We're Happier than a Tornado in a Trailer Park/UPDATE--Makin a list, checkin it twice

[creativeamanda]

Well, this is my 3rd attempt at a PTR. Mainly I've just abandoned others because we kept on moving our trip dates. This is our third and final attempt, because frankly, we've bought the MNSSHP tickets and there is no turning back. . .

So. . .I guess it's time to meet the cast. . .

Me: Amanda
age 34
occupation assistant special education coordinator (jack of all trades, master of noneeducation BS Special Education (Erskine College; Due West, SC); MAED Special Education (East Carolina University); current candidate for National Board Certification in Special Education
hobbies Disney, scrapbooking
favorite Disney movie Enchanted; National Treasure

DH
age 37
occupation 8th grade mathematics teacher/technology coach
education BS Elementary Education (Erskine College); current candidate for National Board Certification in Early Adolescent Mathematics
hobbies Chicken farming, cigars, college football, baseball
favorite Disney movie Fantasia; National Treasure

And here we are. . .Sweetie took the picture in Columbia the past October.

The kids:

Sweetie; Thing 1
age 9
occupation keeping the peace
education 4th grader
hobbies ballet, reading
favorite Disney movie Beauty and the Beast

Big 'Ole Boy; Thing 2
age 7
occupation disrupting peace
education 2nd grader
hobbies trains, cars
favorite Disney movie Cars

Boo, aka Monkey Mouse; Thing 3
age 6
occupation being cute
education 1st grader
hobbies ballet, movies
favorite Disney movie Finding Nemo; the Santa Clause

And here they are:

Tiger, the cat
age 6 years
occupation keeping the dog straight
hobby sleeping

Charlie, the dog
age 1 year
occupation chasing chickens
hobby yet again, chasing chickens (he doesn't branch out too much)

OUR NEW ADDITION. . .Copper, the puppy
age by the trip date 3 months
occupation barking/pooping
hobby eating

And one more of the Big Ole Boy. . .

And don't my girls look beautiful in their dance portrait?

Finally, the 5 of us in Disney World last year. (Never mind me--I was 50 pounds heavier!)

 

[creativeamanda]

So. . .our trip details. . .

DATES: October 24-29, 2008
STAYING AT: A moderate resort
SPECIAL EVENTS: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
DINING PLAN: DxDP
TICKETS: MYW w/out park hoppers

OUR PRINTED AND ELECTRONIC AIDS:
The Unofficial Guide
Passporter
The Complete Walt Disney World
touring plans dot com
www.tourguidemike.com
www.wdwinfo.com
dining reviews from oybolshoi, eeyore's tailfinder, Pooh's-Honey-Pot; heatherlynn444
trip report from dreamer17555; quiltymom; OneTreeHillAddict
ptr from Tinkerbellerina; swwake; dreamer17555; LegoMom3; momsto2boys

coming up: ADRs

 

[creativeamanda]

I have just enough time to post our ADRs before I retire for the night.
Updated Post 93, Page 7

 

[Lady Lallie]

Great Start! Can't wait to read more.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

wonderful start!!! I look forward to reading more. It looks like you have taken a ton of time planning The dance picture is too cute!!

 

[dreamer17555]

Oh I totally now remeber your other PTR. The girls look amazing in their dance costumes. Did they decide if they want to take it next year? Tusker and HDDR all in one day? You are gonna love em. We had an early (pre park opening) breakfast at Tusker and it was our favorite of the trip. Keep us updated!

-Becca-

 

[creativeamanda]

Great Start! Can't wait to read more.

Hey! A reader! Thanks a bunch! I am going to do somewhat of a TR from 2007 tonight

wonderful start!!! I look forward to reading more. It looks like you have taken a ton of time planning The dance picture is too cute!!

I am a PLANOHOLIC. (Is that even a word?) I love the girls' picture. They look like angels, IMO. But I may be a bit biased.

Oh I totally now remeber your other PTR. The girls look amazing in their dance costumes. Did they decide if they want to take it next year? Tusker and HDDR all in one day? You are gonna love em. We had an early (pre park opening) breakfast at Tusker and it was our favorite of the trip. Keep us updated!

-Becca-

I am so excited that you had such a ball on your trip I loved that picture--it turned out awesome! They will be taking dance next year--sweetie in ballet, tap, and jazz (she starts competition next year--yikes ); Boo in ballet and tap. We are looking forward to the day of AK, Tusker House, and HDDR. DH is even spending a little "guy time" with his friend in DTD that day. The kids and I are going to the roomto rest before HDDR.

 

[dreamer17555]

I am so excited that you had such a ball on your trip I loved that picture--it turned out awesome! They will be taking dance next year--sweetie in ballet, tap, and jazz (she starts competition next year--yikes ); Boo in ballet and tap. We are looking forward to the day of AK, Tusker House, and HDDR. DH is even spending a little "guy time" with his friend in DTD that day. The kids and I are going to the roomto rest before HDDR. [/QUOTE]


Competition is a WHOLE other world. I was ill prepared for it and it freaked me out big time the first year. All those kids and all that makeup and all the costumes and routines. But I promise after the first year it becomes freakishly normal

-Becca-

 

[creativeamanda]

Competition is a WHOLE other world. I was ill prepared for it and it freaked me out big time the first year. All those kids and all that makeup and all the costumes and routines. But I promise after the first year it becomes freakishly normal

-Becca-

Yikes! Normal?!?!? I hope Sweetie is willing to put the time into it she needs to. . .

 

[creativeamanda]

To be honest, I was not the one who wanted to go to DIsney in the beginning. In my opinion, it was a really expensive trip for a family of five. But as my husband told me several times, it was a "Once in a lifetime trip," and there was "No need to go back."

Well, I will admit that I started to get excited on January 30, 2007, when I turned in my "gone fishing" pass to the assistant principal where I work. "Please Coach G, can I leave early?" He says, aren't you going to be out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday?" I say, "Yes, but I don't have a last block class, and all of my students are already gone." He laughs as he signs the pass. So at 2:30 pm, I pick up my two youngest children from school and wait until dh gets there with the oldest. We drop off his truck at my friend, Gillian's house, and leave for the World. So, at about 4:00, we depart from Florence, SC (after a quick trip to the credit union) and take the 7 hour drive to WDW. And we drove.

And drove.


And drove.

"Mommy, are we there yet?" I am asked. In Savannah. "No. Why don't you watch a movie?" I mean, really, kid. You've eaten. 8:30 is your bedtime and it's after 9 because we have had to stop so much. Can't you watch one more movie (and fall asleep watching it). She finally did go to sleep. Somewhere near Kingston.

So we arrive in Orlando. At 12am. And we are looking for some place to get coffee. We finally find a Dunkin Donuts and get a cup of the worst DD coffee ever. Of course, they were about to close, anyway.

We get to POP Century and meet dh's brother at the front and quickly pay for our room which he put in his name. And then crash. But not before Boo exclaims to us, "We get to see Monkey Mouse tomorrow!" No matter how hard I tried, she would not say Mickey Mouse, nor does she say Mickey Mouse now. She even told a CM at the Disney Store this weekend she was going to see Monkey Mouse for Halloween. Oh well. . .

So the next morning, we go to. . . . . . .




















































Breakfast.

Ha! Gotcha! We got up and went to Ft. Wilderness to eat breakfast at Trail's End Buffet. We ate, walked around, and looked at the horses. Boo absolutley refused to leave the horses. KID! We live near horses and can see them anytime. Can't we just go to Magic Kingdom? After a promise to eat dinner with Piglet (who she absolutely loves) she reluctantly leaves the horses.

We take a bus over to the TTC, where we board the monorail and my lucky kids get to ride up front!

Then, after negotiating the costs of park tickets (and probably the loss of a child's college fund), we catch our first glimpse of this:

Coming up:

Crystal Palace, Boo's Bad night, our venture off site, and MGM Studios. Oh, and some PTR

 

[LegoMom3]

So of course I had to follow you over here from our Tagless thread! Looks like it's going to be a fun ride. I love other people's TRs. I have wonderful TRs of my own in my head, but they just never come out that way (I've written exactly one....).

Boo is my new best friend. I don't want to leave the horses at FW either!! The Fort should hire on mounted patrols for that vast campground, and I'm first in line.

Ok, please forgive my OCD here in terms of planning details that have already happened and arent' even my own....!!! But you do realize you can get from Fort Wilderness to the MK the quickest by ferry? I'm assuming you just wanted the monorail ride. Of course, when we tried that in reverse, my DH and two of the kids almost missed dinner at Trail's End because there was a free-floating-ferry adrift in Bay Lake, which wreaked havoc with the schedule and caused an MK back-up for over an hour....

Yep, the bus to TTC to monorail was a good bet.


I hope you'll stick with this TR! Looking forward to more.


.

 

[dreamer17555]

Yikes! Normal?!?!? I hope Sweetie is willing to put the time into it she needs to. . .

I know scary but true. I have gotten so good at loading Cat up with all that stage make up it takes less than ten minutes (took me an hour when I started) also I can put eyeliner on her, a feat I have yet to master on myself. If she has a good teacher she will be fine. Cat got moved to a harder teacher recently, thought there was a chance she might want to cut back... yup no way. She likes a challege. Oh well.

Oh and where in NC are you at? We are in the Triad. And yes it is a long drive.

-Becca-

 

[creativeamanda]

So of course I had to follow you over here from our Tagless thread! Looks like it's going to be a fun ride. I love other people's TRs. I have wonderful TRs of my own in my head, but they just never come out that way (I've written exactly one....).

Boo is my new best friend. I don't want to leave the horses at FW either!! The Fort should hire on mounted patrols for that vast campground, and I'm first in line.

Ok, please forgive my OCD here in terms of planning details that have already happened and arent' even my own....!!! But you do realize you can get from Fort Wilderness to the MK the quickest by ferry? I'm assuming you just wanted the monorail ride. Of course, when we tried that in reverse, my DH and two of the kids almost missed dinner at Trail's End because there was a free-floating-ferry adrift in Bay Lake, which wreaked havoc with the schedule and caused an MK back-up for over an hour....

Yep, the bus to TTC to monorail was a good bet.


I hope you'll stick with this TR! Looking forward to more.


.

Hooray! Welcome Legomom! It's so nice for a "friend" from the tagless thread to join in. Maybe the tag fairy will catch up with me over here. HMMMMM. . .

Every other day that week we drove. It was really early in the morning and I think dh's brother thought there was a good chance of the kids riding pilot in the monorail that early (and there was). We were even willing to wait because it was so early. I know it was after rope drop, but not long. There were only a few people in MK that day (a Wednesday).

I know scary but true. I have gotten so good at loading Cat up with all that stage make up it takes less than ten minutes (took me an hour when I started) also I can put eyeliner on her, a feat I have yet to master on myself. If she has a good teacher she will be fine. Cat got moved to a harder teacher recently, thought there was a chance she might want to cut back... yup no way. She likes a challege. Oh well.

Oh and where in NC are you at? We are in the Triad. And yes it is a long drive.

-Becca-

Well, as I sell Mary Kay, makeup comes as a breeze for me--5 min tops for Sweetie. A little longer for Boo, as she just won't stay still.

We are just southeast of Lumberton towards Myrtle Beach.

 

[creativeamanda]

Who's the leader of the gang that's made for you and me?
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Hey, there! Hi there, Ho there!
You're as welcome as can be!
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Forever let us hold out banner high!

HIGH, HIGH, HIGH!

Come along and sing our song and
Join the Jamboree
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E

Monkey Mouse Gang,
We'll go Places,
We'll have fun and
Meet new faces
All around the World we're marching. . .


Just a little shout out to our Monkey Mouse gang over at the tagless Disers thread on the community board.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Who's the leader of the gang that's made for you and me?
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Hey, there! Hi there, Ho there!
You're as welcome as can be!
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Forever let us hold out banner high!

HIGH, HIGH, HIGH!

Come along and sing our song and
Join the Jamboree
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E

Monkey Mouse Gang,
We'll go Places,
We'll have fun and
Meet new faces
All around the World we're marching. . .


Just a little shout out to our Monkey Mouse gang over at the tagless Disers thread on the community board.

I'm singing!! I'm here!! Carry on now!

 

[LegoMom3]

Who's the leader of the gang that's made for you and me?
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Hey, there! Hi there, Ho there!
You're as welcome as can be!
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Monkey Mouse, Nonald Nuck
Forever let us hold out banner high!

HIGH, HIGH, HIGH!

Come along and sing our song and
Join the Jamboree
M-O-N-K-E-Y--M-O-U-S-E

Monkey Mouse Gang,
We'll go Places,
We'll have fun and
Meet new faces
All around the World we're marching. . .


Just a little shout out to our Monkey Mouse gang over at the tagless Disers thread on the community board.

Love it!!

Are you going to write more soon??.....
(your trip report, not new songs!)


.

 

[creativeamanda]

Well, I know thre are those of you who thought I had bailed on the PTR, but we've been on vacation in Myrtle Beach.

So, we last left you at the entrance of Magic Kingdom and our action of bleeding money at the gate. So, we've hopped on in, and the first thing we do is take pictures in front of the castle. I will save you all from having to look at our picture again--I frankly love the idea of the picture, but not my size! Talk about Pooh-sized!

So, it's been over a year, and I can recite from memory our day: Swiss Family, Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, PTC, Splash Mountain, BTMR (Sweetie Only with cousin), WDW RR, Haunted Mansion, Dreams Come True Parade, IASW, Philharmagic, Dinner at Crystal Palace, Peter Pan's flight (where we lost Boo--more about this later in the return to the PTR), ToonTown, Spectro, Wishes.

We absolutely loved dinner at Crystal Palace--Boo loves Piglet and SIL loves Eeyore:

The only problem with that day was Boo woke up very sick that night. Very, very sick. The next day--MGM Studios--was long for her. But the great little one she is, she persevered after a breakfast offsite (and a visit to Walgreens for a new Sd card for my camera):

I just love Dopey! I will really miss Stars and Motor Cars Parade--it was my fav.

 

[creativeamanda]

Before we get back to our regularly scheduled PTR, I wanna say hey to my fellow Tagless Disers Moms and Legomom. Glad to have you here.

And on to the DISNEY BOX. Now, the Disney Box is a Rubbermaid tote (that is about to be a plural form of the expression) With all of our Disney items in it. I took a picture of the Disney box early in its inception and I will continue to take pictures to show it's growth. This picture I am posting today is actually obsolete, but I wanted it to be seen from the beginning. As we buy items for the trip, they get placed in the box. From time to time, I reaarange it and take inventory, but the picture you see today was taken in March or April. . .

clockwise from the top:

1. our new camera box (not the camera)
2. Our UG
3. Notebook
4. Underneath--bags of t-shirts bought at our favorite store
5. pop up hamper
6. DVD-RWs and an SD card in a ziploc bag. I think I have batteries in there, too
7. Lime Green ( and other colors I like) Mickey's
8. Ponchos
9. Video Camera box

And these are our kids' autograph books. . .

 

[creativeamanda]

I'm singing!! I'm here!! Carry on now!

Welcome, Moms! That song kind of sticks in your head and stays there, doesn't it?

Love it!!

Are you going to write more soon??.....
(your trip report, not new songs!)


.

What, legomom? Are you not amazed by my prolific song-stealing (uh, writing) abilities?

 

[dreamer17555]

A disney box? Why didn't I think of that! Its a good way to stay organized. I was constantly hunting down my Disney stuff from all over the house.

-Becca-