Thanksgiving AND New Year's?! Whew! - Update 3/12 Pg. 17

[IheartDDuck]

So, we had to get up at the ungodly hour of 3:30am to make it to ME by 4:15am. Ugh. This was the most painful thing of my life. This was where I made the decision that I will never leave Disney that early in the morning again. Because of the three hours needed by ME, it just made it very hard.

The trip to the airport was quick and painless. Fortunately, the airport wasn't too crowded yet. There was a pretty decent line at TSA, but by no means was it out of control. We got through pretty quickly. Airports are always a source of humor for me, because it amazes me how unaware people are about regulations sometimes. There was this guy in line next to us that was like "they don't need to see my drivers license, just my boarding pass" (wrong), "I don't need to take my shoes off" (wrong again), and it just went on. He kept telling these things to his wife like he was the authority or something. It's funny, because his wife was telling him the opposite of everything he was saying, and she was right. But he kept brushing her off like she was stupid or something.

I just try to be the kind of person who is prepared.

We made it through and got bagel sandwiches from Au Bon Pain, and coffee from Starbucks. Everything was very good. We were in boarding group A again. Our plan this time was to go all the way to the back of the plane. I sat by the window and mom sat by the aisle. It worked out in our favor, because people only started going to the back of the plane when there was no more room up front. Score!

This was much better for mom since she was getting elbowed so much on the trip out. We landed 20 minutes early, and dad was at the airport waiting for us. It was nice to see him, and we were happy to be at home. It's always bittersweet. I'm happy to be home, but sad to leave Disney. I guess all that means is that I have to make Disney my home.

Parting thoughts:

I really like having photopass this time, and it was the first time on several years that we've done it. The prepaid option was really nice.

The quick service dining plan really does give you a lot of food, and I think it's a great option when you're going during a time of year that tends to be very busy.

Always eat at odd times of day. We never had any major crowds at any restaurants because of this.

Eat at Tangierine Cafe again. Yummo!

A short trip was better then I thought it would be. I think I learned that Disney is great no matter the length of time you are there.

POP is a very nice resort, and a great option when you want to get a room on a budget (or when, in our case, we aren't going to use DVC).

Going on trips with just mom is always lots of fun!

Thanks everyone for joining me on this trip! Stay tuned in this thread, and I will start my New Year's TR.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Wow, they are some real strange people out there, aren't there? I am not a huge ethnic food person at all. Therefore, I don't go to places that serve that kind of food. Easy enough, right? You think people would get that. Go order your cheeseburger or pizza somewhere else and quit holding up the line for others. lol!!

The caramel story is hilarious. I love deadpan humor like that!

Your Mexican food looks delicious!! That's CS, right? We ate Mexico CS in Dec '09 and it was not good at all. It looks like it definitely improved! Yum.

Cute new shirt you bought!

 

[Nermel9]

Great updates! I had that blue margarita when I was there, it's SO good, but strong!

Looking at your pics of the Beach Club make me sad, I want to stay there again!!!

I love that Snow White shirt and the Minnie hoodie!

OMG I cannot wait to go back to the caramel shop! I'm seriously getting like 5 things and substituting caramel for lunch or dinner, there's just so much to pick from!

I have a feeling Brandon would love Tangerine Cafe but me? Not so much! I'm not a very adventurous eater!

Your TR was great, can't wait to read about New Year's!

 

[DVCWDWMEMBER]

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Parting thoughts:


Going on trips with just mom is always lots of fun!

Thanks everyone for joining me on this trip! Stay tuned in this thread, and I will start my New Year's TR.

I always have a great time on vacation with you too. Thanks for the awesome time.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Great updates! I had that blue margarita when I was there, it's SO good, but strong!

Looking at your pics of the Beach Club make me sad, I want to stay there again!!!

I love that Snow White shirt and the Minnie hoodie!

OMG I cannot wait to go back to the caramel shop! I'm seriously getting like 5 things and substituting caramel for lunch or dinner, there's just so much to pick from!

I have a feeling Brandon would love Tangerine Cafe but me? Not so much! I'm not a very adventurous eater!

Your TR was great, can't wait to read about New Year's!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to write, and I'm looking forward to writing about New Year's. However, I have to admit, I take too many notes. I always bring my lap top with, and type things up as I go. Thanksgiving, I typed 20 pages! I talk too much......

I would absolutely love to substitute caramel for regular food. But I would like to substitute dessert for anything!

Tangierine Cafe is not as ethnic as you would think. The meat is like gyro meat. Very tasty, nothing over spiced.

Wow, they are some real strange people out there, aren't there? I am not a huge ethnic food person at all. Therefore, I don't go to places that serve that kind of food. Easy enough, right? You think people would get that. Go order your cheeseburger or pizza somewhere else and quit holding up the line for others. lol!!

The caramel story is hilarious. I love deadpan humor like that!

Your Mexican food looks delicious!! That's CS, right? We ate Mexico CS in Dec '09 and it was not good at all. It looks like it definitely improved! Yum.

Cute new shirt you bought!

Yup, Mexico is the new counter service. The food was really good. Definitely much better then it used to be.

I'm so with you on the food thing. If you know everyone is not going to enjoy it, then go get something you know they will. Maybe I'm too simplistic.....

I always have a great time on vacation with you too. Thanks for the awesome time.

Thanks mom!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I loved the report! I think it's so great that you and your mom get to enjoy Disney together. When I was younger I always went with my grandparents, and I'm hoping that sometime soon, Miguel and I can take a trip with them again.

I can't wait for the New Year's report!

 

[DisneyDreamerMom]

Great report! I know its sad to go home but at least you have another one coming up soon to look forward to.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I loved the report! I think it's so great that you and your mom get to enjoy Disney together. When I was younger I always went with my grandparents, and I'm hoping that sometime soon, Miguel and I can take a trip with them again.

I can't wait for the New Year's report!

Thanks! I'm getting started on New Year's right now.

Great report! I know its sad to go home but at least you have another one coming up soon to look forward to.

I always keep my upcoming trips in mind, no matter how far away they are.

 

[IheartDDuck]

All right, now it's on to the New Year's TR! Woo hoo! Sorry it's been a little while for me. I had a business trip that took up a lot of my time, and another weekend I was out of town, so I just haven't had any time. So here I am!

I started this trip the way I start most trips.....I went into work earlier than normal. When I fly during the week, I always take a later flight and work the early shift. So I had to be to work at 7am. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I know at the end of the day, I will be in Disney World!

It was still pretty rough getting up at 5:30am though. I think I was like the walking dead standing in the shower for the first five minutes. I was pretty useless. I think I may have actually fallen asleep for a few minutes.......

Since it was the start of vacation for me (technically), I decided to give myself a little bit of a treat and stop at McDonald's for breakfast. It's a weakness for me. Love their breakfast. I always get the same thing. Egg and Cheese bagel, hash brown, and a coke. Creature of habit!

I had a few things that I had to get done for sure, so these were first on my list of things to do. I was lucky, because I actually got it all done by 8:15am! I was shocked. But this let me move on to doing other things.

Everyone at work was giving me a hard time that I was going back to WDW again so soon. People just don't understand how I feel about WDW. It's my little bit of magic.

My boss left work at about 11am because of how slow we were due to the holiday. I asked him if it was okay that I left early once I was finished with everything that I had to do. He told me that was fine, so I was pretty happy! I finished with everything at about 12:30pm, so it was out the door for me. I was happy to be able to go home, relax for a bit, and pack the rest of our stuff. I got home at about 1pm. I relaxed for a while and watched an episode of Mad Men online (obsessed!), then packed the rest of our stuff.

Poor Nanook was sad. She doesn't like the sight of luggage, because she thinks we're all leaving her.

Pathetic, right?

Had to take a few because she was cooperating!

I told her not to worry, that mom was going to be staying with her. My dad got there at about 3:40pm. Apparently, he had a really bad day. I felt bad for him. And, to add insult to injury, he forgot the iPod that he had at work with all his music. He only had the one that has video (don't ask. My dad is weird. He doesn't know how to load music or anything for that matter, so I haven't had time to load his new one. He said he wanted to keep music and video separate. Weirdo!).

I had reminded him when I talked to him on the phone earlier not to forget his iPod. Obviously that didn't work. We still had some time though, so I told him I would turn on my laptop really quickly, and put some music on for him. Bless his heart, it shows you how little he knows about how these things work.

Dad: "We don't have time for that! Isn't it going to take you a while?"

Me: "Nope, should only take about 10 minutes."

Dad: "Really????"

I loaded a bunch of music for him, and mom came through the door after finishing her day at work. Perfect timing, because I was just finishing up with his iPod. We pulled my car in the driveway so we could get all the luggage loaded up. Car loaded, I was able to say goodbye to my pup (still looking pathetic), and then headed over to say goodbye to grandma (tradition). We were on the road by about 4:20pm, and made it to Milwaukee airport by about 5pm.

We managed to get pretty decent parking. We picked level three, which is the level all people normally park on, and it said there were only 38 spaces left. I wanted to chance it though, because it's the most convenient level in relation to the terminal. We got our space and headed in. There was only a small line for Southwest, so we checked in quickly and headed up through security. Our plan was identical to the one mom and I had for Thanksgiving. Go through and eat at Johnny Rockets while we waited.

Just like Thanksgiving, there was barely anyone going through security. I have been having really good luck with that lately. Let's hope we can keep the mojo going a little!

We got through security and headed over to Johnny Rockets to eat. This time around I got the chicken club sandwich, and dad got a plain burger with fries. Everything was good as it always is. I bought dinner for us. After that, we headed over to the gate. We met a family that had a flight cancelled out of Midway the day before, and was able to secure the flight out of Milwaukee. They said they were canceling flights because of fog and icy rain. That was strange to me, because I didn't recall any icy rain the day before. Who knows.

This guy was really nice, but man, I thought my dad liked to talk a lot! This guy was striking up conversations with everyone around him. He sat a row behind us on the flight, and this trend continued throughout the entire flight. It was actually pretty funny! We boarded with the A group (early bird!). I have to say for the small fee, I think it's really worth it. You're not spending money on baggage fees, so their rates really are the cheapest, even when you add $20 for early bird.

Dad and I sat in the exit row, and we found something that I had never seen before. Apparently there is a row that has only two seats, because of the space required to open the door in case of emergency. This was awesome, because we had a full flight. They were offering people money and flights before we boarded to give up their seats. We didn't take the offer (obviously), and dad and I loved our seats.

Our flight attendants were really funny on this trip When she was giving the spiel about the oxygen masks, she said "let go of your neighbor's leg, stop screaming, and calmly place the mask over your head." I love morbid humor. As soon as we were able to, I decided to watch a movie on my iPad. Mom and Dad bought it for me for my graduation present, so I wanted to get use out of it! I watched the Proposal. I love Ryan Reynolds!

Dad read The Hunger Games (which I gave to him to read). The flight was very smooth, and I was not plagued with any of the other problems we had on mom's and my flight in November. No armrest stealers, and no kicking, crying children. Very nice!

We landed right on schedule (at 11:15pm), and headed down to baggage. There was a slight delay here, and it seemed to take them some time to get our luggage. It took us a while for ours to come down. There were tons of people in the baggage claim. It seemed like a lot of planes had recently landed. More than I've ever seen that late at night. Anyway, it seemed like no one knew where ME was, because when we got over there, there were no people waiting. Dad and I forgot to get change, so while I waited for our bus to arrive, dad went and got change so we could tip the bus driver at the end of the trip.

We waited awhile here, which seems to be my luck with ME. Not the end of the world, but I was starting to get really tired. Once more people made it over and on the bus we were on our way. It was about 12:30am at this time. We made it to POP first (woo hoo!), and I went to check in while dad grabbed the luggage off the bus. I hit a small snag here, because there were lots of people waiting in line! There were four cast members behind the desk, but most of them seemed to be helping people with very complicated problems. The line just kept getting longer and longer.

I waited about 20 minutes before I was even up to the desk to get checked in. After I made it there, I was excited to see if my room requests cam through. I had heard that with the new system that everything is done by the computer and is no longer completed by individuals. So, I get checked in, got the room keys, and where were we? The exact same room mom and I had in November! The funny thing is that right before I got to check-in, I had thought about how funny it would be if we got the same room. I guess sending nice letters over to the resort really does help you to get your requests.

Dad was excited

We were pretty much done at this time, because it was already 1:30am by the time everything was said and done. I called mom and told her about the room deal, told her we made it okay, and said our I love you's and good nights. Then we unpacked quickly. It was 2am when we crawled into bed, and I wanted to make it to DHS by 8am, which would require getting up at 6:15am! I don't do well on less then 8 hours.......

Up Next: Can I really get up 4 hours after going to bed??????

 

[TanzUnited99]

you started your New Years TR...am excited and looking forward to reading more.

you got up really early but at least you managed to finish work early and you were going to Disney World!

Am glad the flight went ok and you didn't get any kicking etc. on getting the same room at Pop...that was cool!

I hope you managed to make the early start on the next day.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

yay! I'm glad you started!

It's good that you had a better experience at POP than I did! Did you check for bed bugs?! lol

I never sleep well on the first night no matter which resort I'm at so for me, if I get an hour I'm good and then crash the 2nd night which is fine. Sometimes I have to have a bottle of migraine meds to help me through the day though haha.

 

[IheartDDuck]

you started your New Years TR...am excited and looking forward to reading more.

you got up really early but at least you managed to finish work early and you were going to Disney World!

Am glad the flight went ok and you didn't get any kicking etc. on getting the same room at Pop...that was cool!

I hope you managed to make the early start on the next day.

It was really cool that we got the same room. Felt like I was home again!

yay! I'm glad you started!

It's good that you had a better experience at POP than I did! Did you check for bed bugs?! lol

I never sleep well on the first night no matter which resort I'm at so for me, if I get an hour I'm good and then crash the 2nd night which is fine. Sometimes I have to have a bottle of migraine meds to help me through the day though haha.

Yup, checked for bed bugs.

I never sleep well my first night on vacation either, and you'll find out in my next update, lack of sleep can tend to catch up with you......

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I'm glad the next TR has started! Your dog is so cute!

I would have had such a hard time making it up the next morning. I'm interested to see how that turned out!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay for your new TR, can't wait to read about this trip!

SO weird that you got the same room at POP!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Aw, look at your poor sad puppy. What a pretty dog though!! I'm glad you made it safely, though it was late. My last Orlando flight came in that late and I didn't get to bed until 2am. I don't think I will ever do that again. I love that funny picture of your dad!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm glad the next TR has started! Your dog is so cute!

I would have had such a hard time making it up the next morning. I'm interested to see how that turned out!

Hopefully I'll have an update tomorrow. I will likely be staying home from work because of the huge blizzard that's going through Chicago!

Yay for your new TR, can't wait to read about this trip!

SO weird that you got the same room at POP!

I know, it was totally weird that we got the same room. Nice though, because it had a great location.

Aw, look at your poor sad puppy. What a pretty dog though!! I'm glad you made it safely, though it was late. My last Orlando flight came in that late and I didn't get to bed until 2am. I don't think I will ever do that again. I love that funny picture of your dad!

She's pathetic, right? She knows she's cute too.

I like taking later flights, because then I get a full first day at Disney.

You will notice a trend in my dad's pictures.....he always makes funny faces!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Right, so I'm here in Chicagoland snowed in. So what better way to spend a snow day then to give you an update!

So I left you guys with us crawling into bed at 2am.

So I actually managed to get myself out of bed at 6:15am. Who says miracles don't happen?

I was actually pretty impressed with myself, because I wasn't able to fall asleep right away, so I was actually running on about 3 hours total. However, let's all remember that I'm an 8 hour kind of a girl.

I got up first and started to get ready, and then woke dad up. We were both all ready to go at 6:45am. We went into Everything POP to discover that all of the windows don't open for breakfast until 7am. Whoops. I wasn't concerned for myself, because what I wanted was at the one window that was open. Dad said he was fine and that he would just go with the flow. So we went to the bakery window and each got ourselves a POP waffle with meat.

Mine

Dad's

We also got grapes, mixed fruit, and picked up our refillable mugs. We also got two fountain drinks, coffee for dad, and sweet tea for me. We got our seats and started eating. The really nice thing about the fact that we were there so early was the fact that the cast member at the food window pulled the waffles right out of the waffle iron. Yum. I have yet to eat anything bad at Everything POP. I know I heard of some people not being happy with their food in the past, but I've always been very happy with the quality and the selection. But let's just face it, I like food!

I brought a mascot along with us this time, and he was very full after eating breakfast.

See, we had the same room!

We finished up and brought the refillable mugs and the remaining grapes back to the room. Then we were off. It was about 7:30am at this time, so wwe were right on schedule. We headed off to the bus stop and a bus came right away. I completely forgot that POP is right around the corner from DHS, so we made it by 7:40am. Oh my god, I made rope drop! I was very happy about this. We wandered in to DHS and made our way to the area they were holding people.

While waiting...

See the trend with his funny faces?

People say I'm like him. I just don't see it!

I played Angry Birds while we waited (I love smart phones. Yup, I'm that person!), and in no time we headed in. There was no rope drop ceremony though. All they did was have some announcement saying welcome to Hollywood Studios, yackity smackity, blah blah. LOL. Then they let us in. Weird.

There were two couples in front of us with two small little girls (adorable by the way). They couldn't be any older than their early thirties (if that). The two husbands were discussing with each other the rides that they wouldn't be doing because of their back/neck/pains, etc. My dad leans over to me and whispers, "I wonder what they're going to do when they really get old!". It's so true though! Has anyone noticed that people are younger and younger and complaining more and more about their pains and what they will and won't do because they might hurt themselves?! It's humorous I think, but really guys! Man up!

Off topic (kind of). There is this person that I work with that is constantly amazed at the fact that my dad goes to Disney all of the time and that he is able to keep up with me. The way she talks about people who are my Dad's age, he should be one foot in the grave already! She's not much younger than him, so what does that mean for her?

I respond by saying to her that I'm lucky to be able to keep up with him! My dad is of the mind that age is simply a state of mind. It has nothing to do with how old you actually are, it is how old you feel you are. That is why he does things like go to Disney! And I love him all the more for it.

Okay, I'm done, sorry about that. We headed in and of course we went with the masses to Toy Story Mania.

We got in line for fastpasses, and the line actually wasn't too bad. We got fastpasses with a return time of between 9:55 and 10:55. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Then we hopped in line. It was posted at 50 minutes, but we only waited for about 30. That was nice. I love knowing how to work the system. Makes things go easier!

While waiting, dad and I were taunting each other the entire time saying who was going to win this time around. We'll see what happened......

While waiting. Someone else had taken this picture on the DIS, so I had to look for it.

Continued in next post......

 

[IheartDDuck]

So we made it on the ride, and who won????

Here are the scores.

I won! And, I got best in vehicle.

Dad wasn't too thrilled with his score.

I was pretty satisfied with mine.

Once we were done, we contemplated what we were going to do next. We decided to head over the to Great Movie Ride, because we both enjoy it. Some may think it's cheesy, but as I've said before, I'm easily amused.

After our journey into the movies, we decided to head over to Tower of Terror.

The wait time was posted at 50 minutes, so we decided to wait. Why not, we had nothing but time. The wait ended up being more like 40 minutes.

Mr. Yeti was a little bit scared......

They seemed to be having some trouble with the ride, and I couldn't figure out what it was. At first, they were using both pre-show rooms, but then they dropped down to only one, and they weren't letting too many people in at once. Once we got through, it seemed it was because they had some trouble with the elevators once on the other side, and the pump room area was full. They were trying to relieve the pressure so they didn't let too many people in at one time and overflow it. Smart cast members.

The ride was fun as always. When waiting in the pump room, the guest in front of us asked if we came often, because he had questions. I get asked this a lot. I wonder if I look like I know something! He was wondering if there were lockers at the front of the park. I told him that there were, and explained to him how they worked if you park hopped. He was pretty funny. His son and wife were with him and he was talking about how much fun they were having. He wanted to know how the ride would be, and I told him it was one of my favorites in the park. His wife was scared to ride, and she was really funny when we got inside. She kept saying "is it okay, is it okay, oh god, Jesus, s**t" over and over again. It actually made the ride more enjoyable though because it was so funny.

After this, it was time for our fastpasses at TSM.

Before heading over, I wanted to get fastpasses for Rockin' Roller Coaster, in case we wanted to use them later on in the day. After getting those, we headed back over to TSM. Again, we gave each other a hard time in line regarding who was going to win.

"I'm gonna get you sucka!"

Here are the scores again

I won again! And best in vehicle again!

However, my score was worse than last time.

Dad was pretty sad.....

Dad kept asking "how do you do it, how?" Honestly, I'm not that good at it. I can't crack what some people are able to do score wise.....

We were hungry at this point, and it was around 11:30am. We decided to head over to the Backlot Express. Mom and I had enjoyed it there last time, so I figured dad would too. They had just opened up, and there was already a crowd. It wasn't unmanageable, but it looked like everyone was using the 30% off coupon that Disney was pimping. Hey, if I wasn't on the QSDP, I would have eaten at off times too to get the discount. I found out here that the receipts were also printing out coupons for 20% off shopping at different time of day too. That's a nice touch. I get a discount with my AP, but it's a nice touch for others to use.

We both got the same thing, avocado cheeseburger. Dad got fries, I got carrots.

We also both got the strawberry parfait. Everything was good.

We discussed what we were going to do at this point. It was about 12:30pm, and remember what I said about getting 8 hours of sleep? Yup, after I ate lunch, it was really starting to catch up with me. I thought I'd be able to hang longer, but it just didn't seem to be in the cards for me. Dad was looking pretty tired too. So, we made the decision to head back, take naps, and then head out for dinner and EMH. We would then be able to use our fastpasses and do a few other things. Sounded like a plan to me.

Up Next: Our Evening....and amateur night?

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Ok, I have to ask what Angry Birds is all about. My best friend talks about it all the time. Is it a ton of fun? lol!!

It sounds like your dad has an awesome personality and outlook on life! What a fun companion to go to Disney with you. That's awesome.

I also am easily amused so really like the Great Movie Ride!

 

[Nermel9]

That's disappointing that there is no little ceremony for rope drop at DHS. It could be something so cute, too, considering the whole park is about making movies! Oh well!

I have yet to participate in the TSM stampede, I'm actually pretty nervous about it, it sounds terrible!

Yay, love ToT! Although if they were having problems with it, I'd be nervous to ride it...but I guess they know what they are doing, if not, they wouldn't let people on it at all, right?