Victoriasmom98
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2009
Wow!! It sure has been a long time since I’ve written a trip report. I used to love reading them and I still do, but I was always wanting more interaction on my reports and it just wasn’t there. Of course now my Dis-friends’ kids are all grown up and there’s not a lot of “family” trips anymore within my little circle like there used to be. Oh, once in a while we take Victoria (who is now 24!!!!) but it’s a different type of trip then when she was little - she started her Disney trips at age 6!! Disney is still my “home” and the place I enjoy being at the most. I love being inside the Disney bubble where the outside world doesn’t exist. Crazy, I know, but I think we all need our happy place! I tell people not to call when I’m on vacation --- even if someone dies! Oh, ok, so maybe not to that extreme, but pretty darn close to it. You all know what I mean! 
Let’s get to the details, shall we? Why yes, yes we shall!
Where: Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort (where we honeymooned – with Victoria in tow)
When: May 16-22
Why: To celebrate my birthday month! Yes, I said month!
Who: Peter (hubby extraordinaire) and myself
So, you might be thinking "who are they?" Well, I'm Ann and I am the one who turns 55 on the 11th. My husband is Peter who is 58. We were married in 2010 on the beach, barefoot. Yep, one of my dreams that came true! Victoria is our 24 year old daughter. Others that are in our household include 2 rabbits, 2 cats, 1 sun conure and our 16 chickens outside.
Of course I started planning this trip as soon as we got back from our last trip (September 2021). I had been taking solo trips for the last 2 years in May for my birthday (Boy, having annual passes sure does make that decision easy! Maybe, too easy). On my last solo trip I felt more lonely without either Peter or Victoria and decided I just didn’t want to do a solo trip this time around. I wanted really to bring Victoria, but she now has her own life (ie moved out, job, etc) and it isn’t as easy for her to pick up and take off. I, on the other hand, have been working for State government for over 20 years, so I have quite a bit of vacation time accumulated and I can just take off. As much as I sometimes get upset with Victoria, she is my ride buddy and I love her with all my heart. Peter doesn’t go on the more exciting rides such as Expedition Everest, Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror etc. Usually, when it is just Peter and I, I don’t ride those particular rides. It’s ok. I know I’ll always be going back! Being Disney Vacation Club members ensures that we will be going back year after year! Peter asked me if I was going to go alone this time and I said I would unless he could get the time off. Now he’s a Manager at Sam’s Club for about 2 or 3 years now and he doesn’t have the vacation time accumulated as I do. He has something called PTO and that seems to be a whole different animal than my sick/vacation/personal days off. I believe 2 of the days we will be in Disney will be unpaid for him and he still has to plan for our anniversary trip in September. So now with him being able to have the time off, the trip turned into a Peter and I trip! That’s cool! I love my hubby --- probably a good thing!
Victoria
Now I did mention that Victoria had moved out right? Yeah, well she is back in our household. Things didn’t work out for her and her girlfriend, so she’s back. We were without her for over 6 months and were getting used to being “empty-nesters”. Fortunately for her, she is able to work remotely so she has her little “office” set up in her room. Her mama will always be here for her, that’s for sure. Needless to say, this whole adventure of hers has cost me a lot of money (yes, I paid ½ of her security deposit on their apartment and helped her out financially. Oh, there’s also a little issue with her switching to her own phone plan which ended up costing me almost $800 for cancelling a portion of my contract.
So, that means a huge cut into the “Disney Money” but I love her and again, will always be there to help her out. Now I’m scrambling to try to save up all the money we need. Yes, we could probably eat cheaper than what we do, but c’mon……It’s Disney!!! My credit card enjoyed being at a zero balance, but it is time to use her again. HeeHee!!
I’m still working for State government as I said, but am no longer a Human Services agent. I had some health issues and wanted to step back and concentrate on getting well and that job was sucking the life right out of me. Health issues? Yeah, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, had surgery and radiation. That was not a fun time, let me tell you, but I didn’t take much time off at all during the whole ordeal. I did, however, accept a position which is 5 pay grades below what I was earning as an Agent. Basically it means I lost $5 per hour, but I needed less stress. This past October I had a hysterectomy and in November I had surgery to remove a large kidney stone. The surgery is called percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Big word which means they cut through my back to get to the stone. So, taking the lower paying job was meant to be in the long run. Now, however, I am feeling stronger and am interviewing with State government for a higher paying job. Wish me luck. I’m also still working at Target
part-time as a fulfillment specialist which means I pick the online orders for either store pick up or shipping. Yes, I get paid to shop. Ok, well I can keep anything I pick, but at least I’m not real-shopping with my real-money! Win-win right there! The pay I earn from Target is supposed to be Disney money, but it seems like something is ALWAYS coming up to prevent me from saving it. $15 per hour for 15 hours per week is not a whole lot of money, but it helps. I try to take on extra shift when I can but this old girl is TIRED!!! It’s a lot of walking as you can imagine --- I’ve fit bitted it to be about 2.5 miles per 4 hour shift. No one better tell me I’m not getting my steps in! I just figure it’s good Disney practice as they say a typical Disney Day is walking 13 miles!
We are flying out of Portland via Southwest. Yes, I did book the tickets as soon as they came out. (Website stalker, what can I say). The tickets are always so much cheaper when they first get released. I bought the tickets when they were just about $200 per person round trip. If I were to book them now it would be $500pp! I just checked. Unbelievable!
I think I'm going to end this introduction posting here. But hang in there. I'll have plenty to say in future posts!! And please, come in, stay a while! Please introduce yourself and I will consider you a lifelong friend!
Let’s get to the details, shall we? Why yes, yes we shall!
Where: Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort (where we honeymooned – with Victoria in tow)
When: May 16-22
Why: To celebrate my birthday month! Yes, I said month!
Who: Peter (hubby extraordinaire) and myself
So, you might be thinking "who are they?" Well, I'm Ann and I am the one who turns 55 on the 11th. My husband is Peter who is 58. We were married in 2010 on the beach, barefoot. Yep, one of my dreams that came true! Victoria is our 24 year old daughter. Others that are in our household include 2 rabbits, 2 cats, 1 sun conure and our 16 chickens outside.
Of course I started planning this trip as soon as we got back from our last trip (September 2021). I had been taking solo trips for the last 2 years in May for my birthday (Boy, having annual passes sure does make that decision easy! Maybe, too easy). On my last solo trip I felt more lonely without either Peter or Victoria and decided I just didn’t want to do a solo trip this time around. I wanted really to bring Victoria, but she now has her own life (ie moved out, job, etc) and it isn’t as easy for her to pick up and take off. I, on the other hand, have been working for State government for over 20 years, so I have quite a bit of vacation time accumulated and I can just take off. As much as I sometimes get upset with Victoria, she is my ride buddy and I love her with all my heart. Peter doesn’t go on the more exciting rides such as Expedition Everest, Rock n Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror etc. Usually, when it is just Peter and I, I don’t ride those particular rides. It’s ok. I know I’ll always be going back! Being Disney Vacation Club members ensures that we will be going back year after year! Peter asked me if I was going to go alone this time and I said I would unless he could get the time off. Now he’s a Manager at Sam’s Club for about 2 or 3 years now and he doesn’t have the vacation time accumulated as I do. He has something called PTO and that seems to be a whole different animal than my sick/vacation/personal days off. I believe 2 of the days we will be in Disney will be unpaid for him and he still has to plan for our anniversary trip in September. So now with him being able to have the time off, the trip turned into a Peter and I trip! That’s cool! I love my hubby --- probably a good thing!
Victoria
Now I did mention that Victoria had moved out right? Yeah, well she is back in our household. Things didn’t work out for her and her girlfriend, so she’s back. We were without her for over 6 months and were getting used to being “empty-nesters”. Fortunately for her, she is able to work remotely so she has her little “office” set up in her room. Her mama will always be here for her, that’s for sure. Needless to say, this whole adventure of hers has cost me a lot of money (yes, I paid ½ of her security deposit on their apartment and helped her out financially. Oh, there’s also a little issue with her switching to her own phone plan which ended up costing me almost $800 for cancelling a portion of my contract.
So, that means a huge cut into the “Disney Money” but I love her and again, will always be there to help her out. Now I’m scrambling to try to save up all the money we need. Yes, we could probably eat cheaper than what we do, but c’mon……It’s Disney!!! My credit card enjoyed being at a zero balance, but it is time to use her again. HeeHee!!I’m still working for State government as I said, but am no longer a Human Services agent. I had some health issues and wanted to step back and concentrate on getting well and that job was sucking the life right out of me. Health issues? Yeah, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, had surgery and radiation. That was not a fun time, let me tell you, but I didn’t take much time off at all during the whole ordeal. I did, however, accept a position which is 5 pay grades below what I was earning as an Agent. Basically it means I lost $5 per hour, but I needed less stress. This past October I had a hysterectomy and in November I had surgery to remove a large kidney stone. The surgery is called percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Big word which means they cut through my back to get to the stone. So, taking the lower paying job was meant to be in the long run. Now, however, I am feeling stronger and am interviewing with State government for a higher paying job. Wish me luck. I’m also still working at Target
part-time as a fulfillment specialist which means I pick the online orders for either store pick up or shipping. Yes, I get paid to shop. Ok, well I can keep anything I pick, but at least I’m not real-shopping with my real-money! Win-win right there! The pay I earn from Target is supposed to be Disney money, but it seems like something is ALWAYS coming up to prevent me from saving it. $15 per hour for 15 hours per week is not a whole lot of money, but it helps. I try to take on extra shift when I can but this old girl is TIRED!!! It’s a lot of walking as you can imagine --- I’ve fit bitted it to be about 2.5 miles per 4 hour shift. No one better tell me I’m not getting my steps in! I just figure it’s good Disney practice as they say a typical Disney Day is walking 13 miles!We are flying out of Portland via Southwest. Yes, I did book the tickets as soon as they came out. (Website stalker, what can I say). The tickets are always so much cheaper when they first get released. I bought the tickets when they were just about $200 per person round trip. If I were to book them now it would be $500pp! I just checked. Unbelievable!
I think I'm going to end this introduction posting here. But hang in there. I'll have plenty to say in future posts!! And please, come in, stay a while! Please introduce yourself and I will consider you a lifelong friend!
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My DD 10 is now a Disney fanatic. We had told her this may be our last trip, at least for a long while, with all the recent changes - but I suspect she will make us think otherwise LOL
