"That’s one really expensive bottle of cologne" Trip report - "Heading to Epcot long enough for me to find a new love and Peter Pan gets stuck babysitting"-**Updated 7/15** About This Page:

[Nala]

Much to my surprise and delight, it is time for another “Nala and Pride” trip report.

While I usually do a rather lengthy and boring pre trip report full of all the details of planning our adventures, , this one will be quite the opposite. Keep reading and you will understand why. As far as the strange title of this TR goes, keep reading and you will be enlightened about that also.

First of all, allow me to do a quick introduction, for those of you who do not know us.

Nala - that would be me, making what will be my 38th trip to WDW (I think, I'm starting to not be able to keep track) I adore all things Disney, I think about all things Disney 24/7, blah, blah, blah, you all know the drill. I really can’t believe this trip came about as we didn’t plan to return to the world until the fall. But more on that later.

Grumpy - my DH, and one of the most successful Disney loving converts known to man. While Grumpy balked at the idea of taking our first trip so many years ago, he has it just as bad as I do now. In fact, I think he is worse. But more on that later. This will be his 12th trip.

Kiara - our beloved 10 year old DD, who is a full blown princess and as she creeps up on the teen years, is getting real close to a diva. Mentally, Kiara is about four or five years old, so we know, no matter how many times we take her to WDW, she is never going to get “too old” for it. She is also a water loving child and we spend almost as much time in the pool as we do in the parks. This will be her 11th trip. And she knows nothing about it. But more on the reason for that later.


It all started with a little bottle of cologne:

This past fall when we were at the world, Grumpy finally got a bottle of “Roots” cologne from Canada in the WSC. He had been wanting to get one for many trips, but we always seemed to forget to pick it up in the past. He used said cologne everyday after our return and really loved the stuff. About six weeks ago, he ran out. And that is when the business of us needing to take another trip to WDW to get him another bottle started. Every week he would bring it up once or twice and even joked about hopping on a plane the first flight out, going to Epcot, picking up a bottle of “Roots”, having fish and chips in the UK and a few imported beers, and catching the last flight home. My response to his nonsense was “That would be one really expensive bottle of cologne”.

Clearly, Grumpy needed a WDW fix. Little did I know that my husband, who seems to have great powers of manipulation that I was previously unaware of, was baiting a trap that he knew I would fall into. I was able to fend off his suggestions of taking a trip to Disney by saying that IF we wanted to take our 10 day trip in the fall, we couldn’t go before that. But Grumpy knew the daily grind was going to take its toll on me and as the days went on, I would weaken. I too, would need a fix. And he firmly believed the right opportunity would present itself.

A funny thing happened after a bad day at work:

While I don’t want to spend much time talking about my job (which I hate) in a TR about my happy place, the things that have been happening over the last few months have caused me to wonder if we would even get to take our fall trip. I still have everything booked in case it all works out, and I am keeping my fingers crossed, but I really felt as if a dark cloud was hanging over it. And that thought process played a key role in how this trip came about. That and the seed that Grumpy had planted.

So after coming home last night, feeling numb from the devastating news that my boss had resigned, (this is REALLY bad for me) Grumpy moved in for the kill. I was weak, my defenses were down and I kept hearing his voice in my head saying over and over “You need a fix”. Along with that, was the idea that it could be now or never (or at least not this year) What if something happened and we couldn’t take the trip in the fall? That would be a crushing blow to the three of us. As Grumpy kissed me goodnight and headed up to bed, he asked one more time if we could take a short trip to WDW. He was only steps away from me when I decided to poke around for airfare, just for giggles and cheap entertainment. And what I saw caused my jaw to drop, the wheels to turn and my mind to race.

Never say never:

I really don’t know why I even looked at the website I did. I despise this airline and swore I would NEVER, EVER use them again. NEVER! In fact, I think I have been known to say that they couldn’t pay me to fly them again. This would be the “dreaded airline know as Allegiant” as I call them. While their in flight service is great and the planes are new, their customer service/scheduling before you get in the air is very lacking. After one trip of being notified of a “time” change in our flight (24 hours is not a “time” change, it is a day change and was a deal breaker for us and cost us a bit of money to switch to AirTran at the last minute) and one trip where our booked flight was grounded six weeks before and moved to a city 130 miles away, and we were NEVER notified of the change, I swore them off. They just weren’t dependable. But the price I was seeing made me eat my harsh words.

There it was, a direct flight from Peoria to Sanford for $59.00. But, what was better, was the return flight. NINETEEN dollars. I literally rubbed my eyes thinking I had misread this number. But it was correct. I knew I had to act fast.

Since Grumpy is the kind of person who fall asleep in minutes, and the fact that his wife jumping on him yelling and screaming shortly after he had fallen asleep would not produce desirable results, I hoped my window of opportunity was still open. I busted into our bedroom, screamed the prices I had found and with little interest, Grumpy asked one question. “When?” I told him the dates the fares were available and his response was “I have to work that weekend”.

So, that was that. Or so I thought. Not only did he have to work, but he showed little interest in my proposed trip. I walked out of the bedroom, down the steps and sat back down at my computer. Again, just for giggles, I pulled up the WDW website to see what rooms were available. And just as I started my search, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Now I had baited the trap and it was Grumpy who was walking into it. Oh, how the tables had turned.

A few seconds later, he appeared behind me and said “What resorts are available and how much?” My response was “I’m checking it out right now”.

So, that is how this little trip all began.

Up next: working out all the details, and waiting for the go ahead!

Oh, what’s that you say? You want to know when this trip is taking place? Oh yeah, that would be Friday. As in this coming Friday! As in this freaking Friday!!!!!!!!!

I have so much to do between now and the next six days, but you know what? I don’t care because:

I’M GOING BACK TO DISNEY WORLD! I’M GOING TO GET MY FIX OF MAGIC!

[B.M.]

What a great , exciting start! I can't believe your going back in 6 days. All these surprise trips- Sharon, Melissa, and now you-- I want to jump on that band wagon! I hope yall have as magical a trip as last time! I can't wait to hear all about it! (6 days- you better get crackin'!)

[B.M.]

PS: I LOVE the title of your TR!

[WHMom]

Oh, Nala! I am so excited for you! It seems like this is just what you need! Now I can't wait to hear where you're staying!

[kmurburg]

Yay for you!! What great airfare! And we will all get a little fix of the magic too since you'll have another awesome TR for us! Have a magical trip! Can't wait to hear about it!

[MickeyMAC]

Great start, I to love your title. Can't wait to hear more. How exciting!!!!!

[travismom]

I"m so excited for you and your Pride!! Can't wait to hear all the details.

[bsblady01]

I hope you have a magical time at the world

[disneydani]

Even though I knew all the details of this Freaky Friday trip, I still enjoyed reading all the details and hearing about it again. (In my head, I hear you squealing with delight, too!)
I am so very excited you will have a little respite in the midst of all the garbage going on at work.

danielle

[chezp]

Oh my goodness, that is one fast approaching trip - how great that you're going so soon. I can't believe you were able to get flights so cheap - a sure sign you just had to go!

[Dawn in Scotland]

I sometimes day dream about taking off to WDW at a moments notice - I'll be interested to see how you get on with your plans. It will be great anyway.

[bonphil]

How wonderful for you and your pride!! Looking forward to more details!

[greentie]

I think I need to move closer so that we can just nip down to WDW at short notice...
I'm also planning on getting DBF to try some Roots cologne in the shop this summer in the hopes that it will have a similar effect on him!
In the meantime I guess I'll just have to make do with another trip report from you - if it's anywhere near as good as the last few I'm in for a treat!

[Jillybean]

Yeah!!! I am SO excited for you and your pride!

Jill

[lauren-roxy]

I am so excited for you and your Pride Nala!!! Sounds like you definitely need this trip!!!!!