Prickle Pants, Pinky and the Brain, Party in the World - Live Trip Updates 12/3/10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Prickle Pants, Pinky and the Brain, Party in the World - Live Trip Updates 12/3/10
Hi all! I think I’ve waited as long as I can to begin this trip report, I didn’t want to start it too soon, for some reason I decided that today is the day. . .So the story begins. For those of you that don’t know me. I am Cassie. *Pinky* I am almost 40 years old. . . . . . I’ve been a Disney fanatic since I was a baby; my lovey was a much abused Winnie the Pooh. Pooh was my favorite childhood character, I still love Pooh and as a matter of fact my kitchen is decorated as Winnie the Pooh. So, will I get to eat at Crystal Palace? My newest favorite character is Marie. She is pouty and prissy and just so adorable. Plus she loves pink. I love Disney Pins, I focus my collection on Pixar mainly but I also collect just about anything that catches my interest. I also collect Marie. I am the director of a busy Home Care Agency and I love just hanging out with my daughter and planning Disney trips. I am the mom to a wonderful 8 year old girl, and a wife to Patrick. We’ve been married for almost 13 years. (Do you notice how I keep saying almost, unfortunately I didn’t plan our life celebrations very well, My birthday is November 16th and so I married a man that was born on November 12th. We got married on October 11th. We tried to have a baby for 3.5 years with no success and just as we had given up I got pregnant, due on October 15th, but she came a bit early so her birthday is October 1st); So all of our big family celebrations are in the fall. Oh yea one more, My DH and I met at a wedding on November 18th. So, we are heading into the Piehl family celebration time.
My DH is Patrick, *Prickle Pants* he is a telecommunicator for the State Police. He has done this sort of work all around our area for about 21 years, he is really good at it but sometimes a bit controlling, he is used to taking control of conversations to get answers. So when two commandos travel together there are bound to be fireworks. Not to mention that we are both Scorpios. I am so thankful that Lily came early so she is a Libra instead of a third Scorpio, she balances us out. (Scorpios are passionate people, Libras are balanced). We’ve found a method that works for us to avoid bickering, in that one person is the officer on duty and takes the lead, that way we mainly avoid issues with being in charge. He pretends to hate Disney but, he likes to give his two princesses everything they want so he goes to Disney. Pat is an accomplished musician, born perf*Pormer and a lot of fun. I am trying to convince him to try out for American Idol, I think he’d make it on the show even if he is 40. But then the reason we fell in love was because he sang a song at a wedding that he wrote and I fell in love before I even met him, so I may be a bit biased. Pat is turning 40 a mere 4 days before me, so believe me I will be harassing him unmercifully for the 4 days I’m still in my thirties. Our daughter Lily *the Brain* is an 8 year old beautiful surprise baby. She is extremely intelligent and the star of 2nd grade at Grove Elementary, IMAO. She plays the drums; yes she has a full drum set in the basement. She takes Tae Kwon Do and is currently a green belt; I would imagine she will be a Blue Belt very soon. She is methodical and somewhat reserved at times. She pretends that my Disney obsession is beyond her but she loves to go to Disney as much as I do. This past year she has decided that she is too old for princesses, she announced this the day after I made a reservation at Akershus for Breakfast. So, I told her I could cancel that reservation and she said no that will be okay I guess. Now for her brilliance, she is very articulate and likes to read and write. She has even tried her hand at trip report writing. So far in 2nd grade she has been a super speller every week (she has gotten 100% on every pretest) So she gets words like evaporated and haunted etc. She also now has to take timed math fact tests and she got 29/30 on her first one, she only missed the first one because she didn’t answer it because her finger was over that problem. This past summer we noticed that she was limping as she ran during softball, so I watched it and since it didn’t get better I took her to the doctor, we’ve been in physical therapy for 4 months or so and seen three different MD’s, two specialists. It turns out that when she had septic hip as an 18 month old (septic hip is an infection in the hip joint, she woke up and wouldn’t stand up, she would crawl around only) she quit using her hip normally so the joint is misshapen and she has no muscle strength in her hip, she uses her back muscles to walk instead. Her affected leg/femur/thigh bone is 1-2 cm shorter than the other. In addition she has very tight Achilles tendons she was a toe walker/runner. So the outcome of this is that we do therapy exercises everyday and she is now wearing a sock splint at night to stretch the Achilles tendon. We see the pediatric orthopedic doctor again right before our trip. Her favorite character is Pluto, and she loves Disney pins and is a big pin trader. She will ride on any ride but I think her favorite ride is Splash Mountain. She is accomplished at saving the world and loves Kim Possible, she can hardly wait to save the UK, the country she missed on our last trip.
That is our Cast of Characters Up next: Where to stay, Where to stay, Where to stay and the history behind our nicknames.
I'm going to explain the nicknames really quick.
Pinky is kind of self explanatory, pink is my favorite color, at one point in my life I drove a pink pick up truck (my all time favorite vehicle). It unfortunately met an untimely end when a young girl ran a stop sign and tboned me and rolled my truck with me in it. I had a small fracture of a neck vert. and a closed head injury. But, I digress my nickname at the time I drove the truck became pinky tuscadero (Happy Days), and it stuck.
Lily is the brain, because she is smart and it works, her actual nickname is Pookerbutt, but she didn't want that in the title so. . .
Pat is pricklepants, if you have ever seen Toy Story 3, first off if you haven't you had better soon it is awesome. His nickname has always been hotpants but after seeing that movie we started calling him prickle pants, so that is his new disneyfied nickname.
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Thanks, Cam! We are a nickname family and have gone by many different names. Our last name is pronounced Peel. So we often go by Orange, Pinapple and Potato. (Grampa is banana). When I was pregnant, we were Peaches and Cream. I've been referred to as the New Mexico Kid (when I lived there). And of course, Cassie is short for Cassandra. . . the list is endless. Pookerbutt is also Paducah at times and Pickle Puss, and Sassafrass and . . .
So, I decided alliteration was the ticket! (this time)
We are going to my happy place on Saturday December 4th and living it up for 7 nights returning home on December 11th. We are staying in a savannah view room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Now, more back story: when I started planning my trip we had never stayed on property and I had only been to Disney World twice in my life: Once in 1976 with my family as a young lass of 5 1/2, and then with Pat and Lily in 2005 for our 10th anniversary and Lily’s 5th birthday. In 1976, we were in Florida for 8 weeks, while my Dad worked so we would make day trips to amusement parks like Marine World, Circus World and Disney World, it was so fun. In 1997 we went to Disney World and stayed at the Sheraton Vistana, which was great because my Uncle who I took care of (bathing, gave him his medicines etc.) while he was dying of Cancer gave us a time share exchange week for 75.00. Well, during this trip I became hooked on Disney World, I was already a Disney girl but now I was a Disney World girl! (Thanks Uncle Hank) So at the beginning of this trip planning I wasn't sure where I wanted to stay but as I researched and researched I decided that I wanted to stay on property and I started stalking the Disney Website pricing stuff, one night I called the Reservation number and I ended up having some mystery pin code and booked our trip at my dream resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge. I love animals, and Africa, my dream trip would be an African Safari to see a big cat roaming free. (I've seen a mountain lion once and just about peed my pants because I was hiking but. . .) I was literally in tears when I told Pat what I had booked and how little it would cost; he was shocked because I had already booked at the Nick Hotel, through Universal. . .But, he agreed as he knew that I had always wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Now this was the beginning of a massive change in my thinking, thanks to passporter and my obsessive personality. I learned how wonderful and magical staying on property can be. You see I was unemployed the past summer and had some time on my hands so I decided that I needed a touch of Disney Magic before December, I had been in a funk and was having a hard time pulling myself out of it, so I planned a spontaneous trip in July. I literally planned it 10 days before we left and it was our first on property stay. I’m so glad I did that last minute trip for a number of reasons, We learned a lot about DME and the buses and how that all works. We learned how to tour successfully as a family. I don’t know if you have read a trip report by Smilechaser and Disdadnmi, they will sometimes split up on their trips to better accomplish what everyone wants to accomplish. Our family realized that, this was a good strategy for us too. There were many afternoons that Pat would head back to the room or do some shopping while Lily and I kept on touring. We loved it, so now I’ve realized that I can hardly wait to stay on property again and the perfect place for me is Animal Kingdom Lodge. While I loved Pop for the theming etc, we need just a little bit more room! (Just as a side note my plan for Disney magic in July worked, I pulled out of my depression and I got a new job making exactly what I had been making before and it is a wonderful job).
So, in case you missed it this was my second room reservation for this trip, another thing about me. . .I can't make up my mind, I laugh because at work I have to make many decisions and don't have any problems there but at home, not so much. So, like any obsessive planner, the winds of change are coming. . .
Up Next: So, why no free dining during my dates? Hmmmmm.
Great update Cassie! How lucky to stay in AKL! I was hoping to do one night there on this next trip, but I just couldn't justify the money, so we are staying at the POP the whole time. Which btw is my favorite resort, I don't care that it's value, LOL.
I am hoping sometime when DH and I go alone to stay at the Poly, my dream resort.
In 2012, I am somewhat planning a solo trip, to meet up with 3 (DisneyDana, Ashli, and TheMadonna3) PP girlfriends, we are probably going to stay in DVC. Maria and Ashli would like to stay at the BW. We are throwing around ideas now. So we have lots of time to plan. I can't wait!
In my family we have nicknames sort of, DH calls me honey, I call him honey, nothing special there. I call my DD Miss and DH calls her Pean, short for Peanut. I however never switch her nickname, okay sometimes I do call her Miss (insert name here), well not since she was a baby. I use to call her Baby Girl, but soon I had to stop bc she was growing and I didn't want to confuse her and tell her she was a big girl and then call her baby girl. So I decided I would call her the nickname that seemed to come out naturally. It ended up being Miss. It's funny when we are at stores and I call her and say "Miss" if a woman is around the area she always turns and looks at me thinking I was saying something to her! LOL
PS...I have to add again, Lily is sooooo cute! I just love her smile, she looks a whole lot like you! I imagine you to look identical to her when you were a kid. Did you? Love her hairbows in all the pics too!! Way cute.
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Cassie
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Pixie Dust
Katie's graduation
and living it up for 7 nights returning home on December 11th. 
We are staying in a savannah view room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Now, more back story: when I started planning my trip we had never stayed on property and I had only been to Disney World twice in my life: Once in 1976 with my family as a young lass of 5 1/2, and then with Pat and Lily in 2005 for our 10th anniversary and Lily’s 5th birthday. In 1976, we were in Florida for 8 weeks, while my Dad worked so we would make day trips to amusement parks like Marine World, Circus World and Disney World, it was so fun. In 1997 we went to Disney World and stayed at the Sheraton Vistana, which was great because my Uncle who I took care of (bathing, gave him his medicines etc.) while he was dying of Cancer gave us a time share exchange week for 75.00. Well, during this trip I became hooked on Disney World, I was already a Disney girl but now I was a Disney World girl! (Thanks Uncle Hank) So at the beginning of this trip planning I wasn't sure where I wanted to stay but as I researched and researched I decided that I wanted to stay on property and I started stalking the Disney Website pricing stuff, one night I called the Reservation number and I ended up having some mystery pin code and booked our trip at my dream resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge. I love animals, and Africa, my dream trip would be an African Safari to see a big cat roaming free. (I've seen a mountain lion once and just about peed my pants because I was hiking but. . .) I was literally in tears when I told Pat what I had booked and how little it would cost; he was shocked because I had already booked at the Nick Hotel, through Universal. . .But, he agreed as he knew that I had always wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge. 
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
Hybrid Mode
