The Will We Ever Get there - PTR

[bookmama]

Okay fellow Dis'ers I couldn‘t wait anymore. I decided to start on my pre-trip report, l know it’s a long way off but I'm just too obsessive. This is my first, so bear with me.

First things first: the cast.

There’s Me, Leah 32 I’ll be 33 by the time we leave, avid beginner scrapbooker and photography buff. I take pictures of everything--the big stuff and the little. Serious lover of Disney World. I only had one bad trip but I just keep coming back. Serious penny pincher. You know, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. Yeah, that 's me. Obsessive planner--I started planning almost as soon as we got back. My one goal--own a chunk of Disney. Oooorrr, DVC membership. Yup that's how I'll do it, DVC.
I work for the Philly school district, in a middle school 10-16 yr olds. Need I say more?

My mom, Gloria 54, likes Disney but wants to travel more. She works for the Philly Prison system and has some stories to tell. She's a social worker there and it can be highly stressful.

My youngest sister Nita, 18 loves High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Just graduated from high school and starts CCP in the fall for Ultrasound Technician. She wants to go to Jefferson University Hospital to finish her schooling. We're so behind her in this.

My son, Devin 12, loves Stitch, used to love Buzz LightYear. His one ambition is to visit every Disney park in the world. Loves to play soccer and is a serious nature lover. He goes to a great charter school that focuses on the environment. He actually can't wait to go back this fall.

My nephew Albert, 9, he loves anything involving transportation especially trains. He didn’t go with us last year because of behavior issues. He’s working on his behavior to go with us this time.

My niece Adrianna, 3, I call her sugah momma, ‘cause she reminds me of a young version of the grandma on the Proud Family(and she wouldn’t answer to anything else besides Anna). Loves Mickey Mouse and is enamored of Minnie’s shoes. She still remembers our first trip and waits impatiently to go back. I gotta get a picture of her showing her Mickey ears. I started that the first time we went to keep everyone excited about the upcoming trip.

And my youngest nephew Joell, 2, we call him Well or Wel-wel. He kinda reminds you of Bam-Bam outragelously strong but the cutest and sweetest little boy you’ll ever meet.

Whew, that wasn’t so bad. But wait, I haven’t finished introducing you to everyone.

Next there’s Terrence, 18, he’s Nita’s boyfriend and father of Joell. He’s kinda dopey but sweet. Actually he’s one big ol’ kid, most time when he visits he’s playing with Dev and Albert. He still hasn’t gotten a handle on being a dad but we’re forcing him to.

And then there’s Tamicka, 19, she’s Nita’s friend. They graduated from the same high school and is just as nutty as Nita and Terrence. She asked to go with us this time because she’s never gone to DW. Her family went last year—not at the same time as us—and left her home because she was pregnant. She’s bringing her son Jayden along. Wooo! Bring on the babies!

Then there’s Chantal, 16. She was supposed to go with us last year but couldn’t get the money to go. This time her aunt and sister is helping getting her to DW. Her mom has MS and Channy helps take care of her. Never seen a more deserving girl to visit the mouse.

Still not done yet. Whew. Now here’s the last of our cast:

Hazel, 53, Devin’s grandma. She lives in South Carolina. She’s driving down. This will be her first trip to DW and her first major vacation with Devin. She’s the MIL I never had I call her my second mommy she's the greatest.

Dominic, 30, Devin’s dad. He lives in South Carolina with Hazel. Yes he’s going too—hopefully. Devin really wants him to go but Dominic is even cheaper than me. It’s like he’s Scrooge or something. Over the next 6 months I’m going to try and guilt him to coming with us. We’re really good friends, in fact, we make better friends than lovers-- if that makes any sense. Devin’s working on his dad now while he’s visiting them down south.

Tonya, 28, Devin’s aunt. She lives in New York and is one of my favorite people. She’s never been to Disney and I’m really hoping she can go. She wants to go with Devin to his favorite place.

Beyonce, aka BeBe 8, Devin’s cousin she’s never been to Disney and is really excited to go.

So that’s the cast. If it looks like I’m pulling out my hair trust me, I am. Pictures to come soon.

 

[bookmama]

okay here are some of the people going. Devin is down south and hopefully he'll bring pictures of his dad and gmom.

first up, my mom:

here's albert with my mom and one with albert and devin:

here's Nita and Terrence before Nita's prom

chantal

more in the next post

 

[bookmama]

sugah momma and wel-wel:

here's tamicka and Jayden. look closely, she's in the corner, she's camera shy and it's really hard to take pictures of her. she's making me consider and slr camera so that a camera is fast enough to get a picture of her.

devin:

and finally me

this is after i lost 10lbs. I don't really have any pics of myself because I'm usually the one taking the pictures. as of right now i'm down 20lbs from 255 to 235 i'm on my way to 145 by the time we leave for Disney

 

[bookmama]

We were thinking about going in early June, but Hazel said Bebe doesn't get out of school until the end of June. So does Philly but I was taking the kids out of school. I didn't want to be in Disney during the 4th. Next year it falls on a weekend. Hopefully, we'll be in and out before the masses arrive. The tentative date for our week is June 20-30. Not bad. I've already decided that we're doing the quick service dining plan. It was torture to sit through TS meals with a hyperactive 9 year old and 1 infant and a toddler. Mom said it was torture for her too; she doesn't want to spend 2hrs eating either.

Now we have to narrow down the hotel. Our choices are Ft. Wilderness, Beach Club or Boardwalk Inn or ALL Star Movies.

oh, here's my planning book--the big one. I'm taking the smaller one when we leave, I got it last year while in DW. I'll show y'all a pic of that soon.

 

[Disneygirl26]

I'm on board, it seem like I'm the first one, keep up the good work, my family and I travel to disney every year with a huge group also, maybe it's a philly thing, can't wait to hear more

 

[bookmama]

OMG! Thank you for reading. We'll be having our first planning session on Saturday. See what people want to do and nailing down a payment schedule.

 

[Alysa]

What a beautiful family you have. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[bookmama]

Okay my friends, when we left off I was setting up the meeting for Saturday. Well let me tell you how that was a total waste of time--and money. I bought pizza, mom's bringing the juice and we're going to have a lovely chat about visiting my favorite mouse. Now I don't make a lot of money and things are really tight but I figure this is a working dinner and the pizza expense is justifiable. So I tell everyone 4:00. Nita tells her friends 6.

So what time does everyone show up? Oh wait, only one person besides my mom and Nita show up, and that's Channey. Nita says that Tamicka and Terrence are on the way. So we wait(insert ticking sound) and wait. Nita calls Terrence, he was at the bus stop but he had to go back to the house for something he's on his way. Tamicka calls, she can't make it but she has some questions. Hello? This was what the meeting was about!

Apparently no one's really interested in planning this trip but me. Now I know you're thinking why didn't I just plan it and give everyone a price. Here's the reason, every other trip I've planned I hear: "Why does she get to say where we're going?" (whining tone) So this time I said, "Hey, let me let everyone put their little two cents in, maybe they'll see something I didn't." But does this happen nnnoooo. Why? because no one decides to show up. So now I'm ticked and mom's tired she says just figure it out and if they go they'll have the deposit in when we tell them. That's how we'll know. Everyone's all talk, let's see action.

As you can tell mom's the voice of reason when it comes to things like this otherwise I'd be screaming and cussing people out. So as I leave you let me say I'll be sending everyone a bill for my services.

 

[bookmama]

School's about to start, and of course my vacation is about to end

Where did the time go? Well the big thing is getting Dev home. His dad now says that i was supposed to buy the ticket, we agreed on half. Are you kidding me?

so now out of my little $200 check I've gotta get a plane ticket for Devin.

On top of that Devin's school supply list is crazy, Red spiral books and green composition books. OY! What ever happened to buy the books in whatever color they liked? What a pain!

So on top of all this, Nita may not be going with us, why? because she won't get a job, we will not pay for her. She's an adult now. The bad part is that she's lazy not only is she lazy, she's arrogant about it.

Channey and Tamicka said they're going with or without Nita. Works by me.

We have so many balls in the air, we are starting a child care center and getting funding is a trip. I've already started on the business plan and scoped out the location. We don't plan to open until after we get back from Disney though. More to come.

On a lighter note: I've finally got our plan narrowed down.

Here goes: POR, myw w/parkhopper and water park and more option and the quick service dining plan. I think it's the best bang for my buck. So I set my payment plan and let everyone know, it's a wait and see thing now.

Also I got some extras planned.
BBB for Sugah momma
Train tour for Albert
Space Center tour w/lunch with the Astronaut for Dev
Gospel Brunch for Mom
I'm thinking La Nouba for myself. I don't know if I want to spend the money for tickets for everyone.

'Til next time my friends

 

[Alysa]

Wow - that fireball smilie is scary!
Sorry you are having a bad day - sending hugs!

 

[hentob]

and finally me

This is such a cute pic! All pink-I love it

Looking forward to reading more

 

[Lan]

Hi
I cant wait to hear more.

 

[MadiMouse]

Keep it coming!!!!

 

[Glendamax]

HEY! Is this right . . . you have to plan a trip for 14 people! WOW! You might as well put me on the list!!! Hope your next planning trip goes a bit better!

 

[bookmama]

Thank you all for reading my ptr. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I really needed those hugs that were sent out. Okay onto the reason for the title.

First Devin's home But the trip to getting him here was crazy.

Last week I mailed his suitcase off. I called the post office to see how I was supposed to mail it and it was quite simple. Well I took the suitcase to my post office down the block and the people kept asking me why did I bring it. I told them I was mailing it to my son. They were like I didn't know you could do that. I said yup. The lady behind counter had to go around to the side door and wheel it in. She then had to hoist it up and put it on the scale. You know, the one on the counter. People were saying after all that she still has to lift it onto that little scale. When she told the cost to send it priority (19.16) You heard a round of Wow!s my mom said was I sure they weren't secretly taping a commercial for usps. ha ha!

So Devin's flight was early Friday morning. Note, I told Domi that the unaccompanied minor fee was $59. I told him 3 times! I also told him to get to the airport at least 2 hours ahead of Devin's flight. So did he do this? Oh absolutely not!

first he got to the airport 30 minutes before the plane was to leave. Then he whined because the bag was too heavy and had to pay the overweight fee. Then he let the ticket counter woman say that Devin was 12 so that he wouldn't have to fill out the form and pay the fee. So how did I find all this out? Well a nice woman from Airtran called me. Here's the conversation:
"Hello, can I speak to Leah?" She asked.
First thought, it's a little too early for bill collectors, "This is Leah." Cautiously I said.
"Hi this is (I can't remember her name) from Airtran in Atlanta, GA. Do you know that Devin is flying by himself."
"Yeah, his dad was supposed to put him on the plane this morning."
"Well, he's eleven, he can't fly without an unaccompanied form," she replied
"I know, his dad was supposed to pay the fee and fill out the form. I told him that three times over the last 2 weeks he knows." At this point I'm truly ticked. I ready to fly down to SC and strangle Domi.
She goes on to say, "Well he didn't fill out the form or pay the fee. It looks like they arrived late. A fllight attendant noticed Devin sitting by himself and asked him his age and then brought him to me when they landed in Atlanta. Can I please have Dominic's address and phone number so I can talk to him?"
Okay, right now I'm screaming in my head, sorta like this

, after taking a deep breath i rattled off the man's address so fast it wasn't funny. If the woman wanted his ss# I would've given to her. We hung up after she said she would contact Domi and let me know if there was any problems.

See I told you I had a case. Well I called mom, and she said let's go to the airport now I'm panicking and she's panicking. all we could think about was Devin wandering around the airport in Ga trying to find out where he needs to be. If anyone's been in the airport in Atlanta you know how huge and confusing it is. Imagine a 11 yr old boy trying to find gate d14 by himself. Insert screaming here again

I devin am fireing my mom
I'll tell you more later Dev's bugging me to get on the computer, as you can see from the comment above. mom

 

[bookmama]

Okay I'm back, the boy's outside so I can finish telling you the story. Where was I? . .. Oh yes, mom and I are on the way to the airport. So we get to the ticket counter to get a gate pass for each of us to meet Dev. Well the lady that I talked to didn't put my name on the reservation.

can this get any worse?! Of course it can, since my name wasn't on the reservation (she put dev will be picked up by mom) I couldn't meet him at the gate. After talking to the supervisor at the counter, she told the gate crew to escort devin to the front where security is and we'd meet him there.
I am so close to postal it's not funny. I call Domi and start screaming. "WHAT DID YOU DO? WHY DIDN'T YOU FILL OUT THE *@$%* FORM? ARE YOU CRAZY?"
well he says, the girl at the counter didn't ask about a form all she was worried about was how big the bag was. Don't use that bag again, I had to pay $40 for it being too big." This boy done lost his mind. I'm talking about the safety of his child and he's worried about how heavy the bag is?! Hazel's screaming in the background, "you idiot, stupid that's what you are stupid. You stupid and the girl who put my baby on that plane without filling out the form is stupid. But you stupid the most. They better find my baby!"
I tell them devin's on the plane and then I tell the idiot, I used the bag last year to pack mine and devin's close for disney world and it wasn't too big. I can't believe he's worried about the stupid bag. Oh wait, yes I can. Idiot!

With a frustrated sigh I hang up. up the stairs to the security gate.
tick, tick, tick. First group of people came up the ramp, no Devin. Second wave, again no devin. I'm peeping down the little stretch of unobstructed walkway into the main concourse where the gates are--nothing. Now I'm starting to panic. Mom says go down to the counter talk to the supervisor, the plane's late didn't leave ga until 9:50 (it was supposed to leave at 8:55) back to waiting. The people from devin's plane has come up the walkway no Dev. Mom's says go down to the counter again and find out where the boy is. Mom cell phone rings "Did he get there you?" No, we're waiting, mom says Devin better show up soon or she's calling an Amber Alert, she'll shut philly international down on a holiday weekend. So while I'm downstairs talking to the reservation--new one, the other woman and her supervisor went on break--I hear Leah, got him. and there he is, (like the sun bursting through rain clouds) bounding down the steps. I couldn't stop hugging him. He's like mom your nails are digging into my back. I turn and thank the woman who brought him down and we leave.

I call down south and tell them we got him. And there Domi is talking about we owe him $40. I told him he owed me 101.38 for Devin's ticket and another $20 for parking. I tell you he's a few chips short of a chocolate chip cookie.

Drop Devin off at my mom's and went on to our next hell. Young World, looking for uniforms for a 2yr old. We won't get into that. Just know it was painful and expensive. So I got a call from Tonya (Dev's aunt) and she tells me her and hazel cussed Domi out. That I didn't have to worry about it they took care of him. And Dev's Wii will be in the mail (domi, tried not too send it saying Devin was bad while he was down there). Tonya told me that she was just checking up on her baby. Then hazel called, said she was still going with us next year and let her know how much it was and Domi better never say that her baby can't come down. She work 2 jobs and pay the bills she says who stays in her house. God I love that woman

Oh on a good note: Nita got a job interview we're so hoping she gets this job. Keep your fingers crossed. She also starts school on Tuesday.

'Til next time my friends.

 

[Lan]

Oh, man..there are really no words for what you went through. I am glad that your baby is okay. I live in Atlanta and will be flying to Disney this coming Friday. I am a little scared myself. I am a driver not a flyer.

 

[Glendamax]

Gosh, what a story! I can't believe he thought you were gonna pay him the $40! Is he CRAZY?!!! We'll at leat some of his family has some sense!!!

-G

 

[bookmama]

Gosh, what a story! I can't believe he thought you were gonna pay him the $40! Is he CRAZY?!!! We'll at leat some of his family has some sense!!!

-G

yeah that's why I love his mom and sister. Otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered with after all these years. Most of the time Domi and I get along fine but sometimes he has his stupid moments that make me want to kill him or at least maim him.

Oh, man..there are really no words for what you went through. I am glad that your baby is okay. I live in Atlanta and will be flying to Disney this coming Friday. I am a little scared myself. I am a driver not a flyer.

Last year was our first time in Atlanta, we were scared to death and we were transferring from one plane to another 2 gates down. Everything is so confusing. You'll do fine!

Thank y'all for caring about my baby.

Okay on to the good stuff and the reason for the title:

First, c'mon everybody do the wave

Nita got the job! She found out on Monday after her interview. We were in the supermarket and I was shouting. She's employed, finally she's employed. She said I was embarassing her. Hehehe. (that's what our family does) She also started college on Tuesday. She got lost and missed her first classes and most of her second but she's so excited.

Now the meat: Nobody liked POR everybody wants to stay at the Fort. Could they have just told me that! Then I wouldn't have done the math on POR. It's not that I don't love the Fort--because I do, but really stop wasting my time. There's only 2 things I don't like about Ft. Wilderness 1)the nonstop banjo music. Oh lord, it can get tiring. 2)the walk after the walk to the bus then the walk to the cabin after the bus. (I know, we could rent the golf cart, but last year we couldn't afford it)

Second we have a switch, Terrance and Nita aren't together anymore so of course he's not going now. But LaShontae's going. She says that she always wanted to go so she might as go with us.

14 people, 14 different personalities. Help me.

Next time, I'll actually have a plan again--for real.

 

[MadiMouse]

Wow! Now that's some planning!
I want to hear more!!!!!