The Weekend I met some weird Ip-Dips at WDW. AKA the TR with no pictures

[camelotcats]

OK, we're back and about to go get the kiddos. 4 days, 4 parks, too much food, a bunch of ip-dips, and almost NO pics. I'll upload the few I remembered to take on my phone, I swear. lol.

So here's the basic schedule of what happened.

Day 1: Flight from JFK to MCO. Arrive, check in, head to AK with mini-mini meet in front, then dinner, then back to hotel.

Day 2: DHS for EMH then Epcot.....then back to DHS.....then back to Epcot. Then Dinner for a mini-meet and food.

Day 3: Epcot for Rope Drop and the much anticipated Ip-Dip FryDaddy Dudefest '08.....then eating around the world....then nap time for HHBG....then dinner....then music and fireworks.

Day 4: check out, MK all day, then a few hours at the hotel bar, then home.

OK....there's my TR in a nutshell. Good enough?

More details to come.

Who went from my side of the meet:
Me: Angela (aka "Dude"). I have another TR with the info about who I am. Follow link in siggie.
HHBG: Davis. The hubband.

Friday 10/17-Monday 10/20

Who, exactly we were meeting:
Buzz (MontanaDisneyFan for those of you who remember him....)
Linnie (linnie_the_pooh)
their 2 kiddos
Carrie (AKA Ed) (CarrieAnnie) and her DH Steve
Jodi (NCSJodi), her Dh eric (NCSEric) and their two kiddos
Tracy (MrsKSomeday), Bill (YodaK), and their friend Amy
Scott (Scottny)

So.....just a FEW people.

And let me tell you.....more texts in 3 days than I have gotten in the past 3 years!!

So, to quote Mortal Kombat:

IT HAS BEGUN!!

 

[Hedy]

 

[Charleston Princess]

Welcome back! Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[irene_dsc]

Welcome back! Subbing...

 

[camelotcats]

Welcome you Two!

Ready? OK!


Prologue: Background.

This whole stinking thing started MONTHS ago on the MAN Report. I was reading the MAN report, and I mentioned to HHBG that I wished we could go to Epcot in October, because I really wanted to go to the food and wine festival.

I also used to lurk on the camping board. HHBG and I have been thinking about camping for a long time. We played with the idea of buyinga camper a few times, and never did it, because....well......we don't know the first thing about camping, actually.

Suddenly.....an IDEA was formed.......

HHBG and I could camp in Fort Wilderness for a long weekend for HHBG's birthday, and the kids could stay home with my mother! BRILLIANT!

So, in December of '07 (I believe), I called my mother with my brilliant plan.....which she shot dead in about 2 seconds flat. There was no way she was taking the kids.

bleh.

So, with a little bit of guilt tripping of HHBG for his annual Jeep getaway weekends, I managed to convince him that I should go alone.....and camp.....by myself.....for the weekend. And, since he couldn't go, I would go the weekend BEFORE his birthday.

It turned out that Buzz and Lin AND Jodi and Eric were alreay going to be in WDW that weekend, and so, a meet was born.

I got an awesome tent and a shelter for Christmas, I posted all sorts of questions on the camping board (which we so graciously answered, the people there rock), and reserved a campsite with AAA. I even got a flight.

Soon, more people were planning on coming for the weekend for our little meet. It got named: "The Ip-Dip FryDaddy Dudefest '08"....mostly for Buzz's little proclivities....like bringing a frydaddy along on vacations.....and calling people who do stupid things "ip-dip"....kind of like Bill Engvall giving people their signs.....

Well, time crept slowly along, and soon it was early September. I began talkign abotu the trip again, as my final payment was coming up. HHBG, though, was getting nervous.

Why?

I was camping alone.

I have never camped. I was going to be hundreds of miles from home. I was going ALONE.

HHBG no likee.

I had had a huge arage sale that summer, and we had some money left over, so HHBG asked me to book a room at a value resort and cancel my campground.

So I did.

ASMu, to be precise. Yahoo! travel. Got a deal. Changed ME and cancelled the campground.

All set, right?

Well, no.

You see, a month before the trip, my mother called me up. She wanted to know what to get HHBG for his birthday.....oh, and she and my dad weren't too comfortable with me meeting strangers on my trip, so they were going to watch the kiddos that weekend I was going, and did I want them to give HHBG plane tickets on Southwest so he could go, too?

Huh!?!

Well, I turned downthe flight, since I was flying Delta, and there were still seats on my flights, btu I took them up on the babysitting. I got HHBG onto my flights (even sittign together on the way back to NY), and suddenly, I was going with company to the meet.

I had an AP that I had bought on our trip in April, so we would just get HHBG a 4-day park hopper at WDW, and we would have to add him to the reservation when we got there. ME let me add him to the bus, and we were set.

My only regret was that I had cancelled the campsite, but it was to late now.


Coming soon: DAY 0-1 - dropping off the kids and finally getting to WDW

 

[carissanboys]

Way to bring the readers in with the NO PICTURES title.

Hi Irene and Jackie!!! Long time no see.

 

[Charleston Princess]

We don't know the first thing about camping either, but I think it would be fun to camp at Disney -- too bad it didn't work out for you on this trip, but how nice that HHBG was able to go with you!

Hi, Carissa!!! How are you??? How are all your boys???

 

[carissanboys]

The boys are all good. I need to get over to your TR and finish it up. I took a bit of a hiatus from the Dis for a while and never finished up a few - yours being one of them. How are you?

 

[irene_dsc]

Way to bring the readers in with the NO PICTURES title.

Hi Irene and Jackie!!! Long time no see.

Hi, Carissa!!! I've missed you! How are you guys doing???

 

[carissanboys]

Sorry for hijacking your thread Angela!

I've been okay Irene - I've missed you too. Wish I had a PTR going to chat with you all. Chuck's waiting to get his next orders and it looks like we might be moving to Washington State next June. So maybe there will be a Disneyland PTR at some point.

 

[DisneyJo]

Angela you really need to pimp this out

Can't wait to read all about it

 

[jcc0621]

I'm here Angela...Jo pimped you out over on TFW

 

[rachel3]

i'm in!!!

 

[irene_dsc]

Sorry for hijacking your thread Angela!

I've been okay Irene - I've missed you too. Wish I had a PTR going to chat with you all. Chuck's waiting to get his next orders and it looks like we might be moving to Washington State next June. So maybe there will be a Disneyland PTR at some point.

Y'know, I think you do have a PTR wandering around lonely somewhere, lol.

Washington State would be cool - or so I hear. It's one of about 10 states I've never visited. DL seems like a more do-able trip from there, that's for sure.

 

[camelotcats]

Way to bring the readers in with the NO PICTURES title.

Hi Irene and Jackie!!! Long time no see.

Well, I figured I'd be up front about it, since I don't want a lot of people asking em where all of my pictures are.

We don't know the first thing about camping either, but I think it would be fun to camp at Disney -- too bad it didn't work out for you on this trip, but how nice that HHBG was able to go with you!

Hi, Carissa!!! How are you??? How are all your boys???

I'm glad he went. It was a nice break for us. it was warm, and HHBG was glad we had air conditioning, lol.

Angela you really need to pimp this out

Can't wait to read all about it

I always feels o bad pimping my stuff, especially sine I am so inactive nthe boards,and have resorted to lurking on TRs.

I'm here Angela...Jo pimped you out over on TFW

Hi Janet! Welcome!

i'm in!!!

Yay!

 

[camelotcats]

Ch 1: Day 0-1: Getting there; AKA: Oh, the Agita!

We left on Friday, so that means our trip begins on Thursday. Why? that's when we had to drop off the kiddos.

I sent a note in to school on Thursday morning reminding the kids' teachers that we were pulling htem out of school early that day, and that the kids would not be in school Friday, Monday, or Tuesday while HHBG and I traveled for business (Ok....not a whole truth, but close).

Thursday morning, I tried to finish getting everything together, as I had made some pressies for the meet. I finished packing, and got the last of the kiddos stuff together.

Finally, it wsa time to go get the kids.

HHBG got Spencer (Which involved waiting at the office for him), and I went to collect Brianna from her classroom. Her teacher was watiting there with Brianna's make-up homework and a confused expression. Apparently, Brianna had told her entire class that I am a Stay-at-Home mother, and the teacher was confused that I was traveling "for business". I explained to her that I have three businesses, one for bags, one for clothing, and one for "new age" items, and that I was traveling to meet with a buyer (which, technically, was true, as I was delivering a custom order to one of the ip-dips). If anyone had asked HHBG was doing somethign for his book....and considering all of the emails and calls from the publishers and his agent, it practically WAS a business trip.

So, I collected Brianna, met up with HHBG, and we were off.

We caught the front end of NYC Rush hour, so the normally 90 minute drive took a litte over 2 hours, but we had a decent drive. The kids were excited to see grandma and Grandpa, which was great. We sat and visited fro a while, then my folks took us out to dinner for some AWESOME Colombian food. YUM! Then HHBG and I headed home and the kids were off.

We got home, HHBG finished packing (*sigh*), we checked in and printed our boarding passes, and we were off to bed....at MIDNIGHT with the alarm set for 5.

Of course, I couldn't sleep. I had a nightmare that woke me up at 2 am, and kept me up all night/morning. Finally, at 4:30 I gave up getting abck to sleep and took a shower. HHBG got up and showered, we packed the phone chargers and toothbrushes, and we were off.

HHBG drove to JFK. The drive was uneventful. security was uneventful, other than the guy who held up the line by not having his wallet with him.....

Soon we were waiting for our flight to board. I was in seat 26A, HHBG in 16D.

The flight was full, but I was watching, and HHBG had a single traveler sit inthe window seat in his row, so I decided to offer the guaranteed single rider int he middle my window seat, so I could sit with HHBG. I caled the flight attendant, and explained to her what I wanted to do, she thought it would work, and went upt o make the offer.....

At that time a commotion started where HHBG was sitting. I watchedhim get up, speak to a tired looking lady, and start moving back in the plane.

where the heck is he going!?!?!

Finally I caught his eye, and he came back and explained that he had given up his seat so a mother could sit with her 13 year old daughter. he's so sweet. However, now there was no way we could sit together. Oh well.

The couple I was sitting next to were nice. They were headed to WDW also, staying in the Visitana. We chatted a while, then I pulled out a book and they pulled out their DVD player.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and we arrived at MCO on time. I took this pic with my phon when we were getting off the plane:

OOO! A picture!!

We walked down to ME, where I waited in a huge line and HHBG sat around and lost his jacket. I spent my time in ME explainign to other people how the bus system at WDW works, then I checked in, and we got into line for our bus.

Quickly, we were on the bus and waiting to fill up and leave.....and soon we were off!

The ride to the All Star resorts was uneventful. Soon we were there, adn checkign in. Ther was some confusionw ith our check in, since we had to add HHBG to the reservation, but once it got taken care of, we were off to our room......which was the 2nd to farthest room from the front humanly possible. 7653. The walk really wasn't that bad, considering we didn't have the kids with us, and our room was nice.

HHBG all week mentioned that he liked ASMu a LOT. He liked it better than WL. He did agree that it would be a MUch tighter stay with the kids, as he and I slept in the separate double beds.

One we had everythign dropped off, I shoved my wallet, cell phone, a shout wipe, and my lipgloss into my jeans pockets, and we were off to the Animal Kingdom....with a quick text to let people know where we were headed. It was already my 15th text of the day. that's how we communicated.

Coming soon: Our first mini meet, and I still HATE Animal Kingdom.

 

[Hedy]

Glad you got there in one piece! I haven't been on Delta since they added the screens to seats.

 

[jcc0621]

So sweet of HHBG to give up his seat som mom & daughter could sit together

Glad check in went somewhat smoothly.

I'm not a big AK fan either

 

[DisneyJo]

Yay you're there, love how you called it a business trip and Brianna almost grassing you up

 

[irene_dsc]

Ooh, an update! I am feeling so jealous of the traveling-without-kids part, lol. It seems like it would be soo much simpler.

Lol on Brianna almost catching you out. And cool about HHBG giving up his seat.

Somehow I missed that you weren't going to be camping, after all. Now are you going to plan a separate camping trip somewhere, so you can use all your gear?