The Year of Disney - A 2018 PTR. Updated 10/12x4!

You weren't the only one who got sick after coming back from Disney that week. Several did. I seemed to be one of few that didn't get sick but I think I am getting sick now as we speak. Congrats on the 5K and that awesome looking treadmill! Boo to the flooding...

I think it's pretty easy to get sick at Disney with all the germs going around. I'm lucky and don't get sick often but boy that one was rough.

Glad to hear the 5K went well! I look forward to that TR :)

I'm so sorry to hear you got sick and about your basement! Thank goodness nothing got ruined!

Your plans sound great! I'm sure it will be a nice balance of being with the Chicago gang and some alone time with your mom. Have a wonderful trip!!!

Finally got both TRs started! While it was not fun to have all the flooding you are right and it was lucky nothing got ruined (well other than the carpet).

We did have a nice trip and it's funny now reading back through what I thought we would do compared to what actually happened.


I didn't realize the flood happened IN THE PLUTO ROOM!!!!!!!! Thank goodness nothing was damaged.....and giant BOOOO to having it packed up without you there. I am way too Type A about my stuff--it's probably good Jim was there at least, but I would have been freaking out for sure.

I wonder if you'll get a refurbed room--did you do any room requests?? Pop Century has become our go-to since our trip when I was pregnant with Jimmy. We just never spend enough time in our room to make it worth paying more even though I'd love to stay at some of the other resorts just to try them out! I hope you love it :)
Time to meet Prince Eric!!!!!! :)
That will be so awesome!! Can't wait to hear how this plays out!
The only time we saw HEA on our trip in Dec/Jan was from the Contemporary during our Highway in the Sky event. It was SO ungodly cold and windy on that balcony that we really didn't get a good feel for any of the soundtrack (so hard to hear over the gusty winds!) or projections. Definitely a fail on my part. I really want to see it from MK next time!
That did look like fun!! I hope you get an exciting prize :)
Are they still doing the 4 hour?? It definitely was still 4 hours for our trip, but I thought I had read that it would be changing back to 3 hours....can't actually remember for sure, though I remember saying, "oh sure it's going back to 3 after we leave!!"

Yep it was the Pluto room! I'm dreading unpacking because I'm worried what might be broken if anything. I probably won't get to starting that for a few weeks though because I want to get some new shelves for in that room.

I'm the same when it comes to hotels. While it's nice to stay at a moderate, I'm just as happy at the values. My go to though is All Star Music, love that resort!

I had a blast meeting Prince Eric!

You definitely need to see HEA from in front of the castle. The projection part is just out of this world and really makes the show.

The Figment scavenger hunt was hard! But Mom and I had a good time doing it and the prize was a Figment pin.


Oh man, being sick and the flooding...what a bummer!
Glad to have an update and can't wait for your duel TR for your Jan trip and your upcoming Feb with your mom.
I always enjoy your TR's :) Your outfits are awesome! How many bags do you have now?

It was a rough few weeks when I got back from the January trip! I've finally got those TRs started!! As for bags, that's a good question. :rotfl:I believe it's 12 or maybe 13 now? I have a Harry Potter one I haven't used yet and also two other new ones that I will be using in October. I need another trip to Universal to use the HP one.

Sounds like it's been a rough couple of weeks with the sickness and flooding, but it can only go up from here right? If your not back before then, have a great trip with your mom!!

I was definitely a rough few weeks. The trip with Mom was so much fun!

So sorry you got sick. Glad your boss was nice/decent/cool about it. Any openings in your department? ;)
That stinks about the basement, but glad nothing Pluto was damaged. Holy cow!!! I knew you liked pluto from your name, but WOW!!! Also good the insurance has been good about it vs. trying to claim it was an "act of God". So, in a way, it's a blessing...you get a new floor out of the deal and get rid of the dirty carpet. ;)

No openings right now but there should be in October. They are adding a new position to our department for the 2019 Fiscal Year which starts October 1. Of course none of us lower on the food chain can figure out exactly why we need the new position. :confused3

Nope, not an act of God but rather an act of my husband forgetting to turn of the outside water line for the winter! And it did turn out to be a blessing as we did way more work than just the basement. I'll post about that here in a few minutes.


So sorry to hear about your crazy in-between trips time at home! Your poor Pluto room :sad: Hopefully things will be back to normal soon for you :hug:

I hope you had a wonderful trip! Cannot wait to hear all about both :thumbsup2

Well all of the renovations are done but as for back to normal that's going to take a while longer. I want to get some new shelves for in that room so I haven't even begun to move stuff back in.

The trip was awesome and I finally have both TRs started.


Welcome back!

Thanks! I hate when real life interferes with my DIS time.

Yay, you've returned!!!!!! :) Glad to see you back, and headed over to your TR now! :)

Yep I'm back. Now that I'm caught up on my own TRs I need to start the long process of getting caught up on everyone elses!

Welcome back! :) I'm excited to hear all about your trips.

Thanks! I finally got both TRs started.
 
Running Update

As you all know, I ran the 5K during Marathon Weekend in January. I will be talking about that in length in my January TR but I will say that I absolutely loved the race and plan to go back and do the other Disney 5Ks. As of right now I’m planning on doing the Wine and Dine one in 2019, Star Wars in 2020 and Princess in 2021.

Since the January one, I’ve participated in three more local 5Ks. Last year I tried to do one race a month but that got to be a bit much. For 2018 I planned on one every other month but I haven’t quite followed that pattern. My training has been pretty sporadic because access to my treadmill has been limited due to the house renovations. I have some pictures from the renovations that I will post next.

In February, I ran a local race called the Guns and Hoses which is Police Vs Fire. I work for the Finance department at our County and each person in my department is assigned as liaison to several departments. Fire happens to be one of mine so of course I signed up to support them. I was hoping for a nice red shirt but instead they were an ugly baby blue with yellow writing. I chose to wear a run Disney shirt instead and never did take a picture of the race shirt. There were other people from my work and department running in the race so I ended up pushing myself a little harder than I probably should have. You can probably tell by this photo that I was hurting at that point. It was taken a little bit before the finish line.




The course that day was also pretty brutal. It starts with a long stretch downhill and finished by running back up that same long stretch. I finished at 41:16 which was pretty close to my fastest time but I paid for it the next few days. I was so sore and it took a few weeks before I could comfortably run on my treadmill again.

Shortly after I ran that race I signed up for the Glow it Up Blue race in April. I ran this one in 2017 and it was a lot of fun. It’s a night race and supports Autism. But then I found out about another race that same day that was going to support the Animal Shelter where I volunteer. It was called the Street Dog Dash. So I signed up for it and decided not to worry about the Glow it Up Blue one. The race fee for that one was $25 and non-refundable but I figured it was a donation for a good cause.

As the day grew closer though, I really, really wanted to do both races. I went back and forth but finally convinced myself that if I rested in between the two I could do both. I would take it easy during the morning one and walk the evening one. So that’s what I did. The Street Dog Dash was in the morning and started at 8:00 am. I didn’t go as slowly as I should have because I’m just way too competitive with myself. My official time for that race was 43:57.9. Here’s the finish photo and my shirt.






And then at 8:30 that night I participated in the second race. I fast walked the whole thing (except for the photo op, got to look good for the photo, right?) and ended up finishing at 47:50.68. That’s my slowest finish ever but not so bad for a 2nd race in the same day. Here’s the finish photo, t-shirt and medal. I think the medal was the main factor that made me want to do both.







I haven’t had a lot of time on my treadmill since those two races thanks to the house renovations and a 2 week visit from my Mother in Law. But as soon as she goes home tomorrow I plan to get back to serious training. I signed up to do the Disney Virtual Races again this summer so my next two races will be June 23rd and July 4th. You are supposed to do one in June, one in July and one in August but I might cheat a little and push the last one into September. Running in August in GA is miserable!

Up Next: A Look at the House Renovations
 
A Look at the House Renovations

So let’s talk about the house renovations now that everything is finally done. If you remember, back in January we had a pipe break in our garage that turned my finished basement, aka the Pluto room, from this:




To this:



The water also damaged the carpet coming in from our garage and the linoleum floor in my laundry closet. We went back and forth for a long time but in the end decided to do some more extensive renovations while we were at it. So on top of fixing the downstairs, we had part of the upstairs painted and also replaced the flooring. I don’t have a lot of before pictures but here’s one in the living room. You will notice the nasty, torn up carpet under Ellie and also the dark green wall behind her (and the gate around Jim’s Legos to keep her from eating them).




We also had the Popcorn ceiling in our upstairs removed. This turned out to be an extremely nasty deal. The first night I came home from work my house looked like this.









I swear I’m still cleaning that white stuff off of everything. But the ceilings look great and I’m so glad to get rid of that green wall. My kitchen was also painted green although it was a mint color so I was very glad to have all the rooms one color. Well except for the bedrooms and bathrooms but we will get to those eventually.

Once the painters were done, the flooring people came in and tore up some more stuff. We put a vinyl floor in throughout the upstairs that looks like wood grain. Here’s my kitchen with the green walls gone and the new floors in.




And here’s our dining room.



And the living room.



Coming off the garage and in my laundry closet we put tile. I picked this color because I thought it would hide the dirt best.



And the Pluto room got painted a nice beige and got brand new carpet.





Here’s a closer picture of the tile and carpet in the downstairs.



We had the carpet taken off of the steps too and had it replaced with hardwood. We still have some touch up painting to do so you’ll see some black marks on the white part.



The only thing I wish we had done was to replace the old railing too. It really looks off with the nice new steps. That might be something to address in the near future. We asked about staining it to match the steps but they are different woods and that won't work.



The work finished up just two days before my Mother in Law got here. I ended up having to take two days off of work just to get the house somewhat back in order for her visit. On Thursday morning, my house was filthy and you couldn’t even get into the guest bedroom because we had stored a bunch of stuff in there during the renovations. By the end of the day Friday the whole upstairs was cleaned and the guest bedroom ready for her. I was exhausted!

Currently our third bedroom (which is my bear room, yes I collect bears too) still looks like this:




Everything on the floor needs cleaned and moved back to its proper place and then all of the bears need vacuumed. The garage is also still full of everything from the Pluto room. All of that needs cleaned and moved back too!

We still have a long way to go before everything is back in its place but I love all the work we got done and want to do the rest of the house now!

Up next: Dining Reservations for October Done!
 


I'm so impressed you ran two 5Ks in the same day!!! That's crazy commitment right there :)

I, on the other hand, have probably run 10 miles total since coming home from our January trip. Right now, I am trying to survive the end of the school year, so that starting June 4th I can get back in action!! Your post reminded me I STILL hadn't signed up for the virtual summer series, so time to get on that, as well!

I'm so glad your renovations have been winding down and you can hopefully start to get things back in order. I really love the new wall color and your kitchen floors!! We have lived in our house for 12 years and only managed to renovate the bathroom, paint Jimmy's bedroom and the hallway, and redo our basement. Our bedroom, dining room, living room and kitchen are next up....eventually!!!

Now, let's get back to the Disney business! :earboy2:
 
Yes, its been very busy at your house! Everything will be so nice once you get it all finished. It will be worth the wait!
And a mother-in-law visit also! Wow, So much going on in your world. And congrats on 2races the same day. Amazing!
I'm going to go read your other updates. love you TR's. :)
 


The only thing I wish we had done was to replace the old railing too. It really looks off with the nice new steps. That might be something to address in the near future. We asked about staining it to match the steps but they are different woods and that won't work.

I have a friend of mine who does a lot of home construction/improvement and wood work. I think it could be stained to be about the same color, although the GRAIN wouldn't be the same (different woods). Sounds like they may just be trying to rack up the bill. If you want, PM me and I can give you his contact info.

I can also send you a picture of our front steps he did that look fabulous and the railing is a different type of wood BTW.
 
I'm so impressed you ran two 5Ks in the same day!!! That's crazy commitment right there :)

I, on the other hand, have probably run 10 miles total since coming home from our January trip. Right now, I am trying to survive the end of the school year, so that starting June 4th I can get back in action!! Your post reminded me I STILL hadn't signed up for the virtual summer series, so time to get on that, as well!

I'm so glad your renovations have been winding down and you can hopefully start to get things back in order. I really love the new wall color and your kitchen floors!! We have lived in our house for 12 years and only managed to renovate the bathroom, paint Jimmy's bedroom and the hallway, and redo our basement. Our bedroom, dining room, living room and kitchen are next up....eventually!!!

Now, let's get back to the Disney business! :earboy2:

Crazy is definitely the right word for running two in one day! :rotfl:

I'm finally back to running on my treadmill every other day. It's amazing to me how out of shape I am after taking a month off.

We are slowly getting things back in order but I think it's going to take a while before it's all back to normal. We've lived in our house for 15 years and this is the first large renovation we have done. I definitely want to finish the rest of the house someday but need to pay off what we did first.

OK, OK, Disney stuff coming right up!


Glad both your running and your house renovations have been going well!

Thanks! It's been a crazy couple of months but things are finally settling down.

Yes, its been very busy at your house! Everything will be so nice once you get it all finished. It will be worth the wait!
And a mother-in-law visit also! Wow, So much going on in your world. And congrats on 2races the same day. Amazing!
I'm going to go read your other updates. love you TR's. :)

It certainly has been busy but I am very happy with the results. I'm glad it's all over now including the visit from MIL.

The 2 races in one day was a bit crazy on my part but I had fun. I'm finally getting back into my training to get ready for the June 23rd race.


I have a friend of mine who does a lot of home construction/improvement and wood work. I think it could be stained to be about the same color, although the GRAIN wouldn't be the same (different woods). Sounds like they may just be trying to rack up the bill. If you want, PM me and I can give you his contact info.

I can also send you a picture of our front steps he did that look fabulous and the railing is a different type of wood BTW.

Thanks! Go ahead and send me the name although I don't think we are going to do any more renovations for a bit. We are kind of over it at this point. :rotfl2: I do think we will replace those railings eventually because they are in pretty bad shape plus they are not up to code. The slates are too far apart.
 
Dining Reservations for October Done!

Alrighty, as Jackie said, let’s get back to Disney talk. :D Last month I was able to do our ADRs for October so now I have a rough outline for our trip. I’ll do more detailed days once I get our FPs done in August but here’s a brief overview of the trip.

As a reminder, this trip came about because my brother John and SIL Jocelyn want to experience Food and Wine. We talked about it and came up with the dates of October 20 – 27th. Mom and I managed to talk Jim into coming for some of the trip so he will be joining us from the 20th through the 24th. He will basically have 4 days with us because he flies out early on Wednesday so I started our trip with one park each day.

We let John and Jocelyn pick all of the restaurants because they only go every three or four years. My brother had some pretty strict rules for where he wanted to eat, no buffets and no character meals. Also, we are not planning any meals at Epcot so we can take full advantage of Food and Wine. This made picking restaurants a bit challenging for the trip. But I think in the end, we came up with a pretty good variety. There are three new ones to me and two others I haven’t eaten at since 2012. So let’s get into the details.

Day 1, Saturday October 20, 2018

We have super early flights into Orlando this day. Jim and I land at 7:35 am and Mom, John and Jocelyn get there at 8:20 am. I plan on using the time waiting for them to feed Jim. We have a lunch ADR but it’s a bit late and I don’t want him to get hangry.

We are staying at All Star Music this trip which is my favorite value. The rooms were a bit worn the last time I stayed there but I don’t think the rest of the family will care. I am excited that they will be renovating them soon. I’m hoping to get a room in the Jazz Inn section. Jim would probably like the Rock section best but it’s a bit further from the front.






I doubt our rooms will be ready so we will drop our bags with guest services and head for the buses. Hollywood Studios is our destination for the day.



Our lunch reservation is at 12:30 pm at Hollywood Brown Derby which is one of the new to me places. Jocelyn told John he could pick one expensive restaurant and this was his pick. The menu is a bit much for me but I think I will be able to find something. Disney restaurants are great at subbing out sides and other items. And I’m the only one in my family who got the picky gene so the others will be fine.

I will make our FPs in the afternoon. I probably won’t worry about Toy Story Land until later in the week because I doubt I will be able to get any FPs for the new rides that first day.

With a big lunch I don’t think we will do much for dinner so I’ve penciled in the Baseline Tap House for snacks and drinks. I definitely want another pretzel and California Sunset.






We will call it an early night since our flights are so early. That will give us time to settle into our rooms and get a good night’s sleep. Sunday is going to be a very early morning.

Sunday, October 21st, 2018

We will be going to MK this day.



I picked MK for Sunday because it is a Halloween Party day but we are not going to the party. That seems a bit backwards but I’ve discovered that going on non-party days can be a nightmare with the crowds. So I picked Sunday in the hopes it will be less crowded.

The park closes at 6 pm and we have two dining reservations so I needed to find a way to maximize our time. After talking with Mom, we decided to sign us up for Early Morning Magic that morning. Mom and I are splitting the cost because John and Jocelyn can’t really afford a lot of extras. With EMM, we can get into Fantasyland at 7:45 am and will be able to ride 7 Dwarves Mine Train, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh as many times as we can before 9 am. There is also a breakfast offered that is available till 10 am. A lot of people that attend this event hit up a ride or two at rope drop then come back around 9:45 am for breakfast. I’ve decided not to do that because we have an early lunch ADR. Instead I think we will ride what we can until 8:30 then go get a small bite to eat so that we can still hit a few rides at rope drop.

For lunch, we have an ADR at Be Our Guest at 11:45 am. I’m very happy they picked this one as it’s one of my favorites. I will definitely be getting my turkey sandwich and chocolate cupcake. My mom loved the turkey sandwich too and Jim will be sure to get his favorite roast beef sandwich.








Dinner is at Liberty Tree Tavern. My plan was to get an ADR as close to 6 pm as possible but unfortunately the only time I could get was 5:05 pm. The restaurant is scheduled to close at 6 pm so I don’t think there are any later times than that. I keep hoping that they will extend the hours and offer later ADRs but I’m not sure if LTT is open during the party or not. Mom and I did eat lunch at LTT in February and we loved it. I’m very happy that the pot roast and mac and cheese I had that day is included on the family style platter served at dinner.



The park will be closed to us after dinner so it will be another early night.

Monday, October 22, 2018

This will be our first Epcot day and since we want to maximize Food and Wine time, I suggested we have breakfast somewhere.



I listed out options in Epcot, on the Boardwalk and also around the lagoon at MK. In the end, they picked The Wave at the Contemporary.



Mom and I ate there way back in 2012 and loved it so we are excited to go back again. I’m really looking forward to the Mickey waffles and sweet potato pancakes on the buffet. And there is a regular menu for my anti-buffet brother. He doesn’t like them because he tends to overeat and get sick.



After breakfast we will take the monorail to Epcot and spend time in Future World until we start getting hungry again. Then we will start our trek around World Showcase eating at the food booths as we go. Menus aren’t out yet but I’m hoping the beef short ribs from France will still be there and also the chocolate cake at the Ireland booth.





Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018

This will be our Animal Kingdom day.



I put AK last because I knew that Jim would not be happy if I wasn’t able to get a FP for Flights of Passage. It’s his new favorite ride after our January trip. I plan on getting us there at rope drop and head to Navi River Journey. Mom and I rode it in February and while we enjoyed it, I don’t want to waste a FP on it. We will skip breakfast at the resort and then grab something either at Pongu Pongu in Pandora or somewhere else in the park.

No trip to AK is complete for my brother without a meal at Flame Tree so that’s where we will be eating lunch. I’m happy with that as I haven’t eaten there in a few trips. I will get my usual chicken meal and chocolate mousse for dessert.




Dinner will be at Yak and Yeti at 5:45 pm. I tried to schedule it a bit early so we can go back to Pandora afterwards to see it at night. I’m not sure what I’ll get at this point. When Mom and I ate there in 2016 I had the special of the day which was some kind of fish over rice and Succotash.



It was delicious but I don’t think it will be on the menu again. The regular menu is a little adventurous for me but there is a burger so I’ll be fine. I do know for sure that I’ll be getting this chocolate cake again. It was outstanding.



I just hope that we don’t have another bad incident this time. If you remember, the waitress spilled a drink all over Mom when we were there in 2016. Fingers crossed all goes well this time!

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Jim will be flying out this morning. His flight is at 9:40 am which means a 6:40 am DME pickup. I am planning this day as a sleep in day but I’m sure I’ll be up with him as he leaves. Mom is staying in the same room as us so I’m sure she will be up too.

I have no other plans for the morning but Mom and I may end up at a park if we can’t go back to sleep. Whenever John and Jocelyn get up and moving, we will meet them for lunch at Big River Grille on the Boardwalk. This is another new one for me. It’s been on my list for a while but has just never made the cut so I’m excited to try it. BRG doesn’t take reservations so I don’t have a specific time we need to be there.

After lunch we will head to HS for a few hours, mainly to explore Toy Story Land and ride Slinky Dog Coaster with a FP. I don’t think we will spend a lot of time at HS since there is so little to do at the park right now and this will be our second day.

If we get out of there in a timely manner, I would like to take Mom, John and Jocelyn for a drink at Abracadabar.




Jim and I made a stop there in January and it was a lot of fun. I will probably have another Seashore Sweet (Absolute Citron & Odwalla Lemonade, Cotton Candy syrup) which is the blue drink in this photo.



For the evening, we will head to Epcot for another trek around World Showcase and the Food and Wine booths.

Thursday, October 25th, 2018

On Thursday we will be venturing off of Disney property to visit Sea World.



It’s only 10 miles from our resort so we plan to take an Uber. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Sea World so I need to do some research. No idea where or what we will be eating for lunch that day.

Sea World closes at 6 pm so we will take an Uber to Disney Springs for some shopping and also dinner at Homecomin’ at 7:30 pm. This is another new one that I’ve been wanting to try. It seems to get pretty mixed reviews but I like to try everything at least once myself before I pass judgement.

John also would like to stop at Jock Lindsey’s Hanger Bar for a drink. And I’m sure we will hit up a few stores before heading back to the resort for the night.


Friday, October 26th, 2018

This will be our last full day at WDW and is our second scheduled sleep in day. John and Jocelyn like to sleep in but I have a feeling Mom and I will be up and moving long before they are. We will meet up with them at the Wilderness Lodge for lunch at Whispering Canyon Café at 12:30 pm.





Those pictures are from when Mom and I visited in 2012 and the menu has changed some. We really enjoyed it back then so I’m hoping it’s just as good this time. I know they stopped all the crazy shenanigans but I wasn’t a fan of those any ways.

The afternoon will be at MK. We won’t have FPs because I’m saving those for the evening so my plan is to catch some of the shows that don’t need FP. John loves both COP and HOP and will want to see those. And I will want to catch Country Bear Jamboree and the Tiki Room.

Then we will take one more trip to Epcot for a last trip around Food and Wine. I know it will be super crowded on a Friday night but hopefully we will just have a few last dishes we want to try. I also plan to make us a few FPs to catch some rides we missed on our full Epcot day.


Saturday, October 27th, 2018

This is our last day but we don’t fly out till 6 pm so we will have about ½ a day to use for a park. I picked AK since All Star Music is right around the corner. There is morning EMH but I doubt we will make it to the park in time for that. I think we will mostly be doing the animal trails with a few FPs thrown in. I do want to get a second FOP FP for all of us.

We didn’t schedule a table service meal for this day. We’ve talked about both Satu’li Canteen and Restaurantosaurus as options for lunch but haven’t made a decision yet. It will probably depend on where we are in the park at that time.

After lunch we will most likely head out and back to the resort to catch the DME around 3 pm.

Up Next: Trip #4 for 2018?
 
Joining in for October!! Ill be down the 19th-22nd for F&W and Im so excited for the menus to come out!
 
Your plans sound awesome! Those were basically my same exact trip dates last October, it's too bad our trips were a year apart!
 
Alrighty, as Jackie said, let’s get back to Disney talk. :D
Yes, let's get to it! :)

Mom, John and Jocelyn get there at 8:20 am. I plan on using the time waiting for them to feed Jim.
No one wants a hangry Jim.

I will probably have another Seashore Sweet (Absolute Citron & Odwalla Lemonade, Cotton Candy syrup) which is the blue drink in this photo.

All it needs is a glow cube...wait, I think I have one in my purse LOL
 
Joining in for October!! Ill be down the 19th-22nd for F&W and Im so excited for the menus to come out!

Hi and welcome! I'm definitely anxious to see the menus! Hopefully in the next month or so, I think they came out in July last year.

Your plans sound awesome! Those were basically my same exact trip dates last October, it's too bad our trips were a year apart!

Thanks! Aw, man, one of these days we will have an overlapping trip so we can finally meet!

Yes, let's get to it! :)
No one wants a hangry Jim.
All it needs is a glow cube...wait, I think I have one in my purse LOL

And even more Disney news coming up next! Yep, a hangry Jim is not fun to deal with. :rotfl: Oh, a glow cube would have been fun with that blue drink.
 
Renovation Update

Before I talk about the new trip for 2018, here’s a brief update on the renovations. We’ve been working hard the last two weeks to get the garage cleaned out. We had some furniture to get rid of and that proved to be a bit on the difficult side. We had a hard time finding a charity to pick up and then once we did, they rejected the couch, chair and desk we were trying to get rid of as “too damaged”. The desk had a few knobs missing and the couch and chair a few rips but they really weren’t that bad. We tried the “free to a good home” route too and no takers. So finally we had to contact our disposal service to pick them up today. The jury is still out on whether they will take the desk because it is really heavy. It’s such a shame we couldn’t find a home for it, it’s a nice wood roll top desk that just needed refinished. I don’t have the skills to do that plus I have no real use for it. It was meant for a scrapbooking desk but the surface area was just not big enough. If it’s still there when we get home tonight, I’m pretty sure Jim is going to take the chainsaw to it. That way we can throw it out a few pieces at a time!

Anyways, by the end of the day yesterday, the garage was finally cleaned out. Jim still has a few things to put away and also needs to sweep it out to get rid of the construction debris but at least we can get both cars in now!




My basement area now looks like this:









So many boxes to empty! I started on that task last night and opened the first box to find this mess:



All of those Pluto’s were carelessly wrapped together in one piece of paper. There’s a moderately expensive Arribas brothers piece in that pile along with a few rarer antique items. Luckily nothing was broken there but I did find three pieces in the first two boxes that were. I’m going to e-mail the insurance company tonight to see what recourse I have for the broken pieces since they did the packing. I’m not looking forward to seeing if there are more broken items in the rest of the boxes!

Alright, that’s enough of that mess for now, let’s move on to the fun stuff which is my upcoming trip!
 
Trip #4 (or really #3) for 2018

One of the items that has always been on my bucket list was to be in an actual park on my birthday. If you haven’t figured it out by my user name, that happens to be on August 9th. I’ve always thought I would fulfill that bucket list item once we moved to Florida after retirement. But, having an AP this year, I started thinking about the possibility. It is after all a milestone year for me as I’ll be turning 45.

I debated for a long time and finally decided to book a very short solo trip. So it will just be me, me and me on this one!




Part of me really thinks I’ve gone off the deep end this time. I’m not a fan of super-hot weather at all and here I am planning a trip in August! But I figure this would be the best time to give it a go because I don’t have to buy park tickets. Also, I had enough Southwest points for a free flight so that was covered too.

So in the end, I booked a quick trip from 8/8/18 – 8/12/18. I will be staying at All Star Movies in a preferred room. This will be my second time staying at ASMo and like the previous trip, I requested the 101 Dalmatians section. It just speaks to me for some reason.






I chose All Star Movies over my favorite Music because we will be staying at Music in October.

There will be two things on this trip that are very different from my previous trips.

1. No dessert parties. As much as I love the dessert parties, doing one in the August heat did not appeal to me at all. I did think about doing the Star Wars one which is indoors but in the end I chose a different special event that I’ll talk about later.

2. Fewer Character meets. Sweaty characters really gross me out so I’ll probably limit the meet and greets and if I do any they will be indoor characters. That means I probably won’t meet Pluto for the first trip in a really long time because all of his meet and greets are outdoors.

I did my Fast Pass selections this past weekend so I’m pretty well set for the trip. Here’s a brief look at my arrival day and then I’ll be back next week to talk about my first full day.


I wanted to have the full day of my Birthday in a park so I decided to fly down later on Wednesday. I probably would have flown in earlier on Wednesday but with all the trips I’m doing this year, I’m a little short on vacation days so I only wanted to use two. My flight out is at 7:55 pm and I have a bit of a dilemma as to what time to leave work to head to the airport. I was originally thinking 3 pm but Atlanta rush hour starts about that time. Normally it would take me an hour to get to the airport but with rush hour traffic that could double or even triple. So instead I think I will work through lunch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so I can leave 3 hours early at 2 pm. This will probably get me to the airport way too early but at least I won’t be stressed about missing my flight. I’ll most likely go through security right away and then find somewhere to sit down for dinner.

I land at MCO at 9:25 pm so I will go ahead and collect my suitcase (yes I will be checking a suitcase even though I’m only there 3 ½ days. I’m a serious over-packer) before heading to the Magic Express. I expect to make it to my room about 10:30 so I’ll unpack a bit and then hit the sack. I’ve got three very busy days planned so the more sleep I can get the better!

Up Next: Happy Birthday to Me!
 
YAY! So exciting that you'll squeeze in a birthday trip!

Maybe you can get lucky and meet Pluto at the Visa M&G? That's indoors ;)

I am an overpacker too, it's nearly impossible for me to not lug around my big suitcase on even weekend trips! haha
 
So many boxes to empty! I started on that task last night and opened the first box to find this mess:



All of those Pluto’s were carelessly wrapped together in one piece of paper.

I’m not looking forward to seeing if there are more broken items in the rest of the boxes!
Oh, goodness :( I know you were really afraid of this!!! I hope your broken Plutos can be glued together to preserve them at least. And fingers, toes and eyes crossed there are no more "surprises" as you continue unpacking!

I knew you'd end up booking that birthday trip!!!!! Can't say I blame you. Being in the park on my birthday won't happen until I retire from teaching!!! I'm jealous and really excited for you :)
 
YAY! So exciting that you'll squeeze in a birthday trip!

Maybe you can get lucky and meet Pluto at the Visa M&G? That's indoors ;)

I am an overpacker too, it's nearly impossible for me to not lug around my big suitcase on even weekend trips! haha

I'm really excited too of course!

I will probably try the Visa Meet and Greet but I don't know how lucky I'll get. I've done that meet about 5 times and every time it's been Goofy and Mickey except once when it was just Mickey. But I did come up with a way to meet Pluto on my 3rd day. I'll talk about that when I get there probably next week.

I almost always check a suitcase since I fly Southwest since it's free. It's just easier for me not to have to drag it through the airport or lift it up to the overhead bin.


Woohoo birthday trip!

I am so excited for this trip!

Oh, goodness :( I know you were really afraid of this!!! I hope your broken Plutos can be glued together to preserve them at least. And fingers, toes and eyes crossed there are no more "surprises" as you continue unpacking!

I knew you'd end up booking that birthday trip!!!!! Can't say I blame you. Being in the park on my birthday won't happen until I retire from teaching!!! I'm jealous and really excited for you :)

Well I've finished unpacking and there were 7 items broken. On was a mug of Jim's that he could care less about. Another was a Mickey Mouse one that a former boss gave me as a birthday gift and I'm not so worried about that one either. So just 5 Pluto items and I think I can glue them all but one mug. And luckily none of them were expensive items. I am going to send a request for reimbursement for them to the insurance company. I think the worst one was a ceramic Pluto dressed as Rudolph the reindeer that I bought on our honeymoon 20 years ago. One of the antlers broke off. It's the only item I can't find on Ebay so no chance of replacing it. Hopefully gluing it will work.

I'm getting really excited for the Birthday trip, 51 days to go!
 

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