Jared's Wish Upon A Star Pop Century Trip 8/14-8/24 - Updated 6/30 - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived from our trip a couple of days ago. We managed to find some magic despite Fay tagging along. We did have very crummy weather, but the good news is that we became DVC members and we have already booked July 09 at AKV. Can't wait. I will start my trip report soon. I just need to rest a little and unpack, lol. Be back soon.
I’ve been back for a couple of days now and finally feel like I’ve “recovered” enough energy to start my TR. Here goes:
8/13 The Day Before We Leave
My BIL, sister, and two DDs drove to our house in Philadelphia (from Northern New Jersey, about a 2 hour drive). We had planned on driving ourselves to the airport since no one would be able to take us on a Thursday morning. We were planning on leaving the car parked at the airport, however, my sister would not have it. She insisted that my BIL would come to our house and drive us to the airport the next day. This was very generous, however I felt really bad because they just got back from WDW 2 days earlier and they had driven there. I kept telling her we would drive ourselves, but she would not take no for an answer.
So when DH got out of work at around 5pm, my sister and her family arrived at our house. We were very excited to see them and hear all about their trip, but I still felt very guilty. Anyway, I had a couple of errands to run and my sister watched the boys while DH and I went to a few different places. I needed to get my eyebrows done since I wanted to look half decent in all my Photopass pics (all you ladies know what I mean). We also needed to pick up some last minute items, a pizza (no cooking the night before we leave on vacation, I already have enough to do), and a birthday cake for my BIL (did I forget to mention that his birthday was the day we left).
After pizza and cake, my sister helped me finish packing. I don’t know how this happens, but I always end up packing the night before I leave. I started a couple of weeks before and for some reason I can never get done. I guess I feel like I can’t pack everything in case I will need it before my trip. I really have to do something about this. I also need to learn how to not overpack. I think I took my entire house.
Let me just say that I have no idea how I could’ve done it without my sis. She is the best. She helped me pack, gave the boys a bath, and kept me calm all at the same time. Sisters are the best.
When we were finally done packing, we ended up with a lot more bags than I had planned. We had 7 suitcases and a cooler (I really need to invest in bigger suitcases). We put all the locks on the suitcases as well as the DME tags. I don’t know how, but somehow we ended up not having enough DME tags. We only had 7, so we decided we would just pick up the cooler ourselves and bring it on the DME bus with us. We would need it right away for the milk we ordered from Garden Grocer (or so we thought). Turns out the other DME tag was under our coffee table the whole time. I just found it today when I was cleaning, lol.
I really had the best intentions to get to bed early, but after getting our carry on bags set up and laying out our clothes for the next morning, we didn’t get to bed until 2am. I knew at this moment that I was going to be off to a slow start and that I had not done a very good job of planning (I guess I really do need a year to plan, lol)
Side Note:
Each boy had his own little bag with some toys in it. I packed coloring books, color wonder books, sticker books, crayons, 1 lollipop each, goldfish crackers, Nintendo DS’s (yes my two year old has his own DS, my Mom bought it for him despite all my protests, just because he always wanted his brother’s DS and she felt sorry for him), an etch a sketch, a Captain Underpants book for my older DS, and some I Spy books.
I had one small bag with chewable Tylenol, ear plugs, 3oz sunscreen, and 3 oz. hand sanitizer. I also had extra snacks in this bag and some extra toys in case anyone had a complete meltdown on the plane and I had to keep them quiet. (I’m always afraid they the boys will act up and we will be asked to get off the plane, I know I’m paranoid, I’ve heard it before.)
We also had one larger bag with our toothbrushes, my camera, an extra memory card, 2 blankets and 2 small pillows for the flight, our bathing suits, pj’s, and a change of clothes for all. I am always afraid that our luggage will not make it with us.
DH had a bag with all electronics in it. He had his PSP, MP3 players, cell phone chargers, any other chargers we could think of, and a portable DVD player (in case all else fails). Now you see what I mean when I say I bring everything but the kitchen sink, lol.
Up Next: Can “Stitch” Sit Through A Two Hour Flight???.......
Well I am glad you were able to leave the kitchen sink at home. I totally know what you mean about the over packing and fear of being removed from an airplane.
I bet everything went perfect and you didn't need all the extras but one never knows.
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They caught us all smiling and looking at the camera!!!
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WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
What a busy day, glad that your sister was able to help out and that you could share in some of their travel tales and also celebrate BIL's birthday....
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