Where in the World Isn't Bob Saget?

[InnKpr]

We have a family condo in downtown Sarasota and for the past three years, hubs and I have flown into orlando for a few days at Disney and then we head over to Sarasota for the rest of the trip.

I love that area. So many fond memories. One of my favorite places to visit is Myakka River State Park.

If a trip is reasonable this year at some point, and that's a big if considering the crazy times we live in, am considering swinging down to Myakka and then down further to Everglades NP.

Theme parks definitely off the table for the time being.

 

[NYwdwfan]

i don’t think the plan is for masks to be required for guests. I believe the recommendation is for CMs. Of course, early days right now.

I’ll get anxious if CMs are all masked. It’s just not an environment that screams fun. I’ll definitely be waiting until things get more normal.

@high plains drifter - when is the last time you visited WDW? Do you stay onsite, offsite, DVC?

We all know each other fairly well here, but I’ll go first.

We stayed offsite twice in the early 90’s before kids, and then twice offsite with the kids.

Since then, we have stayed at POP 6X with free dining, and at Coronado 6X, also with free dining.

We also went over March Break in 2017 while we were down for Spring Training, and over Christmas break in 2018 because we were spending NYE with my boss in Madeira Beach, so we spent two days at WDW with @Eric1955 , and then hit Pigeon Forge on the way home to spend five days with @InnKpr .

We also visit @NYwdwfan regularly.

Just gonna point out that nobody comes to visit us.

My nephew is shuffling off to Buffalo for college in the fall. If government offices ever open back up and I can get my kids their passports we will drive up to visit him and swing north to @jennifers’s. Or she’ll come down to Buffalo to meet us. Either way we’ll be in your neck of the woods!

So it’s time for Brad Mondo to “Hi Beautiful” me a few times, and then I might actually try to be asleep before 3:00, but first I will leave you with some pics of my orchids.

This one is more than two years old, and was given to me by some purchasers.
View attachment 467052

And this one was my Mother’s Day gift from the Ski last year.
View attachment 467053

Orchids! I’m sending those for Mother’s Day. Thanks for the idea Ski!

 

[high plains drifter]

I would recommend Tuvalu's TRs. She goes ALL the time. They are some of my favorites to read. I'm a bit behind on my TRs, but slowly catching up.

Sorry you missed Rise! My family went to Disney last July, so just before SW:GE opened. I planned it purposely because I figured it would be packed when it opened and I wanted to go when it was less crowded. I had debated between 2019 and 2020. I'm sooooo glad I chose 2019!!! We can only go during the summer vacation because it's illegal for kids to be out of school unless they are sick, so the choice was between Summer BEFORE GE opened and Summer AFTER GE opened. I am betting we wouldn't have gotten to go at all if we had planned for this Summer. They said on the news this morning not to expect to be able to fly this Summer to vacation destinations. We may not even be able to drive to Germany, and that's only 15 minutes away.

So glad you made that 2019 choice! It's funny how things work out sometimes (or don't) and we have no idea at the time. Who could have ever predicted circumstances like these.

 

[high plains drifter]

@high plains drifter - That's cool that you have a condo in Sarasota. My sister lives in Bradenton, so we've spent a lot of time in the Sarasot area. Beautiful city!

It is! A few years ago we joined as members at the Bishop (formerly S.Florida) Museum in Bradenton because the reciprocal benefits (including The Ringling) just can't be beat. Its one of the few museums that include both ASTC AND NARM organizations. Ends up being a great value.

 

[Nemo14]

We joined the Osceola County Historical Society for the same reason. $100 per year for the 2 of us gets us into places all over the country. Pays for itself quicky!

 

[high plains drifter]

I love that area. So many fond memories. One of my favorite places to visit is Myakka River State Park.

If a trip is reasonable this year at some point, and that's a big if considering the crazy times we live in, am considering swinging down to Myakka and then down further to Everglades NP.

Theme parks definitely off the table for the time being.

We're always meaning to go to Myakka but never quite make it. I'll have to consult you for some tips before our next visit! Looks like a beautiful spot.

 

[Nemo14]

We're always meaning to go to Myakka but never quite make it. I'll have to consult you for some tips before our next visit! Looks like a beautiful spot.

Myakka is awesome. Lots of wildlife to see - tons of gators!

 

[high plains drifter]

I wouldn't have minded working at Walmart so much if it wasn't for the department manager. My husband and I had just gotten married and we needed jobs. They couldn't have us working in the same department, and we were hired as overnight stockers, so they put him in general and me in Pharmacy. With pharmacy, there were all sorts of rules about stocking because stuff expires, and there are regulations on certain items. So I had to rotate the stock and make sure the oldest stuff was at the front and would be bought first. Anything expired had to be taken off the shelf so it couldn't be sold. Sudaphed could only be sold up to 3 boxes at a time or people would use it to make drugs, so it was supposed to be kept behind the counter and you had to ask for it there. The department manager wasn't there at night most of the time, so I was under the store assistant manager and he was pretty cool. I liked him. But he had to make decisions like...if sales were down, he had to send people home early to balance out the costs of running the business against sales. So he'd tell me I needed to go home, and the dept. manager would yell at me the next day and tell me I couldn't go home early because I wasn't finished. I'd take the expired meds off the shelf and leave a note only to find them back on the shelf the next day. Same with the Sudafed...we weren't supposed to put it on the shelf, so I'd take it off and put it behind the counter. Every. Single. Night. She broke every rule.

Finally the straw that broke the camel's back was when my mom was in the hospital. She had breast cancer and was undergoing chemo and radiation. It was Mother's Day Weekend and her bloodpressure dropped dangerously low and she was admitted to the hospital. I got permission from the store manager to go be with her. I missed two days of work. When I came back, the dept. Manager ripped me up one side and down the other about how I left her in the lurch and I should never have left, and now she had to do all my work and it wasn't fair. And the pharmacy is actually separate from Walmart even though it's IN Walmart and we were hired BY Walmart, that I should have gone through HER to ask for time off not the managers above her. I told her my mom had cancer and was in the hospital, it wasn't like I went on vacation, and I had the store manager's permission, who was above her. She said "Well your mom's got cancer. She's going to die anyway. You can't do anything to help her, so you should have been HERE!" I went directly to the assistant manager and told him what she said and he got me in touch with the store manager who moved me out of pharmacy that night.

When I've gone back to the States, I've seen that dept. Manager has been demoted. Apparently she was not leadership material....no really??

That lady sounds like a horrible crazy person

 

[high plains drifter]

So yeah, I might have gotten sucked into reading the entirety of last year’s trip report.

3:47

As I’m reading, I’m thinking “Can’t wait to do that.” Nope. “Can’t wait to go there”. Nope. “Can’t wait to ride the Skyliner.” Nope. And now I has a sad.

I started with 2016, I'm about halfway through. It amazes me how anyone can do a live trip report! I can barely send a text while I'm there

 

[JenniferS]

 

[JenniferS]

I started with 2016, I'm about halfway through. It amazes me how anyone can do a live trip report! I can barely send a text while I'm there

I am a world class texter.

 

[Nemo14]

Finally feeling stronger today, and tummy seems to have settled down. Going out eagling this afternoon, since the sun is actually out here today.

 

[Songbird76]

So glad you made that 2019 choice! It's funny how things work out sometimes (or don't) and we have no idea at the time. Who could have ever predicted circumstances like these.

It's weird, isn't it? I plan WAY in advance because we have international flights and everything, and I have to pounce on the deal when it comes up, which means I'm usually planning a year and a half to two years in advance so that when the deal comes up, I'm ready to book, knowing dates and everything. At the time, I really struggled with the decision. My son and my husband are both Star Wars fans, my daughter hates it. I really didn't know what to do. In the end, I opted for Summer 2019 because I figured Disney would probably end up pushing back the opening like they have for everything else, and I didn't want to get their hopes up about Star Wars stuff in case the pushed it back that far and it wasn't open. But I also didn't want to be back in the position we were in in 2010 when we went to Wizarding World of Harry Potter a month after it opened. That was ridiculous!! I'm the biggest HP fan I know, and it wasn't even worth it to ME. And with my son being Autistic, I didn't think the huge crowds in Star Wars land would be a good mix. But I agonized over that decision for MONTHS before deciding it was better to err on the side of caution and wait to experience the Star Wars stuff when it's not so new. Besides, my husband isn't a fan of Disney, so now I have an excuse to get him back there some day. Things just worked out so well. I couldn't have worked it out better if I had had a crystal ball!

 

[PUSH]

The puzzle just came!

 

[Songbird76]

That lady sounds like a horrible crazy person

She really was. They warned me about her before I started and told me she could be hard to work with, but if I had problems to let them know and they'd get me out of there, but that meant my husband had to be moved to Grocery so I could work in General. I am usually a very mellow and easy-going person, and I've always been a people pleaser. I can be civil to pretty much anyone and I hate confrontation, so I thought I'd be fine. She had said some awful things before and I took it, and like I said, she broke every rule there was...I was told by the assistant manager to clean out the pharmacy stock room and get rid of anything expired, and he had me just toss expired stuff into a shopping cart. I came back the next night to all that stuff back on the shelves because she didn't want to waste it. I'm pretty sure selling expired drugs is illegal, but what do I know. But when she told me my mom was going to die and I should just come to work like nothing was going on, that was too much. She really shouldn't have been in any sort of position of authority and they knew it, but they didn't have anyone else to fill that position at the time.

She doesn't even recognize me anymore. When I was back in 2017 for my dad's funeral, I was staying with my brother's family and we made a pilgrimage to Walmart for groceries and such. I got in the shortest line with my BIL and realized she was the cashier. I would have switched lines, but they were all REALLY long, and I didn't want to explain to my BIL why I wanted to get into an even longer line, so I just hoped she could be civil. She had no clue who I was and was just as nice as could be. Whew. Some people just can't handle management positions.

 

[Songbird76]

The puzzle just came!

Is it done yet?

 

[Songbird76]

My husband is starting to drive me nuts! Is anyone else having a problem with everyone being home constantly? It just makes so much more work for me! Usually I'm the only one home, so no one is leaving dirty dishes or trash everywhere during the day. But now the kids are doing school from home...well, they are both on vacation this week, and my husband is working at home. Unbeknownst to me, my husband told our son that he doesn't have to do chores in the vacation, because yay, it's vacation! I told my husband that my daughter had helped me cook, and I set the table, so my son needed to do dishes. He said no, it's vacation. I said chores still need to be done during the vacation...dishes don't do themselves. He said he told A he didn't need to do chores in the vacation, he'd do the dishes himself when he got home from dropping me off at work. I got home from work at almost midnight to find the kitchen covered with dirty dishes....so guess what I got to do at midnight?

So then this morning, I go to get breakfast, and he said he realized this morning that he had "forgotten" to do them last night, so he would do them this morning. He found them already done...so did he unload the dishwasher and put the dishes away?? Of course not! So I just left them there. Usually I put my dishes straight in the dishwasher after I use them, but in order to do that, I'd have had to unload the dishwasher, which isn't supposed to be my job, and certainly not when I've done his chore at midnight the night before. It came time to make dinner and I finally gave him a choice. He could either do his chore, or we were ordering in because I didn't have any counterspace to work. I love him, but I want my routine back!!!

Anyone else experiencing this? Or is it just me?

 

[PUSH]

Is it done yet?

Not even out of the box!

We currently have another puzzle in the works.

 

[Songbird76]

Not even out of the box!

We currently have another puzzle in the works.

Pictures or it didn't happen!

 

[Goofyernmost]

@high plains drifter - when is the last time you visited WDW? Do you stay onsite, offsite, DVC?

We all know each other fairly well here, but I’ll go first.

We stayed offsite twice in the early 90’s before kids, and then twice offsite with the kids.

Since then, we have stayed at POP 6X with free dining, and at Coronado 6X, also with free dining.

We also went over March Break in 2017 while we were down for Spring Training, and over Christmas break in 2018 because we were spending NYE with my boss in Madeira Beach, so we spent two days at WDW with @Eric1955 , and then hit Pigeon Forge on the way home to spend five days with @InnKpr .

We also visit @NYwdwfan regularly.

Just gonna point out that nobody comes to visit us.

I firmly believe that is because the direction of your place is NORTH. I don't do north!