Disney Trip Update

This is still happening folks! I've added an extra day to my Disney resort, cancelled the Ocala hotel, added an extra night for the boys at the vet, added park days every single day of my trip, booked my one dining reservation (although I'm holding out for the new space-themed restaurant in Epcot that just opened up this week, but isn't taking reservations until this weekend, so I might end up with two), and I'm debating now which cake to preorder myself from Amorette's!

And yes, I also bought my annual pass. If I meet my Sister during her October trip, and we decide to go together in February, that pass will have paid for itself, so I'm not too worried about that. I did have to pick my brain a bit (as well as my therapist's), trying to decide the REAL reason why I wanted the annual pass...was it for the reason I just described? Was it also for the discounts (20% off of purchases and meals)? Was it for the special pins and other things you can buy with it that are passholder exclusives? Or was it just because my Sister has one (that is kind of a thing with me...I do have that bit of a jealous streak sometimes). It's probably all of the above over one or the other.

The plan is to leave at 7-8 pm and drive straight there, getting me there about 8-9 am, which is too early to check in, but I can go ahead and get my pass and take care of the paperwork (there will invariably be issues, this is me we're talking about here), and then head straight to my first park, until my room is ready. Bell services will hold my bags even before check in, although it's not going to be that hot that week, so I could just leave everything in the car since I have one of those slidy covers in the back of my trunk (gotta love an SUV). Since my first park is Animal Kingdom and it closes kind of early anyway, so I can go to bed early to make up for being awake for over 36 hours by that point. If my room is ready really early, maybe I can get a nap in, and then go back to the park and still manage to spend some time in Disney Springs, since it stays open late.

Yesterday I went to Target...inside (with my Sister, of course, I needed a chaperone). I knew I would have to go in to look at specific items. That's the first time I've stepped foot in a store in over two and a half years. Of course, here was an "incident" checking out that almost caused me to lose it, but I can't say I was surprised. I tried to wait on her to finish (she had an episode too, but she handled hers fine), but I just couldn't stand there any longer and I was about to snap, so since we took separate vehicles, I bolted. She didn't give it a second thought, I cried half the night. People (including my Sister) don't understand that things like this are why I have PTSD about going back to places. Go somewhere, something bad happens, never want to go back (and yes, I understand "bad" is relative...what is a blip to someone else, might be tragic to me, welcome to the wonderful world of Autistic Spectrum Disorder).

And, of course, there are things I HAVE to get done, like packing, battery charging, gathering items, even taking pictures of my stuff so I don't buy repeat items...but I've done NONE of it! I go home with good intentions, but I just turn on the TV and zone out. I started watching Disney movies I'm behind on, but that lasted five minutes. The first night I watched Frozen II (sucked), Onward (sucked, but not nearly as bad), and Raya and the Last Dragon (that was actually pretty good). The next night, nothing. The next night after that, I watched the live action Mulan, and I actually loved it! I don't see what all the negative fuss was about. Of all the live action movies I've seen (other than Lion King and Jungle Book, which both rocked), I think it was my favorite of the people live action. Last night I was going to watch Cruella, Soul and Luca (part of which I was going to watch after Mulan, but I ended up watching A Discovery of Witches again after Mulan and watched Witches again last night instead of anything Disney, another night bites the dust). I refuse to watch Maleficent 2 or the new Pete's Dragon and I don't own the new Mary Poppins yet, so that one is out. But what's left should catch me up.

Today, I did pull out the old GoPro to remove the vids from my last road trip, but, as per usual, one of the cards was corrupted, so I've lost a ton of footage. I tried everything to get it off, even downloading a card restorer, but even that didn't work. I don't know how much of that trip I lost (the one where I went through a bunch of Arkansas State parks), but that's what I get for leaving the card in the camera for months and definitely NOT using the stupid GoPro cloud service that I paid for! Lesson learned! I think that's why I prefer my camera and photos. I'm probably jinxing myself here, but I can't say I've ever had a camera card corrupted (or corrupted so much it couldn't be salvaged). These video cams just suck.

I'm not sure if I'll post again before Disney, but I'll definitely be posting after Disney! You guys know me, it will probably be hijinx galore with me! There is no telling how much trouble I will end up getting into. Stay tuned! And, I'll probably be posting a lot on my Instagram, so watch out for that too. I can't believe I'm going to Disney World completely unprepared for only four and a half days. I have lost my mind!

Soooooooooo

Funny thing happened yesterday...I booked a Disney trip! Yep, you read that right, me, little Miss can't go to the store, go through a drive-thru, eat take-away food, barely go to the gas station, booked a Disney trip! Granted, it was just a hotel outside of Disney Springs and a planned shopping trip, but in less than 24 hours, I'm already thinking about adding days, possibly getting an Annual Pass, and potentially planning the dreaded park days! How did all this happen, you ask? Well, as per usual with me, it's kind of a long story (but I'll try my best to shorten it...yeah, right).

I have been struggling with my birthday this year. I wanted to take that Massachusetts trip, the trip with my Sister, but that got cancelled because of COVID. We were afraid that certain states wouldn't "approve" of our Arkansas license plate and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to travel to multiple states anyway. Besides, we also couldn't agree on most of the trip, so it was better off it got cancelled. I've been really bummed about that. Then there was the matter of my b-day dinner. Most of you guys know I always cook myself a fancy dinner and bake myself a cake or something else to go along with it. Possibly sad that I do that for myself, but it's just what I do. I don't have anyone else and I HATE parties (not that I have anyone to throw a party for me).

I first thought I wanted a red velvet cherry cake (a concoction of my own making...that I haven't made yet), so I bought the ingredients. Then I decided on the ruby cacao pavlova, so I bought the ingredients. Then I decided on nothing. For the meal, first I thought about bangers and mash, but I can't make that (plus I'd have to go to the liquor store, which I can't do). We do have an Irish pub here (or whatever Arkansas calls an "Irish pub"), but I can't go in, so I'm SOL there too. Then I decided on goulash, so I ordered Hungarian paprika. Then I changed my mind again and decided on nothing (again).

Then yesterday, it hit me...even in my darkest days when I couldn't go to the store before, I could still go to Disney World, and Disney World has an Irish pub (Raglan Road) and an amazing 7 layer red velvet cake at Amorette's Patisserie. Before I knew what hit me, I had texted my Sister to see if she would be mad at me if I booked a shopping only trip to Disney (since both those locations are at Disney Springs, which means I wouldn't have to go into the parks, which is what I have been afraid of all these years). My Sister has been begging me for MONTHS to go with her on her Disney trip next month and I've been refusing because I was too scared. I was afraid she would be furious, but she was super excited! She even said now we could go back in February to the Festival of the Arts (seeds being planted...this would haunt me later).

Initally, I had decided I needed to talk to my therapist before I did anything, but that decision lasted all of ten minutes! Before I knew what had happened, I had booked two nights at Saratoga Springs (one of the resorts I've never stayed in, but always wanted to), booked Raglan Road for my b-day, called the vet to board the boys, booked an extra night in Ocala so I wouldn't have to leave too early and could drive back the next day (and $400/night versus $120/night is a vast difference), and that was that! It all went down so fast, I couldn't even think about it last night, so I didn't. I just zoned out in front of the TV.

Then I woke up this morning, and my gears started turning...thoughts of annual passes (another $1400 mind you, but there is a method to my madness), so I could go to the parks if I wanted to (a three day park hopper pass was going to add $900 to my trip alone, and that's just park tickets, APs do SO much more), With an AP, I could go a couple days with my Sister in October if I wanted to, and it would cover February (plus, anything I buy is 20% off, that alone, especially the way I spend in Disney, is worth it). I did decide to go ahead and call the vet and tack on another day for the boys in case I don't make it back in time since they close early the day I was originally planning to come back, but that got me thinking about cancelling the Ocala ressie and tacking on two days at one of the value resorts (that I hate with a passion, but I could still pick one I've never stayed in before so I'm still checking off the list) and it's only $150/night, $30 more than Ocala, still in Disney, and I could leave early a day later and still make it home in time to pick up the boys.

I've been numb all day. I spend an entire year planning a Disney trip, but now I have literally a bit more than a week! There is no time to get my hair done, I can't get my nails done (because I can't go in to a nail salon), and a million other things I do before I go. At least I'm driving, so I can take full bottles of shampoo and stuff, since I can't go inside and get trial sizes (those are too hard to buy online for pickup). Then there is ALWAYS the possibility that I'll get there and not be able to leave the room. Thank goodness Saratoga Springs is a DVC resort (basically a timeshare), so if I can't leave the room, then at least I can sit there and eat chips, jerky and licorice for my b-day, since it has a mini kitchen! I think that's why I'm holding off on booking anything too advanced, there is always the possibility I can't follow through. I have until Monday before I'm locked into the Ocala res, but I think that decision will be made by end of day today, one way or the other.

Then there is the issue of the actual shopping. So much for my debt paydown! I literally will be charging the equivalent of a iMac by the time all this is said and done, not to mention the damage I can do with purchasing! I'd like to say I've learned my lesson with spending, but that's BS, I know myself better than that. I'll be grabbing everything and anything I can get my hands on! After all, I haven't stepped foot in a Disney park since 2016, I've got some catching up to do! And here I go talking like I can actually leave the room...but I have the feeling that, once I get there, I'll be my old Disney self again, and, who knows, maybe this will fix me altogether?

So, that's the news so far...definitely more to come in the next couple of days! I doubt I'll be able to film video of my trip, I'm so not there yet of filming myself in public, but, as per usual with me, there will be pictures galore!