Will You Chill Out if I Sprinkle You With Pixie Dust? The End p136 *New TR Link* p138

[englishrose47]

Great pix of the Beasts Castle , Can't wait for it to open !!. I hate when people plop down in the middle of the row too !! I love it when the CM's make them move !!!!

 

[debjk4]

I'm really enjoying your report! Keep it coming!

 

[Poolrat]

All caught up finally. The unladen swallow comment had me like on page 2. Thought I quoted it as well as the African or European comment but I guess not.

I just had my first out of the bubble experience and driving too. So Different.

Glad you all made it, but those look like Debby clouds...

 

[ljcrochet]

treehouses look amazing. I can't wait till my stay there.
I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

 

[MEK]

Looks like yall had a productive evening!!

I thought we did pretty well that evening. Well, at least until the point where I just left off.

There's always SOMEONE who thinks the rules don't apply to them, even at a place like Disney. It always baffles me.

It baffles me too and I can honestly see people breaking the rules from time to time, but why the heck make it SO obvious. I know they are the ones with the problem, but it infuriates me all the same.

Ahhh, I hope the storm isn't TOO bad and the meltdown isn't TOO terrible!

I guess you'll just have to wait to see. opcorn:

I would have been just like you and itching to get to a park! It's been years since we've driven to the Magic Kingdom but I can honestly say, I don't miss it one bit. Well, maybe the view from the ferryboat but not much else.

Unless I stay off site, that will probably be the last time I drive to MK again. It did not end well! And that might be an understatement.

I hope that those dark clouds don't mess up the rest of your evening. They look a bit scary.

They were a little more sinister that I thought they would be. Oh well.

Not to make light of your pain, but I had to giggle at the title.

You know, when you're a musician the word prelude just fits. Next update will simply be called "Meltdown"

LOVE that view coming into MK via ferry!

Isn't that just one of the best views in the world?

That's a great group shot! And just think, in years to come when memories of the negative aspects fade, you can look back on that picture of everyone smiling and all you'll remember is the good, not the meltdowns

I love that group shot. Everyone looks so happy and full of anticipation. It really was a great moment.

I've never eaten at CHH! I should give it a try. Your food looks good even though I'm not a seafood lover. Or liker. Or tolerater. Yeah I like my fish alive in tanks of water.

Hmmmmmm - do you like hummus or chicken fingers? I think its pretty much fish. I have to say that the broccoli on Denny's plate was very good and so was the couscous. Wish I had tried the salmon, but I have really never had salmon that I don't like. To me its a good old standby. I love seafood, so this is a fun place for me.

HM! What a great first stop! Love CJ's "I was scared" quote so matter-of-fact. Adorable.

OMG - it was SO cute! I called my mom the next day and we had such a laugh over it.

Oh no!!! I hope you all made the best of it, but seeing the word meltdown in the title makes me think otherwise.

Yes - think otherwise because the meltdown is coming. No chance of getting out of it.

Great photos this update! Loved them, felt like I was right there with you!

Thank you. You know that always means a lot coming from you. I felt like I rushed through all the photos I took so this trip was definitely not my best work.

I think HM is probably my fave ride in MK. Pirates is my second. IASW is my least favorite, but is good for a cool sit down on a hot day. When we usually go there is never a wait to ride IASW.

As far as the non-thrill rides I would have to agree with you. My fav thrills are the mountains, but I love Pirates and HM. They are so classic Disney.

IASW = air conditioning? On a hot day I would have to agree with that as well.

If you like some ears you must get them. You can always wear them on the next trips. I have my special ears & wear them on every trip. They are no longer sold at WDW & i'm always asked where to get them.

I know. I should get them. I don't know why I don't. I still have trouble wearing Disney T's to Disney. I guess I have watched one too many episodes of "What Not to Wear". Didn't they bust somebody for wearing crocs on the show?

I don't that any family can get through WDW without at least one meltdown. Excitement & expectations are so high that everyone is stressed a little & it comes out.

I absolutely agree. I knew there would be meltdowns so I was determined to try to be as calm as possible. I just didn't think our first meltdown would actually be the first night.

Great update! I love CHH, I don't know why we don't go there more often! I'm going to have to remember they have salmon, I've become kind of obsessed with salmon ever since I had it at Cape May, so I'd like to try it somewhere else!

Thanks!

I love salmon. I make it all the time at home. I usually order it out so its very funny that I didn't order it that night. I did have it at WPE and it was really good there.

Yay for HM being your first ride, can't go wrong with a classic!

You can never go wrong with a classic and its one of my favs.

Ugh, I can't stand when people don't move all the way over in a theater. If there aren't a lot of people, that's one thing, but when it's crowded, just move it!

No kidding! What is wrong with people who do that? Is so freaking obnoxious!

Oh no, rain? Ughhhh!!!

Yup - LOTS of rain!

ooooo, MEK I am new to posting on your TR, though I've been reading along - I'm mostly a lurker.

Well I'm glad you came out of lurkdom!!!!!! Once you're out, you're out. You can't go back in again!!!!

I don't know if you noticed my tickers in my sig line but I graduate this December then I will also be an NP!!! School has gone really well, in clinicals now with some great family practice MDs and NPs, starting to get nervous about taking my boards! Please lie to me and tell me they'll be easy!

I didn't notice that, but congratulations! That's awesome! I love being an NP. I have been one for 12 years. I went through a post master's adult NP program and, because I had been a clinical nurse specialist in critical care, I got grandfathered in to take the acute care NP exam as well so I have both certifications. I have always worked in a hospital setting in cardiac and thoracic surgery. Love it.

I did NOT think the exam was overwhelming at all. I work with a lot of PA's and I have seen their practice exams and they are insane. The NP exam is very logical. I did not take family practice, but the two I took were logical and not overly hard or picky.

Tomorrow night I am going to an inservice which explains all the changes in credentialing because all my certifications now have gerontology components. I basically have to stay certified for life now. If I ever let it lapse I will need to go back to school, which I don't plan to do.

I think now is a great time to be an NP. There are a lot more jobs then there were 10 years ago and the salaries are rising. I just had a salary review and got a very nice raise. I was very, very happy because I feel like my education if finally starting to pay off.

Great pix of the Beasts Castle , Can't wait for it to open !!. I hate when people plop down in the middle of the row too !! I love it when the CM's make them move !!!!

I can't wait to see that castle. I know its going to be over-the-top cool.

I so wish that a CM had made those people move. I would have loved to see their faces.

I'm really enjoying your report! Keep it coming!

debjk4! Thanks so much for joining in! I am planning another update soon. I'd like to do it today, but I also need to get caught up on my subbed TRs.

All caught up finally. The unladen swallow comment had me like on page 2. Thought I quoted it as well as the African or European comment but I guess not.

Welcome back Pat! I hope you had a fabulous trip! I can't wait to read all about it. Now its time to start planning for F&W!!!!!! Oh - and the swallow comment was pretty darn funny!

I just had my first out of the bubble experience and driving too. So Different.

You drove this trip? Kidding - I hope it went well. I'm curious what your out of bubble experience was. You might have to start a second TR!

Glad you all made it, but those look like Debby clouds...

OK, I'm almost afraid to ask, what is a Debby cloud? Should I google it? It doesn't sound good, whatever it is.

treehouses look amazing. I can't wait till my stay there.
I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

ljcrochet! The treehouses were pretty amazing! You are going to love it there. It's such a different kind of stay.

Another update should be coming soon! Thanks for joining in!

 

[Mom&RN]

Thank you for the reassurance about the boards! Also, I want to say thank you because it is NPs like you that have paved the way to make things better/easier for soon to be new NPs like me. I know how much you all struggled to get the respect (and salaries) that you deserve and I appreciate you!! If you'd like I'll keep you posted on my progress.....

 

[15isto2]

Thank you for the reassurance about the boards! Also, I want to say thank you because it is NPs like you that have paved the way to make things better/easier for soon to be new NPs like me. I know how much you all struggled to get the respect (and salaries) that you deserve and I appreciate you!! If you'd like I'll keep you posted on my progress.....

All going well I start my advanced nurse practitioner training in Sept (I am in the UK) although I will be missing my first class due to my already booked disney vacation we should start a support group

 

[saintstickets]

This is my favorite scene in the ride, probably because it means I am almost done listening to that annoying song

Double !! Blasphemy!! Just joking

Riding IASW is a tradition of ours dating back to my first trip to Disneyland in 1967. No matter who is with us, what there ages are or how much they dread doing it, we all have to ride IASW! Just sit back and go to sleep or cover your ears and let me stroll down memory lane for a few minutes!

I agree with you about people that don't follow instructions like "move down to the end of the row". The sad part is that they are teaching their children that their behavior is acceptable. I think someone needs to put some bleach in their gene pool!!

Keep the great TR coming MEK! Your pics and commentary are the best!!

 

[MEK]

Thank you for the reassurance about the boards! Also, I want to say thank you because it is NPs like you that have paved the way to make things better/easier for soon to be new NPs like me. I know how much you all struggled to get the respect (and salaries) that you deserve and I appreciate you!! If you'd like I'll keep you posted on my progress.....

I would love to hear about your progress. I love working with students. It's kind of a pain because it slows you down, but its so important to role model good clinical skills.

And thanks for the comment because it hasn't always been an easy road. I have some interesting stories and I still cringe when patient's think that the male PA's I work with are doctors and I'm the doctor's nurse. Ugh. The satisfaction is knowing that I take care of those patients much more comprehensively than the PAs do.

All going well I start my advanced nurse practitioner training in Sept (I am in the UK) although I will be missing my first class due to my already booked disney vacation we should start a support group

Congratulations. That is awesome. I hope you love it as much as I do. It can be a great job and very rewarding.

I can't think of a better reason to miss your first class than a Disney vacation.

Double !! Blasphemy!! Just joking

Riding IASW is a tradition of ours dating back to my first trip to Disneyland in 1967. No matter who is with us, what there ages are or how much they dread doing it, we all have to ride IASW! Just sit back and go to sleep or cover your ears and let me stroll down memory lane for a few minutes!

It is a really nostalgic ride and I would never knock a classic Disney attraction, at least not too hard. Everytime I ride it I notice something new. I still remember the second time we did it (first time was pre refurb) and Nicholas noticed that it had been refurbed. I don't know how he knew, considering he was still pretty young, but he did.

I agree with you about people that don't follow instructions like "move down to the end of the row". The sad part is that they are teaching their children that their behavior is acceptable. I think someone needs to put some bleach in their gene pool!!

Nicely said! Yes - it does teach their kids that its OK to do what you want despite the rules and that can definitely end up getting someone in trouble.

Keep the great TR coming MEK! Your pics and commentary are the best!!

Thanks! We've only just begun.

 

[CatNipRules]

Great picture of Beast's castle. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Your son reminds me of my son. Always texting his girlfriend. LOL!!

you've got me curious as to what the meltdown is. Being a former Florida resident I know that most times the rain doesn't last long, but I never utter those words because they will come back to haunt you. LOL!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[JoshMom5]

Subbing great report so far...can't wait to see what happens next!

 

[Kimmy]

Enjoying your updates! Great pictures.

 

[MEK]

Great picture of Beast's castle. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

CatNipRules. I love your name. Quite honestly, cat nip really does rule. It never ceases to amaze me what it does to my feline friends. Thanks for joining in.

Your son reminds me of my son. Always texting his girlfriend. LOL!!

Morning, noon, and night. Unless he's with her.

you've got me curious as to what the meltdown is. Being a former Florida resident I know that most times the rain doesn't last long, but I never utter those words because they will come back to haunt you. LOL!!

The meltdown is coming in my next update. It involves rain and an unhappy brother. And yes - those words did come back to haunt me.

Can't wait to read more!

I would love to do an update tonight, but I'm not sure its going to happen. I have been trying to catch up on all my subbed TRs.

Subbing great report so far...can't wait to see what happens next!

JoshMom Paula! Thanks for joining in. An update is coming soon. opcorn:

Enjoying your updates! Great pictures.

Thanks Kimmy. So glad you are enjoying this TR and the pictures. I have many, many, MANY more pics!

 

[CatNipRules]

CatNipRules. I love your name. Quite honestly, cat nip really does rule. It never ceases to amaze me what it does to my feline friends. Thanks for joining in.



Morning, noon, and night. Unless he's with her.



The meltdown is coming in my next update. It involves rain and an unhappy brother. And yes - those words did come back to haunt me.



I would love to do an update tonight, but I'm not sure its going to happen. I have been trying to catch up on all my subbed TRs.

Thank you for reading my pre-trip report. It's my first one and I'm hopefully not too boring to read. LOL!!

LOL! I love the comments about your brother. Mine drives me up the wall and that's probably why we don't travel together much. He and his wife can't stand Disney. I can't understand why! LOL!!

Yes, catnip is awesome and my cats love it. They inspired my name here. I love them that much. LOL!!

I'm really enjoying reading and whenever you update I will be here waiting to read.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

I do love "What not To Wear" although once in a while I do disagree with Clinton & Stacey. I do agree with them about Crocs!

 

[MEK]

The Meltdown!

I see I have a couple of comments. I did not skip you. I just thought I would try to get this update done tonight. I know everyone is anxious to hear about the "meltdown".

First, I want to thank everyone for reading along. It's great to have so many new readers. But since many of you are new readers you don't know the drama that went into getting my brother to agree to come on this trip. I'll spare you the details, but I will tell you that I booked this treehouse reservation 1 year ago and I asked my brother and family to go with us back in August 2011.

Imagine my dismay when they still hadn't committed by early April 2012. My brother and I ended up having a fight over it. I told him he was being selfish and he was going to regret not taking his kids on one big vacation because before he knew it, they weren't going to be kids anymore. He told me that I had swallowed too much of the Disney koolaid and he tried bad mouthing the place I loved so dearly.

When I finally told my SIL that I was wrong to invite them, a family should plan their own vacations, and I was going to cancel the reservation to save the points, she miraculously emailed me the confirmation for their train reservations.

So back to where we left off.

It was MK. It was dark. It was TOO dark. A storm was brewing and it was making my brother antsy. I could tell he wanted to leave then but I reassured him that (1) it wouldn't rain long and (2) there are lightning rods every 3 feet in Disney world.

I was bummed about the impending rain because I wanted to take everyone on Jungle Cruise. I knew better than to get in line because I knew the ride would shut down soon. So we headed over to POTC.

So did everyone else.

The line was to the door, but did it really matter. We were going to be stuck in the rain so we might as well be on a ride.

The line moved just slow enough for me to take pictures.

I have a thing with light fixtures....

I know I could have used a flash in the queue, but I preferred not to.

It probably took 10 minutes to get on the ride, which wasn't bad considering the length of it.

I made special note of what the CM said "No FLASH Photography" That indicates to me that non-flash photography is A-OK!

I have tried before to get this holograph. Finally got it. Score!

No flash here!

I tried really hard to get a pic in this scene and this was the best I was able to do

I didn't do real well with the wenches

Score on this one

Here Kitty Kitty

I know Jen (Jenseib) said she had trouble getting this cat. Here's the best I could do.

Next up are the burning buildings. I'm sure you can't tell that from this picture.

Continued in the Next Post.......

 

[MEK]

Continued......

More fire, in case you couldn't tell

Creepy

The ride was a success. Everyone loved it. But now it was back to reality.

Once we hit the dump shop and looked out in the courtyard it was clear that it was pouring. Yup, it wasn't just raining. This was "stay right where you are and don't move" rain. There was also thunder and lightning just for effect.

We spent the next 30 minutes or so holed up in the dump shop. Parade time came and went and Wishes time was approaching. I doubted that Wishes would start on time, or at all.

Taken from a picture in the dump shop

I was starting to get bored so I started taking pictures of random things, like this....

and this....

I goofed around trying to decide what picture to post on facebook

while my nephews took turns trying to sleep in their mom's lap

At some point my brother starting lamenting that he was going to get his good new sneakers wet. I said, "why didn't you just buy a pair of Tevas like Jen did?".

He said, "I can't wear those things. These are the first pair of shoes where my feet don't hurt. You obviously have NO idea how bad my feet are."

I replied, "You're right. I obviously don't".

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the rain slowed. It didn't stop and there was still some distant lighting, but we decided to put on ponchos and brave it.

Once outside my brother saw some distant lightning and made the comment, "You people all think you are safe just because you are in Disney World, but you're not". Oh brother - there was no sense in even responding to that comment.

At this point all I wanted to do was get out and away. We proceeded to walk to the gate. I knew it would be crowded and if I had been alone I certainly wouldn't be leaving.

When we finally got outside the line for the monorail was insanely long. I feel pretty certain there were no ferries running yet, so we got in the monorail line.

This is where my brother loses it. He says "I am NOT standing in this line. I'm going back in the park". If he could have shot me with daggers, he would have. He looked at me with such hatred, as if by my own will I had caused the storm. He grabbed his two younger kids and turns to walk away.

Now I needed to think fast, so I blurted out, "I know - just take the bus home. It's that way". I point to that general direction. I was totally unnerved.

After the monorail line breaks in two and it starts moving I realized the error of my directions. If they take the bus they can't get their car. OMG! Now what??????

I tried feverishly to call them, but no luck. They are like Denny. They don't answer calls or texts. Hell, they might not even have their phones with them.

I start to wonder if there car can stay in the lot all night.

After another eternity, we are finally on the monorail. Just as we are approaching the contemporary I get a call from my SIL saying they made it back to their car. The pixie dust gods must have smiled on them because the ferry started to operate just as they were walking towards the buses.


Yeah. I can't tell you how relieved I was. I didn't even care that we were going to get home a full thirty minutes behind them.

My brother and I didn't speak again that night. He was already in bed when I got back to the villa. Just as well because I didn't feel like another confrontation.

Next Up....Why Do I Keep Flunking Disney Transportation 101?

 

[marDgreen88]

Your Pirates pictures are great! Better than I could do!!

Ugh, that rain sounds awful. I have a feeling nobody really felt 'safe' though. I'm so glad that they were able to get on a ferry back to the car though!

Sorry your night didn't go as you wanted, but I hope the rest of the trip was better!

 

[ireneryan]

Oh man, I was expecting the meltdown to come from one of the kids. Adult meltdowns are so much worse to deal with. I just can't handle going on vacation with people who you feel so responsible for their happiness because they are acting like you forced it on them.

Hopefully the tension resolved itself after a good night's sleep.

 

[MEK]

Thank you for reading my pre-trip report. It's my first one and I'm hopefully not too boring to read. LOL!!

Not boring at all. I really enjoyed reading all your recent life events and I hope your trip goes great. I will be there the week after you.

LOL! I love the comments about your brother. Mine drives me up the wall and that's probably why we don't travel together much. He and his wife can't stand Disney. I can't understand why! LOL!!

My bro basically went into this trip as not a Disney fan. Stick around to see if that changes.

Yes, catnip is awesome and my cats love it. They inspired my name here. I love them that much. LOL!!

I'm pretty fond of my cats, too. Well, at least two of the three of them. One is a little "off" to put it gently.

I'm really enjoying reading and whenever you update I will be here waiting to read.

Done! Glad you are enjoying the TR. I usually update once or twice a week.

I do love "What not To Wear" although once in a while I do disagree with Clinton & Stacey. I do agree with them about Crocs!

I have watched that show on my lunch break so many times that I pretty much always agree with them and when I go shopping - watch out - I hear them talking to me.