The Berg-Berts do WDW, Part 30 – Closing Thoughts

[latoberg]

At the loving and gentle, but constant, urging of my beautiful and loving wife, I am posting our trip report to the DIS.

What you have before you is the creative effort of a man with too much time on his hands. And very little concern for all of the grammar that I received in high school.

Introduction/Pretrip - you be here
Part 2 - The Plan is Set...No wait let's change that - Pg. 2
Part 3 - The Use of Free Dining - pg. 3
Part 4 - The meeting of likeminded Disney kooks.- pg.4
Part 5 – You never live down the mistakes you make. - pg.4
Part 5b – The other mistake I can’t live down - pg. 5
Part 5 c – My last mistake…before this trip. - pg. 6
Part 6 - Discount Airfare in a Travel Wasteland - pg. 6
Part 7 - The MK Tease - pg. 6
Part 7a - The MK Tease Photos - pg. 7
Part 8 – Winging the way to Orlando - pg. 7
Part 9 - The Big Arrival - pg. 7
Part 10 - The MK Tease - pg. 8
Part 11 - The Real Trip Report - pg. 9
Part 12 - The New Plan - pg. 9
Part 13 - Would it Kill Us to Have a Plan - pg. 10
Part 14 - Patriots and Lightbulbs and Wishes, Oh My! - pg. 10
Part 15 - Go, go Bergbert family - pg. 11
Part 16 – Where’d that water come from? - pg.12
Part 17 – Oh Happy Day! - pg. 12
Part 18 – Who knew waiting was Disney attraction? - pg.13
Part 19 – Around the world in a day - pg.14
Part 20 – The Kingdom of Magic - pg.15
Part 21 – The end of the magical day - pg.16
Part 22 – The Problem with Assuming - pg.16
Part 23 – What Might Have Been - pg.16
Part 24 – A New Opportunity - pg.17
Part 25 – Our Day Off - pg.18
Part 26 – Party time - pg.19
Part 27 - Facing the Yeti and Living to Tell About It - pg.20
Part 28 – It’s Not Goodbye If You Don’t Say It - pg.21
Part 29 – Home is calling us onward - pg.22
Part 30 – Closing Thoughts - pg.22

Cast:
Me – Todd – 35 – United Methodist pastor, Disney nut, nerd, and all around introvert. If I don’t speak to you, don’t take it personal.
DW – Lisa/Drebert – I’ll let her give her age – Office manager for the same church I pastor (my boss), sweetheart, Fantastic wife and mother. She is the better side of me most of the time.
#1S – Nick – 7 – My clone, only much better with people. Wants to be a food scientist.
#2S – Andrew – 4 – Lisa’s clone, only much funnier all of the time. Will likely end up being a character in a theme park.

This trip begins in 2005. November, if I am not mistaken. Well, no. It starts in 2003. See that was the first Berg-Bert Family trip. We hastily threw together a trip to WDW. We were wanting to take a vacation (I rarely do so…take one…I want one daily). So we planned a trip for Fall. But then Star Wars Weekends happened. So we moved the trip up to May. We HAD to take #1S to see Darth Vader. He had lightsaber dueling to do. He was a huge Star Wars fan at the time. So it was a natural. So we took him to WDW to live Star Wars Weekend.

BIG mistake. Within 24 hours our wonderful child turned inward and wouldn’t do squat. NO lightsaber dueling. NO character interaction. NO rides. NO nothing. (English grammar snobs may want to turn away from this TR right now. I abuse the English language regularly with no shame.) So that trip was a flop. For other reasons as well. See my siggie – the Almost Got Me Divorced Trip. Details will be forthcoming throughout this TR.

But after that trip we knew we wanted to make another effort at the world. One thing stood between us and that goal – financial freedom. One of my areas of concentration in my ministry is financial counseling. And personal debt is a life sucking drain on freedom and happiness. We were normal people with lot’s of debt. My idea was to get rid of the debt and have lots of income freed up to do Disney again; every year; for the rest of our lives. Had the plan. Had every month broken down on how much we could get paid off. I knew within a couple of years when we could be back at WDW living large and without a credit card bill when we got home.

Nuh-uh. The plan got tossed. Life got in the way of idealized dreams of financial freedom. BUT we NEEDED a vacation. There are things that are priorities. So we planned on the next vacation. One thing I said had to happen though. It had to be paid before we left. So let the planning begin.

 

[HaleyB]

Hey Lacto!

Really your a minister? Well, maybe I did know that. Good start. I am looking forward to hearing about your past trip, that line in your siggie has always made me curious.

See you later. Here, there, and everywhere.

NRTFS

 

[sheridac]

Uum Lacto??

Last edited by latoberg : Today at 02:35 PM.

This part was weak. TFI.

Otherwise a very good start.

 

[drebert]

Boo Hoo!

I wanted to be the first to post!
Missed it by that much!


Great job honey! Thanks for putting it up for me!

 

[brandt79]

Can't wait to read more - I agree with Haley, I'll be glad to hear the story behind the siggie

 

[1000thhappyhaunt]

Now...THIS... is a good title.

I must make note of it.

Good luck!!!!

Cheers, Mel.

 

[tink38]

Great start, Lacto!

I now have trip envy.

 

[NAB]

Had to check the title again thought you were going to do the 2003 trip or was it the 2005 trip. I am confused.....just kidding carry on.

---

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Berg-Bert: Great start. Can't wait to read the rest.

Question . . . Will you both be contributing authors, or are we to have one author and one heckler (okay, there might be more than one heckler, but only one in the title is what I mean . . .)?

And I want to know what you were embarrassed twice about.

 

[drebert]

Last edited by NAB : Today at 02:02 PM. Reason: is this going to be a joint trip report or two different views like Mark and Rhonda.

OH NO!

I will not be posting a trip report. I may chime in and add things now and then, but I won't be doing one myself.

Trust me, you wouldn't want to read it!

 

[Grammyof2]

One heckler reporting for duty

 

[latoberg]

For all of you who are reading this - thank you.

But before we get much further, I believe there will be some terms that will need to be defined along the way.

lacto = me = latoberg: it has nothing to do with lactose intolerance, but everything to do with people who read very quickly. I will answer to it though.

I am looking forward to hearing about your past trip, that line in your siggie has always made me curious.

And I want to know what you were embarrassed twice about.

All will be revealed. The answers to the embarrassing trip events will be revealed in parts 5a, 5b, & 5c.

Had to check the title again thought you were going to do the 2003 trip or was it the 2005 trip. I am confused.....

I am confused as well. This will be a trip report along the lines of the ending of Wayne's World. doodleloo doodleloo doodleloo. I will be mixing past and present events as well as metaphors.

I may chime in and add things now and then, but I won't be doing one myself.

She will not be able to control herself. But her gift lies in keeping me honest and not being an honest reteller of tales.

AND Haley and Sher - the edit was covered in my personal introduction

If I don’t speak to you, don’t take it personal.

 

[latoberg]

Am I dressed OK for a preacher and his wife

Grammy I didn't know you were going into the ministry or marrying a minister. Or that you were a he.

Viking friends I want to thank you all for coming over and reading. It means a lot.

For everyone who reads the comments in long form (instead of skimming to the next part - not that I would do that myself), I am a part of a clan of Vikings who love to harrass and cavort on the boards. If you don't understand something, PM me and, IF i understand, I will clarify.

And just for clarification, I believe it is important to explain things.

 

[UtahMama]

Goodie!!

Great start! You should do a "He said"/"She said" trip report! We'll want your wife to chime in a-LOT!

I'm excited to read this!
Can't wait!!!!
Your boys look like a "handfull"!

See Ya!
UtahMama

 

[pongoperdigirl]

Hey Lacto.......................................
And Dre


Great start, I can't wait to heat more

Especially aboot the embarassement LOL

 

[horsegirl]

Roly poly, bald, wiseasp, funny, renaissancemanlike, droll, devoted husband, United Methodist pastor, Disney nut, nerd, and all around introvert. If I don’t speak to you, don’t take it personal.

Such an excellent description of yourself! I feel like I know you. I am not sure if I should be scared or offended, as you do speak to me.

Hot Toddy! I love it!

Dre, chime in here occasionally, don't be mum....I know that is asking alot....

 

[javamom]

Subbing, Lacto! Can't wait to see what Dre has to say next too!


lol

 

[latoberg]

So in November of 2005 we set about the plan to go to the World. I am a planner. I love to plan things. I may not do them, but I love the plan. So I am looking at how many days, where we would eat, when we should go, how long we need to save the money up to go for as long as we want, eat where we want to eat, and the earliest we could go.

We set our eyes on the Fall of 2006. I prefer vacations in the Fall. My summers are busy. “Wait,” you say. “You are a pastor. You only work one day a week.” Well that is true. NOT. I am very involved with Methodist youth camps in Oklahoma. And those occur during the Summer. My slow time begins in August and ends in October. So we knew that September/October was best.

Then I began to get a whiff of something. The salty sea air. I began to read about the Disney Cruise Line. “Hey Lisa,” says I, “what would you think about a cruise?”

“What about it,” says she.

So we begin to look at the cruise. We started crunching the numbers. We started looking at the exciting ports of call and the activities aboard ship. Now this could be a cool vacation. So we book a Disney cruise. We get our deposit down. And we start buying our supplies for the cruise.

Now I like to think I have some sophistication. I am a redneck by all outward appearances. But I love opera, classical music, literature, art. I am not just a bumpkin just in from the sticks. I also like banjo music, yodeling, MoonPies and Dr. Pepper. So I knew that we (as a family) would have to upgrade our appearance before going on a cruise. It was mental thing. I know it’s Disney and it brings the same laid back feeling to the seas as it does to the land. But it’s my issue and I have to live with me more than you do. So in our provisioning for the cruise, we came to a shocking conclusion. “Dadgum, this is getting expensive.” And because of the budget, we were booking a closet, uhm, oops, Cat 11 room.

Then came the clincher. Lisa, my love and the beat of my heart, says, “We could stay in the Wilderness Lodge for what we are paying for this closet, uhm, oops, Cat 11 room.” (We knew this because we stayed there the first time.)

Then my beautiful bride makes another brilliant observation. “You know, #2S is too young to do most of the excursions we want to do.”

The final straw of indecision came with the words, “FREE DINING PLAN”.

Then the moment of decision. We call the boys into the room. Now mind you, they have been talking about going on “the boat” for weeks. They are looking forward to the kid’s area with the pirate ship. They can’t wait for the pools. They are pumped. If you have seen the planning video, there is a silhouette of Goofy walking by a porthole. One time on his journey past the porthole, he falls with his characteristic, “Yoo-hooo-hhhhoooo!” #2S is anxiously waiting to get on “the boat” so he can watch Goofy fall down; just like the video. He has reality issues. But he’s 4.

I don’t have an excuse.

So we call the boys into the living room. We put on the “we have to give you boys some bad news” looks on our faces. We take on the “we know that this will likely crush your psyche and we will have to pay mondo big money in counseling” tone to our voices. “Boys, Mommy and Daddy have been thinking about the trip. And we don’t know if we are going to get to go on “the boat”. How about if we go to Disney World?”

{cue crickets………………………….for about 1/8th of a second}.

“WHooo-Hoooooo!!!!!” Or something like that.

So the plan is set… and changed. We are going to DisneyWorld.

 

[drebert]

WhooHooo!

I'm first today!

Yep, that's how it happened. Not much to add from me yet. But wait, I'm sure I will have to correct something at sometime!

 

[tink38]

He has reality issues. But he’s 4.

DED! Great installment. Hope you can add more today!