It Truly was the Nightmare at Thanksgiving Disney Trip!- update 4/5 pg 10

[jeremysdisneymom]

I have debated back and forth doing this trip report. Why? Well 1. I am bad about other things keeping me from updating my trips reports and feel like I lose my readers. 2. It truly was the worst trip I ever took to WDW. 3. I have been in a "I don't care if we go to Disney or not funk" until just a few days ago.

Before you click away, I am no longer in the Funk. If anything, I am in the "how can I squeeze a WDW trip in" funk. There will be no disney hating in this report because it really wasn't Disney that made the trip a nightmare. It was all the things that happened before, during, and a lot after. There will be a lot of drama, a lot of firsts, and a lot of frustration.

So, if you are up to this nightmare, stay with me because it will literally be a BUMPY RIDE!

Introductions

For those of you who don't know me and my boys, here are the introductions.

I am Erika, aka jeremysdisneymom. Disney enthusiast and an avid planner (well most of the time) of all our Disney vacations and any other jaunts we go on. I fell in love with Disney when we first took DS six years ago. It truly is a magical place to me. I get giddy when I see the sign, when I first step onto Main Street, and was especially giddy this trip when I first stepped into the new Fantasyland. I am an accountant, finance manager by day. I am DS troop committee chair for boy scouts. If you read my other reports, you know that I used to be the uber-volunteer. I have learned my lesson. Passed on my PTO Presidency this year and finally closed out my work on the local hospital board I served on in December. It has been nice and calm to be home more at night and really focus on me again. Some of you know I had a lap band 2 years ago. However, if you knew that, you can tell that I am a classic back slider of the surgery and have gained about 20 pounds back. The picture above doesn't lie. I am back on focus and the weight is coming off again. My favorite character is Daisy. I have a lot of favorite resorts but probably my heart belongs to the Wilderness Lodge. My favorite restaurant is Be Our Guest. My favorite park is MK with Epcot a close second.

Next up is DH, aka Tom. He is our workaholic in the family. He works for the local sheriff's office by day and most nights and weekend you will find him as the EMT for our local squad. He is the scoutmaster of DS boy scout troop. He used to be a resistor but that changed after a few years. He is the one who is constantly wanting to add points to DVC, which will cause a major snag on one of our vacation days. His favorite resort is Wilderness Lodge. I think his favorite character would be Grumpy if he was in the parks daily. His favorite restaurant is Be Our Guest, probably more than mine. He still raves about that place and wanting to go back there. His favorite park is probably Epcot.

I saved the best intro for last!!! The reason this all started and the apple of our eye-DS Jeremy. He is an honors student that loves boy scouts and 4-H. He is now playing the drums in band. But most of all, he Disney! There is not a day goes buy he doesn't talk about something Disney. He aspires to be an Imangineer one day and will tell you what rides he wants to build, what he would enhance, his thoughts for a new land or park. I could go on and on and on.... I don't think Jeremy has a favorite resort. He likes them based on pools so that would be the Beach Club right now. Jeremy doesn't have a favorite character. He truly loves them all and it is a true rare delight when he will get a picture with them now. Yes, I have a tween and all the fun that goes with it! His favorite restaurants are probably San Angel Inn (for sitting near the ride), Le Chefs de France (for seeing Remy), and Be Our Guest (for the atmosphere). His favorite park is MK.

Our vacation was November 16-26. It will include WDW and our first Disney cruise. There will be stays at BLT and the Beach Club. There will be travel drama. There will be things that go missing. There will be sickness that runs in the family. There will be a magical green apple and oh the powers it has. There will be instances where I felt like I was on the same trip at this time last year. But there will be lots of fun amongst the nightmare and lots of pictures to document our adventure.

So, stick around, hold on to the rails, cause it is going to get very BUMPY very SOON!

Up Next (later this afternoon if all goes well):
Numbing Medicine that won't go away
The Nightmare that Started this Trip (I wouldn't wish this on my worst Enemy)
Something goes crash, boom in the night
My Meltdown
Will DH turn around and go home like I ask?
And, the best pizza I ever ate

 

[loveysbydesign]

I'm in!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I'm in!

Welcome! Glad to have my first reader!

 

[StitchsGurl]

I'm going to join in as well!

 

[CtinaDitty]

I am SO in!!! Sounds like an adventure!!!

 

[CtinaDitty]

I'm in!!! Sounds like an adventure!


Blah! Sorry for the double post.

 

[Marsheliz]

Joining in as well...
Our September trip was very bumpy and I felt the same way as you at first.. " Dont care if we ever go back" Now, I am itching to go..
Can't wait to hear about Be Our Guest, it was booked when we went.

 

[Mariep26]

Joining in too! Hi!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I'm going to join in as well!

Glad you are here!

I am SO in!!! Sounds like an adventure!!!

It was quite the trip! Not the best we have ever had for sure.

Joining in as well...
Our September trip was very bumpy and I felt the same way as you at first.. " Dont care if we ever go back" Now, I am itching to go..
Can't wait to hear about Be Our Guest, it was booked when we went.

Ours was literally bumby! We had a lot to deal with when we came home that didn't help the situation. You will learn why here in a few. I am getting ready to update again. We Be Our Guest. It is our favorite on property now.

As of right now, we are not planning on WDW this year, but who knows that could change. However, we are planning on DL in November.

Joining in too! Hi!

Glad to have you.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Joining in too! Hi!

I should have said Welcome Home Neighbor!!! We own at BLT too!

 

[meajuly5]

Joining

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I am on a roll today so let's get to updating!! Be patient as the first part is pretty wordy.

Friday, November 16, 2012-Departure Day

If you have read my other reports, you know that it is rare that we fly. We are 14 hours away (in Ohio) and under normal circumstances, not a bad drive. We typically drive during the night (avoiding Atlanta at rush hour) and make really good time. We have typically seen the Florida state line in the wee hours of the morning. Our main reason for driving is I won't pay the extra money for a rental, it is cheaper than flying, and DH likes having a car if we are going to be there for a long period of time. Plus, it made sense due to the fact that we were going on a cruise.

So, on this Friday, Tom heads to work until 2 and then home for some rest.

Jeremy heads to school. We typically leave once school is out but he had a party afterwards that day for doing well on state testing. I was a little upset that it was putting a wrinkle in my plans, but in hindsight, it was for him doing well so there would be no argues from me. So, party was over at 6:30, pick him up, get him to shower, and then head out. Easy peezy.......or at least I thought.

My day consisted of being off work, finishing cleaning the house and packing, taking the cat to my mom's in Kentucky, and going to the dentist in KY to fix my tooth. Found at that I had cracked my very back tooth. He had to numb me. He did this at 2:00 in the afternoon. It finally wore off at 9:00 that night. I was miserable. Tom couldn't even understand me talking when I got home. My entire side of my face was numb. I couldn't eat. It was a job trying to put on makeup. Lipstick was totally out of the question. I didn't think it could get worse.

Well, it did................but in a much different way.

Now, what I am about to tell you is what I consider to be one of a parent's worse nightmares for their child. I debated putting this out there but you have to know what happened to understand our frame of mind. At 6:00 that evening, Tom goes to pick Jeremy up from school. He comes home and I could instantly tell that something was wrong. He tells Jeremy to go get a shower and then tells me what Jeremy has just told him in the car.

For those of you that may be new to my reports, Jeremy is in 5th grade. He is super tall for his age and quite backward. He gets picked on a lot at school. He will not talk back to anyone if they are being mean to him and usually walks away. It frustrates his Dad horrible. Tom thinks he needs to defend himself more since he is the bigger kid and most often it is kids his age who are quite smaller than him that pick on him. I totally disagree. I was a lot like Jeremy at his age and understand what he goes through. I would rather avoid the confrontation at that age than meet it head on. Well, I guess a child had been giving Jeremy a hard time for a while and Jeremy had been asking him to leave him alone. So, in Science class that day the child passed Jeremy a note that basicly said for Jeremy to quit telling him to leave him alone or this would happen--it showed Jeremy on the ground shot with the other child standing over him. It was very descriptive with words depicting the entire event.

I will tell you that it literally took the breath out of me when Tom told me. That is my baby and you never think of that happening to him, especially at school. Jeremy got out of the shower and then I got angry. The school never called us to let us know what happened. The teacher sent both students to the office so Jeremy could tell what happened. There is a long distance from Jeremy's room to the office and the other child should have never been allowed to walk up there by himself in my opinion. We were furious and had no idea what to do. Tom said to go ahead and get prepared to leave and we would head up by the school. No one was still there. We are friends with the school secretary so Tom called her and she said that the child had been suspended for 2 days.

I am going to make a long story short as we dealt with this when we came back off vacation until we ended up having to involve the courts on December 21st. The school never reported it to law enforcement--we did. The principal would not move the child to another homeroom as she thought it would be hard for him to make new friends since he was new to the district but would move Jeremy if we wanted. We met with her and the superintendant who backed her of course. We went to the school board who voted 3-2 in favor of administration. By the time we met with them it had been a month and the other 3 didn't think it was an issue since things had been fine since then. So, we went to juvenile court and they ordered the child moved and he has been. It has been a trying month. I have cried. I have been worried hoping he is safe each day. It was very stressful and I hope no one ever has to go through it.

So, with all that said, we left home with A LOT on our minds.

We had a late dinner that night at Cracker Barrel in Lexington, KY. I took over driving. So even though we had 3/4 tank of gas, I decided to stop and fill up before we got on the interstate. So, with everything on my mind, I head out and the next thing I know I am going over the curb at the gas station and then down into a hole and I hear crunching of the car!! Tom is instantly out of the car, upset, and VERY mad at me. I have tore up the side running board on the passenger side. The car was okay and we could still go on but I was visibly torn up about EVERYTHING so he decided to drive.

We get a couple miles down the road and I am bawling. Cannot stop. And I am begging Tom to just turn around and head home. This trip was already a disaster and quite honestly, I didn't want any part of it.

continued in next post...

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

So, as you know, he didn't turn around. He drove for another hour and then I got myself together and we took turns throughout the night. We stopped in Tiffin, Georgia and had breakfast at none other than Cracker Barrel. We are a predictable family.

And, at about 11 am we were home!!! I will have to get Jeremy's pictures as I think the sign are on his camera. Tom spotted the first Disney landmark (I think it was the ToT) so he got to choose the first ride when we got to the parks.

We pulled into BLT and our room was ready. We have stayed BLT before. I know a lot of people don't like the resort theming or lack thereof, but I love staying so close to the MK.

This was waiting on us when we got to our room. I think we were on the 14th floor, Lake View.

And this was in the kitchen.

And here was our awesome view!

The pool was calling our name so Jeremy and I hit the pool. Tom rested for a while and then joined us. I actually went down the slide once with Jeremy but the water was too cold for my liking. We got lunch at the bar there. Just two sandwiches that we split. The sun kept moving and I was getting aggravated of warding off the lizards, so we headed in to change.

We headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping and to find something for supper.

Jeremy wanted to ride the carousel. I think he was getting anxious since he was so close to the parks but they would be after the cruise.

Up Next:

the best dinner we have ever ate off property
will we make it Top of the World Lounge on time
what did I forget the night before at Downtown Disney

 

[ENSOCK]

Can't wait to read more. Hope your trip gets better! From one mother to another, !

 

[nkereina]

Subscribing! I am in shock of the story over your son. I can't even believe the school! In this day and age, they should be over the top with how they handle - not try to sweep it under the rug. Good for you for taking it further. I hope it has all worked out. Best wishes to your son!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Subbing. So sorry about what your son and family went through!! My DS has the opposite problem of being quite small for his age. One day while talking to an adult friend of mine who is quite tall, he told me he always got bullied in school. He said most kids figured if they could take the biggest kid in the class out that would cement their status as tough and cool. It is never easy being a kid

I hope your DS finds peace!

 

[MelMel11]

Im in. Sorry for what your son and your family went through. We are going Thanksgiving 2013 so I cant wait to hear more!!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Joining

Glad to have you here.

Can't wait to read more. Hope your trip gets better! From one mother to another, !

It does.....to some degree!!! There are a LOT more bumps in the road. Thanks. It has been a rough month but things are looking up.

Subscribing! I am in shock of the story over your son. I can't even believe the school! In this day and age, they should be over the top with how they handle - not try to sweep it under the rug. Good for you for taking it further. I hope it has all worked out. Best wishes to your son!

Glad you are here! The situation has finally opened the school boards eyes to what the school administration is doing wrong. We have a principal who is new to our area and this is her first administrative job. She is very naive in things and has no discipline whatsoever. Teachers are discouraged to send disruptive students to the office. If they don't handle it in class and send them, it counts against their evaluation which I think is ridiculous. I really think she thought we wouldn't take it this far. It is time for change and if I have to be the one to do it, then we will. Jeremy is doing much better and feels safe in class now. He didn't the last month and was always worried about what the other child was going to do to him. There were many times we thought of keeping him home. I appreciate your well wishes.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Subbing. So sorry about what your son and family went through!! My DS has the opposite problem of being quite small for his age. One day while talking to an adult friend of mine who is quite tall, he told me he always got bullied in school. He said most kids figured if they could take the biggest kid in the class out that would cement their status as tough and cool. It is never easy being a kid

I hope your DS finds peace!

Glad to have you here! Wow, I never thought about taking out the big kid in class as being tough. I bet that does happen a lot. I cannot fathom how children treat one another nowadays. Some can be sooo cruel to others in just what they say. I really feel for them and I really do for this boy who did this to Jeremy. It is obvious that the behavior is not being addressed at home. The school has told me that the parents are getting him help but that is all they will really say. They did tell me that the boy's parents called to see how much we knew as they were afraid he wouldn't get into scouts. I think that infuriated me more as in my opinion, that should be the least of their worries.

DS is doing much better. He is back to laughing and enjoying going to school since things have changed. I can tell a big difference. That is a lot to put on a child to see yourself drawed in a picture that way.

Im in. Sorry for what your son and your family went through. We are going Thanksgiving 2013 so I cant wait to hear more!!

Glad to have you here!!! This makes our third trip Thanksgiving week. I will tell you I thought it was more crowded this trip but I think it could have been all the other stuff going on in the trip was clouding my judgment and my overall frustrations. Plus, it was preview week for Fantasyland. I have a lot of good pictures of all the Christmas happenings that was going on. I hope you enjoy and will get some good info for your trip.

 

[eandesmom]

Oh Erika! My heart just fell to the floor reading this. I can't even imagine going through that as a parent, or a child. I am shocked at the school's position to be honest. While I get that the other boy clearly needs help and nurturing, saying they'd move Jeremy and not him is frankly rewarding the behavior. Lord, if it were me I'd probably have been researching other schools, figuring out all my options instead of fighting it as you did and taking it to court. As brutal as this has been, Jeremy is truly blessed to have you as his mom and advocate.

Is this boy in scouts with Jeremy? While I could see scouts being beneficial for him I hope it's a different pack.

I am so glad that all of you, and the car were ok and Jeremy was able to get to his happy place. I know Eric gets picked on quite a bit as well, for different reasons but picked on nonetheless, and I do think that is part of his Disney obsession. It's such a safe, happy wonderful place. As an adult, with that hanging over you, oh, not a good start.

Lovely room though!

I'm here, and don't worry about sharing the good, the bad and the ugly. Life is all of that and even Disney can't always fix it much as we wish it could. I'm glad you are over your funk, and feel ok sharing your story.