The only way to have a friend is to be one." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Linzybrooke]

Hey guys, sorry I have MIA. It has been a crazy week at work and I've just been too tired to DIS!

Amber, I'm glad they want to meet him in person! Good luck figuring out your vacation.

Ashley, have you ever considered using Banfield Pet Hospital? They are located in PetSmarts and you pay monthly on a pre-set plan. Anytime your pet is sick or you worry you can take them in for free, its awesome and the vets there are great!!!! We save a ton of money through banfield.

Lyzziesmom, that would be fun to be a lead. I was a lead for a 6 months or so before I was promoted to ASM. However, leads get no more park benefits than a part-time cast member, you just have keys and can open/close the store. Only full-time management with benefits get a maingate pass. What play did Emma go see?

Nicole, glad you had fun playing hooky!!!!

Later gaters!

 

[hellokitty86]

Happy Monday everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.......

Just wanted to post and say how excited I am- I just booked free dining for September 9-15!!

Luckily someone posted a link that showed Disneyworld.com already had it on their website, so I was able to book just before 7 am and get a preferred room at Pop. It was super easy! I'm so happy I don't have to spend all morning on hold!! From what I read there are already long wait times.

Anyway, hope everyone has a wonderful day!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Good Morning!!

Ashley, CONGRATS!!!


We had a fairly good weekend (with the exeption of the inlaws, maining MIL acting like children) . Saturday we took Spencer to Toys 'R Us to get a toy organizer. We then went to Olive Garden.

Yesterday, we went to AK and DTD. It was raining when we left, but was suppose to stop around 11. We get to AK and its pouring, so we decided to go to DTD instead. It was still pouring when we got to DTD, so we decided to go to the outlets. Well, something was going on down Vineland and traffic was not moving, so we figured the day was a bust and headed home. Right as we got to AK, it stopped raining, so we went in. The crowds were gone, so we walked righ on the Safari. We tried FOTLK again and Spencer did great!

We went into Tren-D (new store at DTD). It was ok, but a ton of people were in there, so it was hard to look around.

 

[hellokitty86]

Hey Amber! Sounds like you had a fun weekend. I'm glad the rain stopped and you were able to go to AK. I'm really excited about my trip, but it seems so far away! I'm trying to put a ticker in my signature but it keeps getting cut off because of the size requirements and its driving me crazy. Jeremiah and I were just talking about maybe making a shorter trip sometime this summer, probably just from a Friday night-Sunday. We'll see! Have you see the prices for the Universal Studios annual passes? So much more cheaper than Disney!!!

Is it wrong to be craving Olive Garden at 9am???

 

[lyzziesmom]

Congrats on booking your trip Ashley!! That would be great if you could take a summer mini-trip, it sure would help the waiting seem shorter. It's always nice to have something to look forward to that's not too far away. Too bad they couldn't figure out what's wrong with Ruby. Hopefully she'll snap out of it. OUch, vets are so expensive aren't they? I hate that when our cat Jake was sick, I couldn't afford the surgery he needed (over $4,000!) and we ended up losing him because of the crazy high vet bill.

Lin -- Glad to see you stopped by! Hope you got some rest over the weekend so you're not so tired. I actually don't know for sure about team lead benefits, but I am pretty sure that the one lead we have right now has her Maingate pass. My store manager is horrible at telling us what our benefits are, sometimes I wonder if she even knows. For example, she didn't know about the winter comp tickets until they started arriving. I'm not even sure I'll be getting a lead position anyway, just hoping. I'll just have to wait & see. Trying not to get my hopes up too much but it's hard!

Yesterday my mom was at our house and said she wanted to talk to me privately. She wanted to know if it was "okay" for her to consider taking me and the girls to WDW this fall for free dining!! I reminded her that after last time, she said she was "Disneyed out" and she said, "Oh we will leave your Dad at home and it won't be 2 weeks or anything, but I'd really like to go with just you girls." HA! She is hooked!!

Amber -- How was the Tren-D store? I saw the pics online and it looks like they have some really neat stuff. Reminds me of some of the little boutiques we have in our "old downtown" area. Cute! Glad you were able to go to AK after all. The parks are so nice after the rain stops & they are all shiny, clean, and EMPTY!

We went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens yesterday. It took all day to see it, because it kept selling out. We were going to see it in IMAX 3D but missed the time we were aiming for, so we went to eat and then headed over to get tix for the next show. Even though we were over 90 minutes early, it was sold out! We gave up and went across town to the regular 3D show. It was pretty good, the kids loved it but honestly aside from a few cheap gimmicks at the very beginning, the 3D wasn't all that noticeable and definitely not worth paying 3x as much as the non-3D version. They showed a preview for UP and even though it's the same preview we see at TDS all the time, the preview was in 3D and made a HUGE difference. Really looking forward to that one!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Is it wrong to be craving Olive Garden at 9am???

Not at all. It had been over a year since we ate there and it's Mike's favorite.


We thought about going to Universal (we've never been), but I worry about taking Spencer. Mike would love IOA (he LOVES coasters), but hates to ride alone. I saw they have 2 park tickets for $99!

 

[hellokitty86]

Too bad they couldn't figure out what's wrong with Ruby.

Luckily Ruby is doing much better....she has been on a bland diet all weekend (I had to make her chicken and rice and mix it up!) She hasn't had any tummy episodes since Friday! She has a recheck on Thursday, and we are getting her annual vaccinations done also. I think she may have caught something from when we went to the dog park, since she was sick starting that night.But vet bills are so expensive, I can see why people can't afford vaccinations or annual check ups for their animals.

So are you thinking of going for free dining with your Mom? I know last year you said you wouldn't want to go with her again. It's sweet that she wants to go "just with the girls" though!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Lyzziesmom, that's AWESOME your mom wants to take you to WDW!!!

The Tren-D store was cute and it was like a boutique. It's not a very big store and it has a some things you can find elsewhere. It had more "hip" things and not so much cutesy things.


It was nice going to AK without the crowds (there was no wait for the Safari at 1:00). There were a ton of animals out, including the lion (he was up and roaring)!

 

[hellokitty86]

Mike would love IOA (he LOVES coasters), but hates to ride alone.

Jeremiah hates to also. He always feels guilty and thinks I will be bored waiting for him to get done. That's why when we go to Universal its fun to stay at their onsite hotels and get the front of the line passes for all the rides! Then I'm not waiting for him so long. Their hotels are pretty expensive though.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Jeremiah hates to also. He always feels guilty and thinks I will be bored waiting for him to get done. That's why when we go to Universal its fun to stay at their onsite hotels and get the front of the line passes for all the rides! Then I'm not waiting for him so long. Their hotels are pretty expensive though.

Usually I ride with him, but now that we have Spencer that can't happen. He doesn't even want to do the baby swap, because he thinks it's weird to ride alone. I understand on a longer slow ride (such as Splash Mountain), but you really can't talk much on RnRC.


Here are some photos Mike took yesterday:

 

[hellokitty86]

I love his little hands in this one.

 

[lyzziesmom]

So are you thinking of going for free dining with your Mom? I know last year you said you wouldn't want to go with her again. It's sweet that she wants to go "just with the girls" though!

I've been considering it. I think it's funny that she apparently is jealous of how much fun we had in January on our own, while she had a crummy time on her cruise. I know I said never again... and I hate to say this but without my Dad it would be much better. He is a terrible vacationer! I think if we go, I'm going to insist that on a larger room or two rooms -- sharing a room was a little too much "togetherness" for me. Also, Mom is offering to pay for everything except our airfare (she must REALLY want to go!), and I am very close to earning a free flight on Southwest so it would cost us very little. I'll have to see how the vacation policy is once (if) I transition to permanent here.

Speaking of work... we just got word that the woman I'm filling in for had her twins on Friday. She did not get a chance to say if she is planning on returning to work but as of the last time anyone talked to her, she was leaning towards not returning. The boss wants me to stay, but wants the decision to come from her so it's put me in a very tricky position.

Amber -- those pics are great! Spencer sure is getting big. The girls just love seeing pics of him. Universal is a lot of fun, but they really don't have much for little ones. IOA has a little more what with Seuss Island and the cartoon area, and Spencer would probably be fine with the shows (there are quite a few), and I think each park had a play area and/or water play area but I seem to remember them being overrun with bigger kids and little supervision. I'm with Mike, I love rollercoasters but don't really love riding them alone. Part of the fun is sharing the exhiliration with someone, even though you can't talk during it. I also hate waiting in line alone. Lyzzie on the other hand loves riding coasters alone - I think it's more of an independence thing with her and makes her feel like a "big kid."

Oops, it's lunchtime already. This day is flying by!

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

Ashley- Congrats on booking your trip! I'm glad Ruby is doing better!

Lyzziesmom- Take your mom up on the offer!

Amber- Great pics! I love the last pic!

I'm going to the Britney Spears concert tonight. I'm excited!

 

[lyzziesmom]

Have a great time, Nicole!

 

[hellokitty86]

I'm going to the Britney Spears concert tonight. I'm excited!

How fun!!! Let us know how it is!!

 

[lyzziesmom]

Nicole, how was the concert?

I'm excited, I just bought tickets for Disney on Ice for this weekend!

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

I had a great time at the concert. My only complaint is that there were no screens for those of us sitting in the nosebleed section, so we could see her better!

Disney on Ice sounds like fun Lyzziesmom! I'll have to see how much tickets are, I think my niece and nephew would love to go to that.

 

[lyzziesmom]

I don't know about anywhere else, but our tickets were $12 for the kids and $19 for me. Of course Ticketmaster adds a ton of fees, about $6 per ticket, but it still wasn't bad. There were $12 and $15 adult seats too but they were too far back, for the extra few bucks we got lower level center of the section, right on the front end. Not too shabby! Of course there are also tix that are over $50 each for rinkside but I sure don't need those. We've gone to Disney on Ice shows before and they are always great. Amazing skating, great costumes and just lots of Disney-quality fun. This show is called Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey and features Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Lion King and Lilo & Stitch. And of course Tinkerbell!

I haven't told the girls, they will be so surprised.

 

[lyzziesmom]

Nicole, that's crazy that they didn't have any screens. I hate when concerts do that, you might as well just listen if you're not even going to be able to see the show! I'm glad it was good otherwise and that you had fun.

 

[hellokitty86]

Hey girls!

Nicole, sorry about the screens! That is just crazy..I thought it was a given that all concerts had those screens, for people with bad seats!! I'm glad you had fun though!

Lyzziesmom, I'm jealous, I've been wanting to go to Disney on Ice SO BAD!!! I've never gone.I saw a billboard advertising it so they must be coming here too. I'll have to investigate!

American Idol tonight!! Who should be the next to go?