When life throws you RAIN - SWIM!!

[Cynt]

I was at the World May 16-23 and my two baby sisters and I swam around the world. We laughed, cried, fussed and cussed but all in all we had a FABULOUS TIME!

Cast:
Me - Cynt - I am the planner extraordinare and my sisters love to tease me about it. There are 7 siblings and I'm the 2nd oldest and oldest sister.

Pinky - the knee baby as we refer to her. She's the 6th child and 4th sister. She smokes and you will learn more about that later.

Shorty - she's a HUGE mama's baby. 7th child - 5th sister.

Let me set the scene but first a confession...I couldn't stand people who didn't complete their trip reports until it happened to me. I went to the world in 2006, started a trip report, life happened and I didn't finish. So now I totally understand when life happens and you never make it back to complete your TR.

OK - I go on vacation every year and my sisters always want to go with me. I usually tell them no because I'm 38 and they are 26 and 22. We like totally different things and I feel like I'm always the "momma" watching them while on vacation. It's hard to explain but I don't feel like I can relax and I'm always watching out for them. Anyways Shorty was going to graduate so this was a perfect time for us to celebrate. So Pinky says she's in and another sister Squeaky (Child 4 sister 3) says she was in. So 4 of the 5 sisters were going to Disney World as of February 2009. Well Squeaky drops out because of financial difficulties. Pinky almost drops out because she finally left her loser boyfriend and racked up some unexpected expenses - broke lease and got new apartment. But I was soooo proud of her for finally leaving the creep, I told her I'll pay for her to go and she can repay me later. So it was set - Cynt, Pinky and Shorty were going to the world. It was their 1st trip and I was a planning fool to make sure everything was perfect for them.

I emailed them once a week for the 8 weeks priot to our vacation. The subjects were like - What to pack?; How do we get there?; What are we going to eat?; Did someone say snacks?; Where are we staying?; etc. Well around April I find out that Shorty isn't reading her emails - she calls Pinky for the information in the email. So I stopped sending emails and started sending picture mails. LOL!

Next up - Wrapping up work, graduation and midnight packing.

 

[shannon47142]

looking forward to a great sister report

 

[let'sgo]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Shir Kahn]

That happened to me on my first Trip Report too. Had a rough time with work and tons of overtime and when I finally got back to my TR, it had been moved to the completed section. I'm determined that the new one I'm going to write will be finished.

For now though, I'll be following along with your TR! Hope you finish it!

 

[Cynt]

It was Friday morning, May 15 and I was super excited to get the day started. The goal was to leave work at 3PM, drive to the east side of town and attend Shorty's graduation and head home. Stop by the salon for my mani and pedicure with one last stop at Wally world to pickup snacks and get cash. The day started off fine. Wednesday I had already mentally checked out of work so I was completing busy work to get through the day. Around 9ish Shorty sends an email that she wants to ride home with me after the graduation. Sounds good. I go to lunch and return and Pinky has sent out an email that she and Shorty can just drive to my house after graduation. This totally confuses Shorty so she sends an email that she's confused. I send an email back explaining Pinky's reasoning to Shorty and all is well. This is just the beginning of translations that we will encounter on this trip.

I leave at 3PM, Shorty heads to the graduation ceremony at 4:30pm and Pinky was suppose to leave work at 11AM but she doesn't leave until 5PM. The family arrives to the graduation and we settle in for the graduation. Intro, prayer, anthem, songs, speech...before we know it the time has passed us by and they don't start announcing names until 7:45PM. Don't they know I have errands to run. It's 8:15PM and they are only on the "D"s. I'm going to need to leave we are at the end of the alphabet "S".
I tell Pinky I need to leave I have some errands to run. She looks at me like, "You can't leave". I say I gotta go. Everyone's here and I won't be missed. I make one of my nieces take a picture of me to document I was there. I tell mom I need to go and I'm outta there. This is a super cool thing about being in a large family at any given time for any event there are at least 15 of us present. If everyone shows up at least 22 - 25 and this is immediate family - my parents, siblings and their children.

So anyways I jet out of there. Find my car - I hate parking downtown. I lucked out and found street parking. $1.65 got me 4 hours and 40 minutes of parking. Everyone else had to pay $10 to park. O, and did I mention I hate to pay for parking. Anyways, I hope in the car jump on I30 and head east. Toes, toes, toes. My salon is on the east side of town. It's 8:30PM and there's no way I can make it by 9PM. I have a splitting sinus headache that I can't seem to shake. Change of plans - my pedicure can wait. Quick check - my toes don't look that bad. Later you will see that it won't matter anyways.

I make my way to pickup my favorite wine, stop at Wally world and pick up a few last minute items and get cash for the trip. I get home - drug up and relax for a minute. I finish packing and my wine is safe and secure in my check in luggage in an insulated baggy thing I found at Steinmart. This bag is insulated and will be my make shift fridge for the week. It worked out great. The bag collapses and it is a double section freezer tote. It was the best $17 bucks spent for the trip. I lay down for a spell because my sinuses are going crazy.

I check the time and it's after 10PM and Pinky and Shorty have not arrived. I call them to find out what's going on. Pinky hasn't packed so they're at her place packing. Candy - child 3 sister 2 has joined them to get the job done. I tell them to call when they exit the freeway so I can get up and unlock the door. I go back to sleep. Somewhere between one and two AM they arrive. They call when they pullup in the driveway. I get up unlock the door and go back to bed.

Flight leaves at 10AM so we need to leave my house at the latest 7:30AM. So I set the alarm for 6:30AM. We wake up and I run around to the guest rooms and tell them, "GET UP, GET UP. WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!" They drag out of bed and start getting ready to go. My dad arrives to drive us to the airport. I made a check list and it's hanging on the fridge. I go through the house making sure all items have been completed. Pinky and Shorty are whispering and I go to find out what's going on. Shorty was at Target yesterday and was suppose to pickup swimsuit bottoms for Pinky. Well it was a misunderstanding and the bottoms weren't purchased. It's 7:20 I tell them let's go right now and we can stop by Wally World on the way to the airport. We stop and are back on the freeway by 8AM headed to the airport. We check in and get breakfast.

This is my first encounter with the "smoker" Pinky. We eat and then she needs to smoke. She has to go back to the entrance of the airport to smoke, which means going back through security. After she leaves it dawns on me how did she know all of that. Well as I will soon find out her first priority in any new environment is to scope out the smoking sections. LOL!!!

NEXT: POP CENTURY, DINING PLAN AND MAGIC KINGDOM!

 

[Cynt]

POP CENTURY, DINING PLAN AND MAGIC KINGDOM!

We board the plane and the flight is uneventful. Shorty and Pinky sleep and I read. Pinky wakes up and realizes she missed the snack - honey roasted peanuts - which she LOVES! So she talks the flight attendant into giving her a couple extra packages. It was soo funny! I guess you had to be there. She was hoarding them like they were a top secret or something. Stuffing them in her bag, purse, carrying on, pockets. It was hilarious.

We land at MCO and begin looking for DME. I vote DME should be plastered on the signs in the terminal. I would have been sooo lost if I had not read about where DME is located. All I could remember was the B side. I go to the B side and down to the baggage claim and then I finally see a guy waving the Mickey hand and he tells me to go down one more level and DME is down there. If nothing else put a Mickey head on the signs so people can at least follow the Mickey signs to DME. OK I'm stepping off my soap box.

We barely miss the next bus and are at the front of the line. The next bus pulls up in less than 5 minutes. We are on way to POP. We check in and learn that only one credit card can be used to charge. No big deal because they can tell us how much each card charges. So I put my card down and we're off to our room. 4th floor in front of the lake. Beautiful few and no kiddos above us to worry about. Pinky was concerned because she didn't want to climb stairs on her vacation because she lives on the 4th floor. But thank God for elevators.

We proceed to our room and I take out my cleaning products - clorox wipes and lysol and give the room a good cleaning. We change clothes and head to MK. To me Wishes on the first night is a must see for 1st timers. We enter MK and begin our quest on the Dining Plan.

 

[Cynt]

Thanks everyone for chiming in to my TR. My goal is to FINISH IT!!!

 

[tgoralski]

Just came back myself. I don't know about you but I can't break the habit of throwing a poncho over my head before going outside. I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[TokyoDina]

I was there during the same time. The rain was crazy!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! I hope you'll be posting pictures. It's nice to put a face to the people/writer/you know what I'm trying to say.

 

[Cynt]

Just came back myself. I don't know about you but I can't break the habit of throwing a poncho over my head before going outside. I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

I know, right? Thank God my feet aren't COLD! I disliked that the most. It not only rain but the rain was COLD!

Signing on for more! I hope you'll be posting pictures. It's nice to put a face to the people/writer/you know what I'm trying to say.

I'm still working on this.

 

[Cynt]

So we quickly determine if we will eat at Cosmic Rays or Pinocchio. We go with Pinocchio. I have the chicken ceasar salad, Pinky - chicken nuggets and Shorty - pizza and salad. We quickly find out it takes Pinky forever to decide what she wants. Just pick something already. And the funny thing is at counter service places it's not like it's a huge menu to select from - burger, chicken, pizza, salad - that's about it. Prepared different ways but that's about it. LOL!! We make it to the table outside and a few birdies are around. Well this is when I found out that Shorty is terrified of birds. A couple of years ago she was attacked at Home Depot by a couple of birds. Since then she stays clear of them. This was a laughing good time through out our trip.

Sisters are pleased with the dining plan and especially since it includes dessert. Shorty loves chocolate. But more specifically she loves a warm fudge brownie with ice cream and tons and tons of hot caramel and fudge. This was a discussion in and of itself. She claims at all the restuarants that they don't have any good desserts. By the 3rd day I had to explain to her that there is not a Braum's at every restaurant. Broaden your horizons and try something different.

We eat and then make our way to BTMR. Wait about 30-35 minutes. And Pinky needs a smoke break after the ride. Now there is a smoking section right outside of the exit to this ride. It's dusk and will be dark in about 5 minutes. We leave Pinky there to smoke. We walk 15 yards and sit on the fence/ledge right in front of BMTR by the exit. We wait and wait. We call her cell. No answer her phone is dead. She forgot to charge it last night after her midnight packing ordeal. We go back and look. No Pinky. We look again and call out her name - no Pinky. This is the first of many times we lose Pinky.

So we take off to get to the otherside of the park. The streets are being blocked for Spectro and we hurry across to get over to Buzz. On our way across Shorty gets a call from an anonymous number. It's Pinky. Where are you? City Hall. City Hall? Yep, where are you? Buzz. Meet us at the bridge crossing over to Tomorrowland. There is a huge sign Tomorrowland sign and we will be right there.

We stake out a spot on the bridge to watch Wishes and wait for Pinky. We take a few photo pass pictures. Wishes, fireworks, Tinkerbell. It was fabulous. Still no Pinky.

We check out Buzz - no line. Lil' sis spanked my butt scored 200K plus points to my 18K. We wait and wait. Watch Wishes and wait and wait. Shorty calls. Where are you? City Hall. Why do you keep going to City Hall? That's the only place I can use a phone. AARRGGHH!!! We're still in Tomorrowland meet us at Astro Orbit.

She finally arrives and we go up for Astro Orbits. OK - I have never been on this ride and I thought it was the Space Mountain ride.

To be continued I'm at work and my phone is ringing of the line.

 

[mkandjpsmom]

Great so far! We just got back and now it's raining here
I feel like I can't escape it.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Just got back from WDW yesterday. I miss it already! I do NOT miss the rain though, and couldnt' believe how much rain there was! It was pouring sheets! Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report, especially since I come from a family 4 daughters so I know what it's like to be the oldest sister. I'll be writing a trip report of my own soon too!

 

[Cynt]

Let's see - Astro Orbiter. As mentioned before I thought this was Space Mountain because it had been 3 years and I didn't have all the rides figured out in my mind. So I went up the elevator expecting one thing and was quite disappointed when I realized it wasn't Space Mountain. But anyways this ride was hilarious. We are average sized women except for Pinky who is a full figured Pooh size woman. So Pinky grabs her own Orbiter. Shorty and I decide to share. BIG MISTAKE! Listen ladies - if you have HIPS ride this ride alone or with a child under 10 or you will not be comfortable. Once my hips got in the orbitor my legs we tangled with Shorty's leg and we were fit to be tied. We had a laughing, uncomfortable good time. I told the operator, "You know we both had all these hips why did you let us get into the orbitor together." He was laughing. I told him, "Don't you do that again. That's too much hips in one orbiter." We were all cracking up.

So exit off the orbitor and head for the Speedway. This ride cracks me up because they make it out like it's more of gocarts and you go at your own speed and it's a wild and crazy speedway. I didn't tell my sisters anything because I wanted them to experience. We load up and GO! I'm laughing so hard at my sisters reaction. Just like me, they thought this was going to be a WOW ride. They had the same reaction I had 3 years ago - where's the speed, the ZOOOOOM!, the RACE! We laughed and lauged.

Next Buzz. We practically walk on and start this little game where we walk under the bars so we don't have to go through the zig zag. So it's now a race to see who can get to the line first. And we're off - I go straight down the middle - clearing under each bar. I get to the last bar and duck under. Shorty is right behind me and she tries to unhook the hook and breaks it. Great - now we look like thugs. LOL!! But it wasn't actually broke - she was able to unhook it and it just appeared she broke it. Whew. We board Buzz - Pinky scores 999,999. She was pumped and Buzz was deemed our favorite ride at MK.

Guess what? Pinky has to potty. The first of many stops to the lil' girls room. Afterwards we head home - M I C - see you real soon. K E Y - why because we love you. M O U S E.

Day Two - Animal Kingdom: You have to smoke again and three sisters take on the Safari.

 

[Cynt]

We awake to clear skies and sunshine. This was a fabulous day. If we only knew that this was going to be the last day before we started swimming around the world. Oh well - here it goes.

The buses to and from the different parks wasn't that bad as a whole. But I did make note that they were usually full on each and every trip.

We arrive at AK and Shorty is off to purchase a knap sack, purse, backpack or something for her STUFF! I head to the photopass photographer and tell him to snap away. $99 - take as many pictures as you would like. I think the Photopass is an excellent investment for 1st timers or special occassions. I probably wouldn't get it if I returned with people who had already been to Disney World. I was viewing my 2006 photos and 2009 photos - same pictures, same backgrounds - the people were different.

Ok - sorry about getting sidetracked. Shorty returns with the cutest pink patch work Disney backpack. We snap some pics in front of the entrance and we head to EE. Literally walked straight on the ride. Went back out and grabbed fast passes. The highlight of our day was the Safari. My sisters absolutely loved it. Shorty had the camera and she snapped a gazillion pictures. The Lion King was phenomenal as usual and we barely made it in for the show. It was great we sat and the started it about 5 minutes later. Talk about perfect timing.

We stopped for lunch at the Asian place and it was yummy. I got the shrimp fried rice and they got the sweet and sour chicken. I think that was the name of it. Delish. Pinky needs to smoke - she takes off. I noticed that she can't even wait 5 minutes after eating before she has to have a smoke. I begin to get concerned but kind of blow it off. I didn't realize that smoking was really an addiction until I was with her all weekend. And because we were together 24/7 I really noticed how much she smokes. Of course - 15 minute smoke break turns into 30 minutes. Why? She gets lost. Just meet us EE so we can use our FP. LOL!

I received a text message from my sister friend in TX. I was off to hunt for a picture we saw in 2006 that she should have purchased then but didn't. If I found it she wanted it but she didn't want to spend more than $250. So we're off. I hit every store in the Africa section and stores not in the African section. Now I was looking for a picture of Africa and it was painted using different animals to form the continent. Her study is animal themed and it would look great in there. But to no avail I couldn't find it.

That was the highlight of the day. O'HANA'S was the highlight of the evening. Now this was our first table service meal. My sisters absolutely loved it and wanted to change all of our TS meals to Ohana's. It was hilarious. We ate so much food and my sisters loved the bread. We ate 4 loaves. YUMMYYY!

NEXT: RAIN RAIN GO AWAY COME BACK ANOTHER DAY!

 

[Cynt]

Days 3 and 4 were Epcot and Magic Kingdom - however that is when the skies broke open and it rained and rained and rained. So what did we do Day 3 put on ponchos and weather the storm. But the rain was cold. So Day 4 we catch a cab to $20 one way and go to Walmart to find sweatshirts/hoodies something to keep us warm. All the salespeople were useless so after scouring the store we finally found sweatshirt material zipper hoodies w/ Florida across the front, $15.99/ea. Was it worth the $40 cab ride for the $15.99 hoodies - yes because the sweatshirt hoodies at Disney started at $50. So we did save money but lost the morning but it didn't matter because it was raining.

Both of these days we trample through the rain and try and hit the best rides. We didn't look and enjoy the park so we decided to come back and try these parks on another day. Good thing I had worked in a FREE day on our itinerary. These days were fun and we were troopers but I felt so sorry for the families with children. First off I couldn't believe babies and toddlers were weathering the storm. I just don't think I would bring my infant or toddler out in a rainstorm but to each its own.

When I say it rained - it rained nonstop. Not a shower for 10 - 15 minutes and then dry for a few hours. It was a constant non stop cold rain. Everyone was soggy and smelled like wet puppies. YUK!! But it didn't matter because everyone smelled like them.

Back to the room and a hot shower, nap and dinner.