The Kansas/Texas 2005 Rendezvous at Disney World -UPDATE 11/20/05 About This Page:

[joyjoy]

Trip Date: 9/3/05 - 9/10/05
Resort: Port Orleans Riverside
Disney Freaks Involved: Me (Melanie/joyjoy), My BF (Alex), my 19 y.o. daugter (Jordie), Alex's 15 y.o. daughter (Kira)
Reason for trip: It is time.

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Okay! It's long past time for me to get this thing rolling. Sorry for the delay, but writing a trip report makes things so final and I've been in denial about being home from Disney World for a month. I'm at a point now where the uncontrolled sobbing has subsided (for now) so I think I can be strong. Wish me luck!

As some of you know, I live in League City, TX (the LC) with my teenaged brat, Jordie. My boyfriend, Alex, lives in Mission, KS with his teenaged brat, Kira. We love our brats so we take them to Disney World every couple of years. Our daughters are both very nice girls, but couldn't be more different. Think Jessica Simpson and Ashlee Simpson. Anyway, as different as they are, they get along great and they both WDW shopping. Oops, did I say that out loud? I mean they both WDW. So we started planning this trip in early 2005. We have been the week after Labor Day before and we love the low crowds, so that was the plan. Choosing a resort was tough. We stayed at AKL last time and that one is kind of hard to beat. I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited for a Fairy Tale Package to materialize, but alas. A Fairy-free year. So we decided on a moderate, and finally on PO-R. I didn't book the package for awhile and then one day at work I'm reading Allears or Mousesavers or something, and... what? Oh, did I say I was reading Disney websites at work? Hahah. Ha. So, I heard through the grapevine of something that made my heart race and my fingers start dialing. FREE DINING PLAN FOR ALL THOSE GOING IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER!!! This would save us a bundle. Plus, we wouldn't have to eat our own ghetto bagels in the room for breakfast. Life was good and Disney came through with a bit of a fairy afterall. So I booked it and we started the obsessing for real. Well, I did. I carried my passporter around with me everywhere. I printed out menus. I made checklists. I bought ponchos, many ponchos. I read every website on WDW on every internet on earth, even some in Japanese, which isn't really as helpful as you might think. Unless you speak/read Japanese. Which I don't.

Oh, I need to add this. About 10 days before we left I came into some money. A LOT of money. It wasn't really mine, but it was. What happened is, a retirement account from my ex, which I got half of, matured and I had this huge amount of money that I was to reinvest. It's my retirement, afterall. How-EVAH - They actually sent me this ginormous check and I could either reinvest it (my future) or spend it (my preference). I won't kill you with suspense - I didn't blow my whole retirement on a trip to WDW. Aren't you relieved? But I DID have this money in my bank account for awhile and really. What's a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred there? I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "That irresponsible loser." Or else you're like me and you're thinking, "Cool! Buy into DVC!". I did not. But, the point is, I was set to go to Disney World with a paid-for trip, paid-for airline tickets, paid-for MEALS for the entire week and an artificially bloated bank account. AND - I had 60 days to reinvest the fortune. The feeling did not suck, I have to tell ya.

So, we're meeting Alex and Kira at MCO. Our direct flight arrives at 10:40 and theirs arrives at 11:10. Not bad scheduling, eh? Thank you. The night before we left, I stayed up until after midnight to print my SWA boarding pass. Thank God they've changed that procedure. Now you can print them 24 hrs before your flight. I had the alarm set for 5 a.m. because we had to leave by 6 to make our 7:30 flight. I kept waking up thinking I was late. We got up on time and got in the car and headed for the airport right at 6 and..... it started to rain. The significance of that is- I have curly hair that I have fought with all my life. However, in 2001 God finally cut me a break and introduced me to straightening irons so I've finally (FINALLY!) been able to enjoy stick straight hair for the first time in my life. Until it gets wet. Thank goodness I live in Houston where there is no humidity! Anyway, seriously. I'm like that girl on the Garniesse commercial that dips her toe in the pool and her hair frizzes up. Moisture = baaaaaaaad. So it's starts raining. Then it starts pouring. By the time we got to the freeway, as we say in Texas, it was a freakin' monsoon. It was still dark out and I could hardly make out taillights on the cars in front of me, let alone the stripes on the road. PLUS I had the real stress of thinking of my frizzy hair! Afterall, I am seeing my darling bf for the first time in several weeks in a few hours and I wanted to look fab. So much for that. So we near the airport, running late now because of the rain, and I see the sign for my regular parking lot, The Parking Spot. I start to pull in and - LOT FULL. Arrrrghhh!! What now? I had to find another lot. We tried the garage for Dollar Rental Car and it wasn't full. I'm stressing out but mainly trying to figure out how to get the precious hair straightener out of the suitcase and straighten my hair in the bathroom at the airport. Also we're starving. By the time we make it to the airport via the Dollar shuttle and grab some grease and carbs at Wendy's, it's like 7:15 and our flight leaves at 7:30. We dash to the gate and... they're already boarding! They're on the "C" group and we have "A" (= First Class for SWA) boarding passes that I waited up to print! We got on and did get seats together. Whewwwwwww. That was crazy. But my hair is still frizzy.

The flight was fine. Jordie busted out the markers. It's funny because we started the tradition of making Mousekeeping envelopes on the plane back when she was like, 10. Now she's nearly 20 and still packs the big ziplock bag of markers so she can color on the plane. I also have saved all the disney stickers you get from that DVD mail club they keep wanting me to join. In each mailer you get a sheet of character stickers and I just toss everything and keep the stickers. Is that bad? Is that like using those address labels you get free from Easter Seals without actually donating to Easter Seals? We ran out of envelopes and had stickers left so we decorated the backs of the seats in front of us with Disney stickers. You're welcome, Southwest Airlines!

Before ya know it, we're there. We're THERE!!!!!!!!!! So, so, so, so, so, so excited. I look at my watch and... it's nearly 11:00. Crap! My hair! Oh, well. Alex and Kira's flight will be arriving in 10 minutes and we have no time to primp. All we could do was find their gate, which we did. 5 minutes later out they come. Hugs all around and we're off to find the DME Mickey Hands!

Coming up....... DME, Check in at PO-R, fun at Downtown Disney and will Melanie EVER get to straighten her freakin' hair? Also: Pictures!