Yo Ho, A Disney Life for Me - Summer 2020 pre trip

[caitlinsmummy]

Hope tomorrow goes well Colette, rather jealous of the KFC though. We're only small villages and town's round here so I doubt ours will be open any time soon. We only got Uber Eats a few months ago and McDonalds and KFC aren't on it

I agree with Buggles that it's so much nicer to read this than the other fourms, they're so quiet or just full of negativity x

[mrsdjh]

Sorry to read about the cancellations starting to happen, and impending cancellations. I hope things come to a decision for you all soon and any refunds and rebooking get sorted quickly. Best wishes for your mum Kat x

I usually look at todays posts and I took the Corona board off the list. I only look in it now and again and only at the topics I’m interested in. Yesterday I had my first wobble when it hit me how much we will miss out on this year with no concerts, theatre, sport and holidays for so long, as well as just missing the ability to be able to just do simple things like sit in a coffee shop, meet friends and potter around shops.

My daughter is hoping Primark opens soon too Colette, as she has a Saturday job there and is currently furloughed. I’m also worried about the impact on the girls education with one in year 12 and one in year 10. I hope we hear something soon from school- I’m sure they’re discussing what they can do, just like you are Abby.

We have decided to see if we can plan next years holiday this weekend and as we didn’t get round to booking anything for this year I’m hoping we can either go for longer or upscale a two week holiday so there’s a positive!

Diane

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by collybird

Ahahaha Abby, I haven't had to put on my actual uniform yet as we have just been doing prep these last few days so I've been wearing play clothes. Tomorrow is D-Day, I shall report back!

It was a job and a half to find jeans that fit today, I would very much like Primark to open again soon.

I forgot to reply to you about which KFCs are opening when you asked, sadly not all are opening yet (still no news on my poor little store), have you seen any news about your local? I am looking forward to having KFC tomorrow on my break, although my favourite burger isn't on the limited menu.

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Well good luck with your uniform. I'm also looking forward to Primark opening, but mostly as Max seems to be growing at a rate unheard of even for teenage boys.

I haven't looked up our local KFC, it's on the way to Tesco so I'll see when I go shopping at the weekend if it or McD's is open as they are next door to each other. The car wash on the corner of the roundabout next to the two of them has been open the whole time though and it did always make me chuckle -obviously having a clean car is essential to some people and they absolutely cannot hand wash it themselves

Originally Posted by jothp

I've just read through everything I've missed in the last month and a half. Sorry I haven't been here much but I haven't felt like thinking about our trip. It was certainly a very strange feeling when they closed schools and it has been even stranger being in school with the small group of keyworker children. It is now going to be even stranger being open again and I really have no idea how it is going to work either for me or for my two older girls who are year 10 and year 12.

I've loved seeing all the meals you have made. If I'd been thinking straight we should have done meals around the world over the last seven and a bit weeks. The baklava certainly needed a lot of patience. If things take too long to make, I tend to run out of patience part way through and rush the end. I think I might try the lemon chicken and the parmigiana as those are things I've not made before and I've been trying to cook a wider range of things than the quick meals we end up eating on most school nights.

I love the fact that you've managed to stay so positive about your trip until now. I was trying to be positive but I've now come to the conclusion that we won't go even if we are able to get passports by then and flights are up and running.

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I know thinking about our holidays and looking forward to them hasn't been top of everyone's list lately. No need to say sorry though, people dip in and out, that's fine. I hope your older two girls aren't feeling too worried about their studies, I'm sure they will be fine and there is still plenty of time for them. I'm confident we can catch up the children who haven't been kept up to date with school work regardless of whether this was because they couldn't or wouldn't do the work at home, so I'm sure with your support yours are going to do just fine

I wish I could tell you how it's going to work out for schools for the next term, but this is so up in the air for us at the moment. We are putting in place plans and I think they will work and be good for the kids, but we are worried that parents won't allow their children back to school. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose and if that's the case then we will deal with it then.

The chicken parmigiana was nice it was a BBC food guide recipe. I've only made it that one time so I will have to make it again. Lemon chicken and egg fried rice is a family favourite, we really love that dinner! Neither of them have been eaten since I posted the photos on here so I will have to add the ingredients to the shopping list for next week.

Whatever happens for your trip this summer I hope you remember that it really is only a holiday, yes one that we look forward to and dream about for a very long time, but still only a holiday.

Originally Posted by Buggles94

Much prefer this TR to reading the Coronavirus forum. It really is so negative and I miss the old days of the DIBB. Have missed out on the furlough comments luckily... I’ve been told today that I will probably be furloughed till September... it’s definitely not something people want but hopefully it will help companies stay open and people will have jobs to go to when all this is finally over.. I wish I had had longer to pay my balance as I would definitely have waited to cancel until the last minute. I don’t feel relieved and I know I will be gutted if it turns out we could have gone.. However, the kids seem to be as excited about a week in CP so just hoping for sunshine and that that doesn’t get cancelled! As an aside the CP twitter messaging was amazing and got the holiday sorted for us! Using FB messenger to try to get my last remaining funds from DLP and will try to talk to Attraction Tickets tomorrow. All this rearranging definitely gives me something to do 😂😂 Really hope all the planned holidays go ahead and that by the end of the year we all have some happy holiday memories 😀😀

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I'm glad to read that the kids are as excited about CP as they were about WDW. It's funny that this always seems to happen, my two would be just as happy with burgers as they would be with a big fat steak for dinner, they don't really have a concept of the price a bit like the signature meals at WDW they have no idea that California Grill brunch is way more expensive than the QS at the resort hotel.

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

Hope tomorrow goes well Colette, rather jealous of the KFC though. We're only small villages and town's round here so I doubt ours will be open any time soon. We only got Uber Eats a few months ago and McDonalds and KFC aren't on it

I agree with Buggles that it's so much nicer to read this than the other fourms, they're so quiet or just full of negativity x

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We've got Uber Eats round here, obviously far more cosmopolitan in my village than yours

There's more positivity heading your way shortly.

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Sorry to read about the cancellations starting to happen, and impending cancellations. I hope things come to a decision for you all soon and any refunds and rebooking get sorted quickly. Best wishes for your mum Kat x

I usually look at todays posts and I took the Corona board off the list. I only look in it now and again and only at the topics I’m interested in. Yesterday I had my first wobble when it hit me how much we will miss out on this year with no concerts, theatre, sport and holidays for so long, as well as just missing the ability to be able to just do simple things like sit in a coffee shop, meet friends and potter around shops.

My daughter is hoping Primark opens soon too Colette, as she has a Saturday job there and is currently furloughed. I’m also worried about the impact on the girls education with one in year 12 and one in year 10. I hope we hear something soon from school- I’m sure they’re discussing what they can do, just like you are Abby.

We have decided to see if we can plan next years holiday this weekend and as we didn’t get round to booking anything for this year I’m hoping we can either go for longer or upscale a two week holiday so there’s a positive!

Diane

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I really want Max to be able to get a job, he's got nothing to do at the moment and I asked him to wash my car today and he hasn't done it. He did go on a bike ride through the woods though and got chased by a dog. Apparently the owner was very apologetic as the dog leapt up at him and knocked him off the bike. The owner said the dog doesn't like bikes, Max just found it funny. Anyway, he's still only 15 and won't be 16 until the end of August so I don't think he can get a shop job or work in a supermarket or McDs or KFC until he actually turns 16. But it would have been perfect for him as he could actually have been earning some money. I hope Primark opens again soon and your daughter can go back to her Saturday job soon enough. Can you imagine social distancing in Primark though? I don't know about yours but ours is always chock-a-block, I mean really bursting at the seems, there will be queues miles long to get in once they do open up.

[Goldia]

A Lot Can Happen In 10 Weeks

This time 10 weeks ago was Thursday 5th March, the day after Kate’s 13th birthday.

Why am I thinking about this today?

Because I remember 4th March well, it was a day where I had to stay at work late for year 11 parents evening. I had conversations with parents about what things their children needed to focus on to improve and to achieve the grade they wanted. We were aware of the corona virus, but no one was particularly worried and I shook hands with everyone that night. It was before the idea of the elbow touch had become common practice. I came home, I didn’t wash my hands like I was scrubbing in for surgery and we sang Happy Birthday to Kate and she blew out some candles on her cake – they had already eaten as I knew I’d be late and wouldn’t get to eat a birthday tea with her.

Did we anticipate things would escalate?

No, I don’t think we did.

Did we foresee weeks and weeks of lockdown?

No, I don’t think we did. Some of us thought we might get an extra week or two off from school at Easter and perhaps the Easter break would be extended.

So, is this empirical scientific evidence that things will be much better 10 weeks in the future?

Hell NO! Obviously not, but it does make me think that a heck of a lot can happen in 10 weeks.

Why is 10 weeks important?

Take a look at my countdown!

We are hurtling towards the 10 week milestone. I am not in the least bit thinking things are looking up for our holiday, unfortunately the coming out of lockdown seems to be a whole lot slower than the going into lockdown. People are far more cautious of exiting and many people are fearful that we are even thinking about exiting lockdown and many fear there will be a second wave.

Maybe there will be, but maybe there won’t. Maybe we will be able to open up some workplaces and schools and allow people to start to get back to normal.

Will it happen quickly enough for our summer holiday?

Probably not, but I’m not too sad. If it goes ahead than woo hoo and if it doesn’t, then it really is just a holiday. Honestly, I can wait, I've done it before it will be ok.

Back to the looking on the bright side.

At the weekend we went for one of our walks and the kids were talking about the rides they really wanted to go on when we go back to Florida. So, I posed the question

“What are your top 3 rides in each park?”

Dave said “the bus ride home” he thought he was being funny and clever but I just melted as he called the hotel home, I don’t think he realised what he had done or the importance of it to me as the kids were both screaming at him that this wasn’t a proper answer. But that was all we got from him.

So, we will start with Magic Kingdom.

Max is looking forward to Space Mountain, 7DMT and BTMR, then I said “what about Pirates?” and he subbed POTC in for BTMR.

Kate found MK the hardest as there are a lot. First it was the 3 mountains, in the end she settled on Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, as she really loves the Pooh characters.

For me, top of the list is Splash Mountain, then it’s got to be Peoplemover as I can’t wait to take in the views and then I reckon it might be Under the Sea with Ariel, I really do like the clamshell rides .

Onto Epcot.

Max said Test Track, Mission: Space but only the orange one and then he didn’t really know what to pick for 3rd place and in the end he went for Soarin.

Kate picked Mission: Space orange, Figment and the 3 caballeros ride (in Mexico).

I would go for Spaceship Earth (but I don’t think it will be open when we return), Figment (but I would be holding my nose in the skunk room) and Soarin (but only if we are in row B1). It turns out that Epcot isn't really loved for the rides is it?

Now HS was pretty straight forward.

Both the kids agreed with Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster and they are right they are awesome. Then Max picked Slinky Dog and Kate picked Star Tours. They both conceded that the 2 new Galaxies Edge rides may well sneak in and steal the first and second places and I also think that Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway might feature in our top three. But as we’ve never ridden any of them we can’t judge them. So, for me it would be Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller and then I would pick Midway Mania.

Last WDW park is AK.

Again this is one where we are largely in agreement. All of us picked Flight of Passage and Everest. For Max there was some debate about the Rapids ride and Kilimanjaro Safari, but in the end the safari came in at 3rd place. For Kate it was always going to be Dinosaur and I would tend to agree with her, but last year we didn’t get to ride Primeval Whirl as it only has seasonal opening now and I would really love to get on that ride again. I know, it's a dreadful ride but I have a bit of a longing for it at the moment.

Right then, onto Universal.

The kids found this harder as US doesn’t have a big glut of rides they love whereras IOA seems to have all the rides. There was lots of two-ing and fro-ing about how whether we could just move some of the rides over no we can't just pick

In the end for Universal Studios Max picked Rip Ride Rock It, Escape from Gringots and The Mummy. Kate decided to sub in the Simpsons ride instead of RRR but agreed with the other two. I think I’d go for the Jimmy Fallon ride, The Mummy and Escape from Gringots. But the kids are right IOA has all the good rides.

So narrowing down for IOA was a bit of a problem. Top of Max’s and my list is Hulk, then he picked “The up and down one” he means Dr Doom’s Fear Fall and third was “all of the wet one’s” he utterly refused to narrow it down as “they’re all good”.

Kate went for “the Hogwarts one, the popeye one and you pick the other one” I think she got bored with this conversation!

For me at Islands it’s definitely Hulk at the top, Max is right with that and I think he might be right with the wet rides. For me I think they are more fun than the Hogwarts ride as you get to see the other people you are riding with, at least you do in Bilge Rat Barges (this is what Kate meant with the Popeye one), it just adds to the fun. Jurassic Park is great and also so is Dudley Do Rights. So, perhaps Max was right to group these as a package as surely everyone has the same strategy, once you're wet you're wet and you may as well do them all . I suspect that when we next make it to Universal Hagrids will feature very highly in our lists, but that’s another that we haven't ridden and will have to be patient for.

We did talk about water parks, but basically all the rides are the same and we couldn’t really remember the names of them and we were pretty much home by then.

It wasn’t a conversation where we talked about when we would actually be able to ride them all again, we just talked about the one’s we were most looking forward to.

And it was enough.

Maybe it will have to do for a while.

And it will still be enough.

[Cutiepie]

Abby,

I really do love reading along to this thread as I hate most of the rest of the Dibb at the moment. I don't comment very often as I tend to read on my iPad and hate typing on the iPad as it takes me ages

It's funny I remember the 4th March as well, as I was at Keira's parent/ teacher meetings that day. Everything you have said is very true. I never made it to Nathan's as it got cancelled the following week and then never happened.

Who knows if you will get to go on your holiday but there is always next year but you can keep up chatting here! Or start an Abby chat thread

Nathan is a school year younger than Max even though they are the same age, as we are slightly different here in NI. He does still have work to do as his GCSEs aren't to next year but I do worry about the impact this will all have for next years exams. I would also like him to get a job but like you I don't think he will be able to until he is 16. He wants to save to buy a car when he turns 17 so he will definitely need that job

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I know thinking about our holidays and looking forward to them hasn't been top of everyone's list lately. No need to say sorry though, people dip in and out, that's fine. I hope your older two girls aren't feeling too worried about their studies, I'm sure they will be fine and there is still plenty of time for them. I'm confident we can catch up the children who haven't been kept up to date with school work regardless of whether this was because they couldn't or wouldn't do the work at home, so I'm sure with your support yours are going to do just fine

I wish I could tell you how it's going to work out for schools for the next term, but this is so up in the air for us at the moment. We are putting in place plans and I think they will work and be good for the kids, but we are worried that parents won't allow their children back to school. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose and if that's the case then we will deal with it then.

The chicken parmigiana was nice it was a BBC food guide recipe. I've only made it that one time so I will have to make it again. Lemon chicken and egg fried rice is a family favourite, we really love that dinner! Neither of them have been eaten since I posted the photos on here so I will have to add the ingredients to the shopping list for next week.

Whatever happens for your trip this summer I hope you remember that it really is only a holiday, yes one that we look forward to and dream about for a very long time, but still only a holiday.

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I'm not too worried about the girls' studies, I think they will be just fine too. They have both been working very hard on their home learning and submitting all the work that has been asked of them. Evie has been working very hard too and has had as much work set as the other 2 despite only being in year 7. She is needing the most help of the three of them but that is understandable being that much younger. I haven't decided if I will send Robyn and Hattie back if school does open at all for them; I'm waiting to see what is offered. They have to catch a train to school which obviously increases the risks and the station is a 45 minute walk from our house. Normally Ollie or I drop them at the station before work in the morning but depending on hours they are needed at school that might not be practical which would mean a minimum of an hour and a half journey to get there. I will wait and see what the school are proposing and make a decision then.

For me, we haven't heard a plan from the head yet so it is wait and see on that front too.

I will definitely look up that recipe. I have been cooking some new things and some old things that I generally don't find time to make so this will fit in nicely.

I'm planning to update my PTR later with the thoughts about our holiday so I won't repeat myself here.

[jothp]

Your thoughts about 10 weeks have really made me have a different take on the whole situation. I'm not actually too bothered about being able to get to Florida but I would really like to be able to get together with small groups of friends and family by the summer holidays at least. I find it a little strange that one of the first steps out of lockdown is to mix 15 different households in a group at school rather than allowing people to meet up in groups of 2-3 households so they can see family and friends.

[OB1LukeLucas]

Happy Friday

Nice to hear the family are talking to you about florida we’ve had a little bit chat about it and generally are just feeling so thankful we got to do Hagrids. Still absolutely gutted that we may never get to expeience Galaxy Edge

I kept telling them this was going to be our last Florida holiday for awhile...no-one believed this statement but I’m even starting to think that when we can travel again perhaps we should tick something new off the list

Let’s see what happens when I eventually need to speak to Disney...’oh I can change the booking to next year...there is availability at AKL and BC...ok so 2 weeks summer 2021’

[collybird]

I love that every one of us has decided that if we have to cancel this year we'll just throw extra money at next year's trip 😂

I can now report that although I can get into my work trousers by the end of the day I had to undo them right to fly as they were making me feel ill 😂 Chicken Land is so busy that I am sure they'll fit again in no time. I banged my head today at work and spent the rest of the day convinced I had concussion as I was so dizzy. It took me until the end of the day to realise I was dizzy as I spent the day in my socially distanced box turning in circles to move things from A to B haha.

[Buggles94]

I love your 10 week thoughts Abby... 10 weeks ago is like another lifetime. My DD was in hospital and even up there there was no urgency about the situation. We had meetings and still were shaking hands. It all changed very quickly didn’t it? And I live in hope that it can all change again. I’ve read tonight on twitter that the Governor of Florida is asking for theme parks to submit their reopening plans and that gyms open in Florida on Monday. So hope that all these steps forward mean an open WDW for you 😀😀 I also loved your discussion with your family re favourite rides... made me feel very nostalgic. I wish the Dibb were still about favourite rides, FP worries etc. Disney has always been my escape and happy place and the Dibb has kept me going between trips - and also made me spend lots extra on things I didn’t know I needed😂 I think the Abby chat thread is a great idea!
I agree that next year’s rebooked holidays will be bigger and better -I cheered myself up yesterday by booking a night in a club room at AKL for our last night at Easter! Haven’t told family yet but these little treats are definitely helping with the pain of cancellation!