TRIP CANCELLED...The "we're not reeeeally planning a trip" pre-trip report...

[rottiemom]

Ok, your PTR Rocks! I am subbing.

Hi Tiggersam, and welcome!

Your neighbors sound like absolute train wrecks! We have an old drunk guy living across from us... he just falls down alot though.

So basically you have theatre outside of your window too?

I swear, these people...I keep telling my husband that we're obviously not scary enough & we need to work on that .

 

[rottiemom]

Glad to hear the mother called the cops!

As am I but at the same time it's like they call the cops instead of actually being parents YKWIM? Instead of trying to reign in the bad behaviour before it escalates it's like "OK, not my problem...let the cops deal with it".

We were having problems with teens hanging out in the conservation lot behind us. We know they have a fire pit, which we have brush fires occuring all around this area. My neighbor's daughter heard they have a mattress back there. So two weeks ago there are several kids back there, so my neighbor calls the cops. The sheriff's deputy brings all the kids out, makes them call their parents to come get them and arrests one! Haven't seen them back there again.

OMG that's scary, especially with the potential for fires. Calling the cops was the BEST thing that your neighbor could have done.

Finding packets in my yard would freak me out, especially having a young one!

And this is what makes me crazy . Keep your travelling mess away from my son! Actually what makes me craziest is the whole "nope, not my kids" attitude. If it were me I would have WANTED that sort of head's up.

OK, actually what's REALLY making me craziest is the fact that I'm turning into that crazy, "get your kids off of my lawn" lady .

Icing on the cake is the parents, though. The father spends most of his time sitting in his car (it must be too noisy inside the house). Day & night, with the radio on. When night rolls around the lights on the car go on & shine directly into our LR. I'm at the point where I want to put reflective paper on the windows so that the lights will shine back into the car.

So it's a toss up...if there isn't an unruly pack of kids outside it's the creepy guy in the car. Welcome to suburbia!

Meanwhile, JMskinner, you bad influence you ! I went to Office Depot with my better half & found myself eyeing the DSLRs specifically with you in mind . You had to go & plant that seed, didn't you?

But I was strong (and broke) and only managed to leave with a 4 pack of mini Sharpies that were in the dollar bin. These are the perfect size to fit in the spiral of the index card pad that has all of the vacation vitals in it & that was my palm sized lifesaver for last year's trip.

One thing I do need to think about is autograph books. While on line for the character meet & greet frenzy at Epcot last year my son noticed that eeeeeveryone had books that the characters were signing & started asking (complaining) why he didn't have one . Well maybe because mommy didn't think that you'd even care about meeting the characters, much less getting their autographs.

Anyway, this has now got me thinking that I'll need to get him a little autograph book & pen. Maybe start thinking about making him a little gift basket for the trip.

Last night on the way home I was talking to my husband about our anniversary. Tomorrow marks 15 years of wedded bliss for us (ah, it seems like only yesterday we were getting our tattoos-as-wedding-presents and trying to find a place where you could hire a kilt 2 days after St Patrick's day). Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner & my husband suggested that, since it was my anniversary too, maybe we should go out? Our son then pipes up from the backseat:

"you can't go out to dinner because we need to save our money to pay for our vacation".


You know that he was just waiting for an excuse to say that!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

The cops were over at our neighbor's house AGAIN yesterday. They seem to get called over there every few months. It's like theatre. The kids are completely out of control & the parents make no effort. Any attempt at talking to the parents, like the time one of our cars was shot up with paintballs, is met with either "well you'll have to talk to the kids yourself" (um, no, try again) or, like the time they decided to have a party on the front lawn until 2AM & leave their empty beer bottles (and dime bags) on our front lawn "well I told them to stop but they didn't". Amazing! BTW- the best part of the dime bag incident was that when I mentioned it the response was "oh there's no way they were doing that, if they were smoking pot I would have smelled it". It's only a matter of time before I snap, I swear.

Anyway, I'm sitting on the loveseat, putting off starting dinner, when the dog gets up to go to the window (she's 75 pounds of goof and does nothing smoothly or quietly ). I notice that a mini van has pulled up in front of the house across the street & that three stooges have gotten out & are wheeling a massive flat screen TV out of it. They're not doing a very good job of it and I'm waiting for the inevitable crash (waiting with glee, I'm ashamed to say...these neighbors are WRETCHED). The mother pokes her head out of the door & progress stops, there's a huddle & then the TV is wheeled back into the clown car & everyone disappears.

I get up to make dinner, leaving the dog and her empty thought bubble on sentry and as I'm bringing dinner to the table I notice that there are now 3 cop cars lined up in front of the house. Fantastic. They're there for a good half hour. The dog sits calmly at the window throughout all of this.

Of course I have no idea what happened but my guess is that the TV was stolen. I'm assuming the mother called the cops.

And here I thought that WE were going to be the ones bringing down the property values in the neighborhood !

Yikes!!! I had that theatre of joy when I was a student nurse and staying in a flat in Govan (rough area of Glasgow), it was a veritable cornucopia of theatre some nights! We had a stabbing up the end of the road one night, another night there was a shooting, there was a drug factory in a flat across the street that got raided numerous times. One particularly fine night 4 police cars screamed to a stop outside our tenement, 8 police officers jumped out, ran into the tenement opposite and hauled out a guy with a knife who'd been threatening his mother - he then started crying and shouting "Mammy!!! don't let them hurt me!".......aaaahhh - happy days!

As am I but at the same time it's like they call the cops instead of actually being parents YKWIM? Instead of trying to reign in the bad behaviour before it escalates it's like "OK, not my problem...let the cops deal with it".


OMG that's scary, especially with the potential for fires. Calling the cops was the BEST thing that your neighbor could have done.


And this is what makes me crazy . Keep your travelling mess away from my son! Actually what makes me craziest is the whole "nope, not my kids" attitude. If it were me I would have WANTED that sort of head's up.

OK, actually what's REALLY making me craziest is the fact that I'm turning into that crazy, "get your kids off of my lawn" lady .

Icing on the cake is the parents, though. The father spends most of his time sitting in his car (it must be too noisy inside the house). Day & night, with the radio on. When night rolls around the lights on the car go on & shine directly into our LR. I'm at the point where I want to put reflective paper on the windows so that the lights will shine back into the car.

So it's a toss up...if there isn't an unruly pack of kids outside it's the creepy guy in the car. Welcome to suburbia!

Meanwhile, JMskinner, you bad influence you ! I went to Office Depot with my better half & found myself eyeing the DSLRs specifically with you in mind . You had to go & plant that seed, didn't you?

But I was strong (and broke) and only managed to leave with a 4 pack of mini Sharpies that were in the dollar bin. These are the perfect size to fit in the spiral of the index card pad that has all of the vacation vitals in it & that was my palm sized lifesaver for last year's trip.

One thing I do need to think about is autograph books. While on line for the character meet & greet frenzy at Epcot last year my son noticed that eeeeeveryone had books that the characters were signing & started asking (complaining) why he didn't have one . Well maybe because mommy didn't think that you'd even care about meeting the characters, much less getting their autographs.

Anyway, this has now got me thinking that I'll need to get him a little autograph book & pen. Maybe start thinking about making him a little gift basket for the trip.

Last night on the way home I was talking to my husband about our anniversary. Tomorrow marks 15 years of wedded bliss for us (ah, it seems like only yesterday we were getting our tattoos-as-wedding-presents and trying to find a place where you could hire a kilt 2 days after St Patrick's day). Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner & my husband suggested that, since it was my anniversary too, maybe we should go out? Our son then pipes up from the backseat:

"you can't go out to dinner because we need to save our money to pay for our vacation".


You know that he was just waiting for an excuse to say that!

I find I'm turning into my mother which is very scary!
Our two say things like that - we can't afford that - we're saving for the holiday. The way they go on you'd think we were in the poor house!

Di x

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Oh No!!!!! I knew it!!!! Nina Im so sorry - I've killed your PTR!!!!!!!
Please come back!!!!!

Di x

 

[rottiemom]

Oh No!!!!! I knew it!!!! Nina Im so sorry - I've killed your PTR!!!!!!!
Please come back!!!!!

Ak! Must...pull...Di's...keyboard out of my back and...post...to...PTR!



No, no, Di...I'm not trying to give you a complex. Life popped up again. Ever since last fall my mother's health has been giving us (and her, obviously) trouble. Thankfully her mind is still sharp as a tack (and about as painful a times) but her body refuses to cooperate. She's a very independant woman that has always done for everyone and has never asked for a thing. She's also as stubborn as the day is long (I swear the only thing that kept her walking for the last few years is because she was too mule headed to stop even if it took her an hour to get around the corner). So trying to do for her can be a real pleasure .

But I've managed to extract myself from life & escape for a little while to the GlowTini on a stick that is my PTR .

The vacation fund is hovering at the 1000$ mark so I'm halfway there at more than 5 months away. Unfortunately we may need a new lawnmower (WHY does the house or car always manage to hear the sound of money being saved?!) and Bill may have finally found a bike for the sidecar. I've told him that the money for that can come out of savings but that the no longer ridden bikes have to be sold* in order to replace that...and any extra goes into the vacation fund!

*I swore that I'd never do that but honestly, he has at least one that he's SAID that he'll never ride again because it's not powerful enough along with 3 untouched project bikes that have basically done nothing but sit & rust for 15 years since he dragged them home. He ONLY rides the British bikes now so it's time to re-home the Japanese ones with families that will love them & appreciate them.

Plus there's no more room in the garage! Seriously. It's a 1 car garage and there are at least...OMG...10 bikes crammed in there & that's not including the ones in the shed or my Norton (which is in various places around the house waiting for attention).

Anyway, enough bikes, back to the trip.

I'm at an impasse where I'm trying not to plan too much & have my hopes crushed if the trip doesn't happen. But it's just GOT to happen and I'm going to find some way to make sure of it. Once I get close to 1500$ saved I can book the flights...so then the whole trip is real .

Meanwhile in my trying not to plan too much zone I'm trying to figure out something that I didn't deal with last year- character meals! I didn't think that my son would care a bit about the characters but oh, how wrong I was . So, now I'm at a loss as to which meal to do & where.

Tusker house sounds perfect but I simply can't eat breakfast 1st thing. Especially if I'm going to be walking around AK afterwards . They'd better just throw me in with the hippos & be done with it. Basically, any character breakfast is out...it's just not going to work for us. Lunches or dinners are what it's gotta be.

If Garden Grill still did lunch that would be ideal...but they just do dinner and my better half wants to go back to Coral Reef (how can I say no?).

So now I've got to research character meals .

 

[rottiemom]

Yikes!!! I had that theatre of joy when I was a student nurse and staying in a flat in Govan (rough area of Glasgow), it was a veritable cornucopia of theatre some nights! We had a stabbing up the end of the road one night, another night there was a shooting, there was a drug factory in a flat across the street that got raided numerous times. One particularly fine night 4 police cars screamed to a stop outside our tenement, 8 police officers jumped out, ran into the tenement opposite and hauled out a guy with a knife who'd been threatening his mother - he then started crying and shouting "Mammy!!! don't let them hurt me!".......aaaahhh - happy days!

Hey, good times! Just think of all of the money you saved...never wanting to leave your flat . It sounds terrifying, actually, and I'm sure that it kept your hospital very busy .

We came home last friday to find a bus parked in front of the neighbor's. And I'm talking bus like a full sized, Greyhound bus. NOT what you expect to see when you live in a residential neighborhood with NO bus routes in the area. Amber raced up to us when we got home, then ran back & collapsed, panting, in front of the couch. She must have been barking herself hoarse at that thing (well it was parked right in front of "her" window )

 

[jmskinner]

We came home last friday to find a bus parked in front of the neighbor's. And I'm talking bus like a full sized, Greyhound bus. NOT what you expect to see when you live in a residential neighborhood with NO bus routes in the area. Amber raced up to us when we got home, then ran back & collapsed, panting, in front of the couch. She must have been barking herself hoarse at that thing (well it was parked right in front of "her" window )

This reminded me of the time our alarm went off. New puppy in the house, a Boxer, and we had always been able to use a standard baby gate to contain the dogs in a hallway. Well, one day the Boxer cleared the gate, setting off the alarm. I missed the call from the security company, so they sent the police. When I got home, my poor dog Mozart was exhausted and was just laying on the floor. I just imagined his thought, "Mom, I'm glad your home. There was all this loud noise, and then a couple of men were knocking at the door and walking around the house!"

Reading about your DH reminds me of my stepdad. He has an old three wheeler, think it is a 50's police motorcycle, and then a couple of Harley's. He was working in Iraq as a contractor and decided to stay home, but is now tired of being broke, so he is thinking of going back. This is all to support his motorcycle habit, purchasing them and being able to go on rides.

That is fantastic that you have been able to save some money. I understand about trying to save and then something goes wrong. It seems like for us it is the cars and the dogs.

Glad to know Di didn't kill your PTR.

 

[rottiemom]

This reminded me of the time our alarm went off. New puppy in the house, a Boxer, and we had always been able to use a standard baby gate to contain the dogs in a hallway. Well, one day the Boxer cleared the gate, setting off the alarm. I missed the call from the security company, so they sent the police. When I got home, my poor dog Mozart was exhausted and was just laying on the floor. I just imagined his thought, "Mom, I'm glad your home. There was all this loud noise, and then a couple of men were knocking at the door and walking around the house!"

Oh I can just imagine. The nerve, strangers actually IN HIS HOUSE! Mozart (love the name, BTW!) defending the house in your absence & exhausting himself in the process.

We have a park right across from our house & the police had it roped off on Tuesday (they found a suicide there...very sad). Between the police, paramedics, press & then the officers coming to the door to see if anyone could identify the victim...all while we weren't home...and I was convinced that poor Amber barked herself hoarse. I was fully expecting to be greeted by a puppet, all moving mouth but no sounds . She's fine, though.

Reading about your DH reminds me of my stepdad. He has an old three wheeler, think it is a 50's police motorcycle,

Oooh! I wonder if it's a servicar! Does it have a kind of trunk on the back?

and then a couple of Harley's. He was working in Iraq as a contractor and decided to stay home, but is now tired of being broke, so he is thinking of going back. This is all to support his motorcycle habit, purchasing them and being able to go on rides.

Motorcycle habits can be like Disney habits, huh?

As much as I love my bikes I do try to be realistic when it comes to them. When I outgrew my lovely, wonderful cruiser I sold it & put that money towards my lovely Triumph...which I still have. Bill still has the bike that he learned to ride on...and that's fine...but the garage is going to explode. We simply can't cram another bike into it, much less a bike with a sidecar!

Glad to know Di didn't kill your PTR.

Yeah, I'd better run on over to Di's TR & let her know that I'm still alliiiive .

 

[jmskinner]

Yes, it does sort of look like a trunk on the back. It has been redone and when the top pops up, it becomes a seat. The whole "trunk" part is now oak. It is a beautiful bike. I'll see if I can find some pics.

How horrible for that to happen across from your house and in a park. That is very sad.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Nina!

Am glad to know you're still here! Hope your mum keeps well!

You sound like you're doing well with the saving (I'm whispering just now because I don't want your house to hear ). Stand firm with your DH and the selling of the unridden bikes. Think of the holiday fund!

Have you heard anymore about the bus that appeared across from you? Sounds interesting to put it mildly! It sounds as if Amber had a tough day! Scary about the incident at the park though!

The whole flat in Govan thing actually sounds worse than it was! Most of the time it was fairly peaceful!

Now I'll need to come up with some lunch or dinner Character meals for you! The Crystal Palace does breakfast, lunch and dinner as does Chef Mickey's. Does Tusker House just do character breakfasts?
The Step Sisters and Lady Tremaine are at 1900 Park Faire for dinner and they are hysterical!
Or could you do dinner at Garden Grill and dinner at Coral Reef? Not on the same night obviously......unless you were very hungry!
Whispering Canyon Cafe is great for kids, no characters, but still great fun!

Di x

 

[jmskinner]

So, I'm digging through pics to put on Facebook and saw this one, so this is my step-dads three wheeler I was telling you about:

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

how did I miss this? I'm subbing.......

 

[rottiemom]

JM- yes, it's a servicar! Goooorgeous, too. Look at that beautiful oak tail and I spy the lovely '50's knucklehead engine. It must be hand shift, too. Divine bike and I can tell from the grin on the passenger that it's a blast to ride on .

Hi, OhioDisneyMom! Welcome aboard...I'll try to keep it fun .

Di- the whole character meal thing just baffles me. It looks like it will probably be Chef Mickeys but when? Having an idea of what the park hours were would really help me make my mind up about things. Actually another thing that's hindering my planning is not knowing if my little guy will have AM or PM kindergarten...I don't find that out until June. So I can't even think about booking flights (which will make the trip really & truly real) until then. Last year Jet Blue kept on offering crazy special after crazy special after I had booked my flights so far in advance so I couldn't take advantage of them. I hope that they do the same this year since I haven't booked yet.

Well it's nothing to do with WDW but Bill has dragged another bike home, this one a '98 Triumph Thunderbird Sport in screaming, arrest me red. The bike is specifically for hauling the sidecar. Everyone is excited about this! Unfortunately the Triumph specific sidecar gurus seem to be located ont he west coast so we're bouncing up & down waiting for correspondence & info on what we need in order to get the outfit set up. Supposedly once we get our hands on the proper sub frame it's a question of a few bolts, about 7 extra hands & some adjusting . Then it's the whole learning curve because driving a sidecar is nothing like riding a motorcycle. Fun! I can't wait to go grocery shopping with it.

Meanwhile our vacation is pretty much assured as the better half doesn't dare deny us now that he's got a new toy to play with. Good thing I'm so supportive .

So far no more busses...or bodies in the neighborhood, but the week is just beginning ...

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

.

Meanwhile our vacation is pretty much assured as the better half doesn't dare deny us now that he's got a new toy to play with. Good thing I'm so supportive .

So far no more busses...or bodies in the neighborhood, but the week is just beginning ...

Hi Nina,

I like the way your mind works!

Good to know it's safe....... so far!

the character meals can be tricky - the only complaint I have about WDW is that there isn't a character meal for boys. Plenty for girls and younger children, but other than Mickey & Co (who are fab), there just isn't any ones aimed more to boys. I think a Pirates theme, or even a Toy Story themed meal would be great!

Di x

 

[rottiemom]

I'm horrified to see that it's been over a week since I've even logged onto the DIS much less posted to my PTR !

We've been very busy with the latest addition to the stable, trying to get minor issues with it sorted, getting the sidecra bits ready & getting the sub frame made & ordered.

Here's a little, not at all WDW related aside about the old time motorcycle community. You get so used to living in the world the way it is now, full of backbiting & mistrust, that you forget that there are people like this around.

When my husband called me to tell me that the deal was done I contacted a company out in CA (the other side of the country) in order to see if they made a sub frame for the Triumph Thunderbird Sport. I got a reply saying that information was en route, then a day later received a phone call from the owner. It turns out that the sidecar we have is one that he made about 50 years ago. He had mailed us a huge packet of information on sidecar mounting & also passed our names on to the guy that now made the sub frames for these bikes, telling him to give us a good deal. Immediately upon receiving the packet of info we called the sub frame manufacturer (in Idaho) who was expecting our call & gave us a price. He said that he'd start the work right away. No money had changed hands at this point (granted we did place a check in the mail the next day). Last night we received a message from the company in CA, asking for a call back so that they could send us more sidecar mounting info. It's all the pure excitement of seeing another sidecar on the road, of helping someone get their bike sorted out & the challenge of helping to do something that isn't usually done. It's very exciting and very interesting...like a giant puzzle. Meanwhile we're bouncing around, waiting for the sub frame to arrive so that we can put everything together and THEN learn how to pilot it because driving a sidecar is very different from riding a motorcycle. I can't wait to use it for grocery shopping .

Anyway, back to WDW...my savings is now at 1240, which more than covers the hotel & tickets. 800$ more to go to cover the plane fare, MNSSHP & extras but even without the new bike being purchased my savings makes the trip a done deal. Pretty impressive for about 3 months of determination but the current total is a result of a scaled back grocery budget, not eating out at all and putting any extra cash into the trip fund. That's in addition to some money from selling off some used CDs (seriously...can we just burn the Simon & Garfunkle stuff? My husbands taste was dismal until he met me ) and old gold (that was the only time in my life that I wish I had preferred gold to silver). I still have more stuff to get rid of & have found a children's consignment shop so that hopeully I can rehome some of the larger items.

The killer is that my little guy starts kindergarten in the fall and I need to know if he has AM or PM classes before I book our flights. And, of course, I can't plan out our schedule & by extension ADRs until I know when our flights are. Fingers crossed that I find out when his classes are before the 90+10 day! I'm already pulling him out of school for 2 days & I'd rather not make it 3.

As far as character meals I think that we'll go with Chef Mickey's for dinner, the only question is what day?

I definitely want to go back to Boma because we looooved it and I'd like to try for a seating when they first open. I know that it sounds ridiculous but last year we had a 4:30 PM seating. We were among the first people seated. I had read that going right when they open wasn't a good idea because the food was dried out from sitting but we didn't encounter anything like that. What we did encounter was absolutely no line so we were able to go down the buffett, picking and choosing with ease. By the time we decided to make a second pass the line was massive. But, since we already knew what was where it was a snap to navigate, get what we wanted & head back to the table.

Tentative schedule so far since we're supposed to arrive on the Wednesday but I don't know what time that will be. So let's leave Wednesday blank.

Thursday- DHS. We did a half day here last time & I think that this merits a full day. Maybe we'll do Chef Mickey's for an early dinner then back to DHS in the evening? Or maybe this should be an MK day?

Friday- Bright & early to AK, then MNSSHP in the evening. This is going to be an all counter service day.

Saturday- Whatever park we didn't do on Thursday. Do I dare attempt MK on a Saturday again?

Sunday- possibly Epcot, unless the little guy is agitating to go back to another park.

Monday- if we get a later flight home then this will definitely be Epcot, leaving Sunday wide open. I'd like to try to do HDDR on Sunday.

Oh crap, I just remembered! I wanted to book the steam train tour for my better half one day. And that day was going to be a day that we spent at the MK so I need to plan accordingly. We're not bothering with park hoppers...it would be a waste of money for us. I'd better go look into the steam train tour schedule.

More later...

 

[jmskinner]

That is sooo cool about the sidecar. You will have to post pics once it is done. I love hearing about the author of TR's and PTR's. So, go off topic all you want.

Your plans look great. You are planning on getting to DHS early right? You have to ride Toy Story Mania. FP's are gone quickly.

Funny, some restaurants you want to get there early and others you don't. WCC we learned you don't want to be one of the first there.

I think Chef Mickey's would be good anytime. We did breakfast and then didn't even go to a park afterwards. We ended up at DTD for about an hour and then crashed at the hotel.

 

[rottiemom]

That is sooo cool about the sidecar. You will have to post pics once it is done. I love hearing about the author of TR's and PTR's. So, go off topic all you want.

Oh I'm so glad that somebody else is enjoying it! Right now there's more familial nonsense going on (in addition to some tangential friend related stupidity) so focusing on the sidecar is my current happy place .

Your plans look great. You are planning on getting to DHS early right? You have to ride Toy Story Mania. FP's are gone quickly.

We did TSMM last year & had a blast. Honestly I don't understand WHY everyone is so rabid about it but it was a lot of fun & we'll definitely do it again. But yes, we got to TSMM about 10 minutes after opening (we got lost en route...don't ask ) and stand by was already 45 minutes while FP were already at noon. Crazy!

I'm a big fan of getting up & out early. Last year we made it to DHS before rope drop & there was still a crowd (all headed for TSMM it seems) but it's amazing how the crowd pretty much vanishes as soon as you can get into the park. I'd like to aim for rope drop each day on this trip. We're up at 5AM anyway for work...sleeping until 6:30 or 7 is like sleeping in.

What made it easy for us last year was having the coffee maker in the room (oh how I wish I hadn't left that behind) and some snacks in my bag. None of us are hungry first thing so it's shower, coffee, up & out. Then when the hungries hit a few hours later we're already in the park & I have snacks on hand.

And seriously, when it's 9,000 degrees outside it's much easier to get ready. Wet hair in a ponytail, no makeup, slap on some sunscreen as you walk to the bus. Simple! Sunglasses to hide the suitcases under my eyes and we're set .

Plus, for us, it worked out better to get up & out early & have out fun. If (when) we started to drag in the middle of the day we took a break & always had the option to return to the park later (but we never did). I think that doing AK the morning of MNSSHP should work pretty well & give us plenty of time to relax between parks. Can you believe my son is agitating to ride Dinosaur again ?!

I think Chef Mickey's would be good anytime. We did breakfast and then didn't even go to a park afterwards. We ended up at DTD for about an hour and then crashed at the hotel.

Chef Mickey's sounds like a good way to catch the "important" characters. Thank God I don't have to worry about trying to book CRT .

More later...I'm hoping that the sub frame arrives this week! Whee!

 

[mdsouth]

... Blame it on the fact that we never managed to find Club Cool. Or go on Soarin'. Or find a single Dole Whip. Or...oh we just need to go back!
Because shortly after we returned home things started to go wrong. Nothing tragic, or life threatening but a lot of unpleasant reality all at once. There was suddenly no time for levity, fun or esacaping to the DIS. Then hours get cut back at work, meaning that money gets cut back. Expenses have already been cut back as far as they can.

I was reluctant to even start a PTR because that would make it even worse if we had to cancel...but then I found disposable plastic ponchos on sale for 50 cents each and a I realized that it was a sign from the shopping gods that writing a PTR would only serve to make me THAT MUCH MORE determined to make this trip happen. The glowtini on a stick, if you will.

Obviously, this trip to WDW in September is my carrot (or my glowtini). Hopefully I don't end up wanting to beat myself with the stick...

I can't believe how much we think alike on some things! The comments above that you made are some of the exact same things that I think about too! We last went in 2005 in May right after Soarin opened. The main thing I wanted to do was ride Soarin but due to my DD having a major meltdown we never went on it.

I also have wanted to try a Dole Whip having read about them here so much.
Club Cool - we missed it too, so now we have to return so I can pull the Beverly prank on my DH and DS.

Unfinished TR? Yep, we have that in common too!

I have been plotting and planning on getting back to WDW every since we returned from our trip in May 2005.

I booked with the Buy 4 Get 3 Free deal back in early November, with the thought that we might have to cancel it. This would be if something happened to make us think DH's company might lay off people. Right now, they are working four days a week instead of five. So, it depends on the company's situation. I have thought about starting a PTR numerous times since I get on the DIS almost daily and enjoy reading other people's TRs.

I actually started my own PTR (my first) just two days ago. It is called I AM INSANE - Week of July 4th (or close to that) I can't remember my exact title! Pathetic I know! I don't even know how to put a link to it in my signature. Oh well, check it out if you have the inclination.


A BIG DISNEY CHEER FOR YOU for being able to save the funds to pay for your vacation! Way to Go! I am excited not only for you and your family but also for me, because I have only just found your PTR and I want to follow it -- until you FINISH your Post Trip Report! I capitalized the word finish not to be rude but to encourage you to finish the report! Maybe we should encourage each other in that respect. Tee Hee

 

[tink1957]

I can't believe I missed your PTR till now. We are going Sept 19-28 & staying at CSR. Hope we see you there.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Nina,

I was getting worried there, I just seem to have a knack of killing threads stone dead. I think I'm making fun witty urbane comments and then.............nothing.

Plans sound good so far - HDDR sounds good. I could never persuade Grumpy to give it a try - he point blank refuses to go to 'hillbilly hell' after we went to Trails end last holiday. Charming isn't he?

Melissa can probably give you a better idea of MK on a Saturday, we did go on a sat, but it was in Nov and it was OK. fantasyland was busy, but it's always really busy!

Di x