"We're All Mad Here," A Mad BLTea-Party for Thirteen!

[Scott MC]

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see? "
~Alice

Welcome...welcome...welcome!

Some of you may know me from my wildly unfinished TR on my Grand vacation last August. Here and now, I will promise two things....First, I will work diligently to finish my TR, and second, I, along with several others are going to try our darnedest to make this the most entertaining PTR you've ever read.

Come August 15, 2010, 9 friends will take over WDW for 7 glorious days. We've established this PTR to share our planning, share our favorite Disney memories, and to plan our inevitable takeover of The World. I shall now introduce you to the tea party attendees.

Me (Scott)....the starter of this thread, the lover of all things WDW, especially Disney resorts, and clearly, a lover of Alice in Wonderland. Tracy, who you'll meet in a bit told him to accept his crown for this trip. He can't wait to do just that and flaunt his royalty at every opportunity.

Tom...Scott's partner in crime, a self-proclaimed foodie who won't rest until he's dined in every WDW dining establishment. He has a thing for Disney Villains and Disney Princesses. If Maleficent and Ariel were both about to be run over by the Pete's Dragon float in the Main St. Electrical Parade, we truly don't know who he'd save.

Mike #1...He who shall document our every move. He's an outstanding camera man, and is already having trouble sleeping in anticipation of this trip.

Mike #2...His email address has "Mickey" in it. 'Nuff said.

Vanessa...Mike #2's constant companion, and the other one ordered to accept her crown on this trip (explanation of that to come). I think she already has it. She's proving extremely useful in the pre-planning of this trip, and Scott is mad about her practically perfect planning.

Lisa...aka "KittyPrincess" here on the Dis. She loves Kitties and Princesses and hopes to meet as many of each as possible on this trip. Her obsession with both once nearly killed Scott on the Rockin' Rollercoaster.

Jimmy...Lisa's beloved and I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know much about his Disney background, but he seems psyched about this trip and had better get ready to pose for pictures with lots of princesses and cats.

Tracy...aka CorysMom here on the Dis. She's been to The World more times than I can count, and for her, it never gets old. She's always in search of characters to pose with, and some of her greatest conquests include Scrooge McDuck and Pirate Mickey. Scott is jealous of her picture with Brer Rabbit. The one character who has eluded her all these times is Jiminy Cricket. Look Cricket....we're going to find you, and Tracy will pose with you...so make yourself available and get it over with.

Spencer...He's Tracy's husband, and I'd hate to decide between the two of them who's more obsessed with Disney. Along with Scott, Tom, both Mikes and Jimmy, he is one of the "Gentlemans" who enjoy sitting in swanky establishments sipping fine spirits and celebrating Gentlemanhood. Mizner's Lounge...here we come.

I don't want to deny the rest of the crowd of telling their stories and plans, so I'll stop here for now. I guess the next thing we should let you know about is how this trip came to be and what we've planned so far.

We plan to share our planned shenanigans and provide more in-depth profiles of our players. Also, I'm sure that Vanessa and I will share our overly-anal planning as the trip gets closer and closer. Oh, and there will probably be pet profiles as all of us either have pets or are involved with someone who does.

I'm going to go silent now and leave you with the promise that this will be updated soon...

Fare thee well.....

 

[UncleOrville]

Delighted to join you on this mad journey, Scott MC! "And the moral of that is - 'Birds of a feather flock together.'" "'Only mustard isn't a bird.'"

 

[NessieBird]

Ok, deep breath...this is my maiden voyage into posting. Scott, an inspired start to the report. Well done, sir. I will be back to post something substantive, but was eager to get my first comment out there. Until then...ciaociao.

 

[Professor Bicycle]

Very nice op, it inspired me to join the forum. That and the fact that I'm one of the people on this trip. I can't wait to take over Mizner's lounge!

I will certainly be sharing some of my favorite memories leading up to the trip. Scott is already painfully aware of some of the best ones...

 

[cinderella crazy]

I'm in! Great start to your TR!

Very nice op, it inspired me to join the forum. That and the fact that I'm one of the people on this trip. I can't wait to take over Mizner's lounge!

I will certainly be sharing some of my favorite memories leading up to the trip. Scott is already painfully aware of some of the best ones...

Ok, deep breath...this is my maiden voyage into posting. Scott, an inspired start to the report. Well done, sir. I will be back to post something substantive, but was eager to get my first comment out there. Until then...ciaociao.

to posting on the DIS boards!

 

[Corysmom]

How the freak do I post a picture on this board?

 

[NessieBird]

No clue. But, your profile pic? Brilliant...you get a pirate.

 

[cinderella crazy]

How the freak do I post a picture on this board?

Here's a video tutorial: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/video-tutorials/

 

[Corysmom]

Thanks for the video, worked great. Here is a pic of me (aka Princess Ctr) and Prof. Bicycle:

 

[NessieBird]

I don't have anything really to post...I just want to see if my countdown will work properly. My technical skills are...spotty, shall we say?
Actually, I do have a question: Scott, where do we stand on your previous TR?

 

[Scott MC]

Actually, I do have a question: Scott, where do we stand on your previous TR?

Doh! I'm a bad Dis member. I really should get on that soon.....
This year I'll be tweeting the entire trip, so putting together a TR for the upcoming trip should be pretty easy.

 

[Professor Bicycle]

I really should stop wearing that starsky and hutch shirt out in public...

 

[Corysmom]

I really should stop wearing that starsky and hutch shirt out in public...

Why do you say that??

 

[NessieBird]

Why do you say that??

/PrincessCtr/BalooKingLouie.jpg[/IMG]

Bwahahaha! Hilarious.

 

[NessieBird]

Looooong day...Give a Day, Get a Motherload of FastPasses....we'll be back to tell the tale of Rosie, T-Rex, One Slice, seriously, how many meals? There's also much more. But for now I'm exhausted, yet can't sleep. Yet, also can't recap the day properly. Fail for me.
But trust me, it's been quite a day.

 

[dvc at last !]

I am in for your TR and pre TR !
Just to let you know I am guilty of always wanting to post a TR ---
and not doing it. Maybe you will inspire me. Our next trip is October 1st
and we are staying at the BC for the first time !

 

[NessieBird]

Son of a gun. I need 10 posts to post pics...

 

[NessieBird]

Ok, 10!!!!
Hmm...I guess I need to wait 40 seconds between posts. Curious, but fair enough.

 

[NessieBird]

Yesterday Tracy (Princess Ctr/CorysMom), Spence (Professor Bicycle), Mike (Mike#2/Mikey), and I completed our Give a Day, Get a Day.

Tracy first floated the GaD,GaD idea to us (and how has no one talked about our fab Disney round table from last month?) and in her research realized that you don't need to redeem the volunteer day for a free day's pass to the parks, but can also choose to donate the park ticket to charity, receive a special ear hat figurine with special trading pins, or get a FP exchange card. say the lot of us are each charitable in our own way, so our consciences should be clear because we chose the FP exchange card or, as we currently refer to them: "Magical FPs." Without getting into too much detail, the basics are that you receive the card and can redeem it for 4-6 FPs to be used at the more popular attractions throughout the World. Bear in mind you can still get regular FPs with your KTTW. So...in other words: AWESOME. And magical indeed.

Not magical was getting up at 6:15. Unless I'm at Disney, where I can inexplicably be up and out the door whenever and in record time, mornings and I do not mix. As Tracy put it, when she was waking up she thought, "These magical FPs better be magical." Softening the blow of the early morning is the fact that we'd volunteered at the Animal Rescue League of NH. Most of us are animal lovers (animal freaks might be more appropriate), so we were motivated by that.

Mike got to my house on schedule (yay, Mikey!) and we met up with Tracy and Spence. We arrived at just about 9 after a non-eventful drive up (except for a quick stop for breakfast in the most random and greatest convenience store in creation). After getting caught up in the lobby oohing and aahing over the kittens, we had an orientation where we were asked to stay on task and not ooh and aah over the animals. Oops.

The lovely JC (Jaycee?) was our group leader and the group was rounded out by two members of a college a cappella group (Uni and Cort) and two women who we saw for about 5 minutes, but were later seen doing some serious heavy lifting. Good job, nameless women. We were tasked with cleaning a large room for an upcoming birthday party. Mike narrowly avoided a disaster by choosing not to climb on some rickety scaffolding while cleaning the walls, Spence got to work scrubbing the other side of the room, I swept, and Tracy found a new obsession: an age-old putty knife/scraper. This will become important later...

A few words about our a cappella add-ons. They were part of a bigger group that was split in half. They were delightful people, very nice. However, we have active imaginations and we made up a whole story about Cort. He was perfectly nice and kind, but we are convinced that he is sitting on the Van der Dooslendorf fortune. Who else would be named Cort but someone who's lived a fantastic life on a spacious ranch in Missouri with a nanny who taught him not to take anything for granted. We know at least this much must be true because Cort gamely got down to it, found a scrubbie, and took to polishing the baseboards of the huge room. More impressively, he attacked some atomic poop that COULD NOT be cleaned up by anyone else. So, Cort, you Ricky Stratton on this millennium, way to be. We salute you .

We split up and cleaned two kitty isolations rooms (hope you're all feeling better soon). Mike narrowly avoided another disaster as one of the cats made her ill feelings toward him crystal clear.

We broke for lunch and the shelter had generously ordered us pizza! We'd brought snacks (Tracy, I'm craving some of your trail mix right now) and thought we'd be fending for ourselves, so it was a nice surprise. We each took two pieces and hung out in the sun. Mike and Spence were still hungry and, after waiting to be sure everyone else had gotten theirs, Spence got another couple of pieces. When Mike went in to politely ask if there was any left, a young man who must've been a regular volunteer said yes and Mike was ready to dig in to the whole pizza he just opened. The kid then shot back, "Just one!" I wish I had Mike's reaction, but here's an approximation of what his face must've looked like:

He quietly took the one piece and came out to tell us. It takes A LOT to ruffle Mike's feathers, but withholding food is a good way to do it. Mike's not a small guy. Let's just say if Uncle Jesse and Stromboli had a son, it'd be Mike. After Mike "filled" his tum with his slice, we went back to work. The boys went outside to open and separate wood shavings for cages (?) and Tracy and I tackled the shelter's supply room.

We totally get the whole reason we were there to help. They have staff and a ton of volunteers, but the animals are the top priority, as they should be. So we knew that when we got there to help, it'd be cleaning and upkeep because those are the things that get lost in the shuffle when running a busy shelter. This little supply room was screaming for some organization and begging for a scrub. Tracy came up with a game plan and we got to work. There were three shelves holding supplies and we starting re-ordering the items in a logical manner and scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. Beware, the hardest thing to clean is gunked-up, dried-on cleaning solution. Totally antithetical to what you'd think, but I digress.

As we were working, staff kept coming by to say how great it was looking and to thank us (even though we for sure were not even needing to hear it). And finally this older woman comes in, all "Girls, girls!" Now we actually were expecting it'd be a sweet old lady all excited for an organized supply room. Not so much. "Girls, no. No, no, no. We can't have trash bags on the top shelf. There are people my height and shorter and we can't reach anything up there." So, she went all T-rex on us, gluing her elbows to her sides, and making a big production of grabbing a trash bag. We stood there silently, just taking it, not noting that bottles of bleach had been on the third shelf and that was A. exceptionally dangerous, and B. much harder to grab than an trash bag hanging out of an open box. I just sincerely hope she never really needs toilet paper because that's all on the third shelf too. When she left, Tracy rightly noted that it's a good thing we both work with exceptionally difficult clients and are used to verbal abuse, because this woman just was NOT having us. We also realized that she and Tracy were the same height and Tracy could reach so...seriously, cut the T-rex and just stretch.

Maybe not such a big head. But a big mouth anyway.

We deduced that maybe the regular volunteers (as evidenced by this woman and the boy who starved Mikey) were maybe not so jazzed about the outsiders coming in and taking over. Oh well, we changed up our strategy and ended up doing an amazing job on that room. Seriously, we even scrubbed the trash barrel and air duct. Tracy, we deserve 2

They then told us we could leave, which we obviously couldn't do without visiting the animals. Some of our faves were Rosie, the most beautiful pitbull, with a pretty pink collar. I think she and I are probably best friends now. She's a good girl and knows "sit" so well. Look at that face!

Then there were Greddy and Spike (look at his sort of crossed eyes!). Also super cute and smart:

In the lobby we met Kiki, who's the cat of the week and has been here since...May! Seriously, what??
She's super sweet and needs a nice home. In the Bedford, NH area? Consider taking her home. Look, it looks like she has little eyebrows! Cute!

Then! Then, there was Smoochy the cat. Who has her own office. Seriously. This picture doesn't do her justice either. Imagine this cat, then resize her to 175% of the original. She's huge! And wants pats. Badly.

We were all super tired then, but hungry and set off for 5 Guys. Have you guys been there before? I hadn't and almost wish I hadn't gone. Because now I'm going to want it ALL. THE. TIME. So good.

But, if you're at a 5 Guys, watch out for who's sitting next to you. If you put your purse on your boyfriend's chair and he doesn't realize and it falls over...make sure the people next to you aren't going to get inordinately upset. I'm just saying...apologies mean nothing, NOTHING, to some people if it involves a chair falling over in their general vicinity.

At some point during the day, Mike seemed to think that breakfast, lunch of pizza, and dinner at 5 Guys wouldn't be enough to satiate us, so he'd suggested a nightcap at the Willowtree back home. Scott and Tom had asked what our plans were and we all decided to meet up. On the way there I wasn't sure if it was a good idea because I was exhausted, but once we got there and drinks starting flowing and the boys started ordering more food, I forgot I was tired (for a while anyway). Ah, a good day with friends . I'm sure I forgot a bunch, but the others can hop in. I need to go be productive. Til later, ciaociao.

OMG--I can't believe I forgot to discuss Tracy's scraper! When we got back to Tracy and Spence's to get our car, Tracy started yelling in horror, "Oh, no!" It turns out that she STILL had the scraper in her back pocket. It seems innocent enough until you realize that all day Tracy had been shouting "Where's my scraper?" and "I love this thing. I WANT this scraper." So, ARL of NH totally thinks it's been thieved. She claims that she's going to send it back with a Home Depot gift certificate for them, but I'll believe it when I see it...

 

[Professor Bicycle]

tl;dr...actually, on the other hand, NOT LONG ENOUGH!!!

Great recap of the day. I have no memory so it's good to remember all of the stuff we did.

One important detail we can fill in is that during the afternoon, Mike and I teamed up to take Xmas lights off of a tree. That's right, the two of us did that one job. We were on "union rules" at that point. I hope the shelter doesn't hear about this slacking, or our vouchers may be revoked...