4 + 1 = happy memories? I hope so! NEW: Final thoughts!

:hug: :sad1: :sad2: I am so sorry that you're vacation ended on such a lousy note. That being said...at least it didn't begin that way and you had such a great first part! (I'm sorry....I'm kind of a glass half full person. It gets annoying, I know!) I have really enjoyed your trip report and am sad that it is coming to a close. I agree with an above poster: time to start planning another trip! :thumbsup2
 
Awww :( I'm so sorry your last day didn't end the way you'd hoped. It's always hard when things don't go as you've been imagining for many months :hug:

Those pictures of the castle are so amazing!!!
 
:hug: :sad1: :sad2: I am so sorry that you're vacation ended on such a lousy note. That being said...at least it didn't begin that way and you had such a great first part! (I'm sorry....I'm kind of a glass half full person. It gets annoying, I know!) I have really enjoyed your trip report and am sad that it is coming to a close. I agree with an above poster: time to start planning another trip! :thumbsup2

I am so glad we had a really fabulous first part of our trip!! :thumbsup2 And writing this TR has been a good thing because its helped me remember the wonderful parts and not just how it ended.

I'm glad you have enjoyed this TR! Another smallish chapter coming soon!

I actually wondered about that third wheel thing.:hug: :sad2:

Totally unrelated to your comment but guess what?! Jeff's best friend just got his mission call to LONDON ENGLAND! :cool1:

Awww :( I'm so sorry your last day didn't end the way you'd hoped. It's always hard when things don't go as you've been imagining for many months :hug:

Those pictures of the castle are so amazing!!!

Thanks Carissa! I'm so glad you have been a part of this! And I have enjoyed your TR so much!!! :)
 
:goodvibes Now that it has ended I have to confess that I thought there may be a proposal somewhere along the way.
 

:goodvibes Now that it has ended I have to confess that I thought there may be a proposal somewhere along the way.

Oh dear! That would have really been something! Nothing like that in this TR!!!
 
December 23rd

The sad morning of our departure had arrived. The weather was warm and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. I awoke feeling 100% healthy with no body aches or even a hint of a sore throat. And Paul's back problems were A-okay. Kelsee was flying home today so she could spend Christmas with her family. The rest of us were going to Jacksonville to visit my mom.

I walked around with Jeff & Kelsee to get some pictures before we had to leave:

100_3952.jpg


100_3948.jpg


TheLast335.jpg


100_3949.jpg


100_3943.jpg


100_3942.jpg


100_3947.jpg


100_3940.jpg


TheLast337.jpg


TheLast339.jpg


TheLast341.jpg


100_3953.jpg

100_3958.jpg


TheLast005.jpg


All too soon it was time to take Kelsee to the airport. I was trying to figure out the best way to do this since once again there was no way we could all fit in the car with our luggage. It was decided I would go with Jeff and Kelsee to the airport. Paul and Laura would stay behind and finish getting ready to go.

I considered leaving Jeff at the airport so he could wait with her till time to go to her gate and then swinging back by the airport to pick him up on our way to Jacksonville. But when we got there and saw how bad the traffic was I quickly ditched that idea. I stopped where passengers could be dropped off and said my goodbyes to Kelsee. Jeff walked with her inside and although you aren't supposed to park at those places I tested my luck and hoped he would be right back. If you've ever seen Robert's policewoman partner on "Everybody Loves Raymond", someone with remarkable resemblence and attitude to her came up and told me to get a move on! I explained my son would be right back and she said I had to circle around until he was there ready to be picked up. I circled around twice hoping each time I wouldn't get in any fender benders or worse because people were unfamiliar with what lane they needed to be in (like me) and kept moving over at the last minute. I was so glad to see Jeff waiting on my second time around and we gladly got out of that mess for our return trip to Pop.

This picture is usually one of the first in most people's trip reports but I never got one when we arrived so we took it as we reentered the property.

100_3960.jpg


We were back just in time to pick up Laura and Paul at 11:00 when we had to be out of the room. One quick stop at the food court for a final mug refill and a quick check of our wallets to make sure we weren't keeping any money that Mickey still needed then we were on our way. For a second I thought about calling my mom and saying we would get to her house much later than expected so we could go back in the parks and make up for our abismal day yesterday. But since she hadn't seen us for a year I knew that news wouldn't be met with a positive response. And Jeff was out of days on his pass anyway.

If we thought the traffic around the airport was bad before, the cars on I-4 westbound were backed up for miles. And likely a large portion of it was headed towards Disney World. We were all thankful to have had our Disney time before the real masses arrived.

The next week was spent at my mom's house which consisted of me having one of the worst colds of my life. I went through every tissue in her house, then bought my own box and went through that. Finally I just ended up carrying around a roll of toilet paper! Paul had his own share of troubles and spent several more days with flu like symptoms but all in all we managed to have a little bit of fun.

Best part about today: Temporarily feeling better (until the raging cold started)

Worst part about today: No question its LEAVING!!!

Next: A few final thoughts
 
:sad1: The "Leaving Disney" day in Trip Reports always makes me sad. I've really enjoyed your report! Thank you so much for sharing the memories, beautiful photos, and your wonderful family with us! :goodvibes
 
whew, finally got through it all. Great report. sorry about the problems on that one day but it seems like you all handled it well.

Glad his back was feeling better when u left.

I cannot wait to stay at WL.

All the pics were great.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
 
Thank heavens your horrible cold waited to hit till you left!:) Your mom probably didn't feel that way .;)
 
:sad1: The "Leaving Disney" day in Trip Reports always makes me sad. I've really enjoyed your report! Thank you so much for sharing the memories, beautiful photos, and your wonderful family with us! :goodvibes

Thanks for being a part of it with us!!! :)

whew, finally got through it all. Great report. sorry about the problems on that one day but it seems like you all handled it well.

Glad his back was feeling better when u left.

I cannot wait to stay at WL.

All the pics were great.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Thanks for stopping by Scott! Still catching up on all your wonderful updates! :thumbsup2

Thanks for a wonderful TR Liz :) I really, truly enjoyed reading yours so much!

Carissa! I'm gonna miss you and your family!!! :cutie: So glad you have been along for the ride!

Thank heavens your horrible cold waited to hit till you left!:) Your mom probably didn't feel that way .;)

Yeah, my mom wasn't fond of us showing up with all our germs! ;) After we left she got the bad cold!!! :sick:
 
Oh No!!!! It's not over!?! :sad1: Boy, you guys had quite a trip! :faint: I'm so sorry it ended up with you getting sick. :sick: Liz, thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us. Because of you, I have hope now that it will work out if we decide to take my son's girlfriend with us. You hear so many horror stories, but your trip with Kelsee is the way it should be! :thumbsup2

Don't worry... you guys will be planning another trip before you know it! :goodvibes

Take care,
Michelle
 
I really enjoyed your trip report (last year's was great too!). So your '4+1' trip sounded like you all had a fantastic time. What a wonderful family you have! My kids are getting older (14 and a just turned 17 yr old) but still enjoy our family vacations too.

Your pictures were great too! Thanks for sharing! :)
 
We took our daughter's boyfriend this past summer,and it was great. I grew to reallyappreciate him, becuse he rolled right along with all the chaos of our 8 children. He fit in. I think a vacation with potential in laws is a must.:thumbsup2
 
First of all I want to thank anyone who has read all or part of this trip report, and especially those who took the time to post! It means so much to know the time put into these things are worthwhile. Oh heck, I'd do it anyway even if I didn't post just to preserve the memories for our family (even the bad ones - which we can laugh about later - sometimes MUCH later!)

Resorts!
Okay, clearly I don't like moving from one resort to another. And I found out something else about myself too. I don't need to stay deluxe to be happy. I realized that the minute we were back at Pop and I knew I would have been just as content had we stayed there the whole time. Where we'll stay next time I have no idea. The kids are really too big to be comfortable sharing a double bed so its either two rooms at a Value or Deluxe again. Which we choose will all depend on how it works out financially. I wondered if after staying at Wilderness Lodge I'd fall so much in love with it that we'd never want to stay anywhere else (which funny enough I have had that thought only after stays at Pop and Coronado Springs!) I think we missed out on some of the fun of the Wilderness Lodge since the weather was too cold most days to really enjoy the pool.

Kelsee!
It was great having Kelsee along and I think she enjoyed being with us. I was concerned about being over enthusiastic and annoying (ME not Kelsee) but she really got into the spirit of things right along with us! Who knows some day we may not be 4 + 1 anymore and we'll just be a happy 5!

Dining Plan!
This was our first experience with the dining plan and even though we "lost money" on the plan our last day when we used three TS meals at a CS location we got a great deal of enjoyment out of eating at places we normally couldn't afford (LeCellier). I'd love to do the DP again but am really sorry to see they have taken away some of its benefits.

Disney in December!
Visiting WDW during the Christmas season is very special. However, after two years in a row I'm ready to visit at another time of year. Most of all I miss hearing the regular WDW park music! And I think visiting in the winter increases the chance of getting sick. And as crazy as this may sound I miss the rain that often is a part of many WDW vacations!

Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport!
This is where we stayed for one night before leaving to fly home to Utah. We got the great deal I mentioned earlier through Hotwire. I wish I had taken pictures of our room but when we arrived my camera was out of batteries and when we left it was very early and the room looked like the Rolling Stones had just spent a night there (okay not really but it wasn't all pretty like when we checked in). Let's just say the beds were fabulous and the convenience can't be beat. I would even consider staying there again if we had to pay the AAA rate ($170-ish). One cool thing about their wake up call service, first of all it was a human on the phone not a machine (or Stitch). Our wake up call was for something ridiculous like 4:50 AM. The lady asked if we would like to be called again in 10 minutes, the human equivalent of a snooze button!

When will we return?
Overall this wasn't one of our better trips even though most of our Disney time was fabulous until the very end. We've gotten spoiled going every year and now I don't know when we'll be back. It won't be 2008 for sure. I thought maybe in 2009 we could do a weekend at Disneyland but that's a 12 hour drive each way. We will definitely be back in Florida to visit family so it might be easier to fit in a day or two at WDW instead of the long drive to California and back. For sure I'll plan a big trip in 2010 but that's so far away there's hardly any point in even thinking about it.

We don't turn on Live 365.com Saturday mornings as we clean anymore. The distance from our next trip is too far and the pain of missing Spectro is too close to be ready to hear it right now.

Even if we can't physically be back at Disney World any time soon I will be enjoying it through the trip reports of others and carrying the magic in my heart! :wizard:
 
thanks for sharing. If I may suggest and if u have time make a dvd of the photos and add music to it then u can always look at it when u want to go back. I do that and it is fun too watch and u get a disney fix.

I had a site I did that for people and made a little money off of it but it got real time consuming.

It was a great read.
 
I've loved laughing and crying along with you! Maybe you should plan a little trip for after Jeff has been gone awhile to give you something to look forward to!
 
Maybe a nice Mother/daughter trip or a romantic trip with your husband. I think you need to think about another trip, too.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed your TR and am sad to see it end! :sad1:

I don't think I commented on it, but I also read your Fort Wilderness TR way back when - I enjoyed it as well.

Thanks for sharing with us!!!
 


Disney Vacation Planning. Free. Done for You.
Our Authorized Disney Vacation Planners are here to provide personalized, expert advice, answer every question, and uncover the best discounts. Let Dreams Unlimited Travel take care of all the details, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a stress-free vacation.
Start Your Disney Vacation
Disney EarMarked Producer






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Add as a preferred source on Google

Back
Top Bottom