Squirrels, Ducks and Coconut Butts!!! A Wish Trip Report *LATEST UPDATE 05/2011**

What an exhausting start to your trip. I agree with Phoebe - I don't like frogs either. Can't wait to read more.
 
Yay for the CD arriving!! Now we can REALLY get this party started! :woohoo:

Oh Yeah!!!:cool1:

I'm sort of like a vampire -- I don't show up in pictures. I guess Maggie inherited it.

Verrrrry interesting....If you happen to find one of yourself, or the whole family, feel free to send it to me and I'll post it for everyone here (or the WT thread would work too I guess):rolleyes: Did the one from CRT turnout? Or did you just have Elke in that one?

Haha your funny! Did the girls try to help make breakfast? DH made me some while I got us some chai from the local Bruggler's.

No, Tim had to work so me and the girls had cereal and watched Blue's Clues all morning. It was a nice lazy day, even if it wasn't anything special.

Chicago... oh Chicago.... I still can't believe that was your route to MCO. :sad2::sad2:

At least I know now NOT to choose that route if/when we go back!

I can't wait for the next installment!

Me either! :lmao: I really do look forward to writing them up. I just have to balance the time with all the other stuff.

Great update! I LOVE how expressive Phoebe is.:goodvibes That first day is such a long day that I'm sure no one thought anything of your reluctance to get everyone out of the car. I know we were exhausted and we had nowhere near the travel time that you did. I had no idea that you were in the new section, or I would have come stalking you.:rolleyes1


Phoebe has very clear expressions. She never has trouble letting us know how she feels. ;)
We were BARELY in the new section. I was jealous when I saw where you guys ended up. But all those margaritas we planned never happened so I guess it didn't really matter.


What an incredibly long day! I can't believe you all had the energy to take a walk after that day!


It felt like two days. :rolleyes:


I definitely understand why you were a little miffed when you arrived!! But I am very glad that some pixie dust was quickly sprinkled along! :)

I'm with Phoebe...I am extremely afraid of frogs!! :rotfl:

We relaxed very quickly. I just had to stop trying to control everything.\

I didn't touch the frog!. :lmao:


What an exhausting start to your trip. I agree with Phoebe - I don't like frogs either. Can't wait to read more.

I'm not so much afraid of them, but I had no desire to touch it. :rolleyes1
 
That was a long day. Glad you got the upgraded car. Glad you got to do some exploring at GKTW.
 
Sounds about how my trip is going to go! We fly out at 6am and then land in Chicago at 11 or something like that have a three hour lay over and then get to Orlando at 4 ish. I think we'll still have time to go to DTD or if we are too tired we'll just enjoy SoG.

I can't wait to read the rest! Tessa has no fear of anything does she! I'd love to meet her someday!
 

No margaritas, but we did have a box of wine in our fridge. And grandparents to sit with the kids. I shoulda come knockin'!:rolleyes1 Honestly, though, I was surprised at how little energy I had for socializing at the end of the day, if that makes sense. We would just get the kids to bed (usually very late), the grandparents would turn in, and then we'd sit outside for fifteen minutes, or so, with a quick (but quiet) nightcap. We'd be flat in bed by 10:30 - 11:00. We were very lucky where we were, but we could neither come nor go without hitting the playground on the way.
 
That was a long day. Glad you got the upgraded car. Glad you got to do some exploring at GKTW.

I don't know how we would have made it work in a full size. :confused:

Sounds about how my trip is going to go! We fly out at 6am and then land in Chicago at 11 or something like that have a three hour lay over and then get to Orlando at 4 ish. I think we'll still have time to go to DTD or if we are too tired we'll just enjoy SoG.

I can't wait to read the rest! Tessa has no fear of anything does she! I'd love to meet her someday!

No yours sounds better. Landing at 4 is WAY better than landing at 7!!! How did you manage to get that one? Good job!

No margaritas, but we did have a box of wine in our fridge. And grandparents to sit with the kids. I shoulda come knockin'!:rolleyes1 Honestly, though, I was surprised at how little energy I had for socializing at the end of the day, if that makes sense. We would just get the kids to bed (usually very late), the grandparents would turn in, and then we'd sit outside for fifteen minutes, or so, with a quick (but quiet) nightcap. We'd be flat in bed by 10:30 - 11:00. We were very lucky where we were, but we could neither come nor go without hitting the playground on the way.

It sounds lazy, but I know we were just too far apart. :guilty: If we had been closer, MAYBE we would have socialized a bit, but probably not. :sad2:

I'm so excited! GKTW looks awesome :thumbsup2

It really was/is! People are NOT kidding when they say you could spend the whole week there! It would not be as crazy exciting as the parks, but it would still be very fun.
 
We had a really long travel day as well (though not as long as yours) but I can definatley sympathize. The girls are so cute and I'm glad you got to have some fun when you arrived.
 



Tessa joined in the crowd and was playing along the wall after the music ended. They had birthday cake out on one of the tables and I told Tessa she could go ahead and have a slice. Tim grabbed one too to share with Phoebe and sat down on the wall. At this point a cute, perky, strawberry blonde comes up to us and says hi. It was Ann (WeeAnnie) from the DIS. She had recognized Tessa from pics and followed her over to the rest of us. Ann had just finished the evening orientation which I was still bummed about missing and having to do in the morning. I told her I wished I had known where it was so I could sneak in the back at the end and pretend all the info I've learned here on the DIS was actually obtained from the orientation. Ann's reply was that I should have, because it was pretty boring. I look at Tim, holding Phoebe, and see that she is having a seizure. He holds her through it while I chat with Ann for a couple of minutes about our flights and such. Ann said they were put in the new "Fairytale" section by the playground in a white villa. She said there is one near them that doesn't have a name placard on it yet and she thinks it could be ours. I hope she's right.

"perky"? really?????????? Wow, you must have been COMPLETELY zoned when you arrived that evening if you thought I was "perky"! Too funny! I've been called many things, but perky just isn't one of them. I was at my 25th HS reunion last Friday (yes, I'm old), and a friend said she had met someone like me "except she was really bubbly." When I saracastically said that I, too, could "do bubbly," she could hardly contain herself.

But I'm taking "perky" as a compliment. Sorry I was such an *** and didn't realize that Phoebe was having a seizure as we spoke (that will show you how zombie-like and sleep-deprived I really was). Pretty sensitive of me, huh? But I had nearly fallen asleep during the orientation, so was jolted awake by seeing Tessa run by, and psyched at the thought of meeting you guys.

Glad the GKTW "magic" started working soon after you arrived. I'm sure they're used to people arriving a bit dragging and not 100%. We sure were (we also went and got something to eat before we went to our villa -- I thought our kids were going to kill each other if we didn't feed them asap).
 
Aw dang, you missed the Orientation; that means a longer morning for you! But the fun has already started! How Exciting!!!!

You've already done some really fun things! And I love that you have a familiar face to help you along.

I like frogs too, but they always pee on me.

And Spanish moss is, I don't know, sort of romantic and mysterious in a funny sort of way to me. Interesting that it scared Tessa though.
 
We had a really long travel day as well (though not as long as yours) but I can definatley sympathize. The girls are so cute and I'm glad you got to have some fun when you arrived.

I will make sure to get a more direct flight if/when we go again. That was really long.

"perky"? really?????????? Wow, you must have been COMPLETELY zoned when you arrived that evening if you thought I was "perky"! Too funny! I've been called many things, but perky just isn't one of them. I was at my 25th HS reunion last Friday (yes, I'm old), and a friend said she had met someone like me "except she was really bubbly." When I saracastically said that I, too, could "do bubbly," she could hardly contain herself.

But I'm taking "perky" as a compliment. Sorry I was such an *** and didn't realize that Phoebe was having a seizure as we spoke (that will show you how zombie-like and sleep-deprived I really was). Pretty sensitive of me, huh? But I had nearly fallen asleep during the orientation, so was jolted awake by seeing Tessa run by, and psyched at the thought of meeting you guys.

Glad the GKTW "magic" started working soon after you arrived. I'm sure they're used to people arriving a bit dragging and not 100%. We sure were (we also went and got something to eat before we went to our villa -- I thought our kids were going to kill each other if we didn't feed them asap).

Well, this coming from someone who got about as much sleep as you did, so maybe my memory is a *little* skewed. ;) I remember you were awake and talking, so at the moment that seemed pretty perky.

No worries about the seizure at all. She's really very quiet about it, and I don't mean noise, if that makes any sense. She just gets very tense and her head jerks to one side. If I didn't point it out, most people wouldn't notice.

Glad we weren't the only starving ones. :drinking1


Aw dang, you missed the Orientation; that means a longer morning for you! But the fun has already started! How Exciting!!!!

You've already done some really fun things! And I love that you have a familiar face to help you along.

I like frogs too, but they always pee on me.

And Spanish moss is, I don't know, sort of romantic and mysterious in a funny sort of way to me. Interesting that it scared Tessa though.

I don't think she even noticed the stuff until Tim threw it on her! I think it would have made me jumpy too!

Maybe you are like a frog whisperer?:rolleyes1
 
You my dear, are a fantastic author! I feel as if I am right there with you! Your girls are adorable and I am looking forward to reading more of your adventures!!
 
You my dear, are a fantastic author! I feel as if I am right there with you! Your girls are adorable and I am looking forward to reading more of your adventures!!

That is very sweet of you. There are so many here who do such a great job story telling. It's just so much fun to have people who want to "listen".
 
I'm feeling motivated to finish day one. What's that you say? You thought day one was over? :lmao: Well, pretty much, but I thought I'd go ahead and show everyone around the villa since this is the day we first saw it for ourselves. I will include lots of details for any future wish trippers to see.

I had previously joked with some other Wish Trippers that the Fairytale villas were a little, um, bright, and I couldn't really understand why they were hoping to get one of them. Then a couple weeks before we left we got some paperwork from GKTW in the mail, including a map of the village. I saw that the new section, or Fairytale villas, were the only ones close to Matthew's Boundless Playground. (Stock photo)

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It is a fully accessible playground complete with those cool swings that have the high back and can hold bigger kids that can't handle a big kid swing. (stock photo)

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Phoebe LOVES to swing and I thought it would be really cool if we were close enough to the playground that we could hop on over to it before we went places in the morning and upon our return in the evenings. (Pretty much what Kelly said they did, being right across from it themselves). So I called GKTW before we left and asked if there was any way we could be put in one of the newer villas within walking distance to the playground. The person I spoke to said no problem and it was done.

So after walking around the park that night I could see that we certainly weren't going to let Tessa run over and play without one of us going with her and it would take a short walk to get there before and after every day. It wasn't FAR, mind you, but it was about a block away in the opposite direction from everything else in the village so it was easy to forget about or put off for later. (a view from our villa, fountain out front, playground at the very far right)
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The villas at the far end of the block, directly across from the playground weren't really any farther from everything else because there was a shortcut path through the buildings. We weren't near the shortcut and I felt like we were just a little too far to walk to anything with the time constraints, except for Keaton's Korral where they would be doing horse back rides one day that week. I felt a little sheepish and thought maybe I should have just left it to chance. Oh well. There really isn't a BAD villa in the place, so I had nothing to complain about it. Just a reminder to stop trying to control everything.

So here is our villa right at the corner of the new fairytale section.
(The outdoor pics were taken on our last day but it felt like the right time to share them now.)

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Our very full trunk. I showed Tim a trick where we didn't have to take apart the wheelchair if we laid it on it's back. I also forgot to mention at the airport that we checked a box of Phoebe's pull ups. It really would have been a joke in a full size rental.
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View of the family room when you open the front door. The door by the lamp is locked as it enters into another villa (for larger families). We could hear a family had arrived a couple of days into our week but it was never a problem. The next door you can see in the hallway is the "master bath". It is a typical, small hotel type bath. At the end of the hallway is the master bedroom, and to the right (not in this pic) is a closet that holds the washer and dryer. Behind the TV armoire is the door to the kids' room and bath.
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The kitchen, looking into the family room. We had a couple of Cokes, Diet Cokes and Sprites in our fridge as well as one bottled water each. We also had a box of brownie bites in there. There was a box of 100 calorie snack pack PB crackers in the pantry. I have read some trip reports where people said they overstocked when they went to Wal Mart on their way in and ended up giving away a bunch of sodas, waters and snacks when they left. So just mentioning our experience for contrast. It was nice to have a few things in there, but it certainly wouldn't have lasted us the week.
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In the picture above you can see the closet doors in the hallway where the washer/dryer are, and the kids' room door on the right.

The master bedroom. It had another nightstand on the the other side of the King sized bed and a long, mirrored closet. In the closet was a crib, folded up. We had plenty of room for all our stuff.
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The kids' bedroom had two twins. There was also a roll away bed and a bed rail in the mirrored closet. We decided to move the two twins together for Phoebe (she's used to a double and flops from side to side all night) and we put the roll away twin next to the window (where the other twin used to be) for Tessa. The roll away bed is not as high as the regular beds so it didn't work to put it next to one of them.
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The kids' bathroom is connected to their bedroom, which makes it seem like a "master" bath. It's also HUGE. I had read other reports where people laughed at how "everything is geared towards the kids here, even the bathroom". But I think this is just another facet of the accessibility features. Anyone whose ever tried to get a wheelchair close to a toilet in a non-accessible bathroom knows what a huge relief this would be. There was plenty of room for a wheelchair, a roll-in shower complete with chair, room under the countertop for a wheelchair to roll up to, and as for the jacuzzi tub, I suppose there are medical uses for that as well. This bathroom didn't seem particularly luxurious to me, just totally and completely convenient!
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I figured after the long day of airports and airplanes the girls could use a good bath. Tessa was thrilled to see this "jacuzzi" tub and didn't argue at all!
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Phoebe liked playing with the bubbles and Tessa was swimming.
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I started unpacking everything into the drawers and went to put aside some clean undies for Tessa and jammies for both. I'm digging around in the suitcase, checking the others, unpacking them ALL only to discover....I had not packed Tessa's underwear or jammies. :rolleyes1 I remembered thinking to myself that I would wait until the last minute to pack her undies because she often has mini accidents, where she just waits too long and barely makes it, so I wanted to wash them all at the last minute. I forgot about them in all of the other last minute details. As for the jammies, I had set them aside in her room but never put them in the case. I don't know why. Regardless of reason, I now had to travel to the local Wal Mart to purchase some much needed items. Tessa went to bed in her new Panama Jack T shirt and no undies. I threw all of our clothes into the washer (in what would become an evening tradition for me), and headed down the road to Wal Mart. Thank goodness it is close (not even a mile) because I was BEAT! I trudged myself around the store picking up some flavored waters, snacks for the parks, etc before making my way to the clothing section. The Wal Mart is under renovations right now, plus I was shopping at like midnight, but I felt like I was back home at my ghetto store. I wished I had been able to move faster because I really just wanted to get out of there and go home to bed.

So I pick out some undies and a couple of big T's that Tessa can use as jammies for the trip but will fit Phoebe after we get home. Then I wandered through the souvenir section. There were certainly LOTS of T's and more than the average Wal Mart would carry of Disney items, plus stuff with the year on it, but I didn't see anything special or unusual. I decided to skip the souvenirs tonight and just get home. After picking the wrong line, as always, I switched to another line and after about 20 minutes finally reached the register to cash out. I handed the cashier my bottle of wine, after realizing that we probably wouldn't have a cork screw (should have been thinking about that back in the wine aisle, but there was no way I was going back there to get something else). I drive home to the village only to realize I don't remember the guy telling us how to get back in after we leave. I have a key card but it doesn't do anything at the main gate. I had left our of another gate so I drive over to it to try it and no luck. I call Tim from my cell and ask him to call the desk and ask how to get in. He calls me back and says to buzz the desk at the main gate. So I drive back over there and buzz them. The girl who answers asks for my villa number. I have no idea!!! She asks if my husband just called them and I said yes, then she opened the gate. Nothing like a little last minute stress to end the day!:headache:

Okay, now for a little backtracking to the airplane ride. Another thing I forgot to pack, at least in the carry ons. After a couple hours of flying I figured it would be a good time to change Phoebe's pull up but when I went to the backpack there were none in there. Oh crap. We aren't going to land (and reunite with our checked bags and the box of pull ups) until many hours later. We can't leave the airport and go to a store that has lots of different sizes. I've got to figure something out. Thankfully, we always "double up" when we are out and about, so that if one layer is wet we don't have to take everything off to replace it with a new layer. So we had one more pull up to get us through this flight. I noticed a family with a toddler boarding the plane so I asked a flight attendant if they wouldn't mind asking that family for a spare diaper. They asked what size, and I said it doesn't matter. I saw the girl was a toddler, not an infant, and I could probably make anything work. They bring me back a size 4 pull up. Just for those who haven't bought diapers in a while (or ever) a 4 is about what a one year old wears. Phoebe is 8. But when we get to Chicago I put the size 4 on her and it fits. Thank goodness she's skinny! It kept trying to give her a wedgie, but it fit. :yay: This pull up has to last us until we land in Orlando 3 hours later, which it did. Phew!

This day was the inspiration for the "What else did I forget to pack?" runner up TR title.

A quick recap of my well-thought out plans that fell by the wayside:
nap on the plane:sad2:
arrive at GKTW by 7:45:sad2:
Meet up with Sarah somewhere Disneyish (didn't hear from her when we left in the am, found an email she had sent later that morning, but not until a week later):sad2:
go to the playground and swing:sad2:
chill out with Ann and family enjoying margaritas on the front porch:sad2:

Next up: We Got Wet at Sea World
 
Wow, what a busy day. I'm tired after reading that!:)

Sorry about the late night Walmart trip. I can only imagine how tired you were!
 
Now, I'm wondering what kinds of stuff I'll end up forgetting. One thing I can say I WON'T forget is diapers!!! :worship::worship::worship:

And YES, I've done the "let's make it last diaper trick" too! And asked other parents, AND given my kids wedgies. All part of the gig.

I had planned on doing the same thing: Comparing the Plan to the Reality. THANKS! for doing that!!!!
 
Awesome update!

So great, in fact, that I linked your description of your villa on the Wish Trippers thread for future wish trippers!
 
Hey Melissa!!

I'm all caught up........phew!! I told myself I was going to try and catch up on one ptr and one tr a day but when I saw yours I upped the tr count to two!!!!!

Great start! You are a great storyteller. And I'm loving all the pics!

Your villa (such that it was :rotfl:) was actually kitty-corner to ours. I'll try and stop laughing :lmao:

So page 6 already and just finished up with day one????? What do you think? Only another 36 to go (78 if we include week two :eek:)!!!!!

Looking forward to more:goodvibes
 
Well thankfully you guys didn't lose your suitcase! I'm glad it was little things that could easily be replaced! You could have forgotten super important things like meds. Haha but I think over it sounds like it was an okay first landing.

Oh by the way I was mistaken! We don't land in Orlando until freaking 6.30Pm! Oh well. If we are tired well just crash if not we'll go to DTD. But I have time at the end of the trip to make a special trip there.
 
Your villa looks super nice! I'm so sorry for the late night trip to Wally World. It never fails, we always forget something. Hope the next day goes better for everyone.
 












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