The "World" May Never Be The Same! *We're back!* *new 8/24*

[kindakrazy2]

Hi everyone!

After reading everyone else's pre-trippies and getting very excited about everyone else's plans I decided to take the plunge and jump in here with my own trip planning and let you all see just how insane I will become over the next 2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day!

I know that is how long until we go because I am obsessed by my ticker. It is the first thing I check when I get up in the morning. Yep, even before I start pouring coffee down my throat! I think I have a problem....is there a 12 step program for those of us addicted to our tickers?


Chapter 1 - The Cast

Anyways, I'll start with our cast of characters.

Me! I'm Sarah and I am NOT going to post my age! Its crept up higher on me and I am not a big fan of getting older. Maybe that's part of the reason I love all things Disney so much. I was a stay at home mom for almost 11 years but recently "re-joined the workforce" - got to love the politically correct code for "we needed the money"! Actually, not completely true but with 2 kids in private school who also dance and figure skate I figured I should do something to help contribute to the family income. I also love to travel so I am working feeding the vacation-fund! I am also a crafter, sewer, quilter and wannabe photographer.

DH aka Handsome Genius (stealing his alias from Chloe) or "HG" for short. I won't post his age either or he'll get really mad at me! No sense in angering he who pays for Disney! He's a computer geek who shares my love for Disney yet he only humors me when I try to share the importance of my obsessive planning! He loves to eat and the thrifty side of him was thrilled and a bit relieved when I announced "we got free dining". He loves all sorts of gadgets and trinkets and hates anything Mac. Did I mention I am an iMac girl? Love that it annoys him!

DD#1 aka Belle is 10 1/2 (can't forget the 1/2). We have trained her well from a very young age the importance of loving Disney if she indeed wants to stay part of the family! I'm kidding folks! Well, sort of! LOL! She is a dancer and has already danced professionally. Her dance classes suck up most of our money. But she loves it so we just sign the cheques and try not to think about it. Belle always has her head in the clouds and is very naive (how do you spell that?). She thinks she is very grown-up but is actually completely the opposite but I'm not going to be the one to tell her that!

DD#2 aka Tink is 7 1/2 (yes, there is the 1/2) again. She is the youngest Disney freak in the family and there was no training required with this one. She is a total daredevil when it comes to the rides - the bigger the better. She also dances but isn't into it quite as much as her sister but still loves it. She figure skates as well and is seriously in love with her coach. Tink is wise beyond years and has been since the moment she was born. In fact our midwife looked at her when she was born and said "Oh, she's a 40 year old Jewish woman" and she has fit the role perfectly ever since. She is super smart and is always thinking 2 steps ahead of me - I hate it when she out-thinks me!

I'll leave you all with that for now as I have to get Belle off to a birthday party!

See you all soon!

October 10, 2007
Okay - caving to peer pressure here and I am adding an index to the first page. I didn't do it when I started this because I didn't think anyone would read it so no need for an index. Well, thankfully I have friends here and you all read and respond so I thought I'd add the index for anyone who is jumping in now so they can read and catch up!

Chapter 1 - The Cast
Chapter 2 - Disney Trips of Long Long Ago
Chapter 3 - The Liberation of The LGMHPCs
Chapter 4 - A Pre-Trip Trip
Chapter 5 - A Surprize Booking
Chapter 6 - The Food
Chapter 7 - Let the Crafting Begin
Chapter 8 - We'll Be Glowing
Chapter 9 - My Shopping List
Chapter 10 - Its Real Now!
Chapter 11 - Mickey We Have A Problem Or Two
Chapter 12 - Let the Countdown Begin
Chapter 13 - Notice Anything Different?
Chapter 14 - Photo Time!
Chapter 14 - Good News! (apparently there are 2 chapter 14s)
Chapter 14 - Hippo Hippo (it seems I have lost the ability to count)
Chapter 15 - Doing a Dance
Chapter 16 - I'm Back!
Chapter 16 - Anyone Know How To Avoid The "Poof-Palace"? (it seems I still can't count)
Chapter 17 - The One I Didn't Want To Have To Write
Chapter 17 - Only 4 More Days! (really, what happened to the counting part of my brain?)
Today is The Day!
We're Back!
The Trip Chapter 1 - The Beginning
The Trip Chapter 2 - The Next Day
The Trip Chapter 3 - We're Still On The Wrong Plane
The Trip Chapter 4 - On To Pop Century!
The Trip Chapter 5 - Room For 4 Please
A Short Interuption
The Trip Chapter 6 - Finally Heading to a Park!
The Trip Chapter 7 - Day 1 Part 2
The Trip Chapter 8 - We're Epcot Bound!
The Trip Chapter 9 - Food!
The Trip Chapter 10 - Day 2 Bet You Never Thought We'd Get Here!
The Trip Chapter 11 - It Really Happened!
The Trip Chapter 12 - Moving Along
The Trip Chapter 14 - I Think!
The Trip Chapter 15 - Heading Home!
The Trip Chapter 15 - Day 3 Part 1 (yes, I did it again)
A Little Disney Creativity...
The Trip Chapter 16 - Lunch with Pooh!
The Trip Chapter 18 - We're Stuffed - Is That A Pirate I See?
The Trip Chapter 19 - Crossing the Castle Yet Again
The Trip Chapter 20 - Feed Us!
The Trip Chapter 21 - Just One More Thing
The Trip Chapter 22 - Yawn, Stretch, Welcome to Day 4
The Trip Chapter 23 - A Grand Circle Tour of the World
The Trip Chapter 24 - The Moment Tink Has Been Waiting For!
The Trip Chapter 25 - Back To Our Around The World Tour
The Trip Chapter 26 - Still "Around-The-World"ing
The Trip Chapter 27 - We've Almost Made It Around The World
The Trip Chapter 27 - One Of My Favourite Moments
The Trip Chapter 28 - Dinner Time!
The Trip Chapter 29 - Its Segway Day, Or Is It?

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

You have some beautiful girls!

I check that ticker all the time too. Several times a day even. As if it would change.

I'm excited to hear about your plans!

 

[ChrisLei]

Great start Sarah! Can't wait to read more!

 

[kindakrazy2]

You have some beautiful girls!

I check that ticker all the time too. Several times a day even. As if it would change.

I'm excited to hear about your plans!

I do the same thing and then I am always surprized when it hasn't changed my lunch time!

I've been following your pre-trippie too SwansLoveDisney!

Great start Sarah! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks ChrisLei!

 

[kindakrazy2]

Chapter 2 - Disney Trips of Long Long Ago


Next up....our Disney history!

Our little Disney problem started way back, long ago on our honeymoon....yes, its been that long! 13 years to be exact! Have I really been looking at him that long? Ya, and I love him!

We stayed at Dixie Landings now known as Port Orleans Riverside but it will always be Dixie Landings to us. Makes me sad to think the Port Orleans just opened up and swollowed poor Dixie. She never even saw it coming.

We stayed there for a week and that was it, we were sold! Totally in love with Disneyworld!

We made a repeat trip in February of 1996 and stayed at our beloved Dixie once again. Can't remember how long we were there that time. Probably about a week. No sense in us traveling that far for much less then that.

Next trip we had Belle with us and I was 6 months pregnant with Tink. We wanted to take Belle on one last trip as an only child. Why I'm not sure but it seemed important at the time!

Me being the sneaky person that I often think I am decided I was going to go on some of the rides that they warned pregnant people (okay, pregnant women - I mean really, how often do you see a pregnant man?) not to ride. Now before anyone goes all ape on me, I went on the Safari Ride and something else which currently escapes my brain. Nothing too thrilling. Anyways, back to the story - I really didn't think that anyone would be able to tell that I was pregnant. I thought I was still this skinny little thing and I was really getting away with something there. Until I got home and looked at the pictures - yep, I was huge as a house. Oh well. I guess they knew but decided not to fight with the preggo-lady!

Last trip was in February 2001 just after Tink turned a year old. We learned the beauty of the stroller pass that trip! Belle fell in love with Test Track and was terrified of the Winnie the Pooh ride. Go figure! Weird kid.

We have made many, many trips to Disneyland in California inbetween all these Florida trips and HG used to go to Los Angeles on business so the girls and I would tag along and visit Mickey while HG was working. As much as I love Disneyland it pales in comparison to WDW.

Our last trip to Disneyland was Feb 2006 for Tink's 6th birthday. Belle spent the whole trip in the hotel room with HG sick as a dog. I guess its only fair though - when we went down for Belle's 6th birthday Tink threw up the whole time!

We haven't tempted the Disney fate since.

Here's hoping no one gets sick this time. I'm bringing my Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer and I may use both to bathe the kids!

 

[meriann]

Hi Sarah!!!!!!

I guess I will soon need to cave and do one of these too! My first question is "how in the world do I get a ticker? I need one!!!!!!!! although my trip is still a year away!

love ya,

meriann

 

[kindakrazy2]

Meriann - you so NEED a ticker so you can obsess about the date just like I am doing! Really, if i am suffering this countdown misery then you need to too! After all, that's what friends do, right?

 

[meriann]

I did one, lets see if it worked!

 

[schaery]

Congrats on the ticker, Meriann. Now you can become obsessed with watching the darn thing like the rest of us.

 

[mvazul]

Hi! I just found your pre-trip report. Great start! Your daughters are beautiful!! I, too, understand the ticker madness!! I get very irritated that it tells me the same number of months, weeks and days at 5:00 PM just like it did at 8:00 AM. I hate that I have to wait another full day for it to take another day off!!

I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[kindakrazy2]

Congrats Meriann! The ticker looks wonderful on you!


schaery! Glad to have you on board here!


Glad to hear I am in good company mvazul with the ticker madness! to the tread!

 

[schaery]

Hmmm......I'm sure there must be something wrong with my ticker. It's only moved one day since yesterday. Wish I could shake it or wind it or throw it or just something to make it move a bit faster.

Happy 4th everyone

 

[declansdad]

I just noticed your link in your signature so I had to give it a read. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

I understand the ticker thing. Not only do we watch the ticker in our signatures but I downloaded a countdown clock that is always on our desktop. It counts down to the second.

 

[schaery]

I just noticed your link in your signature so I had to give it a read. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

I understand the ticker thing. Not only do we watch the ticker in our signatures but I downloaded a countdown clock that is always on our desktop. It counts down to the second.

Where did you find the desktop countdown clock? Thanks

 

[declansdad]

Where did you find the desktop countdown clock? Thanks

It is called TimeLeft. I found it on the website of a company called Nestersoft.com

nestersoft.com/timeleft

 

[Bail&RiRi]

First of all, I love the pre-trip report so far. We sound a lot alike. My daughter also did the dance thing for years, until I became pregnant with crazy "morning" sickness and anemia that stopped me from becoming a normal member of society for a good portion of the dance season. I do miss the performances and adorable costumes. I don't miss all of the expenses though!

I have had a strange fascination with other people's tickers. Boy, that phrase sounds awful doesn't it? I love to see what designs people have chosen. My question is, after we get back from our vacations what do we do? I guess my ticker will say "Only three more years until I get another vacation". That will just look sad.

 

[kindakrazy2]

Hmmm......I'm sure there must be something wrong with my ticker. It's only moved one day since yesterday. Wish I could shake it or wind it or throw it or just something to make it move a bit faster.

I wish we could shake them to make them go faster! Heck, I smack my monitor on a somewhat regular basis just to see if it will move!

I just noticed your link in your signature so I had to give it a read. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

I understand the ticker thing. Not only do we watch the ticker in our signatures but I downloaded a countdown clock that is always on our desktop. It counts down to the second.

Glad you found it Declansdad! I have soooo been drooling over your POP pictures - can't wait to see it in 2 months 1 week and 3 days! I know this because my ticker tells me so!

First of all, I love the pre-trip report so far. We sound a lot alike. My daughter also did the dance thing for years, until I became pregnant with crazy "morning" sickness and anemia that stopped me from becoming a normal member of society for a good portion of the dance season. I do miss the performances and adorable costumes. I don't miss all of the expenses though!

I have had a strange fascination with other people's tickers. Boy, that phrase sounds awful doesn't it? I love to see what designs people have chosen. My question is, after we get back from our vacations what do we do? I guess my ticker will say "Only three more years until I get another vacation". That will just look sad.

Oh I hear you on the hyper-emisis (sp?). I had it soooooo badly with my girls. The only reason I have 2 kids is that every doctor said it wouldn't happen as bad the second time. They lied!

Sad thing about those tickers - they don't plan another trip for you!

I don't know what happened to the 3 on my ticker. When the magical moving star passed the "3" it ate it! I thought it may come back but the 3 is still missing!

 

[schaery]

Hey, thanks for the desktop ticker info. I've got one now......another WDW item to obsess over.

 

[declansdad]

Hey, thanks for the desktop ticker info. I've got one now......another WDW item to obsess over.

 

[kindakrazy2]

I need to find the desktop one too!