Could the Dream Turn the Grump into a Believer? Charleston Update 10/13

[herb102211]

This sounds like my FI. He said he was getting sick of going to the parks every year, so we did our first Disney cruise last year....and suddenly the Disney resister, resisted no more! Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Yippee! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[MagicMe]

Wow!! Three pages of followers!! Can't wait to read your trip report!!!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Hi Michelle! I'm here too! Can't wait to hear all about your adventures & especially your impression of the Dream!

 

[photographymom517]

Hi, Michelle! I'm here finally!!!

I definitely am in favor of the support group! While my husband LOVES Florida in general, its somewhat of a task convincing him that I need Disney every year! He keeps talking about the beach & how there are "other options in Florida" ??? What's that you say???

I, personally, vow to never take a trip near the state of Florida without at least one day at Disney!!!

As others have said, I love the new picture bar!!!

I can't wait to hear all about your stay at AKL and the cruise!!!!! After staying other places the past few years, I'm in serious need of seeing some AKL pics!!! Good thing I'll get plenty from your report as well as Erika's!!!

 

[Cotillard]

Married to a (wonderful) resister as well
Looking forward to your report!

 

[scottygirl]

 

[Spartangirl]

Hi Michelle...I'm here! Can't wait to hear about your trip! Hope you guys loved the cruise...I know Don's not "into" Disney, but hopefully he enjoyed the cruise. THAT may be one way to get your Disney fix in!

 

[tessasmom]

I can't wait to hear about you trip! Subbing!

 

[MEK]

Tried to sub from my phone the other day, but clearly it didn't work. Great introduction and I love your dress - so pretty. Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[SoonerGirl]

My DH is also a resistor, so if he wants us to go to Vegas, I get a Disney trip! I'm a Vegas resistor.

I wanted a daughter, but wound up with 4 sons! Now that they are adults it is so much fun to hear the stories of their escapades!

4 sons, but they gave you grandaughters, hopefully I'll get at least one some day - but not for a good long while!

This sounds like my FI. He said he was getting sick of going to the parks every year, so we did our first Disney cruise last year....and suddenly the Disney resister, resisted no more! Can't wait to read the rest of your report!

Oh, so glad your FI liked the cruise! Leave it Disney to find an angle for everyone

Yippee! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Hi Christine, glad you're here!

Wow!! Three pages of followers!! Can't wait to read your trip report!!!

I have good DIS friends to come out and support my efforts

Thanks for joining in!

Hi Michelle! I'm here too! Can't wait to hear all about your adventures & especially your impression of the Dream!

Hi Mel! The Dream was, well dreamy.......

Hi, Michelle! I'm here finally!!!

I definitely am in favor of the support group! While my husband LOVES Florida in general, its somewhat of a task convincing him that I need Disney every year! He keeps talking about the beach & how there are "other options in Florida" ??? What's that you say???

I, personally, vow to never take a trip near the state of Florida without at least one day at Disney!!!

As others have said, I love the new picture bar!!!

I can't wait to hear all about your stay at AKL and the cruise!!!!! After staying other places the past few years, I'm in serious need of seeing some AKL pics!!! Good thing I'll get plenty from your report as well as Erika's!!!

Hi Hope!

Well, at least you still have a little one at home to help draw your DH to Disney, since my kids are older now it's much easier for the resister to put his foot down

I'll get started on this thing soon, I promise - baseball duties have been kicking my butt the last couple of days!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Married to a (wonderful) resister as well
Looking forward to your report!

My DH is mostly wonderful too, outside that Disney resister flaw, oh well, they can't be perfect can they?

Thanks for joining in!

I know, I meant to have my first update up by now, but baseball has been keeping me very busy the last couple of days. I have concession stand duties for a few hours today, but hopefully I can work an update after that

Hi Michelle...I'm here! Can't wait to hear about your trip! Hope you guys loved the cruise...I know Don's not "into" Disney, but hopefully he enjoyed the cruise. THAT may be one way to get your Disney fix in!

Hey Lynne! Cruising was wonderful, I can see why you guys love it!

I can't wait to hear about you trip! Subbing!

Thanks for jumping on board!

Tried to sub from my phone the other day, but clearly it didn't work. Great introduction and I love your dress - so pretty. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Hey there Mary Ellen! Thanks, I really like that dress, it has such a flattering fit - as a 'bigger' girl that is sometimes hard for me to find!

 

[jenbear123]

Wow I completely missed the link you posted a couple days ago on your PTR. I'm here now! Going back to read

 

[PirateKate]

It must be tough to be married to a Disney Resistor. I married a Disney Enabler. I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm here as well Michelle. I have a Disney resister, who has resisted so much that he hasn't gone on any of our trips so far. Boo. Excited to read your TR!

 

[k_reile]

my DH is a resister too! he is the type who thinks if he has been there once then there is no need to go back and would rather go somewhere else! We have been there twice in the last 4 years and I am working on november 2012...the convincing is still going on! LOL!

 

[jenseib]

I'm here as well Michelle. I have a Disney resister, who has resisted so much that he hasn't gone on any of our trips so far. Boo. Excited to read your TR!

At least your DH gives you the go ahead to go. Up until recently, Mine wouldn't even dream of us going without him...but since he had to miss this past trip last minute, he seems to be a little more lax about it!

 

[klacey1]

Hi, Michelle! I love your TR's! Can't wait to hear all about the cruise!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Wow I completely missed the link you posted a couple days ago on your PTR. I'm here now! Going back to read

No worries! Glad you're here now, thanks for coming over!

It must be tough to be married to a Disney Resistor. I married a Disney Enabler. I can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Lucky you! I wish there was some kind of pill out there that I could give my DH to turn him into a Disney Enabler

I'm here as well Michelle. I have a Disney resister, who has resisted so much that he hasn't gone on any of our trips so far. Boo. Excited to read your TR!

Hi Kelli!! Such a bummer that your DH won't even give Disney a try, you'd think he'd want to see the joy it brings to his kids faces at least once. Don loved taking the boys at first, he just grew tired of it. He did say he's willing to go again when we have grandchildren - honestly, I hope that is waaaaay in the future, I don't wanna be grandma any time soon!

my DH is a resister too! he is the type who thinks if he has been there once then there is no need to go back and would rather go somewhere else! We have been there twice in the last 4 years and I am working on november 2012...the convincing is still going on! LOL!

Yup, sounds very familiar, I've heard that "we've been there already" line many times! Good luck on getting a trip this year!

At least your DH gives you the go ahead to go. Up until recently, Mine wouldn't even dream of us going without him...but since he had to miss this past trip last minute, he seems to be a little more lax about it!

Very true, she is lucky that he at least lets her take the kids and have fun!

Hi, Michelle! I love your TR's! Can't wait to hear all about the cruise!

Hi Kylie! Glad you found me!

I see you have a PTR going, I'll head over there as soon as I get this update posted

 

[SoonerGirl]

I'll apologize in advance because this first update is mostly about traveling and will most undoubtedly be quite boring. I know some people can make an adventure out of a road trip and find all kinds of interesting things to talk about.......I'm not one of those people, road trips stink, I just wanna get there already!

Our original plans had been to leave home very early on the morning of Monday, May 30th and drive the 13 to 14 hours it would take us to get to Atlanta. The more we thought about this, the more we didn't want to drive all that in one day. We wanted a bit of time to enjoy Atlanta on our arrival day, not get there and head straight to bed. That being said, both boys were playing baseball that weekend before our trip and we had no idea what time of day they would finish up. At the end of the day on Saturday it seemed quite unlikely that Jared's team would make the championship and therefore would probably be done late afternoon on Sunday, Justin had one game that was supposed to start at 2:30. The decision was made for Don to go with Jared, Justin was being sent with a friend to his game, and I would stay home and pack so we would be ready to hit the road as soon as everyone got home.

The boys both got home about 5:30, they took quick showers, we loaded the car, went through the drive through at McD's for dinner and were on the interstate headed east by 6:30. We stopped for the night in Little Rock, Arkansas, about 5 hours closer to our destination. It was at this point that I realized that I forgot my contact lens case.

I called down to see if perhaps they had any in the hotel shop that I could buy, but no luck. So, my contacts spent the night in drinking glasses

The next morning I was up and ready to go, I just wanted to get on the road and get to our destination......apparently I was alone in this because the rest of my clan slept, and slept, until I finally put my foot down and forced them all to get moving. The boys were hungry and we were able to get two free breakfasts with our stay, so they went down to eat while Don and I went across the street to gas up the car and I quickly ran into Wal-Mart to get a contact case. The boys were just finishing up breakfast when we got back, we were on the road again by 8:30, at least an hour and a half later than I wanted to be.

Let me just take a minute here to say that the stretch of I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis stinks! The road isn't all that great, but the worst part is, that I think 40 million semi trucks drive that route everyday and they think absolutely nothing of cutting over in front of someone driving 70 miles per hour so that they can pass another truck going 60 while they drive 62 - it's soooo aggravating! Anyway, back to our journey.......we're driving.......I'm not having a good time.........long road trips blow..........what was I thinking??? On the bright side, the boys were being really good, just watching movies and playing games - things definitely could have been worse!

We stopped in Birmingham for lunch and gas and we must have had the slowest gas pump in the history of the world, it almost took us longer to fill up than it did to eat lunch!

I don't have pictures of this because I didn't have my camera ready, but we also saw some of the tornado damage suffered in Birmingham, it was just devastating and so sad to see.

But we're back on the road.......still driving............

We finally arrive at our hotel a little after 4:00 (5:00 with the time change). Yay we're out of the car! I think our bellhop thought we were nuts when he took our luggage - 4 large suitcases, 2 carry-ons and a bag full of crap brought to entertain the kids. He asked how long we were staying and when Don answered '2 nights' the guy just kind of chuckled.

We got to our room and I opened the curtains to this lovely view of Centennial Olympic Park

I was itching to go check it out, so that's just what we did. The park was packed, most likely because it was Memorial Day, but we still enjoyed walking around after being in the car for so long. Of course, I took a few pictures

They have an area in the park that lists all the medal winners from the different sports. I took this picture because one of the gymnasts on the gold medal team is from Edmond, Oklahoma - Shannon Miller

More walking

We were able to catch part of the fountain show. It reminded me a lot of the Epcot fountain - yes, most everything finds me back at Disney

Check out all the kids playing in the water as soon as the show ended! I'm telling you, there must have been 4.2 million people there! (I could be exaggerating just a tad.....but there were a lot!)

Continued in the next post......