The Clampetts go to Disney World.......

[daze]

Ok, so this is my first TR of any type, and I’m going to try to do a pre-trippie. So, you know, wish me luck and stuff, here goes…….

Ok, so my family isn’t the Clampetts (confused? It’s a Jeff Foxworthy comedy bit about taking his parents to Hawaii) However I did convince my parents to join my DW and I on a trip to WDW, mostly I said “We’ll bring the baby and you guys can watch her, while Wendy(DW) and I go on rides” Methuselah (My dad) said: “Sure, where are we going again? Oh who cares, just bring my granddaughter” Really, it was pretty close to that. They don’t care where we are as long as my DD is there. “Lake of Fire? Sure, just bring the kid”

So that’s how this trip was born. I suppose I’d better tell you all who we are huh? (You probably won’t find real names, I’m a little paranoid about that, plus made up names are more fun right?)

First of there’s ME (28)—AKA: daze, Super Dad, Narrator, and Bartender Extraordinaire. I’m the planner in our household; I get that from my dad. I’m a thrill ride junky going through withdrawal, while WDW is not the thrill ride capital of the world by any means, there’s enough action there to keep the symptoms at bay, and I LOVE WDW, the attention to detail, and the characters, and on and on ad nauseam. I’ve been to WDW a few times most recently with……

Wendy (2?) -- AKA DW, Captain Wendy, the BOSS, and the best wife in history. She puts up with the most insane things I can come up, and almost never gets mad at me, annoyed? Oh yeah, but not really mad. She too has been to the world a couple times, and is almost always game to go. As long as I plan the trip. We have interesting conversations, I’ll say something like: “Soooo……” and she ever so sweetly replies: “This is gonna be about Disney World isn’t it?” She refuses to get excited until about the week before we go. This leaves me talking to……

Princess Taz (2) – AKA PT, DD. (I call her Princess Taz, because well she’s a princess, and she rules the castle here, which she destroys every chance she gets, just like a certain non-Disney cartoon character.) Who is two, and simply repeats whatever name I happen to say (“Mickey?” “Pincess?”) So you can imagine how our conversations go…..

Then there are my parents
Methuselah (????) --AKA Dad, Mean Old Man. Ok, so my dad isn’t really that old, but he’s smarter, and quicker witted than I am, so instead of resorting to violence (like I usually do) I’ll just slander him on the internet. Nifty huh? He REALLY couldn’t care less where we are as long as his baby girl PT is there. He’ll have fun, because he’s kind of a jolly guy, now. Go figure, as soon as I moved out, he became all nice and stuff. It’s like it was my fault he was cranky or something

Mom (23 again) – yeah, she’s just mom. Now my mom has a disability, and so she won’t do many rides, and can’t stand to long, and wont do the bumpy rides. However she does love holdin’ her grandbaby. So the world is a good place for us to go right? Not too many bumpy rides, lots of fun stuff to look at etc… Mom likes the world, prefers cruises, but she’s like Methuselah, she’ll go where PT is.

So that’s us.

As for the details of our trip they are:
March 29-April 4
We’ll be staying offsite (more about this later)

ADR’s at this point are:
Coral Reef for dinner Tuesday night
Boma for Breakfast Sunday morning
And that’s about it. Staying offsite w/out DDP SUCKS!

So we’re staying off site. It’s my parents fault. They’ve got a timeshare with a property that happens to backup to AK. Great. I want my DDP. But this is WAAAAYYYY cheaper so this is the way we’ll go. Cuz my parents are cheap. They used to be travel agents. So they were always planning vacations. We took a train trip into Mexico. One train was the equivalent of $20, the other was like $12, guess which one we took.

So, that's kind of a lot of rambling.

Right now it's late and I can't sleep, no particular reason, we don't leave for another two and a half months, but my mind is like on speed and won't slow down. So I'm gonna throw up some questions and wait for the experts to share their knowledge with me

So like I said I'm the planner and the schlepper, which leads to question
#1 Where can I find something like a baggalini, but for you know, guys?
#2 Do I want to rent a stroller or see if I can get one in a stroller pass, or buy one?
#3 Why do the days leading up to a vacation take longer than the days on a vacation?

I think I'm out of things, and I'm tired.

Next up a recap of the last time Wendy and I were in the world.

daze

 

[msce2]

I get to be the 1st!!!!

You are too funny!!!! I'm looking forward to hearing more!

 

[pezheadmeg]

A Manhatten Portage should be a manlier version of the Baggalini. It has pockets galore. Or you could go for a Diaper Dude. A Baggalini in a dark color isn't too girlie.

 

[daze]

I get to be the 1st!!!!

You are too funny!!!! I'm looking forward to hearing more!

COOL I'm not alone. I have imaginary internet friends!!!!

A Manhatten Portage should be a manlier version of the Baggalini. It has pockets galore. Or you could go for a Diaper Dude. A Baggalini in a dark color isn't too girlie.

thanks, I will def check those out. I had a nice diaper bag, it was all manly an stuff. i think the internet ate it. or maybe the baby, or my car.


i just have to say YAY!!!! readers!!!!! and uh oh. now I have to write another instalment. I guess I'd better get to work on that huh?

 

[daze]

I forgot to tell ya’ll the difference in the $20 Mexican train, and the $12 Mexican train:
The $20 train actually went to where we wanted to go. Safe water to drink. (ever drink soda for three days straight?) Plumbing that worked. And the $20 train didn’t breakdown in EVERY town. That is a long story best told by my Dad, he still thinks the whole trip was HILARIOUS. Mom, not so much.

So, here’s a little background info on DW and me, myself and I (I won’t go into details w/ the others in my head right now) We met, fell in love and decided to wait and make sure we were really in love before we took any serious steps, like marriage or moving in together etc. We met on a 45 day temporary duty assignment. The last week of our trip, I called my roommates and said: “Hey guys, clean up the apartment, I met a girl. And by the way, Brent, will you be my best man at the wedding?” My parents happened to be traveling through the city Wendy and I were stationed in, so they extended their layover for a few days. To their credit they were only a little annoyed that they got to meet my new fiancé 5 days before our wedding, which they would not be attending. Oops. Because we were moving, I was getting out of the military, and we had no money Wendy and I decided to take a “local honeymoon”. In other words we both took 3 days off work and moved her into my apartment. So for our one year anniversary we used my SIL’s high school graduation as an excuse to go back to the real world. We lived in Alaska at the time, so going stateside was a fairly major event for us. About that time I saw a commercial for the world, and said to me “Hey ya, there’s that cool place in FL with the mouse dude.” Google here I come, and I started researching prices, packages and on and on. Well I got the whole shebang just about figured out, and said “Hey Wendy how about Disney world?” She said “HUH?” So I explained about prices, and Dining plans, and hotel stays, and that with our upcoming tax refund, we could afford it!!!! She said “Whatever dude” so I booked it.

That trip is much fuzzy to me at the moment, because it was almost four years ago, and PT has eaten my brain, and won’t share the leftovers. We stayed four days, at Music, and did every park, and every ride. And we loved every minute of it. As I recall, we spent our first day at MGM (I too refuse to call it the OTHER name) I know we ate Sci-fi Café there, and enjoyed the ambiance, and the food was good, but not spectacular, for us it’s a DDP lunch/dinner, but not OOP. We ate at Coral Reef the Day we were in EPCOT and LOVED it, but we are seafood freaks. We didn’t do too much in the way of partying; I don’t think we even made it onto PI, which I’m now rather upset about with it being shut down and all. We spent an entire day at AK and I think that is just about our favorite park, we love animals….Baked, Fried, Grilled.  We like live animals too, so that was a lot of fun for us. I think MK was our last day, and we ate there. Whatever restaurant it is that is basic American food. We weren’t all that impressed. I don’t think we ever had a BAD meal, some of them were more memorable than others. We really did go through the parks commando style, I believe at one point we actually hurdled a family of 4 to make it onto POTC before them. I could be wrong though. So we didn’t do a lot of the things that make WDW different than other amusement parks, something we will have to rectify on this trip.

Things I’d do differently, and will this time around:
Spend more time ENJOYING the parks, and less time heaving small children out of my way to get to rides.
Explore, DTD, the Hotels, the parks.
More character experiences, we only met Lilo and Stitch, and Mike and Sully last time.
Did I mention enjoy the parks?
Shop!!!!

Weeeeellll that ought to do it for now. Next up our trip plan for this time around, and ADRs all 3 of them. (did I mention my parents are CHEAP?)

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Hey Daze! (That just rolls of the tounge doesn't it?). I just found the link to your PTR and declare it to be a nifty thing.

As to your inquiries, I've never done the stroller thing with kids of my own at WDW so I can't help on that one.

I usually just carry whatever DW hands me so I can't help much on the second either.

Concerning an imbalance in the space time continuim, I blame global warming and mutated sea bass.

As to bringing the parentals to watch the young 'uns and thereby maximize ride time, well let's just say a similar plot line will develop for our trip this summer.

And as to Corral Reef and honeymoons, our excursion didn't go quite as planned.

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[feedthebirds]

#2 Do I want to rent a stroller or see if I can get one in a stroller pass, or buy one?

Enjoying your report!
Personally, I prefer my own stroller because once you leave the park, you are going to have to carry your dd and all the things you have accumulated, especially if you have to walk far in the parking lot. Now that I think about it, maybe I just buy too much junk! I have participated in a stroller swap (5 years ago) here on the Dis and that was great too. I would do it again.

Concerning an imbalance in the space time continuim, I blame global warming and mutated sea bass.

 

[daze]

Hey Daze! (That just rolls of the tounge doesn't it?). I just found the link to your PTR and declare it to be a nifty thing.

As to your inquiries, I've never done the stroller thing with kids of my own at WDW so I can't help on that one.

I usually just carry whatever DW hands me so I can't help much on the second either.

Concerning an imbalance in the space time continuim, I blame global warming and mutated sea bass.

As to bringing the parentals to watch the young 'uns and thereby maximize ride time, well let's just say a similar plot line will develop for our trip this summer.

And as to Corral Reef and honeymoons, our excursion didn't go quite as planned.

Looking forward to hearing more!

Welcome oh Great Flakey One. I must have been confused, I thought the imbalance in the space time continuim caused global warming, and 16 year olds with too much time on their hands caused mutilated sea bass, or some such thing.

Enjoying your report!
Personally, I prefer my own stroller because once you leave the park, you are going to have to carry your dd and all the things you have accumulated, especially if you have to walk far in the parking lot. Now that I think about it, maybe I just buy too much junk! I have participated in a stroller swap (5 years ago) here on the Dis and that was great too. I would do it again.

Welcome, thanks for stopping by I did end up buying a stroller. I seriously considered a stroller pass, but all the ones I saw were the doubles, which would have been fine, but my mom requires a wheelchair, and we will only have one car, so I think any of the big strollers would take up too much space in the trunk. Unless I just make my dad walk.............

Any how, I'll try to get another update up tonite, so hopefully ya'll have something to read.

Due to circumstances beyond the writers control no guarantee is made to accuracy, quality or length or even if the "update" will appear as scheduled. Any questions comments or concerns should be addressed to Jack Sparrow Consulting Attorney (800) Rum-Gone

 

[daze]

Hmmm…. What did I say I was going to write about? Oh yeah, trip plan, and ADRs. I’ll probably eventually make it to must do’s and don’t cares. Probably not this post though.
So with only a little more ado here is the trip plan….
Go to WDW.
Have fun.
Come back home.
Thank you all for reading, have a nice day.

What? You want details? Ok fine Details it is!
In 56 days 13 hours 18 minutes from the time of this post (well the time I’m typing this) which should be Friday March 27 2009 in the afternoon (I hope!!) Wendy, PT, and Daze (including Myself, and I; Me couldn’t make this trip) will leave our little slice of heaven that we call home and venture forth into the big bad world on our way to our happy place. We (Wendy) have decided to only drive about half way or five hours or so and spend the night. Where, You ask? That my friends is an excellent question, and one any self respecting DISer should have figured out. Yeah, I really don’t have a clue, we may stay with family or we’ll find a hotel. Right?

Saturday, we will arrive in Orlando in the early afternoon, where we will proceed to feed PT, twiddle our thumbs, play with our GPS and drive around to random stores, (hmmm….maybe DTD is in order here?) twiddle our thumbs some more, until we can check in at our resort. Right about the time Wendy gets PT settled down for bed, I should return with my parents who will promptly get PT all wound up again.

Sunday is scheduled as a no park/goof off/relax from the strain of travel day. The only firm plan we have is Boma for breakfast. I must have coffee!!!!! Then I would LIKE to head to DTD for shopping, and experiencing Disney type stuff. We’ll probably go back to the resort and take a nap.

The rest of the week goes like this Monday: Magic Kingdom, Tuesday: EPCOT, Wednesday: ZZZZZZ, Thursday: ANIMAL KINGDOM, Friday: MGM (DHS)

ADRs are
BOMA for Sunday breakfast, I’m going even if no one else does.
Coral Reef for Diner on Tuesday
Rainforest Café for Lunch on Thursday
Yup, that’s it. Three. One each: Breakfast, Lunch, Diner. OH! How I miss DDP!!!

Did anyone else’s parents always give the reason that you weren’t doing something, or staying in a nicer hotel as: “That way we’ll have more money to spend while we’re there”? Mine always did. Still do in fact. I told them how much staying on property would cost, and got: “We’ll just stay in the timeshare, and then we’ll save like $1,000.00 that we can use to buy PT stuff while we’re there”

Yeah right. Of course they’re right, it is much cheaper to stay off property. But they’re not gonna spend anywhere near what they save on junk for the kid. (Well, they might, they actually like HER)

So anyhow that’s the plan.

Oh, something I just remembered, we’ll be celebrating my parents 30th anniversary while we’re there, and that’s our excuse for taking them to Coral Reef. Will Coral Reef do anything special for them? I know they used to do REALLY nice custom menus, but apparently they’re not doing those anymore. Or is there anything else really cool we can do for/with the old folks, I mean my parents?

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Did anyone else’s parents always give the reason that you weren’t doing something, or staying in a nicer hotel as: “That way we’ll have more money to spend while we’re there”? Mine always did. Still do in fact. I told them how much staying on property would cost, and got: “We’ll just stay in the timeshare, and then we’ll save like $1,000.00 that we can use to buy PT stuff while we’re there”

Do our mothers know each other? I heard this so many times growing up, I lost count. I too often wondered if there was a direct correlation between cash saved on hotel and cash spent on extras. Somehow, it never seemed to quite add up.