Someday: the Sequel! A Dec 2013 PTR

[Tinker_Tam]

Since it seems I do still have a few followers, I will move on!!! I will reward all of you with more of my babbling!!

At this point, I should tell you, simply forget EVERYTHING that I wrote before. As I mentioned, our trip went through many changes in the last few months... to the point that it almost didn't occur. But thankful my husband told me he couldn't live with me like that and pushed forward with the plan! What a great hubby I have!! I think I'll keep him... at least for the next 100 years or so!

The only thing that didn't change was the resort. We LOVE Pop Century. It is perfect for the kids and they seem to just love it. We had talked about trying out AoA but honestly, I think just walking across the bridge and checking things out will be enough for us.... not to mention AoA is more expensive. We have got to save money anyway we can!

Originally we were to stay off site on the 30th. Before the discount debacle, we had decided to check in on the 30th. I know you should never assume anything, BUT we had assumed we would be getting free dining and figured when we factored everything in it wouldn't be any cheaper to stay at a cheap Orlando hotel... and I hate to say it, I worry about things like bed bugs and such so the less hotels we have to stay in the better!

Originally we were to check out the 9th, which got moved to the 10th... and now back to the 9th since no free dining. Have I confused you all yet??? It really has been a roller coaster for us.

All in all, I am so happy that we are still able to go. Gavin has been having some issues with his cecostomy and we have had many long drives back to the hospital in the last few months. Finally, they just taught me how to remove it from his body and replace it. I pray everyday that I won't have to do it, but I am sure I can if I need to. The surgical team thought it was a good idea for me to know for the trip, and I think that was the deal breaker. I have been instructed not to leave PA without 2 units in our luggage. If I have to replace the piece it is not hard, or so they tell me, and if it happens in Disney, that he should need it replaced, I can do it in less than an hour... where if we have to go to the ER to have it done, it could waste an entire day. And they may not even have the correct piece. Did I mention that it is Gavin's dr the suggested this trip... as the "light at the end of the tunnel?" He is an amazing surgeon and we are so very blessed by him and the things he has done to help Gavin.

I do have a funny story, non-Disney related. When they were teaching me to replace Gavin cecostomy, I asked Gavin if he would be ok if I ever had to replace it. He looks at me and tells me "Of course mom, you take better care of me than ALL these people... and you give me chocolate!" That's my kiddo! Everything is good if there is chocolate at the end!

Ok, I think I have talked your ear off enough. I will hopefully be back either today or tomorrow morning to post our day 1 plans! Stick with me! It's going to be a crazy ride!!

 

[KatMark]

Let me get this right; you check in on 9th and depart on 30th?

Gavin has a wonderful group of doctors and so glad he encouraged/blessed this trip.

now I need some daily plans so I know when we are meeting up.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Let me get this right; you check in on 9th and depart on 30th?

Gavin has a wonderful group of doctors and so glad he encouraged/blessed this trip.

now I need some daily plans so I know when we are meeting up.

Oh, that would be sweet!!!! Although, the other day Brenda said "Don't you wish Disney only cost $2.39 a day?" Without missing a beat Jon told her if that were the case we would be moving there. $2.39 cents happens to be the amount of pennies she found in my old purses that day. All pennies go into the 5 gallon Water jug... that goes straight to Disney. The rule has always been that when that bottle is full we will use it to go to Disney. We never really said full of what so I am thinking we will be filling it with water!

 

[KatMark]

Oh, that would be sweet!!!! Although, the other day Brenda said "Don't you wish Disney only cost $2.39 a day?" Without missing a beat Jon told her if that were the case we would be moving there. $2.39 cents happens to be the amount of pennies she found in my old purses that day. All pennies go into the 5 gallon Water jug... that goes straight to Disney. The rule has always been that when that bottle is full we will use it to go to Disney. We never really said full of what so I am thinking we will be filling it with water!

I love it!

 

[NiniMorris]

Last year my grand daughter had major surgery to partially correct a club foot. She had a bone removed in her leg and replaced with a metal rod and a rod inserted in her foot. (It was the 5th surgery she had had and she was only 4 at the time). Something went terribly wrong and she got a really bad infection...of the flesh eating variety.

For a long time they thought she was going to loose her foot. In the end they had to put in a wound vac to keep the incision dry. It had to be surgically replaced three times a week. She had an open wound on her tiny foot. Last June, her surgeon gave us the go ahead to take her to the beach for a 5 day trip. Everything had to be timed just so... We had to keep the sand out of the wound, so there wasn't much actual beach time, but she was at the beach.

Her pump malfunctioned. We were in Savannah, her surgeon was in Atlanta, her parents were on vacation in the mountains. The company that supplied the pump came to our hotel room to replace parts of the pump and to give us new tubes. (we could not do anything until Monday ...this happened on Friday afternoon) Monday, her parents came and picked her up and took her back to Atlanta for surgery.

I said all that to say this...knowing how to change out his equipment if needed is a wonderful thing! If I had not known how to change the tubes we would have had to take her to the nearest children's hospital for emergency surgery...It was a great peace of mind knowing I knew how to deal with it.


And besides...chocolate DOES solve everything!


Nini

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Last year my grand daughter had major surgery to partially correct a club foot. She had a bone removed in her leg and replaced with a metal rod and a rod inserted in her foot. (It was the 5th surgery she had had and she was only 4 at the time). Something went terribly wrong and she got a really bad infection...of the flesh eating variety.

For a long time they thought she was going to loose her foot. In the end they had to put in a wound vac to keep the incision dry. It had to be surgically replaced three times a week. She had an open wound on her tiny foot. Last June, her surgeon gave us the go ahead to take her to the beach for a 5 day trip. Everything had to be timed just so... We had to keep the sand out of the wound, so there wasn't much actual beach time, but she was at the beach.

Her pump malfunctioned. We were in Savannah, her surgeon was in Atlanta, her parents were on vacation in the mountains. The company that supplied the pump came to our hotel room to replace parts of the pump and to give us new tubes. (we could not do anything until Monday ...this happened on Friday afternoon) Monday, her parents came and picked her up and took her back to Atlanta for surgery.

I said all that to say this...knowing how to change out his equipment if needed is a wonderful thing! If I had not known how to change the tubes we would have had to take her to the nearest children's hospital for emergency surgery...It was a great peace of mind knowing I knew how to deal with it.


And besides...chocolate DOES solve everything!


Nini

I am very glad to know how to change things. I know, in my head that I will be able to do it without any issue... it's just going to be scarey that first time or two. Our last trip to Disney, and most likely this one too, we will get a dr that we are connected with. The last trip, the dr was part of Give Kids the World. He was given all of Gavin's medical information ahead of time, just in case something were to come up. Then I hand carried a printed file everywhere... just in case. Luckily, we NEVER saw that doctor, but it was nice to know there was someone there if things really turned bad.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I know I have doubters out there... readers that seriously doubt that I will post when I say I am going to. They doubt that I will make the deadlines I set for myself... but guess what??? This time you should not have doubted me so much! As I said, I am really going to try to get this moving again. After all, we are all set!!! Including things being all ready for me to call and add our dining plan back in. Yes! You read that right! Jon came home with a bunch of Disney gift cards from Target to pay the dining portion in full!! I just have to find a time when the kids aren't around... and I am not wasting an entire months worth of cell minutes on hold, to give them a call!

So anyway, I promised Day #1 would be posted today... and without further ado... Get that popcorn ready!!!

First, if you think back, the original, original plan was for us to get into Orlando and check into a cheap hotel. I wasn't super excited for that plan, but I would except it if it meant Disney!

Then the original original plan changed to just the original plan. We were going to check to Pop Century on Nov 30. We were going to hit the grocery store and just spend the day unpacking and most likely some sleep... Well...

What does this crazy woman do??? She makes a fastpass lunch reservation for 2:10! I must tell you though... Even JON is excited for BOG and wants to eat there as many chances as we get. When I found that I could get a Fastpass lunch for BOG I jumped on it... even without talking to Jon first. Yeah, yeah... I know you are all thinking that I should talk all plans out with that amazing husband of mine, but I needed to think fast. I booked it and figured I could always change it if Jon was completely against it. I should also mention that for some reason we had an extra day of park tickets booked. We were going to take 1 day off, and then when we talked about it decided to just let it go. Now I am glad we did.

So once the BOG fastpass for lunch was booked, I knew I needed to do several things.. first of which was talk to Jon. Much to my surprise, Jon thought it was a great idea. (Just a friendly reminder, we will be driving 17 hours straight to get to the happiest place on Earth! ) He mentioned that instead of leaving around 8-9 we would just leave around 5... which in our planning has now been moved to 2-3 in the afternoon! On the way, we will still need to make a run to the grocery store to get some things for Gavin, but we will head to check in and then to MK for a late lunch!!

Jon then brought up a good point, if we are going to MK for BOG, we should try to snag some other fastpasses for after our late lunch! Have I mentioned what a simply amazing husband I have in all of this??? I truly am the luckiest woman alive!

So after figuring things out, after lunch, we scheduled fastpasses for Dumbo, Barnstormer (which Gavin loved the last trip), and Peter Pan. I know that we will all be exhausted and ready to collapse, but then I thought of something else... in all my planning there is NO time (thanks to so many MVMCP nights) to make the electrical parade. I mentioned this to Jon.. and he told me "Then we need to make sure we see it on that Saturday night". I did promise him that we would hold out and go back to the hotel once the parade was over. There is no way I can stick around for Wishes.... as much as that hurts, I just can't put anymore on our plates that night. The kids might have to stand and hold our eyelids open just to see the parade. The other thing Jon reminded me of was, even after we get back to the hotel, we will still have unloading the car to do.

So what was to be a restful day, once we got to Orlando, now has us hitting the pavement in a full out run! I know the kids will be well rested since they will sleep a good part of the way (I hope!). I may have to pick up a case of 5 hour energy drinks for Jon and I, but we are determined.

So on day 1 we have a few major goals.
*Make it safely to Orlando and grab Gavin's things he will need from the store.
*Get checked in
*BOG lunch
*Dumbo
*Barnstormer
*Peter Pan
*Electrical Parade
*Unload car

Wow! As I type that it seems like so much to do after a 17 hour drive!

 

[serene56]

Im here--- coz I want to hear all about it.

 

[KatMark]

I'm exhausted just reading about it.

Seriously, you'll be on such a high from being at Disney that I think you will all be fine. I would, however, suggest you not start too early on Day 2.

 

[stephielela]

Yay for awesome day 1 plans!!!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Im here--- coz I want to hear all about it.

Welcome!! Pull up a chair and settle in... it's gonna be a bumpy ride!!

I'm exhausted just reading about it.

Seriously, you'll be on such a high from being at Disney that I think you will all be fine. I would, however, suggest you not start too early on Day 2.

I think we will be ok. The adrenaline will be running... I do bet the bags only make it from the car to the room before we crash.

I will give you a little hint about day #2... Day #2 was planned when Day #1 was to be a resting day.

Hopefully I will get #2 posted soon... I am just not saying when because I don't want my doubters being right!

Yay for awesome day 1 plans!!!

Thanks! I just hope they don't wear us out too much!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi there Tammy! I just read through your entire PTR and I have to say that you and your family more than deserve this trip!! I'm sure that 17 hour drive can't go quick enough to have BOG lunch waiting! Well, that and a castle!

You totally gave me an aha! moment. I just got a Target debit card and I should purchase Disney gift cards that are discounted and pay off our upcoming trip. Not sure why I didn't think of that before but I will give you the credit for saving me some sweet moolah!

Isn't it exciting to see those plans coming together!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Hi there Tammy! I just read through your entire PTR and I have to say that you and your family more than deserve this trip!! I'm sure that 17 hour drive can't go quick enough to have BOG lunch waiting! Well, that and a castle!

You totally gave me an aha! moment. I just got a Target debit card and I should purchase Disney gift cards that are discounted and pay off our upcoming trip. Not sure why I didn't think of that before but I will give you the credit for saving me some sweet moolah!

Isn't it exciting to see those plans coming together!

Thanks for joining in!! I am always happy when I get more readers!! It will be a LONG 17 hours drive, but not nearly as long as the 17 hours home.

Jon actually came up with this (and it is a little bit of a spoiler) we start our trip off with BOG and end our trip at BOG!

So glad I was able to pass along the gift card idea. I didn't know it worked that way, but when I was reading here, that was what someone else was doing. It saved us a few hundred dollars... much more than the $35 savings from Disney! UGH!

 

[GrammyJudy]

I'm back and all caught up. That first day will certainly be long and fun
We started going to Disney when my son was 5 and my daughter was 3 in 1983. My parents gave it to us as a very generous Christmas gift. We had such a great time we couldn't wait to go back. But I know what you mean about a budget. I was a stay at home mom too. Eventually I started a daycare in my home to help makes end meet and pay for Disney. The memories are priceless! Here we are 30 years later and still making memories....now with our 2 grandson's too.

I hope we can meet you for a few minutes at least. When I see the rest of your plans, I hope we will cross paths one day.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey there! Is it too late to join the party? I sure hope not 'cause I just spent the morning reading about the plans, the changed plans and the new changed plans. I'm invested in this pre-trip report now so please don't turn me away.

Seriously, your family is lovely and it certainly sounds like you need this light at the end of the tunnel vacation. Even though you're going to be tired from driving for 17 hours, I'm sure you'll have enough energy to hit the park full force.

 

[Tinker_Tam]

I'm back and all caught up. That first day will certainly be long and fun
We started going to Disney when my son was 5 and my daughter was 3 in 1983. My parents gave it to us as a very generous Christmas gift. We had such a great time we couldn't wait to go back. But I know what you mean about a budget. I was a stay at home mom too. Eventually I started a daycare in my home to help makes end meet and pay for Disney. The memories are priceless! Here we are 30 years later and still making memories....now with our 2 grandson's too.

I hope we can meet you for a few minutes at least. When I see the rest of your plans, I hope we will cross paths one day.

Sounds like you know exactly where we are coming from.

I would LOVE to meet up with you!! Hope our paths cross... although it looks like all my plans for Day #1 are already changing...

Hey there! Is it too late to join the party? I sure hope not 'cause I just spent the morning reading about the plans, the changed plans and the new changed plans. I'm invested in this pre-trip report now so please don't turn me away.

Seriously, your family is lovely and it certainly sounds like you need this light at the end of the tunnel vacation. Even though you're going to be tired from driving for 17 hours, I'm sure you'll have enough energy to hit the park full force.

Of course you can join us!! Although, I am sure this PTR will not be nearly as entertaining as your TR! Yes, I follow along but I don't always reply. If I am reading from my phone, it is hard to reply to the DIS. I'm still following along to find out if you had a run in with a snake this trip, or if it was in reference to the snake in the store during your last trip! Anxious readers want to know! LOL

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Grrrr!!! Just found out this afternoon, while trying to make Fastpasses for our other days that we may be changing day #1 plans. We may be headed back to the original (Number 1) plan of getting in and resting. You would think for as many times as I have been over our plans, and changed our plans, that we didn't have any extra park days. So, we don't have enough days to go to MK on the first day... and well, the other MK days all have special plans so we can't cancel those. In the meantime, I guess we just hope and pray that we can get a lunch BOG fastpass on a day that works. Grrr!!! It makes me so angry that I goofed that up! I haven't canceled the fastpass we have yet. I am hoping that we can figure out another day that we can change.

And this is why I held out on posting my day plans! As soon as I do, its time for a change!

 

[jenseib]

Grrrr!!! Just found out this afternoon, while trying to make Fastpasses for our other days that we may be changing day #1 plans. We may be headed back to the original (Number 1) plan of getting in and resting. You would think for as many times as I have been over our plans, and changed our plans, that we didn't have any extra park days. So, we don't have enough days to go to MK on the first day... and well, the other MK days all have special plans so we can't cancel those. In the meantime, I guess we just hope and pray that we can get a lunch BOG fastpass on a day that works. Grrr!!! It makes me so angry that I goofed that up! I haven't canceled the fastpass we have yet. I am hoping that we can figure out another day that we can change.

And this is why I held out on posting my day plans! As soon as I do, its time for a change!

It doesn't cost much to add another days worth of tickets.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just because you let me stick around, I'll go ahead and tell you that we actually do have a run in with a snake while on our trip. It's coming a bit later in the trip though.

I'm with Jen. I think that I'd see what the cost would be to add a day to your tickets. We usually buy an extra day of tickets just in case we decide that we need some more time in one of the parks. But, if you don't go that route, I'm sure that you'll figure out how to rework your plans.

 

[KatMark]

If you are like the rest of us your plans will change a number of times before you go. Just try to get those fastpasses on the days that you know for sure you'll be at a certain park that you really want.