The "Griswolds" do Disney and MNSSHP *UPDATED: One last visit to DTD*

[White as Snow]

Cast

Starring:
DMe Laura Beth (aka Snow White)- stressed out college Music Theory and Composition major, who needs this Disney trip - badly!

DH Robert (aka Pooh Bear) - aspiring chef (currently a catering and advertising director at a specialty foods market) who is a converted Disney nut (hey, he’s married to me!)

DM Sharon - The cutest, sweetest, and best Mom and Disney lover. The woman puts Martha Stewart to shame.

DF Mike - Dad is a pastor and also has a job at an oil co. so, he needs this trip pretty badly, too. We say he has a split personality - one part Robert Schuler (eloquent pastor of The Hour of Power fame) and the other part is Homer Simpson (nuff said).

Also starring:
DB Joey - who has the unfair advantage of living in Orlando and seeing his beloved Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster on a regular basis.

DSIL Holly - (aka Tinker Bell) Has lived in FL most of her life. Now works at Disney and definitely has a giant stash of pixie dust somewhere

With guest appearances by:
DNephew Skeeter - Joey and Holly’s dog #1, a feist. Also known as Skeeturd (if you’re talking to Joey).

DNiece Audrey - Dog #2 a German Shepherd mix. Joey has lovingly dubbed her Lardrey due to her Pooh-ish size. He also refers to her as The Lard Missile and one other name that isn’t appropriate for the DIS.

Pre-trip report elation and explanation:

Originally this trip was to be taken by Robert’s cousin, her husband, and their niece. They had a change of plans in August and had to back out. Soooooo, Mom and Dad decided that this would be a great time to go see Joey and Holly (and Mickey). Also, I had already bought tickets to MNSSHP ( 5 of them to be exact) so Robert and I were going - no matter what (a little Nazi-ish of me I admit, but c’mon it’s a trip to Disney AND MNSSHP we’re talking about!!)

Also, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus over the summer, and this trip was the only thing I really had to look forward to. The planning and anticipation of the trip (along with discovering the DISboards) really helped to keep my spirits up in the first few months of dealing with the disease. Maybe I should write the Disney powers that be a thank you letter? Nah, hundreds of dollars of my family’s money should be enough of a thank you, don’t you think?

Discovering the DIS has been truly great. It’s a wonderful community, not to mention a whole slew of people who are as obsessed with Disney as I am! *cue “Hallelujah Chorus”*

So, Mom and I have braved Home Depot at rush hour to collect our LGMHPC. Robert even picked some up for us!! He handed them to me one afternoon and I was counting them. When I got to the end there was a Galactic Blue paint chip ( which is actually a color I might paint a room some day). I asked him why he got one that color and he said, “Well, these ladies near me were staring at me and I picked that one up like I was comparing colors.”

We’ve debated what to do about costumes for MNSSHP. Originally, Robert and I were going to take our Snow White and the Prince costumes (Mom made them for us and they are awesome!). However, satin+Disney+Orlando humidity = one very cranky couple.
We ditched that idea pretty quickly.

Dad was actually going to dress up with Mom (big shock to the rest of us - he’s not always a costume kinda guy). I think they were going to go as Mouseketeers. But, we finally all decided that we would rather wear Halloween or Disney (or Disney Halloween) shirts and enjoy the party (and being in short sleeves). We also figured Joey and Holly would have nothing doing with dressing up.

Now that the Costume Debate of 2006 is over, here are the results (cue CNN breaking news announcement): Mom, Dad, and Robert will most likely buy shirts when we get to the World. I might possibly wear my Wicked the Musical shirt and get my face painted green and black or just wear a Snow White shirt and a red ribbon in my hair. Joey joked once about getting a shirt that said “If you’re skeered, say “Skeered.” (We’re from an interesting part of North Alabama, so we’ve actually heard people say this in everyday life). Ideas from all of you are welcome in this matter because we still have 13 days to change our plans.

Mom and I are in the final stages of our Disney planning routine. We’ve both drilled our DHs. I just asked Robert if he has everything he needs, he’s a big boy and if he forgets something - well, he’s up a creek without a paddle. Mom’s a little more serious. Here’s a sample of the dialogue.

Mom: Mike, do you have comfortable shoes to wear in Orlando?
Dad: Yes.
Mom: All right then, prove it. I want you to wear them this weekend and prove to me that they are comfortable.

You see, several times that we’ve gone to Disney, Dad has waited until the last minute to buy shoes. A DIS carnal sin. Not to mention that said shoes are cheap ones from Wal Mart. Dad claims that the only difference between brand names and generic is that they stop the production line and start adding a label. He claims he has seen this done. With white bread. Whatever. We have all tried to impress upon him that with some brand names you aren’t paying for the label, you are paying for quality. He doesn’t believe us even though he begins wincing with pain after 3 hrs at Epcot in his Wally World sneakers. Mom is trying desperately to make sure that this doesn’t happen this time around. Good luck, Mom, you’re a more persistent woman than I.

Since this trip was kind of a last minute thing, we haven’t made ADRs. I know, I know, what can I say, we like to live on the edge. No, really there are several places outside of Disney that Joey wants us to try. Also, we are planning on eating our way around the Food and Wine festival one day, Tusker House and Beaches and Cream the next day, and eating things like dole whips and funnel cakes at MNSSHP. ADRs aren’t really necessary.

Our itinerary is pretty simple, Epcot all day Saturday Oct. 14th. It’s our favorite park, and yes, it will take us a whole day to do what we want to d here. Not to mention that I have a surprise planned for Robert on this day. Next day we’ll open AK and close down MGM. The last day is a relax day so that we can all party hard at MNSSHP that night.

We leave in 13 days on Oct. 13th. Yes, I know why would an otherwise intelligent family of 4 drive 8 hours to Orlando on Oct. 13th only to drive 8 hours back in 4 days? Well, duh it’s Disney.

 

[serendipity]

I love the start of your report. I can't wait to hear more. The part about the costumes is priceless and I'm sorry to hear about your illness. Here's some pixie dust for a great start

 

[White as Snow]

Thanks serendipity!! I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it. A usual Friday night for us is sitting around reading TRs together. It brings the whole family a lot of joy because we get to experience the most wonderful place on earth through the eyes of other families. I hoped that by doing a TR of our trip, other people might get the same kind of fun out of it.

Wow, that sounded hauntingly like some kind of Miss Trip Report Queen of America speech.

Thanks for the pixie dust and stay tuned!!

 

[serendipity]

hahaha I know what you mean. It's just me and my fiancee so far but we love to read the trip reports, well I do, and he sometimes gets sucked into the magic....I'm going to convert him though!!!

 

[White as Snow]

The preparations continue:

Robert and I just got in from errands a play at school. Since we will be driving to Orlando (or in reality Dad will be driving to Orlando), Mom, Robert and I have selected DVDs,and CDs to keep us all entertained (we can only talk and tease each other for so long). Mom has informed us that we will be viewing Alton Brown’s Good Eats* for at least the first 4 hours of the excursion because she has not had time to watch them yet.

Robert has made his pre-Disney purchase of the third season of the Golden Girls on DVD. The first time he went with us to the World was in November 2004 and I surprised him with the first season for his birthday, which is also in November. He loves his girls. Lifetime, TV for women, and Robert.

Our family believes in the celebration of self. Meaning, if we do something right - good grades (for me) or something good at work for everyone else - we treat ourselves. I’ve been saving all my “treats” since oh, July. So I can get what I want at Disney without feeling guilty. I’ve become the saver in mine and Robert’s marriage - not that he’s a huge spender, but I hate to buy anything unnecessary even if I want it. The point of that long spill - I’m saving my pre-Disney purchase for Disney also, you all won’t think I’m completely crazy when I start dealin’ out cash to CMs. (I’ve also got a surprise for Robert on the day we leave - I guess that would have been my pre-trip purchase). I can’t reveal what my surprises for him are at the present - because he’s probably reading this right now. “Hi, Honey!!”

Mom and Dad had yard sale today to scrape up some more moolah for the mouse. I believe Dad made a comment that every penny we earn/save goes right into Mickey’s glove. Yup, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’ve also been hoarding things like cheap ponchos and wet wipes for two months now. Robert and I just bought a truck load of granola bars to take with us. Not sure if we’ll even need them, just seemed like we needed to have it - kind of like the renter’s insurance we took out on our apartment.

One last preparation tidbit before I say “adieu.” Since we are going to MNSSHP, a friend of ours made us these really neat bags to take for trick or treating. She made 3 sets of 2, so each couple can match. She’s great, and if she’s reading, “Hi, Linda!”

Well, the countdown clock says 13 days 0 hours and 40 mins. That’s great, unfortunately, the real clock says 11:14. That means all good DISers (well, this one anyway) should be headed to bed! Night All!


*For those who are not Food Network fanatics like we are, Alton Brown is a chef who hosts Good Eats, a show about how foods “work” - the science of cooking. We all have our fave chefs (Me- Rachael Ray Robert - Paula Deen Joey - Alton Mom- well, she likes whatever the rest of us are obsessed with but in addition she likes Ina Garten Holly - I’m not really sure, I’ll have to ask her if we have a long wait in line during the trip Dad- doesn’t really care because he would rather be watching The Colbert Report)

 

[GypsySue]

Great pre-trip report! Only two days left for me--Whoohoo!

Your husband and the Golden Girls DVD craked me up!

I LOVE Alton Brown too!

 

[White as Snow]

Glad to hear you liked it GypsySue. I can't wait till we get to the two day mark! Actually, I can because I have a Psychology debate that day!!

Here are some pictures of Joey and Holly's children. Enjoy!

Sibling rivalry

Skeeter supporting his team

The Lard Missile in all her glory

Up Next: Pictures of the less hairy among our party so you all have a visual reference.

 

[White as Snow]

From left to right, Joey, Holly, Me, and Robert.

This was made at mine and Robert's wedding reception (we don't walk around like this). I'm trying to scrape up one of Mom and Dad where they are both looking at the camera and Mom has her eyes open (hard to come by).

Up Next: The Joy of Packing

 

[GypsySue]

Super cute picture!!

 

[White as Snow]

Thank you! Say, aren't you IN WDW right now?

 

[White as Snow]

Well, the surprises just keep coming

Robert is about to pop because he can't figure out what my surprise for him is going to be. He now says he has a surprise for me! I have no idea what it could be. He promised it isn't food related (mine IS somewhat food related). Btw, if you really want to know what my surprise is, just PM me. I can't post it here because Robert knows about the DIS and knows how to check my TR.

Joey also has a nice surprise. The hotel he works for is hosting the Southern Women's Conference. Their guest speaker is staying at his hotel. The guest speaker just happens to be Mario Batali!! I had hoped Mario would stay a few extra days so that Mom, Dad, Robert and I would get to meet him, but I guess he didn't know we would be coming down on Friday.

One week from today!!!!! The packing craze starts tomorrow!!

 

[serendipity]

ohhh I want to know the suprises! cute pictures!

 

[resol37]

Love the PTR so far. I was originally going to comment that you can't be the Griswolds because my family is the Griswolds, but you've won me over and now I'm going to be nice. My family lived in Germany for three and a half years when I was 4-7 years old. National Lampoon's European Vacation? Yeah, that's us - or at least, that's my dad. We love the whole series and watch Christmas Vacation every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. I even had a dream about a month ago that I got down to WDW and it was closed. You can imagine the shock and horror!

Anyway, have fun on your trip. My next trip will be launching off in exactly one week and I've got the LGMHPCs all ready, so don't hesitate to say "Hi" if you see me!

 

[White as Snow]

resol37, thank you for being nice, and for reading my TR! The holidays just aren't the holidays without a viewing of "Christmas Vacation!"

Maybe we'll see you at the World!! Thanks again for posting!

 

[White as Snow]

Dad wanted me to post a revision to the Wal-Mart shoes fiasco. He said that he did not buy the shoes at Wal-Mart. He found them at home. They were shoes of Joey’s that Joey had outgrown. So, Dad thought he might be able to wear them to WDW. Problem is that he didn’t try them on until the first morning we were actually at Disney. Yes, Dad, that is so much better than buying cheap shoes at Wal-Mart.

I forgot to mention that I already gave Robert part of one surprise. He had a bad day on Friday and needed something to boost his morale. I had gotten him some magazines to read on the way down to Orlando (Rachael Ray, a Halloween special of ...something, etc.) He liked them, but I think he suspected that surprise.

We’ve started packing! Well, we’ve gotten our suitcases out of the closet - hey, it’s a step in the right direction. Robert is insisting that he will pack Thursday night and that if he needs a certain item of clothing, he will wash it Thursday night. Considering that he was responsible for a recent “pink/whites” incident with our towels.... I don’t know how good of an idea that is. I’ve got to decide what I’m taking today because there is no guarantee I’ll even have time to say “WDW” this week.

Stay tuned! There are still 3 unrevealed surprises and adventures in packing! Not to mention Arrival Day!!

 

[serendipity]

that's really cute that your DH loves the golden girls. What are you going to school for?

 

[White as Snow]

Yeah, Robert loves his girls. Every time I hear the theme song it reminds me of the first time we went to WDW together.

As to why I'm going to school, I would love to be a free lance composer (or a composer for Disney!!), but I'll probably end up getting a PhD and teaching in a College or University.

 

[serendipity]

that's such an amazing field. I'm also in school studying to become a teacher

 

[White as Snow]

Arrival day!!

As I type, we are on our way to Orlando. Last night was interesting. Sit back, relax, grab a Coke and let me tell you a story. Robert and I decided we would have to wait until Thursday night before we left to pack. Robert was trying to get as much work done as possible because “I don’t want them calling me while I’m on vacation.” It’s inevitable, Robert takes a day off and the whole catering department goes to heck. I had several tests this week as well as a Psychology paper and debate this week. (I hate public speaking - my performance medium is piano, so I’ve had to train myself not to let my hands shake or sweat when I get nervous - as a result, my voice now tends to shake/crack when I get nervous. I sound like a prepubescent boy.) It really didn’t take us as long as I thought for us to get everything together. So far, the only thing we have discovered that we forgot is my Clarinex - no major loss I just won’t get to meet Skeeter and Audrey now.

We ordered a pizza, finished an episode of Law and Order: SVU and fell to work. Robert didn’t want to bring shorts, even though he would be warm in Antartica. He claims he just doesn’t want to, Mom and I think it is because his legs aren’t “dark” enough. Okay, most of my life I’ve been against tanning. Now that I have lupus and the sun is like poison, I’m definitely pro-pasty skin. Nevermind that I have the whole Snow White image to keep up! Robert knows he can’t say anything to me about wanting a tan because I’ll just tell him that he’s really cooking himself ( food turns darker the more burnt it is) and that when he is 30 he will look 90. Can someone help me down off my soapbox now, anybody.....anybody?

Oh well, if he gets hot, he had the chance to get shorts. I just realized how unfortunate men are. They can’t wear capris (half of my wardrobe for this trip). They can wear shorts or pants, but they don’t have the option of capris, how sad for them. Okay, this thought was obviously a product of my early, pre-Disney awakening this morning. I didn’t have to be on campus until 10:45 at the latest but I still woke up at 6:20. (of course, since I’m such a diligent psych student, I know I’ve been classically conditioned to wake up at the same time every day - but that test isn’t for another week and a half). It was actually really fun getting up that early when I didn’t have to - it was like a reminder that today was a different kind of day - it was a pre-Disney day!!!!! Robert got up shortly after I did and cooked breakfast (fried eggs, sausage, biscuits, and chocolate gravy - what more could a girl ask for?). I finished some homework and we finished gathering most of our worldly possessions for the trip.

We then went to the post office to pick up a package I had waiting there for me. I’m addicted to making cards and stuff using scrapbooking products. My mom is a Stampin’ Up! representative so she’s my main enabler. However, someone from my home church (remember, Dad’s a pastor) sent me this huge box FILLED with stamping stuff. It was a great surprise and really added an extra shot of pixie dust to my day. My mom promises she didn’t do it. I think it could be Linda, the same lady who made our trick or treat bags. Oh, I forgot to mention what those actually looked like!!! They are awesome. One set is orange and has a jack-o-lantern face on it. Another set is black and has white ghosts on it. The third set is....get ready... DIS green!!!!! They have spiders on them. I’ll post pics after MNSSHP , you know, when they are filled with candy!

After the post office we went to the bank to deposit our Disney fund into my checking account. My side of our office is decked out with Snow Whtie stuff ( including an awesome statue that Robert got me on our honeymoon at the World of Disney in NYC.) We have this little Disney princesses purse on my desk that we dump all our extra cash and change into. We’ve been saving since July and we had over $150 in it!! It’s amazing how much a few dollars here, a few cents there, can add up in just a very few months.

Robert dropped me off at school so that I could go watch a Supernanny video for Psychology - I love professors who give fun homework! Then I had Theory which was great because we got back a semi-big project we had to do - I got a 30/30. Woohoo! Well, Theory IS part of my major, but still a girl can celebrate if she wants to. Then we had a choir rehearsal for the presidential inauguration at our University. It’s basically a coronation. When Robert picked me up after the rehearsal he informed me that as of 12:00, my parents had still not left their house (which is an hour and a half from our home). The good thing is we were able to go home and do away with the leftover pizza from the night before so that it wouldn’t meet us at the door when we get back.

We ate and watched Paula Deen. Then the doorbell rang.... Robert looked at me and said, “Let’s go!” Just those two words made me so excited. It was great to see my Mom and Dad. I hadn’t seen Dad in a while so that was especially nice. We loaded the car and now here we are packed in like sardines with our luggage. Which I actually like because it’s really cozy, besides we like each other and to our knowledge none of us has a communicable disease. We’ve already listened to the entire “The Color Purple” the musical soundtrack.(well, except a few songs - anyone whose heard it will know which ones aren’t suitable for parental listening!) This is mine and Robert’s latest musical obsession.

The update right now, Dad’s driving and listening to the Symphony channel on Sirius (Mom and I are hoping he’ll change it in about 15 minutes when Seth Rudetsky on the Broadway station does his Studio A Cabaret - Seth is amaahzing!) Mom is reading various cooking magazines and marking them with post it tabs. If I looked at all the tabs I could predict Thanksgiving! Robert is snorin’ away. I’m, well duh, I’m updating my TR!!!!

Okay, from here on out, everything is typed in real time (aka, we're back from Orlando.) Robert made lost of yummy stuff for us to eat on the way down to the World. Such as, caramel apples, coconut truffles, walnut caramel bars. Here is a pic of the coconut truffles. Notice the not-so-hidden Mickey.

Okay, I'll post more later. I started getting sick on the way home and I think I have strep throat, so that might hinder my progress.

 

[serendipity]

ahhh, now the addiction starts! Sounds like you had a very busy day, it must have been hard to sit still in school!