A Gargantuan Gathering of Passporter Peoples . . . THREAD ONE - COMPLETE!!! About This Page:

[DopeyGirl]

Is this the first MouseFester trip report? Woo-HOO!!! Let the fun (and massive amounts of reading) begin!!!!

<u>Pre-Trip . . . Part 1 . . . “The Voice”</u>

<font color="firebrick">”HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!! Ho-ho-ho . . .”</font>

<font color="darkblue">It’s that time again!!! Time for an <u>all new</u> DopeyGirl trip report!!!

Well, as some of you may have heard . . . We’re going back to our Happiest Place on Earth!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

This will be my 4th . . . yes, 4th . . . trip to a Disney property this year!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blushing.gif[/img] We went to WDW in January and March . . . and Disneyland in June! But, in my honest opinion, there is no such thing as too many Disney trips!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Really, I feel so <u>absolutely</u> blessed to have been able to spend so much “Disney time” this year!

So, how did this trip come about, you might ask? Well, lemme tell ya!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Last</font> <font color="darkorange">Halloween</font> <font color="darkblue">weekend, Mike went to Atlanta with a buddy from work for a NASCAR race. It was a guys only thing, so, I made a deal with him. “You went to a race, so how about I go to WDW?” He begrudgingly agreed and my January 2005 “Mommy/Daughter” trip was born. After Emilie and I returned, I had mentioned that I really enjoyed our time and that I wouldn’t mind doing it again. Mike said he didn’t think it was “fair” that we wanted to go on trips without him (but yet, it was perfectly fine for him to go on a weekend jaunt to Atlanta for a race without us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]) , but he said that if we wanted to do another trip like that sometime, he’d “deal with it”. So we didn’t talk about that anymore, we went on our March 2005 WDW trip with his parents, came home and I went into severe withdrawals!!!

I started noticing on the boards that there were quite a few of us that had trips planned during the last couple of days of November and into the first week of December. How could I NOT sign on for that time?! So, I set my dates at November 30-Dec. 5th and commenced to planning away, unbeknownst to Mike! Meanwhile, the Navy sent Mike to Chicago to teach for three months . . . and my parents surprised Emilie and I with plane tickets to the city of my birth, San Diego (with a side trip to Disneyland) in June/July . . . so I have been privileged enough to see TWO Disney resorts during the</font> <font color="blue">Happiest Celebration/Homecoming on Earth</font>!!!

<font color="darkblue">Mike had been talking with a bunch of guys from work for a few months about renting an RV and camping in the infield at the Talladega Superspeedway for the weekend of the</font> <font color="firebrick">UAW-Ford 500</font> <font color="darkblue">NASCAR race in October. It looked to me like history was going to repeat itself when I asked him, one day in May, with a similar deal as we had made for January’s trip. He called me one day and I asked him "Are you definitely going to Talladega in October?" He said "As far as I know. We haven’t really talked anymore about it though." So I brought out the deal . . . "How about if you go to Talladega with the boys, I go to WDW with the girls?" . . . and he said . . .

"I think that's an OK idea!"

WHAAAAAAAAAT?!

He agreed, again, to let Emilie and I head down for MouseFest time!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] SO I got right online and made reservations for All Star Movies for November 30-December 5. A couple of weeks later, I decided that it just wasn’t long enough (as usual), so I added a night to my reservation . . . we’d now be leaving December 6th! And I started working on my pre-trip at that point!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] I had already decided that I was going to do my best to give each installment title a "Seinfeld" touch . . . didja notice that yet? Stay tuned . . . [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Well . . . the trip to Talladega never got planned and therefore the idea was scrapped . . . and Mike said he got to thinking about it and . . . he’d “really like to go” . . .

Wha-wha-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Yeah, he said he would really like to go with us . . . SOOOOOOO . . . we called and added him to our room reservation and to a couple of our ADR’s and that was that!!!

OR WAS IT?!</font>


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST . . .

[DopeyGirl]

. . . CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST . . .


<font color="darkblue">No . . . it most certainly was NOT!!! We got to talking about how we’d be pretty much missing out on a whole day of vacation by getting up and driving all day on Nov. 30th. We’d leave here around 6:30am (Mike doesn’t think we’d need to leave any earlier than that) and get checked in and “settled” probably no earlier than 4:30pm . . . then we’d have to make it to MGM for our 5:10pm ADR at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and the (then) 7pm</font> <font color="firebrick">Osborne Lights</font> <font color="darkblue">Meet . . . if we did that, we’d be REALLY pushing it to get there on time. I just don’t want to feel that pressure . . . especially not on the first day of vacation!!! SO, we made a reservation at an off-site hotel (Days Inn Maingate East) and decided we’re going to head out the night before (Nov. 29th) instead! Mike’s working hours are 5:30am – 1:00pm and he usually gets home no later than 1:30-2pm. We figured if he got home and we took off by 2:00-2:30pm, we should arrive in the area by 9:30-10:00pm. Then we can have a relaxing evening (and maybe we’ll actually sleep the night before all the Disney fun begins [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Yeah, right.) and get up and check in (early) to Pop . . . then we can spend the rest of the day at MGM on our own time instead of rushing to get there “on time”!!!

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” . . . yeah, I had a "Joe Schmo Show" moment!!! That’s about all I could think at that point!!! I mean, I have come to expect Mike to do a last minute “OK, I’ll go” thing . . . he does that almost every time I say I am going to the store! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] But when he OK’s leaving the night before so we don’t lose a day of Disney fun . . . am I in the Twilight Zone or something? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

So . . . now everything’s set, right? We've got our renewed APs, new DDE cards, MVMCP tickets in hand, the hours are out, ADR’s all made, I have had a bunch of t-shirts made just for the trip . . . I even made a “secret” ADR just for Mike!!! He’s been REALLY wanting to eat at 50’s Prime Time Café . . . so I made a lunch ADR there for Nov. 30th!!! I’ve even finished Emilie’s autograph books and the Mousekeeping envelopes early. There is nothing left to do but buy up every</font> <font color="purple">Dopey</font> <font color="darkblue">pin I don’t have from eBay . . . I am getting real good at that too, unfortunately!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

We had a little scare at the end of October . . . Mike called me from work one day telling me that his car had died!!! We thought, initially, that it might be a blown head gasket, as all the symptoms of it were there! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] We started to go into panic mode because if it really WAS a blown head gasket, we’d be looking at a repair bill of around $1000!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] That would eat up about ¾ of the vacation fund and our trip would have to be scrapped! NOT HAPPENING, PEOPLE!!! We have a friend who is a master mechanic, so he volunteered to take a look at the car . . . also another friend, who is an aircraft electrician (same thing Mike does) and knows her way around cars, wanted to look at it too. So between 2 electricians, a master mechanic and an former aircraft engine mechanic/”OK” car mechanic (that’s me! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]), we found the problem!!! Come to find out, it was just a small fix!!! We checked with 2 auto parts stores for the part we needed . . . one quoted us $80 for the part, another quoted us $40 . . . so we called the “U-Pull-It” junkyard and they said the part would be $9!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] So, the guys went and found a car identical to Mike’s, pulled the part from it, paid all of 9 bucks for it and put it into Mike’s car!!! Problem solved . . . and all for the low, low price of $9.00!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] My sanity was then restored!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

Mike’s uncle called us the week before Halloween to let us know he had 2 (excellent) tickets in the Earnhardt section at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 again this year! I got all excited because I essentially got screwed out of going last year . . . but this year was no different! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Mike’s aunt said she could not commit to babysitting Emilie, so therefore, I could not go, since we know no one else in Marietta, GA!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Mike ended up going with the same guy he went with last year . . . which was the “master mechanic” who fixed his car for us, so I guess he kind of deserved to go! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I was still bummed that I didn’t get to go . . . [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Sometime in October, we found out that MGM would be closing at 7pm instead of 8pm on November 30th (the night of the scheduled 7pm Osborne Lights meet [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]) so we had to move the meet up to 6pm . . . and therefore I had to rearrange my ADR’s for that day! Pretty easy to do . . . I cancelled my dinner ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and changed my lunch ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café to an early dinner there . . . so we can stuff ourselves silly, I can watch Mike’s nose get put against the wall (I can see it coming already . . . I bet he does something dumb on purpose to get scolded! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] ) then make the meet at the B.A.H. on time!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Now . . . I just need Disney to NOT change anything between now and my trip, and we’ll be all set!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Is it November 29th yet?</font>

COMING UP NEXT: Pre-Trip . . . Part 2 . . . “The Soup Nazi” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[mestitch]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] Oh this is gonna be good!! I'm glad that everything has worked in your favor so far!! I can't wait to hear what the Soup Nazi is all about! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

[2princessmom]

Yea a Sarah report! I can't wait to live thru all of you going for Mousefest this year! I am hoping that Mousefest will be while we are there next year!

Have a wonderful time!!!!!

[DawnDenise]

Woooohoooo!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] The trip reports have begun!!!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Guess that means I need to get to moving on mine. Yikes!!

Anyway...great start Sarah!! Love the "Seinfeld" references!! I can't believe it is so close!!

[DrDolphin]

Wowsers -- if you have started your Pre-trip report, I better finish the cruise report and get moving on my Pre-Trip report!!! Looks like a great start Sarah!!

[BabieeMelly]

10 more days... I can't believe it's almost here! I'm loving the pre-trip report, keep it coming! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Tara O'Hara]

Sarah!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] You are so organized!! What an awesome time you are going to have!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

[MAria R]

I can't wait to read all about your trip, I am sure it will be a blast.

[simbarel]

[ QUOTE ]
So, I set my dates at November 30-Dec. 5th and commenced to planning away, unbeknownst to Mike!

[/ QUOTE ]

Attagirl! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] That's how all ours start, too. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] That's so cool that you got the car repair bill reduced by 9,000,000%! Thanks so much for starting, I have a week left of unemployment and have been dying to start some of these! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zread.gif[/img]

[Jennifer2003]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] Another Sarah report!!!!!

Can't wait for more!

Jennifer

[Happymommy]

You're going to have the best time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lauren-roxy]

Great pre trip report Sarah!!! I have been waiting for this!! Now I can officially be jealous that I won't be there, but I am thankful that you will be giving live updates, so it will almost be like I'm there, or at least that is what I am telling myself!! Can't wait to hear about the Soup Nazi!!!!

[mac]

YAY! The first of many Mousefest reports!! It's getting close. Those of us who can't go will at least get to read all about it! I'm glad everything has worked to your advantage Sarah! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[MickeyMAC]

Great beginning Sarah....your reports going to be awesome!