Why do we have to stand in all these lines?...a TR by DM w/lots of PIX...Completed!

[CourtneyandRyan]

It's about time Court. And Ha HA HA, I was the first to post to DM's trippie.

You stinker! I rushed over ASAP, and there were already like 5 posts! Yall all beat me!

Some people actually have to work for a living, you know =)

hahaha-- just kidding with you!!!

 

[SingingMom]

Some people actually have to work for a living, you know =)

hahaha-- just kidding with you!!!

I, luckily, am not one of them.

 

[Disneyolic]

Count me in too!

All right! DLM is here! I took 2 pictures especially for you as I was people watching but you'll just have to wait and see...

I resemble the "good friends" description - not the "creepos" description! LOL

Looking forward to your epic saga... I mean, trip report.....

Renée

Woohoo Renee is here and she won't be singing the blues here! Okay, so I'm not a comedienne...

I'm so good at stalking none of you saw me

I thought about calling you but after the first couple of meets and my kids accusing me of boring them I thought it best to please them... I don't think I would have recognized you anyway. I was really really bad at it.

are you on the ball or what? can't wait to read all about it....glad you're home safe!

Oh yeah...I trying real hard to get this going. Problem is that everyone keeps posting on OTHER threads! Glad you're here!

 

[TEminnie]

You have 2 pages since I left for the park at 3:00PM??
Geesh!

(Bet you're glad I'm here though--cause it should have been 4!!)

 

[Disneyolic]

You have 2 pages since I left for the park at 3:00PM??
Geesh!

(Bet you're glad I'm here though--cause it should have been 4!!)

Oh no...TE's here. Now I can really get this TR rolling. It just wouldn't be the same without you...

 

[kate2961]

Hi there!!! Just found your trip report. Can't wait to read it.

It was really great to meet you at Epcot. You're terrific for setting up the meet.

I think I saw Courtney and Ryan too, but I'm not sure. I think they were at The Magic of Animation at MGM on Mon. 6/25 shortly before 11:30AM.

It's just so cool to see everyone at WDW.

 

[Disneyolic]

Hi there!!! Just found your trip report. Can't wait to read it.

It was really great to meet you at Epcot. You're terrific for setting up the meet.

I think I saw Courtney and Ryan too, but I'm not sure. I think they were at The Magic of Animation at MGM on Mon. 6/25 shortly before 11:30AM.

It's just so cool to see everyone at WDW.

It was great to meet another fellow DISer. Did you see the photo yet? Some others posted a couple on other threads. I won't post mine until I get to that day. I'm working on our travel day down right now and will post that tomorrow.

Courtney - were you at MGM on June 25??

 

[CourtneyandRyan]

Hi there!!! Just found your trip report. Can't wait to read it.

It was really great to meet you at Epcot. You're terrific for setting up the meet.

I think I saw Courtney and Ryan too, but I'm not sure. I think they were at The Magic of Animation at MGM on Mon. 6/25 shortly before 11:30AM.

It's just so cool to see everyone at WDW.

OMGoodness! Yes, we were there! Why didn't you say hi??? That would have been so fun!

I'd never done the animation thing before, but that was one of our favorite things this trip. It was awesome!

 

[kate2961]

DM, are you going back in November this year? I noted the reference in your header. We will be there at end of Oct - very early Nov.

Sorry I didn't say Hi Courtney. I wasn't sure it was you and since you don't know me I thought I might frighten the person. My first time at the Magic of Animation too and we loved it.

 

[rentayenta]

I really didn't think I could fit in one more to follow but here I sit wanting more! I'm in!

 

[PittypatBR]

Good grief y'all are fast. Looking forward to all those pics, DM.

 

[praisehisname]

Hey DM...I just saw that you had started your trippie. And now I'm going camping for 5 days with no internet access! At the rate you're going, by the time I get back you'll be up to page 25. I'll have a lot of catching up to do! Can't wait!

Denise

 

[Disneyolic]

DM, are you going back in November this year? I noted the reference in your header. We will be there at end of Oct - very early Nov.

No, it will be a couple of years before we are able to go back. That quote in my avatar area has been there since 2003! I wish I could change it but I don't want to mess with the tag fairy!

I really didn't think I could fit in one more to follow but here I sit wanting more! I'm in!

Well, I'm glad you chose my report to squeeze in!

Good grief y'all are fast. Looking forward to all those pics, DM.

Thanks for coming over. I wanted to get it started as soon as I could but it will slow down. See answer below...

Hey DM...I just saw that you had started your trippie. And now I'm going camping for 5 days with no internet access! At the rate you're going, by the time I get back you'll be up to page 25. I'll have a lot of catching up to do! Can't wait!

Denise

Well, at least you are subscribed. Have fun camping.

I will not be as fast with all my posts as I do want to "savour" the memories of my trip through this trip reporting. I will place links on the first post so you can skip to the new entries and not have to read all the comments (unless you want to read them) when you return.

 

[Ragnrok23]

I'm a little late coming to the party

 

[Disneyolic]

________________________
Friday, June 22...Day of Arrival

I went back to my pre-trippie and copied what I had planned for this day. I think it would be cool to see if things really went as I had planned. Here's the excerpt...

Friday, June 22
Day of Arrival
Evan & Alec go to school at 9 am. This is their last day of school and it ends at 10:30 am. I know, I know...why bother, right? Rob has to work so I will be the one rushing around making sure everything is all packed up. My parents live next door and have agreed to watch our dog, Jake, for the night until Jake's sitter comes on Saturday to pick him up. We need to be to the airport by 5 pm. Dad is driving us in our minivan. Our flight leaves at 6:20 pm, layover in Charlotte, NC, and arrives in Orlando at 11:22 pm. After reading all the mess with the luggage after 11 pm with DME, we will get our own luggage and take DME to POR.

So here's how our actual Day of Arrival went...

HOPES:
1. On-time flights on both our legs of travel.
2. All our luggage arrives.
3. We get our room requests of trundle bed, first floor room, building 27, former nonsmoking room.

The morning starts out just like any normal morning. Rob is up at 4 am and off to work. My alarm goes off at 7:25 am, I turned on the TV to check out the local weather and news and then jump in the shower at 7:35 am. The boys alarm goes off at 7:50 am and they get ready for their last day of school. They were so excited it was their last day and that we were going to Disney World that night. When it's time to send them off to school, I run outside to take their last day of school picture and send them on the bus at 8:50 am...

Brooke woke up after the boys got on their bus and I got her all ready and plopped her in front of the TV while I ran upstairs to do all the rest of the packing. I also DIS’d that day, of course, as many of you know. I entered my last couple of posts on my pre-trippie and finally had to drag myself away from the computer to get the rest of everything done. The boys returned from school at 10:50 am and I took their picture, again, but this time I told them to give me their best, “School’s Out!” shout...

Rob got home early around 2:30 pm and got all his stuff ready to leave. We had only a couple of moments rest on the couch before it was time to get it all packed up in the minivan and head to the airport at 4:30 pm. My mom wanted to ride with us so she did. We were dropped off at USAir gates area and headed in to get our bags checked.

Since we had 7 pieces of baggage to check the kids had to roll their own pieces to the baggage security area...

Notice how empty it looks. I thought that was great. I thought it would probably be a breeze with nobody there...until we went upstairs to the security check point. The line was not that long but it still surprised me. When Rob went through the metal detector it started beeping. They asked him if he had any cell phones or keys on him. He said no and started checking his pockets and rechecking his pockets. Then he pulled out his cell phone. Doh! How can you miss that? It is a Razr phone but it’s still not that small.

So we had plenty of time until our flight and we had a seat in the loading area. The kids went around looking out the windows waiting for our plane to come to the gate...

Our flight was on time to Charlotte. We even arrived a few minutes early. But we had over a 1½ hour layover so we decided to grab a bite to eat. None of us had dinner as we were just too excited and nervous beforehand. But our tummies wanted a bite now. We found a sandwich place and I got a plain bagel while Rob got a sandwich and the kids got cookies. Yup. I started the trip out by feeding my kids cookies for dinner. I couldn’t help it. There really was nothing that they liked to eat there and I knew the cookies would do the trick for the hunger. So here’s Alec all happy after eating his cookie...

Knowing that the kids would be bored at some points during our trip I brought along lots of play stuff. I had saved some toys from either Happy Meals or Wendy’s kids meals and brought them. The boys had fun with a balancing toy set. That lasted for almost half the time we had to wait for our next flight. Doesn't Rob look ever so happy?

Brookie, on the other hand, just wanted to run around everywhere. I let Rob run after her. I did manage a quick photo while she was still for about a second eating a candy Princess necklace...

Then we found out our next leg of the trip was delayed by 30 minutes or so (hope #1 failed). When we finally got on we were very happy. I snapped some pics of the kids on that flight...

Our flight finally arrived in Orlando at 11:45 pm - ½ hour late. We went down to get our luggage (hope #2 ) and headed over to Disney’s Magical Express. We got on the bus and had to wait for about 15 minutes before we were finally off. The bus stopped first at Saratoga Springs, Port Orleans Riverside (which was our stop), and then went on to the Polynesian. They kids loved watching the DME intro on the video...

Brookie was a bit tired but still watched the video also. She sat with Rob...

And since no one would take my picture, I had to take one of myself. Aren’t I lovely after midnight?

We finally got to Riverside at 1 am. Rob took the kids to the kids’ area TV while I checked in. The CM gave me my info with resort map. Here is our little conversation:

CM ever so happily said, “You are in the most coveted building 18.”

Me: “Oh no! Wasn’t that a smoking building?”

CM: “Oh ma’am. All of our resorts are now nonsmoking as of June 1st so there is no problem with that.”

Me: “I know they are nonsmoking now but can you assure me that the mattresses have all been changed out and the rooms thoroughly cleaned of smoke?”

CM: “Yes ma’am. They have been changed and cleaned. I assure you.”

Hope #3: Trundle bed - yes, first floor room - yes, building 27 - nope, former nonsmoking room - nope.

So, I was took him at his word and we proceeded to schlep all our baggage to our room. No Bell Services at that hour I guess. Saved me a tip though.

Our room did not smell at all. I even did the deep nose sniff in the mattresses and pillows to assure myself and we never ever detected a hint of smoke in our room the entire time. We all finally fell asleep at 2 am and planned on sleeping in to whenever we felt like.

So it seems like our day of arrival pretty much went as well as I expected with only a few catches. On Saturday was our first day of Epcot and my first DIS meet. I was totally excited for both!

Next installment.... Addendum to Day of Arrival

 

[Ragnrok23]

Not a bad first day!

Of course my first day I was up at 4AM, on a plane at 7:05, and walking through the MK gates at 12:30, but don't want to rub it in

 

[AlyssinWonderland]

Great trip report so far! I love your pictures! Really like the picture you took of yourself. Mine always turn out awful yours was pretty good! Can't wait to read more! Thanks for writing!

 

[Disneyolic]

I'm a little late coming to the party

Not a bad first day!

Of course my first day I was up at 4AM, on a plane at 7:05, and walking through the MK gates at 12:30, but don't want to rub it in

You're never too late to join this fun party! I'll be dragging it out as best I can. Of course, if you continue those comments on how much better your days were, then you'll be scolded! How many days were you actually in the World? Maybe we can compare that! But don't mention the cruise, please, as I will be very jealouse!

Great trip report so far! I love your pictures! Really like the picture you took of yourself. Mine always turn out awful yours was pretty good! Can't wait to read more! Thanks for writing!

I think I look a bit goofy in that picture but I had to include it. I will never put any pictures that I look bad in though...

 

[Ragnrok23]

You're never too late to join this fun party! I'll be dragging it out as best I can. Of course, if you continue those comments on how much better your days were, then you'll be scolded! How many days were you actually in the World? Maybe we can compare that! But don't mention the cruise, please, as I will be very jealouse!

I think I look a bit goofy in that picture but I had to include it. I will never put any pictures that I look bad in though...

We got there on Monday the 18th, and left for our cruise on Sunday the 24th. Of course since we stayed at GF, we were able to hop on the monorail an head to MK before we left to grab a hotdog at Casey's

 

[SingingMom]

Not a bad first day!

Of course my first day I was up at 4AM, on a plane at 7:05, and walking through the MK gates at 12:30, but don't want to rub it in

As we are talking "First Day"....
Stretch limo picks us up at 4pm - (woo hoo- Diva Dana is THIRLLED)-
Rush hour traffic has me a little worried but gets us to the airport at 5pm (1/2 hr normally) for a 6:30pm flight. Plenty of time. Oh yes, PLENTY OF TIME.
That 6:30pm flight took off at MIDNIGHT!!!
Amazing how empty the Orlando airport is at TWO THIRTY IN THE MORNING!!

Renée