Within all the other thoughts that are floating around in my head, it's probably best to start at the beginning and discuss our dates.
Before we do that, I'd like to take a little retro journey into yesteryear.
Back when TK wasn't TK.
She was just a ten year old girl, going to Disney for the second time, and staying at the most beautiful hotel on the property.
The Grand Floridian.
When I was ten, my parents took me and my sister to Disney. Honestly, I don't remember a lot specifically about this trip. I remember the hotel. I remember thinking I was independent, going to play arcade games by myself with a roll of quarters from Nana and Granddad when really they'd sent my sister a few minutes behind me. Crafty folks, my parents. And I never thought anything of it when she joined me.
But more specifically, I remember the hotel.
How grand. How beautiful. How pretty. I mean, you know how important those formative years are to a girl and some things just stick.
Well, the Grand Floridian just stuck. I told my parents, on that trip, that when I got married, I was going to honeymoon at Disney and stay at the Grand Floridian.
Now, there were trips in between. Trips where we stayed at other places, and trips where we stayed at my beloved Grand Flo.
But the trip to end all trips, to put all trips to shame, was my honeymoon.
DH and I had entertained the notion of getting married at Disney. We would have been married in the wedding pavilion and had a reception in front of Italy, in that section they rope off for private parties by the gondolas. Our guests would have been able to enjoy Illuminations.
It wasn't to be. The main reason is that we're Catholic. And in order to have your marriage recognized by the church, you need to get married in the church. This may not be the case in every church in every parish, but it was in ours. And quite frankly, I didn't want the hassle.
So my dream of a Disney wedding was not to be.
My dream of a Disney honeymoon, however, came to complete fruition.
At the time, I was working for the
Disney Store. I was a part time lead, which is part of the managment team, so I had amazing benefits. This was before the stores were sold and then bought back.
I got into the parks for free, and I got 50% off hotel rooms.
So DH and I stayed at the Grand Floridian for our 10 day honeymoon in the Sugar Loaf Concierge building.
That was one of the best trips I've ever been on. We barely spent money on food, there were always so many little snacks in the concierge building.
I can remember one day when the skies opened up and poured, and the pathways were flooded as we were running back to our room, and I couldn't run in my sandals, and DH told me, take them off! And there were these ducks waddling by, so happy, so thrilled to be wet, and we silly humans went tearing past at breakneck speed.
And what a rude awakening when you go from wet, wet, wet to that cool air conditioned air. BRRRR.
Suffice it to say I'm a girl of my word. I've loved the Grand Flo since I was ten years old, and I love it still.
I haven't stayed there since my honeymoon.
I can never get over the price, so much money to spend on one night. It just seems crazy.
So now you can all understand why, when Mom and I got a passholder rate that makes the Grand Flo less than rack rate at the Wilderness Lodge, we were over the moon. Port Orleans French Quarter (the mod we thought we'd stay at) was out of the picture. For a few hundred dollars more how can you possibly, possibly turn down the Grand Flo? At 45% off.
Short answer, you can't.
So, on to the dates.
I'd wanted to take Saturday, Jan 30 to Tuesday, Jan 2. This is for a few reasons. One, Saturday is the easiest day for me to take off and not use a lot of PTO. It's only a four hour day. Two, my father is off on Mondays and Tuesdays, and he can watch DS for my while DH is at work. It fits really well with everyone and meshes.
Unfortunately, when I talked to my supervisor yesterday, she informed me that I could not have Saturday, the 30th off, and for a legitimate reason.
Hmm...said I. I asked her if I could come up with another date, she said sure, and I told her I would call back.
So on went my thinking cap until,
I had an idea.
See, there was a late flight on Saturday the 30th. It leaves around 420 and gets in at 715. I know it "wastes" a day, but it still puts me in Disney on that Saturday, and I didn't really like the flight times on Sunday. They were worse and more expensive.
So I conferred with Mom.
And that's how our Saturday to Tuesday trip became a Saturday to Wednesday trip. I called my supervisor and got approved to take off Wednesday, February 3.
I called DS' preschool and asked him if he could go on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday that week. (He only goes two days a week.) They said yes.
Mom asked Dad if he would watch DS on Monday and Tuesday.
My evil mother / daughter getaway plan was coming to fruition.
Mwa ha ha.
Quickly, not wanting to waste a moment, Mom and I booked airfare.
And let me tell you about that. We're paying under $200 round trip. We had a TON of credits (Southwest) leftover from our September trip. You can only use three per ticket, but let me tell you, it sure helped.
Then, we went online (while talking over the phone LOL) and logged into the Disney website with her annual pass. Low and behold, our beloved Grand Flo was still available.
Standard room. Four nights, five days.
My Disney heaven.
We booked it. Now will you laugh at me if I tell you we had already booked dining? One of the beauties of planning a trip in such a short span of time is that you don't have to wait for your dining window. It's already open. And one of the beauties in going in Jan/Feb is that it's pretty much wide open.
But that's for another chapter.
So there you have it.
How Mom and I got our girls' weekend away at my happy place. January 30th to February 3rd.
It's possible that when I saw her yesterday, we may have done a little happy dance.
It looked something like this
, except with a rounder belly on my part.
Next Chapter
)
I even make an appearance!
And your Mom has done it all in a week?! 
