ellebeegee
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2006
- Messages
- 64
Hi! It's been a long time since I've been here. My last report was for our Disneyland trip two summers ago. 
I have been reprimanded by my precious friend Allyson (Mom of CKJ) to get this report done, for both of us, I think.
This trip initially was planned to occur from 12/21 to 12/29 over Christmas break. I have been teaching for the last few years, so we have been pretty much relegated to going when the crowds are highest -- my least favorite times. However, we had never enjoyed Christmas at The World and thought it was time. Having already been to WDW several times, we are to the point now where we don't have to kill ourselves from 6 am to midnight seeing and doing EVERYTHING (which, as you know, is impossible anyway). We knew it would be crowded but we also knew we could handle not getting everything done/seen/ridden/eaten and just enjoy the Christmas magic. We had reservations for Port Orleans Riverside. We had stayed there before and LOVED it. However, as December rolled in, my daughter, age 9, waxed nostalgic for our Christmas traditions at home and actually talked us OUT OF a Christmas trip to Disney! Yes, I know Santa comes to Disney - we had that all worked out and and had even talked to the jolly elf himself.
But there is so much more than that - making cookies at home, leaving cookies and milk for Santa and a green apple and cold Coca-Cola for Rudolph (hey, Santa says, and you don't argue with him!), Christmas Eve service at church, the yummy breakfast casserole that I make ONLY for Christmas morning. We couldn't help but be moved by how much these things mean to her and, since the tween years are right around the corner, we thought we should take advantage of this while we can. So, I contacted the marvelous Jessica from The Magic For Less and rescheduled our trip for as soon as we could after school was out. We are in the south and school was out for us the week before Labor Day. Many schools are still in at that time, so we figured the summer crowds wouldn't QUITE have peaked at that time. We got in on the great "buy 4, get 3 free" promotion and were able to upgrade to The Wilderness Lodge, a place we have always wanted to stay. 
I was having a beyond-words terrible year teaching this past year,
to the point where my DH said "Enough" of seeing me so miserable. So, I had two reasons to count down the end of the school year, and count down I did, beginning right after Christmas!
The end of school FINALLY came, whew,
and I could finally revel in the excitement of our longest ever stay at WDW, at WL, no less!! One week before we were to leave, the A/C in my Cherokee went kaput. 
Got it looked at and no it's not a simple hose or compressor -- the whole kit and kaboodle had to be replaced, to the tune of $1300. Thank goodness the vacation and dining was already paid for! As of Tuesday before we were leaving on Friday, the parts weren't even in and it didn't look good for having that vehicle to drive. I really didn't want to take DH's little sedan, but if it were that or nothing, we'd squish everything in the sedan! On Wednesday, DD and I took the sedan to downtown Atlanta to an appointment. I rolled back the sunroof because she likes to look up at the tall buildings. Got to our destination with a heavy threat of rain and ..... and... and.... the sunroof would not BUDGE. Oh, wait -- it went backward two more inches and STOPPED. 
Thankfully we got home before the storms came but DH and I were both thinking we should just cancel the trip. Come on, two things like that within a week of a trip of 1000+ miles roundtrip? Who wants to push that luck? But my hero rescued the sunroof and we got the Jeep back on Thursday -- we're on again! We're all feeling the love, we deserve this, LET'S GO!!
Next up: Join us in the wayback machine as I recount our efforts to make dining reservations on our 90-day window...the weekend that they switched computer systems. Oh, boy!
I have been reprimanded by my precious friend Allyson (Mom of CKJ) to get this report done, for both of us, I think. This trip initially was planned to occur from 12/21 to 12/29 over Christmas break. I have been teaching for the last few years, so we have been pretty much relegated to going when the crowds are highest -- my least favorite times. However, we had never enjoyed Christmas at The World and thought it was time. Having already been to WDW several times, we are to the point now where we don't have to kill ourselves from 6 am to midnight seeing and doing EVERYTHING (which, as you know, is impossible anyway). We knew it would be crowded but we also knew we could handle not getting everything done/seen/ridden/eaten and just enjoy the Christmas magic. We had reservations for Port Orleans Riverside. We had stayed there before and LOVED it. However, as December rolled in, my daughter, age 9, waxed nostalgic for our Christmas traditions at home and actually talked us OUT OF a Christmas trip to Disney! Yes, I know Santa comes to Disney - we had that all worked out and and had even talked to the jolly elf himself.
But there is so much more than that - making cookies at home, leaving cookies and milk for Santa and a green apple and cold Coca-Cola for Rudolph (hey, Santa says, and you don't argue with him!), Christmas Eve service at church, the yummy breakfast casserole that I make ONLY for Christmas morning. We couldn't help but be moved by how much these things mean to her and, since the tween years are right around the corner, we thought we should take advantage of this while we can. So, I contacted the marvelous Jessica from The Magic For Less and rescheduled our trip for as soon as we could after school was out. We are in the south and school was out for us the week before Labor Day. Many schools are still in at that time, so we figured the summer crowds wouldn't QUITE have peaked at that time. We got in on the great "buy 4, get 3 free" promotion and were able to upgrade to The Wilderness Lodge, a place we have always wanted to stay. I was having a beyond-words terrible year teaching this past year,
to the point where my DH said "Enough" of seeing me so miserable. So, I had two reasons to count down the end of the school year, and count down I did, beginning right after Christmas!The end of school FINALLY came, whew,
and I could finally revel in the excitement of our longest ever stay at WDW, at WL, no less!! One week before we were to leave, the A/C in my Cherokee went kaput. Got it looked at and no it's not a simple hose or compressor -- the whole kit and kaboodle had to be replaced, to the tune of $1300. Thank goodness the vacation and dining was already paid for! As of Tuesday before we were leaving on Friday, the parts weren't even in and it didn't look good for having that vehicle to drive. I really didn't want to take DH's little sedan, but if it were that or nothing, we'd squish everything in the sedan! On Wednesday, DD and I took the sedan to downtown Atlanta to an appointment. I rolled back the sunroof because she likes to look up at the tall buildings. Got to our destination with a heavy threat of rain and ..... and... and.... the sunroof would not BUDGE. Oh, wait -- it went backward two more inches and STOPPED. Thankfully we got home before the storms came but DH and I were both thinking we should just cancel the trip. Come on, two things like that within a week of a trip of 1000+ miles roundtrip? Who wants to push that luck? But my hero rescued the sunroof and we got the Jeep back on Thursday -- we're on again! We're all feeling the love, we deserve this, LET'S GO!! Next up: Join us in the wayback machine as I recount our efforts to make dining reservations on our 90-day window...the weekend that they switched computer systems. Oh, boy!
