Trip Report What's going on with my clothes??

The title.

It's what I've been having the hardest time with for the last week or so. I'm not totally sold on it but I must say that it did make for a lot of laughs(at my expense of course). When I think about how much energy I've channeled to coming up with something, especially when that energy could have been put to better use( like at work or something), I decided to stick with this & move forward. Otherwise, this TR would never get started. Anyways, welcome to my very first trip report!! I'm happy with myself for finally doing one & I'm more than excited to relive our adventures & share them with you fine people!!
So, let me start by getting the introductions out of the way......

WHO: R & myself, my sister E & her son J, my sister C & her husband D & their daughters E & A

WHEN: June 18th-25th *C,D,E & A's plans were a little different than ours. They were there 6/21-7/7*

WHERE: my home away from home, POR


Here's the crew: myself, R, D, C, E(niece), E(sister), J & A

Glad to have you along for our adventures!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(DEPARTURE DAY)

I started the day out with my last walk of the trip. It was a beautiful morning!!

I said goodbye to our home for the past week

R & I took our suitcases down to the airline check in desk. We came back & helped E take hers down. We stopped at The Riverside Mill. I didn't take notes as to what everyone had but I'm sure it's safe to say that R had a banana & J had Mickey waffles.

We got to MK at 11:30. We were cutting it pretty close for our first FP.

This would be J's first time on SDMT!!

How did he do? As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words"!!

I don't think we have to worry about getting J FP's for this anytime soon!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(CONT.)

We got a FP b/c J really enjoys this ride. I enjoy it also--everything except the fumes.

There was a family of four in front of us. All the one girl did was whined the whole time about how she didn't want to go on this. She was about 10 so her behavior was ridiculous for someone her age. She changed her tune real quick when it was time to board. They were supposed to be in 2 cars but decided as they were getting in they were each going to drive their own. A CM told them they couldn't do that but they weren't having it. The got in 4 different cars & it screwed up everyone else. The CM was very frustrated with them. I felt bad for her. She actually looked at us & started shaking her head about them.

J was having fun!!

C, D, E & A had arrived so we headed to Pecos Bill to meet them for lunch.

We saw Peter Pan on our way over.

@Tuvalu help me out. I can't remember his name!!

It was a complete zoo inside. Thank goodness for mobile ordering!! We ended up having to eat outside b/c there were no tables to be found inside.

I ordered the Southwest Salad with Spicy Beef. This is what I got:

I commented to the CM that I thought I had ordered it with beef not chicken. She looked at the receipt & said that I was correct. She said they would get me the correct one but not wanting to wait I told her I would just keep this.

After lunch it was time for our next FP.

A & I rode together.

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(CONT.)

We went in Bonjour! Village Gifts. I still hadn't found anything for M's birthday so I had pretty much given up hope. I'm happy to report that I found these cute pajamas that I thought she would like(and she does).

We wandered through Fantasyland to get to our next venture.

We were here to see HoP. Everyone went inside to get in the AC. I stayed outside to watch The Muppets.

It still creeps me out a bit to see the security guards in there. After an 8 hour shift I would imagine that they probably have that show memorized!!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(CONT.)


It was very fitting that my last attraction of the trip would be my favorite!!
@Tuvalu I guess I did take a few after all

"Give him a left you big lug"

If you remember back to our first day here we were given 3 FP's good on any attraction & we still hadn't used them. R ended up taking E & A on SM with them. It was their lucky day b/c when R went to hand them to the CM she told him to keep them. We ended up giving them to my sister then. I'm not sure what they ever ended up using them on.

They came by while we were waiting for the rest of the crew.

Making our way out.

We stopped to listen to a few tunes.

I love coming in here but I never end up buying anything.

I am going to try the peanut butter cup next time!!

One last photo of the kiddos.

We said our goodbyes & headed out. Lucky for them they still had 12 days left on their trip!

One last glance at Main Street--that's always the worst.

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(CONT.)

There was a Riverside bus waiting when we got to the bus stop. I must say that we had great bus service this trip--having the option to jump on a FQ one helped a bit too.

We stopped at The Riverside Mill to get a snack. This cupcake was lousy. I just noticed that my Starbucks is in the background so we must have stopped in there before we left MK.

It's tradition for me to wander around Riverside before we leave.

I couldn't take the sadness anymore so I headed back inside. All week long J kept asking to go to the arcade & he finally made it there!!

Sitting out front waiting for the TE.

Oh why couldn't we be getting on that bus?

 

[Tuvalu]

1. Liver Lips McGrowl
2. I need those Belle jammies for Tuvalette!
3. More CoP pics? Shame on you!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(CONT.)

Unfortunately our TE showed up.

Last few Riverside photos.

I'm upset just looking at these!!

I think this is the best picture I have ever got of the sign. It figures, when we're leaving!!

On the way to the airport I started getting really bad chills. I had got a bit of sunburn that day & I was wondering if that's why I felt that way. I told myself I would have to buy a long sleeve shirt at the airport so I wasn't cold on the plane.


What?? What happened to See Ya Real Soon? There was not one to be found.

Heading for security.

I think the TSA agent thought I was going to choke R. As I'm trying to get my ID back in my wallet R's busy asking me to put his in my bag. I asked him why he just couldn't put it in a bin. He said he felt safer having it in my bag. Then he forgot about his cell phone then the loose change in his pockets. I know the TSA agent could see me getting quite angry. He was trying not to laugh but he wasn't very successful. I told R that pre-check is supposed to make life easier & he just made it harder.

Back on the "monorail".

Round 2 for the day. I had to go with something hot b/c I was so cold.

On a side note E & I always laugh when we go to this Starbucks. A few years ago while we were in line there were 2 baristas that were seriously ready to start going at it. They were screaming at each other. We were expecting cups to start flying at any second. I told the baristas at my local Starbucks here about it & they were appalled. They did say that the baristas at the airport Starbucks are airport employees not Starbucks & their training is different than theirs. I guess they don't teach them not to fight in front of the customers!!

 

[riverside]

1. Liver Lips McGrowl
2. I need those Belle jammies for Tuvalette!
3. More CoP pics? Shame on you!

1. Thanks--I knew I could count on you!
2. They are adorable!
3. At least I fessed up!

 

[riverside]

MONDAY, JUNE 25TH(LAST ONE)

While we were waiting for the plane J started chatting it up with this young lady. Sorry @TrolleyFollower91. I had said earlier how he screams "What did you say?" when you whisper something to him. E whispered to him to ask her what her name was. He yells, loud as can be, "What's your last name?" Everyone sitting there was cracking up. One guy was joking about how forward J was with the ladies.

Our flight was supposed to leave Orlando at 9:05. As we were boarding the flight attendants noticed that the AC was only working on one side of the plane. It was quite warm. Had I known that I would not have bought the extra shirt. They called for maintenance to come look at it. The flight ended up being delayed a little over an hour. The flight attendants passed out water while we were waiting. Maintenance couldn't fix it right then but said that once we reached cruising altitude the plane would cool down(let me tell you it wasn't by much).

As luck would have it the beginning of the flight was too turbulent so they couldn't serve drinks. How I wished I had got a cold drink at Starbucks & that I hadn't bought the shirt. There was a man a few rows in front of us that did nothing but complain. "This is the worst flight I have ever been on. This is ridiculous that we can't get a drink." It just went on & on. Did he think he was being singled out & he was the only one in this situation? Furthermore, constantly complaining just makes things worse. Actually, I think having to listen to him was worse than the temperature.

Finally they could serve drinks & he told the flight attendant he wanted 2 beers. She told him that everyone else on the plane was thirsty too so he was only getting one for now!! As we were landing another guy told him to be quiet & that we're all tired of hearing it. Words were exchanged & the next thing you know his wife is arguing with someone else. It was ridiculous!! All in front of their two kids--nice example they're setting!!

We ended up getting home around 1:30 in the morning.

A few random pictures:

The shirt that I got so I wouldn't be cold on the plane

AP Magnet

I bought this notebook at Memento Mori the first day so I could take notes for this TR & future ones!!

The readers that I bought.

The next day we received emails from Southwest. We each got a $100 voucher to be used towards a future flight. Mine is long gone--I already used it towards my flights for September

A few days later we were at our local Olive Garden & my niece ordered this drink & who did I immediately think of?
@Tuvalu of course!!

This was J's hand on the 4th of July. It was healing pretty good!!

And so this is it-the end of my first TR. A big thanks to all those who stuck with me & especially to everyone who commented & liked my posts. That gave me a lot of motivation & encouragement!! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!!

I know I posted a ton the last few days but there was a method to my madness. I knew the next week or so was going to be crazy busy for me & I wanted to have it done before I head back in 12 days!!

See ya real soon!!

 

[Tuvalu]

We continue to be twinsies because I have that purple spirit jersey. And I bought that HM journal for Em before Christmas (sad story to come in my TR.)

That drink with dryer lint is just .

So proud of you for finishing your very first trip report!! It was a delightful read (and not just because I was in it! ) Looking forward to many more @riverside TRs!

 

[riverside]

Wow--so we have the same taste in clothes too!! It doesn't sound like I'm going to enjoy the story about the journal...

Thank you very much!! It was a lot of fun & I wish I had done these sooner.

You'll see at least 2 more from me this year!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I really enjoyed reading about your adventure, and can't wait to hear about the next one!

 

[riverside]

@Tuvalu I hope to see you in many more of my trip reports!!

 

[krause]

Great trip report! Looking forward to the next one!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

I really enjoyed reading your TR! It was a lot of fun to hear about all of your experiences. And J was absolutely cute! He’s definitely set the bar high when it comes to getting girls. It was fun to hear his opinion about certain attractions. Looking forward to your future TRs!

 

[LadyBelle]

2. I need those Belle jammies for Tuvalette!

I need those Belle jammies for me!

 

[MegRuss626]

You'll see at least 2 more from me this year!!

Any in October? We can fly down together!

 

[Songbird76]

That’s a good thought about the dog. I’m sure there was a good reason behind it but I couldn’t figure it out.

I like the plan on dealing with the rain. I will definitely let E know! I did think it was cute that he was scared for his mom & wanted to go with her!

Between the shoes & shirt it was expensive but the AP discount helped to ease the blow a little. Those shoes are now J’s favorite. He loves the fact that they light up. The only bad thing about them was that he had never worn crocs before so he had some issues in adjusting to them. You’ll see shortly!!

About the dog, if I might offer a different perspective as to a "real" service dog or not, for the person who is convinced that they need a service dog, even if that dog isn't what most of us would consider a "real" service dog, they do perform a service to the owner. My friend was hit by a drunk driver more than a decade ago and has some residual balance problems and PTSD. She coped as well as she could, but she was obsessed with the idea of having a service dog....she LOVES animals and they do calm her. (She has rabbits and ducks) She wasn't having any luck in getting a service dog...I don't know how that actually works, if your doctor has to say you need one, or if you just contact a trainer and buy one....but she couldn't get one and the longer it took the more she was adamant that she HAD to find one. An aquaintance of hers had some sort of service dog placement organization and she knew my friend was looking for a large dog (because of her balance issues) to help with her PTSD.
So there was a dog that was basically dumped there...the dog had been (insufficiently) trained, and had been in an elementary school classroom for a time, but was taken out and it was unclear why except she started barking at the kids. She was then placed with an autistic teen girl for a few weeks or months until the girl ran away and didn't take the dog. The parents couldn't handle the dog, and so they brought her to this organization and dumped her there. This organization has no idea where or how the dog was trained, but because she had already been placed twice before, their rules said they couldn't place the dog a 3rd time because if there were problems with the training, it would never work out, and they didn't know if there were problems with the training because they hadn't actually trained her and placed her before.
She called my friend and said she had a dog that came in basically as a rescue and that she could not place the dog because she couldn't vouch for the training, etc, but she was a big dog who HAD been used as a service dog. My friend took the dog, as a rescue, but with the expectation that she'd be able to use the dog as a service dog. We stayed with her for a few days and I had been so happy for her to find a service dog, but that dog is not REMOTELY qualified to be a service dog. She was aggressive towards my son with autism to the point we had to keep her on a chain in the house so she couldn't leave the room and we had to keep my son in a separate space. The dog self harms if she's not being given attention...she chewed her paws bloody because my friend and I were having a conversation and were not paying attention to her. She barked at EVERYTHING and lunged at a waiter in a restaurant when he brought our food out. She lunged at me because I stood up.
Obviously not what any one of us would consider a "real" service dog, but my friend is absolutely convinced that the dog calms her and is the sweetest thing ever, and she won't admit that it's not working out...she keeps trying to train her. She's had her for 3 years now and still can't take her a lot of places because of the barking and lunging at everything. My friend is convinced that she is so much better since getting a "service" dog and she is finally able to get out of bed and deal with life. So there's at least a certain placebo effect to HAVING the dog, even if the dog is not a "real" service dog. The person who has a dog may honestly believe they need it and that it helps them...it's very "real" to that person. We can't see into the mind of the person with the dog and while we might be able to see that the dog is not properly trained as a service dog, we can't tell whether or not the person depends on it to function, even if it's only a placebo effect.

Sorry, I know that was long, but I see this being talked about a lot and it always makes me think of my friend, so I wanted to offer that perspective.

 

[Songbird76]

A few years ago, we asked Rapunzel if she could record a video message to our niece, who was about 6 at the time and totally in love with Rapunzel. We couldn't believe how well the CM did. We sent the video to her mother and I think it made that girls year LOL. She watched it constantly and was shocked that Rapunzel knew who she was. And what we did later, was get a picture of just Rapunzel by herself, a CM loved the idea and printed it then had it signed, and we put it into a princess WDW frame to mail to her. So our niece was surprised that she also got a gift direct from Rapunzel Her mom said she kept it by her bed for a couple of years lol. I have to say that was one of my better ideas

When my kids were little, there was a website where you could choose a picture of a character and write your own message for your kid as that character and they would send the signed picture with the note. "Dear ....., I got your letter and....." whatever you wrote. So you could personalize it for your child. It might have been on email, but you could print it out. It probably still exists. What a creative thing you did for your niece....very special!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful report! Great to see the PORS pics... we are staying at POFQ next October!