The Disney princess audition, triple hurricane, fueding family, LONG drive , T.R.!

[cinderella73]

OKay lets start with the introductions:

Me~ 35 ( am I that old already?) I am the driving force behind this trip. I love all things Disney. I grew up a hour from WDW and visited there many times a year over the course of my childhood. As a kid who didnt have the easiest /happiest childhood ( family issues) WDW was a place for me to escape to. I was the little girl that really believed in fairytales and magic with all my heart , and I still do. I am the biggest kid . My kids like to tease me but they really think its cool. They just dont admit it to me to often. I think I am a pretty cool mom if I do say so myself! I am the mom that plays Halo on Xbox with my daughter , and runs around playing lazer tag with my boys. I love to do things with my kids . I am also a homeschooling mom and in the process of trying to start up my non profit food allergy awareness organization. I guess I am the female version of Peter Pan.

Hubby~ We have had a tough year. He is really excited and ready for this trip. He gets stressed out a LOT. He gets stressed over getting stressed. Needles to say I have taken over most of the planning. The budget part is what gets to him the most. I am hoping he will wind down quite a bit once we get down there. Oh did I mention he is NOT thrilled my mother and sister might be joining us? He is afraid she will drag us down and take advantage of us and then do nothing but complain anyway. Not to mention the drama my sister loves to induce. I hate to say it but hes right. But what can I do they are family right? Maybe they will behave.. maybe... If not I am sure this trip report will get pretty interesting. Oh I almost forgot something. It will be his birthday when we are down there. I want to plan something special but I am not sure what the budget situation will be yet. So I have a few things in mind and am goingto see what I can add on as we get closer to the date. He will be turning 40 so I wanted to do something special. He doesnt want a over the hill party. lol I told him fine then I will give him a Disney princess party. He is not amused... I dont think he believes me anyway!

DD14~ What can I say! She is 14! I had a epiphany the other day when my DD informed that me that she wanted to fix up her room. So ok I said let go reorganize it a bit. BUT NO! She meant lets get rid of all things princessy and all the dolls and pink girly stuff. She wanted a " cool" room now.So we went out and bought her new bedding and paint out of trip budget money. (can u say spoiled?) She informed me also that she has not like Disney princess stuff for like 3 years now, she did it just for me. WHAT? IS SHE CRAZY? What 14 year old does not love Disney princess stuff? I am 34 and I love it! Wait... you mean thats not normal ? Thanks! She did give me a hug and tell me that I could always put the dolls in my room. So my little girl packs up and thows out all her " baby" stuff and all of sudden I feel like crying. Not a bad kind of feeling but a " My little girl is growing up kind of crying". When you realize as a mom that the world is moving way to fast and it scares the heck out of you. Driving in as little as 1 1/2 years!!!! I think I will faint! But to be honest, I think she is still excited about Disney . I saw her myspace (she has to show me everything she does online!) and her blog was how she was all excited. She is already thinking of what to pack. But she is refusing BBB this year! Geez... she takes away all my fun! Maybe we can take hubby there for his princess party. heheh Oh and I did forget to mention I did get one princess back in her room... We picked out Disney paint at Home Depot.We got Sleeping Beauty pink paint! So Hah! I win! She has a sarcastic sense of humor and pretends that I "embarrass" her . She calls me a Disney dork. But she really loves it.

DS~ 7 He is a charmer. One look from him and I dare you to deny him anything. He's got a beautiful head of curly hair and eyes that just make warm your heart. He loves to play pranks on his sister! He is very creative and comes up with so many solutions to things. He has a little mischevious streak to him to. He keeps us entertained and always makes me laugh. We have been having a lot of bonding time lately. I love just listening to his thoughts and ideas. He has a silly goofy sense of humor and will always crack a joke .

DS~ 6 My little guy. He is the worlds pickiest eater! He truly gives me heart failure! Whoever said " They will eat when they are hungry" didnt know my son! Seriously he kicks my butt at super smash bros. at 6 years old! Thats scary! His smile just lights up my day and makes me forget everything . He has a witty sense of humor with a touch of sarcasm and all at 6. He is such a cutie. My only child that actually enjoys schoolwork! I am hoping this never changes, but I know better.

Now here is where it gets interesting....

My mom and sis might are coming along as I mentioned . You know that " If you cant say nothing nice dont say anything at all " thing? Well I can say a few nice things... I can...

My mom ( Lets just call her grandma, she would love that!)

My Mom/Grandma~ Just had gastric bypass. She is doing good now . Had it over a month back but is still not wanting to move or walk much. She likes to milk things a bit , she has always been that way . So much that no one ever takes her seriously. She is really wanting to go on the trip with us, but at the same time all she does is say how she hates everything we are doing. She has nothing good to say about Disney mind you ( or much else). Just mostly how dirty , crowded , and crappy it is in general. And dont get her started comparing how wonderful Universal is to Disney. ( Course last time we I took her on a trip with me we stayed at the Hard rock in orlando and had no waits for lines at Universal. We visited Disney one day during a holiday and arrived at 12 pm. So of course it was bad! I have tried to convince her September is different and we are going EARLY. Oh yeah and she thinks that Disney has some front of the line pass that they will give her because no one would ever expect her to actually stand in line 4 weeks after a gastric bypass ( her words). My Grandmother btw had surgery for cancer recently ,has 2 knee implants and back surgery and walks everywhere, even she cant understand why my mom is acting like this! My mom and I are not really close.We have had problems since I was 7 . She has me when she was 21 and not really ready I think. Our relationship has always been strained. But I do try. She is not the mothering / grandmotherly type. But se does have a great relationship with my sister ( who she has when she was older and ready, so we have a huge age difference) . Even though I would venture to say its not the healthiest.Oh and just so you all know she is doing me a " great favor" by even going. Disney is not her kind of place.

My sister~ 17 She has a huge heart and really wants to be a good person. She is very giving and loves kids. She does want to be happy but she has so many deep issues ( from living with my mom no doubt) and it seems like she can never just sit for 2 seconds and count her blessings. I want her to be happy . She thinks the world is out to get here and no one loves her etc etc... I try to help but it has always backfired. I have learned the hard way to only help when its really wanted and sometimes not even then. She is a bit difficult and gets into fits about things where there is NO reasoning with her. Anything my mom says she agrees with. She can be very negative and sometimes her and my mother can both be very mean and catty. I actually had to take them ( mother and sister) out of my life last year. I renewed my relationship with my sister BUT with "guidelines" and " rules" . I didnt want my kids being affected by their bad choices. They wanted us back in their lives so it was with certain caution that I allowed it. The thing is is you always want a relationship with your family right? I want it to work, so I try . But I do have lines drawn. I could list stuff here that would make Walt turn over but lets not ( that would make me a bad person!)! lol My sister also believes Disney will "stink". She is like a mini version of my mom. But maybe.. there is still hope. She is 17 and I will MAKE her have a good time. Because as crazy as she drives us all ( and herself) I want her to open her eyes to life outside the bubble .If it gets to the point where she is taking away from the kids by causing anyone to be upset I will back down and focus on the people that want to be there.I will not let one person ruin a trip for a bunch of people who want to be there and are happy. My sister I should mention attends theater schools and plans on being a actress.( runs in the family) Oh.. and she wants to try out to be a Disney face character. She wants me to take her to the auditions that will be going on when we are down there.OUR CONVERSATION: OK but you dont live there! No problem says my mom , we will move down. OKayyyy says I, how the heck will you do that so fast? Stay with friends of course.. What about your husband and dog back home? Oh their fine... what? Ok... Disney auditions it is... That you will want to check back up on for sure. Oh I had to sit and listen to them go on about which princess's were attractive and which were " OMG , so ugly"
( according to my sister). My mom was the worst! "Disney picked her! Your kidding. She looks 40 or she has wrinkles!" I could only roll my eyes. I must say in my sisters defense that she does love kids and would be a wonderful princess. I hope she gets this , it would be a good thing for her. I feel like I made her sound so bad but really... you have no idea! I am terrified how things will go.

UPDATE: My sister now officially LOVES Disney and especially MGM. She was a great tropper the whole trip and I am sooo glad I brought her. She loved her experience with the Disney auditions . More on the auditions to come. My mom still thinks Disney is just okayyyy.. lol But thats better than before when it just stunk! lol



So.. You still with me? Will my sister become a princess? Will my mom behave? Will my husband be able to tolerate my mother? Will one of any of the 3 hurricanes hit? Will my teen rebel at wearing matching family shirts? Will my boys learn you cant take "everything" home from the Lego store? Can I keep my husband from weaing socks with his crocs ?( no seriously he even grabbed dress socks last time....) Oh the plot thickens....

 

[cinderella73]

I'm a new reader and rather interested . . . waiting for more. If you need some laughs, my trip report is in my signature. And BTW, ya'll are gorgeous no matter what your weight is. I mean for real . . . your complexions and features are A+!

Woohoo my first reader! I am going to check out your trip report while we all take a break and eat dinner. Thanks for the compliments. That really makes my night.

I will be posting more tonight so check back soon!

 

[cinderella73]

So back in March sometime I booked 2 weeks for September at Windsor Hills. We have food allergies to deal with so we really needed a big full kitchen. We ended up with a huge 6 bedroom , 3 bath , full size pool, washer / dryer , and gameroom house for 200 a night!

It is beautifully decorated with Buzz Lightyear furniture ( it even had a real Buzz bunk bed with slide) and decor and even a Disney princess room. I couldnt have gotten anything like this at Disney for that price. In fact I couldnt even have gotten anything like it at all. We were even closer than some of the Disney resorts at only 5 minutes away. It's really a great deal for those that need a bigger place or a full kitchen.

Windsor Hills also has great 3 bedroom , 3 bath townhomes that are a great deal and they also have kitchens and washer/ dryers . We have stayed in those as well before and they are great.

We also had a Disney princess audition scheduled for Sept 11 of all days for my sister. I have a few friends that have been past " friends of the characters" so I prepared her with all their advice. You will hear all about this soon.

About 2 weeks before the trip I started my packing. I found it worked best to pack clothes in laundry baskets so I could stack them in the back and they would b e easier to aort through. We also packed a tote for food , electronics , trip needs , etc etc etc... Its amazing WE could even fit into the van.

Having grew up in Florida I knew how Florida is around September. I know to expect hurricanes and tropical storms. They dont bother me to much being used to them. But a few days before the trip there was a LOT of activity going on in the Atlantic ocean. 3 hurricanes had just passed through in the last 2 weeks and 3 more were just off the east coast threating to come right through. One was a catagory 5 in fact.

UPDATE :This pic is of the hurricane situation a bit before we left. The hurricane moved directly east of central Florida ( I wanna say by 115 miles?) our second day there. But hey Disney was dead! And that rocked.

Something about packing my 3 kids in a car and driving right into 3 hurricanes doesnt exactly fill me with warm fuzzy feelings . Plus I knew we would be hitting bad weather going down pretty much from the Carolina's onward. I was not thrilled.

On top of that throw in my sister having mono , my mom having " bad " feelings about the trip , and everything else in creation go wrong.

The day we were supposed to leave ... we didnt. I was not sure if we would even actually be able to make it down with the weather the way it was. The kids were crushed. Here we are in a living room full of packed suitcases . Everyone ready to go and excited and then I had to tell them I wasnt sure we could do it.

My mom kept changing her mind. She would go , she wouldnt. She kept saying she had " bad , bad feelings" . Not exactly what I needed to hear! My daughter was over it. " Lets just go mom!" Enough worrying it will be fine!"
She was right.

My mom decided that she just didnt feel good feelings about going so she was going to stay behind with my sister. ( This changes as we are on the road!) NOTE The women in my family all have premonition's and future type dreams on rare occasions. Its not a everyday thing but enough that when we have a bad feeling we usually listen. However its easy to get things confused and I wasnt sure if it was just negativity or something else so I decided to go on ahead and just use common sense.

So rallying the family and lecturing to them all that we were driving down into hurricane weather and that we could arrive after 1,100 miles only to have to turn around and flee . And that if they would be okay with taking the chance and consider it a adventure that I was ready to go.


Well they all let out a cheer. We were all ready to give it a shot. So we tried to get a few hours sleep then at 2 am my husband and I start packing the van. here we are outside in the pitch black trying to cram everything in last minute . He is yelling nothing else will fit and I am yelling make it fit! We had stuff crammed in in every nook and cranny. Its amazing the van could roll foward . I am a chronic overpacker... I just cant help myself.

We wake the sleeping kiddos at a much later time than we planned because we were sooo exhausted ! Well that and we were watching the weather about the hurricanes to see when the best day to leave was.So instead of hitting the road at 4 am on a Thursday we hot the road on 10 am on a Friday. Big change in plans and thats just the start of it. But FINALLY we are on the road! It feels good and all my bad feelings start to drain away. We are now on our way to Disney!!!!

Now.... here we are all happy and excited in our very overfilled van with very underfilled stomachs . So we decide to hit Burger King for Coffee and a quick bite for the kids. When what happen's next but my cell phone rings.
Here is the conversation . My mom " Hey I think we might go. Where are you?" . Me " Umm we are getting ready to hit the turnpike . We are in town".
" Okay well can you come by I THINK we might go!" She sounds all happy. " We are not packed though so can you help me real quick?" Me " Okay I will be right there" .

My husband is about to explode. "Are you kidding me?" he yells. I kinda couldnt blame him though . Its 1030 am right now and we are hours after when we were supposed to leave. He is not happy. So we stop at her house and there is drama unfolding. She wants my older brother to drive but he has just decided since my last phone call 10 minutes ago that since his girlfriend cant come because she has work ( whom I didnt ever even invite in the first place) and that he wanted to drive a hour away to go say goodbye. Its already 11 am and he would be gone a few hours. Okay now I start to feel really tested. My kids are in the van getting restless . My sister is crying because she was just excited and packing and my brother and mom are fighting. I FLIP. My brother is 22 and I love him ( hes normally a good guy)but he was being a big jerk at that moment! In fact I dont think I have ever seen him as nasty as he was that day and I still have no idea why.

Well now my mom is crying and even though my mom and I dont get along I dont like to see her cry. My sister is all upset and my brother seemed to care less that he had everyone in tears. He said a few of the wrong things to me and the next thing you know I was FLIPPING OUT. Next thing I know my mom was going to kick my brother out yadda yadda... all sorts of drama .. But by around 1 pm finally the whole issue was resolved and now my mom and my sister were going to Florida . My brother and my mother had made up but my brother and I still were not talking. After that I helped them pack their entire car....

Off to a great start arent we? I can laugh now but then I was wondering if we would EVER get there. So now we had a 19 hour drive and were leaving at 1 pm. On top of it my mom wanted to husband to drive slow and stop every 2 hours. So shes complaining to me about my husband and hes complaining to me about her. I couldnt escape! I was thinking walking to Disney at this point might be better. Or better yet put the 2 of them in the same car and I would drive the van and turn the phone off! lol

So finally we all take a deep breath and buckle up and prepare to hit the road. Of course then I needed to take another deep breath then another because the fun ensued.

We had the traffic from Hades! In all my trips up and down the east coast we had never encountered anything like it. My mom kept calling on the cell phone anytime she thought we went to fast . And everytime the cell rang I thought my husband was going to lose his cool. The kids were so good and patient. The award goes to them for putting up with all the crazy adults.

I gotta say normally its not quite this dramatic around here. But if any of you ever consider a Disney trip with your extended family... 1 word .. DONT. Or at least make sure you are not caravaning down together!

I will relieve you all by saying it really does get better. Just not for a while yet! lol


We didnt even get halfway before we had to stop for the night. We all woke up the next day quite a bit refreshed and ready to leave the bad behind. Except my mom wanted to do that at 4 am and my husband wanted to do that at 7 am..

You can almost hear him saying.. " No pics mom.... Now just turn around and get us to Disney and OUT of this car!"

My teen is not thrilled about having her picture taken unawares. That makes it even more fun! ( After gleefully taping me having to dance at Woody's Roundup last Disney trip she knows she she owes me !:>)




NEXT: Coming up next we arrive at Windsor Hills . Can anything else go wrong? You bet!

 

[Kate and Pete]

OKay lets start with the introductions:

Can I keep my husband from weaing socks with his crocs ?( no seriously he even grabbed dress socks last time....) Oh the plot thickens....

Okay, I'm now hooked - I have to keep up with your TR just to find out about THIS!!!

 

[cinderella73]

Heh heh... You have no idea! Seriously black dress socks with a little hole in the heel even! He had all new clothes on and then that. I was mortified! Men really... what are they thinking? Needless to say I am doing all the packing from now on. That includes " other" peoples clothes.

 

[angeleigh]

Great report so far. Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Can't wait to read about the audition!

 

[pezheadmeg]

I'm in.

 

[pamouselover]

Need
Where you at in Pa.?

 

[PrincessDez]

This is fun! Keep up the good work! Can't wait to hear more..........

 

[Disneyfan71]

Sounds like getting down there was very eventful. But I'm glad you all made it. I'll be keeping up with this.

 

[mla1977]

Wow! And I thought traveling with my family was crazy. Can't wait to hear about the audition.

 

[cinderella73]

Hi everyone! Glad to see you all joined in. I will be adding the next couple segments hopefully tonight after I get everyone settled. I came down with some horrible cold / virus thing and I cant wait to just make some hot tea and sit down and Dis!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Waiting to hear more. I have to believe it got better somehow as the trip went on. Pixie dust and disney magic and all that. Can't wait to find out.

 

[bsusanmb]

Love your crazy family. Can't wait to read more!

 

[pixiefairy]

You've got me hooked! Can't wait to read more! So sorry that you have drama llamas in the family...we have a few of those too.

 

[TeaForTulips]

oh my goodness! that is CrAzY! subbing!

 

[Ashton]

Can't wait to hear more!! Hurry back!!

 

[DWFan4Life]

I'm in here. Just finished reading the report and trying to catch up I really love it, can't wait for more.

Have a nice day.

 

[SIMMSMOUSE]

I can't wait to read more. We were also there during Gustav and came home to in-laws house flooded. They had to move in with us for 3.5 months. Six people in a 1600 sqft house is hard but we survived. They are back in their home now and I am glad. You sound like you have a crazy family like mine. We were so distracted for our trip last time because of the storms we are going back in May. My DH is a LA State Trooper and he said no more trips during hurricane season.