The Family That Runs Together...Vacations Together-A May 2012 PTR *5/12

[MHTeacher]

The booklets are a cute idea! I'm sure your mom will love them. I find myself doing all kind of Disney projects to make the time go faster!

The shirt is cute too....Maybe it will stretch again?

 

[Elleshoodat]

The itineraries are so cute, and what a fun idea!

I feel like March FLEW by, and thank goodness. I'm to the point where I can't concentrate on much besides my trip. Thankfully we're only 33 days out now!

 

[amazingact21]

Well, I was supposed to do another update yesterday, but I decided to begin my travel journal project and ended up spending the whole afternoon on it. I just couldn’t find a good stopping point, so I just worked until I’d finished it. I even skipped my workout, which I felt terrible about afterwards. I must be nuts, but I actually miss running on the days I can’t make it. But, have no fear, Alex and I are going on a long run later tonight after he gets off work. Should be a pretty intense run since I always keep a faster pace when I’m with my 6’1” husband….


Anyways, I took photos of my travel journal to share. I found a how-to video on-line, and this is meant to be a mini-album for photos, but I figured it’d be just as good for my purpose.

The front:

(The book is made out of envelopes and scrapbooking paper.)


The cover page when you flip one side open:

Page 1: (each day of our trip gets a page)

The piece of paper on the far right of the page is a flap that opens up and lets you pull out a piece of paper from inside the main page:

Each page has that layout.

A better look at the pull-out page:

And then the back:

The book isn’t big at all (5 by 4 inches) and I love how much space I gave myself. The visible space on each day’s pages are going to be my note-taking place, the side flap is where all the park hours, extra magic hours, and important details are going to be written, and the inside sheet will have the daily schedule and rides I hope to go on.


I’m going to put the journal and a couple pens in a plastic bag that way it’s safe from getting wet and/or having anything spill on it.


I was really excited when I finished the project, and now I can’t wait to actually use it in the parks! My goal is to write down details that I normally would forget so that when I do my TR I have all my facts straight. For example, I can't always remember what pins and vinylmations I get/traded or what time I visit certain parts of the parks and have to guesstimate.



When Alex saw it he said it was really cool, which is a little bit better of a reaction than I get with most other creations. So, he approves of it….



Now!


On to the movie night we had about a million years ago. (More like 3 weeks, but still…)


Since Lady and the Tramp was released from the vault back in early February (the 6th, if I remember correctly) we figured we’d pick that as our first Disney movie. Neither of us actually remembered much of the film, so it was kind of like watching it for the first time.


I set our table with our Disney dishes we bought a few months ago:

Then, I typed up a fake menu with our dinner choices. I actually had a lot of fun coming up with; my favorite part of movie night.

Obviously, I named the “restaurant” Tony’s, like the movie’s, and added in some photos of Lady and Tramp. I even added a cute little easter egg, saying the place was had been established in 1955….


Alex and I chose to have bread, caesar salad, red wine, and shells and meatballs. (I know it was spaghetti and meatballs in the film, but I didn’t have any noodles in my pantry.
)

I placed name cards on our plates for fun:

I found an old Lady stuffed animal in a childhood box and dug her out to accompany us on that night.


Which eventually led us to getting a picture with our very own Lady and the Tramp:

I have to admit….Buster does look like a Tramp in that picture.



After dinner, we sat down and watched the movie and dealt with Buster freaking out every time a dog barked. I thought the film was really good, and as an adult, I looked at it differently than when I was a kid. I vaguely remember thinking how terrible it was for Lady to be abandoned when the baby arrived and being angry with the parents. Now that I’m all grown up, I understand the struggle.


I never imagined I’d actually have some serious thoughts when I watched the Disney movie, but it was a pleasant surprise.


When the movie was over, Alex and I had some Tiramisu, which was delicious:

(And please ignore the huge jar of peanut butter in the shot.)



All right…that’s about it for this update. Let’s hope I don’t pass out on my run later (or that it gets rained out.)

 

[amazingact21]

The booklets are a cute idea! I'm sure your mom will love them. I find myself doing all kind of Disney projects to make the time go faster!

The shirt is cute too....Maybe it will stretch again?

I think projects make the time go by, because it takes our mind off the long wait we still have. That's what I'm hoping for. I might be able to wear a tank top under it and make it work.

The itineraries are so cute, and what a fun idea!

I feel like March FLEW by, and thank goodness. I'm to the point where I can't concentrate on much besides my trip. Thankfully we're only 33 days out now!

It's great to know we're in the 30s on our countdown, but it's definitely distracting. Hard to think about anything else when your trip is almost within arm's reach!

 

[MHTeacher]

Your travel journal looks great. I used one on our last trip, and I must admit it was so helpful in remembering little details about our days for when I began writing my trip report!

Your movie night looks fun---I think I recognize those Disney plates from Target?!? AND, your little personal "Tramp" (Buster) is adorable!

 

[MEK]

What a fun movie night. Thanks for posting pictures (and making me hungry) . Your dog is so cute.

Journal is wonderful!

I'm getting ready to go for a run and I think DISing is probably a delay tactic.

 

[teekathepony]

Fun movie night! Buster is adorable. He looks a little like Lady and Tramp's puppy. Long ears like Lady, colouring of Tramp!
That journal is great, so creative!

 

[wakica]

The journal looks FANTASTIC!!!! and the food looks yummy!! and the plates are AWESOME!!!! That's something we've never bought is disney themed plates but we did bring home a mickey head plate/bowl from our last trip there when dd got a kids meal with it and we STILL use it!! more for my niece now but I still loving filling it with food for her lunches. They are so fun

looks like it was a great theme night I'm pretty sure I've forgotten most of that movie too.

 

[amazingact21]

Your travel journal looks great. I used one on our last trip, and I must admit it was so helpful in remembering little details about our days for when I began writing my trip report!

Your movie night looks fun---I think I recognize those Disney plates from Target?!? AND, your little personal "Tramp" (Buster) is adorable!

We did get the dishes from Target. We were shopping around and saw them and knew we had to buy a few.

What a fun movie night. Thanks for posting pictures (and making me hungry) . Your dog is so cute.

Journal is wonderful!

I'm getting ready to go for a run and I think DISing is probably a delay tactic.

Yeah, the DISboards can be a big distraction when you need to do other things. I always catch myself spending way too much time on here.

Fun movie night! Buster is adorable. He looks a little like Lady and Tramp's puppy. Long ears like Lady, colouring of Tramp!
That journal is great, so creative!

Buster does kind of look like the puppy. I never thought of that before.

The journal looks FANTASTIC!!!! and the food looks yummy!! and the plates are AWESOME!!!! That's something we've never bought is disney themed plates but we did bring home a mickey head plate/bowl from our last trip there when dd got a kids meal with it and we STILL use it!! more for my niece now but I still loving filling it with food for her lunches. They are so fun

looks like it was a great theme night I'm pretty sure I've forgotten most of that movie too.

Thanks. We mostly use the plates and bowls for meals like pizza or cereal because they're plastic and can't go in the microwave and dishwasher, but they are fun to use sometimes.

 

[Nermel9]

Your journal is adorable! I usually use my phone to take notes, which is why I never have great details, so maybe I will bring an actual journal with me this time!

And your movie night was too cute! I love those plates, I bought like 5 of them from Target! I wanted the whole set, but when I went back a few weeks later, they were gone! Your dog does look like Tramp!

 

[amazingact21]

Your journal is adorable! I usually use my phone to take notes, which is why I never have great details, so maybe I will bring an actual journal with me this time!

And your movie night was too cute! I love those plates, I bought like 5 of them from Target! I wanted the whole set, but when I went back a few weeks later, they were gone! Your dog does look like Tramp!

Last May, I made Alex use his phone to write down our funny sayings we heard to use for my TR, so this is definitely a better decision for me. Although, I can see me writing down, "Saw Jen (Nermel9) on way to RNRC..."

Yeah, Target replaces their stuff pretty frequently. I know we were thinking about getting some Disney bath towels, but they were gone when we'd finally made up our mind.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Love the journal! What a talented young lady you are

Love the shots of your table and your special dinner, but the one of Lady and "Tramp" is my favorite!

 

[amazingact21]

Just had to come here and say.....

We got our Mickey Mail yesterday!!!!!!!

My mom got hers and we got ours, and it made us realize just how close our trip is. It's becoming real! and the new luggage tags are really cool. I wish I could write a more coherent update, but I'm just too excited at the moment. I feel like Disney is right around the corner, and all I have to do is hold out for a few more weeks.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the journal and what a great movie night!

Also WOOHOO on getting Mickey Mail!!!!!

 

[teekathepony]

Hooray for Mickey Mail!!

 

[Joyciemc]

Mickey Mail!!! I won't get any this trip, because my friend used his points to book the trip, so everything is going to him. That'll really make the trip sneak up!

After this weekend, I suddenly feel like the trip is SO close!

 

[Elleshoodat]

Hooray for Mickey mail! I don't know if we will get any since we didn't book a package and aren't using DME.

So ... close ... to ... our trips!

 

[wakica]

yay for Mickey mail!!!!! unfortunately i've never gotten any. LOL but I would be THRILLEd to get in the mail too

 

[amazingact21]

Love the journal and what a great movie night!

Also WOOHOO on getting Mickey Mail!!!!!

Hooray for Mickey Mail!!

Mickey Mail!!! I won't get any this trip, because my friend used his points to book the trip, so everything is going to him. That'll really make the trip sneak up!

After this weekend, I suddenly feel like the trip is SO close!

Hooray for Mickey mail! I don't know if we will get any since we didn't book a package and aren't using DME.

So ... close ... to ... our trips!

yay for Mickey mail!!!!! unfortunately i've never gotten any. LOL but I would be THRILLEd to get in the mail too

Thanks for sharing in my Mickey Mail cheers, everyone. I was pretty excited to finally the vouchers and luggage tags (even though we won't need them, I keep the tags for scrapbooking purposes.)


In other news....30 days left until my trip!!!:woohoo: Actually, this time next month, I will be with Alex's family, knowing I'm just 45 short minutes away from the world!

 

[amazingact21]

Jeez! Where in the world is time getting away to? I’m in shock that my trip is 28 days away. All these things that I swore up and down I would have done are nowhere near completed, and I’m running out of time. There’s still been zero progress on new shirts for the race, and I still have to pick up a few new pieces of clothing. Worse yet…none of us have bought our tickets yet!!!!



To say that I’m in a little bit of panic mode would be an understatement….


But…pushing that to aside, let’s get on with our Day 5 Plans!



May 8th:


The first official mother/daughter day of vacation!!!!



My mom and I will wake up, be able to get dressed, take our time putting on makeup and doing our hair, not worrying that we have impatient men waiting on us. It’s going to be a great day, I can just feel it.


We’ll be starting off our day at….



Animal Kingdom!

We each have one must-do for this morning, so it should be a pretty relaxing and fun park day.


I want to watch Festival of the Lion King, my absolute favorite show in all of WDW, and my mother wants to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris. She’s only been on it once, back in 1997, and it was in the middle of June, so all the animals were sleeping and/or escaping the heat.


Therefore, we’re hoping for a more successful turnout this time around. (Well, except with the lions…we all know how anti-social those cats are.)

Animal Kingdom opens at 9:00 am that day, so I’m sure we’ll arrive either right before opening or a few minutes afterwards. I’m going to grab us FPs for KS and then over to Everest and take one quick ride on that. I’m not too concerned about getting in Everest, because we’ll have gotten our fill of it Saturday after the race.


We might head over to Dinoland and ride Dinosaur or we’ll head back towards the Tree of Life and get a good glimpse of it, maybe even see It’s Tough to be a Bug.


We’ll ride KS when our FP time is due, and afterwards we’ll catch FotLK.


Like I mentioned earlier, this day is going to be extremely relaxing. I wanted us to have a really slow-paced day after 3 days of go-go-go.


I’m hoping to eat lunch at Pizzafari, because when Alex and I ate there in December, it had the best quick-service pizza, in our opinion.


The two of us will stay in the park as long as we want, probably spending a few minutes shopping.


I have one must-buy at this park (I’ve also seen that it’s in MK, so I’m not going to cry if it’s not here) and that would be a certain coffee cup that I have seen on both Nermel9’s and RinkyTinkyTinky’s TR:

(Photo was taken from RinkyTinkyTinky’s TR)

It’s the white mug with the various animal print Mickey heads and I want it so bad!!!!!!! Since the moment I saw it, I’ve been nagging Alex about getting one of my own. I even texted him a photo of it, asking him if we could take a day trip to Orlando to pick one up.


I thought it’d be worth it, but I guess it’s not a good enough justification for work….


I can’t help but think about how awesome the mug is every time I drink coffee (which is everyday). It makes my old Disney mug look puny, in comparison.


Okay, okay, I’ll leave it alone, I think you all get the picture…



Whenever we feel like it, my mom and I will head back to All Star Sports and participate in our daily afternoon activity….hanging out at the pool. I think my mom is going to be so thrown off by all this down-time. She’s not going to know what to do when she gets a few hours every single day to read, swim, sleep, etc.


Knowing her, she’ll be calling family and checking up on everyone. I’ll have to pry the phone away from her ear and force her to enjoy the beauty of doing nothing.


Just like with Animal Kingdom, whenever we want to, we’ll get ourselves ready and head into Magic Kingdom for the night.

For this night, my only goal is to have my mom watch the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes. She has NEVER…I repeat NEVER seen Magic Kingdom’s fireworks.


WHAT?!?!


It’s crazy!


When we went as kids, my parents left the park in the evenings.


Why??


Because all 3 of us kids wanted to play in the pool…


We’re in the most magical place on earth, and all we cared about was swimming. My mom said we nagged and nagged her and my father all afternoon, asking if we could leave.

(I was told this just a few weeks ago, which made me just shake my head. Apparently, 7 year old me didn’t realize what I was missing.)


Then, the only other time my mom went to Magic Kingdom, we were living about an hour away and some old family friends came to visit for my brother’s high school graduation and wanted to visit MK. (This was also the time that I brought my friend along and as two 14 year olds, we were too cool for rides like Thunder and Haunted Mansion. Ugh.) We all drove over to Orlando and left the park around 8 or 9, in order to make the trek back home at a reasonable time.


Therefore…no fireworks for my mother….


Agh, well….I think I just made a mistake. I know she went to Magic Kingdom for Grad Bash way back in ’83, so there might’ve been fireworks then, I dunno. But even if there was, it wasn’t Wishes, which is one of the best shows around.


Long story short, my mother is watching all the nighttime shows on the 8th.



I want to try and grab dinner at Peco Bills, because I’ve never been there before and have heard such great things about it, but depending on the time, we might just grab a real quick bite at the resort food court before heading out.


The Parade time is listed at 9 and Wishes at 10pm, so I’ll most likely settle us down in my favorite spot (the sidewalk right before the Tomorrowland entrance) around 7/7:30. I have learned early on to grab seats ridiculously early on if we want a decent view, and for my mom, I’m going to give her the best seat I can. We’ll also become fast friends with the family to our left or right, that way we can escape for potty breaks and possibly a Dole Whip run.


Naturally, we’ll get into at least one “discussion” and receive two dozen dirty looks from parents with children that are peeved we are sitting at the front when we don’t have any children. It’s one the biggest negatives that goes along with Disney shows…dealing with people who feel like we shouldn’t get a good view because we’re two grown adults. It’s the same people who look at us like we’re nuts when we saw “No, Disney isn’t just for kids.”


I won’t lie…I will be kind of relieved years down in the road when Alex and I finally bring our kid to Disney, because then all that judgment will simmer down. We both get exasperated having to deal with non-Disney fans giving us a hard time about our constant trips.


But since that’s a far-off solution, we’ll just have to put on our best smiles and brush off all the complaints. I really, really, really want to show my mom how amazing these shows are (even the Magic, the Memories, and You) and so this is a big “get it right” moment of the trip.


I need it to run smoothly in order for her to get the full effect. Basically, I am holding my breath that there’s no rain that night, that the crowds aren’t astronomical, and that we get there in time to get a good seat.


Fingers crossed!

The park will be closed after the fireworks, so the two of us will go into the Emporium and shop for a bit while the mass wave of people pass us by. Then, we’ll go on our way and prepare for Wednesday’s plans!