Pluto0809
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
Hi Y’all and welcome to another one of my TRs! I think most people know me by now but if you don’t, I’m Ariana and I live outside Atlanta GA with my husband Jim and our five furry butts. Yep, you read that right, we have 5 dogs.
Jim doesn’t factor at all into this trip, he’s more of a once a year or even every other year kind of Disney guy. We actually went twice in 2018 which was way more than enough for him so he won’t be joining me on my trips this year. Here’s a picture of the two of us from our January 2018 trip.
And since I think they are the cutest dogs ever, I’m going to spam you with pictures of my dogs before I go on to talk about this trip.
First up is Sierra, she is a 9 year old Miniature Schnauzer and the apple of her Daddy’s eye. We bought her home as a puppy and is the last dog we bought from a breeder.
Next is Remy aka “The Little Rat”. He’s a Yorkie and was the first to follow me home from the local animal shelter where I volunteer. He was supposed to be a foster over the holidays when the shelter was closed but he never ended up going back. He is extremely high maintenance and even though I love him to death, I’m not sure if I would ever get another Yorkie.
Ellie is our next baby. She is 3 years old and we believe she might be a Schnauzer/Jack Russell mix. She is an absolute sweetheart and never sits still. She is usually outside chasing down the many squirrels that inhabit our backyard. We brought her home from the shelter because she looked exactly like our dog Alex. Unfortunately we lost him to cancer a few months after we got her. Here she is photobombing me at the Atlanta Braves game last month. She loves going places so we took her to Bark at the Park.
At one point in 2017 we were down to just three dogs, Ellie, Sierra and Remy. Ellie, being so much younger than the other two, was driving them nuts wanting to play all the time. So we brought Buddy who is now 4 years old, home from the shelter as a playmate for her. We believe he is a Schnauzer/Dachshund mix because he has stubby legs and a long barrel shaped body.
Unfortunately Buddy did not turn out to be the playmate that Ellie needed. Even though he was around the same age as her, he was more content to lay on the couch then run around and play. By the time we realized that he wasn’t going to work out, he was already a member of our family. So the search continued for a playmate for Ellie. We introduced her to a couple of dogs at the shelter but nothing clicked until Sulley came along. He’s a Schnoodle and turned out to be the perfect playmate for Ellie. Jim and I both agree that he is one of the weirdest dogs we’ve ever had but in a good way that makes us laugh all the time. I mean, just look at how he likes to sit!
I see this upside down grin quite often too. One of my friends said he reminds her of a sloth.
OK, I think I’ve gone on long enough about my dogs. Let’s move on and talk about the actual trip now. Hopefully everyone is still here and hasn’t bailed on the TR yet.
When I first started looking at trips for 2019, I promised Jim that I would only go one time since I had 4 trips in 2018. He really wanted to go somewhere different in 2019 and we will be doing that with a visit to Charleston, SC this fall. He’s a bit of a history buff so we tend to visit historical cities a lot for him. For my one Disney trip, I decided to go down at the end of October for the Food and Wine marathon weekend to run the Fall Feast 5K. My goal is to run all four WDW 5Ks before my body decides it’s done with this running thing I’ve been doing.
But then I found the PTR talking about the Epic Girls trip that was in the works for May 2019. I “knew” most of the ladies that were going although I think many of them had no idea of who I was. I tend to read a lot more TRs then I comment on mainly because I’m an introvert and somewhat on the shy side. I went back and forth for a long time debating with myself as to whether I would speak up and join the group for that trip. As you know since I’m writing this TR, I finally did just that and decided to move my 2019 trip to May.
And boy am I glad I decided to speak up and join in! I will admit I was super nervous going into the trip because I really don’t make friends easily, I’m usually too quiet and withdrawn and rarely initiate with people. But I came away from this trip feeling like I made a group of lifetime friends. Like the title says, this trip was epic!
There will be many, many DISers to introduce as I go through this TR and I will try to tag everyone at the end of this post (please forgive me if I miss someone, it’s definitely not intentional). But there is one more that played a huge roll in the week and that was my roommate, Jackie (@missjackiemcg )
She was the only DISer on the trip that I had met before in real life so I felt comfortable in all my introvertedness (yes, I have a bad habit of making up words) to room with her. Once again I will admit I was super nervous but I felt like we ended up being perfect roommates. I’m pretty high maintenance and she isn’t but the rooms at Pop allowed me to get up earlier than her and close myself in the bathroom area to get ready. She joined our trip a little late because she wasn’t sure she could get off of work but I’m sure glad she did!
And here’s a list of the other DISer that I spent some time with and will be mentioned throughout the TR (Lesley (@Lesley Wake ) I basically stole this from your TR, thanks):
Su-Lynn (@chunkymonkey ) and her hubby Steve and sister Su-Queen, Lesley (@Lesley Wake ) Caroline (@disneyAndi14 ) Molly (@Mollydolly334 ) Liesa (@Steppesister ) and her mom, Billie (@Elevationist ) Sarah (@IowaTater ) Karilyn (@Malia78 ), Jennifer (@Chrystmasangel ). Ariella (@StarWarsMomofGirls! ) and her family. Fallon (@fallonkendra ) and her husband, Luke. Jenny (@Jenny Sanders ) and her DH, Joe. Karamie (@paradesintherain ) and her dad, Renee (@ArielSRL ) and her DH, Chad, Kari (@kastoney ), Ariane (@ariane37 ) and her DH, Steve, Kelly (@buzzrelly ), Mary (@MissMaryQC ) and her sister, Melinda (@pepperandchips ) and her husband Ryan, Lindsay (@LindseyJo22 ), Kelly (@cinderkelly ), Zack (@AMusicLifeForMe ) , @pkondz and Doc (@docsoliday1 ).
I spent a lot of time with some of these ladies (and gentlemen) and others I just said hello to in passing. I could have spent days and days with all of them getting to know each one better. I think all of us on the trip wished for more time to spend with this wonderful group!
Up Next: The Tater Tot Tragedy of 2019
Jim doesn’t factor at all into this trip, he’s more of a once a year or even every other year kind of Disney guy. We actually went twice in 2018 which was way more than enough for him so he won’t be joining me on my trips this year. Here’s a picture of the two of us from our January 2018 trip.
And since I think they are the cutest dogs ever, I’m going to spam you with pictures of my dogs before I go on to talk about this trip.
First up is Sierra, she is a 9 year old Miniature Schnauzer and the apple of her Daddy’s eye. We bought her home as a puppy and is the last dog we bought from a breeder.
Next is Remy aka “The Little Rat”. He’s a Yorkie and was the first to follow me home from the local animal shelter where I volunteer. He was supposed to be a foster over the holidays when the shelter was closed but he never ended up going back. He is extremely high maintenance and even though I love him to death, I’m not sure if I would ever get another Yorkie.
Ellie is our next baby. She is 3 years old and we believe she might be a Schnauzer/Jack Russell mix. She is an absolute sweetheart and never sits still. She is usually outside chasing down the many squirrels that inhabit our backyard. We brought her home from the shelter because she looked exactly like our dog Alex. Unfortunately we lost him to cancer a few months after we got her. Here she is photobombing me at the Atlanta Braves game last month. She loves going places so we took her to Bark at the Park.
At one point in 2017 we were down to just three dogs, Ellie, Sierra and Remy. Ellie, being so much younger than the other two, was driving them nuts wanting to play all the time. So we brought Buddy who is now 4 years old, home from the shelter as a playmate for her. We believe he is a Schnauzer/Dachshund mix because he has stubby legs and a long barrel shaped body.
Unfortunately Buddy did not turn out to be the playmate that Ellie needed. Even though he was around the same age as her, he was more content to lay on the couch then run around and play. By the time we realized that he wasn’t going to work out, he was already a member of our family. So the search continued for a playmate for Ellie. We introduced her to a couple of dogs at the shelter but nothing clicked until Sulley came along. He’s a Schnoodle and turned out to be the perfect playmate for Ellie. Jim and I both agree that he is one of the weirdest dogs we’ve ever had but in a good way that makes us laugh all the time. I mean, just look at how he likes to sit!
I see this upside down grin quite often too. One of my friends said he reminds her of a sloth.
OK, I think I’ve gone on long enough about my dogs. Let’s move on and talk about the actual trip now. Hopefully everyone is still here and hasn’t bailed on the TR yet.
When I first started looking at trips for 2019, I promised Jim that I would only go one time since I had 4 trips in 2018. He really wanted to go somewhere different in 2019 and we will be doing that with a visit to Charleston, SC this fall. He’s a bit of a history buff so we tend to visit historical cities a lot for him. For my one Disney trip, I decided to go down at the end of October for the Food and Wine marathon weekend to run the Fall Feast 5K. My goal is to run all four WDW 5Ks before my body decides it’s done with this running thing I’ve been doing.
But then I found the PTR talking about the Epic Girls trip that was in the works for May 2019. I “knew” most of the ladies that were going although I think many of them had no idea of who I was. I tend to read a lot more TRs then I comment on mainly because I’m an introvert and somewhat on the shy side. I went back and forth for a long time debating with myself as to whether I would speak up and join the group for that trip. As you know since I’m writing this TR, I finally did just that and decided to move my 2019 trip to May.
And boy am I glad I decided to speak up and join in! I will admit I was super nervous going into the trip because I really don’t make friends easily, I’m usually too quiet and withdrawn and rarely initiate with people. But I came away from this trip feeling like I made a group of lifetime friends. Like the title says, this trip was epic!
There will be many, many DISers to introduce as I go through this TR and I will try to tag everyone at the end of this post (please forgive me if I miss someone, it’s definitely not intentional). But there is one more that played a huge roll in the week and that was my roommate, Jackie (@missjackiemcg )
She was the only DISer on the trip that I had met before in real life so I felt comfortable in all my introvertedness (yes, I have a bad habit of making up words) to room with her. Once again I will admit I was super nervous but I felt like we ended up being perfect roommates. I’m pretty high maintenance and she isn’t but the rooms at Pop allowed me to get up earlier than her and close myself in the bathroom area to get ready. She joined our trip a little late because she wasn’t sure she could get off of work but I’m sure glad she did!
And here’s a list of the other DISer that I spent some time with and will be mentioned throughout the TR (Lesley (@Lesley Wake ) I basically stole this from your TR, thanks):
Su-Lynn (@chunkymonkey ) and her hubby Steve and sister Su-Queen, Lesley (@Lesley Wake ) Caroline (@disneyAndi14 ) Molly (@Mollydolly334 ) Liesa (@Steppesister ) and her mom, Billie (@Elevationist ) Sarah (@IowaTater ) Karilyn (@Malia78 ), Jennifer (@Chrystmasangel ). Ariella (@StarWarsMomofGirls! ) and her family. Fallon (@fallonkendra ) and her husband, Luke. Jenny (@Jenny Sanders ) and her DH, Joe. Karamie (@paradesintherain ) and her dad, Renee (@ArielSRL ) and her DH, Chad, Kari (@kastoney ), Ariane (@ariane37 ) and her DH, Steve, Kelly (@buzzrelly ), Mary (@MissMaryQC ) and her sister, Melinda (@pepperandchips ) and her husband Ryan, Lindsay (@LindseyJo22 ), Kelly (@cinderkelly ), Zack (@AMusicLifeForMe ) , @pkondz and Doc (@docsoliday1 ).
I spent a lot of time with some of these ladies (and gentlemen) and others I just said hello to in passing. I could have spent days and days with all of them getting to know each one better. I think all of us on the trip wished for more time to spend with this wonderful group!
Up Next: The Tater Tot Tragedy of 2019
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