My Late May TR..late & abbreviated..deal with it!

Okay. So this is my 2nd ever WDW trip report. After the screaming success of my 1st TR (see my signature) I did a report for a short 4 day getaway I had in early May to north Georgia to attend the annual gathering of the Cabbage Patch Collector's Club (for the handmade all soft sculpture originals, not the vinyl head versions that were massed produced starting in the early 80s). The event is always held near the birthplace of the Cabbages, about and hour or so north of Atlanta. Yes, there really is a Babyland General Hospital and Mother Cabbages and you can really see a Cabbage Patch baby being born. Have I mentioned I have yet to grow up? I'm still a little girl trapped in this old person's body.

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But I digress...anywhoo...with the Georgia trip report being yet another success with the online club/forum I've been active with for going on 10 years now you can well imagine that I had big plans and major ambitions for the late May trip I went on to WDW. The whole thing ended up going straight out the window, tho. I feel like such a failure. :brick: So this will be my quite late and highly abbreviated trippie. It beats nothing. For those who don't like it, well, to friggin' bad. You'll have to just deal with it.:fork:

Onward & Upward


The players were:

Me. 35 yro married mom of 2 boys ages 11 & 13. Little sister to Jerry. Aunt Kelly to Sydney & Sarah. WDW freak, planner extraordinaire, and fairly well-seasoned WDW adventurer. I'm definitely no noob to the joint.

Jerry. My 36 yro big brother by 18 months (Mom & Dad worked fast). Divorced daddy to 2 princesses: Sydney & Sarah. Fresh WDW freak, afflicted since January this year. Still feeling his away around da' World.

We were such cool Disney kids:

KellyDis3.jpg


Sydney. My 12 yro niece, firstborn daughter to my big brother. Gifted ballerina who has even danced in New York City. Often silent but very thoughtful and sweet. Shorter than her little sister. First timer to my beloved WDW. Disney dreamer and WDW freak-in-training.

Sarah. My 10 yro niece, baby daughter to my big brother. I was actually invited into the delivery room for her birth which was totally an incredible moment to behold. Super sweet & cuddly. Taller than her big sister. First timer to my beloved WDW. Disney dreamer and WDW freak-in-training.


This was quite an adventure. Here goes:

I should start this story with when the bad news began the week before we were to depart on our journey. My hubby came home from work sick with fever & cold symptoms. 1/2 his office was deathly ill with this icky stuff. Both my boys got sick, too, although not near as bad as their dad. I was hoping beyond hope to avoid getting the crud. Just when I thought I had eeked by without catching the cooties....departure day arrived (Friday, May 22nd) and I woke up with a killer sore throat & lots of drainage. I could've choked those idiots at DH's office who don't have courtesy enough for their coworkers to stay home when they're sick. Grrr!

Jerry and I packed up the car & pulled out for Monroeville, Alabama where our parents live. It's an 8 or so hour drive from my house in Texas. We spent Friday night at our parents' house. By the time we got to bed that night I felt downright rough. Saturday morning I woke up fully aware that I was well on my way to being the big sicky. I felt awful but couldn't let it slow me down. We switched out vehicles from my Mazda3 hatchback to Mom's Jeep Liberty (I still think the Jeep is much more uncomfortable than the Mazda but neither are good for long trips). We drove an hour and a half to Andalusia, Alabama to see Sydney perform in the ballet company's big Spring Showcase and pick up the girls. Here's some pics I took on the way because the weather was so beautiful, there's not a dang thing to look at on those stupid country highways (I loathed living in small town Alabama) and I was still so mesmerized by the most awesome pedicure I've ever friggin' had:

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The awesomest pedicure ever:

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I also have to mention that the ballet totally rocked. I knew in my mind that Syd is a gifted dancer but I was still blown away. She has fantastic stage presence and shines in her performances. The classical ballet was beautiful. But the jazz or modern performance was the cat's meow. I swear to you, I have seen it all now that I've seen my niece moonwalk across a stage. I was out of my seat screamin' for her. It rocked! :sohappy:

So after the ballet it was time to hit the highway bound for Gainesville, Florida. Here's the girls post ballet with Sydney on the left wearing what she calls her "hideous make-up" and Sarah:

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CheltonJ

Member
What a great trip report. Love your nieces reaction to the beverley.

Still a couple of years away but will my taking my three nieces for their first time at WDW in 2011.
 

disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
As always, I love reading your reports!!! Geese, I can not believe how fast this trip with your bro and nieces came and when. I remember reading your 1st report and you ending it with you not sure if you were going or just planning it for them. So sorry you were sick the entire time though! Thats no fun!!! I give you alot of credit for leaving the kiddies and hubby at home, I would have been so home sick, not to mention the fact my DS would have killed me for going to Disney without him!! LOL :ROFLOL:
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great report!
Looks like you guys had a great time!

Thank you! In Jerry & the girls' case, they really did. In my case, I had my moments but being there without even some part of my own little family was tough. I felt quite blessed to have been there for my nieces 1st trip. That was cool.

You might have been sick but you look great! I get to spend next year's trip with first time nieces. 4 and 7. I am really excited and this report made me even more excited.

Thanks.

Wow! I felt like roadkill the majority of the trip. Thanks for the compliment. You are officially my new best friend. LOL! Actually, when you're the one doing the reporting you can be selective of the pics that get posted so you'll never see all the death-on-a-stick shots. I love the power of the reporter. LOL! Your nieces will be a great age for a 1st trip. It's always a real blessing to see WDW thru the eyes of those who've never seen it before, especially kids. Make sure you come back and post a trip report for us to share the fun with you, too!


I'm impressed... for a "no detail" trip report there sure was a lot of fun little details! :sohappy:

So let's see... where to start? At first when you mentioned you had done another 4 page report I was thinking, how'd I miss that?! Oh wait... it was on another forum. I did the same thing. We went on a cruise with my parents in May and because it wasn't Disney related I couldn't post it here so I went and found a forum to join just to post my trip report. :lol: I swear, writing these things is a sickness, an addiction.

Your nieces are adorable and it looks like you and your bro provided an exceptional first visit for the girls. I can tell you totally hooked them! I can only imagine how much you missed your hubby and boys. I don't know if I could ever do a trip without Brett. It would be the weirdest thing.

Favorite character interaction?! Hello... Drizella making the girls clean the floor on hands and knees. I LOVE IT! You know I'm a big fan of mixing it up with the characters and I'm happy to see so many fun pictures!!

I was looking for myself near your boys Leave a Legacy image. Brett and I had one made the same year. It was actually on my very first visit ever. I remember thinking... this guy must really like me, if he's going to emblazon a picture of us together at his favorite place ever. :D

Okay, and lastly... I have never seen that pink Daisy Duck tank top. Soooooo cute! I might have to break my "no t's over $10 rule" for that one. LOVE IT!

And I loved the whole report. I'm glad you put it together even if a little late. :sohappy: :sohappy:

Thanks for all your kind words, Hollybelle. It's always a goal to get my reports to be even half as cool as yours or Dan's or Tom's. And you're so right: trip reporting is addictive. Every now and then I still go back and read thru our January trip just to giggle all over again. I thought my dolly event report turned out pretty good considering the heavy editing to appease the salty dogs who live that particular event each year by the saying "What happens at Spring Event stays at Spring Event". Doll collectors are noooot quiet, reserved, innocent people. It was a lot of fun for me because a good number of the people I spent that time with I've "known" thru the online collector's community for going on 10 years. I'd love to share a link to that report with you but a few weeks after I posted it something happened with the host site and it got eaten by the internet goblins. Dernnit!

I guess you picked up on how odd/tough it was to be there without my own family. I always just thought of WDW as my 'happy place' same as a lot of the fans on this site. I learned a valuable lesson, tho. It's not the place that's magical. It's the people you share it with. Being there with the girls meant a lot and I was blessed to have the opportunity but it wasn't the same kind of magic as being with my own family. I used to think doing a solo trip would be the ultimate in cool but I'm not too sure now. I think I'd wander around with the nagging empty feeling that my heart wasn't with me. Another lesson learned, huh?

Brett must have good intuition. He knew you were the one to emblazon on the wall forever with him. I've often wondered how many tiles are up that are of now-defunct relationships. LOL! Where is your tile??? The boys are on the right side when you walk into Epcot on the very 1st row almost directly beneath the monorail beam. Chandler or Tracey know the map location. My Aunt Laura has tried to record every tile location within our extended family (which is quite a few). Here's a tidbit: when you get on the WDW website and you see the happy family video at Epcot in front of a LaL wall, that's my boys' wall!

The Daisy tank. Which one were you talking about: the pink one with Daisy on the bottom or the white one with her Cutie picture and the saying "Cute n Sassy"? The pink one came from the Emporium in the girlie room. They had these tanks all over the place in the various shops while we were there. The girls and I wanted to coordinate so Jerry bought us all those tanks. It's soooo comfy and the eyelet around the bottom has the holes situated into a repeating Mickey pattern. These tanks were also on disneyshopping.com and could be customized but the picture was screen printed rather than appliqued. I want to say the price on property was somewhere in the $25-$30 range. Jerry bought it. Maybe he'll remember. The white tank with Daisy as a Cutie was a custom order by me from Disney's Ink Shop on zazzle.com. I tried to give each person their favorite character in Cutie form with a hip, text-message-ish style saying. Sydney had Goofy w/"2 cute 4 you", Sarah had Eeyore w/"i m 2 cute", I had Daisy w/"Cute n Sassy", and Jerry sported Mickey w/"that's mister cute 2 u". I generally wait to order from zazzle when I have a coupon code or something so I'm not sure how much that tank was. Seems like maybe $20 or something. I need to adopt your no t's over $10 rule. I'd prob'ly have a DVC membership paid for by now. LOL!
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What a great trip report. Love your neices reaction to the beverley.

Still a couple of years away but will my taking my three nieces for their first time at WDW in 2011.

Oh good! Isn't the Beverly the best? I like going to youtube and searching for 'The Beverly'. Talk about some good laughs. :lol: I have video of Chandler, Brian, Kayla (another niece a couple months younger than Chandler), and ME sampling The Beverly at the World of Coke in Atlanta this summer despite the fact we knew better. Good times! :sohappy:

As always, I love reading your reports!!! Geese, I can not believe how fast this trip with your bro and nieces came and when. I remember reading your 1st report and you ending it with you not sure if you were going or just planning it for them. So sorry you were sick the entire time though! Thats no fun!!! I give you alot of credit for leaving the kiddies and hubby at home, I would have been so home sick, not to mention the fact my DS would have killed me for going to Disney without him!! LOL :ROFLOL:

My family was not at all happy that I went without them and I think the Man upstairs got his revenge. I felt so bad because the whole trip I was cranky or weepy or just not in the mood for anything. I constantly commented on how friggin' hot it was (I knew it would be...I grew up in Central Florida), how crowded it was (I knew it would be...Touring Plans told me so), and how miserable the stupid daily rain was (again not surprising considering I grew up in the area). If I had it to plan/do over I would've planned it for them and stayed home. Hind site is always 20/20, tho. Right?
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nice to have internet again, after the stay at Gramma's hugh? Night owls that we are!!!

You are doing a nice job with the report considering the meds you were on, but if you can show me how to add photos, I think it would be quite cool to add to what you have along with another perspective.:wave:

Oh dang. I forgot to reply to this last night. Jerry, posting pics isn't a single-step process. You gotta upload what you want to use to an online photo host (I use Photobucket) then link them as you go. I organize all the pics into folders by day then sort them in chronological order. Once you're ready to rip thru the report you have to insert each pic by clicking the little postcard looking icon to the right of center of the textbox as you type. You'll have to paste the web location (starts with http://) for each pic. It's a pain. I'll try to call ya later and walk you thru it.
 

WishIWasAtWDW

Well-Known Member
i loved your trip report...even if it was late and abbreviated :lol: thanks for sharing! nothing helps the time go by before a trip to wdw like reading other people's trips! it looked like your nieces had a blast! i totally understand the crying during wishes and on the last day of your trip. i always get teary eyed during wishes and especially when i see them the last night of my trip. can't wait to read your next trip report. just hope that one isn't as late or abbreviated :p :D
 

disneygirl1

Well-Known Member
My family was not at all happy that I went without them and I think the Man upstairs got his revenge. I felt so bad because the whole trip I was cranky or weepy or just not in the mood for anything. I constantly commented on how friggin' hot it was (I knew it would be...I grew up in Central Florida), how crowded it was (I knew it would be...Touring Plans told me so), and how miserable the stupid daily rain was (again not surprising considering I grew up in the area). If I had it to plan/do over I would've planned it for them and stayed home. Hind site is always 20/20, tho. Right?[/QUOTE]

Aw!! You poor thing, you really did pay for it didn't you? May is usually a great month to go too... We went several time and it was great. Seems like this May was out of the ordinary weather and crowd wise. Got to admit, it sucks doing anything when it's freaking hot!!!

Oh, I meant to ask you earlier, I love that Daisy tank that you had on in a few pictures!! Did you get it in Disney? I want it!! Lol!! :ROFLOL:
 

Kerby626

Active Member
I love it. I glad you guys had a blast. I can't wait to go. I want to go in March...(want to try for the half again, I know I won't be pregnant this time) maybe make a vacation out of it.
 

mousebymarriage

Active Member
wonderful trip report and great pics!:sohappy:
Sorry to hear that you were so sick during your trip and on top of that you were missing your DH and kids, that stinks. You are a fantastic aunt/sister and it shows in the pics.

*MY younger sisters each have one of those original cloth faced Cabage Patch dolls, I think the butt is even hand signed not just a stamp.
 

Kerby626

Active Member
I see your brother has made it to WDWMagic as well. I gues we started a trend. After talking to you about the trip I'm glad it went well. Maybe we can get Jerry to post more than once though.
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I see your brother has made it to WDWMagic as well. I gues we started a trend. After talking to you about the trip I'm glad it went well. Maybe we can get Jerry to post more than once though.
I have yet to talk to him to explain the picture thing. :shrug:

So are we on for the Princess Half in March? Co-Ed teams are allowed, ya know! We all have to wear pink so Sean will look just fab! :ROFLOL:
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Loved your report!! I was expecting something crazy short, but you had tons of great details and photos!!

And you are right, your pedicure was amazing!!:)
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loved your report!! I was expecting something crazy short, but you had tons of great details and photos!!

And you are right, your pedicure was amazing!!:)

Psshhhhyeah! That chick rocked! I went to a little salon about 20 minutes from my house because I happened by there and was running short on time. They had a new girl so I looked at her toes and she had some killer nail art going on. I asked is she did her own and she did. That's when I was like "You're my new best friend! Hook me up!" It's so hard to find someone who does good nail art around here. Hhhmmmm...since the boys started back to school today I think I might head up that way. I doooo need my nails done.... :cool:
 

TakeMeThere81

Well-Known Member
I don't know if I could ever do a trip without Brett. It would be the weirdest thing.

I agree with HollyBelle, that would be weird not to have your main squeeze at the Happiest Place on Earth...but I guess it is just a different type of magic getting to experience what you did with your brother and his girls. First time visiters are always so special to go with!

I am Sooooo sorry you were so sick. That just plain sucks!! I can see how that could create some serious bitterness towards the guys at the office! I'm still glad you go to go, write us a great report and share the rainy magic with us! Thanks!
 

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
I have yet to talk to him to explain the picture thing. :shrug:

So are we on for the Princess Half in March? Co-Ed teams are allowed, ya know! We all have to wear pink so Sean will look just fab! :ROFLOL:


So are you going to do it, Kelly?!? And are you gonna get the hubby to run, too? :sohappy:

I'll tell you one thing, I've been trying to figure out a way to squeeze this into my March work schedule. Unfortunately, it would be the shortest trip ever (I'm thinking 2 nights :(), but it would be totally worth it. And Brett's game if I can find a way to get out of the office. You know, pink might just be his color. :lol:


ETA: Oh yeah, and I was talking about the pink Daisy tank top... might just have to break down and get it! Our LAL is also on the backside of the first row to the right when facing SSE. I'm not sure of the exact location; we usually have to search a bit for it.
 

Kerby626

Active Member
I'm game.. just trying to figure out the finances and the young ones.... We will have to talk about when we see you soon..
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Holly & Xtina-

Yesterday I asked Tracey if he'd really, seriously, for real consider running a half marathon with me. He said yes. I asked if he thought he'd be up to the training. He said yes. Then I asked if it'd still be yes if it was a Princess half and he again said yes. I can't commit 100% considering the January trip. To be honest, I have a feeling January won't work out because of the kids & school. The older they get the harder it is for them to realistically miss a whole week of school and catch back up when we get home. It's not just homework, it's instruction time. The good news is their spring break starts the weekend of the marathon. It would cost more but I think it would be better for everyone. Or maybe we'll just do both trips. I still need to talk more with Tracey about it.

Xtina, would Sean run with you if y'all had someone to watch the babies? Hhhmmm...who could we rope into baby duty? I'd love to have Mr. Drill Sergeant himself barking us along.

Holly, do you really think y'all would be up to it? I gotta see Brett in a tiara! I got my old man in one! Remember this Xtina???

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I was looking at the event details and was disappointed to see that they aren't doing the special hard ticket event for participants & family/friends again. I guess that didn't go so well this year. :(
 

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