disneygurlz2s

First of all, I speak for my great-niece, Madelyn, age 3, when I say.... Maddie IS, in fact, a princess name. (She highly regards herself as one, believe me!) Second-voice I agree with Raven but also thought of Monique (High School Musical/Dancing with the Stars) Coleman. Vanessa Williams is on the payroll at Disney now too (Ugly Betty) so I am betting she shows up somewhere. Third, I am just thrilled that they are going to resume with the hand-drawn animation. No one does it like Disney and I am excited about this movie! And, of course, choosing New Orleans as the backdrop is sooo Disney of them! Shari "Loves any Disney Fairy-tale" Shoufler

"Fra-gee-lay. It must be Italian." "Dear, I think it says 'fragile'" "The Scott Farkus Affair, as it came to be known" "It's a major award" And just about any other line from "A Christmas Story" Shari

My friend Sandy sent me an email about a week ago for a site on disney.com where you could register to win tickets to see the original "Pirates" movie, to be followed by the "World Premier" of the "Pirates of the Caribbean III-At World's End" trailer. We received notice today that we are registered for the showing Sunday at 4:00 at AMC theater. (Also, if you dress like a pirate, you get priority seating, so Sammi will be wearing her Halloween costume!!) I'll be sure to post back here Sunday night to give you all the scoop! Shari "Love that Captain Jack" Shoufler

OK...late as usual.... Happy Birthday girlfriend! What an exciting birthday for you! Shari and Sammi

Great pictures!! Still completely fascinated at the fact that the Japanese parks operate year-round that way! Coasters AND ice skating. The electronics district would be my husband's idea of a theme park!! Shari

I couldn't BELIEVE it. I thought for sure the same thing...non elimination round, and then Phil lowered the boom! Wow!! Personally, I would have rather seen Charla and Mirna go...and I completely agree with the person who posted about how annoying Mirna is. She treats that poor midget woman like crap, if you ask me. And we get hysterical every time she starts throwing money around ("I'll give you $50 to lead me a mile"!!). Shari

Disney, childbirth and TPR wackiness -all my favorite things rolled into one trip report...WOW!! Shari

^IF that ever happens.....

My first "big coaster" ride was on this back-breaker and let me tell you, everything you have ever heard is true. Now, to truly appreciate it, you have to know that from the early 80's through the park's closure, Americana was going downhill fast, completely void of any kind of quality. The employees were typically young and sleazy looking and frequently had a cigarette hanging out of their mouths. There were few safety measures taken, and you were just lucky if the ride op knew how to properly stop the train when it reached the station. After my initial ride, I rode it many times over the years, especially when our Catholic grade school would take the kids who participated in choir or church service for our summer picnic. They would let you ride three to a seat and you DID NOT want to get stuck sitting with Kathy Shoaf, because the girl was a walking skeleton, I'll tell you, and you would suffer stabbing pains from her elbows and arms!!! This was on rough ride, and more than a few people we dragged on it over the years came off in pain! I miss Americana, really. It was one of those places you would complain all day about how terrible it was, and yet it was fun. My last visit there was in July of 1998, when Sammi was a newborn. I didn't ride much that day, having just given birth the month before, but I am glad I can say Sammi got to go there once, even though her only ride was the train!! Shari

I can't believe no one mentioned Kathy Griffin. She is hillarious. My best friend and I just went to see her live last month and I was exhausted from laughing by the time it was over. Shari

Eh, from what I know about you, Elissa, I am not sure this would be "your kind" of show, but I agree with the other post, if you just started watching this season, or especially during this 3 episode arc, you are not going to have enough of the backstory to "get it". I think its a credit to Shonda Rhimes that these characters have deep personal histories that you have learned about over the 3 seasons. On so many tv dramas you might get some backstory on a particular character in one episode, just to make the point of the episode, but on Grey's certain themes for each character keep resurfacing. Shari "Is there an new episode this week??" Shoufler

^^ I agree with Wally.... at the price these places charge for a night, it is not necessarily something I can see too many people doing too often, plus to me, it's not the kind of a situation where the average family would build a stay into a place like that enroute to their vacation (ie family from Michigan stopping there for the night enroute to WDW kinda thing). These places charge easily $180-$350 a night for family of 4-6. I have not heard much about how Great Wolf is doing, although since we live right here in the community I have heard buzz while sitting in the movie theater, daughter's dance class, etc, that many here in the upper-middle class Mason area have been doing overnights there. That said, I am glad to see a revitalization of Chester Road as that was one Cincinnati's entertainment and lodging "strip" and it has gone seriously downhill over the past 5-10 years. Shari

I did too, but unlike a lot of the posts I read on their website (Shonda Rhimes and other writers have a great blog if you have never checked it out) I totally thought the idea of Meredith having a "rebirth" and making peace with her mother was great. (a lot of people think the show "Jumped the Shark" last night). Meredith is still going to be flawed, but at some point most mentally healthy people (especially one that is going to be a surgeon) makes peace with the issues in their life and moves on. I work for doctors and frankly, more of them are like Burke, Mark, Christina and Alex than George, Meredith and Izzy. My eight year old (yeah, I let her watch it) and I are totally hooked! Last night, I was crying, squeezing the daylights out of a stuffed animal and generally whooping it up! Shari

I have never had the pleasure of staying at any of the resorts you named (budget just doesn't support it!), however, I have spent time (dining, exploring) at many of them. I, too, would have to say that Grand Floridian, for all it's splendor, would probably not be the most fun for five year old. I disagree with Elissa as far as the Contemporary, in that the "dated" feel is part of the charm. It IS original WDW, and has a lot of family-friendly features (large arcade, nice pools, Chef Mickey's-our favorite character restaurant outside of the parks). I would not necessarily choose the most expensive properties even if your budget supports it, though. We stayed at the All Star Movies this summer, and frankly, spent very little time there. We only swam one time, ate a few meals in the food court, and the rest of our time there was spent sleeping (and even that was minimal!). Shari

Congrats, Soren..... I am so mad we didn't get a chance to talk to you the night Sammi and I stopped in the German shop, but you were so freaking busy and Sammi was just exhausted that night (I believe this was the same night she fell asleep in the food court when we got back to the resort!). I am so glad you had such an awesome time-it reinforces my goal to "retire" to Florida once Sammi has grown and go to work there! Shari

Sammi and I both enjoyed the TR....we so wanted to do one of the waterparks when we were there in August. It's definitely on the list of must dos for the next trip. Shari

I don't know... I always kinda liked this ride, although it's been years since I went on it. I have heard the same thing-that the characters are being added to the ride and that all 3 have been appearing in front of the pavillion for photo ops for the past several weeks. Shari

Even though we have KI here, Cincinnati also has the famous, or is that INFAMOUS, Wonderpark at the Cincinnati Mills Mall. We used to have this awesome place called "Family Fun Center" on the east side of town, but all of a sudden they just rolled up their carpet and closed. It was a bummer because they had batting cages, basketball, putt-putt and small token operated games and rides, plus a "ball crawl". They also had an outside go kart track open during the warm weather months. My stepdaughters loved it when they were little. Shari

I love cute cars.... reminds me of my old Chevy Sprint!! Shari

I disagree with this in the sense that, if you love amusement parks, rides, coasters, whatever, you are anxious to share that with the kids that come into your life whether you are Dad or Mom. For myself, personally, my earliest memories of "summer fun" with my parents and older brother and sister are from Old Coney Island, Fantasy Farm, LeSourdesville Lake and Kings Island. Some of my best memories over the years revolved around these parks as well as other parks I visited. As recently as last summer, I took my mom to Holiday World along with my 8 year old. Even though my mom was in failing health, she still rode the Sally dark ride where you shoot the turkeys and the river raft ride. She was 80 at the time. Specifically speaking of coasters, I have met an equal number of guys who dislike rides/coasters. My daughter just rolls her eyes at her male cousins of about her age, as they are all terrified. Here she is riding Vortex-ALONE with her best girl friend, also only 8-while her cousin is in Nick Universe on the Dora trains. Seriously!! Finally, I will say this... as I hit the big 4-0 this year, I simply cannot tolerate ride after ride after ride like I used to. I don't think it's a woman thing, just an age thing. It sucks, but I just pace myself. Shari "Growing older, but not up" Shoufler

Ummm...sorry.... I didn't have the opportunity to read all 32 pages of this thread, but based on the comments on the last couple of pages, it seemed as if there were some people who still doubted that this was what it was? Why are you still reading/posting to it if it bugs you??? Shari "Geesh, sorry" Shoufler

^^ "No, we don't need a playpen, we'll just put her in the Habitrail!!" LOL!!!

Not sure if this is posted anywhere else, but it has been confirmed by photos on several coaster websites and in the local media that trucks containing large sections of bright green track have been rolling into the PKI lot all week. I can tell you (since hubby is a seasonal employee) that it is, indeed, X Flight and that it is supposedly going in somehere in the vicinity of the Racer. (I am assuming that it would be going to the north of Racer and east of Flight of Fear as there is substantial undeveloped territory there.) PKI makes the official media announcement on February 5th. Shari

Romber is the team I love to hate. We just love to listen to his stupid expressions (Anyone remember Survivor All Stars "I've put an "A" on my arm for Amber -hope she makes it" when they were separated?) We actually met Kandice a few years ago when she competed in a Miss America runner-up pageant in my husband's hometown. She actually lived with Herb's cousin's family for that week, so my mother in law is now watching AR and rooting for her. As for me, I always root for the underdogs, so I love Dave and Mary, although Rosie O'Donnell gave them a freaking house, so they really don't need the money now, either. I think I will root for the midget. Shari

^^ Picturing that poor baby rolling across Robb and Elissa's floor in a plastic ball........ I am calling Child Services now!! Gregg, I have no doubt Kidtums will bite you, too!! Shari