Poncho's, Poncho's everywhere..and let's not forget the itchy feet too! An August TR

Ponchos, Ponchos everywhere Updated 11/16

Welcome Welcome to my August 2011 trip Report... be warned.. U will get wet..you may even get soaked.. so grab your poncho and join us! ( read the Pre-Trip report here)



Trip dates: August 18-29 2011. Room only on August 18th, Free dining from 8/19-8/29

Resort~ Pop Century..my first time at a Value.. 2 rooms

Who? Well lets see we have:

ME: Alison..I turned 36 while in Disney. I have been a Disney fan my whole life. I could live in Disney. I made 2 Disney trips in 19 months in 1999 and 2000 then I shelved my Disney World dreams when I met my now husband and we had 3 kids in 3 years.Fast forward 10+ years and we were finally ready and able to take the plunge and take the 4 kids! I homeschool 3 of the 4 kids ( the oldest is graduated) plus I work a day job doing office type work for the family business and I bartend 2-4 nights a week at my best friends nightclub.

Eric: 39.. a now reformed Disney Skeptic. He was not thrilled with this trip in the planning and paying stage.. and even up til the we arrived stage. He only had 6 Flags to picture in his head what Disney might be like. Well let's just say if I had a nickel for each time he said "this place is awesome"( which was almost the trip report title BTW)..well I could buy us all AP's and go back again this year!

Noah: Turned 17 on this trip. Has been to WDW twice before..once at 4.5 and once at almost 6.5 ( for Christmas no less).. he was above all the most excited for this trip aside from myself.. he knew what to expect and he was giddy like a 6 year old school girl any time you mentioned the trip. Noah is currently a "sandwich artist" at Subway while he decide's what's next in his life! warning prone to extreme teenage mood swings!

Kate: 16.. Noah's girlfriend. nice girl.. but let's just say no girlfriends/boyfriends will ever be invited again!

Declan: 9.5 going on 90.. we always say he's an Old man trapped in a kids body. He was the kiddo I was most worried about at Disney as he has a tendency to suck the fun out of things. Declan tends to overthink, over worry and over control things. He's a fab kid, smarter than any 9.5 year old should be and is a great athlete. He was super excited to go to Disney but due to his issues with the unknown he had a giant knot in his tummy too!

Jadziah: 7 almost 8.. she is by far my most even tempered kiddo. She was giddy and unworried about the trip. She required a disney shirt for each day we were there and yes..she got them..lol hey it pays to be the only girl outta 4 kids right? ( oh JahD Zee Uh like in Star Trek Deep Space nine.. yes I named my daughter after a character in a TV show..I'm a star trek nut and proud of it)

Taejan: 5 almost 6 ( as in he turns 6 a mere 3 days after we left Disney). There are few words to accurately describe Taejan ( Tay-Gin we made this one up). He has the best personality, is beyond outgoing.. vocal and full of love and life.. he's also a putz.. a VERY small but BIg putz.. no is just a word he laughs at.. he made the trip very stressful at times..but oh well..such is life. he also was the catalyst for many of the great "awwwww moments" on this trip as well!

Elaine AKA Gigi: My mother.. she has also been to WDW 2 other times ( with Noah and I). She was a great help with the 3 younger kiddo's and she fully enjoyed her time at Disney with us. She did NOT like the heat ( but then again which one of us did???)

So there's the cast of this mighty adventure.. coming up.. the "pre disney" part of the trip!
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Chapters..Finally! Please note that at the end of each post will be a link to the next part of the same chapter!

The Georgia Days

August18th 2011

Ready or Not..Disney here we come!
Downtown Disney Bound
Our room

August 19th 2011

Disney Day 2 ~ Magic Kingdom here we come part 1 and 2 and 3
Who Broke the Bio-metric Scanner?
This Place is Haunted..Please don't make me go on!
Cupid Shuffle Time
The Adventures of the Ponchos begin!

August 20th 2011

Disney day 3 ~ I'm leaving with or without you!
My Husband lost the 5 year old
Backlot Bound
Play,eat,sleep and Fantasmic

August 21st 2011

Disney Day 4~ Epcot Bound
Worst Soda in the World!

August 22nd 2011

Disney Day 5 ~ Hollywood Studios again..sigh
Taejan is left Speechless
Sci Fi Dine In

August 23rd 2011

Disney Day 6-Noah's 17th Birthday
Fish and Chips Please
Is it Possible?
Let it rain let it rain let it rain
Hoop Dee Doo Revue Birthday time!

August 24th 2011

Disney Day 7 Attack of the Tie Dye Krew
Grand Gathering Breakfast
A ghost and a few mountains
Please don't sit there!
To Infinity
Bring on the Rain
PhotoPass Pictures
August 24th Photopass
The Perfect parade spot!( or so we thought)
Wishes and More

August 25th 2011

Day 8.. Animal Kingdom Bound
Best Chef ever!
Safari Bound
Just Exploring
DinoLand USA
The Tree of Life..and more... rain
Nemo... a little bit of the parade and pool time

August 26th 2011

Hurricane Irene
Animal Kingdom day 2
Guitar Dan sings The Taejan Song
Runaway Scooter
Kali Bound

August 27th 2011

Disney day 10~ Epcot again
Test Track..Maybe
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Supporting cast..

For anyone that read my PTR they know we were vacationing with friends... i'll call them the supporting cast as we didn't tour together much, mostly just ate main meals together!

So here's who our supporting cast is: ( oh no pictures yet.. but soon you'll be seeing more than enough of us I promise)

Melissa.. my best friend of 30..yes since 1st grade people..years. She also happens to be my "boss" for my night job.

Don her husband of 18 years

and her SEVEN kiddos.. Epiphani(16), Demitryia(15), Montana (12), Jadyn (10),Myrana ( 7), Delanee( 6) and Mavrik ( turned 4 in Disney).


Then we have:

Brian.. friend and co-worker at the night club

His wife Deb

Their one kiddo Kyle (17) and his friend Glen (17)..

so there we go.. my supporting cast of 13..add that to my 8 and that's 21 of us people.. 21! We went by "DisneyPalooza" and yes..we even had tshirts!
 

mickeysshoes

Well-Known Member
Cant wait to hear which down pours you were in. For us we got the wetest on Saturday the 20th while at HS..some time after lunch. Just put the camera and cells in double bags and off we went....what rain!!!! :lol:
 

silver1113

New Member
Can't wait to read more. Reminds me of our vacations usually there are 21 of us. But, next year we are splitting up 7 of us are going in Oct. and the rest are going in Jan.
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Cant wait to hear which down pours you were in. For us we got the wetest on Saturday the 20th while at HS..some time after lunch. Just put the camera and cells in double bags and off we went....what rain!!!! :lol:

Ha.. I have a lack of pictures some days due to rain..lol..we got the wettest the 27th in Epcot.. actually the rule was..if we were in Epcot we were gonna get wet...LMAO..wait that was in every park I do believe..LMAO
 

mickeysshoes

Well-Known Member
Ha.. I have a lack of pictures some days due to rain..lol..we got the wettest the 27th in Epcot.. actually the rule was..if we were in Epcot we were gonna get wet...LMAO..wait that was in every park I do believe..LMAO

Dont know about the rain after the 24th...we went to the Disney Dream on the 25th! I heard lots of people complaning about how they did spend all this money to have to wait in long lines. Well, I told my kids we did not spend all this money in sit in a gift shop or ride exit so in the rain we go!!!!
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dont know about the rain after the 24th...we went to the Disney Dream on the 25th! I heard lots of people complaning about how they did spend all this money to have to wait in long lines. Well, I told my kids we did not spend all this money in sit in a gift shop or ride exit so in the rain we go!!!!

Yeah people like to complain..we just rolled with the rain..didn't stop us at all. It did "force" us to leave a few minutes early twice at Epcot..so we road the monorail a few times before going to MK to head to our ADR's..and since my kids adore the monorail that was hardly an issue..LOL
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I'm glad y'all are talkin' about the rain! Reminds me to add waterproof mascara to my shopping list! :wave:

Great intro! Can't wait to see how it all unfolds! :wave:
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ok all you Trip Report people..how do I do chapter links? I mean I know how to create a hyperlink but how do I make that specific post able to be linked to?? help
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
ok all you Trip Report people..how do I do chapter links? I mean I know how to create a hyperlink but how do I make that specific post able to be linked to?? help

I'm not 100% sure exactly how you want your chapter links done. I know for a specific post to be in a link you would go to that post, click the little post # in the upper right corner, and it'll open up just that post in a new window. Copy the URL then paste it as a link.

If your chapter spans multiple posts (as mine generally do) I would go to the first post of the chapter, do what I said to for that post above, then start adding the links to subsequent posts for that chapter at the bottom of each post within the chapter. Does that make sense? You start out linking the first post then link all the others after it back to the one before it using the same method. It'd be a lot of back & forth to do but it'd make it possible to read all installments of a chapter without any in-between.

I don't know how to go to the beginning of a chapter then post 1 link that would carry thru the rest of the posts within the chapter. I think you'd be stuck just linking that entire page of posts whether your new chapter started at the beginning of the page or not. :shrug:
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Getting to Georgia!

let's start with some background.. Chandra and I "met" almost 11 years ago on AOL. We were both trying to get pregnant..her with her 3rd me with my 2nd. Well we clicked, stayed friends and either IM'd every day or once we both got cell phones Txt'd nearly everyday since. Back in 2009 we decided to finally meet..and off we trekked the 997 miles from my house to her's. Yep.. we crashed at her house for over a week.. 13 of us total ( she also has 4 kids and her FIL lives there).. it was a blast..
Chandra is the blonde tall one.. I'm the brunetter short one..this is on Tybee Beach outside Savannah:
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so much so we did it the next April too:
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and now we come to 2011. I had made the plans for Disney and that meant no Georgia trip.. sad sad. Then as the trip comes closer my husband and I are feeling worse and worse about literally driving right by my friend and not stopping. Then we decide we are staying for one night on the drive down, I'd rather a little time with them then none!

Well fast forward to April.. and Eric earns 4 extra vacation days..ok so now we add a day at Pop before the package starts and another day with Chandra. Before we know it we are spending 3 nights and 3 days with Chandra and krew..score!

So the plan is now to leave as soon as I get out of work overnight sat/sun. I leave work at 1:25 am on Sunday the 14th and by 1:55 we are out the door and leaving the driveway!
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the van is packed full.. 3 small kids, 2 adults and all the luggage for 8 people! Plus separate bags for the Georgia leg of the trip so i don't have to unpack everything!
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The drive is very smooth.. no traffic to speak of..no issues.
The kids were happy..in fact they were angels on the drive!
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we made 3 stops for gas and potty breaks.at about 3pm I told my friend we were about 3.5 hours away and were going to stop and get a motel. The plan had been to get a motel and let the kids enjoy the pool and get to my friends the next day ( we normally drive straight thru). She insisted we just keep driving and stay another night.. so we kept going!

We got to her town at 6:30 and our first stop? Well Walmart of course ( only cus they don't have a Target..can u imagine??).. we needed to grab groceries so not be a burden on my friends budget :)

We were greeted by a Welcome Back rainbow!
(cell phone picture)
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After Wally World we headed the rest of the way to Chandra's house.. her whole extended family were there..so we got to see everyone!
The kids immediately played with their friends!
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Up next.. the Redneck Riviera
 

Alison1975

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Redneck Riviera

My friends neighbor has a great pool..that is usually NOT open when we go in April. It was open this year ( and the water was 94 degree's..really?? Not refreshing but oh well!) so we took the kids for the afternoon:

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My friends oldest daughter.. she is an amazing young lady!
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These are the 2 kiddo's that started this decade long friendship..
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and the few that were born after!
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Aside from swimming we also went for Pedicures, chilled, cooked, Chilled, ate, chilled..get the idea?? This was to be the relaxing part of the vacation since we knew the 11nights/12 days in Disney would NOT be relaxing.

Luckily.. it was.. we had a blast and got some good quality time with great friends!

Up next.. Ready or Not Disney World here we come..
 

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