The following is a quote "based on" one of my favorite movies...it is also edited for content.... :thumbsup2

"This is not a vacation . . . it's a QUEST! IT'S A QUEST FOR FUN! I'm gonna have fun, and you're gonna have fun! We're all gonna have so much darn fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our smiles! You'll be whistling Zip-a-dee-doo-da out of your behinds!..... I've got to be crazy! I'm on a pilgrimage to see a mouse! Praise Mickey Mouse!"

~Clark W. Griswold~




One of the reasons I find the above movie quote so darn funny is because it is so very close to what our family vacations were like when I was a kid. The way my dad behaved on vacation is scarily close to Clark W. Griswold himself. I remember driving to Walt Disney World for my very first trip ever when I was in the 4th grade. Clark was right. It was not a vacation. It was a quest for fun!! Back then there was no such thing as ADR's. There wasn't even a time when we made hotel reservations!! We got in the car at 5am and we drove to Florida. When it started to get dark we'd pull into whatever town we were next to and start going to hotels one by one to see who had vacancies. This didn't always lead to the greatest of places to stay but one thing is for sure, we always met interesting people. :laughing:

I remember one trip in particular where we drove from Louisiana to Colorado to visit family up by Denver. Remember, this is my dad so we didn't just shoot up diagonally to Denver. He wanted us to "see the land" and stuff. So we drove half way across the United States.....uh, I mean we drove across the state of Texas because my dad wanted us to see the "nothing" in El Paso. :confused3 We were on our way to New Mexico to see Carlsbad Caverns. Somewhere around San Antonio or so, he decided to skip El Paso and just go to Carlsbad. Thank goodness!!!! Because I'll tell ya, the desert was not kind. I swear there were times we may have run off the road, which I firmly believe has contributed to me never ever being able to fall asleep in a vehicle again. I also became a "woman" while driving through that desert which lead us to have to pull over at a "town" with a sign that said population 0.007. :scared1: It was a small store/gas station/mechanic garage/someone's house all rolled into one. My dad was actually mad at me that God decided it was time for me to recieve the gift of woman-hood. :confused3 If you've seen the movie National Lampoon's Vacation, then you are laughing your butt off right about now....and yes, my younger sister almost "stabbed her brain" at one point. Eventually....2-3 days later we made it to our destination in Colorado. This crazy "vacation" was the longest we had ever taken before and there has never been another one that long since. I think we were gone for over 2 weeks! Here is a couple of pictures of us coming into New Mexico. While taking the first picture by the "welcome" sign, I believe it was my dad who discovered that on the other side of the sign, it said that you were now leaving New Mexico. He had the idea to take the last photo of us being "tired" because we were "on the way home". :lmao: (see what I mean about my dad?:laughing:)







Finally at Carlsbad Caverns we had to do the typical photo with the Ranger....


Somewhere in New Mexico......
"'Clark'!!! If we back up anymore we will fall off the cliff!!"



So my friends, new and old, I welcome you to my new Pre Trip Report!! Hi, I'm Cherie! I'm an OCD Disney Vacation Planner. I truly believe that my planning obsession is directly related to my insanely crazy, fly by the seat of your pants, childhood vacations. I'm so obsessed with planning our Disney trips that I am now a part time travel planner on the side of being a stay at home mom. I'm 36 years old and I've been married to my DH for 15...almost 16 years. We have one son who is 5 and in Kindergarten. I am room mother for his class this year and I'm loving every crazy minute of that. (again...the planner obsession!)



Up next I will introduce the cast and explain what makes THIS TRIP so special!

__________________
National Lampoon's February Quest For Fun!
February 2009 Magical Family Adventures (WDW trip)
A Magical Cruise Adventure full of "first's"!)

 

 

well, you've got me all curious.

__________________

 

 

Info

Join Date: Oct 2008

Location: New York City

Posts: 7,214

Awards Showcase

         
Total Awards: 9

nice start. i am along for the ride

__________________
Scott,

 

 

Great start, I am along for the ride. I love the Griswolds

__________________




DVC Owners - Saratoga Springs since 2006
August 2010 AKV - Kidani, August 2009 SSR,May 2009 SSR, August 2008 VWL, August 2007 - POR and BCV, November 2006 - POFQ, August 2004 - ASSP, January 2001 - Offsite, December 1998 - Offsite, May 1997 - Offsite, June 1996 - Offsite, December 1995 - Offsite, June 1994 - Offsite, February 1989 - Offsite, April 1986 - Offsite, April 1985 - Offsite, December 1985 - Offsite, Numerous times as a child

 

Love it!

Christmas Vaction is my FAVORITE holiday movie.....ready for more!

__________________

 

 

__________________
--Kristel--
The Redneck Chronicles, #2
A Tribute to my DDad

 

Joining in and ready for more!!

__________________
I love Mickey Mouse!!
Lisa's Trips
April 2006-POR Dec 2007-POFQ Oct 2009-CBR

 

 

__________________
Darla

Mom's Going Back - May '10 Pre-trip

First Timers Took on the World - October '08

 

 

And thanks for joining in!!! I will have a cast intro soon.....

__________________
National Lampoon's February Quest For Fun!
February 2009 Magical Family Adventures (WDW trip)
A Magical Cruise Adventure full of "first's"!)

 

 

Let's get started on the Cast intro! I've already introduced myself so lets start with...

DH - 39 years old. We've been married for 15 years...16 in January! He is a really hard worker and I'm so proud of him. He is in the oil & gas industry. At only 39 years old he has been with his company for 20 years this December! He is the reason I'm able to be a stay at home mom. He's got a great work ethic. He is just as hooked on Disney World as I am. He's just not as quick to admit it. I do notice him mentioning it more to people lately, though. :thumbsup2



DS - 5 years old. He is in Kindergarten this year. He is my one and only bundle of joy. He LOVES dinosaurs and says he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. He thinks this year is his year to brave the ride "dinosaur". We shall see if that actually happens. :laughing: We do so much together and I'm hoping that I can keep it close to that way even when he is a teenager. In August I brought him to see the Jonas Brothers concert in Houston. He is in the fan club and they have a deal where you can register to win a "meet & greet" with the Jonas Brothers. HE WON!!!! So, not only did he get to experience an awesome concert, but he actually got to meet them.




We have been fortunate enough to go to Disney twice a year for the past 2 years in a row. Before that it was once a year. I've lost count on how many times we've gone now. We are addicts, as are all of you! :goodvibes So what makes this trip so special??? Well, for starters February is our favorite time to visit WDW and I didn't think we were going to get to go this year due to DH's work schedule and DS being in school. I don't know how but it somehow worked itself out where we could go! The school is okay with it and we found a week that DH could go. The other reason(s) this trip is so special is because some of our favorite Dis "peeps" were going to be there! First it was Jordan. (Jordanyosh for you newbies out there) If you haven't read his PTR or past TR's then you need to! Then we found out that Winkers & DJay are going during this time too!!

During our February trip in 2008, we met Jordan and his family & friends! Somewhere during his PTR back then he and Winkers had some sort of conversation on how Winkers should go on the trip too. Well, since she couldn't be there in person, she sent a "flat" of herself to Jordan. What is a flat you ask? It is a laminated picture of herself stuck on a popsicle stick!! :rotfl2: Jordan and family brought "flat winkers" around WDW with them in a hysterical turn of events. So when I met Jordan and his "peeps", I also got to meet "flat winkers". The next surprise was getting to meet Rosie on this trip too! (englishrose47) She was so sweet and gave me a "fockers" lanyard! You will have to go to the community board and look up "focker watch" to understand this one! :laughing:

So this brings us to May 2008!! During our February trip, I fell ill with bad sinus problems. DH brought us back in May as a "make up trip". During that time Winkers was also doing a "make up trip" of her own. The flat winkers craze had taken off by that point, so Jordan decided to send us each a "flat jordan" for our May trip. :rotfl: Winkers and I were to meet on that trip but it didn't work out. We each had our own "adventures with flat jordan" that brought on much laughter in our trip reports.

On to February 2009! Winkers just so happened to be going the same time as us AGAIN!! This time we did get to meet and it was so much fun. All it did was leave me wanting more!! Meets at Disney world are so much fun. We also got to meet Wirki from here on the Dis and Enchanted.

And now we are to the present!! I found out that Scottny wanted to get in on our meets this trip so he scheduled a weekend getaway just for that purpose! Now we have..... Scott, Jordan, Winkers, & Rosie!! This is going to be one heck of a trip. I absolutely can not wait to meet up with this great bunch of people again and to meet Scott for the first time!

Here are some pictures of past meets and some fun with Flat Jordan....

me & rosie...


me, rosie, & jordan...


me & jordan doing his signature picture pose...."the tongue"

I almost forgot that I was traveling with "pirate pete" that year. He got to meet flat winkers. See Jordan's TR to see how they hit it off. :lmao:

me, winkers, & wirki...


me & jordan again...


A few of our adventures with flat jordan...







Up next.....IT'S BINDER TIME!!!

__________________
National Lampoon's February Quest For Fun!
February 2009 Magical Family Adventures (WDW trip)
A Magical Cruise Adventure full of "first's"!)