Day 1 – Saturday “Do not trust your stroller to Delta or

[pyrxtc]

Day 1 – Saturday “Do not trust your stroller to Delta or trust the Disney Store, neither will be much help if anything goes wrong!”

Link to pre-trip report for some background

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=913275

Cast Members

 Me – Mom/Linda – Disneyaholic,, stay-at-home-mom, avid photographer, loves details
 DH - Dad/Dave – Sick of hearing about Disney, loves to have fun
 DD11 – Elizabeth – cranky pre-teen
 DD8 – Alyson – Whiny, wants to do everything, cheerleader, loud
 DS4 – Brenden - to big for his age, hates being copied, cuddly
 DS 2 Garren – Cuddly, “I can do anything my brother does” kid
 DBS15 – Katie/babysitter – awesome, smart, recently lost her hero (her big brother died in a motorcycle accident in August)

Also joining us for most of the vacation;

 DUncle – Thanh – DH’s uncle, easygoing, nice guy
 DAunt - Triengh – Duncle’s wife, quiet, speaks little to no English, understands a little more, has never eaten American food.
 DCousin - Danny - 11 months old, very cute
 DMil - Kim/Grandma Kim – has opinions about everything, normally whatever she wants trumps everyone else by her standards (see my old posts for problems with her)

Got to the airport in plenty of time. Waited for Katie, she was running a little late. Got all of our luggage dropped off and lugged way too much carry-on on the plane. The kids didn’t touch half the stuff we packed to keep them busy. Brenden just wanted to look out the window, as did Garren. The girls kept themselves busy. Our first leg was changed from a big Delta plane to a small one. I have never felt so sick in my life. Never again!! Always big planes!!

Got to Cincinnati from Manchester, NH no problems other than stomach and head aches. Second plane was overbooked but we already had our boarding passes so we were good. I was just excited it was a big plane. Flight was awesome, kids all could see out the windows. Then the bad started….

Got off the plane in Orlando, waited over 10 minutes for the stroller to appear and we got it broken. A wheel was almost completely broken off so I was rightly PO’ed. We went to baggage claim and I stood in line for damaged baggage. They said they may be able to fix it and might have it to me by Wednesday or possibly not ‘til I left on Saturday. I asked what they expected me to do and they offered me a loaner from their back room. They looked like they had all been ones that were ruined on previous vacations. I grabbed the only one besides a jogging stroller that looked like it would hold the weight of Brenden and I was lucky it had a canopy. I bought my stroller just for this trip. If I wanted a huge stroller that was heavy as heck and o easy way to fold up, I would have brought one of my older ones!

Alamo line was a little long but not too bad. They offered me an 8-passenger van for &9, I took it, went out to the lot and found that they didn’t even have any left. Grabbed a 7 passenger and went up and got my money back and the two car seats that they said would be out near the vans. NOT! Got awful directions to the Sheraton Safari. Finally found it after 9 PM and we still hadn’t even eaten dinner. We walked next door to a place called “Steak N’ Shake”. Wow! What amazing food!! I want one back home. If you are staying at the Safari, go to this restaurant, you will not be disappointed. It was under $40 for 7 of us to eat and only Garren shared. Kids menu’s are for 12 and under and quite a bit of food. Try a milkshake. I recommend the double chocolate fudge! We went swimming for a ½ hr, started to rain and the slide was closed so we were a bit upset but just went to bed. A new day in the morning.

A last note, I shared a bed with Alyson, you’ll need that later!

day 2

 

[frazzled one]

Hope things start to improve for you (though the title of your next installment makes me think, "uh-oh" ...). What a bummer about the stroller! At least you had a decent experience at Steak and Shake. I found them online, thought they looked interesting, and had a scary meal at one in Columbus, Ohio recently. Looking forward to the rest of your report ...

 

[mckymama]

Yay for Steak 'n' Shake!!! Ours is 5 min. from our house, and the milk shakes can be a nasty habit. My sister moved to Colorado 10 years ago. Whenever she comes home to visit, she goes to Steak 'n' Shake at least 3-4 times while she's here. I hope the trip got better!

 

[MaMa3Princess]

This big family would not know what to do with out steak n shake where else can you feed a family of 6 under 30 bucks including those yummy milkshakes.

I hope your trip gets better

 

[POB14]

The best part about living in Central Illinois -- Steak 'N Shake!!!

I just finished a Double Dark Fudge myself.