Trip Commando Anonymous – A 7 Step Plan w/Pics (The End)

[UtahMama]

MINNIE!!! OMGosh you are so funny! I love the Miss Manners referece, "Gentle Reader"! Also, is the he's "a kicker" from Reno 911? Or are both of those just a coincidence and I watch too much tv. Your Thrifty rental car story is maddening when you didn't even get an appology! Sheesh!
Keep it up! You're dooing a great job! Are you gonna post pictures?
Plus, what is DDE? It's not on the handy abbreviation chart. Disney Dinning Expedition? hehehe!

 

[heaven2dc]

when what!!!??? Oh My - don't tell me he couldn't go swimming!!!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Minnie, you tease! Don't make up excuses like having to work, or some such silly thing! Tell you boss you have avid readers waiting to hear your story, so work takes a back seat!

 

[horsegirl]

Great trippie, Minnie! And you earned that pixie dust as it is clear you are a sweetheart! Kudos to you for all the hard work you have put into your son. I know all too well the struggles with ADHD! Your mom sounds like a gem, and you are too. I am reading....

 

[Minnie]

Karla - Sorry….. I’m almost ready to post the next section though

UtahMama - Let’s see. Yes on the Miss Manners – I’m a historical reader nut – Nope on the Reno 911 as I’ve never heard of that one. My son is a kicker and a slapper and a wiggler from way back. He is never restful even in sleep. Nope no apology from Thrifty and believe me it gets worse later than better. Oh and on the DDE you were close very close it is the Disney Dining Experience. This is available to Florida residents (which I’m not and to AP holders which I was until 7/19/06

Heaven2dc – You guessed it well part of it. That part is coming up soon.

Marita – I wish I could. Hmm do you think that the excuse of I need a refresher for my TR would work for another quick vacation excuse???

Horsegirl – Thank you soooo much for reading and posting!! Thankfully my son is getting older and it does get better errr different anyway. I am thankful everyday for him as he was a preemie that almost didn’t make it. His problem are minor bumps in the road that we work through the best we can everyday and then we celebrate like crazy the victories because they are so hard to come by. Oh and my mom is the best mom ever and yep will be featured in this TR regularly. I wouldn’t be where I am without her!

 

[Minnie]

Gentle reader when we last departed we were standing with my son has just nearly stepped in to the water when the life guards yelled, “all out of the water!!!” I wish you could have seen the shock and dismay on my son’s face. I’m quite certain that he would have won an Emmy

Now the sky had been looking just a tad grey since we arrived at MCO. We always make a game of who can spot the first palm tree. Okay I better step back a moment and explain this. I once made an innocent comment that I couldn’t wait to get back to Florida to hug a palm tree. Last October my WDW trip got cancelled due to a family trip to Texas so my DF actually found me a palm tree in Texas. I’ve got that hugging picture somewhere…..

Anywho as I was busy gazing with wonder at all the palm trees my mom made a comment about the sky looking just a teensy bit grey. At the time I never really gave it much thought as an afternoon in Florida – when hasn’t the sky looked a teensy bit grey

After the life guards shocked my son with those “horrible words” I had a flash back to the brush off I gave those comments. I know never brush off a comment by ones mother. Had I not done that during my teenage years I might not at 31 still be a college student….. It’s grad school but still school is school…..

Anywho it had gotten a little cooler and listening to the other guests it sounded like lightening was the problem so we figured the pool gig was up for the day. As we were trying to console my son and come up with something else to do a rumor started to fly. Now this rumor flew quicker than those on the community board at the Dis so I knew something was up. Finally my mom in all her wisdom got the courage to ask the life guard what the real problem was and was told – pool maintenance. Now gentle reader I’m not quite sure what that meant and too be very honest I didn’t want to know. We just knew that it would be closed for 30 minutes.

You would have thought a light beamed down from the heavens on my son’s face at that. The pool would be reopening and we were staying. I thought about suggesting coming back later as those APs were sitting up in my room smoldering with the lack of use but I gave in. We would wait…..

Now have you ever waited with a pre-teen that had only dipped a toe into a pool but not yet gotten in for 30 minutes??? Those 30 minutes felt longer than the wait of all those months sitting in Iowa instead of Florida….. Finally the life guard called “pool open” and I can be fairly certain that my son was the first in but since he was such a blur it was really hard to tell

This was actually sort of a lucky break not that my son will ever believe that one. The pool had been packed but by this point the crowds were gone and we were able to enjoy the pool area. My mom had decided to just soak up the atmosphere and maybe dip her feet in the water so we left her to it and my son and I enjoyed our first time at SAB. If you’ve never been it was worth the price of the admission ($189 at night at the AP rate) as I never stepped foot in a water park all week. It has a great slide, whirl pool, hot tubs, lazy river, and pool games that kept my son occupied while we were there. I even gave the pool slide a try since the lines were nonexistent and have to say it was pretty good considering it’s a resort pool. My biggest surprise was the depth of the lazy river as I’ve never seen a resort pool that went up to 8’ deep. Kind of a liability risk for Disney considering the current

Anyhoo we all enjoyed SAB even though my mom only went in tippie toe deep. We finally drug my son out of the water as time was a wasting and the APs were calling my name.

Next up: An Illuminating Evening

 

[tink38]

Great report, Minnie! I can't wait to hear about the UCD!!!!

 

[MermaidsMom]

I am loving this and need to subscribe to be sure not to miss a thing!

 

[missj1975]

Great report. Can't wait for the rest

 

[Minnie]

Gentle reader I last left you as we were dragging my son out of the water by his hair follicles (not really j/k). We followed the maze back out of SAB and made a quick trip to our room to change for a quick evening at Epcot of Illuminations.

This is where those lovely left over from the past trip APs were going to come in handy. Now I’m an accountant so there is no way in the “world” I would have wasted a day’s pass to go into Epcot for an hour but with the APs it was like they were going to waste by not going. And I simply couldn’t wait any longer to get inside a park and we were only 5 minutes away by foot from our room. Here the arguments here? I would use them well and often in the coming week

We easily past through the International Gateway and staked out a nice spot along the bridge. It was right next to the area where the desert parties take place and this evening there was one all set up. Now all I can say is that someone planned this very poorly. There was one small table filled with nice pastry options that would have served maybe 20 people. The problem was that there had to have been at least a hundred in this small section! It got a little crazy in there during the wait

This is where we made a newbie error They opened the rope to a lower viewing area and we followed it down like rats on a sinking ship towards the port hole. Our view was blocked considerably so we should have stayed where we were. Oh well it was still a nice evening and this was the closest and best view of Illuminations we have ever had. I just don’t have the patience in the parks to waste time sitting and waiting for a parade or fireworks to start so we rarely get a good viewing opportunity. After all in that couple hour wait we could squeeze in a few more rides

The best part of this particular evening other than those gorgeous fireworks was walking back through the IG while everyone else streamed for the boats and busses. We were back in our room before many even made it around the lake!!! Great location for a park commando – not a great location for one trying to reform but we’ll get to that later

So Step 1 has come to and end. This park commando still has a long way to go before making it through the steps to reform……

Up next Step 2 and an EMH morning at Epcot.

 

[tubachick]

Sounds like I should get ready for some great reading!!!

 

[Minnie]

Gentle reader I have to send out an apology for my mis-step. As I was writing a report for my dining review “Picky Eaters Return to the World” I realized that I made an error on my trip report – so sorry

We didn’t really go straight back to our room following Illuminations. We went back to have the ice cream we skipped out on early in the evening at Beaches ‘n Crème. It was fabulous by the way. If you like peanut butter give the No Way Jose a try – yummy

Okay now that I have made up for my error it is time to start on Step 2.

This was going to be one of those mornings that every trip commando dreams of. Extra Magic Hours at Epcot! Do you know just how much you can get done during that precious hour if you plan it right? I do! Of course now this trip was supposed to be low keyed we’d done the EMH at Epcot in May for the flower show after all. I’m not sure now how it happened by the mystical pull of Future World drug me in again and we hit all of our favorites before lunch!

I set the alarm for 6:30am hoping that Mickey would wake us instead of that obnoxious Stitch but alas it was not to be. Come on Disney haven’t ya ran this into the ground yet?? Bring back the Mickey wake up call! We quickly grabbed showers, pills, caffeine and made the quick dash to Epcot’s IG where those darn APs apparently had smoldered too long and gave us issues as we went through the gate. The CM buzzed us in so I knew that my first stop would be to guest relations to get them activated to use the fast pass machines. This is a major tip here folks. If the CM has to buzz you through the ticket will not spit out a fast pass so make a quick detour and get this fixed pronto!

Our first order of business was Mission Space as that is my son’s favorite ride. I asked my mom to go through the single rider line with him and then wait at the exit as he does this one on his own – once a couple years ago was enough for me and you couldn’t pay mom enough to give it a chance! I then grabbed all the annual passes and headed for guest relations to have them activated for the day and then to grab Test Track fast passes

Now here gentle reader I have to ask – did I do wrong as my son thinks or would you have gone for it too? Okay what I did was once I grabbed the fast passes and confirmed with my mom that they were still over at MS I hopped in the single rider line at TT as the wait time was 5 minutes. This turned into 20 minutes as TT broke down but since I was one of the next ones up I stayed in line. You should’ve seen my son when I came out of Test Track! If his eyes could burn like the Florida sun – well I’d be a lobster! Ah well I explained – you did MS.

I quickly lead our little group away from TT as we had 30 minutes left to wait for them to be valid and a little distance would hopefully cool my son down. What to do what to do??? Well part of the time I spent in line was with a cheerful couple that had just done the non-spinning side of MS and said it was much less intense than even Star Tours so I decided we’d give it a try.

My mom was having none of it and since she is pre-diabetic had mentioned that it was time to stop for food. Stop for food I thought during EMH are you nuts????? I say that I said I thought this as I would never speak it – our probably wouldn’t – sheesh you’d think I was a trip commando or something

I came up with a compromise. I asked mom to head on over to Sunshine Seasons and snag some breakfast for all of us while my son and I rode non-spinning MS. This sounded perfect to mom as she loves to people watch and she’d be able to eat before collapsing – I can be understanding after all come on give me some credit here people.

Son and I headed over to MS and it was still a walk on especially on the non-spinning side. I will say that I survived this experience much better than the spinning side though it will never be a favorite nor anything to do after eating! Motion sickness people beware!

Our fast passes were ready for TT so this trip commando had something to decide. Can you gentle reader imagine what it might be

 

[tubachick]

 

[Minnie]

Ah gentle reader I last left you where this trip commando was in the middle of making a tough decision. Let’s see if you passed the mini quiz – did you answer whether to run over to Test Track with the fast passes or to return to mom and breakfast? If so then you won the lovely door prize

Well what was a reforming trip commando to do??? Of course she chose breakfast after all this is her mother sitting with breakfast after all – would even the most daring trip commando manage to make any other decision – I think not – well most of the time anyways

So son and I quick stepped it back through the maze over to the Land pavilion. I could easily see mom holding down a table with breakfast in the Sunshine Season area so I sent son down to meet her while I ran over to the fast passes section of Soaring. Hey this is a reforming trip commando I shouldn’t have to do it all in one step should I

The line for Soaring had already reached over 50 minutes long so I knew I had made the right decision. Mom had finished her breakfast and spent an enjoyable time people watching while waiting. Son and I quickly ate our breakfast (see Picky Eaters Return to the World for review) and I coaxed mom into walking clear back over to the Test Track location to use those fast passes before they expired.

We swept easily by the crowd waiting for their fast passes to become valid and walked right into the room playing the intro movie as the doors were about ready to shut. Talk about timing! Now here is where Disney fails in my opinion only. For some reason people just don’t get that they only put X number of people in the little room so your wait no matter if you are the 1st or the last person out of the room will vary by a couple minutes at the most. Sheesh people get a grip! Since they do not get this why Disney doesn’t have lines inside these cues is beyond me. We were nearly stampeded over get out of the video room and then managed to get a front row seat in the car with a working video monitor – score! We took our convertible ride and then had to scope out “my car” and have pictures taken with the Pontiac Solstice which by the way I have driven and let me tell you it is a sweet ride

After this we had some time remaining before our Soaring fast pass so we headed over to (cripes I can’t think of the name – Ellen and the Dinosaurs) and my son enjoyed the dinos while my mom and I enjoyed a quick nap in air conditioned comfort!

By this time we were in a quandary. Our fast pass window was open but it was also nearly time for lunch over in Canada. What of what is this trip commando to do? Food or use the fast pass??? This time since mom was stuck with us and not securely waiting with the food it was an easy choice – Soaring!!!!!!!!! We crisscrossed Future World once again and headed back into the Land pavilion only this time to actually ride Soaring. We walked by a line that was nearly 70 minutes long and was Soaring off into the California sky within about 5 minutes as we agreed to be split up into different rows. This was my first time in an aisle seat and my phobia about heights about did me in so I will admit to enjoying this a tad bit less as it is a long way down.
It was now time for our ADR at Le Cellier so we hot footed it across Future World and into Canada where we just barely made our ADR time. I was sooooo glad to have made the ressie though as they were turning away groups at the door as they were booked for the entire week! This was an interesting lunch to say it mildly so if you care to know why check out (Picky Eaters Return to the World) on the restaurant board for both a review and a min rant

Unfortunately it is now time for me to leave you once again Gentle Reader. Up next we have another decision to make – drag family through the heat at Epcot or swim at SAB. Can you guess the decision of the trying to reform park commando?????

 

[goofyfan-12]

Great reading...

My sister and I were at WDW during Spring Break. She laughed at all my pre-trip planning and was extremely critical of my binder of information.

It was me who got the last laugh when she started referring to the planning binder at the end of our first day as the "bible" because it was so helpful. Guess I got the last (and best) laugh of that trip...

Keep the chapters coming... you have an audience who is waiting...

 

[MN Dis Fans]

This is a great report! I want to try to bring my mom but it just wouldn't work as the other members of my family are commandos and she would be more like a snail.
Can't wait to read more!

 

[Minnie]

This is a great report! I want to try to bring my mom but it just wouldn't work as the other members of my family are commandos and she would be more like a snail.
Can't wait to read more!

The only way it works for us is that my mom is great about putting up with my commando instincts up to a point. And believe me we are getting to that point just a weee later in the trip

And as I said I'm trying to reform

Seriously though have you thought of just a mom and you trip? Or a mom and the noncommandos trip? It is so awesome to share these trips with my mom

 

[Minnie]

Great reading...

My sister and I were at WDW during Spring Break. She laughed at all my pre-trip planning and was extremely critical of my binder of information.

It was me who got the last laugh when she started referring to the planning binder at the end of our first day as the "bible" because it was so helpful. Guess I got the last (and best) laugh of that trip...

Keep the chapters coming... you have an audience who is waiting...

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I really don't know what we would have done without the knowledge we learned on the Dis and the trusty Passporter. Spreadsheets are a good thing

 

[Minnie]

Gentle reader I last left you during the decision that every reforming trip commando dreads. Whether to choose safely and head for the resort where SAB awaits or to crack the whip and head on through the heat at Epcot to get all the value out of those soon to be expiring APs

This is the point where I made my first real attempt to chill out and loose the commando tag. I agreed to leave Epcot – sigh….

Well not without one last stop at that last dump shop before exiting Epcot. This was a nice little store where my mom found the coolest little snow globe to add to her collection and my son added to his increasing pressed penny collection – this by the way folks is a great way to allow your kids cheap souvies. He loves scouting out the pressed penny machines and since I pack a roll or quarters and pennies in the suitcase he is set for the trip. When they run out he’s done works like a charm

After this quick shopping trip we were back in our room relaxing off the heavy meal from Le Cellier with my son nearly bouncing off the ceiling ready to head to SAB. Only thing was we really needed to hit a Wal-Mart as I hadn’t had a Diet Dew in a couple days and me with no Diet Dew is a scary prospect (Pepsi missed the boat when Coke partnered with Disney – why of why did this have to happen……)

Son wasn’t thrilled but I mentioned the noodles for SAB lazy river would be purchased there so he was okay with going along with it.

We called down for the valet and trooped on down. Remember when I said our fun dealing with Thrifty wasn’t in the past and that laugh and wave was a bad deal???? When we reached the valet they gave us the bad news – flat tire – the commando in me leaped to attention – what on my vacation do you know how much time we are loosing!!!! Okay calm down I told the inner demon let’s get this dealt with. I called trusty Thrifty to figure out what to do. Our options were this:

1 – Put on spare and drive to Thrifty where we would be charged mega dollars for them to fix flat tire.

2 – Put on spare and drive to Wal-Mart where we would wait for the next millennium to have the tire fixed (ever been in the Wal-Mart tire department – you’d know I’m not exaggerating here).

3 – Have Thrifty bring us a new car and call a tow truck at OUR expense! What I don’t hardly think so!

I wouldn’t have been quite so ticked at Thrifty had I not heard a snicker from the rep. It’s like nanner nanner nannner type crap. Hertz – not exactly!

The valet was a gem once again and changed the tire and let my son help and we were on the road fairly quickly. We dropped the car off with the Wal-Mart tire dept and were told 45-60 minutes. Not bad really and we had a list of stuff to get anyway – snacks, noodles, and of course Diet Dew!

Time was about up so we headed back over to check on the rental car. They said – “not repairable” – what it was a low tire not entire flat! Then we were told – “nothing wrong with it”. I asked which tire did they check?? They brought the service guy out only to tell us – “the back driver tire” – now this is important – “on the car”. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!

I told the lady at the counter the flippen tire was in the trunk!!!!!!!!!! They said another 45-60 minutes and that is when I blew up the inner commando could not be held onto any longer……..

Sorry gentle reader but I’ve gotta run. I’ll be back later with either “the inside of a Florida jail cell or back on the road to Thrifty” can you guess which?????

 

[jackdis]

Love it! I'm about to explode about the tire and I wasn't even there!!!