There's a Crack in the Sidewalk! Take a Picture! UPDATE 8/13

[Villainess]

FINALLY! I’m starting my TR! I’m so sad it’s over, and I can’t believe 2 months ago this vacation was actually taking place. For the amount of time we were in WDW, I have to say, it flew by! But then again, when you’re having fun, the time always flies by!

Onto the intro spiel:

‘Howdy Folks! Welcome to the one and only …’

Oh, wait. That’s the Country Bear Jamboree …I’ll just start with my normal intro.

Hello and welcome!

Grab a dole whip, some , or a . Audience participation and are encouraged. FP's are not available at this time and for the safety of the cast, no flash photography!

I invite you, if you dare, to step aboard my trip report; it travels directly to ...























DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(it's a small world after all... it's a small world after all ... it's a small, small world)

 

[Villainess]

... and we can be a bunch of characters!

Me, Danielle, 29: Co-planner of the group, mommy to 2 wonderful children, photographer of the bunch (although learning and have to say a great big thank you to the Dis photographers!). This will be my 30th visit to WDW. I love the Villains (hence, my screenname), especially, Maleficent , Big Bad Wolf, Evil Queen, and Jafar. My favorite attractions include POTC - even before Cpt. Jack, but ((((swoon))), HM , WS, and Cinderella’s Golden Carousel. MK is my favorite park followed closely by Epcot, then AK and DHS.

DD, 2: My perfect princess and oh does she love it! She loves the princesses and everything about them, from dressing up to blowing kisses, waving and of course, the attention! Let me restate that. She ADORES the princesses, especially Aurora. Everything is Aurora this, Aurora that, and btw, Aurora belongs to her (or so she thinks, :lol In fact, WDW is Aurora's park. It is Aurora's Castle (sorry Cindy & Mickey!), Aurora's Carousel, Aurora's show, well you get the idea! In addition to the princesses, she also loves , and Dopey. This will be her 3rd trip to WDW. Her favorites include Cinderella's Golden Carousel, Mad Tea Party, IASW, and POTC - to name *only* a few!

DS, 1: He’s my “little guy” and . Such a boy-boy! He’s the first boy for our family so both my dad and my grandfather love watching sports, golf (is this really a sport?!) and home improvement shows with him. My dad and DS also frequent Lowe’s and Home Depot together! This will be his 2nd visit. His favorites are clearly , Chip and Dale, Pluto, and Pinochio. POTC, Jungle Cruise, Maelstrom, and It's Tough to be a Bug ranked up in his favorites.

My mom. Nonna, 54: the overpacker of the group, former TDS ***’t mgr. She’s been to the world 30-something times. Her hands-down favorites are and Cinderella. Favorite attractions include POTC, Philharmagic, and HM.

My dad, Pop Pop, 56: Co-planner, golfer in the group. This was also his 30-something visit. His favorites are and and enjoys POTC, Buzz Lightyear, and HM. His absolute least favorite attraction is Living with the Land (so much so that he won’t go on it and waits for us!)

My sister, Melissa, 25: other photographer in the bunch, loves all things and shares a special bond with DD and DS over this. This is her 20-something visit to WDW. Her favorite attractions are Buzz Lightyear, RNR, and TT. Donald Duck is her favorite; she isn’t into the princess thing, never was.

My BIL, Seth, 34: not too into the character meet n greets but will pose for a few, esp. with DD and DS. I must say that he is a wonderful uncle (and my sister a wonderful aunt) to my kids; he has taught DD and DS to table surf ( ), karate kicks, and walk on the couch. I cannot say for sure if he has a favorite character but he does sport Donald t-shirts. He prefers the thrill rides and opts to skip parades to take advantage of the shorter queue lines.

Supporting Cast

Although they will not officially be on the trip with us, they are with us in spirit (and on the phone – A LOT!) LOL! Due to my great-grandmother’s passing in August, they opted not to go on this trip as originally planned due to the funeral expenses, but have promised they are coming on the next one; I hope so because I have so many fond memories of our WDW vacations with them – and lots of hysterical stories too! Remind me and I will share some (and the pictures).

My grandmother, Mom Mom – you will hear her mentioned often, mostly for calling to find out what we're up to and to check on the kids.
**Remind me to tell you the story about Mom Mom on El Rio del Tiempo after a margarita!**

My grandfather, Dee Dad: he doesn’t call as much since Mom Mom takes over the call. He is itching to go back to WDW, and it broke his heart to have to back out of this year's plans.

There's the cast. Coming Up, a recap of the day before our departure. Many of you who followed my PTR will remember the debate of us staying the night before in a hotel close to the airport ...

that story coming up!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in for what i am sure will be a fun and crazy TR!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Yay! You started your report!! I've been wondering where you disappeared to! We were there at the same time, remember?

Glad to see you and can't wait to hear about your FABULOUS trip!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Signing on!

 

[deslynnpatterson]

just read your pre -trip report and i am joining your trip report hope you had a wonderful trip

 

[Goofy22]

I'm in! Yay! It's good to see you! I was starting to wonder if everything was ok.

 

[Villainess]

joining in for what i am sure will be a fun and crazy TR!!

Welcome! Glad you are joining in!

Yay! You started your report!! I've been wondering where you disappeared to! We were there at the same time, remember?

Glad to see you and can't wait to hear about your FABULOUS trip!

Yes, I remember! Thanks for joining in! Nope - didn't disappear. Life became crazy after the trip!

Signing on!

Hi!

just read your pre -trip report and i am joining your trip report hope you had a wonderful trip

Wow - you read the whole PTR? Thanks for signing on!

I'm in! Yay! It's good to see you! I was starting to wonder if everything was ok.

Everything is great - didn't mean to worry anyone!

 

[Villainess]

It's after midnight here, so today Public Enemies opens in theaters. I just saw there was a 12:01am showing of it. Darn! Guess where I will be later today after DD and DS's grandma picks them up for a visit. Yup! The movie theater! I will be going to the 7:10pm showing of Public Enemies. (The last movie I saw in theaters was POTC 3). Yikes! Just saw that the movie is 2hr. 23min. which means that I won't be home when the kids get home. OK, looks like I'm going to the 11:10pm showing of the movie then so I can get the kiddos to bed too.

So what does this have to do with my TR? Absolutely nothing! I just thought I would share some eye candy while I finish writing my first entry in Word (I have bad luck when it comes to typing long stories on message boards).

Without further ado ....

Love this one!

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

Count me in!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Can't wait! I have been checking in everyday to see if you started your TR. I am ready to see your wonderful pictures!

 

[Villainess]

Count me in!

Welcome!

Can't wait! I have been checking in everyday to see if you started your TR. I am ready to see your wonderful pictures!

Awww... thanks for joining in!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I can't wait to see that movie! You'll have to let us all know how it is. Lucky for me, Jeff wants to see it as well...for completely different reasons, of course!

Thanks for the eye-candy! Johnny Depp in the morning...what could be better?

 

[Villainess]

I like to consider myself an organized person. I have lists and deadline dates and I’m usually able to cross off all those pesky ‘to-do’s’ that get in the way with enjoying the days leading up to a vacation, but I’ll admit that I had quite a few thing left to do on this day before our departure. Add to that, that in the past 3 days I’ve had a grand total of about 10 hours of sleep and you can paint a wonderful picture of how I was feeling.

****We interrupt this program to bring you late breaking news!****
As I write this report at 5pm Eastern on 6/30/09, I am alerted to the sound of a chain saw, and a few moments later Ccccrrrraaaaacckkk! and BOOM! With my children sleeping on the couch next to me, I look around and think to myself, “Maybe I should check on this.” This is what I see from the backdoor.

Pop Pop is “pruning” the trees in preparation for our July 4th BBQ and Pool Party! Oh and don’t worry no persons or trees were harmed – it’s a stunt branch! LOL

******And now back to your regularly scheduled trip report.******

So as I was typing, I had a number of items left on my to-do list. I still had to close my online shop for vacation, I was waiting to hear from a customer who would be receiving her wedding invitations today, I needed to pack, finish packing my camera stuff, and finish the ‘winter’ laundry. Oh, and I still had to finish DD’s hairbows which would match each of her outfits.

Mom Mom came over to help with DD and DS because, quite frankly, they were hyper, super excited, screaming, jumping everywhere! Much like this - First on the to-do list was a quick stop at Janie & Jack to exchange DD’s white sandals. I had the hardest time finding cute girlie sandals in white! I had bought them over the weekend and guessed on the size since her feet are wide and she is about an 8/9. I bought the 9’s, she needed the 8. Thankfully they had her size and while Mom Mom sat in the car in the pouring rain with DS, DD and I exchanged the shoes. Then it was straight home. The goal was to pack upstairs in our bedrooms while Mom Mom and the kids were downstairs playing. Yeah, right!

Within minutes the three of them had joined me upstairs. I had neatly arranged DD’s sundresses , bathing suits, etc in piles and were waiting patiently to be placed in their Travel Space Bags. I began mixing and matching outfits for DS. I carefully laid out his shorts: khaki, khaki linen, denim, navy – you get the idea, and was coordinating shirts when I turned around to see those neatly arranged piles of dresses being flung about the room.

Goodness! All that for nothing! I should’ve just put them in the Space Bags! After bribing the kids to go downstairs for ice pops, (yes, I said bribe – I had work to do!) , I proceeded to begin my packing all over again.

Naps were non-existant today, much to my and Mom Mom’s dismay. I felt bad for her as she thought she wasn’t any help, but in reality she was. By 3pm the kids’ suitcases were packed! They were going to Disney World. Next up, my suitcase! I had gone shopping the day before at the local outlets since I was tired of some of the shops at the mall. I scored some awesome tops at the Banana Republic outlet – everything in the store was 40% off! I also had done very well at Ann Taylor and J Crew. My packing consisted of taking all of my recently bought goodies out of their shopping bags, still neatly folded by the cashier and placing them inside my suitcase, tags and all! Within 10 minutes I was done packing my clothes. I shuffled my way down the hall and stairs to get the suitcases in the foyer and proceeded to pack the camera equipment, toiletries and cosmetics, and our overnight bags for the hotel we would be staying at.

The plan for the evening was to be: DD and DS would visit with their dad as scheduled 6-9pm. While they were gone, Nonna, Pop Pop, and I would grab a bite to eat, pack the car, and finish any loose ends. When they got home, Nonna would give them a quick bath, we would say our good-bye’s to Nonna (she would be meeting us on Friday night), and drive down to the hotel by the AC airport. Pop Pop and I figured that we would be at the hotel by 11:45pm, giving us time to rest and get up around 4-4:15am to head to the airport for our 6:45am flight.

Pop Pop was home by this time and was also packing. To say that DD and DS were excited was the understatement of the century! I was feeling a bit blue as I wasn't excited with all I still needed to get done, on top of the fact that I was waiting for confirmation that one of my brides received her invitations.

I managed to get them to take an abbreviated nap; I really hate sending them to visit their grandparents and dad when they haven’t had a nap. They tend to nap after dinner and then are up very late or they are just cranky. Not pretty. I still needed to close down my online shop, put away the ‘winter’ laundry that Mom Mom graciously did for me, and change the bed sheets. At this point, I packed the remaining hairbows that needed to be completed in my hotel bag and decided that I would finish them at the hotel. There wasn’t much to finish on them and within 1 hr, I estimated I would be done.

Nonna arrived home at her usual time, Dee Dad came over to pick up Mom Mom and to give DD and DS their good bye hugs and kisses. Dsis called and wanted us to meet her and BIL at Chiles for dinner. At this point, I was seriously considering skipping dinner and instead heading straight to the nail salon for my mani and pedi. There was no way I could wear flip flops for 19 days in the shape my feet were in!

DD and DS were picked up on time, and off we went. Nonna x’nayed me skipping dinner. It went something like this, "You're are NOT missing dinner; you haven't been eating, you've been staying up all hours and are going to get sick! Do you want to be sick and miserable on vacation ..."

DSis mentioned that she wanted a pedi too. Our plan was to order something quick so we would have time for the pedicures. I was hoping for the mani, too but decided that if push came to shove, I would skip the mani.

BIL met friends at Chile’s and ate with them, while DSis joined us at our table. Nonna and Pop Pop had some errands to run so after dinner I jumped in the car with DSis as we drove about 150 yards across the mall parking lot to the nail salon. Luckily, they weren’t busy and after a 5 minute pondering of which shade of red nail polish to pick, I was happily soaking my feet and relaxing.

Due to time constraints, the mani was not meant to be. We quickly paid and I met Nonna and Pop Pop in the mall parking lot. We said our good night’s to DSis and headed back home to wait for the kids. Now, I’m still not quite sure what running around Nonna and Pop Pop did. I thought they went to Shop Rite for some snacks for the plane and the hotel for the first few days since Garden Grocer wasn't making their delivery until the following week, but apparently not. That was still on our list of things to do.

The kids came home a bit after 9. I spoke with my exMIL for a bit and she gave DD and DS extra hugs and kisses. Nonna took them upstairs to get a bath while Pop Pop and I ran to Shop Rite. Oh, and the car still needs to get packed!

At the Shop Rite, we bought: pretzels, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ziploc Freezer Bags, Saline Nasal Spray, and gum. Right. Don’t even say it. I know what you’re thinking!

On the way home, we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts! Since we weren’t sure what would be open at the airport nor what the selection of food would be, we decided to purchase moons. Moons are what DD calls Munchkins bc in her imaginative mind her favorites – the powdered Bavarian cream ones – look like the moon to her. Creative, right? Well, do you know what happens when you get to Dunkin’ Donuts within 20 minutes of closing? You order 50 moons, pay the price of 25, and get about 100!

As we pull in the driveway with our buckets o’ moons, and random items from Shop Rite, I am reminded that I still need to close my online store. I run in the house, up the stairs and see an email that my bride-to-be did receive her invites and loved them. Whew! That’s good. I was quietly stressed about leaving on vacation and not knowing if she received the invites (I send them with delivery confirmation and insurance, but still ...). Due to a change in design, these invites were delayed a week. Online store on vacation – check. Kids in pj’s – check. Car loaded – in the process. I proceeded to the kitchen where I placed the moons in Ziploc bags – hey, they did come in handy – so they wouldn’t go stale through the night.

After double and triple checking that we had everything, we said our long good bye’s to Nonna. DD and DS were confused as to why Nonna wasn’t coming with us, and it was a bit of a teary-eyed moment. I gave the kids cups of milk for the car and we fastened them in their car seats. Engine on – Check. Gas – need to get gas!

A side trip to the gas station, I glance at the clock. 11:20pm! LOL!!!! We planned on being there in 20 minutes. Oh well! The kids were both fast asleep before we even left the gas station.

An uneventful trip down the parkway, we found the hotel and at 1:05am I was placing DD and DS in bed. Pop Pop went straight to bed, but sleep for me? HAHA! I had bows to finish making! I quickly made a timeline in my head. I was giving myself 1hr to get this done and whatever wasn’t completed was staying in the car in the airport parking lot. 55 minutes later, I was done with all the bows! With a pat on the back, I glanced at the clock - 2:20am - and decided that I might as well take my shower now as I knew that Pop Pop needed to get one too.

By 3am I was laying in bed with wet hair staring at the ceiling wide awake. I laughed to myself as I thought of how I would be getting up in just over an hour. I’m not sure when I finally closed my eyes, but at 4:20am my cell phone woke me with a rather annoying tone …





Coming Up …You’ve had a grand total of 11 hours of sleep in the past 4 days, what are you going to do next? I’m going to DISNEY WORLD!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Whew...Danielle! That day made ME tired!

Glad you're finally packed and ready to hit the World! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

I saw Johnny Depp .. I'M HERE!

 

[dolfinjuls]

I'm so glad you have started your TR! Man the day you left for AC sounded crazy! Can't wait to hear some more!

 

[Villainess]

I can't wait to see that movie! You'll have to let us all know how it is. Lucky for me, Jeff wants to see it as well...for completely different reasons, of course!

Thanks for the eye-candy! Johnny Depp in the morning...what could be better?

I can't think of anything better - except for maybe him in person, but aaahhh - I can dream, right?

Whew...Danielle! That day made ME tired!

Glad you're finally packed and ready to hit the World! Can't wait to hear more!

I was tired retyping it all too!

I saw Johnny Depp .. I'M HERE!

Glad to have another Johnny fan here!

I'm so glad you have started your TR! Man the day you left for AC sounded crazy! Can't wait to hear some more!

Thanks! Oh it was, probably like a 3 ring circus!




I'm working on Day 1 - pictures are ready, I'm just writing it all out! I should have the first part up later today!

 

[MrsSpratt]

I think I love you.

Great writing style, love it how you fit it all in, and I have been known to finish outfits (trimming hats, etc.) on the way to an event...

I can't wait to read more!

 

[Villainess]

So as I continue to write Day 1 of the trip, I am taking a very quick break ... Last night I went to the movies with Mom Mom and Dee Dad. Yes, I went with my grandparents to see Public Enemy. Let me just say - I'll definitely be going to see it again!

To make you laugh ... Mom Mom turns to Dee Dad about half-way through the movie and asks, "Is this what you expected?"

"Yes. Why? You didn't?"

"Well, all this shooting and the guns, I mean so much ..."

"Ann! It's a gangster movie what did you expect hugs and smooches?"