The Rebel Forces Were Strong But The Smith's Are Stronger TR-7/20 FINAL THOUGHTS

[Tnkrbelle565]

HI!!!! We're BAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK from our very first Star Wars Weekend and DVC stay. This TR will include LOTS of pictures and some unsolicited travel tips about SWW and going to WDW for Memorial Day weekend. You will see LOTS of fabulous fashions on the kids...FOR THE MOST PART I DID NOT MAKE THEM!! I will give credit to those who did.

This is our family's 8th trip to see the Mouse since 2004 (9th for yours truly since I did a DISmeet trip in Feb 09). Needless to say, it's an obsession. However, this trip was completely different from all our other trips...no plans...no DDP....no rules. You'll have to read along to see how that worked out for us



If you are a new reader, I probably should introduce myself

Hi, I'm Kristine. I'm a 33 year old wife/mommy/social worker/scrapbooker/sewer from Boston!

Here is Princess Aisling...pronounced Ash-ling so I will probably refer to her mostly as Ash. This was Aisling's 2nd trip to WDW this school year (can you say spoiled much?!?!) Our first trip this school year was for Aisling's 6th birthday. It was a surprise trip. If you enjoy surprise videos, check out the link for "Tink Got Me My Very Own Sharpies"...the link to YouTube is on the first page.

This is my DH. He humors me with all things Disney and for that...I must love him We have been together for 10 years. I smartly didn't let him know about the true extent of my Disney obsession until after he said "I do" He likes to pretend that he's sick of going to Disney but has more fun than all of us when he gets there

You will also being seeing cameos (some a lot more than others) by other DISers as we were fortunate enough to travel with my friend Stacy (SoHappy) and her sons AND we were able to meet up with some other fabulous DIS friends who became IRL friends



If you care to read about my family's other Disney Adventures....check them out here:
Tink Got Me My Very Own Sharpies!- A Surprise Bday TR


Our Trick AND Treat- DD's Surprise Bday Trip!- PTR

Sew Much Fun...13 of Cinderella's Mice Head to WDW! TR

The Smith's YES we are going to Disney AGAIN PTR!

Does the Pixie Dust Count if You Don't KNOW about it?

Santa Got me A DISboarder Weekend to the Mouse!


If you didn't read along with my PTR and would like to check out our planning (or lack there of) check it out here

The Smith's "Yes We Are Pulling DD Out of School Twice This Year" PTR!


If you are reading along...make sure to say hi! No strangers on my TRs

Direct Links to Updates

Update #2
Update #3
Update #4
Parade Pics
Update #5
Souvie Pics
Jedi Training
Update #6
Update #7
Update #8
Update #9
Update #9 Cont.
Update #10
Update #11
Update #12
Update #13
PP Pic Update
Update #14
Update #14 Cont.
Update #15
Update #15 Cont.
Update #16
Update #17
Update #17 Cont.
Final Thoughts

 

[pinkxray]

Joining in. I remember seeing the sharpie video on your other report. Too funny. We took our daughter on her first trip last week and one of her favorite things was an army man with a parachute she got at Mcdonalds arcade.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip. We loved SWW. It was so crowded and hot though. Looking foward to your thoughts.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Our travel day started out fantastic. Aisling woke up bright eyed for school (which was fortunate because we didn't get her into bed until around midnight)

She immediately ran downstairs to cross out the last day on our countdown chart.

We quickly got ready and I got her off to school. I headed back to my house to let our puppy out quickly and then was off to the spa. I always get a pedicure before a trip. However, this time I had a gift cert for the spa so I upgraded and got a "Soho Pedi"....which is an HOUR AND A HALF pedi!!!! Let me tell you, it was heavenly. My only regret is that I was there alone. It would have been a lot more fun as a Girls Day outing. It's hard for me to be quiet for an hour and a half

Pedi completed I was off to finish some last minute errands, throw some last minute things in our bags, and get the Tink gifts ready. If you haven't read my previous TRs, we have Tink visit our house on Disney Day. She brings little gifts for the plane/trip. We have recently discovers that DD KNOWS that we are Tink but she enjoys the fun of it so we keep it up.

Since Tink flies in...we have to add some pixie dust. Apparently our cat Buttercup really likes pixie dust

Before I knew it, it was already time to pick Aisling up at school . Aisling came running out to inform me that she got a 100% on her spelling test so she was good to go to WDW We headed back to the house for her to change out of her uniform, load the car up, and get to the airport.

However, DH had other plans He had won a gift certificate for the Chocolate Moose which is a chocolatier near our house. He decided 1/2 hour before departure time was a PERFECT time to take Aisling to go get snacks for the plane (chocolate snacks???? in the evening???? on a hot plane???? really?????? )

Needless to say, he was NOT back in a 1/2 hour. At the 45 minute mark I was calling him frantically...HURRY UP!!!!!! He ended up getting back about a 1/2 hour late.

Turns out my fears of getting to the airport late were completely unfounded! We got there in plenty of time. I dropped DH and DD off at the curb with all the bags and went to park the car. I got back to find DH in the curbside check-in line. Now we typically fly out of Manchester, NH airport instead of Logan in Boston. There are never lines in Manchester...so I don't know why my DH wants to pay for curbside check-in but whatever. When we turned over our bags, the attendent informed us that our flight was delayed. REALLY delayed We were supposed to take off at 6. It was delayed until 7:30 Oh well...we headed into the airport. By the time we grabbed a table and sat down- the flight was delayed AGAIN- to 8:10. By the time we grabbed dinner it was 8:15. After dinner...8:30

I should point out a couple of things here. 1) there is NOTHING to do at Manchester airport and 2) we arrived at 4pm.

We were totally bored. Lots of games of Uno later and Aisling had entertained the entire eating area with her version of Material Girl, we figured it was close enough to boarding time that we would go through the security

Well we got through security and you guess it...DELAYED AGAIN At least my toothless child was still grinning!

So we found a plug and set her up with the DVD player to watch Pocahontas

There were a couple of things that added to our annoyance about this. 1) it was really nice in NH. The plane was stuck in Baltimore due to weather there. 2) The NH Under-11 soccer team was on our flight. So what happens to little boys with limited chaperones, soccer balls, and delayed flights???? Ya...they play soccer. In the terminal. Security kept coming over but that didn't stop them. They were obnoxious. It really took every ounce of strength I had not to complain to their chaperones.

See: sunny but no plane

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

FINALLY at 9pm we took off (that's right...at the point that we were supposed to be IN Florida, we were taking off) Aisling, who should have been exhausted, refused to sleep. She stayed awake the whole flight. She was good...just awake.

The cool thing about taking off so late is that we got to see a missile launch from Cape Canaveral. FROM THE PLANE. We were so busy watching it that I forgot to take pics of the actual launch. Here are 2 crappy pics so you get the idea

(smoke from launch)

FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY we landed at MCO. Since it was so late, our bags couldn't be delivered by ME. So we had to go collect them. Not that fun when you are super tired and have a 6 year old who still hasn't slept.

At baggage claim we saw some signs that got us excited

Pretty soon we were on ME and on our way to the hotel. Aisling insisted on staying awake and watching the video. At this point, I started panicking. We were supposed to be at rope drop at DHS in a few hours. Our original plan was to meet everyone for breakfast at 7am. I had long abandoned that plan but was still supposed to be at rope drop for 8!!!

Sorry this is the best i could do with dried out contacts and being half asleep

We arrived at AKL at 1:30am. Check in was quick thank goodness and they got our Garden Grocer order out on a cart right away (side note: Garden Grocer had called before we had even taken off to make sure that we were happy with our order ). God love the Bell Hop. He was really intent on giving us a tour at almost 2am. Thank you but we were NOT listening!

First order of business was to get some pics of the room before we unpacked. Aisling did immediately move the coffee tables but other than that- you get the picture

Like how they crash without me???

Bathroom

Kitchen Area

With the pictures taken...the mission was on to get Aisling into bed, get unpacked, get clothes and park bags ready for the next day, and get to sleep in order to get up at 6:30am

WOULD WE DO IT??????? (no cheating and spoiling the surprise if you read along on FB!)

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Joining in. I remember seeing the sharpie video on your other report. Too funny. We took our daughter on her first trip last week and one of her favorite things was an army man with a parachute she got at Mcdonalds arcade.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip. We loved SWW. It was so crowded and hot though. Looking foward to your thoughts.

Thanks for reading! Congrats on being 1st!!!!

Heading over to sub to your TR!

 

[mkleinbe]

I'm here!!! Followed over from your PTR. We just got back today from the craziness of Memorial Day/SWW. Can't wait to read along with your TR!

 

[jessica52877]

Can't wait to read!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm here!!! Followed over from your PTR. We just got back today from the craziness of Memorial Day/SWW. Can't wait to read along with your TR!

Can't wait to read!

Thanks Ladies!!!!

 

[Tink1073]

Hey Kristine, I can't wait to read about your trip! And, I think you've already posted more pictures than we took our whole trip! It was so different with Matt along for the ride!

~Sarah

 

[jessica52877]

Enjoying the start! What a bummer to be stuck in the airport when it is so nice out AND you are going to WDW! I wondered why the plane was delayed.

I hope you make it to DHS for rope drop! That isn't a whole lot of sleep!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Hey Kristine, I can't wait to read about your trip! And, I think you've already posted more pictures than we took our whole trip! It was so different with Matt along for the ride!

~Sarah

hi Sarah!!! Did you at least get some photopass pics taken of you guys????

Aisling wants to play with Ben. You need to come swimming soon!!!

Enjoying the start! What a bummer to be stuck in the airport when it is so nice out AND you are going to WDW! I wondered why the plane was delayed.

I hope you make it to DHS for rope drop! That isn't a whole lot of sleep!

Look at Jessica playing dumb! Thanks for not giving away our first park day secrets (Jessica will be one of the DISers making a guest appearance folks!)

There were supposedly storms in Baltimore and that's why the plane was stuck. I forgot to mention that at about 8pm they started CANCELLING flights left and right. I became convinced that we were not leaving Thursday at all!

 

[eecteacher82]

I'm here too! I will keep your secrets even though I followed on FB! Can't wait to hear the details!!!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm here too! I will keep your secrets even though I followed on FB! Can't wait to hear the details!!!!

Hi Erin!! Thanks for following along on FB. I promise this will be a little more exciting than the FB updates and will have MUCH better pics!!!

 

[jenjolt]

I'm here!! WOW what a delay, I really hate airline delays, however it seems you guys handled it pretty well and now you are at DISNEY!! WOOT!!!!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm here!! WOW what a delay, I really hate airline delays, however it seems you guys handled it pretty well and now you are at DISNEY!! WOOT!!!!

Looking forward to more!

We did handle it well...but I think it was the sugar high from the chocolate Randy bought! You see the background of the pic of Randy and Ash at the table? That and a Dunkin Donuts are the ONLY things at Manchester Airport. So we turned to the junk food

 

[MaryAz]

Great start, sorry you got stuck at the airport for soooo long. Thanks for the AK room shots-were they from Jambo or Kidani?? I also followed on FB so I be quiet-as much as I can be.

 

[heaven2dc]

What an rough start to your trip! I would have been exhausted by the time I got to the room. Now I wonder if you woke up at 6:30 or slept in?

 

[Lady Lallie]

Seriously. Stuck in Manchester for that long. There are ZERO things to do there. I would have been flipping out. You handled it with grace, good for you. I would have been bashing my head against the window waiting for the plane to come.

 

[praisehisname]

I'm here and excited to hear all about your trip! So sorry for holding your flight, I don't remember any bad weather here...

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Great start, sorry you got stuck at the airport for soooo long. Thanks for the AK room shots-were they from Jambo or Kidani?? I also followed on FB so I be quiet-as much as I can be.

Our room was at Jambo. We went over to Kidani to use the pool and Randy peeked around inside. It's gorgeous over there as well and they have a MUCH better pool but the amenitities are better at Jambo so I guess it's a toss up.

What an rough start to your trip! I would have been exhausted by the time I got to the room. Now I wonder if you woke up at 6:30 or slept in?

I will try not to leave everyone in suspense too much longer but it will be at least tonight now that they banned DIS at work

Seriously. Stuck in Manchester for that long. There are ZERO things to do there. I would have been flipping out. You handled it with grace, good for you. I would have been bashing my head against the window waiting for the plane to come.

i knew you would understand. It was pretty painful- 5 hours is WAAAAAYYYY too long. However, there was an added element to my hatred of being stuck there so long but that revelation is coming up!

I'm here and excited to hear all about your trip! So sorry for holding your flight, I don't remember any bad weather here...

Funny that you mention that. I think airlines have been unable to use that "weather" excuse for far too long. But in this day and age when everyone has smartphones and wireless internet connections, there were plenty of people going over to Southwest staff pointing out that there were no notices of severe weather in Baltimore