The Meanest Mother in the World--A L-B TR, 5/05 *DONE. p.65, with one last pic*

[Kat in GA]

It's finally time for me to jump in and join the fun. I have been reading your report since I joined the Dis (ummm...that was 4 months ago... ) and am loving every minute -- you paint a great picture!

 

[Turtle]

Now i want to see Fantasmic! I like being punched-in-the-gut-in-a-nice-way.

 

[magicmama]

Kimmie's back!!! Yipee!!

Fantasmic is so fantastic!! Sometimes the preshow wave & CMs as just as entertaining. Well, almost.

 

[Lauralee131]

I'm sad that your trip will be coming to an end! Seems like I've been reading and enjoying your trippie for months! Glad you guys enjoyed Fantasmic! I loved it as well and will definitely go again!!

 

[disneylizzy]

I'm sorry, I'm still at Animal Kingdom, but I had to chime in to say that I have a CarBoy, too!!!!!

He was pointing out Ford! Chevy! Mercedes! in his carseat.

He's now 21 and almost finished college as an ... engineer!

He has 2100 pictures of cars stored on a separate hard drive and thinks more about what kind of car he will buy after he is gainfully employed than about where he will actually work.

Matchbox cars and playmats with roads, I think I'm going to cry now.

Treasure every single second with them. Hats off to you!

 

[swankybeth]

I don't know why I haven't read this trippie before. But I finished all 61 pages of it and I love it! I guess it's kind of apropos that I would arrive 6 months late to a "late breaking" trip report anyway...

 

[kpk89]

I'm sorry, I'm still at Animal Kingdom, but I had to chime in to say that I have a CarBoy, too!!!!!

He was pointing out Ford! Chevy! Mercedes! in his carseat.

He's now 21 and almost finished college as an ... engineer!

He has 2100 pictures of cars stored on a separate hard drive and thinks more about what kind of car he will buy after he is gainfully employed than about where he will actually work.

Matchbox cars and playmats with roads, I think I'm going to cry now.

Treasure every single second with them. Hats off to you!

Thanks for reading and responding, DisneyLizzy! You've just reminded me of a dinnertime conversation from the other night. About the careers of my children. (keep in mind they are now 7, 5 and 3.)

P (5) : I'm a little concerned, Mummy.
Me: About what?
P: Well, there's so many things I want to be when I grow up. I don't know what to pick.
Me: What are you thinking of?
P: Veterinarian, biologist, or maybe work at Animal Kingdom. I'd like to be a zookeeper.

Next, we turn to Conor. He ponders a moment, and says he'd like to work at __________________, the local car dealership.

We hold our breath, not knowing what to say. ((no offense to any car salesmen out there, but in our personal experience we haven't yet met one we'd want to work with again or would want our son to emulate))

"Or, be an engineer. Inventing new cars. I'd want to invent wicked expensive hybrid ones. Or maybe I could work for Car & Driver. Drive the cars and then write the stories about them."

Then...
Me: And how about you, Sydney? What do you want to be when you grow up?
S (3): A Disney princess.
C: Aw, Syd, you'd be really good at that.

 

[mmmcq]

Oh my... I had no idea when I started this TR a week ago (I'm a slow reader what can I say?) that it wasn't finished. Imagine my surprise to come to the end and realize that it's still a work in progress. It's "Live from WDW - May 2005". Yippeee. I wasn't here when you started Kimmie, but I'll be waiting at the finish line.

There are so many lines in your TR which may become DIS "classics" and I've never laughed or cried so hard. In fact your whole TR is a classic.

But I have to tell you that last night (actually this am) about the same time as now I was sitting here in the dark reading your TR on my pc. My pc is in the living room, which is under the bed rooms of my two teens, who had been in bed for at least two hours. I was following your TR thru the visit to WCC for Conor's b-day. It was all good.

I've often looked askance at posts which indicate that pepsi, coffee or other liquids (bodily or otherwise) were spewn at a computer screen whilst reading a TR. Yeah right. But last night....had I made the fateful mistake of bringing my diet coke to my desk with me.....I would have had sticky, icky syrup all over my pc and keyboard.

I laughed out loud (REALLY LOUD) involuntarily at the picture which followed your mention of asking Ricky for another glass of water.

I had finished my margarita and my glass of water so I asked for another glass of water. Ricky must have not wanted to make another trip, because he brought me this.

(I don't know how to copy the picture in.)

I was so loud that my DH who was 3 rooms away watching ESPN and usually when he's in the ESPN zone can't hear a fire engine even if it pulled up next to him with all sirens blaring....came running in to make sure I was okay. Then when he discovered that I was fine - yelled at me (very quietly of course) for potentially waking up not only our teens bur our DD6. So sorry dear..it was a funny, funny thing in a TR.

"A what?" Never mind hon, back to your ESPN, I'm sure you don't want to miss a score that you've only heard 3 times today. DH proposed to me AFTER the ESPN report, not at the romantic restaurant at the corner table when I was sure there was a ring in his pocket. NO, I had to wait until AFTER ESPN.

Anyway, thanks so much Kimmie for amusing me so very, very much. I am so hooked on your writing.

(Lauralee131 I knew I'd find you somewhere )

 

[kpk89]

Oh my... I had no idea when I started this TR a week ago (I'm a slow reader what can I say?) that it wasn't finished. Imagine my surprise to come to the end and realize that it's still a work in progress. It's "Live from WDW - May 2005". Yippeee. I wasn't here when you started Kimmie, but I'll be waiting at the finish line.

There are so many lines in your TR which may become DIS "classics" and I've never laughed or cried so hard. In fact your whole TR is a classic.

But I have to tell you that last night (actually this am) about the same time as now I was sitting here in the dark reading your TR on my pc. My pc is in the living room, which is under the bed rooms of my two teens, who had been in bed for at least two hours. I was following your TR thru the visit to WCC for Conor's b-day. It was all good.

I've often looked askance at posts which indicate that pepsi, coffee or other liquids (bodily or otherwise) were spewn at a computer screen whilst reading a TR. Yeah right. But last night....had I made the fateful mistake of bringing my diet coke to my desk with me.....I would have had sticky, icky syrup all over my pc and keyboard.

I laughed out loud (REALLY LOUD) involuntarily at the picture which followed your mention of asking Ricky for another glass of water.

(I don't know how to copy the picture in.)

I was so loud that my DH who was 3 rooms away watching ESPN and usually when he's in the ESPN zone can't hear a fire engine even if it pulled up next to him with all sirens blaring....came running in to make sure I was okay. Then when he discovered that I was fine - yelled at me (very quietly of course) for potentially waking up not only our teens bur our DD6. So sorry dear..it was a funny, funny thing in a TR.

"A what?" Never mind hon, back to your ESPN, I'm sure you don't want to miss a score that you've only heard 3 times today. DH proposed to me AFTER the ESPN report, not at the romantic restaurant at the corner table when I was sure there was a ring in his pocket. NO, I had to wait until AFTER ESPN.

Anyway, thanks so much Kimmie for amusing me so very, very much. I am so hooked on your writing.

(Lauralee131 I knew I'd find you somewhere )

Aw, mmmcq ... don't feel bad about being a slow reader. I am a slow writer. Clearly. Thanks for hanging out at the finish line. I will be there, too, eventually, and probably finish by flopping on my backside like the Chicago marathon guy. Ouch. As for making you LOL and spew on the monitor, well, I can't really take credit for that. Since said lol-ing and spewing were in reaction to the photo of the tall drink of water. You can send Rodeo Ricky the bill for the new monitor.

(do you think this is why the WCC is allegedly "cutting back" on the wild and crazy antics?)

 

[nicky mouse]

Then...
Me: And how about you, Sydney? What do you want to be when you grow up?
S (3): A Disney princess.
C: Aw, Syd, you'd be really good at that.

How cute is that.

I'm still loving your trip report, and I'm a bit sad that it's coming to an end.

I'm taking notes to help me plan my first with the kids in January.

 

[horsegirl]

Bumpity bump bump.

EHEM. Just a friendly reminder that many of us are WAITING!!!!!!!!!

 

[OhMari]

I just copied and pasted your posts. Guess how many pages,







61


I didn't copy the pictures. I realized as I was copying and pasting, I have at least the first 10 posts read.

I'm going to send the word doc to work and print it off there.

I enjoyed the pictures as I was scrolling through your TR. Isn't it wierd that your posts equalled 61 in a word doc and you have 61 pages.

Off to reading.

 

[kpk89]

Upon returning from Fantasmic! , The Envelope that Must Not Be Named was waiting for us on our door. This hammered some of the joy right out of us. That and the sight of the monkey pen that was our villa. We had a lot to do to get checked out of here. Not only that and that, but also our Magical Express pickup time was 3:40. Our flight wasnt until 8 PM! On purpose. So that we could have some fun on our last day before heading home to reality.

My plan for our last day, was this:

• Do all laundry and pack the night before
• Check out by 8 AM
• Be at Magic Kingdom by 8:30 AM.
• Have breakfast at the Main Street Bakery
• Have a heapload of fun and take more pictures
• Have lunch somewhere and enjoy it immensely
• Return to resort by 4 PM ish
• Catch bus to airport

How it actually turned out was this:

• Do some laundry and some packing the night before
• Do the rest of the laundry and packing until approximately 10 AM.
• Check out.
• Realize that we must be back for our ME bus at 3:20.
• Realize that we can't necessarily rely on Disney transportation to get us back here on time unless we leave much earlier than that
• Realize that we aren't going to make it to a park today
• Go to the pool.
• Get everybody showered and dressed while trying not to get their clean clothes wet in the process.
• Have lunch at Olivia's.
• Don't so much enjoy the lunch.
• Walk around resort
• Go back to wait for ME bus.
• Wait
• Wait
• Wait

I realize that judging by the length of each of these lists (for those of you just skimming) it appears that we actually did a lot more than we had planned on our last day.

We didn't, really.

I was pretty ticked at the time, but given that 17 months have passed since that day, I'm over it. Mostly. Writing this now is bound to stir up some unresolved emotions.

I realize that it's partly my fault. For insisting on bring home clean clothes. I didn't HAVE to do laundry. Could've packed very quickly, I'm sure. But it's a thing I have. Helps make the vacation last a little longer if I don't have to set about doing chores the moment I get home. Ironic, huh? (Not that I iron. Ever. Ironic has nothing to do with ironing, TFI.)

The upside was that the day was pretty relaxing, up until the part with the flippy fit. Just wait.

We walked around, enjoying the mellow cheerfulness of this beautiful resort. We swam some more, splashed some more, slid some more. We then proceeded to the changing rooms.

In theory, the idea of swimming and then getting showered and dressed in the changing rooms by the pool is spot-on. What could be simpler?

I think it could be a lot simpler if not for the 4 year old and the 2 year old. Myself, I could've been in and out of there in 10 minutes flat. But trying to keep the girls occupied while I showered and dressed (read: prevent them from flinging the clean dry clothes onto the wet floor) and then getting them both dressed and maintaining a semblance of dryness was a bit trickier. Meanwhile the boys were done and sipping margaritas at Goods to Go before we emerged from the shower room.

Since we had plenty of time to kill (just not enough to get to a park and back without stress!) we decided to try Olivia's, which we hadn't gotten around to yet. The service was a bit spotty, as the entire staff was preparing for a retirement party for one of the waitresses who had been there for many years. I can't remember her name now (17 months later) so I'll just call her Betsy, but I do recall seeing mention of her retirement on the DVC boards. She apparently was very much someone special to a lot of guests, especially those who returned to OKW year after year.

So for that, I'm glad we had spotty service. I'm glad that Betsy was getting to retire, and glad that so many of her coworkers and guests were giving her a nice sendoff. I'm glad that Disney hires the kind of people who stay, and who are clearly exemplary enough that they warrant a party. Not many people stay in the same job long enough to make a retirement party a big deal any more.

The food was fine, nothing grand but nothing wrong with it either. We finished our lunch and commenced to strolling the grounds of the resort again. Went to the arcade for a while, chilled in the lobby watching old Mickey cartoons for a while. You get the picture.

After a fashion, we were content to hang out in the porte-cochere waiting for 3:20 to arrive. It does.

No bus.

3:30. No bus.

3:40. The actual time the bus is supposed to be leaving again. And yet ...

No bus.

3:45. You guessed it, no bus.

Dum dum dum dummmmmmmmmmmm....

 

[corinnak]

I can't possibly be the first one to comment, can I? I am so sad to hear that your last day was disappointing, Disney Transport willfully flouting your carefully laid plans left and right!

I can't believe we are coming to the end of your trip! I can, however, believe that you didn't make it to a park that last day, but it is still unfortunate, moreso because of the timing of your flight on purpose and everything. Plus I can see where you had a challenge getting everyone clean, dry and dressed. Plus no fair on the changing room situation. I think you deserve some sort of an award for getting through that one!

I can see where this is going with the DME....and I don't like it one bit! I must say, I can appreciate them allowing 3 hours for bus stops and airport navigating and potential delays and STUFF, but 3 hours 40 minutes is a little.....well, it's out there even for someone who likes to be conservative allowing time to get to the airport.

Still hoping for a happy ending after the flippie fit (such things are possible, right?). Thanks for another great chapter!

 

[celerystalker]

Only a truly great writer can build a cliffhanger in at the last possible second! Kudos to you mean mommy!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Kim. you rock, as always! Sorry your last day didn't go as planned, though.

 

[jenelope]

Well, on the plus side, there was no way for the last day to be good day because it was the last day. On my most recent trip's last day, I was 98% packed the night before, got to the Magic Kingdom for favorite rides and French toast loaf, had a nice lunch from Artist's Palette while waiting for DME, and met a lovely girl about the age of your Piper who chatted with me all the way to the airport. I felt like crying for most of the day, though, because I knew the bus was taking me away from Walt Disney World.

So you see, even if everything had gone as planned, your day was doomed. Your report, however, is brilliant.

 

[PrincessV]

So, if the bus never shows, the trip report never ends, right?! "And they lived at Disney World forever and ever, writing awesome trippies for their adoring fans."

No? It was worth a shot!

 

[bushdianee]

I enjoyed reading all 62 pages of this report.

 

[kpk89]

Still hoping for a happy ending after the flippie fit (such things are possible, right?). Thanks for another great chapter!

You betcha!! There's always a happy ending at Disney, right?? (or IS there ...)

Only a truly great writer can build a cliffhanger in at the last possible second! Kudos to you mean mommy!

Well, thanks, but you don't really think I'm done, do you?? There are at least 8 chapters to get us home and decompressed from the trip. And start planning the next.

Kim. you rock, as always! Sorry your last day didn't go as planned, though.

Thanks Marita!!

Well, on the plus side, there was no way for the last day to be good day because it was the last day.

You have a point there!! But I was really going for the "happily exhausted" trip back. Truly, our day was fine -- I don't want to seem like a whiner --- it just wasn't what we (I) had planned.

So, if the bus never shows, the trip report never ends, right?! "And they lived at Disney World forever and ever, writing awesome trippies for their adoring fans."

That would be such a dream!! But then that would be "real life" and I wouldn't be able to post on the TR board. he hee.

And, bushdianee , thanks for joining! This baby should be wrapped up within the next week or so.

Coming up soon .... Does the bus EVER come??