The early worms get the Castle!

[muppetmom]

The Early Worms get the Castle...or...Sunrise, Sunset Trip Report

Hi, all! I can’t say that this pre-trip report will be full of well written and pithy grammatically correct paragraphs. You may have to bear with me and grit your teeth over my shortcomings as a writer and a speller. I apologize in advance for that. Just don’t say you haven’t been warned.

The early worms will be going to Walt Disney World (I just love how that rolls off the fingers....Walt Disney World) in August. August 15-24th as a matter of fact. We are all so excited. Well, most of us are excited! Some of us (DH and DD17) are currently too busy to think much about it. But, if they could, they would be excited, too.

As an introduction:

DH: 49, Engineer for a Defense Contractor, Likes Disney, Loves going places with his family, Puts up with me and my Disney addiction. Type A personality, very much a go, go, go person.

Me: Not as old as DH; Stay at home Mom (although it is time for a job), driver of kids, general organizer of schedules. Loves Disney! Has been a member and active reader of the Disboards since they were born. Member of the Listserv that preceded it. I know I have posted and been on here sporadically. Can’t remember what my user name was though, so you will have to take my word for it.

DS19 – almost 20. (Geez where have all of those years gone) Works part time for UPS while attending college. College athlete. Busy, Busy, Busy. Still doesn’t know what he wants to do when he grows up. He does have a better idea of what he doesn’t want to do.

DD17 – Soon to be senior in high school. Will soon be working very hard on applications, school work and general senior stuff. Knows she wants to be a musician.

DS14 – Freshman in High School. I can’t believe my baby will be in High School! Loves playing his bass guitar, soccer, Disney and Umphreys McGee. Allergic to Peanuts and tree nuts, lobster, mussels, clams, and soy. Will eat anything and try anything so long as it doesn’t have any of the above in it.

DS14, DD17 and DS19 in NYC this Easter.

We are staying at the All-Star Music in a Family Suite. Last time we stayed in a cabin at Fort Wilderness and loved it! I mean really really loved it. It was quiet, two rooms, a kitchen for making breakfast. The only downside was 1 bathroom. This time with 3 teenagers we decided that 2 bathrooms made more sense.

We also decided to get the DDP. I know you are all saying....what? You are going during free dining why was this a decision? Well, we originally were not going to go during free dining. We had planned and booked this trip for June, going over the 4th of July weekend. Not optimum, but the only 10 days that we could swing between DD17’s summer music schedule, DS19’s school and work schedule, and DS14’s high school soccer tryouts. We were excited anyway! We decided to get the DDP as it’s easier for DS14 to eat at table restaurants where the chef comes and talks to him about what he wants. I asked DH to crunch some numbers and make an excel file to see if it would make sense to book the DxDP. Oh, he was so excited....an excel spreadsheet....joy! After spending a lovely couple of weeks looking at the Disboards, and checking out menus, we decide to get the DxDP. What joy....not having to tell the kids they can’t order the lobster at Narcoosees (well, we will still have to tell DS14 that). But, we qre happy and looking forward to our vacation.

Then, our dear nephew (DN) decided to get married that weekend! Oh No! We can’t miss the wedding. So, .....

 

[muppetmom]

If you are wondering why, after all these years, I am finally making a trip report. I'll tell you. I am feeling sentimental. My kids are approaching the last part of being kids. One is in college. We just finished looking at colleges for the second. My youngest is about to start high school. And the years in high school go by so very quickly.

DS14 asked me to make a trip report and I kind of shrugged it off. Who, I said would be willing to read my bad grammar and terrible misspellings just to read our trip report. "Me", he replied. Hmmmm, so this is a trip report for my kids and DS14 and anyone else who want to slog through it.

In it you will learn where the Early worms come from. But mostly, I am going to hit some of the highlights of our previous trips before reporting on our new trip. I will also talk through some of the planning that went into this trip.

So, when we left off, my DN was getting married right smack dab in the middle of our vacation. This was going to require some tricky maneuvering. Do we skip the wedding? Or try to reschedule? We turned our attention to our summer plans. DH drew up another spreadsheet with everyone's schedule. No week was left that someone didn't have a conflict. We could go when DD17 was in Canada doing her music thing, but then she wouldn't be with us. We could go the second week in August, but DS19 wouldn't be able to go because of summer school. We could go the third week in August, but DS14 had high school soccer tryouts. What a mess! So, I did what every good Mom does when faced with this problem. I called the coach at the high school. This is our third child to go through there. It's my 3rd in the soccer program, and the 2nd in boys soccer. We don't want him on varsity anyway. So, I asked the coach if we could go.....and he said, "yes"! I don't recommend this as a normal course of events!

Good News! And it's during free dining. We still decided to upgrade to DxDP. More Table services for us. I made the ADRs at the 90 day mark and we are good to go! Can't Wait!

 

[muppetmom]

There is a Talking Heads song something like....How did we get here.....that comes to mind at a time like now. Or maybe its the Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly goes the years from Fiddler on the roof. I thought I would look back at some of our other trips over the years.
First, a few highlights:

The first meeting with the Mickey himself! 1993

What happened to the Castle? 1997

Joy in Dino Land! 1999

Toontown! 2003

Norway in 2005.

 

[luckylady]

"What happened to the Castle? 1997"
Someone poured pepto bismo on it. Yes they do grow up to fast. I'm glad things came together so all of you could go. Now I'll wait for more.

 

[muppetmom]

In 19993 we were living in southern California. My DH had been transferred out there to work on a project. We were living in a small town way outside San Diego just before you fall into the desert. DS19.9 and DD17 were 4 and 1 respectively. It was hard to get adjusted to being so far from Maryland and relatives, but we found a house and started to settle in. We got year passes to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World and went almost every weekend. The kids loved loved loved both Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. DS19.9 (hmmm that doesn't seem the best way to refer to him as he is 4 here.... from now on he shall be S#1). S#1 wanted to be an aquarium worker when he grew up...or maybe a zookeeper of snakes and lizards.

Anywho, I digress!

Thanksgiving was around the corner and my Parents wanted to come out to see us. Great, we said. Come and spend a couple weeks and lets go up to LA and see some of it over Thanksgiving break. DH will have some time off.

What, Disneyland over Thanksgiving...are you crazy? I guess we were. We had no internet. There were no Disboards. I had AAA guide to LA and that was all the guidance we went with.

We had 5 days. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was Disneyland. Thanksgiving was La Brea Tar pits, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Friday, Universal and Saturday was Knotts Berry Farm.

We stayed in a hotel called the Candy Cane Inn. Lovely place (at the time...), wonderful contintental breakfast beside the pool. My folks were thrilled with eating breakfast outside in November! S#1 loved the Fruit Loops and D loved the fresh fruit. We were happy and ready to go.

We entered the park in the morning early. I remember the singing and dancing, so I guess we made rope drop. The advantages of having kids who were awake just as the sun poked it's head up!

The man and the mouse who started it all.

The first of many rides on Dumbo through the years! D looks uncertain, but really liked it.

We then rode the carousel. It was at this point that DH and I made our first real mistake at Disneyland. We rode Snow White with D. Remember she is all of 18 months right now. Well, it scared her. Did we take our cues from her.....umm...no. We were bad parents, or just very young inexperienced parents. When I see kids crying in the park after or during a ride, I remember that I have been there and try to cut those parents a break.

What do we do after Snow White? Do we go on an easy ride or something we know she will like? No, we take her on Mr. Toads Wild Ride. In our defense, we had no idea it was as scary as it was. That train scene is very realistic. Our D fought us hand and foot to get out of the car when the train was coming. She had no intention of being there when the train hit us.

Needless to say, she didn't want to do anymore rides for a while.

So, we went to Toontown? Or was it called something else back then?

She played in the play area.

And we met the Cheese himself.

S#1 thought Mickey was Wonderful. D didn't like him and fled to Daddy to be picked up away from that mouse!

S#1 loved Mickey and gave him a signature S#1 hug! He gave the best hugs as a little guy and still gives the best hugs!

More to come.....
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[luckylady]

Your poor baby you tramatized her, but hay that's part and pleasure of being a parent.
Hahahaha I'm and evil mom(JK) Candy Cane Inn is there there and nice have some frinds there now as I type this.