[Disney_Scarlett]

Hey dudes! It's been three weeks since we returned from our vacation, and with the holidays over, I feel like I can finally start on this TR! (and now I can catch up on all the other TR's without feeling guilty!) Enjoy!

When I left y’all last, I was posting the last of my pre-trip report just before my departure from work to home. So I’ll pick up where I left off, and start from there.

Friday afternoon, and I was finishing up my last few work obligations before going home and beginning final preparations for our trip (beginning final…is that an oxymoron?). Of course, my last day at work WOULD be our office Christmas celebration. We’d already had our fancy-schmancy dinner earlier in the month, so this was our Ugly Christmas Sweater/White Elephant Game Italian Holiday Lunch. So not only was I wearing my ugliest Christmas sweater nightmare, but I was also now in possession of a new bucket hat from Christie’s Cabaret – a local strip club – that I had won in the White Elephant game (the rule for the gifts was that you had to bring something from your house that you hate/want to get rid of/is your spouses’ and is also something you hate…so I don’t even want to know the story behind that hat. Actually, I kind of do).

Therefore, it had been a good day at work all around and I was in a festive mood…that is, until 4:45, when I was supposed to be leaving, and a psychotic parent of a not-so-prospective student landed in my office. Not only did I have to pull out my serious face whilst wearing a snowman cardigan and subtly removing the girlie club hat from my desk, but the whole thing really killed my “I’M GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD” buzz that I’d had all day.

I used my 30 minute commute home to detox from work and listened to the Happiest Celebration on Earth CD that Amy (akelos) had sent me in the mail. That definitely helped to up my mood, and by the time I was pulling into Wal-Mart, I felt much better.

I thought I’d made my last Wally-World trip the night before (shout-out to Melissa [mestitch] who also calls Wal-Mart ‘Wally World’!), but of course, I had not realized that I was almost out of face wash, so another trip was in order. I called my mom to make sure she didn’t need anything, and she instructed me to pick up some extra dog treats for Quincy, which were to be used as a distraction from our abandoning him for a week.

It took me a little longer than expected to get out of Wal-Mart, partly because of a detour I took in the at-home hair color aisle. It should be said that I’ve only ever “done” my hair at home once in my life, and it turned out very badly, so out of fear do I leave it to the professionals. However, I had just visited my professional last weekend, and the results were disappointing – I had asked for a darker brunette with a few highlights, and somehow came out with a head full of hair that was three shades lighter with a kind of reddish tint. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had not been shell-shocked by what she charged me…as I wrote the check, I could just see Disney dollars swirling down the toilet. So it was out of bitterness that I stood in the health and beauty section of Wal-Mart with a box of chestnut brown hair color in my hand. Luckily, I called for back-up (my BFF Allison) before making my decision:

Allison: “Hello?”
Scarlett: “Hi. So I’m standing in the hair color aisle at Wal-Mart, and I was thinking – “
A: “Step away from the hair color. Now. Back away slooowly.”
S: “But, but I really hate the way it looks, and I was thinking maybe I could fix it myself…”
A: “Scarlett. Let’s just calm down and look at the big picture. Your hair doesn’t look bad; it’s just not what you wanted. And coloring it yourself will not put the money back in your bank account, it will only make you spend seven more dollars and end up with orange hair. What you are considering is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
S: “You’re right. What was I thinking? Thank you. I think I’m okay now.”
A: “I’ll call you back in half an hour to make sure you aren’t doing anything rash.”
S: “I appreciate that.”

So it’s only because Allison talked me down off the cliff that I’m not wearing a hat – possibly the one from Christie’s Cabaret – in all our vacation photos in order to cover up a burnt sienna (my least favorite Crayola crayon color) dye job.

I finally made it home and met my parents going out the door to Sonic for a quick bite. After placing my order for cheesy tater tots, I pulled out my suitcases and started laying things out on my bed. I find it best to lay everything out before placing it in the bags in order to minimize over-packing. Actually, I still over-pack, but at least I am fully aware of what I am packing too much of.

The weather forecast for the upcoming week in Orlando was warm (low 80’s) during the day and less-warm (60’s) at night. Therefore, layers were best, so I made sure to pack plenty of t-shirts with my jeans and capris and a few hoodies and long-sleeved tees to wear at night or on chilly mornings. Out came the rechargeable battery charger, ponchos, bathing suit (ew) and park touring bag as well – I even had enough sense to remember to pack my Goofy hat and sparkly Mickey antenna. I was exceptionally pleased that I was almost done packing when 8:00 pm rolled around and our house-sitter showed up for his orientation.

I was a bit nervous when I handed him his packet of materials – after all, I would like to keep him as a friend after this week – but luckily he took it all in stride. Besides a list of emergency numbers (vet, neighbors, all of our cells), I had also made him a complete list of where things are that he may or may not need – extra trash bags, light bulbs, toilet plunger, etc. I really played up the fully stocked kitchen and fridge and the HBO, and took his silence during the kitty litter box scooping demonstration as ecstatic speechlessness at all the fun he had for the upcoming week.

He was gone by 9:00 with a promise to be at our house around 8:00 am the next morning to take us to the airport. I reheated my cheesy tots from Sonic and scarfed those down. Before I resumed my packing, I sent text messages out to Eileen, Karen and Sharon (CLT) to request an update on all the shenanigans. What I got in return was a picture-message from Eileen with an awesome picture of Karen looking very pretty – pretty drunk, that is. I don’t think she had actually been drinking, but the “she’s-so-wasted” innuendo from Eileen was awesomely effective. I also sent a shout out to Amy via text before forcing myself to attack my toiletries bag.

Around 11:00 pm, I was as close to done with my packing as possible prior to my morning shower. However, at this point I was a little too pumped on adrenaline and caffeine to go right to bed, so I settled in with the phone to call my sisters. First, a quick ring to Krista, who was in an airport hotel in Indianapolis with her fam damily. Jeff’s parents had driven them to Indianapolis that evening and they were staying in an airport hotel, as they had an extra-early morning flight the next day. I wanted to check in with Krista to see what she was bringing to wear for that blasted photo session. After comparing outfit possibilities, I hung up the phone and checked in with Donna. She and her family were on their way to Wilmington, NC, for the weekend, so she didn’t have too many vacation-jealousy-blues to send my way. After speaking to my nephews, I hung up and dialed one more time to my sister Mary Clayton.

Mary Clayton keeps up on all the Disney rumors and buzz more than I do, and she relished in filling me in on Spaceship Earth’s progress and other tidbits of information that might be useful. After taking requests from her for souvenirs (anything monorail or old-school Epcot), Clayton assured me that I’d be receiving many a text message from her during the upcoming week – with them all along the lines of: “Hey. What are y’all doing now?” wait for response, follows with: “I hate you. Talk to you in a couple of hours. Bye.” Two hours later. “Hey. What are y’all doing now?” “I hate you. Talk to you in a couple of hours. Bye.” Obviously, she's not bitter.

By the time I got off the phone with MC and settled into bed, it was almost 1:30 am. I turned my alarm clock on without resetting it from the workweek – 6:10 am is my usual wake-up time which worked perfectly for tomorrow as well – and relished being able to fall asleep the night before a vacation without the jitters of “still so much to do.” Instead, most everything was completed and I only had jitters of “still so much to do in WDW, weeeeee!”

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I was up before my alarm went off, which is nothing unusual. However, the delightfully unusual part of this morning was that it was time to go to Disney World!

I was in and out of the shower quickly and was able to finish packing my toiletry bag, feeling pretty safe that I had not forgotten anything (I actually have a little trick that I use so I won’t forget the stuff I use in the shower that I must take with me [face wash, etc. that I don’t have travel size bottles of]. As I finish with each product, I toss it from the shower into the sink so that I can’t miss it…I’ve left stuff I needed in the shower one-too-many times!). Before I knew it I was dressed and ready to go. Now came the moment of truth – time to weigh the suitcase. I zipped it up, brought my bags downstairs and hauled out the scale. When the little digital number popped up, I was sure it was wrong – 34 lbs?!?! That’s a record low for me! I decided that I must have done something wrong, and weighed it again, this time with me holding it and then subtracting my weight. Still 34 lbs! Even with all those layers I had packed! I sat in shock, wracking my brain as I was sure I must have forgotten to pack an entire category of something important, like pants or shoes. I opened up the case and poked around – everything seemed to be there! At this point, I was just so impressed with myself for getting my over-packing under control that I could’ve cried. Instead I pulled it together and attached our DME tags to all our bags that sat on the porch.

I double-checked our documents and then spent the rest of my time straightening up, emptying the trash, wiping down my bathroom, hiding anything potentially embarrassing (my Ace of Base album collection going under the bed) – all the stuff you do when someone is coming to stay at your house. Brian showed up right on time and we loaded my mom’s SUV with our luggage. We were leaving mild temperatures in NC (‘50’s and 60’s), but I put my heavy coat in the car, as we would be returning to much colder temps and Brian would be using my mom’s car to pick us up from the airport in a week. I grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge and we all said very sad goodbyes to Quincy, who was looking quite depressed (when the suitcases come out, he’s used to his bag being packed with his leash, water bottle, etc. – so I think he was on to us when none of his stuff was being gathered) and the kitties (who just had their usual facial expressions of mild annoyance).

Here's Q's depressed state the morning of our departure (even though he has his stuffed mailman and frog!):



Before totally leaving town, we stopped at Bojangles for biscuits all around. They were super crowded (Bojangles is the breakfast hot spot for the 65+ crowd) and the drive thru was backed up, so Dad and Brian went inside while Mama and I waited in the car. Soon the fellas were back with our breakfast (bacon and egg biscuit for me!) and we were on our way to the airport.

The route to the airport is rural and the traffic quite sparse, so we just enjoyed looking at all the Christmas decorations along the way (my favorite being the folks that put lighted reindeer on their roof ). About 45 minutes later we were pulling up to the terminal and we unloaded curbside. Hugs and kisses to Brian for dropping us off, and soon he was on his way back home and we were on our way to DISNEY WORLD!

We breezed through curb side check in within about two minutes, and soon were going through security. Everything went very smoothly there, except that my dad, in his flustered state of having to take off his shoes, belt, and coat and empty his pockets and then reclaim all that stuff, left his boarding pass in one of the bins. Luckily an employee spotted it and I heard “GEORGE? GEORGE?” being called out while we were waiting for Dad to put his shoes back on. George is my dad’s first name, but NO ONE calls him that (he goes by his shortened middle name, Mike – yes, his full name is George Michael ), so it took us a minute to realize they were talking to him. Thanks, folks!

With all our personal belongings together, we made our way to the gate. We were still 45 minutes early, so we took turns taking potty breaks and then settled in. I pretended to read a magazine, but really I was people watching. I could tell exactly which families would be joining me at Disney. One in particular stuck out to me – a set of grandparents and three grand youngin’s. Man, those grandbabies were w.i.l.d. Running, hurdling chairs, knocking over suitcases. The grandparents really should have been awarded a medal of honor (or perhaps a prescription for Xanax). I had the pleasure of observing those kids all throughout our flight and I can say that their energy never flagged.

It wasn’t long before it was time to line up for our boarding groups. We were group A, positions 21, 22 and 23. Can I say how much I love the new boarding procedures? No more camping out in line! Unfortunately, some people were still reaaaally confused and I observed this one family switch positions in line at least five times. They never could figure out where they should be standing and this other family kept giving them incorrect information. I could see their “B” boarding group passes in their hands and I once feebly tried to say, “the B line is over there” but they didn’t hear me and I let it go. They actually ended up choosing a spot in line a few people in front of me, so I figured the boarding agent would let them know they were out of order.

As we waited for the pre-boarders to get situated, I noticed an airport security person doing random pat-downs on some of my fellow flight mates. The TSA guy was actually pret.ty darn cute, and I wouldn’t have minded if he had decided to give me the once over, but unfortunately, I noticed he was only choosing males, for the purpose of the comfort of female passengers, I suppose. Boo. Lawsuit, schmawsuit.

Soon Group A was boarding and I gave my TSA hottie one last woeful look before he disappeared out of sight and my parents and I boarded. I noticed the wayward “B” boarders in front of us were not chastised and simply walked on through with the A group. It didn’t really matter as we were the lucky ducks that staked out the emergency row and got all the extra leg room.

The boarding went along smoothly and we got our special exit row security briefing from our flight attendent. Of course, I have to make note of our…unusual…exit row co-habitants. I think it’s Chrissi is the one that says she’s flypaper for freaks – I would say I’m a magnet for them. I was in the aisle seat and in the aisle seat across and just behind me was an attractive blonde lady who refused to pay attention. She did not have her seat belt on, even after repeated announcements, and got the shame-shame finger from the flight attendent. She also was reading her magazine during the safety presentation and at the part where each person has to verbally agree to follow all exit row procedures, she didn’t look up or respond. The flight attendant has to say, “MA’AM?” three times before she finally raised her eyes, looked around with a surprised expression and said, “Oh! Yes?” Glad I’m sitting in my own exit row and not depending on her to attach my oxygen mask.

The other winners were this couple that was sitting just in front of the blonde lady. I would guess they were both in their fifties. They were so overly affectionate it was disgusting. Ew ew ew. I’m not a prude, but at one point in the flight, the lady took off her socks and shoes and put her feet in the guy’s lap (which was towards the aisle!) and he gave her a foot massage. Complete with her moaning and him saying disgusting things that I can’t even repeat here because they sounded so perverted. EW. It was quite the show. I can definitely say I was entertained, but not in a good way. :

I drowned my sorrows in my complimentary half-can of Diet Coke and eight peanuts and watched two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond on my DVD player before it was time to put away all electronics. I desperately would have liked to take a nap (my 4.5 hours of sleep the night before were catching up with me) but unless I’m exhausted, doing that in the aisle seat is impossible.

Disembarking the plane was uneventful and after a potty break for us ladies, we took the tram over to Terminal B and rode the escalator down, where we were greeted by our first Cast Member with a giant white Mickey hand. She directed us to the elevator we needed to take up to the DME check-in so away we went.

Up next: DME Check-In and Karma for Krista