Oh, has it Been Raining? No, this is Just Sweat. Sept/Oct 2022 Trip Report! (Updated 9/16!!)

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He has been fine since his one very scary seizure. He is a rescue, in-bred farm cat who was the runt and literally was frozen and unresponsive before the lady we got him from found him and warmed him back up (his cat mom often rejected him since he was the runt). He honestly is a bit brain damaged and a very little guy (under a pound when we got him) but super sweet when he wants to be and he has the softest fur ever.


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I'm so glad he's doing ok! And omg, what a cutie! Such a sad start to life, so glad he was saved and he's living the good life now!

 

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Alright everyone, I finally have a happy update! Wahoo!

So today I decided to go to an adoption event since I'm still in the market for a new kitten or two. Well, I found one! Everyone, meet Binx!



He is a 12 week old ball of cute energy, but is also a total lap cat (once he burns off the energy that is). I love that he has these stripes, but you can only really see them in certain light. It'll be interesting to see how his coat changes as he grows!

Binx is so sweet, and my other cat, Ham seems very curious but not stressed at all there is a new kitty living here. We're not doing intros just yet though, gotta make sure Binx has a clean bill of health first, and then we'll take it gradually, but compared to previous cat intros I've done over the years, Ham is being fantastic already. Previous cats have all hissed at the door where the newcomer is being kept, Ham just sits outside a few feet away and looks in curiously when I go in and out. I swear, Ham is the most chill cat I've ever met, I'm so lucky to have him!​

 

[Wood Nymph]

Binx is adorable. I wonder if he has some Tabby in him because of the stripes.

 

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Binx is adorable. I wonder if he has some Tabby in him because of the stripes.

Thanks! He really is so cute. He also has a white dot on the bottom of each paw, and a tiny white patch on his belly. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some tabby in him with the stripes. It's such a cool coat, I haven't seen many like it before. I hope it stays as he gets older! My current cat used to have a bi-color tail, it was black on top and white on the bottom, but as he got older it all turned black. So who knows what will happen with Binx's coat as he gets older!

 

[DVCjj]

Super cute Binx. I have a soft spot Dark cats and Tabbies. (and all cats but love those 2 colors all the more).

Such a cutie. You are in feline heaven. And lots of awww moments.

 

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Super cute Binx. I have a soft spot Dark cats and Tabbies. (and all cats but love those 2 colors all the more).

He is so adorable, loves to flop over when I come near for belly rubs. And I totally understand having a soft spot for certain types, I'm actually usually partial to tuxedos, but Binx was so sweet I had to give him a home! I guess he is part tuxedo though since he does have a small white patch on his belly...

Such a cutie. You are in feline heaven. And lots of awww moments.

Haha, and lots of ouch moments, I forgot how sharp kitten claws are! It's been 12 yeas since I've had a kitten in the house! Biggest lesson Binx is learning this week: Humans are not trees to be climbed

 

[Ellester]

Yay for Binx! What a cutie pie! Kittens are so fun! I'm glad Ham is so chill, our cats have been together over a year and one still hisses at the two newest!

 

[Verstehen]

Guys, I wish this was a happy update, but my goodness, this summer is starting to get ridiculous. Thing have unfortunately not been going great. My cat got sick again and I ended up spending Sunday-Tuesday at the emergency vet. Turns out he has FUO - fever of unknown origin. Ugh, we had him tested for EVERYTHING, seriously everything, it cost about as much as a Disney vacation, and so far everything is coming back normal. Even the various vets (3 different locations!) said he not only was perfectly healthy on paper, but even looked like a cat much younger than he was.

Well, good news, he seems to be feeling much better, thank goodness! He's almost back to himself, eating and playing again, and the fever is gone. So yay for that!

So, before he got sick, I had put in papers to adopt a pair of kittens. Well, today was the day I went to meet them, and when I got there the family fostering them decided they wanted to keep them, so yeah, yet another bummer for my summer! Although probably best not to add more stress for my cat recovering!

But then, because apparently I cannot have a single week this summer without stress, I got a letter from my insurance company stating they are cancelling my homeowners insurance because satellite imagery showed my roof was in under "heavy wear." This in itself is just ridiculous, my roof was inspected recently because I was worried my new HVAC unit on it caused damage, and it was found to be in "perfect condition." Plus, I had the roof installed and it's only halfway through it's listed lifespan.

Seriously though, just to rant, my former insurance was bought by Farmers, and my goodness, Farmers sucks! Since they took over I keep getting threating letters that they will cancel my policy for random reasons, the previous one was for debris (ie leaves I hadn't raked up yet) in the fall. So yeah, if you're looking for insurance, avoid farmers! My parents also were switched to farmers from their previous company, and since then I've had to actually submit various engineering reports (I am a structural engineer) stating their houses are structurally sound because some of the Farmers inspectors went into the backyard with no notice and thought some balconies were at risk of collapsing. So yeah, Farmers is also totally cool with letting their people trespass on peoples property with no notice to find "defects" to try to cancel policies. Ugh, I hate this company. My neighbor works for them and he is quitting he hates the company so much, so yeah, avoid them if you can! My assumption is we all had great rates with our previous insurer before Farmers bought them, and Farmers hates that so wants to get rid of us all.

So yeah, stress level through the roof here, I'm currently searching for a new homeowners policy. We're looking at USAA since my dad is former military, and so far I've heard great things from friends who have it, but if anyone here has any recommendations I'd love to hear them! ​

That is so aggravating! We are in Florida and have Farmers, and if you're aware, Farmers is pulling out of the state, so we will have to find someone else next year. My husband is former military so we will definitely be looking into USAA as well. We actually had a great experience with Farmers so I'm really disappointed. Our rate was low and they took really great care of us after our house was damaged by Ian. Our adjuster went out of his way to find things they could cover, so my husband's jokey theory is they're pulling out because our adjuster was too generous XD I really wish they would just raise their rates instead of pulling out; that's how badly I don't want to shop around. But I guess the good news about Florida having so few insurance companies left is that my hunt will not take long.

 

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Hello again everyone! I promise I haven't forgotten about finishing this TR, things have just been very busy, but I'm almost done writing it!

In the meantime, here's a quick RL update. First of all, this weekend we did our ADRs, and my goodness, this has to have been the easiest ADR experience I've had in YEARS. Seriously, I think the last time it was this easy was back in like 2013. I got everything we wanted, at the exact time we wanted (can't remember the last time this happened!), AND I didn't have to do any tricks to find tables (like booking for a party of 4 then modifying to 2). Seriously, I was shocked at how well it went. So for this trip we got the following: Caring for Giants, Sangria University, MNSSHP dessert party, Tiffins (always got to eat here!), Monsieur Paul's, Skippers Canteen for our MNSSHP night, and Flying Fish. Not too shabby of a lineup for such a short trip!

In other news, Binx is settling in nicely. He is the most cuddly kitten, all he wants is to be held and pet. He went to the vet the other day and was cleared to finally meet the other animals in my house, so we're working on that. The resident cat is still unsure about this newcomer, but he's not acting aggressively so that's good! I keep trying to get a good picture of him, but he moves around too much! I need to sneak in while he's sleeping to do a kitten photoshoot it seems.

Anyways, that's it for updates for the day. I'll try to get the rest of this report written in the next few days! ​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Your ADR lineup sounds fantastic!! You're going to have a blast. Glad to hear Binx is acclimating well to his new family. I love when pets are cuddly!

 

[Wood Nymph]

First of all, this weekend we did our ADRs, and my goodness, this has to have been the easiest ADR experience I've had in YEARS.

That's great to hear! I hope that means that the parks will be less crowded, too.

 

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Yay for Binx! What a cutie pie! Kittens are so fun! I'm glad Ham is so chill, our cats have been together over a year and one still hisses at the two newest!

Haha, yeah I forgot how much energy kittens have, it's been too long since I've had one in the house! Binx has officially been integrated into the house, and for the most part gets along with Ham. Ham being older though gets tired of playing sooner, and has no problem letting Binx know it's time to stop! Dug on the other hand is terrified of Binx. I keep telling him that he is literally 50 times larger than Binx, but he doesn't understand. We're working on teaching Binx boundaries now when it comes to Dug!

 

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That is so aggravating! We are in Florida and have Farmers, and if you're aware, Farmers is pulling out of the state, so we will have to find someone else next year. My husband is former military so we will definitely be looking into USAA as well. We actually had a great experience with Farmers so I'm really disappointed. Our rate was low and they took really great care of us after our house was damaged by Ian. Our adjuster went out of his way to find things they could cover, so my husband's jokey theory is they're pulling out because our adjuster was too generous XD I really wish they would just raise their rates instead of pulling out; that's how badly I don't want to shop around. But I guess the good news about Florida having so few insurance companies left is that my hunt will not take long.

It really is! I heard that they were pulling out of FL, so ridiculous. I did end up switching to USAA, it's a bit more expensive, but it covers more and having the peace of mind that I won't be getting letters constantly threatening to drop me for not raking my lawn soon enough is definitely worth it! Good luck on your hunt, hopefully you find a great one with a good rate!

 

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Your ADR lineup sounds fantastic!! You're going to have a blast. Glad to hear Binx is acclimating well to his new family. I love when pets are cuddly!

I'm so excited, it'll be fun to try some completely new things this trip. Although it does seem like a lot for such a short trip!

Binx is doing really well, He's still working out his place in the family, can't quite figure out what to do with Dug other than attack his tail, but he's getting there!

 

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That's great to hear! I hope that means that the parks will be less crowded, too.

Fingers crossed! I feel like the week/weekend we go typically has a bit of a bump in crowds since a lot of Massachusetts has a long weekend for the holiday, but hoping this year that the bump won't be quite as noticeable!

 

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Day 9, Part 4: Epcot Private After Hours Event!​

Saturday October 1, 2022

We last left off leaving Rose and Crown heading to a party! This evening was the DIS after hours party at Epcot! So not the regular Disney After Hours (which hadn’t started at Epcot at this point), but a private event.

The party was originally going to be in the UK, France, and Morocco areas, but in the months leading up to the event they switched it to be the front of the park instead, which worked for us since that meant more rides on Guardians! We also could go on TT and Mission Space, plus they had food, drinks, and rare characters (well, rare at that point, now you can meet them at HS).

We had planned on hanging out at Rose and Crown for a bit longer, but I’m glad we left when we did since the line to check into the party was bonkers. It was a 50 minute wait to check in! Yikes!

Fortunately, we arrived at the line to check in at 9:40, so made it to the front of the line right at the start of the party at 10:30, but I’ve read that others weren’t so lucky and missed a big chunk of the party waiting to get checked in.

We were in front of this nice guy in line (who was also really cute!), so we ended up chatting with him to pass the time.

Once checked in, we headed straight to my #1 thing I wanted to do at the party, ride Guardians!!!!

This was amazing, it was a total walk on, although I wish we could have bypassed the two pre-shows. Those ate away at a lot of the party time.

This time we got One way or another for our song.



It was SUCH a great ride!

Afterwards I wanted to go again, but mom didn’t, so she went to find a bench to sit on while I hopped back on. This time I got September again for a song.



I do love how when you get September for a song, you get the awesome line “EPCOT…Every Person Comes Out Tired”. According to the people who were in my car that line is only said if you get September. I tried to notice on later rides if I heard it with other songs, and it seems they were correct, I only ever caught it when September played!

After my second ride in a row on Guardians I went to find mom. We decided to hop in line for some characters at this point, and since Chip and Dale are mom’s favorites, we headed that way. I was excited to see them in their rescue rangers gear, I used to love that show when I was a kid!

There was a line here, but the wait wasn’t horrible considering they took their break while we were waiting, I think we waited about 25 minutes.



There was no photopass photographers tonight, so they had to use my phone to get the pictures, but they came out ok!

After meeting the chipmunks mom was getting hungry, so we found some desserts to snack on. We got some of the cookies and mom got the donut flambe! I also grabbed a glass of red wine.

We found a table to sit at to enjoy.



After eating I wanted to ride Guardians again, but mom still wasn’t up to it, but she was willing to wait, so once again we found a bench for her to sit while I went to ride.

This time was not as smooth going as the past few. I don’t know if the ride broke down or what, but they started to only use one side of the loading area and the wait time went from nonexistent up to 40 minutes! Poor mom, and of course she didn’t have a cell phone with her so I couldn’t let her know what was happening.

The cool thing about this line though is I got to wait in it behind a bunch of vloggers such as Resorttv1 and Cory for Cory’s world. It was funny, they were complaining a lot about how they have to record so much of their time in the parks. Guess there is no perfect job!

I finally did get on the ride, and this time ended up with I ran for the song!



Since the wait took so long this time, by the time I was off the ride the event had ended.

It was pretty late at that point too, it was about 12:40, and we had to be up at 6 the next morning, so we were ready to head back to sleep!

So we made our way over to the bus area to wait for a bus (unfortunately were not allowed to leave from IG). We were shocked that there was already a very long line there, so got in it. And then we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally someone mentioned they had been there since just after midnight and not one bus had arrived, at that point it was after 1AM! Yikes! So finally at 1:10 I decided to give up waiting for the bus and just call for an uber. It really is too bad they wouldn’t let those of us staying at the YC/BC/BW just walk home, it would have been so much easier. I read on here that apparently they were waiting for every person to clear the park before sending busses, I don’t know if that’s true, but I’d believe it if people had been waiting for over an hour for a bus! I think I saw someone post that the buses didn’t start arriving until after 1:30!

Fortunately, the uber came pretty quickly and we were back at the YC around 1:30.

Once back we finished up our packing and went to bed for the night, tomorrow is a sad early day!

Next up: Until Next Time Disney!​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Have been off the boards for a while and omg what a bunch of chaotic updates but YAY NEW KITTIES!

 

[Wood Nymph]

It sounds like the after hours party could have gone a lot smoother. The long check in time is almost inexcusable. I would be really angry at that. And not having the International Gateway open for exits is another mystery. What would it have taken to allow guests to leave. I'm sure they keep a guard at the gate 24/7.

Your mom is a good sport.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Yikes on the wait to check-in and wait for buses. That would have really annoyed me. Especially frustrating to be so close to your resort and have to go the long way back. Glad you got some good rides on Guardians in. I always tell myself I want to try to pay more attention to the dialogue during the ride but then never do. I have to try to remember to listen for the EPCOT line if I get September. That's a cool detail.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I do love how when you get September for a song, you get the awesome line “EPCOT…Every Person Comes Out Tired”. According to the people who were in my car that line is only said if you get September. I tried to notice on later rides if I heard it with other songs, and it seems they were correct, I only ever caught it when September played!

Whaaaa-?? Where/when does this line come in?? During the ride itself? At the end? I'm intrigued!