The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 8

[lmartin2711]

February would be best for me! My family will be going in September, and my chances of going again a month later are practically non-existant. My parents loved going in February. They said crowds were low, and the weather was pleasant.

So, how's February?

If Feb is all that worked for everyone else I could probably swing it. Mid to late Feb would be better .

Lynn

 

[Glynis]

Tell me when and I will be there! I will also pick up anyone at any airport on the way.

I would probably need to be picked up as I don't drive well in large cities. DH says I'm a menace behind the wheel in a large city. I'm great in my tiny town, but I get really tense otherwise. But this would solve so many problems. Let's choose a date in February and start planning!!!

 

[lmartin2711]

O.K......I'm calling it a night. Only two more days left of school. After school is out I can probably get an extra hour sleep in the mornings before I have to leave for work.

Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite

Lynn

 

[Glynis]

No Monster drink yet, but with Bethie having a fever again, you can bet I will be needing one later.

I was so hoping that the fever would be gone by now! Give Bethie a hug from her DDA Aunts, and try to get some rest.

 

[Glynis]

Maybe March?? Our big family trip to WDW is the 1st week in Jan 07 so money would be a little tight. I am still going to pull for mid Sept 07. But I will see what everyone else would like also.

September would be out for me as that's when I'll be going with my father and all my siblings and their families. We usually go the week after Labor Day. I doubt I'd be able to swing another trip the same month.

I say we see when the majority will be able to go and then just choose a date. Those that can make it, great! Those that can't will have to work toward the next one!

 

[Glynis]

Day 3 - May 20

I am going to start with just the Segway report - I imagine Tammi might want to add more too

we arrived at 8:00 and arrived at guest Relations by 8:15 for our tour

there were 10 of us total on the tour and as we were waiting to leave Guest relations - a woman on our tour (Cathy) walks over and asks where we got our shirts - we told her that we made them - she turns to her daughter (katie) and says "I KNEW it - they made them!!" As we all left for the tour - she said "oh good - now I have 2 hours to convince them to give me their shirts" We never gave up our shirts but we did give them my email so they can come join us!!

We had already signed our lives away and we headed into the training room - where we sat and watched a video and they oriented us with the Segway

Our guides were Phil - he is a retired Doctor and does this for fun - the other one was (Shoot I forget his name) but he was younger and from NY - they were both a LOT of fun!!


then it was time to try them out - we walked out and got on them one at a time - kristine was first and then Tammi = then me - I was so nervous and it was hard to keep the Segway from rocking - Phil promised me I would get used to it and sure enough he was right - after about ten minutes I was completely comfortable on the Segway and it was just a matter of getting used to it

once we finished an hour of training inside innoventions - we headed out on our Segways into the "World" we took a jaunt through Future World and then we headed to into World Showcase - the hardest thing about the Segways was that you can't go over 5 miles an hour on them (there are smart keys that control the highest speed you can go - there are two other keys - 8 mph and 12.5 mph) we only got the 5 mph key - and as you go down the hills - this can be hard and as you start to go over the 5 mph the machine rebels and pushes back on you - this is pretty alarming when it happens and panic does set in - I will not name names - but I can tell you that one of us had to jump off her segway, one of us crashed her Segway (not a big crash) and one of us hit a corner!

But we really had a great time and we all did really well on the Segway's - the only time we really had any trouble was when we thought we were going to slow!!!!

It was interesting to hear about the countries and see the World Showcase before it opened - and we really had a GREAT time!!!!

I really reccomend that you all go - it was a BLAST!!!!!! We picked the 8:30 am tour b/c we had heard it was better to do the tour before the parks opened and I can't tell you how important that advice was!! As we were finishing our tour - the last tour was heading out and they were going to be in World Showcase once it was open - I really think that would have made the tour a lot different and I was really nervous when we were around people
- I also don't think that we would have been able to go into the shops like we did - so if you go - make sure you take the 8:30 tour!!!!!

Oh my gosh! That sounds like so much fun! But now you have to name names! I want to know who did what! Did Marti go on the Segway tour with you?

 

[Glynis]

If Feb is all that worked for everyone else I could probably swing it. Mid to late Feb would be better .

Lynn

Late February would work perfectly for me!

 

[marcij]

How about those MAVS!!!

 

[UP Disney]

Hi, everyone. Thanks for checking in on me. Vicki, you have such an ACCENT! When I got up today (I went to bed last night at 6:15pm), DH told me you called. I listened to the voice message. What a sweetie you are! Rees is hanging in there. He goes Thursday to the hospital for general anesthesia for another Endoscopy and abdominal ultrasound. I'm really sick with a sinus infection that has spread to my lungs. First doctor's appt available is on Wed afternoon. I worked all day Friday teaching. Found out they had extended the school year (without telling anyone by one day), so I also had to work all day today. Taught the prenatal class from 8am to 5:30pm on Sat and my in-laws came in town for the weekend. To put it nicely, I'm wiped out completely physically and emotionally.

Tomorrow BK has Ballet Recital rehearsal at 5pm and Davis has a party until 4:30pm. DH is working late tonight through Wed pm and won't be home until 10pm each night so he can take off all day Thursday to watch BK and Davis. Wed is teacher work day all day, Thursday is the hospital. I hope Friday is the beginning of some down time for us all.

Oh, and my kiddos were the blessed recipients of one of Paula's SSP! It is overwhelming! DH and I opened it yesterday afternoon as our babysitter had put it in our spare bedroom and didn't tell us. It is AWESOME!!!!! The kids got so much stuff, and we're giving some this week to Rees but saving most for their b'day. I can't even believe how great it is. I will try to post some pics once they find out about it all. Paula, you are really an angel, and I want to PayPal you some money. You went completely and utterly overboard. It must have taken you 40 hours to make it all! I don't even know how to thank you.

Oh, and PM has a new towel from Paula and a BAB (tiny one) from June. Very cute. Rees loves PM and is getting one for his b'day. Thanks for fueling the Disney fantasy around here. BTW, who does PM go to next and when do I need to mail it?

I probably won't be around much, but I will post an update on Rees on Thursday. Hugs to you all.

I'm glad to see you post! I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me I had an accent before! I think I like that thought!

WTG Paula! Denise, we want to see pictures if Paula gives you approval to release the details of the SSP!

 

[PNO4TE]

Elin, I almost forgot. I got your antenna toppers!

 

[UP Disney]

So do I understand that you all have started planning a trip to DL next year? Are the May 18thers invited or do we have to abdicate since we've had a trip already?

Of course, you have to go!!!! The more, the merrier!!!!

 

[UP Disney]

Well, Channon, as our resident travel expert, what time frame do you suggest? I know that several California schools go to DL from April through the end of school, so that time frame can get a bit crowded. Does anyone else have any time constraints? Theresa mentioned that Easter and from September through December are bad for her. Anyone who is interested, chime in with your BAD times, and we'll see if we can find a good time for us to go!

The only thing I can think of is late May, early June of 2007. Becky is graduating from high school then and it is my 25th wedding anniversary. Otherwise, I could make just about anything work.

 

[UP Disney]

Tammi and I spent A LOT of time with the photopass guys this weekend and we found out some VERY interesting info!!

If you lose your FP - you can go to the locations that can make a photo cd and ask them to help you find your pictures

he typed in his search criteria

Daisy
MGM
between 6 and 8
and EVERYONE who had their picture taken in that time frame with Daisy at MGM showed up - how cool is that!!!

Then they printed the picture and took it to look for the photopass stuff - we found out that photopass has a quality control center and as pictures come in - they crop, fix the exposure, delete any obscene photos, and add tink, stitch, simba etc. to photos! they also Tag good photos - when the girl helping us came back - she told us the picture she had of Tammi and I with Daisy had been tagged as a good photo - which meant they would use it as an example for photographers and I guess they keep track of how many good photos a photographer gets - it was good b/c we were smiling, looking at the camera, framed well, it was clear and the photo caught their eye!!!!

we also found out that Disney's ultimate goal it to sell a photo CD to everyone - and they hope to REALLY increase the photopass force - having photographers at every character meal - with every character - at the resorts - basically anywhere you would want your photo taken - AND they are working on the ability to put your ride photos on the photopass CD as well! (two different people told us this)

This is great info Kate. Thanks for sharing. I love that they are looking at increasing the photopass photographers. I would love that. I enjoyed our CD.

 

[marcij]

**Update on Andrew and another request

This season has been a turning point for my son Andrew (age 10) in baseball. His coach from last year and several of the parents of players on that team have come over to me during/after games to comment on the progress Andrew has made. He is enjoying himself, still learning a lot and developing more self-confidence. As many of you remember, he has ADHD, dyslexia, a verbal expressive disorder (has trouble decoding but not articulating) and sensory issues. He excels at soccer but really wants to be able to keep up with his cousin who is awesome at baseball.

Andrew also got a boost in self-confidence last week at his end of school awards ceremony. He received perfect attendance (for the third year in a row), a citizenship award (he received the most votes from teachers for a third grader), an award for improvement in creative writing AND was voted on by his class for the citizenship award for their advisory.

All of this from a child who was considered to be a problem child in pre-school because his ***** teacher couldn't tell he had all those issues!

I'm coming to you tonight to ask for more good thoughts and Pixie Dust for him as the two baseball games (and wrap-up of a game under protest) this week are the most important of the season. While winning would be great, I'm most concerned with Andrew playing his best so that he can continue to build on his achievements/self-confidence. You guys were so wonderful the last time, and I truly believe the will of the DDA (along with his hard work!!) helped him.

Thanks again for your help. I am indeed, indebted to you all.

Marci

 

[my3princes]

It has been a busy day here today. Good to hear from everyone again. I had tried to log in this morning, but my connection was so slow that I logged off. I've been having trouble with my dialup software the last couple of days so I knew it was time to uninstall/reinstall the software. As I was doing that I ran my antivirus and anti spyware software and it found a Trojan Horse virus. It literally took hours to do a complete scan. I ended up taking a nap with the kiddos. When the older kids came home, Nick decided to play a game on my computer which is a no no, we have an old computer for that. He quit two applications that I was running so I had no idea how to finish getting rid of the virus. I ended up restoring the computer to yesterday and having to uninstall/reinstall a bunch of software and rurunning the antivirus stuff. If that wasn't bad enough my printer decided not to load any paper so I spend a couple of hours trouble shooting that. My finger is still very swollen and black so now I'm unsure if it is just bruised or maybe broken . I think that all of the computer issues are behind me, but didn't get to work on Nick's project today other than running to Walmart to scan photos and print them. Tomorrow his project must get done. I hope that tomorrow is a more productive day.

I did manage to get my hair permed this morning so hopefully I will start looking a bit more put together.

Deb

 

[UP Disney]

And here are our photopass pictures!!

I especially like #20 (Pal Mickey with Minnie).

 

[UP Disney]

Ask me!
Ask me!

I have stayed on and off site.

Ask me!
Ask me!

She talks this way too!!! And my friends complain that I'm hard to keep up with. I definitely found someone who has me beat. Of course, I have several years on her so maybe I'm just slowing down due to age! But I'm not old!!!! Just more mature!!!!

 

[Glynis]

**Update on Andrew and another request

This season has been a turning point for my son Andrew (age 10) in baseball. His coach from last year and several of the parents of players on that team have come over to me during/after games to comment on the progress Andrew has made. He is enjoying himself, still learning a lot and developing more self-confidence. As many of you remember, he has ADHD, dyslexia, a verbal expressive disorder (has trouble decoding but not articulating) and sensory issues. He excels at soccer but really wants to be able to keep up with his cousin who is awesome at baseball.

Andrew also got a boost in self-confidence last week at his end of school awards ceremony. He received perfect attendance (for the third year in a row), a citizenship award (he received the most votes from teachers for a third grader), an award for improvement in creative writing AND was voted on by his class for the citizenship award for their advisory.

All of this from a child who was considered to be a problem child in pre-school because his ***** teacher couldn't tell he had all those issues!

I'm coming to you tonight to ask for more good thoughts and Pixie Dust for him as the two baseball games (and wrap-up of a game under protest) this week are the most important of the season. While winning would be great, I'm most concerned with Andrew playing his best so that he can continue to build on his achievements/self-confidence. You guys were so wonderful the last time, and I truly believe the will of the DDA (along with his hard work!!) helped him.

Thanks again for your help. I am indeed, indebted to you all.

Marci

Wow! Andrew is some wonderful kid!!! Congratulations on all those awards, etc. That is FANTASTIC!!!!

I'll send as much as you want for his upcoming games!

Andrew - You do your best! You are an awsome young man, and I hope that you are proud of all that you have accomplished!!!! Congratulations on all that you have achieved! You are an inspiration! We are so proud of you! Good luck on your next 2 games! We are behind you 150%!!!

 

[babytrees]

My vote would be for anytime in September during the value season after Labor Day weekend...........in 2007.

Lynn

I think I could do September!! March would definitely be iffy bordering on no.

 

[UP Disney]

Hugs to you too. I do know exactly what you are going through. Know I am with you 100% in Faith and Spirit. PM me if you need to talk. Hang in there. You're DS is lucky to have a mom fighting for him.

WTG on 34,000 Denise!! The thread has been moving so fast I didn't even realize we were getting close!