Friday, July 2, 2010

Overdue and Overpacked IV: Forty Reasons to Celebrate

by: LaLa


Nine days.

Two hundred sixteen hours.

Twelve thousand, nine hundred and sixty minutes.

That’s the approximate amount of time we spent soaking up the Yellow on our latest family vacation to the House that Walt Built. And six days after our return, as I sit here in the dark and think back on it, it seemed to last just a tiny fraction of that amount.

But then again, I knew it would. It always does.

Since we booked this year’s trip, a fantastically funky fortieth birthday celebration for my husband roughly six months in advance, we had a lot of time to anticipate the things we might do. The things we looked forward to doing the most. Based on numerous family discussions around the dinner table, forty of them were previously listed here. I’m happy to report that we were able to fit in most of them. As well as a few more that weren’t on the list.

But most importantly, more important than anything that could ever be placed on any list, we felt blessed to be together. To be healthy and happy. To have God’s hand at work in our lives. We forgot about the pressures of work and the reminders that our children are growing up so fast they’ll soon be applying for social security. And getting false teeth. We kicked stress to the curb (for the most part anyway) and once again pulled out our family‘s favorite measuring stick as we watched our children grow another year older and wiser, and face fears head on, with Disney as the backdrop. We forgot about the oil spill and the threat of hurricanes. We breathed in deeply and, for a change, smelled nothing but memories. Funnel cakes and fun times. And…. chili. In places we weren’t expecting. Which was weird. More on that later. We engaged in shameless PDA, quoted offbeat movies WAY too much, danced when we should’ve walked, and laughed ourselves lightheaded. We lost track of the days, as we always do while we’re there, and allowed time to stand still.

Sorta.

For nine pretty dadgum awesome, if not hot and crowded as all get out days.

For two hundred sixteen hours.

For twelve thousand, nine hundred and sixty minutes.

Give or take.

All of which passed entirely too fast for my liking. Despite the time standing still thing. Or, perhaps because of it. Which is why even though I didn’t plan on writing any more trip reports, I currently plan on taking the next nine months (270 days, 6,480 hours, 388,800 minutes) reliving every last fleeting minute. Of our vacation. Here. Down to the very last, very sad drive underneath the arches. Going the wrong way. As our daughter cried and my husband declared emphatically (once again) that we would be visiting somewhere else next year.

Like Dollywood.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

But to get to the end, we have to start at the beginning And this particular jaunt to the House of Mouse for our family began like most others we’ve taken over the last eight years. If I’ve learned nothing else about our family, it’s that we are creatures of habit. And every trip (even the times when we have surprised the kids) officially begins with the tearing off of the last link on the Countdown Chain. We get downright freaky and anticipation builds to a fever high pitch as the links get shorter and shorter.

And then it is time…


Time to pack the van (or, let DH pack the van) and time to get our freak on. Because we’re going to Did-neh Whirl, baby!

And on this particular day as the last link was ripped from its hold, staples and all, the kids danced around and we all did the Cupid Shuffle. One of us ( I won’t name names) took the funkified instructions a little too far. While slipping on an ice cube. To the right. To the right. To the right. Waaaayyyyy over to the right. And fell. Hard. This was no cute, semi graceful little girly fall. I used to be able to pull those off. A year ago. When I was eighteen. In my mind.

No, this was an old lady, blank confused stare for ten seconds afterwards, think I broke my arm but at least my new phone’s okay kinda fall. You know it’s bad when you open your eyes, feel nothing but pain and find your children’s faces hovering over you. Practically dripping spit into your eyeballs. Unintentionally. As they look down with mad concern in their eyes and question, “Dear sweet mother? Did you break your head?“

And their dear sweet mother, who previously thought she could Cupid Shuffle with the best of them, feels not so much eighteen. But more like 40.

Hi Mr. LaLa!

In other words: vacation had OFFICIALLY begun!

Because like the Countdown Chain, THIS is what announces the beginning of a Disney vacation to our family. Severe bodily injury. Which, at times, has been interchangeable with the following: waterline breakage, unexpected surgeries, overflowing washing machines, threatened electrocution, flooded houses (which tend to complete the circle by leading back to the severe bodily injury thing), and other assorted unexpected happenings. None of them good. It seems like every year, something happens on Disney Eve. Something unexpected. Something that’s not so much fun. And so as this nameless person lay there in the floor, wondering if this is how drunks feel (Hi Mel!), she was sure of two things: 1-choosing to protect cell phones over appendages is never a good call (no matter how cool and useful that metal detector app is), and 2- the trip had officially begun.

Literally. And figuratively.

Awww yeah.

I’m happy to report that I did not break anything that day. As previously feared. Thank the Lord above. My left side was only numb for three days (72 hours, 4,320 minutes), the hallucinations were actually fun (fireflies are so much easier to catch when they’re not real) and I was successful in finally drowning out the humming noises in my ears on the drive down with the help of some old friends.

When the man declared that we would be leaving at three in the morning in order to make it to Disney by lunchtime (because he’s a freak and it’s still all about the time…and I LOVE him for that), I was definitely down widdit. He stocked the CD player again with his extensive collection of old school mix tapes and over the long, long, longlonglong drive, we enjoyed spending some time with Willie McCoy. And Leroy Brown. Who was bad. Bad, even. Although he was much Better Than Ezra.

And after covering a WHOLE lot of miles and memories, watching the sunrise and immediately giving thanks to God for all his blessings, measuring several orange colored roads with my knuckles, kickin’ butt and takin' names in the Spot the Disney Sign Game ( I took first place this time with 168,000 points….gotta LOVE the point value for those Summer Nightastic billboards!), and swapping the 80s music for some Disney Toons, we seat danced when we looked off into the distance and saw the first (and coolest) sign that told us were finally there.


We had looked forward to a lot of things on this particular trip. The obvious things. Space Mountain. Expedition Everest. Illuminations. Funnel cakes. Time spent with family. Not necessarily in that order. But as we watched the road signs turn from green to purple (hat tip GB), found our lodging place for the night and walked into Pop Century that very first day, we were hit in the face with the one thing we love the most about arriving in Disney. Literally.

That unmistakable Disney resort smell.

If you fly your freak flag as high as we do, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t, you should get out now while you still can. It’s kind of a mixture of cold air and the smell of different varieties of food hitting you in the face. I think, anyway. At least, that’s what it always smells like to me.

And as SOON as those front doors of the Pop slid open and we shimmied on in, my husband and I immediately turned to look at each other. And smiled huge. He swiftly and openly declared his love. For the Disney smell. We were of one mind and one accord and that familiar scent got us going. It let us know that vacation had begun. All nine days of it. Which, in that place in time, seemed like it would last forever and a day.

We breathed a little deeper than necessary and listened to the kids’ high pitched squeals behind us as we sashayed over to the resort check in desk and did our thang.



Before we left, I had requested a refurbished room and notated on our reservation that we were celebrating my husband’s 40th birthday. The CM behind the desk was extremely nice and helpful and gave us the hookup with the room, handed DH a birthday pin (which he wore proudly for the next few days, if only to serve as a trap for unsuspecting CMs) and also gave the rest of us a stack of pins that read “I’m Celebrating”.

Apparently just being in the presence of my husband is reason enough to celebrate. He concurs with that assessment. Shocker. Even if you’re not celebrating the greatness of my DH, if there’s any way you can get your hands on some of these on your next trip, do it. We had fun giving unexpected answers to CMs all week as they foolishly asked us what we were celebrating.

I would NOT advise answering “A really nice Pooh” though.

Or would I?

We were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was ready so we hightailed it outta there (stopping long enough to see how many items we could identify in the 70s and 80s display boxes cause we’re cool like that) and then checked out the joint.


We’d stayed at Pop last year for one night and didn’t really fall in love with the place. The room was not up to par as far as cleanliness goes and to me, that alone can make or break a hotel stay. Among other things, we found a Hidden Mickey. In the shower. Perfectly formed by a singular small, black hair. That little sweetheart was there when we checked in.

In other words, not ours.

There was also a hole in the wall. Literally. I was a little hesitant to book here again but we were VERY pleased with the accomodations on this go ‘round. Everything seemed brand new and was extremely clean. They were bringin' the flat screen. Better to see Stacy with, my dear. Plus the 'hard carpet' was deemed THE BEST EVER to rub your bare feet on.

As per the boy.

After bringing in the overpacked overnight bag (did you expect anything less?) and getting sitchated, we grabbed our passes, threw the park bag over the old shoulder and hit the door. Ready to soak up some magic. Which is just what we did.

If “magic” is codeword for “rain”.

We experienced a whole heckuvalot of “magic” on this trip. Starting right about 3:00 every day. "Magic" was literally everywhere. So we donned our dollar store ponchos and stopped long enough to grab some grub at Everything Pop.


There’s something about that very first meal in Disney that just rocks. And the food court at Pop is pretty dang cool. Lots of variety. It's like Cosmic Ray's on steroids. Nice place to have the first meal of the trip. Plus they have Coke Zero. Which I gladly filled to the rim of my new refillable mug.

We had fun discussing our game plan for the day and once we’d finished and were able to tear the kids away from Phineus and Ferb (which was playing on the TV overhead), we hauled butt out front and caught our first cooler than cool Disney bus ride of the trip.

Another ‘first’ that we always look forward to.

There are so many things about the first day of a Disney trip that evoke happy memories and just all around good feelings for us. Because of the whole creatures of habit thing, probably. We’ve been bringing our family to Disney for vacation for many, many years. And before that, it was the place my husband and I spent our honeymoon. So as we arrived at our destination and passed underneath this sign…


…we were instantly transported back to yesterday. As we walked down Main Street, our cooler than cool twelve year old son and ‘growing up entirely way too fast’ nine year old daughter were two and five again. Unabashedly thankful and thrilled to be in their own personal happy place. The one they’ve grown to know like the backs of their hands over the years. Beside them a not quite forty year old man and his wife remembered the first time they walked down that street together. And felt like a couple of kids again.

Extremely immature adults, anyway. Which isn’t too far off the mark in normal circumstances.

And for nine days, two hundred sixteen hours, twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty minutes, we enjoyed the heck out of being in the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Where time seems to stand still.

Especially while waiting in line for Space Mountain.

With a gaggle of Brazilian tour groups present.

Oh Yeah.

Story at ten.

42 comments:

  1. Dangit! Tried to read it real fast while I SHOULD be getting ready to head to MK, but I need more time to soak this in.

    CAN'T WAIT to read this one, my friend.

    Bring on the Yellow.

    Much love to ya -

    NM

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  2. Great start! I'm so glad you're writing another report; I love reading about the fun you and your family have there! --praisehisname

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  3. LaLa said "I would NOT advise answering “A really nice Pooh” though."

    LOL..DED

    Oh and I hear you about the Disney Eve disaster things. At least your Disney Eve disasters have not included being shot at!

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  4. First of all, your math is wrong (hi Frickles), secondly, if I trip over one more comma splice in your writing I may quite literally die and finally, what in the name of God Bless America, Disney now has Coke Zero is a "cupid shuffle?"

    Didneh Whirl? Sounds racist to me. So does loving the Disney smell, that's also racist. You mentioned the oil spill which just PROVES you're a racist. Because clearly, you're criticizing the Dear Leader. Which makes you per se racist.

    I may have to put you on global ignore. Whatever the heck that is.

    I wish we could put people on ignore here. That was fun. I also want to put people on ignore in real life.

    Has anyone broken it to Sher that her prince, Algore is a little grabby?

    The picture of DW from the distance is amazing. Growing up, we always came from the south to WDW and even in college, driving past Orlando on the highway, you could never see a darn Disney thing. Now, it looks like with some of the new roads you can.

    Your son is 12?! Good night nurse! That makes you almost as old as Ashclan!!!!!

    Looking forward to more of this, La2.

    Evidently I'm a masochist.

    Z

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  5. Who celebrates a really nice pooh? A cleasnsing No. 4, sure, but a nice pooh? Amateurs!

    Steph: SHOT AT?! Holy cow! You must live near Grammy.

    Z

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  6. Not to highjack...

    But, yes ZZUB. Crashdad got shot at on our last Disney Eve. He made a late night run to Wallyworld for last minute stuff, and was shot at on the way home. We think it was stupid kids firing randomly at both moving and parked cars. We got really lucky, as he got off with just some minor cuts from the shattered glass.

    /end highjack

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  7. No such thing as a highjack here, Steph! We love some off topic ramblings. Which assumes there IS a topic at all.

    Wow! Shot at! Unbelievable. Twice even! I'm speechless. I am without speech.

    Z

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  8. OK, La. I'm back and I read every single word and loved it! I am SO IN for this tale.

    I'm getting really really sad that our trip is almost over. You hit the nail on the head - it goes by so fast no matter how long you're here.

    But it makes me happy to know that we'll be reliving our memories here for MONTHS to come! (Heh heh - at the rate I chat, it'll take me months to get through the first day.)

    Love all of your pics. I do believe you have stepped it up on the photo taking category. I was just browsing the photos I've taken on this trip, and they aren't that good. Unless I want to post the faces of my whole family on this blog. Which I don't. So I'm probably gonna be borrowing from the Disney stash I have in iPhoto. Cause I really dropped the ball this time.

    Anywho. Great pics, great first installment, great things to come. I'm on board for it all.

    NM

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  9. ZZUB, I'm DED that you checked my math. You're such a nerd. The Cupid Shuffle is what Frick does when she gets her some school bread. Speaking of which, are we going to have to start tutoring you here? You're like the spaceship captain in Wall-E with the questions.

    Thanks for the sweet comments, everyone. Love reading them.

    Glad you're in, praisehisname! Good seeing you around again.

    Steph, you're right: at least we've never been shot at on Disney eve...good GRIEF that's awful! Glad you're able to look back on it with humor now.

    NM, I don't buy the 'no good pictures' line for a minute! I have no doubt you'll be brangin' it, sista. Can I just say how JEALOUS I am that you're in Disney for the Fourth? While I'm spending it here at deer camp? Where the bugs are as big as birds and the spiders have their own zip codes. At least I have a date with a Nicholas Sparks book and a comfy deck chair. So there's that. Have fun for me! And take lots of pics.

    Z, the sight of Disney off in the distance is even more amazing in person. After a long road trip and much anticipation. And you're right, the new-ish road made it all possible. Hasn't always been that way. Not by any route we ever knew about before, anyway.

    I hate typing on my phone, BTW. It's taken me nine days, 216 hours, yada yada yada to type this. And aside from not being able to properly log in, my phone keeps anticipating my keystrokes and kept trying to say that I was glad to see praisehisname aroused. Instead of around.

    Good thing I caught that one. Smartphone, my butt!

    Yall have a happy and safe Fourth!

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  10. Yikes! Glad you caught that one, too! roflmbo I mean, I like reading your reports and all, but still...

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  11. You do realize that I didn't actually check your math, right? I was jesting. For fun.

    Z

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  12. LaLa!!! You had me rolling sister! I wish I could sit here and quote and quote and quote... but it isn't as visually striking here as it is on the dis. So, I will give you my top forty favorites.
    1. The beginning
    2. The fall "No, this was an old lady, blank confused stare for ten seconds afterwards, think I broke my arm but at least my new phone’s okay kinda fall." DED!!!
    3. The calendar with Didneh Whirl... ded. And concerned.
    6. That picture of a way in to Disney that I didn't know about. cool
    19. "we found a Hidden Mickey. In the shower. Perfectly formed by a singular small, black hair. That little sweetheart was there when we checked in." Enough said. If I had known all of this before I left, I would have switched resorts!
    27.The Pop photos. Good memories. You know I had NO IDEA what century I was staying in until the day before we left. All I knew was to look for the huge Mickey phone and I was home. I finally saw a poster in our room that said 70's. wicked.
    31. The Pop foodcourt. I just ate 4 mini mickey waffles in my mind.
    32. The picture of the quote. Why have I never seen that before!? I like it.
    38.the Brazillians. Thank goodness we missed them. We traveled with the Puerto Ricans. They don't wear the same shirts or carry flags.


    Can't wait to hear more! I was so dang giddy to see you had started! Much to look forward to with you and NM coming here to bring the funny and the Disney!

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  13. La! I am so happy you have decided to bless us with another report for the next 9 or 12 months! Nothin' like a LaLa trip report to keep us all giggling like schoolgirls! Or blathering like a middle aged woman who chose to protect her cell phone over her appendages. DED, btw. I am too dang heat-exhausted from partying all day (Happy 4th!) to be witty, but wanted you to know that I read, I laughed, and I am soooo happy to be reading me some new LaLa stories! Keep it comin' girl!!

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  14. Too funny!

    I'm way tie red too and just wanted to let La know I'm here and enjoying every minute.

    OMG, Steph I forgot about that little pre-trip gem!

    La, one question. Are the turbo toilets refurb'd too? I hope so. Given there was talk of really nice Pooh.

    Borg with Frick on #6 and #32.

    Happy 4th my American friends!

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  15. Frick wrote, "You know I had NO IDEA what century I was staying in until the day before we left. All I knew was to look for the huge Mickey phone and I was home. I finally saw a poster in our room that said 70's."

    I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that you don't know what century you're in, however, I think the word you were looking for was, "decade." Although disco was a bad idea, and it seemed like the kids from Fame would live forever, as it turns out, the 70s only lasted 10 years.

    Z

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  16. ZZUB wrote, "I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that you don't know what century you're in, however, I think the word you were looking for was, "decade."

    See, this is what I've missed! LOL

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  17. Good catch, Z. I am DED. Bless her.

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  18. If I may quote Hannah Montannah, "Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days."

    oops!

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  19. Lala that was totally awesome! I love that sign! It actually brought me to a bit-o-teary-eyedness this evening...so thank you for that.



    I read Frick's post and it made sense to me.

    Oh well! It is not like I care about being known for my IQ.

    Or hairy arms.

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  20. I'm laughing so hard at the above comments and the wonderful start to your trip report that I snorted out loud--at work! (noMel!)

    La2 I'm loving your TR so far. But I must admit, I would be much happier to have a pre-trip incident versus dear hubby who most trips seems to pick up an intestinal bug in the middle of the trip. Thus ensuring that we will miss a few meals and time in the parks. This is what happened when we there in April celebrating my 50th birthday. Puts a bit of a damper on things you know.

    Keep up the good work! I'll be looking forward to reading your report for many months to come. LOL!

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  21. LALA I forgot to say:

    DIDNEHWHIRL~~~ I LOVE IT!!! HOW ADORABLE!!!! (not sure I misspelled that correctly but it is so freggin cute!!!)

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  22. Hello, from a totally random DIS transplant who stumbled upon this blog after a series of (fortunate?) events. I just had to comment on this and say I'm thoroughly enjoying your report already!

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  23. Looks like Mama is back in bidness!!!

    I was locked out of the website for awhile. Seems ZZUB finally figured out a way to ACTUALLY put me on Global Ignore. Who knew?! Apparently you have to give him third party cookies if you wanna play. Which figures. That's better than third party green beans though, I suppose.

    Nobody wants those.

    I had a big response typed up the other night and then lost it. Which ticked me off. But really quickly, let me say...

    ChateauKaufman, WELCOME! Glad you found us over here and I'm really glad you're enjoying the TR so far. You'll stumble upon a lot of other DISers here as well. The format's a little different here and the Webmaster is a real taskmaster. Prone to locking his invited authors out at a moment's notice. Over too many comma splices and fuzzy math. Apparently. But if you can get beyond that, he's pretty funny. And we all can appreciate us some Disney.

    Speaking of which, I am DED over Frick's century comment. Girl, I knew what you meant the WHOLE TIME. I'm feelin' ya Frick. But that was pretty funny. Hey, Miss Ham Expert: you think smoking a ham for roughly 25 hours will dry it out?

    No reason.

    LOVE seeing my Maelstrom peeps here. Thanks for reading and responding, yall. I always love seeing yall show up and I've got mad love for ya, Ash, Yakkity Yak and PMM. And YES, you misspelled it correctly, PMM. Did'neh Whirl is one of those things that has to be shouted, not just said. Because it's that freakin' cool.

    Glad you're enjoying the TR, scrap4u. Sorry to hear about your husband and his intestinal issues. That stinks. And that's something the LaLas know NOTHING about.

    Who am I kidding? Vomit is our middle name.

    One of the things I wrote in my response that was deleted the other night was the fact that my husband saw fit to pass along the details on the 'new way in' to Disneyworld. As per DH, that's 429, Frick. Which comes off the turnpike. He killed me DED when he added, "Tell her that shot was taken around Mile Marker 15. Western Way is around Mile Marker 8, so that was around 15."

    Why did we even buy a GPS? The man's a human GPS.

    And that quote at MK is something I stumbled upon several years back and now I look for it every single time I walk underneath that train station. And immediately find myself in the land of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy as I cross over the other side. LOVE seeing it there. So very fitting for that park.

    Allright, I'm headed out. Got some ham jerkey to check on.

    Frick, you wanna contribute some ham juice to the meal? Something tells me we might need it.

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  24. La, we LOVE the Daniel Webster Bltwy (according to my GPS) entrance to WDW! There is nothing better than coming over that hill and looking to the left to see MK, CR and BLT, Epcot, TOT and Everest in the distance. Within reach...around mile marker 15. DED!!! Go Mr. LaLa!!

    Did somebody change the settings around here? I noticed the header looks a little different. Just wondering...

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  25. NM sad: Did somebody change the settings around here? I noticed the header looks a little different. Just wondering...

    Maybe whoever changed the settings is ALSO the one who gave us wide lanes.

    Or not.

    Speaking of wide lanes, I am LOVING me some backyard hammock right about now. DH picked one up and installed it a little while ago. It's a dream realized, going all the way back to the day we bought this lot and left two perfectly spaced oaks with the intention of one day having a perfectly shaded hammock between them. And it was worth the wait. Seriously.

    The only bad thing about it: I realized I'm also prone to motion sickness. In a hammock.

    Especially while attempting to read a book while swinging from side to side.

    After a meal of smoked ham with all the fixins. And a Mack Daddy glass of sweet tea.

    Feeling a little bit better now but I'm steering clear of the grapes and corn, just in case.

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  26. Looks like I'm a little late with the ham flavored water. Sorry La. Hope your pig was good though. Did you get it cooked all the way through? Cause that is the worst when you serve it up and your man cuts into it and its purple raw on the inside, and you end up having dinner at 9:00 instead of 7:00. Not that I've done that.

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  27. Of course you get motion sick trying to read in a hammock! Didn't you learn nothin from Fantasy Island?! A hammock is for sleeping in. Nothing else.

    And who in their right mind makes a ham? You BUY a fully cooked smoked ham from Honey Baked Ham or, like us, you have a ham delivered magically every December. Which reminds me, who eats ham in July?! Rubes, that's who! You may eat ham in December. You SHOULD eat it on Easter (unless you're Jewish, then you're probably not celebrating Easter at all). But you do NOT eat ham in July!

    I'm surrounded by morons.

    Z

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  28. Hey LaLa!

    Great start! That moment of walking into the lobby and just breathing in the Disney is one of the best of the trip. I'm glad the Pop was once again restored to Disney Standards.

    And don't listen to Z. Ham is good ANY time. Not as good a brisket, that goes without saying. But still not bad.

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  29. Z said:

    Which reminds me, who eats ham in July?!

    What can I say? I missed the meat.

    If you'd ever tasted my smoked ham, you'd miss it too. Even in July.

    Hey GB! Glad you're here. And don't worry, I never listen to Z. I just read what he writes. Skim, mostly. Then shake my head and yell, "Freakin' IDIOT!"

    But only when no one else is around. Because that might be weird otherwise.

    I'm off to the store. Got a sudden craving for a caramel apple, some hot chocolate and candy corn.

    Layla

    PS. It'd be really nice if you could pull me into town.

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  30. What are you quoting, Napoleon Dynomite?! That is so 4 years ago.

    Z

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  31. Or if you're Frick; that's so last century.

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  32. JJ said:

    Dynomite

    What's that? Good Times?! So last millenium.

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  33. I can't do math, you can't spell... we're even Z. duh

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  34. Great start LaLa! You got me with this, though:

    "Ready to soak up some magic. Which is just what we did.

    If “magic” is codeword for “rain”."

    Dude. For real. I'm pretty sure our trips overlapped and ours was aaaaalllll about that "magic." Vinyl and nylon are my new best friends.

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  35. LALA are you coming back to post an update!?!? PLEASE?

    XOXO
    Me.

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  36. Princess V, so glad to see ya here. Gotta love that daily deluge, huh? The one good thing about it was that it really seemed to cool the place off afterwards. I'd slosh through just about anything in order to get some relief from that heat.

    And YES PMM, I'm coming back to post another update, chica. Should be sometime next week.

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  37. You know, it is often said that you don't know you miss something until its gone, well that theory has been proven for me today.

    I am still into reading the trip reports on the Disboards and thought some of them to be pretty darn good, yet somewhat lacking, then I read yours and realized what I'd been missing. I'm so happy the economy hasn't bitten your family too hard in the butt and put an end to your Disney trips, because although I have offered to pay for your trips just to get a report out of you, I don't have a Client List to sell, therefore I have no expendable income.

    I had also forgotten about the quips and quibbles between you and Zzub and everyone else. I haven't laughed this hard in a while.

    Thanks for coming to find me on the Disboards and sending me here! You are my hero!

    And to Zzub, if you're reading (and I know you are). This is the Cupid Shuffle:

    Move to the right four times; then move to the left four times, then kick four times (interchanging legs), then walk it out!

    Start practicing because there will be a test!

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  38. It's Sneezie!

    You know, it is often said that you don't know you miss something until its gone, well that theory has been proven for me today.

    I know the feeling. We've missed you Sneezie, and I'm SO GLAD to see you over here posting!

    But...did you bring cake? Because if not, ZZUB might kick you out like he did me. Just between me and you, he's getting grumpy in his old age.

    Thanks for the kind words. I always appreciated your offer to fund my vacations but thankfully God has continued to bless our family, even during times when things seemed a little uncertain. Especially during times when things seemed a little uncertain. So it's all good, Sneezie my friend. It's all good.

    And you got the Cupid Shuffle directions down pat! Homegirl knows she knows how to work the Cupid Shuffle. Just make sure you watch out for stray ice cubes, those are a killer.

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  39. SNEEZIE!!!

    Girl, we have missed you! Enough that La was thinking of you and wanted to send you a shout out.

    If you need a reason to order a cake, your popping in over here is good enough for me. Go ahead, make it your favorite.

    :)

    NM

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  40. Hi NicoleMare

    I am actually going to the store to pick up a cake on my way home from work. It's the handy-man's birthday so I'm throwing him a party. Really!

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  41. This:

    "It’s kind of a mixture of cold air and the smell of different varieties of food hitting you in the face."

    is perfection. Now I know how to describe that Disney resort smell.

    Thanks for a great TR installment.

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  42. Just stopped by to say HI! Hope all is well with you (and NM and ZZUB). Can't wait to catch up with you and your families. It's always a treat! Consider yourselves bookmarked for my dedicated reading time later. (Thanks to Great Biscuit for the heads up).

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