3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again"

[counselormom]

I just read your EMH MK day post. I really enjoyed your pics of the characters walking down Main Street. I've never seen any pics. like that, very cool. Triple mountain Fastpasses! Wow, just like gold! Your talent as a photographer really shows, you take pictures of things I never would have thought of but wished I had. Really enjoying your report.

 

[natebenma]

I just read your EMH MK day post. I really enjoyed your pics of the characters walking down Main Street. I've never seen any pics. like that, very cool. Triple mountain Fastpasses! Wow, just like gold! Your talent as a photographer really shows, you take pictures of things I never would have thought of but wished I had. Really enjoying your report.

That was a great morning! We didn't realize what we had done until we sat down at the table for lunch and looked at the 3 sets of FP. Of course I had to take a picture!!!

We had never seen the characters walking down the street before this year either. I was so impressed how quickly those gals were able to move in heels!

Thanks for the kind words about the photos. My point and shoot does not leave my wrist while I am on vacation! Sometimes I think of picture I want after I am back home, and I have been known to try to search for it on the DIS. Especially pictures inside rides and attractions (like Davy Jones in the water screen, or the Madame Liota in Haunted Mansion) and I have "borrowed" the pictures to use in my photo album.

My friends would get annoyed when they look through my album. "That's a great picture!" "Not mine!" They make fun of me! I have a couple of pictures in the trip report that are not mine, but I have credited the source (if I know who the photographer was)

Thanks again for your comments!

 

[Queila]

Dee!
I miss your TR!

 

[natebenma]

Dee!
I miss your TR!

Queila- That is so sweet!!!

Hope you are well.

I have a couple of very minor updates to do- putting off posting about our return home and about a DIS meet I attended at the Beach Club (in photo form). I may even do a mini-tr for my October Washington DC trip.

I have been working this week on updating the Beach and Yacht Club FAQ thread, so I haven't had time to check out the trip report board in DAYS! I'll have to catch up this weekend.

Did this week's nasty storms make it up to your neck of the woods?

My boys had an early release from school on Tuesday, snow day on Wednesday, school was in session Thursday, but canceled again today because they are worried about roof collapses at the schools.

Talk soon!

Dee

 

[natebenma]

The return home that SHOULD have been

When we originally booked this trip we decided to do something a little unconventional with our flights.

The previous two years we visited Disney, we booked the same Delta flights to/from Orlando: 7 am departure from Boston, getting us to Orlando around 10 am. 11 am departure from Orlando, arriving in Boston around 2 PM.

We love, love, love that early arrival day flight. By 1 PM we are checked into our resort and are strolling into Magic Kingdom knowing a wonderful vacation is ahead of us. The flight at the other end of the trip is not that great. With an 11 am flight, and an 8 am Magical Express pickup, the morning is pretty rushed and there is not really much time to do anything before we leave.

So we decided we would check out flights on other airlines for our return home.

And we found the perfect solution! 2 PM direct flight, arriving in Boston at 5 PM with AirTran. And it was less expensive than the morning flight with Delta.

You know how when you are watching your favorite tv show and you see the wavy lines and they slip into a fantasy segment. Here is mine, describing our plans for our departure day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By 7 AM, everyone was up and ready to start the day. A little last minute packing, and we were ready to head down to the lobby to check in our luggage (LOVE Magical Express) and check in for our breakfast at the Cape May café. This is a great character breakfast- the food is fresh and delicious and Minnie, Goofy and Donald are at their laid-back best in their beach attire.

We finished breakfast and still had some time to enjoy a last walk around the Beach Club- the pool, the arcade, the beach…

At 9:30, Teena came in for her shift as greeter. She had just returned from a trip to visit her daughter Jeanne in Las Vegas, and help her set up her classroom so this was the only time we would have a chance to visit with her on this trip.

Alas, it was now 11 AM, time to board the Magical Express to the airport. We had a pleasant 3 hour flight back to Boston, and arrived home around 6:30 PM


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wavy lines are back because NONE OF THIS HAPPENED!!!

As I have mentioned a few times, AirTran, aka AirTrashcan changed our flight! It was no longer a direct flight from 2 PM to 5PM. We now had an 11 AM flight to Atlanta, an hour and a half layover and a flight to Boston that was scheduled to arrive at 5PM.

The return home that WAS

We cancelled our breakfast reservation at the Cape May.

Our ME bus was scheduled for 8:30, an hour before Teena would arrive for work, so we missed seeing her by an hour

I had made up a gift bag for Teena with some goodies for her daughter’s classroom (some Tinkerbelle wands and gift boxes and some pink pirate bracelets the boys received at the cast party for Peter Pan). I also enclosed a gift certificate for Starbucks, which I guess her husband Bob was pretty excited about. I left the bag with the Beach Club check-in desk. While we waited in the lobby for a few minutes, someone came over with a survey for us to fill out about our trip. Teena has reported on the BC board that the survey people are there in the lobby every morning. You can only fill out the survey on your checkout day, and when they have their quota, usually by 9 am, they leave.

We checked in our luggage at the outside desk. We had a couple of quick serve meal credits left from our dining plan, so we went to the Beach Club Marketplace and ordered a ham and cheese croissant sandwich and a create-your-own-parfait.

The boys did not trade pins very much on this trip. I wanted to purchase a Beach Club pin, but the display was out. But I noticed one of the cashiers at the counter had a Yacht Club pin, so I sent Ben over to trade for it.

We then went outside to wait for "Not-So-Magical-Express-Bus"

Our bus ride was uneventful, but I think the flight to Atlanta was the worst leg of a flight I’ve ever been on.

Because our flights had been changed we no longer had seat assignments together. Mark and the boys were two rows ahead of me. Normally this isn’t a problem. I can deal with some quiet, alone time to read. But I was surrounded on all sides by possibly the Most. Annoying. Family. In. America.

In front of me was the father, a boy around 4 years old who did nothing but whine and a teenager, maybe 16 or 17 who did nothing but whine.

In the two seats next to me were boys somewhere between the ages of 8-11. Across the aisle, and still with this group, there was another boy and a girl in this age range. And the mother. I think. The only interaction I saw between the mother and the two kids in her row was her yelling at the kids, and at one point snatching food from the girl and giving it to the boy.

One of the boys kept using his iPod after the no electronics announcement. And he was hiding it whenever the flight attendants came by. After the flight was in the air, the four adolescents seated in my row were all Picto-chatting with their game boy DSs. Mostly profanity. With spelling errors. I think I could have ignored all this, but it was too much when one boy called his sister a “BICH” (sic).

They were loud for the whole flight and I had a raging headache by the time we landed.

And they were continuing on to Boston, too! Fortunately, we didn’t see them on the second leg of our trip.

The highlight of the plane trip to Atlanta was seeing the football stadium where the Falcons play. The Falcons are Nate’s second favorite NFL team.

The layover in the airport pretty much sucked. It was really crowded and there were no seats available, so we just claimed a place on the floor. Mark and Nate went into a couple of gift shops to look for some Falcon’s merchandise, but they didn’t find anything.

The flight back to Boston was better. We landed, collected our luggage, found our livery ride and at 6:30 we were home and ordering our traditional after- trip pizza delivery.

(photo borrowed from mickeystoontown - hope you don't mind!)


That’s pretty much a wrap, but I do still have an installment or two to go.

Next up: Flat Dee crashes a Beach Club DIS meet

 

[jmskinner]

Oh, I'm sitting laughing and also crying. I have so totally been there on the flight home. I'm so sorry they messed with your flights and the horrible family. Our first trip home from WDW, Jacob threw up on me, with an hour more to go in the flight and another flight after that.

And I am about your "not so magical express" comment. Shedding tears too because it is so true. One of our departures got messed up because our flight had been cancelled, but the checkin desk at the resort couldn't see that and could only tell us they couldn't check our luggage and the bus was late picking us up. We were freaking out the whole way to the airport that we were going to miss our flight and the CM driving the bus was working really hard to cheer people up on that bus and all we wanted to do was yell at him to shut up. We refrained.

I've really enjoyed your TR and look forward to the last couple of posts!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh I hate that you had to sit beside a bunch of obnoxious people during your flight home. That totally sucks!

 

[eandesmom]

oh YUCK! just all of it. The last day is bad enough without all of that.

 

[natebenma]

Oh, I'm sitting laughing and also crying. I have so totally been there on the flight home. I'm so sorry they messed with your flights and the horrible family. Our first trip home from WDW, Jacob threw up on me, with an hour more to go in the flight and another flight after that.

And I am about your "not so magical express" comment. Shedding tears too because it is so true. One of our departures got messed up because our flight had been cancelled, but the checkin desk at the resort couldn't see that and could only tell us they couldn't check our luggage and the bus was late picking us up. We were freaking out the whole way to the airport that we were going to miss our flight and the CM driving the bus was working really hard to cheer people up on that bus and all we wanted to do was yell at him to shut up. We refrained.

I've really enjoyed your TR and look forward to the last couple of posts!

I am so glad I could elicit such a range of emotions from you! I guess we all have our travel day war stories! How old was Jacob on that flight? That is very scary being worried about missing your flight.

Oh I hate that you had to sit beside a bunch of obnoxious people during your flight home. That totally sucks!

The silver lining is that when you witness other families like that, you really appreciate the one you have!

oh YUCK! just all of it. The last day is bad enough without all of that.

That pretty much sums it up!

 

[Brae's Mom]

Great Great Great report. I just found this so I am waaaaayyyy behind. But I'm up to day 3 and so far very good. Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[natebenma]

Great Great Great report. I just found this so I am waaaaayyyy behind. But I'm up to day 3 and so far very good. Can't wait to read the rest.

Crystal

Thanks!!!

Glad you have enjoyed what you have read! We had a fantastic, incredibly busy trip and I love sharing the memories.

 

[HockeyMomR]

Was able to catch up the last few days!!! I am glad to be back on the boards.

Oh your last day story - not as you planned. Leaving is so sad no matter what time, sorry you need to miss your planned breakfast at Cape May. Our family loves that buffet. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

 

[natebenma]

Was able to catch up the last few days!!! I am glad to be back on the boards.

Oh your last day story - not as you planned. Leaving is so sad no matter what time, sorry you need to miss your planned breakfast at Cape May. Our family loves that buffet. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Welcome back!!! Really the worst part about our change of plans was not having a chance to see Teena. Even though the only time we have met was during my trip in 2009, she has become a good friend.

We enjoyed the Cape May breakfast in 2008- my family loves the food, but it probably is not as much fun now as when Chip and Dale were around.

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm so annoyed about your flight change. That's just wrong!!! Ugh.

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

I'm so annoyed about your flight change. That's just wrong!!! Ugh.

Amanda

I'm normally a go-with-the-flow, find the silver lining kind of gal. But I'm still a bit bitter about this! How is it ok for the airline change a non-stop flight to a flight with a layover?

 

[counselormom]

First of all the new Beach & Yacht Club thread looks awesome, the pictures really look good, great job!

Your evening alone on the beach watching Wishes sounds so nice, I thought it was really sweet that your hubby was worried about you. I think it's great that you were perfectly happy just enjoying it by yourself, I would have been the same way. I love being with my family but I'm also okay just being alone sometimes.

My goodness, the family on the plane. It sounds like you did a good job of keeping your mouth shut! Amazing how some people are so unaware of others around them. I hate that your trip report is coming to an end, I was glad to see you have a few "goodies" left for us.

 

[natebenma]

First of all the new Beach & Yacht Club thread looks awesome, the pictures really look good, great job!

Your evening alone on the beach watching Wishes sounds so nice, I thought it was really sweet that your hubby was worried about you. I think it's great that you were perfectly happy just enjoying it by yourself, I would have been the same way. I love being with my family but I'm also okay just being alone sometimes.

My goodness, the family on the plane. It sounds like you did a good job of keeping your mouth shut! Amazing how some people are so unaware of others around them. I hate that your trip report is coming to an end, I was glad to see you have a few "goodies" left for us.

Hey, I was going to post over on your report and ask how you are doing- I have been hearing that Oklahoma is being nailed with nasty weather. Hope all is well! I'm guessing by hearing from you in the middle of the day that there is no school. Have you been out lots of days?

Thanks for the feeback on the FAQ thread. I'm pretty happy with it. But every time I look at it I see something that needs to be changed!

I think the night on the Poly Beach was the most relaxed I had been on that trip. It was so nice to just sit back and not be rushing anywhere.

I'm sad the report is coming to an end, too. As I'm sure you are finding, writing a trip report helps you remember details about your trip that are easily forgotten. I am also thankful for the people I have met on my report and others. Or as DrMomof3 calls us "My imaginary internet friends".

 

[counselormom]

Hey, I was going to post over on your report and ask how you are doing- I have been hearing that Oklahoma is being nailed with nasty weather. Hope all is well! I'm guessing by hearing from you in the middle of the day that there is no school. Have you been out lots of days?

Thanks for the feeback on the FAQ thread. I'm pretty happy with it. But every time I look at it I see something that needs to be changed!

I think the night on the Poly Beach was the most relaxed I had been on that trip. It was so nice to just sit back and not be rushing anywhere.

I'm sad the report is coming to an end, too. As I'm sure you are finding, writing a trip report helps you remember details about your trip that are easily forgotten. I am also thankful for the people I have met on my report and others. Or as DrMomof3 calls us "My imaginary internet friends".

Yes, another day out of school today. This will make day number 6, I don't know that we will be going back until Monday. I'll post a picture on my TR later. Luckily, my kids have been sleeping in on the snow days and I've been able to get caught up with reading TR's and updating my own. We just aren't used to this much snow in Oklahoma, tornados yes, but snow not so much! We don't have the equipment to deal with it and therefore buses can't run etc. We usually just get ice so the snow is better and much prettier.

Imaginary internet friends, I love that! It is great to chat with and meet new people. Do you have another Disney trip planned so we can have another trip report? Also, did I just dream that one of your TR's had a trip to Universal in it? I've been planning our next trip in my head and I've thought about looking into it for part of our next trip.

 

[natebenma]

Yes, another day out of school today. This will make day number 6, I don't know that we will be going back until Monday. I'll post a picture on my TR later. Luckily, my kids have been sleeping in on the snow days and I've been able to get caught up with reading TR's and updating my own. We just aren't used to this much snow in Oklahoma, tornados yes, but snow not so much! We don't have the equipment to deal with it and therefore buses can't run etc. We usually just get ice so the snow is better and much prettier.

Imaginary internet friends, I love that! It is great to chat with and meet new people. Do you have another Disney trip planned so we can have another trip report? Also, did I just dream that one of your TR's had a trip to Universal in it? I've been planning our next trip in my head and I've thought about looking into it for part of our next trip.

We have had 6 days out, too. Right now last day of school is Monday June 27. If we have 3 more snow days, it bring us to July, so we will have to either cancel some of April vacation, or have a couple of Saturday sessions.

But for the first time this year, the 7 day forecast did not have any snow I hope you are able to get out and about soon!

You know, we don't have a trip booked for the summer The boys don't believe us, especially when they see me on the DISboards all the time! It is too bad because I already have the title of my next trip report

"More pictures of food than my kids. Is that wrong?"

But no trip.

Maybe I should tell Mark that my imaginary internet friends are insisting that we visit Disney again!

Nate's class goes to Disney next May for 8th grade graduation. We are in negotiations about whether I can come or not. He mostly says "NO!" but once in awhile he says "But mom, you really pone (excel) at Disney" They stay at one of the AllStars. I'm thinking of going as a semi-chaperone. I'll stay at the BC and meet them at the parks during the day.

Not us to Universal. You may be thinking of eandesmom (Cynthia). I think a visit to Universal is coming on her TR Dr Jones and the Spitting Camel.

Although that is one of the scenarios we priced for the summer- going to the "other Orlando"- I am a huge Harry Potter fan, so Universal, Sea World. But I still want to stay at the Beach Club!

We go to Mexico in a couple of weeks, and this is the first time in about 3 years that we "don't have another one (a trip) in the hopper".

 

[Queila]

Did this week's nasty storms make it up to your neck of the woods?

My boys had an early release from school on Tuesday, snow day on Wednesday, school was in session Thursday, but canceled again today because they are worried about roof collapses at the schools.

Talk soon!

Dee

Oddly enough, not really. we haven't been hit by all these nasty blizzards like you guys but it seems to snow a little bit (2-5 cm) every day so it adds up! I kind of hope for a big blizzard on the days I have to work but no such luck.

This weekend we are planning to go snow tubing just to be able to get out a bit so that should be fun.

After changing our minds a couple of times about our vacation this year (we went from Barcelos Mexico in February to Barcelos Cuba in April) but ended up agreeing on going to... guess where... that,s right: Disney again next May. I will write more about it in my TR soon.

Anyways, time to finish catching up with you.

Q