October 7-14 2011 WDW with DD6, my Mom, and my Hubby (his first visit finally!)

[RebeccaMcK]

My dad gave me a heads-up and told me that my grandma's cousin who lives an hour away from Orlando (I always forget he lives out there) has been in touch with my mom lately (he's related to my dad, not my mom) and she's bringing his phone number so she can at least call him and his wife while we're down there. Dad said, "I don't know if you can have him come out to see you at the hotel or whatever but your mom might at least call him." Well, in these days of cell phones you can call someone any time you want and it's not long distance unless it's an international call (we all just pay for minutes). We don't have time to meet with cousin Jack unless he maybe comes out to see us on our break day and we can get his wife and him into the pool area with us. I really hope this doesn't have to happen....I have enough planned for us that we don't really have time for anything happening on the side, know what I mean? I should have remembered Jack lives out there (he used to live in Oregon but they retired to Florida a while back), because my grandma (Dad's mom) often talks about how when she and Grandpa went down there in their fifth wheeler (RV/camper) Jack took them to see Epcot. It's the only Florida Disney park they visited, back in the 1980s some time. Dang it....Mom, we don't have time for this stuff UNLESS they come out to see us (we of course don't have transportation other than Disney's) on our break day, because I doubt they'd want to buy a park ticket and tack onto our touring plans for any of our other days (so I'm not suggesting it). I MIGHT be able to add them onto our afternoon tea reservation at the Grand Floridian, possibly - so if Mom asks about that I can find out if it's possible.

Just wanted to vent about that. I'm glad Dad at least told me about it early - I'd hate to lash out at my mom in person when she suddenly springs this on me during the trip.

The only other thing of note today is that my mom told me yesterday that she went to the Disney Store at their local mall and got herself an "Original Mouseketeer" t-shirt with some of the gift cards I sent her (they were for spending at Disney World, but that's okay) and she wants to wear it the first day. I told her that it's up to her, of course, but she might like to wear it on the Tuesday we're at Magic Kingdom rather than at Animal Kingdom on our first full day. She also plans to get herself a 40th Anniversary t-shirt, so our first night we'll see if maybe the shop in the Poly has it so she'll have it before we go into any parks. I reminded her that our shopping in the parks will have to be in the afternoons during "down time" after all the "must dos" are mostly or all done, or else on our way out of the parks. Plus, she'll have time sometimes while we're on attractions she won't ride - she can shop while we ride Everest, for example. I reminded her about how we're not going to do the water rides after all (KRR and Splash) and how she hasn't written back or said that she's okay with that (although she probably is....she wouldn't like that drop on Splash at the end any more than I do). And now I'd like to add Haunted Mansion back into our plans even though Kimberly won't ride it (maybe I'll ride HM alone or with Hubby or Mom while the other person does something else with Kimberly), just so I can see the new stuff that was added.

Well, I better go. I have plans to see a movie today with a friend (a fellow mom whose kids are in school).

[JulieC]

I totally get why they'd have to schedule a PHONE CALL during your trip. I'm pretty sure the phone waves (or lines if going old-school) work pretty well from the other side of the country. Yeah, if they want to visit you at the pool, or buy tickets and follow YOUR tour plan, fine, otherwise, :PbPbPbP

[RebeccaMcK]

Yeah, I'm hoping the topic of them getting together with us doesn't come up at all during the trip. Mom should have mentioned it to me herself already by now. And this cousin is on Facebook with me but never says anything (you know...the type who just reads everything but doesn't comment at all or make his own posts. I call them Spies. But he's nice from what I remember when we visited him in Oregon 25 years ago, lol.).

[RebeccaMcK]

Talked to my mom yesterday afternoon, and she says she's bringing cousin Jack's number just so she can "call once we're settled in, let them know our hotel room #" etc. She doesn't expect him to come see us since he is an hour away and maybe doesn't get around much any more. He's my grandma's first cousin, and Grandma Clark turns 91 on Monday - Jack might be a bit younger, the same age or even a bit older. Mom knows the ONLY time he could maybe join us, if he wanted to come to Orlando, is the Wednesday when we're at the pool. So she's not pushing it. She knows how hard I worked at our daily plans and isn't going to mess them up (even asked me where we're going on our first day, so she can plan what to wear and keep it in her carry-on just in case there's a SNAFU with luggage. She's taking my advice about saving the Original Mouseketeer shirt for Magic Kingdom day). And she said she's fine skipping the water rides I mentioned to her and would like to ride Haunted Mansion with me (so Hubby will be the one taking Kimberly elsewhere while we ride). I'll have to figure out where to add HM in our touring plan now....hopefully it won't be tough and will have a short wait. I can maybe have Hubby take Kimberly over to see Woody and Jessie with the camera while we ride. He's bringing his "pay as you go" phone for times he might be separated from us and need to call us (or when we need to call him). Mom has her phone, too, another "pay as you go" phone. I'm the only one with a Smartphone (Droid) for doing any Facebook or internet (and some good photos when the other camera isn't handy).

TWO more days!

[DoctorK]

We had a kind of similar situation - my mother lives in Tampa, and we rarely get to see her. For a number of reasons we can't visit her there, so we sent her a copy of our itinerary and told her she could join us at any of the parks, join us for dinner, etc. It kind of put it on her to take the initiative, rather than us putting a hold on any of our plans to accomodate a visit that might never happen.

[RebeccaMcK]

Doc, yeah, I would be much more understanding if the person in question was a close relative like a mom or dad or sibling, of course. Especially if I hardly ever make it out to Florida (hmmm, for some reason I only ever wind up in Orlando, hehe). But the man in this scenario is a distant cousin....now, he did give me a lot of printed family tree information a while back (within the past couple years) when I started really researching that more, for certain sides of the family - and I'm grateful for that. But other than that we saw him maybe 25 years ago while driving up and down the west coast (he was in Oregon at the time). So this plan of just having Mom call him to say hi and say where we're staying (and there's no way we'd know directions to tell him how to get to the Polynesian...that part would be up to him and GPS or Google Maps or Mapquest, whatever) is probably the extent of what will happen. If he comes out to see us I'll be very surprised. I probably could alter our Tea reservation to include him easily if he wants to stay for Tea. Hubby isn't having Tea with us - the menu isn't appealing to him. He likes drinking tea, but the food isn't anything he'd enjoy. Mom and I will like it, though - and Kimberly will find some things to enjoy.

Michala (offtoseemickey) is at a hotel near her London airport now, all set to go tomorrow. We've emailed back and forth about Saturday's plan to meet for the 4:15 FOTLK show (with FPs drawn around 3:30). My group will have to just do the safari earlier in the day, since I think doing the safari after FOTLK will keep us at the park too long to make it back for our 6:30 ADR at Kona Cafe. Tomorrow I have Kimberly's parent-teacher conference in the morning (not too early, thankfully, but early enough that Hubby won't miss much work and can head there right afterwards). And then I'll find something to do with Kimberly the rest of the day since as of this afternoon she's off school until the 17th. She can help me pack DVDs in my little case (we have "The Lion King" as of yesterday, and my neighbor bought the Blu Ray disc from the set off me - I just wanted the DVD). Hubby will work - he had thought about taking the day off but his group is on a deadline and his part of the project is an important one. Plus he'll be off Friday and all of next week.

[DoctorK]

Yeah the distant relatives are a different story. Kind of like when you're planning a wedding, and you know you "have" to invite them, but you don't really expect them to come, and then they RSVP that they *are* coming!

[RebeccaMcK]

....resulting in planner Rebecca pulling out what's left of her very short hair! lol Well, back to laundry.

[WileyCoyote]

Hello Rebecca - any more "surprises" in store EEK - what a nightmare !
Hope you have a fab time - Michala is almost on her way so I have asked her to say hello from me in person ( sort of !)
Amanda x
ps - thanks for the post on my pretrippie too x

[RebeccaMcK]

You're welcome, Amanda. LOL I hope there are no more surprises. Hubby knows better than to surprise me. I told him once the only welcome surprises are trips to either Disney "coast" or a cruise. But he said no, not even those because he knows it'll be better if I have time to plan the trip (and work out better for him too with less crowds, at least on land). Have I mentioned how he hates crowds? Lol. And he loves Fastpass.

[RebeccaMcK]

Less than one day to go! Kimberly said a little while ago, "After today there are ZERO days left!" She is excited, and she kept interrupting the parent-teacher conference this morning to babble about the trip to her teacher (who went to WDW in June, another fan). She said, "I want to meet Bullseye!" I reminded her that Bullseye isn't around any more (unless he'll be a surprise at Characterpalooza at DHS's Animation Bldg), just Woody and Jessie and Buzz. The conference went well. Kimberly is a little social creature and tends to not focus too much in class (yet she is a good learner), especially during tests (everything "reminds her of something" she has to share with the teacher or a nearby classmate, or she plays with her hands - they're little dinosaurs - or with her pencil). Anyway, the teacher is going to move her again to help avoid distractions and she needs to improve her math and science grades. She'll improve as the year progresses - it was the same way with kindergarten. And I was able to get the teacher's confirmation that a bully from the class was indeed expelled from school a couple weeks ago. The teacher just tells the kids he goes to a different school now (and I know he was in trouble a lot and was sent to the principal's office several times). First Grade! Age 6! Poor kid, I hope he improves his lot in life.

So now we're in final packing mode. Another kid in Kimberly's class had Pink Eye yesterday, so I am taking the rest of what's left of our antibiotic eye drops with us JUST IN CASE we need them. But Kimberly didn't have much contact with that boy, and we sanitize her hands every day when we get home from school - so hopefully she won't be affected this time.

I spray-waterproofed the suitcases, put the Magical Express stickers on the handles, weighed the bags again (all I have left to put in my big suitcase is my makeup bag and a toiletries bag, and it's 44 pounds right now so it should be fine). Kimberly's suitcase weighs closer to 30 pounds, and Hubby's bag feels very light. He finished packing this morning before the conference and leaving for work.

Remember the classmate's mom who has a page with Etsy I mentioned a while back? She's on Facebook with me, always posting photos of the latest hats she has created (very good work) and she finally posted on my FB wall last night, "When do you leave again? I'm working on Kimberly's Minnie hat." So I told her we'd be around today and that's it, leaving very early Friday morning. She answered me today and said she's working on it and can drop it off here around 6 pm tonight. Not that Kimberly will need a snow hat for this trip, of course, but it's nice we'll have it in time and maybe she'll want to wear it some evening in a park. So, the lady never forgot about us - she works hard all day on the hats (mostly owls) and we'll get ours tonight. I see her near the school all the time....she's maybe one of three parents there who drives a Hummer.

Bye for now. I don't know if I'll get to post again today. Not sure how often I'll get to post while on the trip, either, unless I use my phone. Hubby isn't happy about not getting free wireless in the room, so his laptop might never be connected to the internet.

[Bernie2003]

Have a fabulous time!!!

[RebeccaMcK]

Thanks! We will. I went to sleep around 10:30 last night but kept waking up....midnight, 1:15 am, finally got up at 2 and showered. Packed the last of my stuff. The biggest suitcase now weighs 48 pounds on my bathroom scale. If it's really over 50 when we check in, I think Hubby's suitcase has room for me to shift something over to his bag.

I have one last photo to share before I leave. Kimberly's former classmate's mom came to the door last night just after 6 with the finished knitted hat for Kimberly. It took her three hours to make. It looks great, and here is a pic of Kimberly wearing it:
IMAG0892.jpg

The "artist" is Leila Nomura and she has a page on the Etsy site. I promised her I'll take a pic of Kimberly wearing the hat somewhere at Disney and she can use it for promoting her work.

And now.....bye everyone! I shall see if I can get everyone up in about 20 minutes and maybe we can get to the airport earlier than we planned - some friends on Facebook last night scared me by telling me about how crowded Security has been lately for early morning flights, and I confirmed that curbside check-in and most of the airport opens at 4:30 am (well, it's open 24/7 but 4:30 is when you can find skycaps and other staff). I told Hubby about this last night but he went to bed saying, "I don't want to get up before 4....no one will be at the airport that early, we'll see...."

IF I'm able to get online at some point during the trip (not just on my smartphone, since I want to save its battery) I might post a bit here.

Edit: I took the photo of the hat before trimming the straggler yarn bits from the pom poms on the ends - Leila told me I should trim that part up a bit since she had rushed to get it to me and didn't do it herself. No problem, I did it.

[DoctorK]

Oooooh, I just missed you. I'm up early to do my Southwest T-24 check in...

[RebeccaMcK]

We are in Dallas now, having breakfast at a TGIF restaurant that is very close to the gate for our next flight. As for this morning's details, we left the house at 4:22 am, got to airport and by 4:55 were is the TSA line. No issues. By 5:15 we were at our gate and the flight taxi'd for ages until we took off. Started to think the plane would just drive to Texas, lol. Dark outside. Sat in second to last row in plane. I like to be near the restroom. Kimberly mostly colored and played with her stuffed dogs (brought two). I read by Costco Connections mag and left it on plane for someone else to read later. No one really slept, but Hubby and I tried. Maybe on next flight.

[DoctorK]

Safe travels!

[RebeccaMcK]

Thanks. It turns out they changed our gate and terminal while we were having brunch so we got on the Skylink and are now waiting to board at the correct gate. Kimberly is walking around with her two stuffed dogs in her shirt, looks funny. Then she began hanging on a pole on the Skylink shuttle....too much like pole dancing, Haha. Silly. Oh, my meal was good. Southwestern eggs with ham, sausage, potatoes and spices, and cantaloupe. Kimberly had mac and cheese, probably not for the last time this trip. Bye for now.

[jillyb]

Are we there yet??!!

Saw your post on Facebook with Kimberly and her puppies. Love the hat! Very cute! Have a great trip!

[lwchastine]

So glad you are on your way! Hope you have fun. Looking forward to hearing all about it when you make it back.

Laurie

[avic77]

We start driving tomorrow morning! And will be in Orlando tomorrow night. Have safe flights.

[RebeccaMcK]

So far we haven't hooked up internet in the room. But my phone internet works outside the room . Just had a great breakfast at 'Ohana and will write more later or once we are home. Off to a rainy Animal Kingdom soon.

[WileyCoyote]

You made it ! Hope you are all having a great time
Cant wait to read all about it
Hope you got to meet Michala ( was it at AK in the end - I think Fantasmic was proving too tricky?)

[RebeccaMcK]

So far we haven't hooked up internet in the room. But my phone internet works outside the room . Just had a great breakfast at 'Ohana and will write more later or once we are home. Off to a rainy Animal Kingdom soon.

[RebeccaMcK]

Duplicate post from before. Hard to do this site on my phone. Anyway, Amanda, no....Michala texted and emailed yesterday to say they weren't going to AK after all with all the rain. So we might see them some other time. We went to AK and had a great time. Did everything on the list. Now we are at DHS with more rain but we are getting a lot done. Hubby even rode TSM with Kimberly earlier when we were separated. Phone internet doesn't work in hotel room. Bye for now. BatbL is starting.

[jillyb]

Enjoyed following along on Facebook. Are ya'll home yet? Hope you had a good flight back. A friend of mine left today. They've been planning their trip for a year and it was a surprise for their DD. The DD thought they were going to the beach, which technically they are because on Thursday they're going on the Dream. She posted a video of them picking her up at school and telling her. She was so excited! I think it was a bit overwhelming for her though because she started bawling her eyes out.