The Mission: Prove to Grumpola Husband that Disney Magic DOES Exist!

[TandLMommy28]

Day 5

September 30, 2010 Animal Kingdom and MNSSHP

8am ADR at Tusker House. Again, excited to be in the park before it opens.

We will hit the safari first thing, then take the kids over to Dino Land and my mom and aunt will hang out with them while Grumpola and I do Everest and Dinosaur and the Whirl one (I always forget the name). Then we will all walk around and explore, have luch at Pizzafari and make sure to see the Lion King show.

I am hoping to be out of AK by 3pm at the very, very latest. Back to the hotel, and we'll be napping--ALL OF US. Up at 5, into costumes, dinner at the food court and over to MNSSHP by 6:30 (thinking about taking the car over this time around but don't quote me on that!). My mom and aunt are not going to the party. I think they are headed to DTD to shop.

So we are going to party until the party's over. We have nowhere to be in the morning and we're all napping that afternoon.

I've already hit Dollar Tree and bought one of every glow in the dark thing they have. I even got some to hang from the stroller to make it easy to spot!

 

[TandLMommy28]

Day 6

October 1, 2010

Our last day at WDW. Sigh...

THere are truly no plans for this day. We have a 6 day pass, so we will let the kids decide which park they want to go back to for a few hours. Check out of POFQ, load up the car and squeeze out the last bits of magic. One last trip to DTD before we go and then we will be on the road to Atlanta. The next morning we'll catch up with college friends for a few hours and then make the long haul to Indiana straight through on Saturday!

 

[TandLMommy28]

Oh and huge development!

There are talks of a December 2012 trip to Disneyland going on in my extended family. Grumpola doesn't know it yet. But I think he would say yes, yes, yes. Because even with 3 days at Disney, there would be 4 non-Disney days in Cali hanging otu with family instead of in Indiana alone in the winter.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Well, wow. Looks like December 2012 is a real possibility. Enough that I think I can say, "We're planning on going to Disneyland in December 2012 unless something changes." Of course, to me it is a trip to Disneyland... To Grumpola, it's a trip to California to do Universal and hang out with my uncle and enjoy some mild weather after winter is already in full force here. My guess is we'd do 7 days--3 at Disneyland and 4 with my uncle.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Weight Loss Update:

I wanted to lose 18 pounds for this trip. But with 4 weeks to go, it looks like 18 will be pushing it so I am going to say that I'll settle for 15. That gives me a month to lose 5 pounds. I really hope I can do it!

I started Jillian's 30 Day Shred today. Last year I tried it and after 2 weeks, I couldn't do the first level. This was before I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance and Hypothyroidism. It has taken me 10 months of being on meds to get the dosage right and finally see a real difference but now that I am, it's fabulous! I did Level 1 tonight wearing Shape Ups and I have a cold and it still didn't feel SOOO hard. I mean, I was sweating. but I didn't feel like "This is impossible" and I never thought "I'm dying!" Yippee for being healthy and normal again. It took me YEARS to get answers for why I was gaining weight and feeling so run down all the time. It feels so good to have answers AND resolution.

So here's to hoping my size 8 pants are all too big by Disney, right?

 

[wlake]

CONGRATULATIONS! You're doing a terrific job with the weight loss! Even if you don't get to 15, you're still up and doing something! Want to send a little of that motivation my way? I need to lose a good 20!

We had an 8:00 ADR for Tusker House too! We were able to be right at the Africa rope when the park opened and were on the first bus of the day for the safari -- it was fantastic! So much better than safaris later in the day! (Granted, it BETTER be cooler for you in Oct. than the near record heat we were there in last week! )

 

[Tiger.Lily]

Go you! You're doing great on the weight loss! The only problem is, I think I'm finding what you're losing. *sigh*

Plans sound good! And yay on the potential Disneyland trip! It's different from WDW, but it's an awesome kind of different.

 

[MylilTink]

Hi! We'll be at Disney the same time as you and attending MNSSHP the same night.

 

[NaLisa]

Congrats on getting healthy! Remember, feeling fit and healthy is more important than what the scale reads. Sounds like you're on track.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Trip planning updates:

* We ordered our MNSSHP tickets tonight. Grumpola requested we pay the $15 to have them Fed Ex'd because he wants the tickets ASAP. Hehe, it's the only thing about this trip he really, really cares about so I'm just happy to see him care! It's worth the $15 to me!

* Meijer is having a deal on Disney gift cards starting on Sunday and I'll be there every day buying gift cards ($5 off your next Meijer purchase when you buy a $25 gift card). I will use the $5 coupons to buy our snacks for the trip, score!

* I joined the Disney Movie Club today. 7 DVDs for $21 and only four more to buy, ever. I was planning to buy TS3, Beauty and the Beast and the new Tinkerbell for Christmas anyway so no biggie and we'll have new movies for the long car ride.

* Hubby got $650 in the mail today from a class action lawsuit settlement thing against Walmart... he worked at Walmart in college and I guess he wasn't paid properly or didn't get the right breaks or something. Anyway, he got a very big suprise in the mail! Now that he has this spending money (for little repairs he wants to do on his truck, it's his hobby really), he is much less annoyed by Disney spending. So I'm really, really happy about the timing of this check!

* I picked the Holiday Inn Express Lake Buena Vista for Saturday night when we get to Orlando. Great reviews, great price and we've never gone wrong with an HIE. The breakfast is decent and free, so that is good too!

* Three weeks from today we will be in a hotel room, hopefully just north of Nashville!

 

[TandLMommy28]

Nothing exciting to report today. Kids are off to their grandparents house for the night and we are having a date night. Although we have no idea what we want to do. As for the trip... On Tuesday I am going to reserve our stroller from Olrando Stroller Rental and our hotel room in Orlando. Yippee! Then I just need to buy all the gift cards and our snacks, do one more Dollar Tree trip and that's it.

All that's left is fiddling with Ridemax and packing.

 

[TandLMommy28]

It's the little things that make Disney magical...

I order plenty of things online and I get lots of email messages with tracking numbers. Most of them don't make me smile (other than the thought that something I bought is on its way).

I got my email from Fed Ex today that my MNSSHP tickets are on their way. On the "message" line of the email, underneath the line that says it's coming from Disney was written "Enjoy your vacation!"

I know this is not a big deal and it cost Disney nothing to do so and they do that for everyone. But that's the point--they do that for everyone. They always go just a little bit further than other companies do to make sure that you not only have a good time, but that you know that THEY want you to have a good time.

When we went to Cedar Point this summer, I requested copies of the current brochures. I had to put in my physical address so I assumed that these would be mailed to me. No such luck. I got an email attachment with a crappy map. That's it! And nobody told me to enjoy my vacation, that is for sure.

I love Disney.

 

[heathers4um]

Hi there!

I am so happy that Grumpola is getting into the swing of things for your trip! I bet he will have such a good time!

I also just joined the Disney Movie Club (again)...trying to bulk up on all the classics I dont already have for me and get some movies Step Princess always wants to watch. Something about having a rack full of Disney magic makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

My Grumpola is starting to really look forward to going but I think its that we are going alone somewhere...anywhere. Just wait til he sees what we are all talking about!

heads up - I finally got my check in loot posted on my PTR!

 

[TandLMommy28]

My MNSSHP tickets arrived today! So pretty! I don't know if I mentioned it here but I was perplexed about what to do since my son turns 3 on the trip. He is considered a free 2 year old for the whole trip BUT the party is a separate ticket event and he'll be 3 when we go. I decided to just suck it up and pay the $48 or whatever it was to have him get a ticket. I figured that if we waited until we got there to find out and had to shell out the cash then, it'd be $5 more (I think that's the difference?)... plus, if he was completely free, I was afraid maybe he wouldn't be allowed to trick or treat since he wasn't a paying costumer. Not worth the stress so he has his own ticket!

 

[heathers4um]

 

[TandLMommy28]

This Meijer deal is getting exhausting. I've had two times when the $5 coupon didn't print and I've been to Meijer at least once a day all week. Sigh... I mean, all the free stuff I'm getting is great but seriously, I'm exhausted from so much Meijer-ing!

I booked our hotel in Orlando today. We'll be getting to Orlando at bedtime on Saturday and I didn't want to pay for an extra day at Disney, so we are going to stay at the Holiday Inn Express Lake Buena Vista.

I feel like there's not much left to do now so for the next week or so I am just going to focus on work and my daughter's school work.

 

[TandLMommy28]

At this time next week, we'll be somewhere in Georgia! I can't believe it's so close. Our house has been absolute chaos the past 2 weeks, though, and I have so much to do that I can't even think about it. And what did I do just now? I took a nap. Seriously, when the going gets tough... take a nap. Sigh. I need to wake up and get to it!

 

[TandLMommy28]

OK, I really have just given up on this thing, haven't I?

It looks like Grumpola is getting Friday off from work which means that we are leaving probably 12 hours earlier than originally planned! This basically is going to give us an entire extra day down there. We'll spend it at DTD and I'm excited because I was sad that we weren't going to have much time there.

 

[heathers4um]

YOU ONLY HAVE 5 DAYS LEFT!!!!!



So are you all packed and ready? Do you want to go over any lists? Want to discuss last minute Pixie Dust Missions? I am here for ya!!!

OK, I really have just given up on this thing, haven't I?

It looks like Grumpola is getting Friday off from work which means that we are leaving probably 12 hours earlier than originally planned! This basically is going to give us an entire extra day down there. We'll spend it at DTD and I'm excited because I was sad that we weren't going to have much time there.

 

[TandLMommy28]

I am almost completely packed for clothes except for one pair of shorts that is in the dryer.

I still need to buy:
more bottled water
a case of Soda (or two--it's a looong drive)
wrapping paper for Bub's birthday presents
wicking socks for my mom
batteries for the misting fan

I still need to:
print touring plans
pack the coolers
set up the DVD player and GPS in the car
CLEAN THE CAR OUT
and a few other random things
pre-pay for photopass

The cat sitter has been paid. MNSSHP tickets are in hand. Extra camera batteries finally showed up. Gift cards are bought. Clothes are mostly packed!