The financially irresponsible WDW trip! [June 25th: p.45, posts 668 & 669]

[mouseketeer_mom]

subscribing... great report

 

[MagicForMe]

Great job! That's a whole lot of stress... looking forward to more.

 

[Cass]

What an adventure, I didn't realize you had to go through New York, your little girl was so good considering everthing she went through. You all must have been exhausted - even Lion the Tiger

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[HappyCamperToo]

Wow!
-Sue

 

[DebIreland]

Part 4: Swimming, playing, shopping and Downtown Disney and all with a big grin on our 'happy-to-be-at-Disney' faces!

October 25th:
I woke up, forgetting where I was, and looked over the see Garth waking up too and Alice stirring. Grumpy and Wayne slept soundly. Then I realised two things. 1: we're in Disney World. Halleluia!! 2: I'm so cold I can't feel my feet. Believe me, it was freezing in that room. Honestly, I didn't care *that* much, after all we're in Disney World. Still, I fiddled (I suspect fruitlessly) with the A/C. I know nothing about A/C. It's unheard of here. It took me about 6 months on the DIS just to figure out what the letters 'A/C' stand for. We have around 5 hot days a year so A/C is not exactly top of anyone's list of must-buys! But I did find a button to change it from fahrenheit to celsius as the former is totally foreign to me. It said it was set at 18 celsius - no way! It was blowing out very cold air into an already very cold room. I somehow managed to tame it down (temporarily I think) and went back to bed and chatted to Garth who had a big smile on his face and said that he too forgot where he was when he woke up and felt so excited to finally be in Disney World. *Bliss*

I look at the clock, I know it's early because it's dark outside but actually it was *really* early - 4.35am. Of course, to our bodies, it's 9.35am. How great is that? Extra, unpaid-for Disney time! Garth started getting sleepy again and Alice had already dozed back so I suggested we go back to sleep and he agreed. I was somewhat surprised to wake again and see that it was 8am. So we slept 'til 1pm in reality? Wow! So by now we were all awake and very happy. I had planned on having breakfast in the room most days but not today - we didn't have any supplies yet so we decided to go all out in the food court.

Today was going to be a relaxing day. I had purchased the wonderful UK 14-day tickets and I didn't want to start using them until the next day so that we could use them right up to our last full day. In any case, after the long flights, we needed to unwind. So today was going to be swimming and shopping in the Premium Outlet Stores. Hooray!! Everyone gets ready very quickly and we actually managed 4 showers and one bath in very little time! Disney excitement is a great motivator! Here's DD full of the joys of life, jumping around the bed in her bathing suit! lol

So we're soon dressed with bathing costumes underneath out clothes (we're Irish, no gratuitous displays of flesh from us thank you very much! It's torture enough to wear above-the-knee shorts! I can almost feel the slap from the nuns on the back of my thighs). Off we are to eat lots and lots of food in the food court. I don't know if our interpretation of "Disney smells" is the same as others' as I've read much about those Disney smells on these boards, but I do know there are some very distinct smells for us - no, no, they're all good, I'm not talking about 'standing in line at 4pm in July in MK' kinda smells. We order cereal (we're on holiday so we get fruit loops as they don't sell them here so it's all a novelty), waffles, eggs, strawberries and more! Here are the kids enjoying their first Disney breakfast.

Oh but back to the smells - I think the waffles are partly responsible - they're so American to us and so wonderful. But for me, more than those, it's the pancakes. We all love pancakes but for some reason they're a once-a-year thing here, on Shrove Tuesday, and it's only recently that I realised it's not actually a criminal offence to have pancakes at your leisure on *any* given day of the year so now we have them frequently but they'll never have that wonderful Disney smell - *drool* - and most of all, the maple syrup. I can't get that here. I'm kicking myself I didn't bring back 20 bottles of it. I believe it's the Canadians we can thank for maple syrup - THANK YOU! I can't get enough of it.

Oh, we bought 4 refillable mugs - one each for the kids and one for DH & I to share. Yeah, that's right. To share. To both drink from. Just the one vessel. Just the one 11.99. To pour down my gullet and then boldly and, without remorse, refill for DH to enjoy. We're not that bad though - I have 6 mugs from POFQ and WL from last year and we resisted the urge to bring those back. On that note, I can't fathom the scandal that refillable mugs cause on these boards. It's just plain silly for one thing and, for another, let me tell you, of all the thousands of people who came and went in the All Stars food courts while we were there (and we were there often), how many would you reckon were using mugs from other resorts (that we noticed and I did look for them!) - zero! That's how many. None! So where the hell is all the controversy coming from? I don't get it. There's a touch of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' about it as far as I can see. Someone says the mug-abusers are there in their hoardes and many others agree that yes, they too see them, all around. And, by the way, even if there were lots of them, I don't care, they're on holiday!

Wayne asked me what drink could he get and I said "huh? Coke of course" and he said "wow! Really? It's early. I didn't think I'd be allowed. Cool". And off he ran. I guess I dropped the ball there. He'd have agreed to anything. But honestly there aren't any healthy options per se with the mug so coke was fine with me. We're on holiday! (You'll find me justifying lots of things at lots of time with those three words.) We get Alice mostly water with just a hint of Sprite. I think she rolled her eyes. They catch onto us early.

So we're ready to swim! Yeah, our stomachs laiden down like lead and we're going swimming? That sounds wrong but really it was just fun and wading, not real swimming. We're on holiday!! Off we go and the atmosphere between us was electric. The weather was sheer perfection - about 25 degrees celsius (sorry I can't translate that, just to say it was very warm but not too warm and with a perfect blue sky). I had lathered the kids in sun cream earlier so we're ready to go. I love that the boys are now old enough that we don't need to watch their every move. I'm over-protective but learning to let DS12 'go' a little bit. We didn't leave them on their own at the pool but felt quite safe taking Alice into the kiddie pool and leaving them 'next door' in the main pool.

Alice had a ball. She was very nervous of the water and stayed sitting on the edge mostly but whatever makes her happy is fine with me. For some reason, the previous night, while waiting at the gate for our NY to MCO flight she asked me to take her to the playground. I replied "we're going to Disney World right now honey" and she said "awww no I wanna go to the playground". Garth was in hysterics at this and said "but 'Alice' we're going to the best playground ever, Disney World!". To which she sighed and said "no, I want playground please". So I made her a promise that I'd take her to the playground very soon. After 30 mins or so in the pool I put back on my sheepskin coat, well no, not really, I'm not *that* self conscious! I put on a towel and went in search of the playground with her. Wow! I was so surprised. I knew there was a playground at ASMu but I hadn't read much here on the DIS about it. It's absolutely beautiful and spotlessly clean. If you're planning a trip to ASMu with young kids you must check it out. The floor is a mixture of sand and sponge and there are at least 3 slides of varying sizes and many different areas to explore with beautiful foliage all around. She loved it! We had the place to ourselves. After a while DH came to join us saying that the boys were out of the pool and ready to go back to the room. It was time to organise our shopping trip. So we finally coaxed Alice away from the playground and went back to the room, got dressed back into our all-in-one fleece suits, no, not really, and called Mears for a taxi van, except DH forgot to say that we were 27 miles from the entrance and they had said it would be just a few minutes so we ran all the way to the front of the resort and sure enough he was there and had been waiting a while but he was fine and hadn't started the meter.

He fixed in a car seat for us (which was safe and clean by the way, if you ever want to order a taxivan from Mears with young kids) and off we went to the Premium Outlet Stores. My oh my!!!! Now I must say I'm not a big fan of shopping. Two typical female genes which bypassed me are the 'shoe' gene and the 'shopping' gene. I usually have two pairs of shoes on the go and when they fall apart, then and only then do I replace them and, as for shopping, I do that when I absolutely have to. It's a chore. But on holiday, especially in the U.S. I adore shopping. We so regretted not buying more stuff last year so this was our big chance.

I think there are around 150 stores in the Premium Outlets and we ended up getting to three of them in three hours. lol!! We started in the Nike outlet and got runners for Grumpy, Garth and, surprisingly, me! I haven't possessed a pair of runners since I was about 8 but I saw a nice grey and white pair and bought them. Then off to Timberland. We have a branch here in town and their prices are simply outrageous. I could never afford anything there and, even if I could, I wouldn't pay those prices for clothes. We were so pleasantly surprised by the prices in this store and bought quite a few items for the boys.

Then we went to the Disney store and we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. They are so cheap and have a much bigger stock than I'd expected.

Oh, a blessing on this particular day was the wrist strap I had brought for Alice. The type that the parent attaches to his/her wrist and then attaches the velcro part to the child's wrist. It was so great because I do tend to wander off! Really though, it was terrific and she hadn't yet come to despise it at that point (give it one more day).

The boys got some great pins and I bought t-shirts for everyone, sweaters, gifts for our mothers, little treats for 'Alice' etc. Oh and the boys bought a watch each. Garth's is a lovely traditional design with Mickey and friends and Wayne's is a really cool black Fantasmic watch. They were 22 dollars each. We spent 270 dollars in this store in total. But I regret none of it. That's as far as we got though. We had a reservation at Rainforest for 6 so at 5ish we went outside to call the guy who had brought us there as he had given us his card. He assured us he'd be along soon and we waited and waited and waited in the scorching heat and no sign of him. Tip - always ring Mears directly, don't bother using one of the cards the drivers give you. Not that they'd all let you down but it's silly (I now realise) to rely on one driver rather than a whole fleet of them.

At 5.50 we saw another taxi-van and got that back to DTD. We headed straight for Rainforest and boy was it packed (I think it *always* is). I stayed with the kids while DH battled his way through the crowds and joined the check-in line. I had given him my one page itinerary to take with him because all our ADR confirmation numbers (along with everything else) was on it.

A few minutes later Grumpy came back laughing and told Wayne to stay with Garth and Alice for a few minutes and told me to go with him. I was confused. He was still laughing. I kept saying "why?" and eventually he said "someone wants to meet you". I quizzed him on this and finally he said that when he had taken out the itinerary to check the confirmation number the guy at the podium practically screamed "OH MY GAWD!!! WHO did THAT?" and DH explained that his wife had done it up. The server asked to see it up-close so DH gave it to him and the guy was shaking his head, mouth open and repeatedly saying "OH MY GAWD!!! This is incredible". He then said "I MUST meet the person who did this". Hence, I was being dragged up to the podium to meet the incredulous Rainforest guy. Mortified! DH, still laughing, told the guy that I was the 'brains' behind the itinerary and he kept saying "I never saw anything like it, OH MY GAWD!!!" To this day, I don't know if he despised it or liked it. He did say "What about spontaneity? What about going with the flow?" I told him I felt physically sick at the very notion of going "with the flow" at Disney World and again we hear "OH MY GAWD!!!". I told him I had scheduled in Tuesday 31st from 10am to 12.30pm to be spontaneous but he thought I was serious and just said "oh well, that's something" but then said "OH MY GAWD!! Between 10 and 12.30. OH MY GAWD!!". lol! At this stage I'm on fire from blushing so we say our goodbyes and I tell DH to never do that to me again. Although I was laughing! Here's a snippet of the itinerary. If anything, I think it's fairly basic considering we had a 16 day holiday and it cost us a lot of money we don't have! It's not that nerdy is it??? Admittedly, the parks are colour-co-ordinated and all font sizes for each section are uniform throughout! lol!!

Last year, we started our first WDW holiday with a trip to Rainforest for dinner and, so, after just one trip, it has become a tradition. I will never forget the excitement we felt at that first Disney meal in 2005 and the sheer magic that emanated from Downtown Disney. I can't fathom how anyone dislikes Downtown Disney! I know it's mostly shops and expensive ones at that but even just hanging out there is so magical to me!!! Those lovely lights, sounds, smells. Fabulous! This year was no disappointment. We waited just a few minutes in the 'Elephant' line and then we were seated, although I'm not sure how they decided that we were in the 'Elephant' section - I'm no National Geographic wildlife expert but I'm pretty sure this is a gorilla next to us, not an elephant.

We were almost too excited to order but we got through it somehow! Grumpy, Garth and I had the veggie burgers (delicious), Wayne had pasta (loved it) and Alice had some of everything. She particularly liked Garth's pasta. We ordered the Volcano for dessert. Loved it!

The server was terrific. Great personality! Garth was trying to get photos of us when a kind woman passing by offered to take one of all of us. People are just so nice in Disney World. Here's the pic... it was dark in there so it's not the best...

Alice cried every time the 'thunder' and 'lightning' kicked in overhead because it made the 'gorillas' thump their chests and become very vocal. I told her not to worry, that the gorillas were just hungry and waiting for dinner! But every time the thunder came back she would bury her head in my lap. Poor little thing, it *was* loud. She does like to be melodramatic though and I couldn't help noticing during one of her 'lap burying' episodes her right hand came up to grab a piece of bread stick from her plate. After about the sixth time she heard it (and heard me say "it's ok hon, they're just hungry") she said "mom, can someone just please give them dinner now?".

You can barely make out this photo but if you look closely you'll see her hiding in my lap.

After dinner the boys were very anxious to get to the Lego Store but, before that, I wanted to visit the Christmas store. Grumpy took this shot of us first (again, very dark, sorry)

The boys were getting restless so I told them to go on with DH to the Lego Store and I'd follow later. Alice was now asleep and wrapped up warm (it was very cold at this stage) so she went too, leaving me alone to enjoy the Christmas store. I got Alice a Guest of Honor badge and arranged for it to be engraved. The boys still had their ones from last year but we had lost Alice's one. That took no time at all. I browsed for a while looking in awe at the wonderful Christmas decorations. I was simply dying to buy one of the gorgeous Christmas houses or villages with Disney characters, lights and music and almost did until it hit me that the voltage wouldn't work here.

Off I went to meet the family at the Lego store. Wayne was sitting outside and when I asked him "why?" he said he couldn't stand the cold inside. This is a child who loves heat. The hotter the better. Of the five of us, he's the only one who truly loved every minute of the scorching June/July Florida temps in '05. None of us disliked it but he simply adored it! I thought maybe he was exaggerating until I went inside to find Grumpy and Garth and sweet Lord, it was positively Arctic in there with the A/C blowing out icey cold air. Why?? *Confused* Before I went in Wayne said he had spotted a lego set for 30 dollars and asked if he could buy it (out of his own money). I told him to think about it for a few days and if he still wanted it, we'd come back. I knew then I'd have a challenge on my hands with Garth who probably wanted to buy up half the store. So I went in, determined to make a pre-emptive strike, took a deep breath, found Garth and said "listen, I know it's a cool store but I don't want anyone rushing into buying anything here on our first day, if you see something you like, think about it and if you still want it in a few days, we'll buy it then, ok?" His reply was "COOL!! I didn't think we'd be allowed to buy anything! I can't wait to come back and buy stuff". There I go again! Rushing in to fix an issue that didn't exist!

So we left, purchase-less and, aware that Alice needed her bed, we went to the bus stop, tried to manage our many bags from shopping that day, stroller, back-packs and fancy itineraries and boarded a bus that just came along. Let me tell you, we were incredibly lucky for the entire 16 days with buses. We would walk up to a bus stop and within a couple of minutes a bus would appear! We took the long trip back to ASMu (it always seems longer in the dark anyway but first we did West Side, then Pleasure Island, then AS Sports and finally ASMu), trudged back to the room, collapsed onto the beds and raided the bags for the goodies we had bought. I tried to do a kinda running budget every night and this night I was a bit panicky as we had spent so much, but this was an exception! DH went to the food court to get us coffee and the kids some Mickey Ice creams. Here is DD, having woken up, feasting on hers. Yeah, bad parenting or what? But hey, we're on holidays!!!

Garth fell asleep before DH came back so, not wanting to see it wasted, I ate his one! Woohoo!! After that, showers, teeth and bed for all except Garth and I think DH and the kids were asleep in about 1.5 seconds, excited at the thought of going to our first park the next morning, Animal Kingdom! I stayed awake a while longer to pack our back-packs for the next day and look over the Unofficial Guide and my TGM notes. Just spent a few minutes on that and fell asleep with the pages in my hands....

Up next: Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach and some meltdowns, oh oh! - Page 5, Post no. 64!

 

[**eeyore**]

I'm loving your trip report - you and your family seem absolutely wonderful. Alice reminds me much of my 21 month old twin daughters. I'm enjoying hearing how she enjoys her trip to WDW - we will be taking our daughters when they are 2 1/2 - I hope we have 1/2 as much fun as your family!

P.S. - I am enjoying reading your take on "American" items (e.g. you're boys "love" of American dollars, getting Fruit Loops as a treat because they are not available in Ireland, and how it took you some time to figure out what A/C stood for).

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip report.

Oh yes - I love your itinerary. By no means do I think it is over the top. The way I look at it - an organized mommy makes for a happy mommy; a happy mommy makes for a happy family; happy family makes for a happy vacation!

 

[Cass]

That itinerary is something else! I think that could be a new career for you to personalize itineraries for folks

Your little girl has such a sweet little face. Thanks for all the photos and fun, I am looking forward to more.

 

[tinawv]

Can't wait to read more, and I am loving your pictures.

 

[amamed1]

I am loving yoru trip report, I can't wait to see more. I had to laugh when I saw your itinerary because I do the same thing, I have made about three different ones already.

 

[bekkiz]

Seriously, I love your itenerary. I love it so much, I want you to make me one. My excel sheet is so lame in comparison.

As an aside, we spent a week in Ireland in April and had an amazing time. I'm glad our country can at least give you as good of a trip as yours gave us

 

[Lady V]

I am loving this report!! And your little girl---I am just dying because she is soooooooooo cute!! She is beautiful!!

 

[Reese]

I am hooked . Waiting for more .

 

[bigskyernurse]

Your report is wonderful! I feel like I know your family already. And that little girl of yours is sooo beautiful! Thanks for sharing your trip report.

 

[Disneygrl36]

I'll come along for the ride.

 

[DebIreland]

WDW Poly Princess, Magic2000 and mlill: - thanks so much for the kind words!

averill94: Thanks! Revealing the surprise was so much fun - the boys were over the moon! What a great day that was - I’ll never forget it!

Cass: Thanks for the sweet words about my DD. She’s my little doll. The boys adore her too as, with the gap, they are very protective of her. Glad you liked the itinerary! lol

Bee: You forgot your case? Oh no! I would just about die with the fright of it! lol I guess you had to go through the ‘awful’ task of replacing all your clothes and toiletries with Disney ones? Oh yes I've heard of John DeVoy - I believe he was acquainted with some very famous Irish folk and made quite a contribution to Irish 'issues' back then. Good on ya John! How cool that you're related!!!

MomPlanner22: Ah yes, I did indeed get on the TGM forums to say goodbye and yes, I think I did an admirable job of hiding my predicament. lol! I guess I thought, nothing could be done at this stage so I started to look forward to the trip!!!

MousekaMaddi, DebbieinWA, mouseketeer_mom, Minniespal & Magic For Me: Thanks so much for reading!!

rie'smom: I too wonder if the lists actually help! I think they probably pay off in the end, like when we're sitting on the plane ticking all the items we forgot!

FayeW: Nice to meet a kindred spirit. By the way I absolutely love the photo montage in your signature. Gorgeous!!

NMAmy: Thanks for the sweet words about my DD. Ah yes, she has her moments!

HappyCamperToo: Thanks for dropping in Sue. I appreciate it.

**eeyore**: Thanks for the kind words about my family. I'm sure your little girls will have a wonderful trip. How cute (although, I'm sure, utterly exhausting!) having two sweet little toddlers of the same age.

amamed1: Only 3 copies so far? What happened to the others?

bekkiz: I'm so glad you enjoyed our country! I feel I should apologise that it's so expensive these days though! Wow, it must hurt coming here with the bad exchange rate and then the prices on top of it. Still, sounds like you enjoyed yourself. That's great!! As for the itinerary, hey if you wanna send me all your details I'll happily compile it into one sheet like mine if you want. But I'm not sure sure you want to take on my 'nitty gritty' attitude. lol!

Lady V and bigskyernurse:Aww, thanks for the kind words about DD! She's definitely a keeper!

Reese:Cool!! Nobody's ever got the popcorn out for anything I've had to say before. I'm flattered.

Disneygrl:Happy to have you on board!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Hi Deb!
I just found your TR and spent the past few hours reading it! Your boys are adorable and your daughter is stunning!
I loved the first few installments... you and I are alot alike. I was the crazy mom running around all panicky and crazy-eyed trying to get us all packed and ready, while DH just stayed in "cruise control" mode. Oh, and I had to show DH your itinerary to prove I am not the only obessive, complusive Disney trip planner!
Can't wait for more.... I'm subbing to this bad boy! What a riot!

 

[DebIreland]

Disneyland_Mama]
Hey! So nice to see you here. Thanks! How's Waldo doing these days? I still get the giggles when I think of your TR! That whole 'Where's Waldo' thing cracked me up! Oh, guess what? Thanks to you I went and got myself a Monchhichi in Japan in WS! I love him so much! lol Well he officially belongs to DD but really, she's just looking after him for me!

 

[Cass]

DebIreland, what are you doing chatting? You need to get back to writing!!! I need my nightly fix.

 

[beachwarmer]

I am really enjoying your trip report. I love your itinerary and think it is a brilliant format. Our last trip I had a colour coded spreadsheet and got a few looks too throught out two week trip. One husband even said to his wife, "I'm not looking at your trip plan again until it is colour codes." To funny.

I look forward to reading more.