The Disney-fication of our Non-Disney Vacation...an October 2013 TR

[missangelalexis]

Oh my goodness, what an amazing pool!! Looks like such a blast!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Holy Batman that pool is HUGE! I love it. What a neat idea to have the legos for the boys to play with, love the waterfalls and the slide looks awesome!

That pool was AH.MA.ZING! I am telling you, for this NOT being a Disney vacation...it was absolutely fabulous! There was NO complaining on the trip AT ALL!

Oh my goodness that pool complex is amazing!
Yay for the bball win!
And that is so cool that quackattack is going with you guys....it would have been awesome alone, but having friends on a cruise is so much better!

Suzi!!!! We have missed you!!! I know you are busy with your new business venture. I hope that is going well for you!

I cannot wait to share this cruise with our friends! As you are already aware.... I am DYING to start that PTR. But, I have vowed to give this TR the attention it deserves. So onward we move!

That pool is amazing! And those loungers look so comfy!

Congrats to Charity's team!

We really did feel like we were in the "lap of luxury" staying at this resort. It was just wonderfu! And speaking of the "lap of luxury".... 332 DAYS!!!!

I am CAUGHT UP!!! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOODNESS!!! your Dis meet looks amazing!!! everything looked like so much fun!!!! Like i said on Pixi's report i think we need a huge Dis meet!!!! i promise if i ever win the millions we will be meeting in Disney!!! ohhhh I loved Quackattack's purse too!

that is one HUGE POOL! i could live there keep having them bring drinks and food and be totally content for the rest of the trip.

can't wait to hear MORE!!!!

I would so LOVE a huge Dismeet with all my favorite Disfriends!!! Lawd, that would be a RIOT!

That was SUCH a fun Dismeet Saturday! My very first Dismeet that D~ was at COULD HAVE BEEN that much fun....but we were all exhausted beyond words.

Quackattack's purse was ADORABLE! Like I said before...she's a big Disney fan too! Can't wait to share our cruise with them!

That pool was HEAVEN!

Congrats to Charity's team!!! That's awesome! She is so cute in her uniform, and I love her new glasses (they are new? Aren't they?)

WHOA!!!! That is one AWESOME pool!!!! I think I want to stay there some day - it looks marvelous!

I think I need a vacation from our Disney vacation - if only I had the time. LOL

Great update!

D~

You are so observant! Yes, those ARE new glasses on Charity! And the pictures of her with her team? Those are new sports goggles; which, as you can imagine, she hates!

As disappointed as I was to have to cancel our Disney vacation....this vacation was just wonderful. It felt so good to relax, enjoy a nice resort, visit the beach. After such a hard year, it was just what the doctor ordered!

WHAT???? WHAT????? REALLYY?????? OMG OMG agfjcdkjfgljgfjgjyghg!!!!!!!!!! I did not know you had a LEGO STORE!!!!!!!! OMg and WHAT??? lego at the hotel okay sign me up like yesterday!!!! I'm having a legogasm right now!!! ..........................and then I fainted the end!

I can't believe I never told you we had a Lego store. Yep, reason #12398767653 that you need to visit your favorite Nashatarians!

Oh my goodness, what an amazing pool!! Looks like such a blast!

That resort, and that pool were simply wonderful. It made not having a "real" Disney vacation SO MUCH EASIER!

 

[Pluto0809]

That pool looks so awesome! The one slide though looks a little scary. I think you would be digging for your swimsuit by the end.

Yeah for Charity making the basketball team! I hope she gets a chance to play some during the season.

 

[DMGeurts]

[
You are so observant! Yes, those ARE new glasses on Charity! And the pictures of her with her team? Those are new sports goggles; which, as you can imagine, she hates!

Well, I noticed the sport goggles too, but I didn't think she would appreciate me mentioning those. LOL She looks adorable in both though.

D~

 

[oopsiDAISY]

That pool looks so awesome! The one slide though looks a little scary. I think you would be digging for your swimsuit by the end.

Yeah for Charity making the basketball team! I hope she gets a chance to play some during the season.

Well, the slide wasn't really that scary, Gabe did it....but you are right, it WAS a wedgie monster!

I do think she will get a chance to play later in the season...and I will be there to take pictures when she does!

Well, I noticed the sport goggles too, but I didn't think she would appreciate me mentioning those. LOL She looks adorable in both though.

D~

Yes, we had to have a talk with our little fashion diva about the basketball uniform and goggles. They were told they could wear their jerseys to school the day before the first game. She comes out of her room that morning with normal school clothes on. I asked where is her jersey..."it is SO BIG, and it looks HORRIBLE!" We then talked about how it was NOT a fashion show. She should wear it to show that she was proud to be a part of the team. And that she wasn't there to look cute on the court. Oh, that the uniforms would be pink and sparkly!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

After a wonderful morning and early afternoon relaxing in the lap of luxury at the World Center pool, we headed back to the room for some lunch. We had planned to have sandwiches for lunch, but as we all know swimming makes you HUNGRY! So, we ended up grilling some hamburgers for lunch, and they were delicious! After lunch we all took a nap, because we knew we had a BIG night ahead!

For each of our non-park days, I will have an update called Our Daily Disney-fication...to go along with the TR title. Welcome to our first Disney-fication!

After waking from our naps we all took showers, and got ourselves ready for some Disney fun! Dad decided to stay behind and watch college football. This was HIS vacation too, and we assured him that if that is what he wanted to do, he should go for it and ENJOY!

The rest of us loaded into the car and headed to Downtown Disney! Did we have shopping in mind? Was there an ADR waiting for us? Actually we were in search of one of these:



You can see that it was one of the new busses, and you can also clearly see our destination. We ended up with GREAT transportation luck that afternoon. We were soon on our way to an evening at Ft. Wilderness.





And there is your first "I spy a SerendipiD~" D~!!!!


We soon arrived at our destination...well, almost. We were not at all familian with Ft. Wilderness. We had no idea there were actually three bus stops, and we got off at the first...the stables...at the very back of the campground. Now, I was aware that there was an internal bus system as well; but the night was young, the weather was gorgeous, and we decided to walk.

It ended up being quite a long haul. But, we really didn't mind. Like I said, the weather was perfection. It just gave us a chance to visit with my mom and see a little more of Ft. Wilderness. We arrived at the big gift store about half an hour later. We still have time to waste, so we shopped around some...and I took pictures, of course.





Out back, behind the gift shop, my kids found some other fun to be had:





lt was still quite early, but I wanted to get pictures of our destination for the night while it was still empty:







After getting those pictures, we made our way over to a play area beside the pool. I REALLY wanted to get pictures of the pool, but since we weren't paying guests, I felt to guilty to take any. But, I did get pictures of how we spent our next hour:








*you can see the pool RIGHT behind us in this picture!

And now for my FAVORITE picture of the kids from the whole trip:



I will end the update here...before the campfire begins, but I will post the next installment this week, promise!

And for one last photo, here is what we had for lunch Saturday as our weekly countdown treat/activity:

 

[DMGeurts]

Holy cow! Where to start!!! OK - I will start at the top...

I was really excited for a moment there - I was starting to think your "Disney-fication" was a TOUR of WDW by bus... :whistle: Sorry - but the more I go, the more soothing the announcer guy's voice gets... "you are now entering Magic Kingdom... " Hahaha.

Love the first I Spy photo... I hope you'll share some with me to post on my Fanpage - you know how I love that the most!

And I love the photo of you and your mom chillin' in the chairs... Such a CUTE photo!

Bummer - I wish you would have taken a pool photo, I've never seen theirs. I should probably go looking...

It looks like the kids had a great time on the playground.

And - I LOVE that photo of the monkeys swinging... So cute!!! One of my favorite photos of your kids ever - me thinks!

Can't wait to hear about the campfire!

D~

 

[disny_luvr]

Wow! The pool complex at your condo looks amazing! I would've had a hard time getting my boys away from that pool area. Hopefully you got to spend a lot of time there during your vacation.

Yay for spending an evening at Fort Wilderness! When I was a little girl we camped at FW and I loved it. It is just a lovely piece of WDW. On one of our recent trips we ate at Trail's End and really enjoyed it (and found it reasonably priced, too). We also enjoy Hoop De Doo but it's soooo expensive. I can't wait to hear about the campfire. I'd love to do that sometime with my boys.

Well, we leave for our cruise in two weeks from Thursday! I can't believe it's this close. I booked this trip back in October, 2011 and now we are down to 17 days! I'm just finishing up packaging my FE gifts. Hopefully this weekend I can start packing.

 

[Chicago Mo]

AWESOME update!!!
LOVE the resort!!!
So fun to be able to jump on the Disney bus!!!! AHHHHH you get some MICKEY LOVE!!!!!

 

[FeFeMJ]

I love Fort Wilderness! It reminds me of camping with my cousins when I was young. What a great idea to go to the campfire there.

And that last picture of the kids is great! What a fun picture!

 

[Pluto0809]

Jim and I spent about 1/2 hour sitting on the back porch of that store waiting for our Segway tour! Too bad your kids aren't into pin trading because they had a humongous pin board in that store.

I can't wait to read about the Campfire Show. I don't think I've ever read a review about it.

 

[cheekypoppins]

AGGGHHh I'm getting excited munks r coming munks r coming woot woot Can't wait for that!!!

 

[KatMark]

I'm behind...again.

Loved the update. The picture of your mom with the two girls is so cute.

And love the one of your mom relaxing in the chairs.

I've never been to the campfire so anxious to hear all about it.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Holy cow! Where to start!!! OK - I will start at the top...

I was really excited for a moment there - I was starting to think your "Disney-fication" was a TOUR of WDW by bus... :whistle: Sorry - but the more I go, the more soothing the announcer guy's voice gets... "you are now entering Magic Kingdom... " Hahaha.

Love the first I Spy photo... I hope you'll share some with me to post on my Fanpage - you know how I love that the most!

And I love the photo of you and your mom chillin' in the chairs... Such a CUTE photo!

Bummer - I wish you would have taken a pool photo, I've never seen theirs. I should probably go looking...

It looks like the kids had a great time on the playground.

And - I LOVE that photo of the monkeys swinging... So cute!!! One of my favorite photos of your kids ever - me thinks!

Can't wait to hear about the campfire!

D~

We loved our relaxing evening at FW. I have actually checked into camping there, but honestly...the savings didn't add up to THAT much when DDP, tickets, etc were added in. For us it would be tent camping, and well, it just ended up not being very appealing to us. We like to be somewhat "pampered" when we are on vacation. Well, we DO live very frugally 51 weeks out of the year...vacation is our break from frugal!

I love my monkeys. I am so sad to see Jillian growing out of that "let's just be silly and have fun" age.

Wow! The pool complex at your condo looks amazing! I would've had a hard time getting my boys away from that pool area. Hopefully you got to spend a lot of time there during your vacation.

Yay for spending an evening at Fort Wilderness! When I was a little girl we camped at FW and I loved it. It is just a lovely piece of WDW. On one of our recent trips we ate at Trail's End and really enjoyed it (and found it reasonably priced, too). We also enjoy Hoop De Doo but it's soooo expensive. I can't wait to hear about the campfire. I'd love to do that sometime with my boys.

Well, we leave for our cruise in two weeks from Thursday! I can't believe it's this close. I booked this trip back in October, 2011 and now we are down to 17 days! I'm just finishing up packaging my FE gifts. Hopefully this weekend I can start packing.

TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!! Seriously, this has been such a horrible week at work...my sustaining power has come from daydreaming about our cruise. Time just can't go fast enough... Have a WONDERFUL TIME!!! Do you plan to do a TR when you get back? If so, I would LOVE to follow it!

AWESOME update!!!
LOVE the resort!!!
So fun to be able to jump on the Disney bus!!!! AHHHHH you get some MICKEY LOVE!!!!!

Oh, I have never been so excited to hop on a bus in my life as I was that night. Even the kids were excited. We had fun looking at all the Disney ads posted around the top of the bus, listening to the cue, the music...it was awesome. We were at DISNEY!!!

I love Fort Wilderness! It reminds me of camping with my cousins when I was young. What a great idea to go to the campfire there.

And that last picture of the kids is great! What a fun picture!

When we realized our Disney vacation couldn't be an actual vacation on property, I set to work trying my best to find things we could do to get some of that magic into our vacation. And I must say....we really did get a GREAT dose of Disney while we were there!

Jim and I spent about 1/2 hour sitting on the back porch of that store waiting for our Segway tour! Too bad your kids aren't into pin trading because they had a humongous pin board in that store.

I can't wait to read about the Campfire Show. I don't think I've ever read a review about it.

Well, Gabe made his first (and only) pin trade while we were there from the CM's lanyard. He picked out this robot Figment thing...and he couldn't even remember who Figment was! But, I had no idea there was a big board there. My kids just don't "get it" with the trading. Jillian has a lanyard FULL of pins now...and has NO interest in trading whatsoever. But she loves the pins and will definitely wear the lanyard. Whatever, what can you do?

AGGGHHh I'm getting excited munks r coming munks r coming woot woot Can't wait for that!!!

What would give you that idea???

I'm behind...again.

Loved the update. The picture of your mom with the two girls is so cute.

And love the one of your mom relaxing in the chairs.

I've never been to the campfire so anxious to hear all about it.

I love my mom...my kids do too. My parents are just the most wonderful grandparents ever! I have a feeling you and Mark will be just as fantastic as grandparents when the time comes, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Random IRL picture time! Gabe brought home this project from school this week, and it CRACKED US UP, bigtime!



In case you cannot read it, here is what it says:

When I make my first candy creation, I will name it Cinnroll. It will be made of caramel, cinnamon, taffy, and wafers. My bar will cost $1.00 and be worth every cent!

I do believe the boy has a future in marketing!

 

[DMGeurts]

Hahaha!!! I bet it will be worth every cent - I would buy one (or two) for sure!

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

Put me down for 10...
it sounds AMAZING!!!! Love the creation!

 

[KatMark]

I'll order five for Mark...he would love those.

 

[cheekypoppins]

Okay so it's official since Gabe and Hailey are betrothed and all he can work for me and we can make delicious candy and treats for all eternity! He's hired!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

What a cute idea! I don't think I'd buy one since I don't like cinnamon or carmel. But then I'm weird when it comes to food!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Hahaha!!! I bet it will be worth every cent - I would buy one (or two) for sure!

D~

Put me down for 10...
it sounds AMAZING!!!! Love the creation!

I'll order five for Mark...he would love those.

Okay so it's official since Gabe and Hailey are betrothed and all he can work for me and we can make delicious candy and treats for all eternity! He's hired!!!

What a cute idea! I don't think I'd buy one since I don't like cinnamon or carmel. But then I'm weird when it comes to food!

I tell you, this kid cracks us up on a regular basis. He marches to the beat of his own drum, and we LOVE it!