Puget Peach
My name is Puget Peach and I'm a Disneyholic!
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Messages
- 428
So Im thinking, Should I write a trip report?
If I wrote a trip report it would be titled...
Puget Peach (PP) and Hoveround Hunk (HH) September '09 Rock n Rollin!
Every trip I vow to write a trip report. Then I get wrapped up in the activities of the moment and forget to take notes. By the time the plane wheels touch the tarmac at SeaTac airport, Ive forgotten most of the trip. Well, not this time!
This is the year of the three visits to WDW on one AP: Five days at POP in September 2008, Two weeks Off site February - March 2009, and next is the Grand Finale two weeks Saratoga Springs in a one bedroom villa September 2009.
YAWN ALERT! A bit of history, and Ill try not to bore you, but feel free to skip right by the yawn parts. Im a totally budget traveler and a firm believer that flexibility is the key to affordable vacations. Living on an island in Puget Sound (accessible only by ferry) means coordinating two buses, the ferry, transcontinental flights, budget lodgings (or available time shares), and either a very cheap car rental that will accommodate a Hoveround power wheelchair or on site lodging to use ME and Disney buses. How is affordable pixie dust possible? Obey the Magic!
MAGIC RULE #1: Only travel when all of the pieces come together naturally. Normally that is rare, but Tinkerbell must have been on sabbatical in my pocket, because Pixie Dust has engulfed me at every turn!
MAGIC RULE #2: Be open to accept the magic! Be alert to the ebb and flow of giving and receiving and make sure you do both.
Here are the events leading up to these three trips on a single AP:
FIRST: The BIG Letdown: I returned from two weeks of Disney Magic in December, 2007. You know that feeling That was the trip for which I am still kicking myself for not doing a trip report and Im going to take off on a tangent to explain why!
YAWN ALERT: In June 2007 I sold my 4 bedroom 3 bath house, rented a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house for 6 months, and purchased a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath condominium that was supposed to close by the end of November. Now, as if all that that wasnt stressful enough, I took on 3 part time jobs to supplement my real estate career. My plan was to take some R & R after the dust (not pixie) settled on all the changes.
The cosmic forces threw truckloads of pixie dust my way, because a two bedroom time share came up on my short term exchange list. I could stay for two weeks (the first two weeks of December) in a two bedroom condominium VERY close to Disney World for next to nothing! Lodging? Check.
Roundtrip air appeared for under $200 AND on a schedule that would coordinate with ferries and buses. Flight and airport transportation? Check.
Ah, but the kicker would be the car rental. I plugged in all sorts of codes and coupons and then, BAM! Alamo came up with two weeks for a full size car for under $200 (FOR BOTH WEEKS TOTAL), fees included! Transportation? Check! We were going to Orlando for cheap, cheap, cheap, PLUS we had a bedroom and bathroom for a guest.
I swear this is the truth I had just finished the online car reservation when an email from my BFF in Chicago came in, telling me she had just lost her job. Lemons? Okay lets make the lemonade! We had discussed a BFF Disney vacation many times, but we never could get our schedules to coincide. NOW they did! I was able to offer her a place to stay, transportation, and meals for two weeks if she could come up with air fare and money for a 10 day base ticket. Bless Airtran, because her fare was under $100 round trip and, once she factored in what she would spend at home anyway, she decided she could afford (and badly needed) her VERY FISRT EVER introduction to the magic of Walt Disney World!
We had perfect weather and no crowds. We rode in the front of the monorail, the front of Rock n Roller Coaster, the back of Big Thunder Mountain, the front car of Expedition Everest, had a quiet lunch upstairs at Columbia Harbor House, found the key under the map at Muppets 3-D, rode every single attraction at every single park (except Spaceship Earth that was down for re-hab) and rode our favorites over and over again. And the morning we did 15 rides on Rock n Roller Coaster BEFORE 10 AM! (Yes, it was EMH.) She took her granddaughters Flat Sally around the World with the Passport to prove it!
It was not all pixie dust, however. I got a call from my sister while strolling to Future World after Flat Sallys tour of the world. My elderly mother was in the hospital! (We had lost Dad just the year before.) I offered to fly up from Orlando but my sister, an RN, said Mom did not want visitors or family. In other words, wait a bit before you come, or Mom will think were trying to force her into something (like assisted care). We finished our perfect trip with frequent calls to my sister and eventually my mother, who was determined to get back to her own house! I went home, moved, and kept up with four part time jobs and also took on being Treasurer for my new self managed condo association.
BOOKING THE FEB 2009 TRIP: By May 2008 I was missing my BFF and my sister, and Mom was now home and ready to accept visitors, so I jumped onto my favorite travel sites searching for airfare from Seattle to Indianapolis. Im not sure if my last search was saved, or I might have just wandered over to see what the cosmic forces were up to, but besides an amazing fare to Indianapolis (and nonstop, which NEVER happens!) there was a similarly amazing fare on a nonstop flight SEA to MCO for two weeks in February of 2009! And the dates just happened to encompass the dates of my company convention in Orlando. And there just happened to be two weeks available at our home resort in Orlando.. Okay, enough already, I had to do it! Talk about being beat over the head with pixie dust! So I booked myself a 10 day trip to Indianapolis in June AND a two week trip to Orlando in February.
June 2008 trip to Indiana mini trip report- My BFF drove to Indianapolis from Chicago Saturday evening, June 7th, to meet my flight and then visit my mom and my sister in Bloomington. My BFF was in baggage claim waiting for me. We threw my one bag into the trunk and headed south. It soon became apparent that there was no way to get to Bloomington that did not involve a bass boat or canoe and possibly scuba equipment. If you who live in the area, you will remember the 100 year flood of 2008. Yes, it was THAT day. We scored a LaQuinta room near the Indianapolis airport for the night and I ended up going back to Chicago with her because the roads were still not open the next day (Sunday).
BOOKING THE SEPT 2008 TRIP: Monday came, the roads were still not open, and my BFF had to go to work. So there I was, bored and alone, so I did what any good Diser would do? Sign on! My BFF is the opposite of a geek, so I fired up her Windows 95 computer, signed onto her dial up account, and started to check e-mail. There it was an email alert for a round trip SEA to MCO for $179! In September. I have to tell you, that February 2009 trip had just seemed to be getting farther and farther away, so just for the heck of it I peeked at the flights. I expected nothing to coordinate with the buses and ferries (there is no way to get to or from the airport during certain hours). There was one flight only at that price and it was perfect!!! Leave late on Thursday, back early on Tuesday. Hmm I next logged on to the Disney site to see rack rates at Pop Century. I bet youre thinking FREE DINING. But this trip would have to be solo and lean. For the difference between full rack rate with free dining and great AAA room only rate, I can eat Oatmeal to go and Ramen, with CS lunch in a park every day for a lot less. Okay, for five nights (there was only 1 flight going and coming for the fare), I was close, but not quite ready to commit. Then it hits me Get an AP! That would allow me access EVERY DAY for my 2 week February-March trip, plus save my parking fees The calculator was SMOKING!!! I could do it! So I did it! (Later, when the AP rates came out for Pop, I rebooked to an even better rate!). Just as I finished the booking, my sister called to tell me the roads were open. Talk about pixie dust!! I had a great visit with my mom and sister (except the next day when I finally made it to Bloomington we had to take mom to her sisters funeral, but thats a whole other story!).
The Trip Report I want to write:
The September 2008 trip was short, sweet, and spectacular! Then my niece was married (without much notice) in Fredericksburg, VA in October.
That now brings us to my upcoming trip - the one for which I vow to write a trip report. On Friday evening, November 7th, 2008, I was checking the flight schedules and timeshare reservations for the February trip when I discovered two weeks of exchanges for a one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, the last day being the exact day my AP would expire. Cosmic forces? Oh yea! Nearly all the exchanges on Interval International for DVC are studios or single weeks. I had been watching for just this opportunity since 2002. And there it was. Yep, had to book it! This was the only time I booked with the conviction that air fare would follow. Believe it will and be ready to receive when it does. The next morning I got the call to come home to bury Mom.
After burying my mother I took two weeks to help my sister list the house for sale and begin to put the estate affairs in order. Because I was not sure how long I would be needed, I did not have a return flight booked (I was right up on Thanksgiving week) so I drove my Moms car home from Indiana to Vashon, WA, arriving Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Oh yea, there was also the four part time jobs to keep up with. Thankfully, all four are contract work with very flexible time, (part of which can be done on the internet) or all this cosmic energy would be for naught!
Then we had the worst snow storm EVER just before Christmas. No last minute shopping for anything, or deliveries! Snow is extremely rare in the Seattle area, and it almost NEVER lasts more than a day, so there is no equipment for roads, nor are there things like de-icer or snow shovels in the stores! Luckily, I could walk to the grocery or it would have been much worse!
I totally forgot about the September booking until I was checking reservations for the February trip well after the first of the year and found 2 round trip nonstop tickets for $184 each, and the fare was available ONLY on the exact days of my trip.
So lets review the cosmic movements of pixie dust
(1) The BFF Perfect WDW trip December 2007, where I receive a call regarding my elderly mother in Indiana, which led to
(2) Search for air fare to Indiana to visit elderly mother and I also found affordable fare to (ahem) company convention in Orlando in February 2009
(3) Indiana trip June 2008 (and the unexpected aunts funeral trip) results in flood delays and boredom, which uncovers the cosmic forces to book a WDW trip in September 2008 and the purchase of an AP.
4) Checking reservations in November for our February trip I found two weeks at Saratoga Springs on our timeshare exchange website and booked them!
(5) The utterly dismal winter 2008, burying my mother and dealing with horrific weather and economic conditions, balancing four jobs, plus getting through probate for Moms estate when
(6) Checking of schedules and reservations for the February 2009 trip reveals 2 roundtrip nonstop direct flights Seattle to MCO for just $184 each for our exact dates at Saratoga Springs September 11-25, 2009.
(7) Moms house was not shown even once all winter, then on June 7th, we accepted an offer. Please notice the June 7th a year to the day I couldnt get home due to floodwaters.
(8) The estate should be settled bythe end of the year and I'm leaving September 11th for WDW!!
Giving and receiving joy and sorrow hot and cold good and bad I cannot imagine getting through this past year without the truckloads of pixie dust to balance the many challenges. So what do all yall think? Should I write a Trip Report?
If I wrote a trip report it would be titled...
Puget Peach (PP) and Hoveround Hunk (HH) September '09 Rock n Rollin!
Every trip I vow to write a trip report. Then I get wrapped up in the activities of the moment and forget to take notes. By the time the plane wheels touch the tarmac at SeaTac airport, Ive forgotten most of the trip. Well, not this time!
This is the year of the three visits to WDW on one AP: Five days at POP in September 2008, Two weeks Off site February - March 2009, and next is the Grand Finale two weeks Saratoga Springs in a one bedroom villa September 2009.
YAWN ALERT! A bit of history, and Ill try not to bore you, but feel free to skip right by the yawn parts. Im a totally budget traveler and a firm believer that flexibility is the key to affordable vacations. Living on an island in Puget Sound (accessible only by ferry) means coordinating two buses, the ferry, transcontinental flights, budget lodgings (or available time shares), and either a very cheap car rental that will accommodate a Hoveround power wheelchair or on site lodging to use ME and Disney buses. How is affordable pixie dust possible? Obey the Magic!
MAGIC RULE #1: Only travel when all of the pieces come together naturally. Normally that is rare, but Tinkerbell must have been on sabbatical in my pocket, because Pixie Dust has engulfed me at every turn!
MAGIC RULE #2: Be open to accept the magic! Be alert to the ebb and flow of giving and receiving and make sure you do both.
Here are the events leading up to these three trips on a single AP:
FIRST: The BIG Letdown: I returned from two weeks of Disney Magic in December, 2007. You know that feeling That was the trip for which I am still kicking myself for not doing a trip report and Im going to take off on a tangent to explain why!
YAWN ALERT: In June 2007 I sold my 4 bedroom 3 bath house, rented a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house for 6 months, and purchased a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath condominium that was supposed to close by the end of November. Now, as if all that that wasnt stressful enough, I took on 3 part time jobs to supplement my real estate career. My plan was to take some R & R after the dust (not pixie) settled on all the changes.
The cosmic forces threw truckloads of pixie dust my way, because a two bedroom time share came up on my short term exchange list. I could stay for two weeks (the first two weeks of December) in a two bedroom condominium VERY close to Disney World for next to nothing! Lodging? Check.
Roundtrip air appeared for under $200 AND on a schedule that would coordinate with ferries and buses. Flight and airport transportation? Check.
Ah, but the kicker would be the car rental. I plugged in all sorts of codes and coupons and then, BAM! Alamo came up with two weeks for a full size car for under $200 (FOR BOTH WEEKS TOTAL), fees included! Transportation? Check! We were going to Orlando for cheap, cheap, cheap, PLUS we had a bedroom and bathroom for a guest.
I swear this is the truth I had just finished the online car reservation when an email from my BFF in Chicago came in, telling me she had just lost her job. Lemons? Okay lets make the lemonade! We had discussed a BFF Disney vacation many times, but we never could get our schedules to coincide. NOW they did! I was able to offer her a place to stay, transportation, and meals for two weeks if she could come up with air fare and money for a 10 day base ticket. Bless Airtran, because her fare was under $100 round trip and, once she factored in what she would spend at home anyway, she decided she could afford (and badly needed) her VERY FISRT EVER introduction to the magic of Walt Disney World!
We had perfect weather and no crowds. We rode in the front of the monorail, the front of Rock n Roller Coaster, the back of Big Thunder Mountain, the front car of Expedition Everest, had a quiet lunch upstairs at Columbia Harbor House, found the key under the map at Muppets 3-D, rode every single attraction at every single park (except Spaceship Earth that was down for re-hab) and rode our favorites over and over again. And the morning we did 15 rides on Rock n Roller Coaster BEFORE 10 AM! (Yes, it was EMH.) She took her granddaughters Flat Sally around the World with the Passport to prove it!
It was not all pixie dust, however. I got a call from my sister while strolling to Future World after Flat Sallys tour of the world. My elderly mother was in the hospital! (We had lost Dad just the year before.) I offered to fly up from Orlando but my sister, an RN, said Mom did not want visitors or family. In other words, wait a bit before you come, or Mom will think were trying to force her into something (like assisted care). We finished our perfect trip with frequent calls to my sister and eventually my mother, who was determined to get back to her own house! I went home, moved, and kept up with four part time jobs and also took on being Treasurer for my new self managed condo association.
BOOKING THE FEB 2009 TRIP: By May 2008 I was missing my BFF and my sister, and Mom was now home and ready to accept visitors, so I jumped onto my favorite travel sites searching for airfare from Seattle to Indianapolis. Im not sure if my last search was saved, or I might have just wandered over to see what the cosmic forces were up to, but besides an amazing fare to Indianapolis (and nonstop, which NEVER happens!) there was a similarly amazing fare on a nonstop flight SEA to MCO for two weeks in February of 2009! And the dates just happened to encompass the dates of my company convention in Orlando. And there just happened to be two weeks available at our home resort in Orlando.. Okay, enough already, I had to do it! Talk about being beat over the head with pixie dust! So I booked myself a 10 day trip to Indianapolis in June AND a two week trip to Orlando in February.
June 2008 trip to Indiana mini trip report- My BFF drove to Indianapolis from Chicago Saturday evening, June 7th, to meet my flight and then visit my mom and my sister in Bloomington. My BFF was in baggage claim waiting for me. We threw my one bag into the trunk and headed south. It soon became apparent that there was no way to get to Bloomington that did not involve a bass boat or canoe and possibly scuba equipment. If you who live in the area, you will remember the 100 year flood of 2008. Yes, it was THAT day. We scored a LaQuinta room near the Indianapolis airport for the night and I ended up going back to Chicago with her because the roads were still not open the next day (Sunday).
BOOKING THE SEPT 2008 TRIP: Monday came, the roads were still not open, and my BFF had to go to work. So there I was, bored and alone, so I did what any good Diser would do? Sign on! My BFF is the opposite of a geek, so I fired up her Windows 95 computer, signed onto her dial up account, and started to check e-mail. There it was an email alert for a round trip SEA to MCO for $179! In September. I have to tell you, that February 2009 trip had just seemed to be getting farther and farther away, so just for the heck of it I peeked at the flights. I expected nothing to coordinate with the buses and ferries (there is no way to get to or from the airport during certain hours). There was one flight only at that price and it was perfect!!! Leave late on Thursday, back early on Tuesday. Hmm I next logged on to the Disney site to see rack rates at Pop Century. I bet youre thinking FREE DINING. But this trip would have to be solo and lean. For the difference between full rack rate with free dining and great AAA room only rate, I can eat Oatmeal to go and Ramen, with CS lunch in a park every day for a lot less. Okay, for five nights (there was only 1 flight going and coming for the fare), I was close, but not quite ready to commit. Then it hits me Get an AP! That would allow me access EVERY DAY for my 2 week February-March trip, plus save my parking fees The calculator was SMOKING!!! I could do it! So I did it! (Later, when the AP rates came out for Pop, I rebooked to an even better rate!). Just as I finished the booking, my sister called to tell me the roads were open. Talk about pixie dust!! I had a great visit with my mom and sister (except the next day when I finally made it to Bloomington we had to take mom to her sisters funeral, but thats a whole other story!).
The Trip Report I want to write:
The September 2008 trip was short, sweet, and spectacular! Then my niece was married (without much notice) in Fredericksburg, VA in October.
That now brings us to my upcoming trip - the one for which I vow to write a trip report. On Friday evening, November 7th, 2008, I was checking the flight schedules and timeshare reservations for the February trip when I discovered two weeks of exchanges for a one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, the last day being the exact day my AP would expire. Cosmic forces? Oh yea! Nearly all the exchanges on Interval International for DVC are studios or single weeks. I had been watching for just this opportunity since 2002. And there it was. Yep, had to book it! This was the only time I booked with the conviction that air fare would follow. Believe it will and be ready to receive when it does. The next morning I got the call to come home to bury Mom.
After burying my mother I took two weeks to help my sister list the house for sale and begin to put the estate affairs in order. Because I was not sure how long I would be needed, I did not have a return flight booked (I was right up on Thanksgiving week) so I drove my Moms car home from Indiana to Vashon, WA, arriving Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Oh yea, there was also the four part time jobs to keep up with. Thankfully, all four are contract work with very flexible time, (part of which can be done on the internet) or all this cosmic energy would be for naught!
Then we had the worst snow storm EVER just before Christmas. No last minute shopping for anything, or deliveries! Snow is extremely rare in the Seattle area, and it almost NEVER lasts more than a day, so there is no equipment for roads, nor are there things like de-icer or snow shovels in the stores! Luckily, I could walk to the grocery or it would have been much worse!
I totally forgot about the September booking until I was checking reservations for the February trip well after the first of the year and found 2 round trip nonstop tickets for $184 each, and the fare was available ONLY on the exact days of my trip.
So lets review the cosmic movements of pixie dust
(1) The BFF Perfect WDW trip December 2007, where I receive a call regarding my elderly mother in Indiana, which led to
(2) Search for air fare to Indiana to visit elderly mother and I also found affordable fare to (ahem) company convention in Orlando in February 2009
(3) Indiana trip June 2008 (and the unexpected aunts funeral trip) results in flood delays and boredom, which uncovers the cosmic forces to book a WDW trip in September 2008 and the purchase of an AP.
4) Checking reservations in November for our February trip I found two weeks at Saratoga Springs on our timeshare exchange website and booked them!
(5) The utterly dismal winter 2008, burying my mother and dealing with horrific weather and economic conditions, balancing four jobs, plus getting through probate for Moms estate when
(6) Checking of schedules and reservations for the February 2009 trip reveals 2 roundtrip nonstop direct flights Seattle to MCO for just $184 each for our exact dates at Saratoga Springs September 11-25, 2009.
(7) Moms house was not shown even once all winter, then on June 7th, we accepted an offer. Please notice the June 7th a year to the day I couldnt get home due to floodwaters.
(8) The estate should be settled bythe end of the year and I'm leaving September 11th for WDW!!
Giving and receiving joy and sorrow hot and cold good and bad I cannot imagine getting through this past year without the truckloads of pixie dust to balance the many challenges. So what do all yall think? Should I write a Trip Report?
