Just back. Sorry to OKW owners for....

[spearenb]

for taking a few of your big, beautiful rooms! Well, not really. OKW was very, very nice. We were in a 2br and a 1br for the first two nights and a GV for the last couple of nights. All of them were clean and tidy. A great CM at OKW helped out tremendiously with finding us a room on the first night and I wish I could remember his name to thank him here. But we had no problems with the rooms or the cast members what so ever at OKW. So the same ole, same old here.

Anyways, other than that, I had a semi-crappy trip with three SPOILED BRATS (nephews and niece). Whom, I might add, brought with them a 24 hour stomach virus that all 5 kids caught (one kid per day) and my wife did too. There is contention that the niece started it all, but the parents won't own up to it. It would be a miracle since the others were all caught showing what they ate on their day, sometimes two or three times and she didn't. At all. She only choked on some juice the first day. wtfe.

So, I apologize to the OKW owners if their maintenance fees go up. One nephew got sick on a couch and who knows what their room looked like. Their mother sat and watched them stand, yes stand, on every chair and couch in the place. Jump from everything. And flip two or three dining room chairs by leaning back on them too much. We tried as much as we could to stop them but, I know when we weren't there they were let loose.

I apologize to the people who ate at Donald's character breakfast with us and had to hear the niece scream her head off for 20 minutes while the parents sat there. She only stopped after I picked her up. Ok, I can see her initial excitement from seeing the characters. However, when she is doing back flips in her parents arms screaming at the top of her lungs to be let down for all of the characters, someone needs to be taken outside. The bad part is, if this wasn't enough, there were a couple of kids celebrating their first birthdays there. Not to mention that EVERYONE THERE IS ON VACATION AND DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR THE BRAT!!!

I apologize to the people who saw my daughter get sick at the back gate of Epcot. My family has two theories on puking. One is to run (the kid or otherwise) to the nearest proper puking place. The risk is there are three or four areas that get 'soiled.' The other theory is to have them stay where they are and 'finish'. Only one spot gets 'soiled' Take your pick. My wife chose option one this time. It was the last day in the park as we were leaving and it summed up the trip quite nicely, I might add.

Then, we leave 70 degree weather in the morning and stop at a hotel where it was 7 degrees at night. My wife gets her sickness bought on the way so we have to stop really, really fast. To top it off.... the Steelers get blown out.

Who is with me in starting 2005 all over again? Anyone? Anyone?

[palmtreegirl]

Wow, I had the exact same crappy trip for the same reasons last Feb, complete with nasty stomach bug and bratty undisciplined kids.

Sorry you had that happen too.

[SueOKW]

I'm sorry about the Steelers too - even though I should be a Brown's fan. I went to the same college as the Steeler's QB - so I had some affiliation.

RE: your OKW experience I'm glad it had good points. As far the BRATS go, can you file that under live and learn and never invite them again? I swear, the more I take family, the more I realize it's a real pain.

[spearenb]

After reading my post, I forgot to add that one of the nephews had bladder problems too. 7 times I think he had a problem. One time on my watch. Never had I felt the need to touch someone as bad as I did then but, I restrained myself. Pictures of the boy getting beat by his mother in The Christmas Story movie, for teaching Ralphie a bad word, come to mind as I recall this. I don't know, though, who should be getting beat though. The nephew or the 'in denile' parents who won't put a pull up on the boy or displine him properly.

Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never again.

And when I say 'beat', I mean to give him the best loving a parent can. :)

[FLORIDAFUNFAMILY]

spare the rod, spoil the child ! enough said :cool1:

[DeeDeeDis]

OKWSue , i am soo sorry for you. What a terrible way to spend your vacation especially when you get a GV (i would love to do this - do okw gv have to bebooked day by day at the 11 month window)?

Well OKWSue the only thing you can do to regroup and to get to that calm place is to immediately book a wdw vacation for just you and the family, leave the relatives at HOME!!!

hope your next trip is peaceful
deb

[dianeschlicht]

Sounds to me like there is an extended family that will be waiting a LONG time before they get invited back again! :earboy2:

[MomsGoneGoofy]

Sorry to hear about the relative problems and glad you enjoyed yourselves as much as you could.

I agree with never taking relatives on trips. We took my DH's sister and her family once to OKW, what a mistake. I would like to say that because they are not member's they didn't care but that's not the case. They let their children do as they please and don't care if others are inconvenieced. Yes they had the screaming kids. One kid that insisted on eating his food UNDER the table. Spilled drinks and food all over the table were they ate. We had separate units, my DH came back from their unit one day and said he felt sorry of MouseKeeping that their place was a mess. And on check out day our family was waiting for them to check out, my DH went over to their unit at about 10:45 am to see what was holding them up. He came back and said let's go, that they are no where near ready to check out, the place is a mess, toys were everywhere and they weren't done packing. He told them that they could be charged a fee for the late check out. Again they didn't care about paying the late check out fee and could care less if they caused the unit not to be ready for the next family. That was it for us and never invited family again. Since you can't control the behavior of other's we won't take the chance that another family member would act the same way.

[dianeschlicht]

Yikes! I guess I am really thankful we have always had WONDERFUL guests! We usually have them in the same unit as us too.

[spiceycat]

and these people will not understand why they aren't invited every year.....

oh yea!~!

be careful - they might decide to invite themselves.

"No" is a good word to know!

if you do ever take them again - remember studios.....they would still make a mess - but it would be less to pick up - just because of the less room.

[calypso*a*go-go]

Perhaps we should keep a running thread entitled: "I'm bringing my horrible relatives...avoid these dates and locations". (LOL) Another suggestion might be for DVC to have a few rooms with all the furnishings encased in plastic for the special boys and girls (and some adults, as well :teeth: ).

It's always difficult to vacation with other family members/friends. We have a trip to Disneyland scheduled with another family and we have both made comments about how we hope we are still speaking when we get back.

spearenb -- Sorry your entire vacation was Bodily Fluids 101, but on the flip side, just think how great the next one will be without them!

[spearenb]

spearenb -- Sorry your entire vacation was Bodily Fluids 101, but on the flip side, just think how great the next one will be without them!

Thanks, calypso. You're right though, we celebrated our first night without them by sleeping soundly last night. But, alas, we are out of points so we will have to wait a while for that next one. And I am not going to add on.. :)

And, swear to God I am not making this up, bodily fluids 101 is very apprapo since it was 'announced' that the SIL had cramps. I will say no more other than at least that will go away. Stupidity will not. And some things should be kept private!!!!

The crowds were good at the parks though. MK was not crowded on MLK day and when we finally had enough and cut the tether to the other side of the family, we were able to enjoy the IS at Epcot. The first time for us.

[SueOKW]

I remember once when a child of a cousin (is that child a second cousin?) anyway - that young man was running in circles around a bus stop at OKW screaming at the top of his lungs. Not a big deal? Well, it was 6:45 AM and we were on the way to MK for early magic hour. The cousin never noticed - and I was cringing inside. That bus took forEVER to arrive.

My new thought is - perhaps it's our relatives that put us on the bad DVCer list!!!! :earseek:

[spearenb]

My new thought is - perhaps it's our relatives that put us on the bad DVCer list!!!! :earseek:

They usually stay under our names don't they? And use our membership cards and the room key has our names on it.... :D

[Scott H]

Oh No another reason for CM's to hate DVC owners. :)

[MiaSRN62]

One nephew got sick on a couch
And what was that room # again ? (making mental note to self) ;) ;) ;)

I'm sorry to hear that you all had to put up with all that screaming and all the various other bodily functions. Count me in the club as not having the most positive experiences when bringing certain family members ! My inlaws letting my niece use the bed as a trampoline come to mind :Pinkbounc ........among other things.
Also.....sorry about the Steelers. But GO EAGLES !

[Deep-Thots]

I remember once when a child of a cousin (is that child a second cousin?)

Nope, technically, that's a "first cousin, once-removed!"

Regardless, what awful behavior to have to deal with!

:(

[spearenb]

4922

Within minutes of it happening, I called mousekeeping in case they wanted to clean it properly. (Looking out for DVC members and others to keep maintenance/replacement costs down). I made the mistake of using the word 'epidemic' which I thought it sort of was since 5 out of 5 (my count) kids had gotten sick. They sent someone over with a mask on and when I went out to talk to her, she about fell down the steps from keeping her distance from me. :)

All she could offer was industrial strength Frabreeze to neutralize the odor and some sheets to cover the couch (the cushions were outside on the balcony making the ducks sick). I offered to let them remove the couch but they said it could wait. I don't think I properly described the amount of stuff on it. Oh well.

She did let me spray the rental Navigator (with leather :) ) with the 'frabreeze' too so that I could cover the smell of where my son took ill a few days before. We were thinking he was allergic to the nicer vehicle though since the niece only choked on juice. Thank God we didn't have to drive back to WV with that smell. Whew....

On another note, we did watch an eagle eat a duck from the balcony. That was much cooler than everything else....

[SueOKW]

ha ha! you are making me laugh.... maybe the eagle will eat the patriots?

[calypso*a*go-go]

But the real question is: Where did the eagle poop or barf after it ate the duck? I am assuming it was somewhere in your room! :teeth:

[spearenb]

There were a few noticible droppings on the car. It could be from it.

[rigsby25]

What was the one-bedroom room number? I want to avoid it like the plague. Who knows how that room smells now.

[Deesknee]

ha ha! you are making me laugh.... maybe the eagle will eat the patriots?

Hey no need to get personal! lol


I too am sorry to hear of your terrible trip. Glad the rooms were nice though.

We're due to go "home" in June bringing a frien (will have his own studio), hope things go better for us. We have never traveled with anyone else. I'm starting to get nervous. No other kids though. Who knows maybe he'll be talking that way about our kids. I pray not.

[Nanajo1]

They usually stay under our names don't they? And use our membership cards and the room key has our names on it.... :D
At last a great reason for individual names on the room keys! :Pinkbounc

[MomsGoneGoofy]

We will be staying in a GV at OKW in August. Maybe I should call and add a request to my ressie "Any GV but 4922"!!!! LOL :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Disneyrsh]

We had my husband's sister fly down to meet us on one trip. Grown adult, mid twenties, highly educated, no kids, no significant other. My then 4 year old came down with strep throat and she started running a fever about 1 hour after we got into Universal (she wanted to try 'something else besides Disney-that should have been my first warning).

My husband said to her, we're going to run Isabel back to the hotel and see what's going on, do you want to come with us or stay at the park and we'll pick you up in a few hours? She says she'll stay at the park. We get back to the room, take Isabel over to the doc in the box where they set her up with some antibiotics (she's had it before, we knew the drill) and she's got some motrin in her and sleeping in the room, we figure in another 24 hours she won't be contagious, she'll be feeling better, and we can pick up where we left off.

I went to pick up the SIL at the park and she gets in the car and says, "I called and changed my flight, I'm going home." I looked at her, totally shocked, and said, "why?!" and she replied coolly, "It's no fun to be on vacation with a sick kid." I was steaming. I did make her take a taxi to the airport, though, I explained that we needed to stay with Isabel. Needless to say, we didn't ask the SIL on the next trip down.

One addendum to the 'where to puke' theory. I agree with the get it all out in one spot, UNLESS it's in a queue line. We stood in a bus queue for the all star around midnight a few months ago RIGHT IN FRONT of a huge pool of barf. People had to jump over it, moms had to have help getting kids out of the strollers to lift the strollers over it, etc. It was *bad*.

And the worst part was, the kid that did it was about 5 feet from a convenient set of bushes! It was so bad it actually caused a few cases of collateral retching-we were like, argh, keep it down, get on the bus!

Now back to your lunches.... pirate:

[lenshanem]

Oh, that stinks. I'm sorry you had a bad time.

I must say though the kids getting the stomach bug and potty training woes are not really things to blame the kids or parents for. Being sick can also put you in a grumpy mood! I highly doubt they wanted their kids to be sick on vacation!

Regardless, I hope your next trip is better! Glad OKW was nice.

[spearenb]

Oh, that stinks. I'm sorry you had a bad time.

I must say though the kids getting the stomach bug and potty training woes are not really things to blame the kids or parents for. Being sick can also put you in a grumpy mood! I highly doubt they wanted their kids to be sick on vacation!

Regardless, I hope your next trip is better! Glad OKW was nice.

Yes, it did stink. Bad. :)

The stomach bug reasoning I sort of agree with. I only have assumptions of what happened to start the cycle and I can only confirm that the niece hasn't been sick since - including today.

The potty training? No way. The kid can go, I've seen him do it - in pants and in toilet, and, in fact, in some bushes at the end of the Safari ride. If the kid has problems, i.e. childhood diabetes, I will let up on him to some extent because the frequency would be much greater. I would also blame the parents more for being in denial to the fact he has a problem. But to just let him get away with it is just irresponsible and puts others in bad positions when he does it. There is no excuse for that!

[spearenb]

One addendum to the 'where to puke' theory. I agree with the get it all out in one spot, UNLESS it's in a queue line. We stood in a bus queue for the all star around midnight a few months ago RIGHT IN FRONT of a huge pool of barf. People had to jump over it, moms had to have help getting kids out of the strollers to lift the strollers over it, etc. It was *bad*.

And the worst part was, the kid that did it was about 5 feet from a convenient set of bushes! It was so bad it actually caused a few cases of collateral retching-we were like, argh, keep it down, get on the bus!


If it is that convenient, go for the bushes! :)

Another puke story ;) or two

When my DD was 2 we were eating at a packed TGIF at Cedar Point. DD starts puking at the table before we ordered (but we had our drinks). My wife starts telling me to get her to the bathroom but I put up a menu to hide her as much as possible from other customers. After we were sure she was finished, I took her to the room while my wife stayed to pay the bill. I thought it was the right idea to stay in one place. :) Later, I asked my wife how much the bill was and she said it was a few dollars. I asked her how much of a tip did she put down. She thought for a few seconds and realized she had forgotten to put one down. :teeth:

I reminded her the first time my son got sick in an Applebees to leave a tip. I've never seen that look on her face before...