DisneyRegulars
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2011
I just couldn't help myself. I've done all my planning, made all my ADRs and FP+ reservations. Checked in online. Finished my last trip report, the only thing left to do is wait. So while waiting I thought the best way to pass the time would be to start my trip report. So without further ado, let me introduce our trip to you and the supporting cast.
We are planning a 9 night trip starting January 3rd 2014. The time frame was chosen based solely on my parent's ability to join us, and would not necessarily have been our first choice of times to go. My parents are teachers and we are used to having to travel during busier times to accommodate their schedules(Easter week, Christmas Week for example) and have always had a good time. Our stay will span across 3 resorts although I'm still holding out hope for a wait list coming through to reduce the resorts down to 2. Right now we are arriving late Friday night and staying 1 night in SSR. We then move to BWV for Sunday - Tuesday nights. My parents depart Wednesday, but my family will move to AKV-Kidani for Wednesday through Friday nights. We'll depart Saturday night.
**UPDATE** As I was writing this my wait list came through!!!!!!! Seriously, how cool is that!!! We now have the first 5 nights at BWV. YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!
So the cast. Who is this motley crew of Disney travellers you are about to embark on a trip report with? For starters there are five of us. Me (30ish), your narrator extraordinaire. DH, Grizzly (38ish). DS, Tigger, 2 weeks shy of 4 on this trip. DN (Darling Nana), or Nana, my mom (60ish), and finally DP (Darling Pepere), Pepere, my Dad (60ish). I grew up going to Disney every 2-3 years with my family. They love Disney. They love rope drop. We are going to have a great time.
Instead of repeating my typical trip report personal introductions, I'm going to do it Facebook style, like a current trend going around where people share 8 things you may not know about them(actually you can get assigned any number, but I'm going to go with 8). So here goes:
Me, your narrator
1. I once owned 5 ferrets at single time, 3 of them I purchased, and 2 of them I adopted from my mom when she had to move away.
2. I have lived in 5 different countries, visited over 30 different countries, but Disney is still my favorite place to vacation in the entire world.
3. I only have one son and as of right now have zero desire to have more children. I sometimes feel like I am the only person in the world who feels this way.
4. I am severely sensitive to caffeine to the point where I can't have a decaf coffee or even chocolate after 11am or I will be up ALL night. I usually have at least one lapse each Disney trip where I am up all night due to caffiene. Last trip it was eating coffee heath bar crunch ice cream at 2pm. Prior trips I have learned that I need to stay away from the hot fudge on the Ghiradelli sundaes. Very sad about that.
5. I like to be healthy and active but don't really enjoy exercising unless it is with Grizzly and there is some sort of goal to work towards. Expedition Everest Challenge is our next goal.
6. I'm an industrial engineer and am fascinated by the queuing strategies that Disney uses. A dream job would be to help Touring Plans improve their touring plans.
7. When I was 5 months pregnant with my son I watched the Business of Being Born and switched to having a home birth. It was awesome.
8. I went insane during my son's first year with the thought that I must must must make him a quilt for his first twin bed or the world would stop spinning. I finished the quilt that first year, but I have yet to give it to him now 4 years later because we are still working on night time training and there is no way anyone is going to pee on that quilt!
Grizzly
1. He had a cardiac stent put in at age 26 (scared the heck out of your narrator).
2. If given the choice between a chocolate sundae or a strawberry sundae would choose strawberry every time.
3. The first country he visited other than Canada was Morocco with me and my family shortly after we were married.
4. He once drove across the country to move to Arizona, hated it and moved back after 3 months. (Yeah for me! We met shortly after.)
5. His first trip to Disney was when he was 27 years old.(I was terrified he wouldn't like it, turns out I had nothing to worry about, took us 7 years and 10 trips before buying DVC)
6. According to Grizzly there cannot be too many shows about zombies or ghosts.
7. The only 'reality' show he will tolerate other than a ghost hunting show is Duck Dynasty.
8. He made Tigger's bed from scratch. It looks like a monster, complete with 7 eyes, feet as the foot board, tail, and integrated LED lights on remote control.
Tigger (Age almost 4)
1. He once loved Cinderella and all things princessy but more recently is into all things cars and racing.
2. He is at that wonderful age when the line between reality and fantasy is still blurred. Santa is real. Christmas is going to be so awesome this year.
3. He rides a Strider Pre-Bike like a maniac.
4. He couldn't take his Strider Pre-Bike outside for over a year because he refused to wear a helmet.
5. He hates getting new shoes, and when he was littler used to cry for a week (like sawing off his feet crying) with each pair of new shoes.
6. He is not particularly attached to any one toy but does seem to like his brown blanket the best.
7. He cannot swim yet, likes to go in the pool, but HATES getting water splashed on his face. (Water Parks and More option on our Premium Annual Passes hasn't been used too much!)
8. He is a super empathetic little sweetie, to the point where the best way to discipline him is to tell him his actions made someone sad. He will fall to the ground in tears if he is told he has made someone sad. This got us in trouble our last trip because he was distraught when he saw people stuck on the Barnstormer, he was sad because he thought they were sad.
Nana (my mom, Tigger's Grandmother)
1. I have never seen her flip out as wildly as she did when we were trying to take our ferret home from Korea and the customs folks wouldn't let us because they said the ferret was a 'small fox' and was a wild animal we had found in the forest. This was a few years before the internet. Talk about the appearance of a mama bear. Yikes, never get between my mom and her ferrets. Fred the ferret was allowed to leave the country. He was a well travelled little ferret and also made it to Malaysia.
2. She loves to garden. (I hate it)
3. She loves to cook and entertain. (me not so much)
4. When I was little she would wake us up at night or we would stay up really late and go on midnight picnics.
5. She can tie a shoe with her toes. (This has got to be the most completely useless skill of all skills ever)
6. She teaches science in international schools and currently is living in Ghana with my Dad.
7. She likes to do Zumba.
8. Along with my Dad she has the inability to stay put and live in one place for more than 3 years at a time. They have owned 8 different houses in my lifetime, and will probably buy and sell a few more before they manage to finally settle down. They have also lived in 8 different countries.
Pepere (my Dad)
1. Taught PE for most of his career until his knees gave out. He's now a middle school principal.
2. Likes to sing nonsense songs with no real words, very much like the sounds the fox says. He adored that video when I showed it to him. Incase you live in a cave and have somehow missed it: What does the fox say?
3. Has never once called me by my real name, even to the point of receiving athletic awards in highschool he called me up as Beast. I'll take Beast, he calls my brother Dog Lips!
4. Likes to take long drives in the car, yet the only time growing up I ever heard my parents fight was in the car with my mom trying to read the map. Thank goodness for GPS.
5. When I was little we could never manage to go the Benson's Wild Animal Farm (in NH) without locking the keys in the car. It happened every time, it was hilarious.
6. He loves to try and scare you even more than the rides do. Riding Snow White's Scary Adventure was so scary with my Dad. I'm sad my son will never get the same chance.
7. While a roller coaster junky when younger most rides make him feel sick now. (I'm slowly becoming the same way )
8. He is always on the go, when not on the go, he is either sleeping or on his phone or ipad.
Here is a picture of my family on our last trip:
And here is a picture of my parents during their last trip to Disney, with us when my son was 14 months old. I love love love that they were willing to wear Mickey ears. On the backs of the ears they say "Nana" and "ZDog"
So thanks for joining along! Can't wait to share my trip with you.
We are planning a 9 night trip starting January 3rd 2014. The time frame was chosen based solely on my parent's ability to join us, and would not necessarily have been our first choice of times to go. My parents are teachers and we are used to having to travel during busier times to accommodate their schedules(Easter week, Christmas Week for example) and have always had a good time. Our stay will span across 3 resorts although I'm still holding out hope for a wait list coming through to reduce the resorts down to 2. Right now we are arriving late Friday night and staying 1 night in SSR. We then move to BWV for Sunday - Tuesday nights. My parents depart Wednesday, but my family will move to AKV-Kidani for Wednesday through Friday nights. We'll depart Saturday night.
**UPDATE** As I was writing this my wait list came through!!!!!!! Seriously, how cool is that!!! We now have the first 5 nights at BWV. YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!
So the cast. Who is this motley crew of Disney travellers you are about to embark on a trip report with? For starters there are five of us. Me (30ish), your narrator extraordinaire. DH, Grizzly (38ish). DS, Tigger, 2 weeks shy of 4 on this trip. DN (Darling Nana), or Nana, my mom (60ish), and finally DP (Darling Pepere), Pepere, my Dad (60ish). I grew up going to Disney every 2-3 years with my family. They love Disney. They love rope drop. We are going to have a great time.
Instead of repeating my typical trip report personal introductions, I'm going to do it Facebook style, like a current trend going around where people share 8 things you may not know about them(actually you can get assigned any number, but I'm going to go with 8). So here goes:
Me, your narrator
1. I once owned 5 ferrets at single time, 3 of them I purchased, and 2 of them I adopted from my mom when she had to move away.
2. I have lived in 5 different countries, visited over 30 different countries, but Disney is still my favorite place to vacation in the entire world.
3. I only have one son and as of right now have zero desire to have more children. I sometimes feel like I am the only person in the world who feels this way.
4. I am severely sensitive to caffeine to the point where I can't have a decaf coffee or even chocolate after 11am or I will be up ALL night. I usually have at least one lapse each Disney trip where I am up all night due to caffiene. Last trip it was eating coffee heath bar crunch ice cream at 2pm. Prior trips I have learned that I need to stay away from the hot fudge on the Ghiradelli sundaes. Very sad about that.
5. I like to be healthy and active but don't really enjoy exercising unless it is with Grizzly and there is some sort of goal to work towards. Expedition Everest Challenge is our next goal.
6. I'm an industrial engineer and am fascinated by the queuing strategies that Disney uses. A dream job would be to help Touring Plans improve their touring plans.
7. When I was 5 months pregnant with my son I watched the Business of Being Born and switched to having a home birth. It was awesome.
8. I went insane during my son's first year with the thought that I must must must make him a quilt for his first twin bed or the world would stop spinning. I finished the quilt that first year, but I have yet to give it to him now 4 years later because we are still working on night time training and there is no way anyone is going to pee on that quilt!
Grizzly
1. He had a cardiac stent put in at age 26 (scared the heck out of your narrator).
2. If given the choice between a chocolate sundae or a strawberry sundae would choose strawberry every time.
3. The first country he visited other than Canada was Morocco with me and my family shortly after we were married.
4. He once drove across the country to move to Arizona, hated it and moved back after 3 months. (Yeah for me! We met shortly after.)
5. His first trip to Disney was when he was 27 years old.(I was terrified he wouldn't like it, turns out I had nothing to worry about, took us 7 years and 10 trips before buying DVC)
6. According to Grizzly there cannot be too many shows about zombies or ghosts.
7. The only 'reality' show he will tolerate other than a ghost hunting show is Duck Dynasty.
8. He made Tigger's bed from scratch. It looks like a monster, complete with 7 eyes, feet as the foot board, tail, and integrated LED lights on remote control.
Tigger (Age almost 4)
1. He once loved Cinderella and all things princessy but more recently is into all things cars and racing.
2. He is at that wonderful age when the line between reality and fantasy is still blurred. Santa is real. Christmas is going to be so awesome this year.
3. He rides a Strider Pre-Bike like a maniac.
4. He couldn't take his Strider Pre-Bike outside for over a year because he refused to wear a helmet.
5. He hates getting new shoes, and when he was littler used to cry for a week (like sawing off his feet crying) with each pair of new shoes.
6. He is not particularly attached to any one toy but does seem to like his brown blanket the best.
7. He cannot swim yet, likes to go in the pool, but HATES getting water splashed on his face. (Water Parks and More option on our Premium Annual Passes hasn't been used too much!)
8. He is a super empathetic little sweetie, to the point where the best way to discipline him is to tell him his actions made someone sad. He will fall to the ground in tears if he is told he has made someone sad. This got us in trouble our last trip because he was distraught when he saw people stuck on the Barnstormer, he was sad because he thought they were sad.
Nana (my mom, Tigger's Grandmother)
1. I have never seen her flip out as wildly as she did when we were trying to take our ferret home from Korea and the customs folks wouldn't let us because they said the ferret was a 'small fox' and was a wild animal we had found in the forest. This was a few years before the internet. Talk about the appearance of a mama bear. Yikes, never get between my mom and her ferrets. Fred the ferret was allowed to leave the country. He was a well travelled little ferret and also made it to Malaysia.
2. She loves to garden. (I hate it)
3. She loves to cook and entertain. (me not so much)
4. When I was little she would wake us up at night or we would stay up really late and go on midnight picnics.
5. She can tie a shoe with her toes. (This has got to be the most completely useless skill of all skills ever)
6. She teaches science in international schools and currently is living in Ghana with my Dad.
7. She likes to do Zumba.
8. Along with my Dad she has the inability to stay put and live in one place for more than 3 years at a time. They have owned 8 different houses in my lifetime, and will probably buy and sell a few more before they manage to finally settle down. They have also lived in 8 different countries.
Pepere (my Dad)
1. Taught PE for most of his career until his knees gave out. He's now a middle school principal.
2. Likes to sing nonsense songs with no real words, very much like the sounds the fox says. He adored that video when I showed it to him. Incase you live in a cave and have somehow missed it: What does the fox say?
3. Has never once called me by my real name, even to the point of receiving athletic awards in highschool he called me up as Beast. I'll take Beast, he calls my brother Dog Lips!
4. Likes to take long drives in the car, yet the only time growing up I ever heard my parents fight was in the car with my mom trying to read the map. Thank goodness for GPS.
5. When I was little we could never manage to go the Benson's Wild Animal Farm (in NH) without locking the keys in the car. It happened every time, it was hilarious.
6. He loves to try and scare you even more than the rides do. Riding Snow White's Scary Adventure was so scary with my Dad. I'm sad my son will never get the same chance.
7. While a roller coaster junky when younger most rides make him feel sick now. (I'm slowly becoming the same way )
8. He is always on the go, when not on the go, he is either sleeping or on his phone or ipad.
Here is a picture of my family on our last trip:
And here is a picture of my parents during their last trip to Disney, with us when my son was 14 months old. I love love love that they were willing to wear Mickey ears. On the backs of the ears they say "Nana" and "ZDog"
So thanks for joining along! Can't wait to share my trip with you.