delete

[PirateKate]

I'm sorry to hear Andrew wasn't feeling well and that trip had to be cut short. I hate it when kids are sick at Disney World. How far away are you all from Disney?

I love the pictures of the boys meeting Darth Vadar. Blake was so brave. It must be fun to watch Andrew on the Jedi Academy.

Sci Fi seems like a great restaurant with two little boys. I'm sure we'll go there regularly as soon as Landon can get by without a high chair. I love the atmosphere there.

 

[snowmanlover]

Still reading along and LOVING your updates and pictures! Not going to single any one picture, they are ALL nice!! BUT, the picture at Sci-Fi with you is EXTRA nice!

I hope Andrew likes school and doesn't do what our DS did! He LOVED Kindergarten and went everyday no problem! Got on the school bus the first day of 1st grade and went no problem! He got off the bus that first day of 1st grade, NO WAY was he EVER going back!! It took a good month to get him settled down and used to being away from home all day!

 

[jc040404]

First of all, I love Blake's shirt! So cute!!
And he is fearless!! There is no way I would be pointing back at Darth Vader! I would run the other way!!

Isn't that shirt adorable? He has a few silly animals like that, with his absolute favorite of the set coming up soon. I love them!

He was super cute with Darth Vader. He's big, but I think Blake seems to get that I'm a fan of the guy. Nobody to be too afraid of.

I'm sorry to hear Andrew wasn't feeling well and that trip had to be cut short. I hate it when kids are sick at Disney World. How far away are you all from Disney?

I love the pictures of the boys meeting Darth Vadar. Blake was so brave. It must be fun to watch Andrew on the Jedi Academy.

Sci Fi seems like a great restaurant with two little boys. I'm sure we'll go there regularly as soon as Landon can get by without a high chair. I love the atmosphere there.

It's about 90 minutes from our door to the TTC. Which makes me wonder.. Why haven't I renewed our APs yet??

Sci-Fi is too much fun. It would seem pointless if you're not in one of those nifty cars though, huh? I bet they'll love it.

Still reading along and LOVING your updates and pictures! Not going to single any one picture, they are ALL nice!! BUT, the picture at Sci-Fi with you is EXTRA nice!

I hope Andrew likes school and doesn't do what our DS did! He LOVED Kindergarten and went everyday no problem! Got on the school bus the first day of 1st grade and went no problem! He got off the bus that first day of 1st grade, NO WAY was he EVER going back!! It took a good month to get him settled down and used to being away from home all day!

All this talk about the car pic is really going to scare me away from posting any more pics of myself, ya know! Glad you're enjoying the pics anyway!

Awww!! I reeeeally hope Andrew stays so excited over school. I think Blake is going to be the tough one over this. He's already upset over the idea of brother being away all day! It's going to be so quiet with him not here.

 

[jc040404]

“There’s one!”

“This isn't fair to the person watching the road.”

Yeah, yeah.. He always uses that excuse. This was getting a little weird though.

“Over there!”

John and I have always played the padiddle game (playful punching, not the other version ) in the car, but my new car spotting game was proving a little crazier..

We pulled into CBR and saw a line at the security gate. We were four cars back. I found it funny that we’d never really had to wait to get into a resort before. Another check mark for my Disney Firsts list. Then I looked at what was in front of us.

I couldn’t help but laugh and turned the radio off. I found another one! I was too inspired to simply call this one out..

“And I’ll be with him!” I started to sing.

“I know you will.” The man did not miss a beat.

“On that midnight train to Georgia..”

“Leavin’ on that midnight trainnn to Georgia..”

“Ahhhh!!” somebody in the back objected to our show. He doesn’t appreciate how great we sound.

“Ooh! Ooh!” the little guy chimed in. We’d done this before.

I dislike this song. So sooo much!! It’s one of those songs that sticks with me. A few notes and I’m singing it for hours. But every time I see a GA plate, I can’t resist. There were sooo many that day, too. Andrew’s objections finally won and the song was cut short. Guess he doesn’t like it much either.

We couldn’t stop singing completely. There are just too many songs with Georgia in them. John and I proceeded to take turns singing a line or two of every one we could think of. I love these silly moments and neither of us could stop laughing!

The CM at the gate must’ve thought we were insane, but that’s fine with me. We'd never have lasted this long if I truly cared what others thought of us.

If this car belongs to a DIS’er, I do sincerely thank you for the awesome moment at CBR.

Sadly, our fun was nearing the end for a bit. It was time to check in and hope our room was ready. This late in the day, I assumed we’d get lucky. Until we walked inside, that is. The place was packed, with the regular check-in line very backed up. Thankfully, I’d done the online fun so we could skip it. Our line only had about seven or eight families ahead of us! Geesh.

I got in line while John entertained the boys. I noticed Fish Hooks playing on the television and secretly hoped he’d hurry them along to the toy table nearby. No luck. That show is awful. We did enjoy that girl on Dancing With The Stars though.

Doesn’t look too bad out there, huh? Everyone was in line!

When my turn came, I think I found why the online group was taking so long. Nothing was ready! I went through the same check-in process as you do without, with loads of computer trouble mixed in. Twice she had to call for some help with whatever was so confusing. She was sweet and apologized, filling my folder with Mickey stickers for the boys.

While I don’t remember exactly what our request was, it wasn’t granted. That wasn’t an issue, but I did have one concern with this resort. The smoking area placement is terrible, and I wanted to be sure we weren’t sleeping in one all week. You all know my feelings on that, so I won’t go into it again. This time I was just coming off of a long cold myself (Thanks, boys!) and reeeeally couldn’t handle a week of it flooding our room every time the door was opened.

After quite a bit of typing and asking someone for help yet again, the CM told me that we were staying in Jamaica 44, the exact same building as the time before. She did assure me that we wouldn’t have to worry about the smoke with our location. I didn’t exactly trust that she knew what she was talking about, but we left with our folder to find our room.

With a second floor room and no elevators, I suggested that we leave our things in the car and check it out first. John didn’t support my plan and saw it as a waste of a trip. He grabbed everything and up the stairs we went to our room. We followed the numbered signs and soon stood in front of our door, directly overlooking the smoking area!

“This is not going to work.”

“No one’s even using it. Maybe it won’t be a problem?”

It was clear that he didn’t want to bother with trying a room change, especially after carrying all our stuff up the stairs. I didn’t have a good feeling about this, but went with it.

“Breathing is so overrated anyway.”

He rolled his eyes. I stuck out my tongue in return and prayed this location didn’t become an issue.

We entered our room and looked around. I love the theme here, so cheerful and bright. Of everywhere we’ve stayed so far, these rooms are definitely my favorite. It would be okay. My cold was mostly gone and maybe no one would smoke there anyway. I could always walk really fast? We started to settle the boys for a nap.

With an immediate break needed, I didn’t follow my usual check & clean routine. Blake had been a bit of trouble during the short ride from Custom House, so we rushed it along. I’d never had any major issues beyond the busted wall at Pop, so it was probably fine, right?

I flipped the light off as they snuggled into bed and started to set the upper lock. Something didn’t seem right with it, so I flipped the light on again.

“Babe, check this out.”

John came over to look and commented as well. It was barely attached to the wall! No problem. There were two locks and nobody would be coming into the room but housekeeping anyway. He told me not to be paranoid. Back to naps..

My three boys quietly resting, I got to work with my limited light. I’ve debated a lot on how much I want to share about this room, and decided not to be very detailed about it. I’m just going to say that this room was not exactly cleaned after the last guests and skip listing all the odd things we discovered that evening. By the time the boys were up again, I was more than a little annoyed at all the garbage I’d had to clean up. Yeah, that bad. I really didn’t want to start this trip off with any problems, so I simply cleaned up and let it go.

We hopped back in the car and went out to dinner. Blake picked Olive Garden. For whatever crazy reason, he begs to eat there. I think it’s the breadsticks. An easy meal of soup and salad sounded perfect to me. We all enjoyed our uneventful dinner. Next, we stopped at Publix for water and things for the room. It wasn’t the most interesting evening, but the boys had napped for quite a while so it was already late. We decided to skip trying a park again and just relax in the room until bed. Tomorrow would be an early EPCOT morning anyway.

On the way back to CBR, the sky started to light up. Could we really see fireworks from our resort? I hadn’t looked into that one, but it seemed that we might. We made a mental note to check into that in the coming nights. The boys were so excited over the idea of this. Getting out of the car at CBR again, everything was back to happy for me.

As I started up the stairs, my hopes of no smoking issues were crushed. While the tables below weren’t filled, it was overwhelming and painful to walk through. Yuck. The shape of this silly building had it all stuck. I do not blame the smokers. This is where Disney put them, so don’t be offended if you’re one. I still think it’s a ridiculous place for a smoking area though. I didn’t say a word, but turned to look at my husband.

“We’ll ask about a new room in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the door, flooding it with cigarette smoke, and stepped on a pizza flyer! Interesting. I’d read about these being slipped under doors, but this was the first we’d ever seen. My silly kids thought it was awesome and began to argue over who got to color on it first. I tossed it in the trash instead and pulled out their books.

A few late Disney shows and bathes later, everyone was settling into bed for the night.

Then the fun began..

After a couple hours of wonderful sleep, my entire little family was suddenly ripped from our dreams. Someone was shaking our door! John jumped from the bed and Blake started screaming. Whoever it was had the door handle and was going nuts. He pulled the door open (not what I’d have done!) to see a young man with an armful of pizza flyers. Neither said a word, and simply stared for a second or two. Even if you were slipping advertising in the room, why did have to be so violent with the door? The man broke the silence.

“I’m trying to make some [insert an ugly word that starts with “F” here] money here!” the guy shouted and took off fast.

The man continued to yell as I grabbed my husband's arm. I wasn't about to let him follow this! I wasn’t sure what the resort would do about him, but I needed to call someone. Disney seems to ignore a lot, but I did hope they’d respond to an off property pizza place swearing at guests in the middle of the night!

On the phone, I have no idea what I pressed first. The phone in our room was in desperate need of replacing and didn’t work well. The button to set a wake up call didn’t even connect to anything earlier. The first CM I spoke with told me she’d transfer me to security. Perfect. A man soon answered and I explained what was going on. He seemed confused and then started asking questions about the resort that I was completely clueless about. I gave him all the information I could, but he just seemed angry over it.

“Aren’t you a cast member??”

Now I started to understand why he was talking to me like this. He thought I worked here? I explained that I was a guest and how I’d been transferred to him, but that didn’t help things much. He was extremely annoyed by this. The call ended, but I doubt anyone did anything to track the scary pizza man down.

Blake continued to cry and Andrew was terrified over this stranger. That broken lock was now a major concern to my big kid and he worried something bad would happen to us if he fell asleep again. It didn’t make for a fun night! Two hours later, they were finally back to sleep.

That early EPCOT plan? Not happening anymore!

 

[AprilRenee]

Oh my gosh! What a mess!! Your update really was scary! I thought you were kinda joking in your "coming up next" teaser.

I would be rather terrified if that happened to my hotel room, even at Disney. Disney has a feeling of being in a safety bubble and I think I would be even more traumatized by someone shaking my door at a place I considered safe. And what the heck was up with that anyway!!! I can understand a guest just going to the wrong room but that guy shouldn't have been opening any rooms anyway!!

You're rather brave for sticking it out in a dirty room, I'm not confrontational (hate it) but that would have been my proverbial straw (especially after the whole smoking thing and then the lock). I can understand sticking it out though if DH didn't agree. I usually trust Andrew's judgement on things like that and John seems to have a good head on his shoulders too.

I hope you guys got a new room the next day!

 

[CAStevens218]

Oh my goodness, what a night you had! I would have been terrified by the pizza guy incident! And with the dirty room and the smoking area on top of that, I hope things got worked out in the morning!!!!

On a happier note, the boys look adorable in the picture with their sunglasses and stickers!!!!

 

[jane2073]

That is so scary and awful!
Poor boys! It is hard enough to get to sleep in the first night at a hotel but to be woken up by some careless pizza idiot!!?? Do you really think he was handing out fliers or was he maybe testing doors to see if one might be open.

Please tell me the story has a happier ending!

I love Midnight Train to Georgia! You are right, there are a lot of songs about Georgia. My husband is from there, so I find them all sweet.

 

[jc040404]

Oh my gosh! What a mess!! Your update really was scary! I thought you were kinda joking in your "coming up next" teaser.

I would be rather terrified if that happened to my hotel room, even at Disney. Disney has a feeling of being in a safety bubble and I think I would be even more traumatized by someone shaking my door at a place I considered safe. And what the heck was up with that anyway!!! I can understand a guest just going to the wrong room but that guy shouldn't have been opening any rooms anyway!!

You're rather brave for sticking it out in a dirty room, I'm not confrontational (hate it) but that would have been my proverbial straw (especially after the whole smoking thing and then the lock). I can understand sticking it out though if DH didn't agree. I usually trust Andrew's judgement on things like that and John seems to have a good head on his shoulders too.

I hope you guys got a new room the next day!

Sorry, no joke! I still don't understand why he needed to touch the door handle. (They're not really a door "knob" at WDW, are they? Oddly, I can't recall how you open the doors right now! ) It was definitely a scary night.

As for the smoking/unclean room... Neither of us really wanted any issues with this trip, so we were being extremely forgiving about a lot of it. Part of my Disney burnout before might have been caused by the number of problems we kept witnessing. (Rude CMs, super rude guests, things not cleaned/broken, etc..) I was having trouble not seeing it all. I wanted my Disney goggles back and to see WDW as a perfect fantasy world again!

Oh my goodness, what a night you had! I would have been terrified by the pizza guy incident! And with the dirty room and the smoking area on top of that, I hope things got worked out in the morning!!!!

On a happier note, the boys look adorable in the picture with their sunglasses and stickers!!!!

They loved those sunglasses and I thought they looked adorable together in them. Silly Blaker lost his.

I said this visit didn't go quite as well! I can laugh a little about it now, but it was definitely a disappointing start! I'm going to try to get the next morning up tonight when the boys are in bed.

That is so scary and awful!
Poor boys! It is hard enough to get to sleep in the first night at a hotel but to be woken up by some careless pizza idiot!!?? Do you really think he was handing out fliers or was he maybe testing doors to see if one might be open.

Please tell me the story has a happier ending!

I love Midnight Train to Georgia! You are right, there are a lot of songs about Georgia. My husband is from there, so I find them all sweet.

I never actually thought that this man might be up to worse until I read this! Thank goodness for that or this night would've been soooo bad for me! It was nuts that he kept shaking the door, especially since the flyer was already in when we jumped up. You might be on to something. I'm glad nothing else happened!!

I love most of the Georgia songs, but that one is crazy. It's not a bad song or anything, just gets stuck in my head.

 

[PirateKate]

I'm sorry that your room was so horrible. At first when I saw the pictures from CBR, I was regretting having switched to Pop Century in October, but then when the room was dirty and smoky, I felt better about it.

That late night pizza guy is creepy! I hope you got a room with a better lock the next morning.

 

[jc040404]

March 7th, 2011 * day twenty-four

I’d really hoped to sleep in this day. The crazy night before had us all exhausted, but things never really work as planned. I woke to the sounds of excited children outside. At least it was a happy sound, right? By the way they spoke, I guessed it must’ve been a group of boys around Andrew’s age. The boys raced back and forth, telling each other how much fun today would be. It made me smile and start this day out in a great mood. Today would be a lot of fun, no matter where it took us.

Enjoying the sounds of my sleeping boys now, I got myself ready for the day and packed up a few things. We’d definitely be finding a new room today, even if at our expense, so I might as well get started. My little family was up and moving near nine o’clock. Dressed and tummies filled, we were soon on our way back to Custom House.

the “bad” room!

Custom House was a much different place this day. The long lines weren’t there and everyone seemed a lot happier. Yesterday must’ve been rough for them. Trying to decide where we should go to talk to someone, John asked a CM standing inside about speaking with a manager. This man was dressed a little better than the rest and we guessed he might know more. He said he could help us out so it worked well.

As politely as possible, John and I explained our situation. I hate reading about DIS’ers who started “demanding” this or that because of something that happened to them. I wouldn’t work with someone at all if I were listening to those complaints. We simply told him of the smoking issue, including that we were first told this room wouldn’t be a problem. He replied by saying that the front desk CMs really have almost no clue about the layout of the resort and apologized. The resort was at 100% the day before, so rooms were difficult to come by. It was sad to learn she’d just lied to get us out of there. We expressed that we'd definitely need a different room, but there were more issues that needed some attention here.

I brought along the two pizza flyers, which he took from us. He said this is an ongoing problem with one and it made him sad to see them in the rooms. The flyer from Roma’s did seem to concern him, but Orlando Pizza Express wasn’t a big deal. He slipped it under a notebook.

“They do it all the time.”

Another unhappy thing to learn, but he was definitely right about it. We got several more from that place before the trip was over! I even brought one home with us. It tells you to use your cell phone if the room phones have the number blocked. I can’t believe anyone calls them at all with that printed on it.

When he learned of the scary incident the night before with the man from Roma’s, he acted concerned but it was obviously fake. What could he really do? Not much of anything. They try to keep them out, but it’s difficult and I can see how it would be. He'd look into it. About the same response was given to the room issues. Those they could do something about anyway! He was nice enough about everything. I took it all for what it was and hoped it might be passed along. At least he didn’t just pull out a yellow pad of FPs, smile, and send us on our way!

After talking a bit, this CM did refund one night for everything we’d dealt with. I didn't expect this and just hoped for the room change, so that was pretty nice. We were given a new room that he checked on a map to be sure wasn’t overlooking a smoking area. Yay! Unfortunately, it was in those ugly pink buildings. Yuck! We were relocating to Aruba, room 5606. I’m silly about signs, and this number spoke to me. John was born in ‘56, Andrew in ‘06, and all of them in the sixth month of the year. It was meant to be again. I knew the rest of the trip would be problem free.

It took quite a while to complete all of this and we were now moments away from missing a much anticipated ADR at Chefs de France. Andrew and I had wanted to check it out since he saw pictures of Remy on Dugette’s TR. Another CM offered to cancel it and find another time, but we declined the rescheduling part for now. We weren't that hungry and had that relocation project ahead of us first anyway. Then those dreaded FPs were mentioned, but we didn’t take them.

We left Custom House happy and with new room keys. We were also given a warning that we’d only be able to use the first set “one more time” on the old room before they wouldn’t work. I instantly saw one of the boys shutting us out and another trip here in our future! The ride over was filled with a discussion about a new reason not to touch a Disney door.

It's just not possible to get any worse than this! Okay, maybe it is.. Who is that lady in the bath tub???

 

[jc040404]

I'm sorry that your room was so horrible. At first when I saw the pictures from CBR, I was regretting having switched to Pop Century in October, but then when the room was dirty and smoky, I felt better about it.

That late night pizza guy is creepy! I hope you got a room with a better lock the next morning.

Totally missed that you'd commented. CBR is such a cute a resort, but I think a lot more time needs to pass before we try it again. Even so, I might be willing to give them another shot someday.. far, far into the future.

That said, we have had holes in the wall, found lost toys on the floor, issues with smokers at the pools, etc.. at Pop in the past, too. Where have you stayed? It seems like you've done WDW quite a few times now. I'm assuming they're probably all about the same. Sometimes, a resort is wonderful. Other times, it's not. For every person that has a bad experience, I'm sure many, many more fall in love.

Andrew had the lock thing covered! He insisted it be the first thing we look at when we got to a new room somewhere.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oh my goodness, that is just horrible what happened to you guys! I would have been furious if you ask me. How scary. I know what you mean about the whole pizza thing too. Every day at Bay Lake Tower we had one. That building is completely locked off too! You need keys to get in. They are seriously gutsy.

 

[AprilRenee]

We were relocating to Aruba, room 5606. I’m silly about signs, and this number spoke to me. John was born in ‘56, Andrew in ‘06, and all of them in the sixth month of the year. It was meant to be again. I knew the rest of the trip would be problem free.

You're adorable!!! LOL!!!

It's just not possible to get any worse than this! Okay, maybe it is.. Who is that lady in the bath tub???

Oh gosh!! I'm scared!! Now I know to believe your "coming up next" teasers...
I can guess what's going to happen next!!

 

[akayek31]

This is why my son sleeps in the bed near the door and my daughter and I sleep near the bathroom lol. I have thought of going to CBR but keep going back to Pop every time. One day I will stay at the GF and CR if I have to go alone

 

[jc040404]

Oh my goodness, that is just horrible what happened to you guys! I would have been furious if you ask me. How scary. I know what you mean about the whole pizza thing too. Every day at Bay Lake Tower we had one. That building is completely locked off too! You need keys to get in. They are seriously gutsy.

I'm started to think if I wasn't angry enough over this! In all my convincing the boys that it was okay, I must've convinced myself, too.

Do you wonder at all if it's someone with Disney that might be letting it slide? When the CM at CBR just slid that first flyer under a notebook, I started thinking about it. Knowing they get into a locked building makes me believe it even more.

You're adorable!!! LOL!!!

It was just too perfect!

Oh gosh!! I'm scared!! Now I know to believe your "coming up next" teasers...
I can guess what's going to happen next!!

We were in for a little surprise again! It's nowhere near as bad as pizza guy though, so you might be wrong.

This is why my son sleeps in the bed near the door and my daughter and I sleep near the bathroom lol. I have thought of going to CBR but keep going back to Pop every time. One day I will stay at the GF and CR if I have to go alone

We've always been like that, too. John sleeps closest to the door, even if it throws off which side of the bed I get. I pack excedrin pm every visit or I'd never be able to sleep sometimes! He thinks himself our big protector, I guess. I'm glad he was over there this time!

Pop is not a bad resort at all. It's so fun and that one has been (mostly) good to us. I'd actually stay there before the GF myself! Well, if I could get the GF for Pop's price, I might deal with the "grandma's house" feeling and stay there..

 

[jc040404]

Back in our old home, John and I quickly gathered things together to move. After convincing my silly husband that the Aruba buildings were farther from here than he thought, I had us all back in the car. He really wanted to just load up the stroller and walk it all across. It wouldn't have been the worst walk, but that man was having some silly ideas this trip. What did he plan to do about the car? Geesh.

Our new room location was perfect for unloading the trunk again anyway. We were facing the parking lot. This was something I commented on back at Custom House that made the CM launch into a room categories description until I interrupted. This isn’t a problem, dude. If we were using the buses, it would’ve been pretty perfect actually.

This time, my idea of leaving things in the car until we saw the room won. He should’ve listened to me the first time! I pointed the way and was soon slipping my new room card into our next CBR home.

“This room smells funny, too.”

Just a statement, not a complaint. This resort seemed to have its own scent. It wasn’t good or bad, just noticeable. It was in the other room, too. Maybe it’s something they clean with, but I’ve never noticed it anywhere else. All of our resort rooms end up smelling like Lysol anyway, the sorta-pink can. As I stepped inside, I heard a bit noise from within.

“HELLO??” a female voice called from the bathroom.. I’d been heard, too.

I turned to John, feeling my jaw hit the ground. Someone is already in here! We were frozen for a moment as this made no sense at all. I heard the sound of water running in the tub and then a flush. This was just too much.

“Hi!” a woman walked into the room, a huge smile plastered across her face.

“Hi?” I didn’t know what to do at first.

She introduced herself as being a housekeeping manager. I could breathe again and we stepped back inside.

I guess my comments were passed on. She must’ve been trying to clean up the spots I’d mentioned the other room having issues with. We spoke for a couple of minutes and she was gone. I felt much more confident about this room now that I knew it had been inspected by a manager before we got there. Despite that, I was still going to give this one a little look of my own!

Mickey pose! Blake was happy about this place, but I felt terrible for all the little guy had to deal with so far.

He offered to check the drawers for me here. I’d found some pretty weird stuff in them at the Jamaica room.

That was the end of my helper following along. We didn’t accomplish much before he abandoned me! Andrew had grabbed his light saber in the car and brought it in the room with us. You’ve got to prepared, right? This place was scary! Unattended on the bed, it took priority for Blakers. Of course that only lasted about thirty seconds before the rightful owner reminded baby brother he hadn’t asked permission. Blake tossed it on the bed and went to whine to me at the table.

“I wanted a cool light saver, too.” It came complete with sad puppy face and a big frown.

I should’ve known this was a toy I’d need two of, but he didn’t want one in the store the day before so I didn’t bother. I decided we’d grab another later, but didn’t tell him right away. He climbed up on a chair, and a long, sad sigh followed. That bottom lip started sticking out again. So much drama from such a small man! I couldn’t help but smile and enjoy how cute it really was in that moment. He wouldn’t get away with this kind of stuff too much longer. Blake crossed his little arms and placed them on the table in front of him.

And then the table collapsed on him.

He screamed.

Blake was shaken up, but okay. Since it had only been a couple of minutes since she left, John ran outside to see if this housekeeping manager was still around.

I was more than a little angry when he returned. Looking over the table, it was in bad shape. Two legs weren't really connected at all and one came out altogether under the weight of two tiny Blaker arms. Had anyone touched it, even just wiping it off, it would've fallen apart. How'd they not notice during cleaning? Thank goodness Blake was okay. He could have really been hurt!

A moment later, the same woman popped in the door and said someone would be here right away to replace it for us. Nothing more. We didn't even get an apology. I was at my breaking point with CBR now. I looked at my husband.

“What now?” I felt defeated.

“We could see if there’s anything at Pop?”

“This is the vacation trip, I don’t want to stay at a value.”

He called me a resort snob. I’d mentioned people who seem proud of calling themselves such a thing before, so I knew this was a silly attempt at getting a smile out of me. I find it kinda goofy to take pride in being a “snob” about anything. The whole thing just makes me smile when I see it, so it's nothing to be offended about if you think you're one. It reminds me of junior high and peach scented body spray. Now that is what being a “snob” is really about. I don’t remember the GF smelling like peaches..

His childish game worked, but I didn’t let him win completely. If he wanted a resort snob, I’d show him one.

“How about upgrading to the Poly?”

He actually asked how much it would be! Yeah right, husband. I’m way too cheap for that and he knew it. I guess he won anyway. I did smile. Then I sat down on a bed. He sat down beside me and neither of us spoke for several minutes. Andrew came over and took my hand. Those big blue eyes looked so upset.

“Mommy, my pirate cruise is here. We can’t leave.”

Blake started pointing out characters on the beds and singing “Big Blue World” as he danced around. Why was all of this happening to us? They both wanted to stay here and I felt awful.

Well, what would you do? I met my husband’s eyes again. Sure, we could’ve just come back for the cruise, but we could get through this, too. We agreed and he went back outside to get our things.

It took a long time before anyone showed up to get that broken table. Then it took even longer for a new one. So much for that "right away" we'd been before. After so much wasted time, we left the room before it even got here. As we headed out, I took a moment to look at the empty space where it had been.

“Who’s hungry! Let’s get away from WDW for a bit!”

We went to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. Now that is excitement. Our server was named Jeff, or Justin, or Josh? Maybe Jim? Something with a J anyway and he was the nicest person I’d met all day. The meal was wonderful, quiet, and perfect. John and I split the stuffed mushrooms, too. Wow. Those things are yummy.

I know I forgive Disney for too much. I once had a cashier say something rude to me at Publix. We’ve never gone back, even though it’s the closest grocery store to where we live. Maybe bad, but I don't think I'm a very forgiving person overall. Yet, CBR could do all this and I still kept that room for the next five days? It really makes no sense.

Knowing there was a problem, it also doesn’t make sense that mousekeeping would continue to do a horrible job every time they cleaned. It was the most random stuff, too. Only one of the beds was made one day. There were other things, but I’m done thinking about them. Saying anything at the resort had proven pointless, so we only let them in when needed. I decided to simply send an email when we returned home and really, really, REALLY hope Disney decided to look into fixing this.


Coming soon! Time for some fun! Pleeeease!!

 

[AprilRenee]

He offered to check the drawers for me here. I’d found some pretty weird stuff in them at the Jamaica room.

Oh my gosh!! I don't even want to imagine!



You poor thing! This was such a mess!! Poor Blakers (though his Mickey pose makes me smile EVERY time). Your kids are so sweet and how adorable that they wanted to stay there so bad. I'm sorry you guys had such a rough time with all these rooms! I really hope the rest of the trip gets better...it really can't get worse I guess.

 

[akayek31]

Omg I can't believe that happened to you guys. I only have one pet peeve that will tick me off to the point of no return is my kids. I would have had the manager cleaning my room every day or an upgrade to a deluxe resort if that had happened on our trip. I am glad Blake was okay

 

[eecteacher82]

Oh my goodness! I have to say, you must be a very strong woman! All of that would make me turn into crazy lady! My breaking point would have been the first room location with the smoking area! I hope that something was done after you send the email! Remind me to take CBR off of my "want to stay there list"! I REALLY hope that you and your boys end up having an AWESOME rest of the trip!!!! Livy and I are heading up from Saturday-Tuesday this weekend and staying at POP-just so I can get the pics of her with her letters on the keyboard! I LOVE LOVE LOVE your idea! Can't wait to read more!

 

[CAStevens218]

Oh. My. Goodness. I think my heart skipped a beat when I read about the table collapsing!! Poor Blake! I'm glad he was okay!!!

It sounds like the Mousekeeping managers and staff at CBR could use some additional training. In how to properly do their jobs AND in customer service!!!

I certainly hope you all managed to have some fun later in the day!!!!