Working the System - A NYE PTR - Link to TR is up! 1/13

[eandesmom]

Congrats to K! Heck any scholarship is awesome!

Yes, every little bit helps!

I found the pickle. Love the ornaments.

I have more Disney ones, just took pics of the ones I saw first lol.

Are you in Hawaii now?

Was, back now. Wiped. Off to do it again tomorrow here.

Cindy. Nope can't do it. Smart though to put different names on for separate parts of the trip.

I don't mind it at all from family, the nephews and HS/College friends but it chaps my hide when people I don't know automatically call me that (even though I've been introduced as Cynthia) as it implies an intimacy they don't have. It really bugs me!

Dudley was closed when we were there. They were cleaning it.

I'd live if it was still closed

Welcome back! Looks like you had a great trip, I'm beyond behind on the DIS but really enjoyed all the FB updates

That is great she got her top choice. Congrats!

Thanks, we are excited for her

I would love a job I got to travel.

Traveling for business is vastly different than for pleasure. Unless you've done it, I think it's hard for people to get but it's really not fun at all. It can be productive, and incredibly rewarding in a business sense but trust me, driving all over Honolulu for 2 days, delivering 40+ gifts, listening to the GPS tell me about Pearl Harbor EVERY time I passed it (no way to turn off the auto tour guide on the GPS) which had to be about 10 times, leaving the hotel when it was dark in the am, coming back when it was dark in the pm...well you really aren't "seeing" Hawaii.

We bought Universal from UT and got the 3rd day free.
BOG I will just say if you like French onion soup order it. YUM!
I am all caught up.

I saw those tickets, we won't be doing 3 days but they are a good deal! Good to know on the French Onion soup, I LOVE French Onion soup!

Congrats to Kendall on the scholarship! I think every little bit helps!

It really does!

Aren't names fun? I think what we go by as kids are not necessarily what we go by as adults. I went by my full name as a kid... but only part of it now. (unless we are talking MDE... then I go by my entire first name cause "Ann" lost her mind ) In your case as well as my own... it is just a variation of our name. I know others that go by something entirely different. Both my mil and my maid of honor at my wedding go by their middle names. My dh - his family has called him by a nick name all of his life. I guess it just goes to show that what is listed on our birth certificates is not necessarily what we ourselves decide to be called.

So very true, both of my brothers had different names growing up as well.

How cool to be going on another trip (even if it is just a short business one) to Hawaii.

Cool isn't the word I'd use. It was very productive business wise and rewarding in that sense. I am now behind the 8 ball here though...and a boss who wants a 2 hour strategy meeting on Friday...and it's supposed ot snow friday...ugh. If I get everything done in the next 2 days though...THEN I can relax.

The worst part was that I had really done pretty well on my timing, was "done" in time to get that run in yesterday and had been looking forward to it for 2 days. Last stop, at the office there ended up being a 2 hour conversation with my main guy there. Needed, good but oh...I saw the clock ticking and the daylight going and just wanted to cry. Landed back home tonight at 5, home by 6:45 and just couldn't bring myself to run in the 40 degrees here.

Just a little bitter.

Plans sound good... sounds like it would be a bit less stressful if tickets were all done and in hand, but given that I myself am hoping to get fp+ for the rest of my group after we check in (just copying over from mine)... I hope are able to do that. (a test so to speak to see if it will work for me. )

Right now Melissa's are still in FLORIDA! She got a tracking number today. Supposedly due to arrive on Sat. Which means Kerri's are probably around the 26th I am guessing.

I just realized that I have been reading this PTR and have never left an actual comment. I'm sorry for that! However, with your trip so close I figured now's as good as time as any to hop in.

Never too late to join. Happy to have you here

A business trip to Hawaii...hmmm, that could be a good thing or a difficult thing. On one hand, you're in Hawaii, who would complain about that? On the other, you're so close to beautiful sights, beaches, tropical drinks...but you have to concentrate on your job and ignore the sound of the ocean waves in the distance.
A catch-22!

It can be a good thing if you can actually time it for a little free time but it never seems to work out that way. I will say, it was nice to be warm, but working 7-7 both days with glimpses here and there of the beach (and a lot of glimpses of tail lights)...not exactly fun.

Congrats to Kendall. I hope that things pan out for her to play soccer there... and maybe even pick up a scholarship along the way.

She did get a small one. I don't know if that means it's "it" or if there is the possibility of more from the school itself. She will be pursuing some additional ones as well, that are outside of the school.

It is ridiculous though that an 18 or 19 year old kid has to know what they want to do before they even graduate high school. Truthfully, I'm happy that I graduated from the School of Agriculture at Purdue, but by the time I was a senior, I wished I had gone for my major in an area that I got a minor in. I enjoyed it a lot more than my major and did a lot better in those courses. They pretty much make you paint yourself into a corner and you either go with it or spend a few more semesters and a lot more money if you have second thoughts.

Yeah, I think she will have to pick her concentration by her junior year. I am hoping that the general program is broad enough that by then she will be happy with which one she picks. I'd have been in trouble if I couldn't change, I despised the major I originally picked, ended up with an unofficial minor in it (UW didn't do minors) but boy was I glad I wasn't locked in.

I'm sorry that things are still kind of in limbo for your trip with everyone still waiting for tickets and trying to figure out the Universal thing. Most important of all, I hope that you're able to get into Margaritaville at some point in time!

One set appears to be set for delivery on the 21st, at least there is a tracking number. Not sure about the others. Yeah, Universal. Honestly I'm so crazed this week with work I can't think about it until the weekend. Hopefully we can take care of it then, I'd love it settled before Christmas.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Cynthia! (Or Cindy as you've been called in the past! ) I'm finally caught up! I'm so sorry for being MIA. Sounds like life is still crazy busy for you. Goodness.

How exciting that your trip is so close. Definitely you can put that Magic Band on a belt loop or purse strap so that you don't have to wear it. Since the straps are adjustable you could wear it over your cuff too as you suggested. Hopefully it won't irritate you.

Congratulations on Kendall's acceptance to Cal Poly SLO! What a lovely area. You guys have to be proud that she's making some tough choices with such confidence and maturity.

I was thinking of you when we were at BWV last week since I know you'll be there soon.

 

[Chilly]

Nope can't do it you don't seem like a Cindy.

48 hours in Hawaii to deliver gifts, I want your job.

Is it SDD day today for your trip?

Claire- your daughter Freya is beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Such a magical time for your family!

Thank you very much.

 

[eandesmom]

Hi Cynthia! (Or Cindy as you've been called in the past! ) I'm finally caught up! I'm so sorry for being MIA. Sounds like life is still crazy busy for you. Goodness.

You were on vacation! Way better reason to be MIA than I have...I am lurking on most of my threads but oh, posting...so behind!

How exciting that your trip is so close. Definitely you can put that Magic Band on a belt loop or purse strap so that you don't have to wear it. Since the straps are adjustable you could wear it over your cuff too as you suggested. Hopefully it won't irritate you.

Guess I'd better figure out my park bag situation so I know what I can strap it to. I feel very unorganized on that front. Hopefully I'll make some progress on it this weekend.

Congratulations on Kendall's acceptance to Cal Poly SLO! What a lovely area. You guys have to be proud that she's making some tough choices with such confidence and maturity.

I was thinking of you when we were at BWV last week since I know you'll be there soon.

It is just lovely, Jeff really enjoyed being there last weekend. It's a great school and that is the focus. At this point soccer looks very unlikely for next year and Kendall seems ok with it. In the big picture of life she is focused on what is important and that's pretty darn cool that she chose this route, versus a second or 3rd choice school just so she could play. She has another friend that went this route last year and like her, will likely play club and keep trying for a spot. The roster, as suspected, is full. They have a very strong club team and she should be able to make it onto that.

Nope can't do it you don't seem like a Cindy.

48 hours in Hawaii to deliver gifts, I want your job.

Is it SDD day today for your trip?

Thank you very much.

Trust me, it must sound way more glamorous than it is. 12 hours in flight there and back, 2 12 hour days doing deliveries and interviewing 4 people and one long client lunch. All I "saw" was the highway, taillights, and a lot of garages. One decent dinner that I walked to on the beach would be extent of experiencing Hawaii. It's a very frustrating business trip to see it so close, but not be able to experience it at all.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I have been MIA too! Unfortunately, not on vacation, just busy with "life" stuff. I haven't been on the DISboards in 10 DAYS!!!

I did see on FB that you popped over to HI again. I see how you get all those miles!

I hope the snow didn't cause you too much trouble and that you are now enjoying some "slower" times and relaxing in preparation for Christmas and your trip.
Your tree is very pretty. We just got our "real" tree aka the Disney tree on Wednesday and it is now decorated and has presents under it (inside the monorail loop!) It makes me very happy!

I hope things continue to settle and you have an awesome holiday! (and I could never call you Cindy either!) I have a friend who was a Kathy in high school, before I knew her, and she's Kathleen now. She just doesn't seem like a Kathy to me!

 

[eandesmom]

I have been MIA too! Unfortunately, not on vacation, just busy with "life" stuff. I haven't been on the DISboards in 10 DAYS!!!

I have barely barely been on, but I do hope to get an update up tomorrow

I did see on FB that you popped over to HI again. I see how you get all those miles!

Yes, there and back in about 70 hours, 12 of which were on the plane and 2 12 hour work days. Not exactly a vacation lol.

I hope the snow didn't cause you too much trouble and that you are now enjoying some "slower" times and relaxing in preparation for Christmas and your trip.

I've been playing catch up all weekend but hopefully this week should be slow and I can get caught up and get all the last minute trip and xmas stuff done. Sadly I do have to work every day this week except for xmas but xmas eve should be cut short at least and that will help.

Your tree is very pretty. We just got our "real" tree aka the Disney tree on Wednesday and it is now decorated and has presents under it (inside the monorail loop!) It makes me very happy!

I do love a real tree! We gave it up several years ago when we had 2 years in a row of water damage to our floor from it. Boo!

I hope things continue to settle and you have an awesome holiday! (and I could never call you Cindy either!) I have a friend who was a Kathy in high school, before I knew her, and she's Kathleen now. She just doesn't seem like a Kathy to me!

It's funny how things change, my brother Phillip, or Phil was PJ growing up and my brother Tom was Todd. I've adapted on Phillip but Todd is Todd. LOL!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Cynthia, I am pretty sure that I won't be back on the boards before you leave for your trip. I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and fabulous time on your vacation!

 

[eandesmom]

Before we get to our last couple of days, a few real life updates!
Jeff had a nice weekend with Kendall, attending the soccer ID camp. As suspected, the roster is full and honestly, their club team is outstanding and may well be the better fit. We will see, plans are to attend the spring one (as well, you never know, right?) and then club tryouts in Sept. While they were off in the hills and Jeff ran on the beach in Cali, we managed to visit Santa!
Santa asked the boys if they were there to make Mom happy. When they answered in the affirmative, he told them that attitude would get them a long ways.

Smart man that Santa!



The E's and I had a busy weekend in all other respects but managed to sneak in a few fun things, some outside lights up, some presents wrapped, a few things pulled out for the trip and viewing It's a Wonderful Life. I had hoped to get more organized packing wise for the trip but did make a dent, I figure the suitcases will just stay out once I get back from Hawaii. Speaking of which, I was pretty shocked to see this on my way to the airport at 4pm last Sunday night.



Ugh.

I did get some pixie dust though. Thanks to all the fall travel, in November I finally got status on Alaska. What that means is I will get 2 free bags for the next year, 1.5 times the miles and complimentary upgrades when available. It automatically slates you for an upgrade when you check in. When you check in is key as it is your place in line, though you’ll be bumped down by folks with higher status than you (gold, 75K or whatever). Given how small first class is, I didn't remotely expect to get upgraded.

But I was!

I have to say, it made flying to Hawaii, on a Sunday night, with an expected landing time of 11pm Hawaii time (1am my time) much much less painful.



And it saved my company some money since it meant free dinner and digi player lol! I did skip all the free drinks other than POG but boy, you could get tanked in first class quite easily! They offered POG mimosas to start, wine with dinner, baileys or Kahlua for your coffee…it has been a LONG time since I've been in 1st class. A car upgrade, a room view upgrade and all in all it was relatively painless as these things go. Given that I'd schlepped all 47 gifts with me, I was grateful!

I did still pick up an "unwind" snack on my way back from the parking garage though. YAY for the ABC Store!



This was all I saw of the beach in the daylight



I did manage to hit a favorite for lunch





And dinner the first night



And a really bad Mai Tai at Cheeseburger in Paradise the second night (burger was good though)



Too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked, thank goodness it was late happy hour so only half price. I'm not sure I've ever tasted anything so sweet before!

The trip went well, really well, but really was all work. Two 12 hour days, the extent of my Hawaiian experience other than seeing clients and interviewing potential employees was walking down the beach at night to dinner, a yummy solo dinner and then on the next night a whopping 15 minutes in the hot tub and pool before it closed. I’d hoped to go for a run and frankly was a bit bitter about it, I’d busted my behind to be done in time the 2nd day to fit it in and then ended up in a 2 hour chat with my local guy and watched the time slip away. What can you do? I consoled myself with more snacks.



I needed them after hearing the auto tourist in my GPS (that you can't turn off) tell me about Pearl Harbor for the bazillionth time as I drove past it. And after having to pay cash at every single garage. Amazing...they actually still have coin meters!

I will say that the gym at the hotel was quite nice and am glad I at least fit that in one night, and I was able to get some coffee maker pictures for Dee since she will be at that location this summer. So that's something.





I did think this store was pretty cool (in the hotel, the extent of the shopping I did…and this was a walk by lol)



I did bring home some nice stocking stuffers...who knew that Santa could bring chocolate covered macadamia nuts in stockings! No luck on the upgrade on the way back but at least I had an exit row, complete with a young couple who I swear may have been on their 2nd flight ever. A lot of "are we there yet" and how much longer? Sweet but oh my, I’d answered the same question many times!

Again, Alaska came through with an Island Themed breakfast offering that was pretty darn tasty! You can’t really tell but it was a Hawaiian sweet bread French toast, portugese sausage, eggs and pinapples. YUM!



This was kind of pretty to see as we were getting close to landing



Once home, after some uber ugly rush hour traffic, I turned around and did the whole thing again for my local clients. Despite a snow delay on Friday I did manage to get it all done. WHEW! Needless to say though, I was wiped out. When I landed on Wednesday at 4, home at 6, Jeff asked if I was going to go for a run. Yeah…no. Couldn't do it. On Thursday I actually took a 2 hour nap before dinner. No gym. I NEVER, EVER nap. Can’t. I try, want to, but can’t. The fact that I did, for that long, says something. I did also sneak in a little elective care. I decided to try some plugs for my tear ducts to see if that will help my severe dry eye situation. The red eye will kill them; flights in general are bad enough but a red eye? Ouch! So far, I am extremely pleased with the results. Jeff and I snuck in a date night (a couple escape before 2 weeks of a lot of family togetherness) and went and saw Saving Mr. Banks on Saturday night. I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!! The kids don’t know what we saw and might be cranky about it but luckily there are so many movies out right now that they want to see that they weren't interested in finding out what we did see without them.

I finally got a run in yesterday, the first in just over a week which is the longest I've gone since I started other than our Hawaii vacation last May. Scary.

Thankfully, I was able to spend most of the weekend getting organized for the trip and am personally about 90% packed, have my to do lists, know what I need to still go buy, etc and am feeling quite good on that end. I have the kids packing lists ready and will give them out on Thursday. Other than Jeff, who will wait until Saturday, I think we are on target to be ready to go by Friday. My hope on Saturday is that all I am really dealing with is getting the cats dropped off and can have a mostly normal day with gym (or run) and trombone lessons. LOL! And because I am sort of on top of it, hopefully I can get caught up on everyone’s threads before we leave!

I have the last of my appointments all set for this week, dentist today and a mani/pedi Friday. Possibly a brake job on Thursday. The real trip work other than packing was yesterday, Melissa finally got her ticket numbers and I attempted to add them in and copy our FP's over. That part was surprisingly easy, for the most part they copied over within 5-10 minutes of our time with one exception. On the 30th, our DHS day, they would not and I had to do quite a bit of rearranging to get us all together. Once that was done, I attempted to change a few of my mom’s. Frankly, this one annoyed me. She’s known for weeks that she and my dad wanted a few different rides than the group (none of the bigger coasters) but would never bother to tell me what she wanted, or get my dad set up in MDE on their own. I’d tried to set him up myself but apparently he did have a Disney account already so we had to try and get him to figure out his password. I finally got that out of him on Friday, got him set up, sent her a friend request from him and let them know. And of course...they didn't do anything about it. So while I was in dealing with Melissa’s I got my mom on the phone (as I really needed to know what the heck she expected me to bring for xmas eve dinner so I could do my shopping) and we went through it.

Changing theirs was a total pita. Very limited availability and options for what they wanted to change. Especially at DHS. At DHS all I was trying to do was replace RRC with something else. With the times they had, NOTHING was available. Move the time of RRC and all I could get them was BAB! If you make the mistake of just cancelling the one you don’t want, you can’t add just one to the other 2 you have. You have to book all 3 at once and it will override your previous 2. And of course it won’t bring up the previous 2 you had! UGH. So right now they have 2 bookings for BAB, neither of which they want and hopefully between now and then we are able to modify it.
In exciting DIS news, Pat is going to join us for dinner! As I’d made the original ressie for what we thought might be our larger group we had a little extra space (and Disney Dining had been unable to make it smaller when I called so we’d left it alone). Both Pat and I had been under the assumption of an earlier fireworks time than it actually is. I’d cut it close with a 6;20 ressie, Pat giving it lots of room at 4:30. This way she doesn’t have to eat so early and we get to truly spend a nice evening with her. The gang is super excited to meet her. Of course, they may not remember her name other than "the other duck". I can't recall if technically she was April, or June. I know Mary Ellen was May. Pat?

Let's look at our last couple of days, shall we?

I left off after Mel, Kerri and their crews had left and we’d had our last dinner and night with my folks at BOG. Which means we are at

Monday January 6th.
This will be a mom and the boys kind of day. The big boy is off doing plane stuff all day. I’d originally booked a Tusker breakfast, thinking this might be the last character breakfast with my characters but on Saturday decided to cancel it. For 2 reasons. One I am thinking we might really really like a nice quiet morning in the treehouse, just the 3 of us, maybe with French Toast (I’m packing the spices!). Two, I want it to be a day that we do whatever the kids want to and right now, who knows what that is. Three, I do have lunch reservations at Les Chefs. Eric is dying to eat there. While Evan isn't getting a similar special dining choice, he also didn't really weigh in that hard on something he was dying to try besides BOG. He did dictate a character breakfast for the DL band trip so I think we are good. The afternoon will bring whatever it will bring. Besides parks options all day include the Balloon in DHS, mini golf, or whatever! We have a later dinner booked at Olivia’s, a family request. As we will have a car it shouldn't be too difficult to get there and we may drive to dinner, a first.

I do have morning FP’s booked at AK but that will likely change. Right now I can only book them for me and who know what the kids will want to do but it’s a placeholder for copying if nothing else. After Dinner, who knows. We may head back out, or we may head home to the treehouse for the dreaded...packing (and laundry).

Tuesday January 7th
And now we come to our last day. Breakfast will be whatever is left in the villa! I hope to be up, packed and bags to bell services/DME by 8. We will then drive to Epcot, but park at the Swan if we can figure that out. We need to return the car to the Swan, hopefully there is a key drop as they don’t open for that until 11. We will know more on that one at pick up. We have morning FP's booked at Epcot (well I do…need to copy the guys once we upgrade their tickets) and then an 11:30 lunch at Via. It’s a little earlier than I’d like to eat but it gives us a safe cushion. Our flight is at 5:35 so I assume DME at 2:35. With time needed to get back to the resort and maybe having some time after lunch to soak up anything last minute instead of feeling the stress of dine and dash, this seemed like a good time. Plus I figure we will be hungry and super sick of the breakfast options left at the villa.

And that is that!

A note on the FP bookings so far. Kerri does not have any yet. I don't know that she will. I’ve sent her the list so at check in, if they do get bands at the Swan (sounds like it but can’t prebook, allegedly a special kiosk at each park to help them book their day?) they can try to copy and match ours. I’ve also offered to book hers for the 4th and 5th if she wants once she has her tickets. That may happen on Christmas. Currently the plan is everyone is bringing their laptops and we are finalizing HP plans, buying the tickets, booking the cars etc and it will possibly include FP for Kerri and Eric. Generally our agenda that day is Santa at home, brunch at Mel’, kids gift exchanges and then we kick all the kids outside to the park across the street. Adults play board games and drink mimosas (or nap lol). So there is some down time before afternoon gift exchange with the larger group.

The BFP at a glance!


Sunday the 29th Magic Kingdom
8:00 Breakfast Captians Grill
10-11am Big Thunder Mountain RR: all
Harmony Barber Shop
12- 1pm Splash Mountain: all kids
12-1 pm Jingle (Jungle) Cruise: all adults
FP lunch at BOG (surprise for all)
2-3 pm Space Mountain: all except mom and dad
2-3 pm Splash Mountain: mom and dad
5:05/5:15 Dinner at R&C

Monday the 30th, Hollywood Studios
10:05-10:25 Beauty and the Beast: mom and dad (it was all I could get)
12:05-1:05 Star Tours: all
1:05-2:05 Rock and Roller coaster: all but mom and dad
2:20-3:20 Toy Story Mania: Mel, Q&K
2:30-3:30 Toy Story Mania: Cindy, Jeff, E’s
2:35-3:35 Toy Story Mania: Mom and Dad
6:20 Dinner at Ohana

Tuesday the 31st, Epcot
3:55-4:55 Test Track: Mel, Q&K
4:00-5:00 Test Track: everyone else
4:55-5:55 Mission Space: Mel, Q&K
5:00-6:00 Mission Space: everyone else
6:00-7:00 Soarin: all
8:00 Dinner at Biergarten

Wednesday the 1st, Animal Kingdom
8:55-9:55 Safari: Mel, Q&K
9:00-10:00 Safari: everyone else
9:55-10:55 Expedition Everest: Mel, Q&K
10:100-11:00 Expedition Everest: Cindy, Jeff, E’s
10:40:10:55 Finding Nemo the Musical: Mom and Dad
2:15 Garden View Tea Room
8:30 Trails End

Thursday the 2nd
Islands of Adventure, Margaritaville, Three Broomsticks

Friday the 3rd, Hollywood Studios
This could be a water park day as well
11:20-11:40 Beauty and the Beast: mom and dad (same issue as above, all I could get)
12:25-1:25 Toy Story Mania: all
1:25-2:25 Rock and Roller Coaster; all but mom and dad
2:25-3:25 Star Tours: All
8:00 Adult only dinner at Blue Zoo, kids get frozen pizza in the villa

Saturday the 4th
Early DHS for Cynthia if all packing is done, pick up car at 11, Move to THV, grocery store
Universal and IOA (C arrive later, rest leave early am)
Dinner at THV

Sunday the 5th
Right now I’m the only one whose ticket goes this far, I’ll be upgrading Jeff and the boys once we get there and copying some of these. Mom and Dad will be adding a day too but may not be able to copy unless they do get a band from the Swan

11:00 Brunch at Raglan Road
4:00-5:00 Big Thunder Mountain RR
5:00 – 6:00 Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square (talking Mickey) For sure the boys will not want this one lol!
6:25 Dinner at BOG
8:25-9:25 Space Mountain

Monday the 6th
Same issue on the boys and we may change parks entirely, who knows.
9:00-10:00 Kali
10:00-11:00 EE
11:00-12:00 Dinosaur
1:20 Lunch at Les Chefs
7:55 Dinner at Olivia’s

Tuesday the 7th
These may be aggressive with checkout and lunch, we will see. Need to copy for the boys and Jeff
9:00-10:00 Soarin’
10:25-11:25 Test Track
11:30 Lunch at Via
11:55-12:55 Spaceship Earth

And in case you aren't keeping track....



Until we get on that plane!

 

[annmarieda]

Before we get to our last couple of days, a few real life updates!
Jeff had a nice weekend with Kendall, attending the soccer ID camp. As suspected, the roster is full and honestly, their club team is outstanding and may well be the better fit. We will see, plans are to attend the spring one (as well, you never know, right?) and then club tryouts in Sept.

That is cool that he was able to go with her. Some how, my dh leaves all of that type of thing to me.

they were off in the hills and Jeff ran on the beach in Cali, we managed to visit Santa!
Santa asked the boys if they were there to make Mom happy. When they answered in the affirmative, he told them that attitude would get them a long ways.

Smart man that Santa!

Great Santa pic! Isn't it funny how that can make a mom happy?

I did get some pixie dust though. Thanks to all the fall travel, in November I finally got status on Alaska. What that means is I will get 2 free bags for the next year, 1.5 times the miles and complimentary upgrades when available. It automatically slates you for an upgrade when you check in. When you check in is key as it is your place in line, though you’ll be bumped down by folks with higher status than you (gold, 75K or whatever). Given how small first class is, I didn't remotely expect to get upgraded.

But I was!

I have to say, it made flying to Hawaii, on a Sunday night, with an expected landing time of 11pm Hawaii time (1am my time) much much less painful.

Congrats on the upgrade!!! The menu looks pretty awesome.

This was all I saw of the beach in the daylight

Nice view

I did manage to hit a favorite for lunch





And dinner the first night



And a really bad Mai Tai at Cheeseburger in Paradise the second night (burger was good though)



Too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked, thank goodness it was late happy hour so only half price. I'm not sure I've ever tasted anything so sweet before!

Now I am just hungry.... all those looked pretty yummy to me

The trip went well, really well, but really was all work. Two 12 hour days, the extent of my Hawaiian experience other than seeing clients and interviewing potential employees was walking down the beach at night to dinner, a yummy solo dinner and then on the next night a whopping 15 minutes in the hot tub and pool before it closed. I’d hoped to go for a run and frankly was a bit bitter about it, I’d busted my behind to be done in time the 2nd day to fit it in and then ended up in a 2 hour chat with my local guy and watched the time slip away. What can you do? I consoled myself with more snacks.

Ugh those are some long days. At least you were able to get a good solo dinner in. Sorry bout the run though... but yes, at least there were more (what looks to be) yummy snacks to console yourself with.

I will say that the gym at the hotel was quite nice and am glad I at least fit that in one night

I think it is always hard to fit in exercise when not at home...so kudos to you for getting some in.

I did bring home some nice stocking stuffers...who knew that Santa could bring chocolate covered macadamia nuts in stockings! No luck on the upgrade on the way back but at least I had an exit row, complete with a young couple who I swear may have been on their 2nd flight ever. A lot of "are we there yet" and how much longer? Sweet but oh my, I’d answered the same question many times!

I am not sure who I feel worse for...you or the naive couple.

Again, Alaska came through with an Island Themed breakfast offering that was pretty darn tasty! You can’t really tell but it was a Hawaiian sweet bread French toast, portugese sausage, eggs and pinapples. YUM!

Yum!

This was kind of pretty to see as we were getting close to landing

Always such a nice sight.

Once home, after some uber ugly rush hour traffic, I turned around and did the whole thing again for my local clients. Despite a snow delay on Friday I did manage to get it all done. WHEW! Needless to say though, I was wiped out. When I landed on Wednesday at 4, home at 6, Jeff asked if I was going to go for a run. Yeah…no. Couldn't do it. On Thursday I actually took a 2 hour nap before dinner. No gym. I NEVER, EVER nap. Can’t. I try, want to, but can’t. The fact that I did, for that long, says something.

Sounds like you really needed that nap!

I did also sneak in a little elective care. I decided to try some plugs for my tear ducts to see if that will help my severe dry eye situation. The red eye will kill them; flights in general are bad enough but a red eye? Ouch! So far, I am extremely pleased with the results.

I am not sure I am following what you are talking about... but a medical procedure? In any case if you are happy with the results...

Jeff and I snuck in a date night (a couple escape before 2 weeks of a lot of family togetherness) and went and saw Saving Mr. Banks on Saturday night. I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!! The kids don’t know what we saw and might be cranky about it but luckily there are so many movies out right now that they want to see that they weren't interested in finding out what we did see without them.

I want to see it. I have heard that it isn't as much for kids though? We went to see Frozen this weekend with dd... that was definitely kid friendly

I finally got a run in yesterday, the first in just over a week which is the longest I've gone since I started other than our Hawaii vacation last May. Scary.

Thankfully, I was able to spend most of the weekend getting organized for the trip and am personally about 90% packed, have my to do lists, know what I need to still go buy, etc and am feeling quite good on that end. I have the kids packing lists ready and will give them out on Thursday. Other than Jeff, who will wait until Saturday, I think we are on target to be ready to go by Friday. My hope on Saturday is that all I am really dealing with is getting the cats dropped off and can have a mostly normal day with gym (or run) and trombone lessons. LOL! And because I am sort of on top of it, hopefully I can get caught up on everyone’s threads before we leave!

Congrats on being about 90% packed. I am hoping to start early this time. I mean... I don't need the summer clothing now. Should make packing a tad easier, I hope. The challenge though is not knowing for sure what the weather will be like. I have been to florida in the february/march time frame and far too often have we needed long shirts and sweaters.

Melissa finally got her ticket numbers

Yay!!!

I attempted to add them in and copy our FP's over. That part was surprisingly easy, for the most part they copied over within 5-10 minutes of our time with one exception. On the 30th, our DHS day, they would not and I had to do quite a bit of rearranging to get us all together. Once that was done, I attempted to change a few of my mom’s. Frankly, this one annoyed me. She’s known for weeks that she and my dad wanted a few different rides than the group (none of the bigger coasters) but would never bother to tell me what she wanted, or get my dad set up in MDE on their own. I’d tried to set him up myself but apparently he did have a Disney account already so we had to try and get him to figure out his password. I finally got that out of him on Friday, got him set up, sent her a friend request from him and let them know. And of course...they didn't do anything about it. So while I was in dealing with Melissa’s I got my mom on the phone (as I really needed to know what the heck she expected me to bring for xmas eve dinner so I could do my shopping) and we went through it.

You make me nervous. I will have to attempt to copy over all of my fp+ to dh and the kids once we upgrade their tickets...when we are there. I really hoped it would be as simple as copying over. Sounds like there is some trouble with DHS though? Ugh...

Changing theirs was a total pita. Very limited availability and options for what they wanted to change. Especially at DHS. At DHS all I was trying to do was replace RRC with something else. With the times they had, NOTHING was available. Move the time of RRC and all I could get them was BAB! If you make the mistake of just cancelling the one you don’t want, you can’t add just one to the other 2 you have. You have to book all 3 at once and it will override your previous 2. And of course it won’t bring up the previous 2 you had! UGH. So right now they have 2 bookings for BAB, neither of which they want and hopefully between now and then we are able to modify it.

In exciting DIS news, Pat is going to join us for dinner! As I’d made the original ressie for what we thought might be our larger group we had a little extra space (and Disney Dining had been unable to make it smaller when I called so we’d left it alone). Both Pat and I had been under the assumption of an earlier fireworks time than it actually is. I’d cut it close with a 6;20 ressie, Pat giving it lots of room at 4:30. This way she doesn’t have to eat so early and we get to truly spend a nice evening with her. The gang is super excited to meet her. Of course, they may not remember her name other than "the other duck". I can't recall if technically she was April, or June. I know Mary Ellen was May. Pat?

How fun!

Monday January 6th.
This will be a mom and the boys kind of day. The big boy is off doing plane stuff all day. I’d originally booked a Tusker breakfast, thinking this might be the last character breakfast with my characters but on Saturday decided to cancel it. For 2 reasons. One I am thinking we might really really like a nice quiet morning in the treehouse, just the 3 of us, maybe with French Toast (I’m packing the spices!). Two, I want it to be a day that we do whatever the kids want to and right now, who knows what that is. Three, I do have lunch reservations at Les Chefs. Eric is dying to eat there. While Evan isn't getting a similar special dining choice, he also didn't really weigh in that hard on something he was dying to try besides BOG. He did dictate a character breakfast for the DL band trip so I think we are good. The afternoon will bring whatever it will bring. Besides parks options all day include the Balloon in DHS, mini golf, or whatever! We have a later dinner booked at Olivia’s, a family request. As we will have a car it shouldn't be too difficult to get there and we may drive to dinner, a first.

Sounds like a nice day with just the boys. And the dinning choices are great! I love TH... but french toast in the room sounds great! Les Chefs for lunch is one of my favorites... and while I have not had Olivias yet... it is on my list!

Tuesday January 7th
And now we come to our last day. Breakfast will be whatever is left in the villa! I hope to be up, packed and bags to bell services/DME by 8. We will then drive to Epcot, but park at the Swan if we can figure that out. We need to return the car to the Swan, hopefully there is a key drop as they don’t open for that until 11. We will know more on that one at pick up. We have morning FP's booked at Epcot (well I do…need to copy the guys once we upgrade their tickets) and then an 11:30 lunch at Via. It’s a little earlier than I’d like to eat but it gives us a safe cushion. Our flight is at 5:35 so I assume DME at 2:35. With time needed to get back to the resort and maybe having some time after lunch to soak up anything last minute instead of feeling the stress of dine and dash, this seemed like a good time. Plus I figure we will be hungry and super sick of the breakfast options left at the villa.

I think my original plan when I thought we would have that same flight time (or there about) was to have Via at that time for lunch. I think it should work out perfect.

A note on the FP bookings so far. Kerri does not have any yet. I don't know that she will. I’ve sent her the list so at check in, if they do get bands at the Swan (sounds like it but can’t prebook, allegedly a special kiosk at each park to help them book their day?) they can try to copy and match ours. I’ve also offered to book hers for the 4th and 5th if she wants once she has her tickets. That may happen on Christmas. Currently the plan is everyone is bringing their laptops and we are finalizing HP plans, buying the tickets, booking the cars etc and it will possibly include FP for Kerri and Eric. Generally our agenda that day is Santa at home, brunch at Mel’, kids gift exchanges and then we kick all the kids outside to the park across the street. Adults play board games and drink mimosas (or nap lol). So there is some down time before afternoon gift exchange with the larger group.

Sounds like you have a nice Christmas day planned!

The BFP at a glance!


Sunday the 29th Magic Kingdom
8:00 Breakfast Captians Grill
10-11am Big Thunder Mountain RR: all
Harmony Barber Shop
12- 1pm Splash Mountain: all kids
12-1 pm Jingle (Jungle) Cruise: all adults
FP lunch at BOG (surprise for all)
2-3 pm Space Mountain: all except mom and dad
2-3 pm Splash Mountain: mom and dad
5:05/5:15 Dinner at R&C

Monday the 30th, Hollywood Studios
10:05-10:25 Beauty and the Beast: mom and dad (it was all I could get)
12:05-1:05 Star Tours: all
1:05-2:05 Rock and Roller coaster: all but mom and dad
2:20-3:20 Toy Story Mania: Mel, Q&K
2:30-3:30 Toy Story Mania: Cindy, Jeff, E’s
2:35-3:35 Toy Story Mania: Mom and Dad
6:20 Dinner at Ohana

Tuesday the 31st, Epcot
3:55-4:55 Test Track: Mel, Q&K
4:00-5:00 Test Track: everyone else
4:55-5:55 Mission Space: Mel, Q&K
5:00-6:00 Mission Space: everyone else
6:00-7:00 Soarin: all
8:00 Dinner at Biergarten

Wednesday the 1st, Animal Kingdom
8:55-9:55 Safari: Mel, Q&K
9:00-10:00 Safari: everyone else
9:55-10:55 Expedition Everest: Mel, Q&K
10:100-11:00 Expedition Everest: Cindy, Jeff, E’s
10:40:10:55 Finding Nemo the Musical: Mom and Dad
2:15 Garden View Tea Room
8:30 Trails End

Thursday the 2nd
Islands of Adventure, Margaritaville, Three Broomsticks

Friday the 3rd, Hollywood Studios
This could be a water park day as well
11:20-11:40 Beauty and the Beast: mom and dad (same issue as above, all I could get)
12:25-1:25 Toy Story Mania: all
1:25-2:25 Rock and Roller Coaster; all but mom and dad
2:25-3:25 Star Tours: All
8:00 Adult only dinner at Blue Zoo, kids get frozen pizza in the villa

Saturday the 4th
Early DHS for Cynthia if all packing is done, pick up car at 11, Move to THV, grocery store
Universal and IOA (C arrive later, rest leave early am)
Dinner at THV

Sunday the 5th
Right now I’m the only one whose ticket goes this far, I’ll be upgrading Jeff and the boys once we get there and copying some of these. Mom and Dad will be adding a day too but may not be able to copy unless they do get a band from the Swan

11:00 Brunch at Raglan Road
4:00-5:00 Big Thunder Mountain RR
5:00 – 6:00 Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square (talking Mickey) For sure the boys will not want this one lol!
6:25 Dinner at BOG
8:25-9:25 Space Mountain

Monday the 6th
Same issue on the boys and we may change parks entirely, who knows.
9:00-10:00 Kali
10:00-11:00 EE
11:00-12:00 Dinosaur
1:20 Lunch at Les Chefs
7:55 Dinner at Olivia’s

Tuesday the 7th
These may be aggressive with checkout and lunch, we will see. Need to copy for the boys and Jeff
9:00-10:00 Soarin’
10:25-11:25 Test Track
11:30 Lunch at Via
11:55-12:55 Spaceship Earth

And in case you aren't keeping track....



Until we get on that plane!

Love the BFP recap! And for how many days are left before your trip!!!

 

[natebenma]

Wow! Once again, I'm very impressed with everything you got done in the past week!!!

You so deserve this upcoming trip!

GREAT Santa picture with the boys!

Congrats on the AA status and flight upgrade. Sounds like this will be helpful for future travel.

Thanks, again, for getting those coffee maker pictures from the hotel in Hawaii. That was extremely sweet of you! I swear, I have coffee anxiety, and knowing how I will get my caffeine fix is always the first thing I need to find out when staying someplace new!

What a gorgeous picture from the plane as you were arriving back in Washington!

If I don't get back here before you leave...

HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP!!!

 

[Poolrat]

I can't recall if technically she was April, or June. I know Mary Ellen was May. Pat?

I believe I was June.
again thanks for the wonderful offer for dinner. Now that we are all set I can "release" my other reservation.

I think we will have time Holiday Wishes is at 8:30 and the NYE E fireworks are at 11:50. Hopefully there won't be a terrible delay in getting seated. If there is well then more drinks.....


Wow to Hawaii and back and delivering all those gifts, a regular Santa you are. I know the work deal, when I volunteer at the annual conference I attend it is some long days.

You managed a busy weekend, good for you. I am trying to tie up loose ends and get packing.

The forecast is looking cooler than it once was. Now I need to pack a bit of everything.


If I don't make it back - Merry Christmas and See you in a few days.!!!!!

 

[jedijill]

Holy cow lady! You have been busy! You deserve a nap!!!!!

Your plans are really coming together. It won't be long now!

Jill in CO

 

[KristiMc]

Have a great trip! 5 days till I board the Fantasy. I can't wait!

 

[KatMark]

First and in case I don't get back here later, I want to wish you, my friend, and all of your family, a very




Nice on the upgrade to Hawaii. Boo to know time for a run or the beach or real shopping.

Love the photo of the E's with Santa (I saw that on FB). Glad you and Jeff got an update.

Plans for the trip sound awesome.

 

[eandesmom]

That is cool that he was able to go with her. Some how, my dh leaves all of that type of thing to me.

Typically K's mom tries to do it all herself and keep Jeff out of it as much as possible but he forced the issue on this one as she went to the last one. He thinks K should still go to the spring ID camp, I am not so sure.

Great Santa pic! Isn't it funny how that can make a mom happy?

they look forced and miserable don't they?

Congrats on the upgrade!!! The menu looks pretty awesome.

It was really yummy. Well the dessert was wierd actually but the chicken was yum! I could have eaten 2.

Nice view

Brutal! I wanted to be down at that lagoon SO bad!

Now I am just hungry.... all those looked pretty yummy to me

They were! Well except the mai tai, BLEH! I disliked it so much I may not have a lapu or a mai tai when we are at Ohana.

Ugh those are some long days. At least you were able to get a good solo dinner in. Sorry bout the run though... but yes, at least there were more (what looks to be) yummy snacks to console yourself with.

I was SO bitter about the run. Heck, I still am. Besides, I wanted to break in my new skirt!

I think it is always hard to fit in exercise when not at home...so kudos to you for getting some in.

Thankfully the first night I did get a nice elliptical in, with a pretty view of downtown. i should have done it the 2nd night but...was too bitter about the run and had only 15 minutes before the pool and hot tub closed. Had it been earlier I'd have at least done the gym then the hot tub but went with the hot tub instead. Because of COURSE I busted up my feet a little while there again. Soaking was required!

I am not sure who I feel worse for...you or the naive couple.

Oh my goodness, between the not tracking when we'd land, forgetting what the time difference was, freaking out over turbulence...I felt bad I did but they (she) were a bit ADD for sure!

Always such a nice sight.

It really is

Sounds like you really needed that nap!

I did!

I am not sure I am following what you are talking about... but a medical procedure? In any case if you are happy with the results...

Yes, they plugged my tear ducts

I want to see it. I have heard that it isn't as much for kids though? We went to see Frozen this weekend with dd... that was definitely kid friendly

I wouldn't say it was for little kids. Teens yes but not sure if they'd find it interesting enough unless they were into Disney or Mary Poppins. I think the E's would like it but younger than that, likely not. There is a fair amount of music so that would entertain younger ones but not enough to really sustain them as it is all about the story and dialogue.

Congrats on being about 90% packed. I am hoping to start early this time. I mean... I don't need the summer clothing now. Should make packing a tad easier, I hope. The challenge though is not knowing for sure what the weather will be like. I have been to florida in the february/march time frame and far too often have we needed long shirts and sweaters.

I am bringing a bit of everything, which does make for a larger load but with swings from 48-76 I think we need it. I find shoes to be the biggest challenge at this time of year in Florida, I can't stand wearing tennis shoes with jeans, but open toe options will be too cold at night. Hard to find the right item! My sister and I were complaining it's our biggest packing challenge. Hopefully I've packed for all possibilities, I do not want to buy something simply because I am cold.

You make me nervous. I will have to attempt to copy over all of my fp+ to dh and the kids once we upgrade their tickets...when we are there. I really hoped it would be as simple as copying over. Sounds like there is some trouble with DHS though? Ugh...

UGH is right! Jeff looked at me last night (because the man lives under a ROCK) and was like "you've booked our fast passes? Why?"



I made the mistake of telling him we really need to put the app on his phone so he can see the times and it went downhill from there. I can see it now. Christmas Day and I'm syncing everyone's phones. DHS was a huge problem. I was able to copy MK, Epcot and AK to Mel and her kids no issue. And that even included Epcot on NYE! But DHS??? No. I moved our times around, finally was able to copy theirs over and had it mostly set though it slid our whole day back. Which was ok, and something I'd been thinking about doing anyway. But my poor parents, who don't want to go on RRC, had ZERO options to switch to. I think part of it is a system glitch, if you want to replace one FP, it seems to only look for that exact time, not anything else open all day that doesn't conflict with your other bookings, which it should. I moved the RRC time around a bunch and still could only ever see BAB as an alternative option. I'll keep trying but we will be hitting a kiosk I guess or maybe at check in they can help? Ugh.

Sounds like a nice day with just the boys. And the dinning choices are great! I love TH... but french toast in the room sounds great! Les Chefs for lunch is one of my favorites... and while I have not had Olivias yet... it is on my list!

We LOVE Olivia's! The boys wanted to do it with the larger group but honestly getting there can be a little tricky if not staying at OKW so I moved it to our family night.

I think my original plan when I thought we would have that same flight time (or there about) was to have Via at that time for lunch. I think it should work out perfect.

It's a good last lunch. We will still need something at the airport or at our layover but I'll worry about that later.

Wow! Once again, I'm very impressed with everything you got done in the past week!!!

You so deserve this upcoming trip!

I cannot wait! Really wish I didn't have to work, head is not in the game.

GREAT Santa picture with the boys!

They hated it, can't you tell?

Congrats on the AA status and flight upgrade. Sounds like this will be helpful for future travel.

It will! Especially the free bags!

Thanks, again, for getting those coffee maker pictures from the hotel in Hawaii. That was extremely sweet of you! I swear, I have coffee anxiety, and knowing how I will get my caffeine fix is always the first thing I need to find out when staying someplace new!

We share your anxiety, I was running around looking for our flat bottom filters for the trip...only to find out Jeff used them all up on plane stuff. I loved the tower I was in the Kalia Tower which is one of the Village Tower rooms. I'd booked a resort view, but got an upgrade to ocean view at check in. I also got lucky in the sense that I checked in at Kalia, instead of the main lobby and was in that tower. So much nicer than going to the big front desk. I liked it as for me, on business, it was perfect. It was set back from the main lobby, definitely more of the business tower with the Starbucks in the lobby and fitness center. It also had Mandara in it but sadly, I didn't make it there. Nice pool (just outside mandara) but again, not on the beach itself so I didn't have to really deal with the full resort crowd and it was literally steps from the garage. For me, perfect.

What a gorgeous picture from the plane as you were arriving back in Washington!

If I don't get back here before you leave...

HAVE A FANTASTIC TRIP!!!

Thanks Dee! Merry Christmas to you!!!!!!!!!!

I believe I was June.
again thanks for the wonderful offer for dinner. Now that we are all set I can "release" my other reservation.

I believe you were. I just remember I picked the one who had green! And I think you wanted the one that had pink, Mary Ellen got her birthday month

I think we will have time Holiday Wishes is at 8:30 and the NYE E fireworks are at 11:50. Hopefully there won't be a terrible delay in getting seated. If there is well then more drinks.....

Well we will definitely be fine for the NYE E, Holiday wishes I hope so but well, we all know how Ohana can go! I admit though I am a bit scared to have a mai tai or a lapu after the horrendous one I had last week.

Wow to Hawaii and back and delivering all those gifts, a regular Santa you are. I know the work deal, when I volunteer at the annual conference I attend it is some long days.

Yes, I feel that Santa has slacked around here as a result, no cards, no cookies (well not that there usually are cookies), the stockings are um...slim to say the least... SIGH.

You managed a busy weekend, good for you. I am trying to tie up loose ends and get packing.

I feel SO much better that most of that packing is done, big stress reliever actually.

The forecast is looking cooler than it once was. Now I need to pack a bit of everything.

Yes, it makes for a bigger bag! I swear I need a full day to pack so I can try out combinations of things and narrow it down. I still likely have more than I need but with that weather spread it's like...Ok, maybe I'll only need one pair of jeans. But what if I need them every night? Then I want more than one pair to choose from...

I did add a rain jacket though and am considering an umbrella!

If I don't make it back - Merry Christmas and See you in a few days.!!!!!

Merry Merry and see you very soon!

Holy cow lady! You have been busy! You deserve a nap!!!!!

Your plans are really coming together. It won't be long now!

Jill in CO

Ah, it was such a lovely nap. Someday I hope to recreate it. Usually the only time I can pull it off is poolside!

Have a great trip! 5 days till I board the Fantasy. I can't wait!

Oh how fun!!!!!!!!!!!! that will be such a memorable cruise, what a wonderful way to ring in the new year!

First and in case I don't get back here later, I want to wish you, my friend, and all of your family, a very

Merry Christmas to you and yours my friend! And remember, the offer still stands if Andy wants someone (a giant group lol) to toast in the New Year with. We will be in Epcot and you are welcome to give him my info.

Nice on the upgrade to Hawaii. Boo to know time for a run or the beach or real shopping.

Well I didn't need to go shopping (though a new top for the trip would have been nice) but the run truly bummed me out. I had 2 routes mapped out depending on the time and well, I was super sad for sure.

Love the photo of the E's with Santa (I saw that on FB). Glad you and Jeff got an update.

Plans for the trip sound awesome.

We had a nice date! One of the better photos in the last couple years. Cutest part of the whole thing was I woke them up to go (trying to beat the line) early ish on Sunday. I had new sweaters for both of them (tradition but usually it's a new flannel shirt and then they wear it Xmas eve). Evan had been eyeing that sweater and I'd snapped it up on sale. His whole face lit up and he bounded out of bed when he saw the sweater. It was a riot! and it also made him super pleasant to be around all morning

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like your plans are all coming together now! You're so organized it's amazing!

I'm glad that most of the moving parts finally locked in. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

[eandesmom]

Breaking news!!! Kerri will not be drinking around the world, she will be snacking!

I'm going to be an aunt again!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

 

[rentayenta]

Breaking news!!! Kerri will not be drinking around the world, she will be snacking! I'm going to be an aunt again! Merry Christmas!!!!!

Woohoo and congrats! Merry Christmas friend.

 

[Chilly]

Breaking news!!! Kerri will not be drinking around the world, she will be snacking!

I'm going to be an aunt again!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Wonderful news! Merry Christmas and have a magical family trip.

 

[englishrose47]

Merry Christmas Cynthia and Family!!!