Holiday Hootennanies with Scarlett and the Fam Damily! Day Two, Part 4, Updated 4/25 About This Page:

[Disney_Scarlett]

‘Twas two nights before Disney-departure – and all through the house – not a creature was stirring – not even a mouse…

Psych. Snap out of it.

Creatures are stirring – humans are going crazy with vacation and holiday preparations, dogs (notice the plural there, even though we only OWN one dog – more on that later) and cats are notably freaked out by the decorations and trees that have invaded their territory (not to mention the appearance of suitcases!), our miniature goats are protesting a change in their feed by audibly complaining between the hours of 2:15 am and 4:25 am, and yes, there is even a mouse. Our big hunter kitty caught one on our front porch yesterday and brought it inside as a “gift.” Delightful.

But all the chaos really matters so little, as we’re just a few short days for leaving for Walt Disney World! Time to pull out the woot smilies.

First, for all of you out there that read my last pre-trip report, I have to question your sanity a little bit. I mean, it only took me a year-plus to finish it, and you stuck through? Seriously, I really appreciate it, and this one will go much faster, I promise! Also, I hope you won’t find too much repeat information here, as I’m trying to dig up some new fam-damily stuff to amuse and entertain.

For those of you that didn’t read my last trip report, I have to question your sanity a bit too – it was so awesome! Ha! Kidding. However, if this is truly your first reading experience with me and the fam-damily (the name I’ve appointed to the group of loonies I’m related to by simply switching around a few letters in what I call them behind their back ). – I hope we don’t scare you off after the first few paragraphs.

I’ve been around these parts for long enough that a lot of you probably know a lot about me already. If you don’t, or need a refresher course, here’s the basic gist:



My name is Scarlett, and I just celebrated my 25th birthday. I live in North Carolina, work in university admissions, and am a Scorpio. I also enjoy long walks on the beach, shopping for household organizers, and…wait, um, sorry, wrong introduction. Where were we. My family is a bit Disney-obsessed – shocker! Not only that, but there are a lot of us. My mama is a golden only child, and she decided to make up for that by having a big family of her own, and then THOSE kids started growing up, marrying, and reproducing. I’m happy to say that despite our expansion, we’re a close knit unit and I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful group of people to call my own (except for those moments when I spot my nephews having temper-tantrums in the produce aisle and I pretend not to know them). We spend a lot of time together and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

We’ve been going to Disney for as long as I can remember, and love to go together, although logistics and scheduling are always problems. When the plans start falling into place for a new WDW trip, it starts out as an open invitation for the entire fam-damily to join. To date, we’ve yet to take a Mama ‘n ‘Em Disney Extravaganza Vacation, but I hope that someday – someday! – we will all be able to make it down there together. Until then, you better believe that there will be Disney trips with smaller combinations of various family members.

Here is this trip’s “cast,” which may or may not look familiar to you.

First, for the pre-trip report, my purpose is two-fold: One, to show some cute shots of the fam-damily, and so you get to know them a little better. Awww. Second, to humiliate my fam-damily. That’s right. Payback is a you-know-what, and being the youngest sibling, I’ve had my share of mortification over the years. Do you know how many times baby-bathtub photos have been brought out at inopportune moments? Now I have the power of a scanner and the Internet in my possession, and I will be posting embarrassing pictures of the fam-damily in this thread. Also, I hope that after this trip, I’ll have even more pictures to add to my file of Pictures That Exemplify Why Someone Should ‘Accidentally’ Break Scarlett’s Camera.

The Parents:



Let’s start with Gwen.

Gwen, a.k.a. Mama to me and my sibs, and Nanoo to the grandbabies, is in her late fifties and is “mostly retired.” Really, it’s quite appropriate to start with her as she’s the one who started this whole thing anyway, by having kids and therefore passing on the Disney-crazed gene. Likes: Christmas, or really any holiday, china patterns, sparkly things, Paula Deen, shopping and playing bridge. Dislikes: white shoes after Labor Day, thank you cards that say “Thank You” on the front, and basically anything else she considers mildly offensive.

Her first trip was when my oldest sister, Donna, was around four or five – and now Donna’s 41 – so you do the math.



Since then, she’s got numerous other trips under her belt. Here’s a classic shot of Mama doing one of her favorite things at WDW – shopping! (that's me in the pink shorts)



And one of her least favorite things at WDW: carrying stuff for people



For an embarrassing photo (as if those yellow pants weren’t enough)…back in the day, local department stores would have town folk come in and “model” their clothes for advertisements in the paper. Here’s Miss Gwen, probably around age 25, doing her thing in the Chatham News and Record.



Don’tcha love a time when 100% Polyester was something to brag about. Luckily, my mother doesn’t know how to use a computer, much less the Internet, because if she discovered I had shared this with the world, you would be waiting indefinitely for another update, as I’d probably be buried in a pasture somewhere unknown.



Dad, known as “Pop” to the grand-youngin’s, is the only person that did not make an official appearance during my last pre-trip report. Dad is actually my step-dad. My daddy passed away when I was five years old, and while I miss him like crazy, I’m so incredibly lucky to have won the father-lottery a second time around a few years later. Dad is one of the nicest, most generous people you’ll ever meet, and better yet, loves Disney! He’s also in his late-fifties, and his likes are anything with wheels and a motor, golf, mustard (he puts it on EVERYTHING – including spaghetti) and concrete (he’s a concrete contractor, and is kind of like Bubba from Forest Gump when talking about it – “Well, you’ve got colored concrete, and printed concrete, and then you’ve got stoned concrete…”). Dislikes would include turning the TV volume down below fifty decibels, not understanding the “magical” Internet, and discovering that my mom sneaked green peppers or onions in a dish and he actually liked it.

Dad’s first trip to WDW was pre-marrying into the fam-damily, when he took my step-brother over Thanksgiving. It was a nightmare and he never wanted to go back – until we made him and now he loves it.

Here’s Dad and Mackenzie during Kenz’s first trip.



He is actually a pretty photogenic guy, so I had some problems finding a bad picture of him. Even his old school pictures are cute, although he did have to grow into his ears a bit. I’m going to have to work on getting some better embarrassing pictures of him on this trip…

The Millers:



Krista’s my next victim, er, cast member. Krista is 36 years old, a stay-at-home-mom and my next-to-oldest sister. With the age difference, Sista Krista is both my doting older sibling and the second-Mama-I-never-knew-I-wanted. Krista loves reality TV, being right, searching for bargains and sleeping late. She does not love being wrong, yogurt, bananas and her middle name, Cecile (and put those last two things together and you get the nickname we torture her with – Cecile Cecile The Banana Peel. I never said we were mature, y’all.).

Here’s a picture of Krista at her first trip to WDW:



And here are her embarrassing pictures. The 80’s were really kind to Krista, indeed.



Haha. She’s going to kill me.

To make up for that, and since this is a Christmas trip – here’s a precious picture of Krista before the Siler City Christmas parade, back in the day:



Jeff is Krista’s other half. Jeff is 38, and is retired from the military. He now works for the Army as a civilian and is also the captain of an Army reserve unit. Jeff, the poor sap, really had no idea what he was getting into when he married Krista, but luckily he’s taken it in stride and stuck around.



We loooove Jeff, and he’s one of the best daddy’s and husband’s that I’ve ever seen – there’s just nothing he wouldn’t do for his girls! I get the sneaking suspicion that Jeff hearts Disney because his family hearts Disney, but as long as he keeps making his way down to WDW, I don’t question the motives.

Jeff loves NASCAR, hockey, politics, and my Mama’s cooking (he has a countdown calendar on his desk until Christmas morning, a.k.a. the day my mom makes her Krispy Kreme Casserole). He doesn’t like…hmmm. You know, Jeff is so pleasing, I really can’t think of something he absolutely doesn’t like! No wonder he is so adored in my fam-damily.

Jeff’s embarrassing picture comes from our last trip to WDW, when he tripped coming off Peter Pan’s Flight and I caught it on camera:



He’s also the one who says, “There’s always a smart-@$$ around with a camera, isn’t there?” whilst glaring in my direction (maybe “Scarlett” is on his list of “Dislikes” )

Here’s a picture of Jeff and Krista during his first Christmas with us. He wore a tie. We laughed at him. It’s a miracle he’s still around.



Mackenzie is K&J’s oldest daughter and my oldest darlin’ niece.



She really didn’t have a fighting chance against the Disney bug:



Kenz is nine years old and one of the sweetest, most agreeable children you’ll ever meet. She’s also incredibly tender-hearted, but has somehow managed to survive in the fam-damily. Kenz loves to read, loves school, loves swimming, loves Hannah Montana and High School Musical and probably loves whatever you love, too. She really doesn’t like scary stuff, but would rather pee in her pants than cause a scene.

There aren’t really embarrassing pictures of the kids – anything that might be “embarrassing” would be just cute at their ages – curse them – so I’ll skip that part.

Maeve is K&J’s youngest daughter and my youngest darlin’ niece.



Here are some classic Maeve photos:



Maeve is six years old and she is an absolute trip. She’s mischievous, sassy and, unlike Mackenzie, probably likes whatever it is you DON’T like just so she can argue with you. She also loooves spooky and creepy stuff. To be honest, Maeve reminds me a lot of myself, but I don’t let her know that, as she can, on rare occasions, be a wee bit aggravating. She’s so tiny, though, it’s hard to stay mad at her. We do have a lot in common – she loves Chee-tos, hippos and hot dogs and honestly, those are definitely in my Top Five as well. One of my favorite things about Maeve is her amount of energy. Long after Kenz is passed out, Maeve is still bouncing off the walls. In fifteen years, she’s totally going to be the family member I want to go to the bar with.

And finally – there’s ME!



Anyone who runs into me next week, please do not except me to look like this. While this picture was just taken two weeks ago, it was before a party where I had spent quality time on hair and makeup. During park commando time, I look more like this:



Kind of constipated and disgruntled. Very attractive.

You already know all the basics about me. Other stuff you should know is that I’m a proud alumnae of UNC Chapel Hill and I’m a Tar Heel born, Tar Heel bred, and when I die I’ll be a Tar Heel dead (there’s a reason why God made the sky Carolina blue ). I also really like karaoke, laughing at people and being laughed at, Mexican food, almost all sports, almost all beers, and pretending not to be interested in celebrity gossip but actually being totally obsessed. I don’t like tomatoes, carnations, and when turn signals blink too fast (it makes me nervous).

Here’s a picture of my first trip to Disney World:



I know what you’re thinking – “Wait, that’s a picture of your mom, and also, I totally see where you got your affinity for large sunglasses.” True on both accounts. However, this is why it’s a picture of my first trip –

Three months later…



That’s me and my daddy! Yep, I had black hair, which turned to blonde a few weeks later, and then mysteriously went darker as I got older…and even more mysteriously seems to occasionally appear lighter. Hmmm.

I wholeheartedly believe that my parents being at Disney World during a formative time in my development totally had an effect on my Disney-craziness. After all, my mom was crazy enough to go to Disney at 7 months pregnant.

Really, here’s a picture of me during the first trip I remember (I'm on the right):



And a couple more over the years:



Did I mention I also loooove Christmas? (the lipstick on that second picture was a joke. The antlers, however, were serious)



What? Oh, you expected me to post embarrassing pictures of MYSELF? See, no. When you write the trip report, you get full editing rights, and there will be no bad pictures of Scarlett in this trip report. Which probably means these are the last pictures you’ll see of me, as they have been carefully chosen and selected based on factors such as lighting and skin clarity.

Sigh. Okay, fine.



Tip to parents: never put a tie on your kindergartener unless you want them to be mistaken for a boy. (Why, Mama? Whyyyyy?).

Just because I feel guilty about not including them at all, I have to briefly mention the fam-damily members that won’t be joining us, and why.

First, I have a step-sister, Beverly, who is married with two kids, my step-niece Jordan, and step-nephew, Bryce. Bev is an assistant school superintendent and lives at the beach, the lucky so-and-so. She, along with my step-brother, Todd (an environmental engineer who lives in Blacksburg, VA), are not Disney obsessed - obviously, we’re not blood related. They say they want to tag along to WDW sometime, but it’s yet to happen.

My only living grandparent, Decie (aka “Mom” to all the grandkids), is also not Disney obsessed (surely, my mother is adopted). Once upon a time, when I was littler, she and my grandpa used to come along on all our Disney trips, but he was the more Disney-enthused half of that pair, so since he’s been gone, she’s only joined us on one WDW trip. She much prefers staying at home, watching Fox News, doing search words and bowling. This actually works out pretty good, as someone has to watch the home fires (plus, she usually distributes a little spending money to those of us going ). Anyway, since these folks aren’t Disney-crazed, they don’t get pictures. Yes, I’m ruthless.

Donna, Rey, Ryan and Joseph



(this picture is a couple of years old, and I have to say, I kinda hate Donna’s haircut in it – it’s grown out now, thank goodness! Also, I can’t figure out why Joseph’s face looks “flat” in it. Must be something weird with the pixels or some other digital something or ‘nother I don’t understand)

Donna is my oldest sister, and is married to Rey. She has two little boys, Ryan (12) and Joseph (6). Donna and her family love Disney, but Donna also has probably the craziest schedule of all of us. She travels a lot for work, and takes her family with her as much as possible, so they get to go to cool places all the time. Donna & Company were initially signed on for this December trip – and then Donna was asked to present at a conference in Los Angeles in June. So, she and her crew took their money to California and spent ten days at Disneyland and Legoland/San Diego instead. I couldn’t blame her for taking that opportunity, as her office paid for her way and part of the hotel and rental car for the trip. However, I could pout a little that she and my darlin’ nephews wouldn’t be joining us at Disney World AGAIN (and that they went to Disneyland without me ).

Mary Clayton:



Mary Clayton is my next-oldest sister, and she’s a music teacher. We’re only eighteen months apart, and I’ve taken the majority of my Disney trips with her. There’s a big age difference between my oldest-older siblings, so when we were kids, they were in that I’m-too-cool-for-this late-teen/early-twenties stage, and it was usually just us and our parents at WDW. Mary Clayton is arguably the most Disney crazed of all of us. The amount of seemingly-useless information that she can store in her head flabbergasts even moi, the Queen of All Things Useless.

Since Mary Clayton is a teacher, traveling in the off-season is difficult. When we took our free-dining trip last year, she was very understanding about us leaving her in the dust for free food. We wanted to make sure to try and schedule this trip so she could join us. MC is also one of The Funniest People You’ll Ever Meet, so traveling with her is always a blast! However, her holiday concert schedule is crazy, and even with Mama chipping in for part of her substitute teacher costs and us shifting our dates back as far as we could manage, we still couldn’t find anything to work for the whole month of December. We had all basically cancelled the trips in our heads, to be honest – with MC being so Disney-loony, we couldn’t just leave her behind again. However, when Clayton realized what was going on, she threw a hissy for us to go ahead without her. She argued that with her concerts, it could be a long time before she would be able to manage a trip in December so we should just go ahead this year and enjoy the decorations and holiday festivities. Of course, this all comes with the understanding that we’ll be buying her lots of stuff.

Buying her lots of stuff doesn’t mean she’s exempt from embarrassing pictures, though – here she is during her spring concert, the theme of which was “Down Home Hoe Down” or something like that.



I do have to include a couple of pictures of me and Mary Clayton at WDW.



I really hope that our next trip will include both Donna and her family, and Mary Clayton.

Oh, and we’re not taking the pets with us. Pets includes Quincy, our Pekingese, who is the center of the universe and our four cats.

Now that you’ve been properly acquainted with the entire fam-damily, I suppose I should start on how this trip came about and all the planning processes!

Continued in next post...

[jpod523]

all the pictures!! can't wait to hear about the trip!

[iamgrumpy]

I can't believe its already time for another Scarlett Report!!! Now I will have something to keep me busy until my Cruise!!!!!

More please

[Disney_Scarlett]

Just as many, many trips before ours, the idea for this one was born during our last trip, which was in September 2006, during the free-dining promotion. We were having the time of our lives, stuffing our faces silly and enjoying the Halloween festivities, when Krista started comparing Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I suddenly felt inferior – I could not participate in this conversation, as I had never attended MVMCP. I have been to Disney during the holidays – when I was in elementary/middle school, we traveled to WDW most every year, and would go either early to mid November or early December. However, either MVMCP didn’t exist then, or we just didn’t go…either way, it had still been years since I had so much as seen a Christmas tree at the World. Boo.

Of course, this is easily fixed. Let’s just plan a trip to Disney during the Holidays! Everyone present thought this was a fantastic idea, and we almost couldn’t wait to get home and tell the rest of the fam-damily about our grand idea. I say “almost” because we were still in WDW, so you know, no one was wanting to go home.

Back in NC, I think it was around the holidays of ’06 when plans really started being formed. First, it was just Krista and I brainstorming about dates, resorts and prices. Once we had come up with a tentative plan with a few possible time frames that would work, we spread the message to the rest of the family about our ideas.

Of course, Mama and Dad were immediately on board, but it wasn’t too much longer until Donna got her offer to present in California, so she and her family backed out. Not much time had passed after that did Mary Clayton’s logistics also not work out…so we were down to our same “cast” from the first trip, plus Dad. We penciled in the dates of December 8 through December 15 as our next jaunt to WDW.

I have to thank my lucky, lucky stars that Krista was signed up for this trip, as nothing would have gotten done without her. Early 2007, when I should have been starting all the initial plans for WDW, I found myself stuck with being the Chief Planner for my girls-only Las Vegas trip for June. Usually, my BFF Allison is our yearly-vacay planner and organizer, which works out really well, as she’s the type of girl who folds and categorizes her underwear and I am not. However, now that she’s a CPA, she basically only communicates to me via text-messages between January 1 and April 15, so I was faced with the stress of being the sole executioner for four other people’s happiness, budgets and sanity in Las Vegas (this includes finding a list of affordable lawyers in the area, “just in case”). That, along with working really long hours at work, I was a bit overwhelmed. Therefore, I basically chunked all my WDW planning responsibilities in Krista’s lap.

Krista’s a born planner/leader, so she was more than happy to take on this task. First came resort selection. We had previously settled on Port Orleans Riverside as the place to lay our pretty little heads, as this is our most-frequented resort. We just love the atmosphere there, and it had been a while since any of us had been back to POR. I was already hearing banjos and crickets in my head, when Krista came up with another idea – she had just made a new friend who has DVC points at several resorts and rents his points out pretty often. Why not check into this possibility and see where it leads us?

It ended up leading us straight to Old Key West. Krista’s new best-friend-forever-and-ever gave us a heck-of-a-steal on his points at OKW. I honestly don’t know what the final price worked out to be as far as per-point, but I know that my share (one-third) of the studio room that Mama, Dad and I will be sharing is less than $300. I am nothing if not cheap, so learning that I would get to stay deee-luuuxe at a moderate price prompted a reaction equivalent to screaming “Deal, you sucker!” and slamming my hand down on the red button (for those not familiar with the game show Deal or No Deal – first, I don’t know if we can be friends, and second, ignore that whole last sentence, except the cheap part).

I am sooo excited about Old Key West. It worked out really well that Krista’s friend had points there, as I understand that the studios at OKW are the only ones with two queen beds, instead of the standard one king – so more than one couple can share a room (or one couple and their daughter who is too cheap to spring for her own room ). Krista and Jeff also have reserved their own studio and we hope to have adjoining rooms. Krista requested one of the recommended rooms/areas, but again – I know very little about that whole process.

Planning a trip to the World during the holidays can be kind of precarious. There are so many special events going on, and the policies and time frames for reserving said events all seem to be different, that one really needs a Ph.D. in Mickeynomics to figure it all out (I suppose travel agents would fall under that category). Thinking back, I believe the first big reservation made after our resort was for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and the corresponding Advance Dining Reservation. Actually, I’m ashamed to say that both Krista and I let several days pass by without knowing that if you pre-ordered your MVMCP tickets, you could make an ADR for that same night in the MK before the 180-day mark. We had just been waiting around, thinking we would order them later. Once we realized this, we hurriedly picked out Tuesday, December 11, for our party night, and Liberty Tree Tavern, with Crystal Palace as a second choice for dinner that evening.

For some reason or another, I was the one to call and make this ressie, and I had the pleasure of listening to several happy tunes while waiting for a CM to help me. After a few minutes, I was disappointed to learn that LTT was booked solid that night – probably having a party of seven didn’t help matters. However, we were able to get a Crystal Palace ADR for 5:30 easily. While I really wanted to try LTT, Crystal Palace is a new one for me, too, and I’m sure I’ll just love it!

I also let Krista be the one to take a crash course in DVC policies and procedures, so she could figure out how to add the Dining Plan, what the best/cheapest way to get our tickets would be, etc. All you DVC members out there are certainly sitting back, chuckling at our ignorance of all things DVC, but this is our first DVC experience, so we definitely had to enlist the help of Krista’s friend as well as Internet resources to make sure all our bases were covered. Soon enough, the DDP was added to our reservation, and we decided to order our 8-day MYW Park Hoppers from Undercovertourist before the price increases back in the summer. I am still on the fence about whether or not to upgrade my ticket to an AP once I’m in The World (‘cause dontcha know I have some possible ’08 irons in the fire ), but it will probably be one of those last minute decisions.

I realized that our 180-day mark was going to fall right in the middle of my Vegas vacation, so I had to once again throw the responsibility of making the ADRs to Krista. Krista tried to argue that I would need to be up at 3:55 am to start calling Florida at 6:55 am EST, and really, with me being in Vegas, wouldn’t I still be wide awake at 4:00 am? Well, perhaps, but do you really want to entrust such an important task to someone who may or may not be intoxicated and may or may not be dancing on a table, or may or may not be swimming in imaginary piles of money on the nearest empty craps table?

Point well taken, Krista and I had an extended conference call the night before my departure. I used the speaker phone feature on my cell phone and inserted phrases such as “on task,” “data-based decision making,” and “dropping the ball” into our conversation so it would feel even more official. We reviewed last year’s TGM advice for least-crowded park days, as well as the list of preferences from each party. I had asked Mama and Dad to each pick at least one restaurant that they really, really wanted to eat at, and myself, Krista and Jeff did the same thing. We also had to work around MVMCP and the Candlelight Processional, two must-do’s for this trip. Finally, after about an hour of negotiating, we got everything down, checked it twice and I signed off, once again feeling relieved that Krista was taking on so much of the planning responsibilities for this trip!

The day of making the ADR’s, Krista managed to refrain from calling me until about 9:00 am my time, which really exhibited extreme restraint. We had been a little nervous about getting all the times and places we wanted, just because for most of our meals, we were in our large fam-damily group, and there are only so many big tables. However, luck would have it, we got everything we wanted, at the approximate times we wanted. Yay!

Our ADRs are as follows:

Meals that the Entire Fam-Damily Have Together:

Le Cellier (Dinner), O’Hana (Breakfast), Crystal Palace (Dinner/MVMCP night), Boma (Dinner), Mama Melrose’s (Dinner [Fantasmic Dinner Package]), Coral Reef (Dinner)

Meals with just Mama, Dad and myself:

San Angel Inn (Lunch)

Meals with just Krista, Jeff and the girlies:

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Princess Storybook Lunch

The only ADR Krista didn’t make was the San Angel Inn one, which I called back a few weeks later and reserved with no problem.

O’Hana, Crystal Palace and Boma will be new restaurants for Mama and I, while everything BUT San Angel Inn is new for Dad! For the Millers, Boma and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall are their two new tries.

To be perfectly honest with you, we have one too-many repeats for me. I could have done without Mama Melrose’s, but everyone really wanted to do the Fantasmic Dinner Package, and we aren’t keen on Hollywood and Vine, and don’t want to shell out 2 TS credits for Brown Derby (I was willing to pay OOP for BD, because I drool massive amounts when I look at BD’s menu, or go non-FDP and revisit Sci-Fi Drive In or 50’s Prime Time, but I think I was the only one). Also, could have done without San Angel, as we’ve gone there so many times before and I realized on our last trip that the atmosphere kind of outweighs the draw of the food. However, San Angel Inn was Dad’s choice, so I couldn’t veto it. [Acutally, he had two requests – Coral Reef was the other, because we raved about it so last time – but I don’t mind repeating it, with the hope that I won’t jinx it and get a bad experience the second time around]. All that being said, I’m really excited about the old favorites of Le Cellier/Coral Reef and our new dining adventures, so there is absolutely no room to complain (at least not loudly).

We’re also doing more big-group meals than our last trip. I think last time, Mama and I had three meals that were just us two, plus one meal with us and the girlies. It just worked out this trip that when Krista and I were comparing must-do eating experiences, we had a lot of the same choices. Since we won’t be spending every minute of every day in the parks together, I don’t see this extra togetherness being a problem – but just in case, cross your fingers that we don’t get blood on the white tablecloths of Le Cellier if we end of killing one another over pretzel bread.

I mentioned it before, but we are on the Dining Plan again this trip. For all you people who say it is entirely too much food – AMATEURS. Part of being on vacation is being miserably stuffed and gaining ten pounds, so SUCK IT UP and eat that extra appetizer and that counter-service chocolate cake that you never knew you wanted! Ha! Seriously? It is too much food, but we really like to eat, so that’s okay by us. I’m not a fan of dessert in general, so that course always goes to the waste for me, but I still come out ahead money-wise. Also, I think my Dad is more excited about the dining plan than anything else, and I’m glad he’ll get to experience it in all its unaltered glory before the new rules go into effect.

When the ADRs were made, we weren’t sure how the Candlelight Processional Dining Package was going to work, and only had tentative dates to work off of. We went ahead and booked Le Cellier for the night we hoped to see CP, and at the time recommended by TGM. When the official CP policies and procedures were released, I can’t remember what Krista was doing that morning, but I had the responsibility of calling and reserving the package, which was nerve wracking to say the least! The fact that the computers went down just as I got on the phone with the CM made it even more nail-biting, but luckily, I got the time and location (Le Cellier!) for the CP. Whew! Since you can’t apply the CP package to an existing reservation, we needed to cancel our previous reservation for Le Cellier. Krista called later to do that, and said the CM assisting her was hilarious – “Are you SURE you want to cancel Le Cellier? You’re sure-sure? Sure-sure-sure with sugar on top?” When Krista finally got the message through that yes, she was in her right mind, the CM said, “Oh, you’re going to make some people very, very happy!” I like to smile to myself thinking of those unsuspecting folks calling, sure to find Le Cellier booked solid, only to find a table open.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, right, how are we getting down to WDW in the first place? We have driven and we have flown, and we definitely prefer flying to driving. As soon as the Southwest fares were released, I was happy to see an Internet special for $84/each way. I stalked their website and DINGS for a while, but didn’t see anything lower, so went ahead and booked our flights. I’m glad I did, as I have yet to see a cheaper fare, and it was nice having it booked so early. We toyed with the idea of doing the towncar thing after our return-to-airport DME experience last trip – but ultimately decided that we just had a little bad luck last time, and with a new resort, hopefully this time would be better. The difference in cost also helped this decision.

As far as Krista’s travel plans go. Wow, don’t even get me started on the complications. They were able to find some reasonable fares, and booked their flights pretty far out (I don’t remember what airline they are flying). Things seemed simple enough.

Then, something great happened. Jeff had taken the promotion in Illinois with the promise of being able to move back to NC in two years or so at an even higher level. Well, this all came to realization much quicker than we all could have hoped, and in the fall, Jeff discovered that he had been rewarded his promotion back to North Carolina. Krista and her fam-damily will be moving back to NC! YAY! They’ll be moving to the coastal area, which is about two hours from the rest of the fam-damily, but still, that’s much better than the 11 hours that separate us now. Terrific! Jeff and Krista decided that it would be best for Jeff to move to NC whenever he had to start his job, which they hoped, just to minimize the hassle of switching travel plans, would be after their Disney trip, and Krista and the girls will move as soon as school is over for the summer.

Of course, things didn’t work out quite like that, and Jeff had to start his new job here in NC the week after Thanksgiving. I’m not even going to try to pretend all the reasoning or logistics behind their travel plans between now and New Years, but basically, Jeff is leaving NC on Friday to fly to Illinois, and then they’ll all fly down to Florida together on Saturday, fly back to Illinois together the next Saturday, and he will fly back to NC on that Sunday, and then Krista and the girls are driving to NC the NEXT Friday (21st) to start their Christmas Vacation with us in NC, and Jeff will be driving from Eastern NC that same day to spend Christmas vacay with the entire fam-damily as well. Whew! I’m exhausted just typing it all, but it does go to prove the lengths that Jeff will go to make sure the ladies in his life are happy.

Oh, and this is also why we have an extra dog in the house – Jeff spent the night with us last week on his way from Illinois to Eastern NC, and he brought their miniature daschund puppy, Daisy (yes, named after the Duck), with him. Daisy is staying with us from now until Christmas. This way, Krista doesn’t have to board her in Illinois, she can just stay with my grandma while we’re all at Disney, and she’ll go back to Illinois with Krista when they leave after the holidays. So we have an extra little four-legged friend to look out after and to piddle on the floor for the next couple of weeks.

On our last trip, Mama and I had surprised the girlies with appointments at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and I briefly researched another special-somethin’ for them this trip. The Grand Adventures in Cooking sounded like the perfect thing – it’s reasonably priced, and the girls LOVE to cook! The Pirate Adventure also sounded like something they would both enjoy. I kept debating back and forth about booking them for something, but ultimately decided not to. We already have a lot of special events and meals planned, and I just didn’t want anyone to feel over-scheduled. Ultimately, this turned out to be a good thing, because Krista booked our family for a Photopass Photo Shoot at the Grand Floridian on the morning I was thinking of doing the Grand Adventures in Cooking for the girls. I don't really know anything about this either, except that it sounds like a steal - $25 for thirty minutes - and I'm supposed to wear something "nice."

P.S. The Photo Shoot, I have mixed feelings about. I think it’ll be adorable to get some cute pictures of the little girls. However, I don’t know how I feel about having to get all gussied up and suck it in while I’m on vacation, even just for a half hour.

Last, but not certainly not least, plans for Passporter Meets have been falling into place. From the very get-go, I had wanted to make sure that I would get to have a run-in with the Crazy Lady Trio (trademark), and after lots of high-lar-i-ous PMs, it looks like that will be happening. I cannot wait to participate in any wacky hijinks that may ensue, and I have running shoes, an adult diaper and bail money secured. Also, I have plans to meet up with Amy (akelos) for something or ‘nother during the week. Our itineraries are very similar up to the point when she departs, so we should have the chance to get into our own hootenannies at some point. Lastly, I hopehopehope that I’ll be able to make the Adventurer’s Club meet. I stupidly scheduled our Candlelight Processional the same evening, but as soon as it’s over, I’m going to race over to PI, so if you see a really short chick running in the door yelling, “WAIT! I’M HERE! I’M HERE! KUNGALOOSH! KUNGALOOSH?” that would be me.

Oh, and my title! I have both Amy and Mary Clayton to thank for it. Amy and I had decided weeks ago to incorporate the word “hootenanny” into our daily vocabulary, and then Mary Clayton sent out an e-Vite with the phrase “Holiday Hootenanny” in it. I totally stole it, which is how we non-creative people do things.

Up next: Our itinerary and last-minute ramblings!

[janicelovesmickey]

your nieces are adorable!! I love all the "older" or should I say vintage photos of WDW. they are fabulous!! and so is your photo shoot. I enjoyed reading your posts. and cant wait to read the TR now. Have a fun trip.

[iamgrumpy]

Great plans!

I can't wait to hear about your Le Cellier Meal I that place! Have fun!

[Colexis Mom]

What a fantastic start Scarlett What a hootenanny of a time you guys are going to have

[Lemap760]

Looks like you're all set for a great trip. Have fun.

[mestitch]

Okay I laughed at too many things that I can't remember what, while reading, I told myself to remember so I could comment on it..... I will admit that I didn't read your other TR (please forgive me, I mean, apparently you suffer from my disease "cantfinishatrinatimelymannerococcus" you can understand how one that can't find time to update can't also find time to read others....)

I am loving your Pre TR and I wish our trips overlapped!!! Keep it coming gal!

[disneydani]

Hy-ster-i-cal...nothing else to say! Looks like a fabulous trip in the making!

danielle

[Jookiba]

I LOVE your photos, especially the older ones!! I have to laugh when reading your reports because I can vividly remember what happened during your 06 trip!

I hope you all have a grand time......and that you plan to go next year at this time cuz Lord Willing I'll be there too......and we can have an even bigger hootenanny hoedown!!

[bonphil]

What a great start to your TR! I'm eagerly looking forward to the rest!

[clio]

Glad to see the start of another trip report from you. I laughed so much during the last one and yes I read the whole thing. I guess that means I need a life. I love all the old pictures. Have a great time.
Liz

[MickeyMAC]

Great start. I love reading your trip reports, no matter how long it takes you to write it. Your writing style is great.

[award]

Can't wait to hear about the adventures of the Fam Damily!!! We will miss ya'll by a week or so! Have a great time!