The ABCs of An EPIC Girls' Trip! May, 2019-Q is for: Quietly Sending this Trip Report off Into an Internet Sunset (8/25)

Steppesister

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
A is for: Another Trip, Among Friends, All about Us



Well, hello there and :welcome::welcome::welcome:…whether you’ve accidentally stumbled upon this Pre-Trip Report because you had insomnia or were exceptionally bored, or, are purposely here because you’ve known me for a while and understand that my reports are like a train wreck and you can’t avert your eyes.... either way, again, :welcome:! It’s fantastic you are here, and I hope to make this even a little bit entertaining. The fact that at least 3 people will contribute as they can is guaranteed to make it more so.


Most, if not all, of my Trip Reports have started out as PTRs so they can make like a menopausal woman and go through the change of life. The good news is that they typically don’t have hot flashes. And, since I’m under the 4-month mark now, why not start another thread that I’ll have a hopeless time keeping up with? I mean, I do a spectacular job (not) with my current TR, right? (No.) Besides a few other ladies that are part of this EPICPalooza have started similar PTRs, so why not? (I don’t have a ton of free time, so I really have no business doing this.)

It’s a very short 4-day trip so there’s not a lot of fodder to write about, but I don’t want this trip's planning muddying things up by mixing it with my in-progress TR which you can find here. I will try my best to make what little I have to work with educational and worth reading. Yes, there will be door decorations. Yes, there will be matching shirts. Yes, there will be plenty of eating. In fact, this trip is going to be mostly about eating. But, that, My Dear Friends, is getting ahead of myself.


Let’s begin with the Who…


I am Liesa, known around here as Steppesister.



I got that name from living on the Steppe’s of Central Asia, affectionately known as Crapistan, for many years. I am the proud mom of 5 great kids from 16-28 and live in Salem, Oregon. I also have a 13-month old granddaughter and a grandson on the way. I am an RN who works full time doing post-anesthesia recovery. I love my job and, like all of you, love Disney. Hmm, what else can I tell you about myself? I have a dream to get my private pilot’s license, but that is on hold during this topsy-turvy time in my life. I am also pursuing professional certification in my nursing field from the American Board of Post-Anesthesia Nursing. Perhaps this trip will be a celebration trip!


My travel mate this time around is my mom, Linda.


(At my oldest daughter's wedding.)

She is the greatest mom on Earth and I’m thrilled to get this chance to spend a few fun-filled days with her! She lives in Kentucky, so we’ll be meeting up at MCO on our travel date. Mom was one of the very first Medical Billing Coders ever and got her certificate from Loma Linda when it was first becoming a thing. She and Dad are retired and spend their days puttering, going to Bible Studies, and keeping up with their kids and grandkids. She’s been going to Disney since the 50s!


While not officially “in my travel party” I do get the privilege of rooming with someone I’ve come to know and love, Karilynn AKA @Malia78. I’ve gotten to meet her a few times now as she lives relatively close by in the Olympia, WA area. I anticipate good times ahead!

If 3 wasn’t perfect enough, I get to add more perfection with a 4th! Jennifer, AKA @Chrystmasangel will be joining us for her Graduation Celebration from Lab Tech School! BOY HOWDY am I proud of her and can’t wait to meet her in person! WAHOOTY!!

So, we 4 lovely ladies get to share a room and get to know each other over 4 action-packed days. But more details on that in a later chapter. I will let the other 2 ladies who are on the Boards introduce themselves in a bit more detail themselves. If they don’t, I will make some stuff up and we’ll roll with it.


Now, you’re turn! Introduce yourself and stand up and be counted. It’s great to have you here. No need to be afraid; I promise you can’t catch rabies or Ebola from saying hi! We do have a lot of fun though, so say hello and join in. The more the merrier as they say!
 
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The List of Drivel


A is for: Another Trip, Among Friends, All about Us- pg. 1

B is for: Becoming Friends- pg. 2

C is for Check-in at Coronado! pg. 3

D is for: Dinner With My DIS O'hana- pg. 3

E is for: Eager to "EPCOT" Excellently- pg. 4

F is for: Fireworks from Friendships!- pg. 5

G is for: Great! More Ticket Drama.... pg. 5

H is for: Have FiPs; Will Travel!... pg. 6

I is for: Into the Magic with an Interlude... pg. 7

J is for: Just in Time for the Animals... pg. 8

K is for: Keep Your PinKies Up!... pg. 8

L is for Let's Get Packing!... pg. 9

M is for: Made Me a Countdown!... pg. 9

N is for: New Toys! Nice Stuff! Nifty Schedules!... pg. 9

O is for: Out of the Drawers and Into the Cases... pg. 10

(I have no idea where P and Q are... apparently I didn't mind them...)

R is for: Returning to My Happy Place... pg. 13
Jenn's Plans... pg. 13

S is for: So Much EPICness!... pg. 14

T is for: TODAY'S THE DAY!!!!!!... pg. 16

U is for: Unbelievable Upgrade!... pg. 17

V is for: VERY Excited for my VERY Early Departure!... pg. 20


W is for: Where the Wild Things Are... pg. 24

X is for: eXtra Time in an eXtra Magical Place... pg. 27


Y is for: YOU STOLE MY TABLE at Yak and Yeti!... pg. 27

Z is for: Zoinks! Call and Ambulance!! ... pg. 29

A is for: Acquiring Alice Art... pg. 32

B is for: The Birds, Bees, Butterflies, Blooms and Hot Babes of EPCOT! pg. 35

C is for: ChunkyDump!!... pg. 37

D is for: Dining on Divine Swine! pg. 40

E is for: Expeditiously Exploring Earth... pg. 44

F is for: Fast and Furious Flyover! pg. 45

G is for: Grand and Glorious Road Trip; Mini TR from rural SE Oregon- pg. 46


H is for: Happy in the Himilayas! pg. 48

I is for: Incredible Intra-trip Upgrade!- Pg. 50

J is for: Just Right this Way Princess- Pg. 54

K is for: Keeping Things Weird!- Pg. 56

L is for: Little Faces and Learning Lots!- Pg. 57


M is for: Making the Most of My Birthday Mania!!- Pg. 57

N is for: New and Nomalicious Noshing At Flower and Garden 2019- Pg. 59
 
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Hi Liesa, your lovely Canadian friend is checking in! Still feeling hopeful that I might get to play a role in the EPIC happenings of this fun filled weekend!
 


Hi Liesa, your lovely Canadian friend is checking in! Still feeling hopeful that I might get to play a role in the EPIC happenings of this fun filled weekend!
You are lovely, My Canadian Friend! :hug:

I am hopeful too!! I hope it works out!
 


and I hope to make this even a little bit entertaining. The fact that at least 3 people will contribute as they can is guaranteed to make it less so.

Hmmmm...what exactly are you saying here Liesa? I don't want to disappoint so let me do my best to make this pre-trip even a little less entertaining :P

I am Karilynn aka @Malia78 I live in a Disney house with my cat, Sake, who has relinquished any say in how I decorate. I work in Informatics at the local army hospital and I like to get out and travel as much as I can, my most recent taking me to South Africa with Adventures by Disney.

I've been lucky to do some fun Disney things with @Steppesister such as the Pacific Northwest Mouse Meet and a little B-Day celebration at Disneyland along with the lovely @franandaj and sashayer extraordinare @pkondz (who I sort of owe some sort of trip report on that Africa trip)

Looking forward to hitting WDW again with Liesa and my new roommate friends as well as everyone else.

There...was that pretty unentertaining? To bring it up back up to @Steppesister levels of excitement, I give her permission to enhance as she sees fit :flower3:
 
Joining in, I will be on the epic trip as well, rooming with @Lesley Wake and Molly B. It will be so fun to get to know you all! I am a R.N. also. I have been longer than I care to admit, over 30 years! I do love it because you can do so many different things. I have worked in ICU/PACU most of my career and now the last 9 years I work in Home Care.
I love it except for winter driving, ugh!

We will have so much fun, getting to know everyone. I travel to Disney with my dd (19), we love it! We have been going together for our girl trips now for many years! We are AP holders and escape Minnesota at least 2-3x a year! The epic trip will be my first solo trip, yikes, without my dd!

How nice to travel with your mom and Dis friends, I am excited to read along!
 
Suffering through the weekday blues. Which means, I'm too beat to do replies tonight and heading straight to bed. It also means the 2 loads of laundry on my bed will sleep with me.

Just keepin' it real....
 
I swear I put a quick post in here last night saying I would be back when I could to do an intro... Where the ____ did it go???? Did I put it in the wrong thread? If someone see's my lost post... please report it to the lost and found! LOL Are you standing tall to your
It’s fantastic you are here, and I hope to make this even a little bit entertaining. It’s fantastic you are here, and I hope to make this even a little bit entertaining. The fact that at least 3 people will contribute as they can is guaranteed to make it less so.
statement? So much so you deleted my post? :rolleyes1 I know I have been told I am not the life of the party, but...

Hmmmm...what exactly are you saying here Liesa?

Censorship! I call shenanigans! I say lashing with a wet noodle is in store!

In truth, I woke up AGAIN with my laptop in my lap and the "unread threads" page on my screen, yet the last thing I remember was reading and posting on this thread. I imagine I fell asleep before I posted it, somehow ended up hitting the back page, and so it disappeared. Just got back into town from clinicals, have a meeting at 6:00 for this years musical costumes. My load is a little lighter this year. I am only doing the main characters and the ones that are "hard" to make. Shrek is the musical this year. I REALLY wanted to make the life sized dragon puppet, but, alas, I had to disappoint my director and tell her I could not. I am only doing Shrek, Fiona (child, teen, and adult), Donkey, Pinocchio, Gingy, Lord Farquaad, and the entire Duloc people (about 30 kids). Hopefully I will be getting home at about 8:30 tonight.

I have a huge Unknown specimen ID challenge for clinicals tomorrow and it will be part of my overall evaluation, so it's going to be a long night of reviewing. I have 10 plates they will give me with growing organisms and I have to properly identify them using the correct path of tests to perform. I also have to explain the method that would be used to report the results to the physician. Should be fun! :sad:

Probably going to have to wait until the weekend to do a proper intro!

108 days...but who's counting!
 
Hmmmm...what exactly are you saying here Liesa? I don't want to disappoint so let me do my best to make this pre-trip even a little less entertaining :P

What I'm saying is that I totally messed up that wording 100%!!!!! :scared1::scared1::scared1::sad2::sad2:

I meant the fact that you 2 will be here will make it MORE entertaining.

sheesh.

:blush:

I am Karilynn aka @Malia78 I live in a Disney house with my cat, Sake, who has relinquished any say in how I decorate. I work in Informatics at the local army hospital and I like to get out and travel as much as I can, my most recent taking me to South Africa with Adventures by Disney.

So you're super smart AND you like to travel. :thumbsup2

I've been lucky to do some fun Disney things with @Steppesister such as the Pacific Northwest Mouse Meet and a little B-Day celebration at Disneyland along with the lovely @franandaj and sashayer extraordinare @pkondz (who I sort of owe some sort of trip report on that Africa trip)

Good times, Girlfriend! Good times. ::yes::

Looking forward to hitting WDW again with Liesa and my new roommate friends as well as everyone else.

ME TOO!! :banana::banana::banana:

There...was that pretty unentertaining? To bring it up back up to @Steppesister levels of excitement, I give her permission to enhance as she sees fit :flower3:

The fact that I've already royally screwed up is fairly entertaining in and of itself, no. :confused3

:rotfl2::rotfl::lmao:

What a dork.
 
Joining in, I will be on the epic trip as well, rooming with @Lesley Wake and Molly B. It will be so fun to get to know you all! I am a R.N. also. I have been longer than I care to admit, over 30 years! I do love it because you can do so many different things. I have worked in ICU/PACU most of my career and now the last 9 years I work in Home Care.
I love it except for winter driving, ugh!

Another nurse!!!! :welcome::welcome::welcome: I'm so happy you're here reading along!! I seriously can NOT wait to meet you!!

Yes, you can take it almost any direction, although at my age I'm not sure I'll ever leave PACU/Pre-op. I really love it.

Home health is a good field too and I considered it when I graduated for sure.

We will have so much fun, getting to know everyone. I travel to Disney with my dd (19), we love it! We have been going together for our girl trips now for many years! We are AP holders and escape Minnesota at least 2-3x a year! The epic trip will be my first solo trip, yikes, without my dd!

Indeed we will! So many wonderful ladies on this one! I think you'll still enjoy this trip without your daughter. We will make sure of it! ;) But I do get the traveling with kids. It's nice to enjoy Disney together with them. I'm going in Sept with my 2 youngest.

How nice to travel with your mom and Dis friends, I am excited to read along!

Again, :welcome:, I'm sure we're to become fast friends. :hug:
 
I swear I put a quick post in here last night saying I would be back when I could to do an intro... Where the ____ did it go???? Did I put it in the wrong thread? If someone see's my lost post... please report it to the lost and found! LOL Are you standing tall to your

Uh... I have news... it wasn't here. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

(See, this PTR IS highly entertaining!)



statement? So much so you deleted my post? :rolleyes1 I know I have been told I am not the life of the party, but...

No, see reply to Kari... simply put, I'm a moron. ;)

Censorship! I call shenanigans! I say lashing with a wet noodle is in store!

Well, yes, there WILL be shenanigans, but not out of malice.

In truth, I woke up AGAIN with my laptop in my lap and the "unread threads" page on my screen, yet the last thing I remember was reading and posting on this thread. I imagine I fell asleep before I posted it, somehow ended up hitting the back page, and so it disappeared. Just got back into town from clinicals, have a meeting at 6:00 for this years musical costumes. My load is a little lighter this year. I am only doing the main characters and the ones that are "hard" to make. Shrek is the musical this year. I REALLY wanted to make the life sized dragon puppet, but, alas, I had to disappoint my director and tell her I could not. I am only doing Shrek, Fiona (child, teen, and adult), Donkey, Pinocchio, Gingy, Lord Farquaad, and the entire Duloc people (about 30 kids). Hopefully I will be getting home at about 8:30 tonight.

Oh my!! New production, new costumes! Huzzah! Will you post pix??

I have a huge Unknown specimen ID challenge for clinicals tomorrow and it will be part of my overall evaluation, so it's going to be a long night of reviewing. I have 10 plates they will give me with growing organisms and I have to properly identify them using the correct path of tests to perform. I also have to explain the method that would be used to report the results to the physician. Should be fun! :sad:

OH my goodness!! I am DYING to know how you did now!! Please! I must know!

Probably going to have to wait until the weekend to do a proper intro!

Anytime you're ready and not a minute before. Your load is pretty heinous right now.

108 days...but who's counting!

OH certainly not me! ;) ;)
 

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