donated so much stuff, and now my closet is waaaay better. Still could lose more stuff but I'm doing it in sections makes it a little less painful, haha. That's the hoarder in me coming out or something!

Glow sticks are awesome at any age.

Love that story. That makes trips and pins so much more memorable. I didn't figure there would be any R characters. I wish there was a classic character that started with R so I could have more stuff like that.

Glow sticks are awesome, that's the truth! I agree about the letter thing... I guess I should keep my eye out for Donald stuff with a big D on it for me. I think we have one that is a big D at home in our collection, now that I think about it!

Yeah we have made this TR very long. It's so fun to talk about Disney though!
I want to ride it in the front! I also want to stay til it gets dark when AK is open until 7 like you guys are gonna do. I'm really excited for that.

Sometimes you've been the only one commenting sooooo too bad! Haha. I love talking about Disney so much! You should totally ride it in the front, it's SO much fun. And yes, definitely plan a day to hang out til 7! I'm really excited to do that with Matt.

We ordered our tickets from Undercover Tourist with the MouseSavers discount. I would highly recommend them for your next trip! We saved a lot off of Disney's prices and we will just get the concierge to add them to our KTTW cards after we check in.
I'm scared of online check in too because of room location and requests. Plus I like to talk to the CM while checking in and just that whole experience. Makes arriving at Disney feel real.

I ALMOST ordered ours from UT but Matt just really wanted to do with from Disney. The MouseSavers discount was literally $2 off. We'd have saved $30 going that route, which isn't bad, but also not a HUGE deal. When we have kids I'm pretty sure we'll be going the UT route for sure.

And yeah, between buying our park tickets, trying to get a good room, and getting the whole experience upon checking in... We're going to skip online check-in, even though it's VERY tempting.

I can't believe you have that many pics on your phone! Is it the 32 gb one?
I'm jealous of your DSLR, but one good thing about not having one is not having to worry about cleaning. I'll stick with my point and shoot for now. I actually got a new Sony camera for the trip that I'm pretty excited about.

I have a 16gb one and only had like 1gb of space left! I got rid of half of my photos and put them on my iMac... and that gave me like 2gb of extra space, so now I have 3gb. That'll be plenty for the trip! The cleaning of the DSLR is a pain in the butt. I cleaned it last night and got it to look a bit better, but there's still this ONE tiny speck that is driving me nuts and is stuck on my sensor. I'll have to try cleaning it again later tonight... But at least it's clean enough to bring on our trip and not interfere with too many photos!

That's exciting that you have a good P&S for the trip! I love getting a new camera.

LOVE THIS SCENE and this movie!!![/QUOTE]

ME TOOOOO!

Finally all caught up. A few comments --

First -- did you publish your Dates and Parks? I couldn't find it...saw some but not all...love to see if we have any overlapping days?

I published a few of our days, though some days we have no plans since we're there for 10 days. Currently it looks like this:

Jan. 19th - Epcot in the morning, Magic Kingdom in the afternoon/evening (ADR at Crystal Palace for that evening)
Jan. 20th - Animal Kingdom in the morning, Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, dinner at Cape May, then either DTD or Epcot for EMH (since we are a 5 minute walk!)
Jan. 21st - No plans yet except our ADR at Whisper Canyon for dinner!
Jan. 22nd - Morning not sure yet, but afternoon/til it closes at 7 we'll be at Animal Kingdom, then dinner at Via Napoli, and head over to MK for EMH
Jan. 23rd - Epcot in the morning until our ADR at Les Chefs for lunch, then HS for the afternoon/evening for EMH
Jan. 24th - MK for the morning, we have a pre-park ADR at Crystal Palace, not sure on the afternoon

aaand the 25th-28th are completely open! I can almost guarantee plans will switch, but that is our tentative schedule for now! We're not big planners and like to wake up sometimes and just decide where we want to go on a whim, which is why we love January because you can actually do that.

Congrats on finding a great DH and one that loves Disney/DVC, too!!

Yeah, on losing weight!

Super yeah on getting into BCV on your inlaws points!!!!

I know, I am a pretty lucky gal! And thank you! AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR BCV!!!

Love the Jack SKellington balloon floppy arms guy.

Pumpkins were great!

I love Halloween, we have so much fun with it.

Yes, riding EE at night is awesome. For some reason it just feels even more wild! We plan to ride it 1/21 since AK is open longer in the evening.

Love the zoo-lights. National Zoo in Washington, DC has one too we just haven't gone yet.

Those cake toppers are adorable!!

I am sooo excited for EE at night! We might actually run into you because we are planning that day (as you can see above) to be at AK for the evening until it closes for that exact reason!!

And I agree, the zoo lights were beautiful! You should definitely go, it's wonderful! And thank you, I loved our cake toppers.

 

[danimaroo]

We are in the SINGLE DIGITS, my friends! I am pretty darn excited about it, too! Honestly, as much as the past few days have stunk (except for a few moments of packing and cleaning for our trip), they've also made time go by way faster, so it's kind of a shock that 6 whole days ago was when I made the countdown, now we're only 9 days from leaving for our trip, and 10 days from checking in! And you know what makes that even weirder? SEEING THIS!

Totally mind-boggling (and so tempting to check in, but we're going to wait!) but so exciting!

Not much else new to report on, which is okay siiince I update every day. I cleaned out my camera again and got most of the dust off from the sensor but still have a LITTLE left on it that I'll try to work out tonight. But at least it's not so bad that it takes over an entire photo like it did before, so that's definitely a good thing!

Photo challenge tiiiime! (I just kind of said that like, "TEE SHIRT TIIIIME!" from Jersey Shore. Don't ask why I've watched that show in the past. Guilty pleasure! )

Day 23: A picture of the character you dislike most

I have to admit this is probably the most difficult challenge I've had. Not only because I totally lacked the photo (yeah no that's not mine), but also because it's really hard to think of a character I dislike the most. Buuuut after seeing someone else's post on this one, I have to agree (and I apologize but I cannot for the life of me remember who's PTR has this same character listed for this day's challenge!).

Lotso was such a turd in TS3! There was nothing redeeming about him whatsoever and his ending was well, not sad because he was so mean. Maybe I'm just uber defensive of Woody and the gang, but ugh, Lotso was just a jerkface. Honestly, if I were a little kid I would NOT want to go meet him at all, he would totally terrify me. I mean, look at him in this photo! He looks so sweet and like he'll smell amazing, but he might try to kill you?! Noooope, I'll pass on that one.

Is it weird that I feel bad for whoever has to play Lotso at the parks? I mean, I can't imagine every interaction is a real positive one...

 

[okw19]

We are in the SINGLE DIGITS, my friends! I am pretty darn excited about it, too! Honestly, as much as the past few days have stunk (except for a few moments of packing and cleaning for our trip), they've also made time go by way faster, so it's kind of a shock that 6 whole days ago was when I made the countdown, now we're only 9 days from leaving for our trip, and 10 days from checking in! And you know what makes that even weirder? SEEING THIS!

Totally mind-boggling (and so tempting to check in, but we're going to wait!) but so exciting!

Not much else new to report on, which is okay siiince I update every day. I cleaned out my camera again and got most of the dust off from the sensor but still have a LITTLE left on it that I'll try to work out tonight. But at least it's not so bad that it takes over an entire photo like it did before, so that's definitely a good thing!

Photo challenge tiiiime! (I just kind of said that like, "TEE SHIRT TIIIIME!" from Jersey Shore. Don't ask why I've watched that show in the past. Guilty pleasure! )

Day 23: A picture of the character you dislike most

I have to admit this is probably the most difficult challenge I've had. Not only because I totally lacked the photo (yeah no that's not mine), but also because it's really hard to think of a character I dislike the most. Buuuut after seeing someone else's post on this one, I have to agree (and I apologize but I cannot for the life of me remember who's PTR has this same character listed for this day's challenge!).

Lotso was such a turd in TS3! There was nothing redeeming about him whatsoever and his ending was well, not sad because he was so mean. Maybe I'm just uber defensive of Woody and the gang, but ugh, Lotso was just a jerkface. Honestly, if I were a little kid I would NOT want to go meet him at all, he would totally terrify me. I mean, look at him in this photo! He looks so sweet and like he'll smell amazing, but he might try to kill you?! Noooope, I'll pass on that one.

Is it weird that I feel bad for whoever has to play Lotso at the parks? I mean, I can't imagine every interaction is a real positive one...

SINGLE DIGITS BABY!! (said in Stacey voice like she says TEST TRACK BABY)
Glad you fixed the camera problem!

I can't stand Lotso! He makes me so angry. He was a complete jerk in TS3 and didn't have any redeeming qualities. Plus, they make all this merchandise with him on it looking happy?! I guess it's supposed to look like Lots-O-Huggin Bear is supposed to be instead of the one evil one. I wouldn't want to play him in the park either. Riley actually asked for a small Lotso for Christmas and he smells like strawberries which is cute. Don't know why she likes him, but she's obsessed with Toy Story in general not just him. She even likes Zurg!

 

[danimaroo]

SINGLE DIGITS BABY!! (said in Stacey voice like she says TEST TRACK BABY)
Glad you fixed the camera problem!

I can't stand Lotso! He makes me so angry. He was a complete jerk in TS3 and didn't have any redeeming qualities. Plus, they make all this merchandise with him on it looking happy?! I guess it's supposed to look like Lots-O-Huggin Bear is supposed to be instead of the one evil one. I wouldn't want to play him in the park either. Riley actually asked for a small Lotso for Christmas and he smells like strawberries which is cute. Don't know why she likes him, but she's obsessed with Toy Story in general not just him. She even likes Zurg!

Haha oooh Stacey. Why is she so ridiculous? It's funny because I did NOT enjoy her much the first time I saw her, yet she always magically makes it on to our TV whenever we're just sitting around eating breakfast or getting settled in for the night... She's grown on me and dare I say, I MISS seeing her? And I'm actually REALLY excited to turn on the TV in our room and have her on in the background while we unpack? Yes, it's true.

I just don't get Lotso in that, like, I know that the TOY itself is a cute idea and why kids would want it. However, know my little child mind, I would have been absolutely terrified of having a Lotso stuffed animal in fear that I would wake up only to find Lotso attacking me... then again, I had a crazy mind when I was a little kid, hahaha.

I'm glad Riley just stick to the happy stuff though, because it DOES make me sad that such a cute bear could be so mean!