We took the kids to WDW! - All done, Now Bonus features! Festival of Holidays 2/23

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Have a great cruise in Alaska and I hope Jim is ok. Look forward to reading about it!

 

[franandaj]

Where are you ladies now? Are you in Alaska?

I've been up for over an hour watching for the Wonder out my hotel room window! 25 minutes ago I got my first glimpse and I've been shooting (photos) ever since, she is still in the process of docking.

 

[rentayenta]

I've been up for over an hour watching for the Wonder out my hotel room window! 25 minutes ago I got my first glimpse and I've been shooting (photos) ever since, she is still in the process of docking.

Woo hoo! I saw your FB post!

 

[franandaj]

Have a great cruise in Alaska and I hope Jim is ok. Look forward to reading about it!

Thanks! I'll wait to get it started until I get home, but there may be an update here while I'm on the ship. It's already written. Maybe tomorrow or another day without a lot going on.

 

[franandaj]

Soon we leave! There are still a few of you who need to get their answers in for Round 5. It probably won't happen tomorrow but I'm giving you fair warning. I will post the update sometime this week. I've already got it written and have been sitting on it for over a week now. Get your answers in soon! If anyone wants to change their answers this is your chance!

 

[franandaj]

Woo hoo! I saw your FB post!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Soon we leave! There are still a few of you who need to get their answers in for Round 5. It probably won't happen tomorrow but I'm giving you fair warning. I will post the update sometime this week. I've already got it written and have been sitting on it for over a week now. Get your answers in soon! If anyone wants to change their answers this is your chance!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm throwing in the towel on the questions. Just to let you know. I enjoy reading the posts but my health hasn't been great.

 

[ljcrochet]

Have a great cruise

 

[juniorbugman]

Get your answers in soon! If anyone wants to change their answers this is your chance!

Okay I want to change my answer on how long you waited for the bus. I think you just missed the bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.
Judy

 

[ajf1007]

Recorded.





So glad to see you back here! Last time you dropped in I know there were lots of things going on in your life. I hope things have calmed down and you can spend some more time using up your points for trips to Disney!

Thank you thank you!!! Yes definitely lots going on but all is good now! So happy to get caught up and read your awesome report!

 

[pkondz]

Oh geez....this is another long one. Back when Fran's father was still alive his cat died. We hooked him up with an animal rescue lady who had a Russian Blue cat, but she had a caveat that she was a single cat household kind of cat. I don't remember how long he had her, but she wasn't an old cat when he died. We tried to get her previous rescue owner to take her back, but she changed her # and we couldn't get a hold of her. Eventually we took her to our house. We had two apartments next to each other. We had previously walked through the patio to stay in the second apartment with my cats (prior to our relationship) who wouldn't get along in Fran's herd. Once they died and Fran's health got worse, we stopped alternating nights.

Well eventually we couldn't leave Olga in the FIL's empty house and go over twice a day to feed her anymore. Plus we had a trip to WDW and needed our cat sitters to feed her, so she needed to be in the same place as our cats. We brought her over about two weeks before we left. She cowered in one corner of the living room, while the "white things" (as we call them, two twin sister white cats who are so skittish they disappear when guests arrive) tortured her by "being curious". We left on a trip to WDW during one of the worst winter storms we have seen since, and Olga got out. She preferred to be outside in the rain over the attention of the white things.

She spent quite some time living as an outdoor cat (maybe a week or two) until one day my "house boy" (I used to pay a guy in the band to clean the house and do laundry) left the door open to the second apartment while folding laundry. Olga found a new home. We went back to switching bedrooms every night and even put a door between the two apartments.

Fast forward to 2013 when we were house hunting: one of the considerations was that there needed to be a separate "wing" where Olga could live. Our current house has an addition where the laundry room is located. The previous owner had converted it to an office with a separate entrance besides the front door. However it was clearly a bedroom before that. We put closet doors back where they clearly used to be and turned it into a guest room, and Olga's suite. The room has its own ensuite. I'll post a link to pictures when I get my computer out again.

About 8 months after we moved in the house, Olga was able to assimilate as part of the herd and refused to go into her wing any more. That was a good thing because only a couple days after she refused to go in there was when Fran broke her leg and couldn't get herself into that room.
Olga was the kitty who.passed on during our trip to New Orleans, but we still call it "her" room.

And now I know.
You guys lead interesting lives.
Take that as a compliment, please.

This $2 a day international plan has been great!

$2? Not bad!

I think it's more common for Canadians to see US money than for US folks to see Canadian money.

 

[dgbg100106]

Well I had a whole post written up on my phone and I put it in my pocket and poof! It disappeared so I'm going to give you the shorter version. We had one less day to pack, but in a way that's a good thing! You see we offered Jim and Alberto to stay while we're gone. That way the kitties have someone to keep them company and they get use of the A/C. However, this morning Jim had outpatient surgery and he wanted to know if he could come here instead of climb two flights of stairs to his non air-conditioned apartment.
So Fran picked him up around 10AM while I scrambled to get Olga's room ready for occupants and not a suitcase packing staging area.
We had a few realizations over the past few days. One was we needed phone service outside of the US and luckily we could get that, the other was that we needed CDN currency. Our bank was able to order it for us within one day. For those of you who are friends on FB you may have seen that our pool is having a major makeover. We hope that will be done by the time we get back.
We leave tomorrow and again our suitcases are in the car, we still have to put our carry ons inside and her scooter on the back. But this is a major improvement, I'm going to bed before midnight!

That is awesome news, in bed before midnight!!!

 

[dgbg100106]

Soon we leave! There are still a few of you who need to get their answers in for Round 5. It probably won't happen tomorrow but I'm giving you fair warning. I will post the update sometime this week. I've already got it written and have been sitting on it for over a week now. Get your answers in soon! If anyone wants to change their answers this is your chance!

I too am throwing in the towel, so please don't wait for me.

 

[afwdwfan]

Finally had a chance to read through everything. The ketchup story was hilarious. The world premier of Frozen looks like a fun event. I didn't think there was any way that show could live up to the standard set by Aladdin, but I'm glad it is at least a high quality production.

 

[franandaj]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm throwing in the towel on the questions. Just to let you know. I enjoy reading the posts but my health hasn't been great.

No worries. Keep reading along! I just love to hear your comments!

Have a great cruise

Thanks!

Okay I want to change my answer on how long you waited for the bus. I think you just missed the bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.
Judy

OK got it!

Thank you thank you!!! Yes definitely lots going on but all is good now! So happy to get caught up and read your awesome report!

Another chapter coming up hopefully soon!

And now I know.
You guys lead interesting lives.
Take that as a compliment, please.

$2? Not bad!

Thank you. She told me in the beginning that it would never be boring.

I thought it was worth the extra $2.

That is awesome news, in bed before midnight!!!

It was good but I still only got 4 hours sleep.

I too am throwing in the towel, so please don't wait for me.

OK no problem. I get it.

Finally had a chance to read through everything. The ketchup story was hilarious. The world premier of Frozen looks like a fun event. I didn't think there was any way that show could live up to the standard set by Aladdin, but I'm glad it is at least a high quality production.

Well I'm glad you were able to stop by. I hope you will start to have a more normal life soon. What am I saying? You have a newborn!

 

[dgbg100106]

It was good but I still only got 4 hours sleep.

Still that is better than some nights you have had.

 

[Steppesister]

1. What do we do for breakfast the next morning? (10 points)

Eat in the villa.

2. How long do we wait for the bus? (10 points)

13 minutes

3. It was supposed to be a leisurely morning in the room, but negotiations occurred after I went to bed and plans changed. What park do we go to? (10 points)

MK

4. Lunch is at a resort, what is the restaurant? (10 points)

Kona

5. All our FP+ are for the afternoon. Do we make it to the park to use them all? (10 points)

Not quite

6. What do we do for dinner? (10 points)

Go off property for something differnt.

 

[rentayenta]

Update, update, update!

 

[franandaj]

Still that is better than some nights you have had.

True

1. What do we do for breakfast the next morning? (10 points)

Eat in the villa.

2. How long do we wait for the bus? (10 points)

13 minutes

3. It was supposed to be a leisurely morning in the room, but negotiations occurred after I went to bed and plans changed. What park do we go to? (10 points)

MK

4. Lunch is at a resort, what is the restaurant? (10 points)
Kona

5. All our FP+ are for the afternoon. Do we make it to the park to use them all? (10 points)

Not quite

6. What do we do for dinner? (10 points)

Go off property for something differnt.

Recorded.

Update, update, update!

Ok, ok. Since I'm waiting for Fran to get ready to go into port I might as well.

 

[franandaj]

Day 6

I woke up around 3:30, it was 10PM when I went to bed and I wondered if 5 1/2 hours was enough sleep. I took a bath at 4AM and ended up going back to sleep for almost two hours. Sometime in the night Fran had told me that the plan they made after I went to sleep, was to get up between 6-7AM and go to AK as early as we all could manage. Just before 7AM I got up and put some bacon strips on the broiler pan and started coffee. People started rising and eventually we had some bacon, eggs and toast.





Then we were ready to leave. It was 8:59 when we got to the bus stop and the bus was there within 3 minutes. By 9:20 we were entering AK. I hadn't even planned to be here until after lunch so all this was bonus time.

Jim dawdled along the way looking at the animals in the beginning as you go up the hill.



Then we took a couple of photo pass pictures.









And a few more PP pics













After that we were on our way to Dinosaur. All our FP were for the afternoon so we just went standby. The wait said 10 minutes, and it was about right. Alberto wanted to get a shot of him kissing the dinosaur, and Jim kept trying, but he just wasn’t tall enough!







We brought back the dinosaur and even got the photo to prove we went back.



We had a little over an hour to kill before we had to be at the bus stop, so we checked out the trails around the tree of life and all the animals there.













Then it was time to head to the AKL for lunch at Sanaa. Now I'm sure you are wondering why we had a day planned to start with lunch and not sooner. Well, when we planned this day, Rivers of Light had a projected opening of April 22, however about two weeks before our trip they announced it would be postponed until summer.

As we were on our way to lunch, Fran asked if she could be excused from the second half of the day. I can't say no to her so I let her go back to the room after lunch.

The guys loved the hotel and were happy that they would be staying on their final night. Jim was better about taking pictures than I was.











[Continued in Next Post]