Drama, Please End...Fun, Please Begin...A Sept TR Updated 10/31

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi there! We’re back! I debated on writing a TR, but I thought that maybe we could all get a laugh at my expense. I cannot get over how many things went wrong in what I thought was a perfectly planned trip.

I had such a hard time coming up with a title for this TR. My first thought was “To Hell and Back…A WDW Vacation” but then I thought, you know, it wasn’t really hell, more like drama. So that’s how I came up with the title.

I want to start off by saying that not all of our trip was a disaster. I was able to meet a lot of awesome DISers…Liesa (All7OfUs) and her friend Lee Ann, Karin (dizneeat) and her brother Tom and friends Joe and Mary Ellen, Stephanie (Charlfours) and her husband Allyn and their little princess Lilian, Mary and Chuck (labsrus1) who coincidentally live near us, Kathy (KatMark) and her husband Mark, and “Queen” (Queenofallthings) and her daughter “Jasmine.” I’d use her real names but I’ve not seen Queen use them in her PTR and they are still at Disney (I’m so jealous) so I cannot ask them if it’s okay.

Anywhoo, I will post pictures of our DIS meets throughout my TR. I am in the process of taking them off the camera and loading them to craptastic Photobucket, so let’s cross our fingers.

For those of you who have not read my PTR, I shall introduce the “cast of characters” for this trip:

Me – Disney addicted and proud of it! I think Disney 24/7! Commando style touring is my specialty. This year though I made an attempt to go at a relaxing pace. I am totally obsessed with taking pictures (and scrapbooking) and make family nuts about it. Favorite attraction: Beauty and the Beast. I love Beast and Lumiere.

DH – Loves Disney and is happy to support my addiction. Like me, never did Disney as a child but loves it as an adult. Last year he started this new thing… in the middle of just about anywhere he would belt out, and I mean BELT OUT…. HEIGH HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I about died every time. We could be in line for food or in a queue, or in a store waiting to pay and out of nowhere you would hear him. Not to disappoint, he did it again this year. Favorite attraction: PotC and HM.

Here is a picture of the two of us together at Nigara Falls last winter:

Mom – Also loves Disney. Will go with the flow and do whatever however is insistent upon at least one visit to Kouzzina. Over the last year or so, the heat in September has really been getting to her so we have built in resort breaks during peak heat times for her. Favorite attraction: Living with the Land (or at least I think it is). I can tell you one thing….she doesn’t like Soarin’!

DB – Second Disney trip, first with the entire family. Said he was happy that I said I was not doing Disney “commando style” like I did when we went in May 2009. One thing that he is not, is a lover of Piglet. Favorite attraction: I am guessing TSMM. He loves video games.

DSis – Been to Disney a few times. Loves Disney and humors me with my obsessive planning. Favorite place to eat is Fulton’s. Favorite attraction: I don’t know if she really has one, but I can tell you one thing, if she does, it’s not Soarin’!

This picture is a couple of years old, but I'll be posting more throughout my TR.

DNephew – Been to Disney a lot for someone his age. I think this was his 6th trip. Favorite attraction: I’d have to go with PotC. He pulled a fast one on me this year, which I will tell you about later in my TR. All I can say is this…if you ride something with him that is interactive, take the dang controls or you will be sorry!

DCousin – Newbie, been to Disney before as a child and to Disneyland as a child. Took her daughter on a MAW trip a few years before she passed away, but they didn’t really get to experience much during that trip.

This is an old picture of her. I am uploading pictures now so you will see others during my TR.

 

[Stefy]

Yay I'm first

 

[Soopafly]

Second!

 

[DisneyLilly]

Third
Great start!!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Yay I'm first

Yay, I guess my text worked!

Second!

So happy you are here...considering you weren't "allowed" to read my PTR...

Third
Great start!!!!

Welcome!!!

 

[Stefy]

Great start, great cast Not liking the sound of things going wrong for you But am looking forward to reading and sympathising all the same

Love your reply to Dave

 

[pinkxray]

Joining in.

 

[Soopafly]

Lol I know what you mean. I think it's hilarious that Jo shouts that out, I think I'd get a smack round the ear if I did that

Really cool Jack Skellington Tee, I will have to look out for one. Great start and interested to find out what went wrong

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We left home on a Friday with a good amount of luggage. See?

Joe threatened to bring THIS with us too:

I had pre-ordered a cab for 7:15 a.m.; but that didn’t happen. My mom, sister and nephew had a separate cab picking them up at their house and they could hear the cab company over the radio discussing the pick up that should have happened at my house. Our driver was at least a good 15 minutes late. I was texting DNephew and he said that they had arrived at the airport already but that they had issues with checking in their luggage and the fees and were waiting for a refund and/or corrections to be made before they could head to security. I told him to text me and tell me how long the security line was because at that point, we were still super close to home. Wanna know why? Because our ding dong cab driver made a wrong turn! I of course freaked out since we were already late. He was driving like a nut and apologizing all the way to the airport. We finally made it, dropped our 4 bags and paid the $70 baggage fee…remember that number for our return flight home.

We were both super hungry but by the time we got through security, there was no time for food. We figured that would be fine since we’d get a muffin on the plane. We always take the same flight and every time, we’ve had at least a muffin.

We boarded our plane and waved bye to Cleveland.

I was looking forward to my muffin by this time as I was developing a migraine. This year we got nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Just a beverage. Yikes, I was so hungry and had not packed any snacks at all.

We arrived at MCO early (for once). We were so hungry that we stopped at BK for what we thought would be a quick little burger that we could eat while we walked to baggage to meet my brother. Nope, didn’t happen. It took FOREVER to get our stuff. What the heck? Were they baking the buns or something? Out of ketchup? Arg....... By the time we got to baggage to meet my brother, he was already pulling our bags off of the carousel.

We retrieved our bags and thought we should get a porter to help us. We had checked in for our car on line the day before so we were heading right to the garage to get in our car and go. Yeah, no. Didn’t happen. Rental car h-e-double-hockey sticks was next on the agenda. We had the porter take us to the cars. We had rented two of them since we had 9 bags total and I don’t know how many carry ons. One with one driver, the other with 2 different drivers. He helped us unload the luggage into the cars, we tipped him and he was on his way. That’s when someone from Alamo asked us to come to this kiosk, which is new. We go over and she says that we did not check in on line. Um, yeah, here is our paperwork. Nope, she insisted that we did not. Then it started. She said that we could go ahead and load the cars and she would do the paperwork, but that she needed one driver from each car. Joe and my sister went to the kiosks and I stayed behind, only for my sister to have to walk all the way down the row to get me because, yes, they needed my stuff too. By the time I walked up there, Joe was in a very heated discussion with the agent over this. We were detained a good 20 minutes by this time and it was only just the beginning. My 10th anniversary trip was not starting out well. I gave her my ID etc. and then she asked for my return flight receipt. Really? Back to the dang car I went to get that too. By this time I was so mad, I wanted to cry. There goes our itinerary. I had hoped to be at the resort, checked in and on my way to MK by then. Nope.

I think that the Alamo agent could sense our frustration. She offered to upgrade us for free to SUV’s. Well, that was nice but guess what? That meant that we had to go back to the cars, unload them, find SUV’s and reload them. I sent my sister to pick an SUV out and just drive it over to the car since all of the SUV’s were at least three long rows away. She got one, brought it over and we couldn’t figure out how to get the back open. So, she went to pick out another one. She came back, we loaded up, Joe loaded the second one and we went back to the desk to get the final paperwork. The agent had ended up waiving the second driver fee for all of our troubles. Cool, now that that’s done, let’s get going. Nope, my sister decided that I should drive instead so we did a driver change and then headed out. Yay, we were finally on our way….only we were an hour and 15 minutes later than I wanted to be. There would be no 3 p.m. parade for me today.

As we gathered our toll fees and made our way to the resorts, it started to rain. Monsoon rain. And of course, I couldn’t find the wipers. All I could think of was well, this is it, I will be lucky if I don’t crash the car since I can’t see a dang thing and have no clue where the wipers are. I finally found them and then guess what, no rain. It just stopped. I couldn’t do anything but laugh at this point.

I was a bit bummed because I am usually the one taking pictures on the way to the resort from the airport. I did manage to get my sister to take a few for me though.

HEY, WE'RE TOO FAR AWAY STILL - that was me yapping at my sister to take more pictures....

Ok, that's better but that stupid car was in the way. Didn't they know we were trying to take a picture?????

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Great start, great cast Not liking the sound of things going wrong for you But am looking forward to reading and sympathising all the same

Love your reply to Dave

I thought you'd like my reply to Dave! Ugh, wait until you hear the drama. Honestly, I need a "do over" trip without the dang drama.

Joining in.

Hi!

Lol I know what you mean. I think it's hilarious that Jo shouts that out, I think I'd get a smack round the ear if I did that

Really cool Jack Skellington Tee, I will have to look out for one. Great start and interested to find out what went wrong

OMG, Dave. He does it all the time. And he has a BIG voice!

My brother had some great Jack shirts on this trip. He got a few compliments from people on them.

 

[Stefy]

Oh bless you, this trip did not start out well did it How annoying were those car rental people, but at least they tried to smooth things out and you got an upgrade too

 

[DisneyLilly]

Ah!
That is really weird about Alamo, we always check in online and it works. I hate Alamo so, SO much though. But I'm glad things ended up going alright, i'm sorry that you arrived to WDW late But better late than never (maybe)?

I am LOVING the pictures of the WDW sign. That is a picture I have never been able to take. I cannot wait to read & see more!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I had done on line resort check in for WL and my bro did the same for POR. Joe and my nephew were taking him to POR to check in while we went to see if our rooms were ready at WL. Mom’s room was ready, ours was not so they asked if I wanted them to text me when it was ready. Sure, why not? I sat in the lobby and waited for Joe to get there. I took a few pictures while I waited since mom and my sis has started to drag the luggage up to their room on the 4th floor.

I received a text at the same time that Joe, my brother and nephew arrived at WL. Turns out our room was right next door to mom’s. We hauled our crap upstairs and dropped our bags. Imagine our surprise when we saw this awesome gift from Stefy and Dave waiting for us.

Joe and I want to thank you both again for this lovely gift. It is just beautiful.

It was so beautiful that I didn’t want to open it up!

Before leaving for DTD, I took a few pictures of our room and from our balcony. We were very close to the pool, which was right behind the trees:

I love the not so hidden Mickey in the hallway carpet at WL:

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Oh bless you, this trip did not start out well did it How annoying were those car rental people, but at least they tried to smooth things out and you got an upgrade too

It was quite annoying but I think that after I nearly cried, they did try and make things right.

Ah!
That is really weird about Alamo, we always check in online and it works. I hate Alamo so, SO much though. But I'm glad things ended up going alright, i'm sorry that you arrived to WDW late But better late than never (maybe)?

I am LOVING the pictures of the WDW sign. That is a picture I have never been able to take. I cannot wait to read & see more!!

I have used Alamo for proably 10 years and never had this problem before. Joe was so frustrated that I'm sure we will not use them again after this experience.

It's a hard picture to take sometimes, isn't it? I usually am not driving and I am dictating orders (and getting laughed at) to my husband to slow down so I can take the picture. His response is usually that we will pass by the sign a zillion times during the trip so I will have other chances. My response is usually, "but I want to get a picture of the FIRST time we see it."

 

[Stefy]

Wow the resort looks beautiful and the rooms look lovely

You are both most welcome for the gift, we wanted to get you something special to celebrate a great milestone in your marriage How did the Mickey and Minnie card look, as from your picture it looks like a album

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Wow the resort looks beautiful and the rooms look lovely

You are both most welcome for the gift, we wanted to get you something special to celebrate a great milestone in your marriage How did the Mickey and Minnie card look, as from your picture it looks like a album

We love WL. It is really beautiful there. I am happy that we decided to book there this year.

The Mickey and Minnie card is awesome. It is actually about 8x10 so we will be framing it and hanging it up.

Thanks again!

 

[DisneyLilly]

I have used Alamo for proably 10 years and never had this problem before. Joe was so frustrated that I'm sure we will not use them again after this experience.

It's a hard picture to take sometimes, isn't it? I usually am not driving and I am dictating orders (and getting laughed at) to my husband to slow down so I can take the picture. His response is usually that we will pass by the sign a zillion times during the trip so I will have other chances. My response is usually, "but I want to get a picture of the FIRST time we see it."

That would be frustrating especially since you want to get to WDW! I'm always sitting in the back seat trying to take the picture with my arms halfway out the window .

Ooh and the Wilderness Lodge looks BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We had missed the 3 p.m. parade with all of the rental car drama so we decided to go to DTD. We stopped at Guest Services so that I could do a few things:


*Turn our AP vouchers into AP’s
*Pick up our MNSSHP tickets – they could not mail them because I wanted to use the AP discount
*Get our TiW card
*Try and get a refund of the two 1 day MYW tickets that we had to book last year in order to get free dining
*Add days to the hoppers for the family

I learned something. Being an AP holder for the last several years, I never had to deal with hoppers, etc. Turns out that we could not add days to the hopper passes without paying a fortune because they only go up to 10 day hoppers. What’s up with that? I had to start thinking about rearranging our schedule so that we had one day out of the parks since the family only had 10 day hoppers.

After finishing all of our transactions, we headed to Earl of Sandwich. Earl is so yummy and never disappointing.

I didn't care that it was a zillion degrees outside. I had waited an entire year for this:

I also got a fruit cup which was very refreshing. Here are pictures of what my brother got:

My nephew:

After we ate, we did a bit of shopping before heading to Epcot. I still had to find a shirt for our photopass session. I was a bit frustrated because there wasn’t an “earth tone” in sight.

We browsed the Christmas store and I found a few things that I wanted to come back and get. We also went to Mickey’s Pantry where I got a cookie cutter and the pancake ring. Wonder if I will ever use them? Ha ha.

From there we went to Goofy’s. Love the 10% AP discount.

I got a giant cookie. Weight Watchers went out the door right about then.

I took these on the way to our next stop. My nephew was looking the other way and my sister looked less than excited. LOL

We also went to Tren D. I love that store. It's small, but I could spend hours in there looking at stuff. Joe got my anniversary gifts there.

I just love this D&B collection.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

That would be frustrating especially since you want to get to WDW! I'm always sitting in the back seat trying to take the picture with my arms halfway out the window .

Ooh and the Wilderness Lodge looks BEAUTIFUL!!!

I think you need to grab the front seat. I would imagine it would be hard to get a shot from the backseat.

Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful. I really love it there.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

From Tren D we went to World of Disney.

I've been taking this same picture of my nephew since he was 4. For the first time ever, he gave me a hard time about it.

And then he made his mother do it!

No shirt for me, but Joe did get his anniversary gift. Turns out after a number of calls to Disney and a very helpful CM, that you cannot get watches engraved at Disney any longer. I ended up having Joe pick out his watch. He selected one and then got me a Skagen as well. (sorry, no pics) Happy Anniversary!!

After spending too much of our vacation money while only being there for like 3 hours, we decided it was time to leave DTD and head back to the resort to drop our stuff off before going to EPCOT to meet Liesa (All7OfUs) for Illuminations.

I have been taking pictures of the family in this same spot every single trip.

I managed to get some pictures on the way back to the resort. Since we were staying at WL, we had to go through the MK parking gates before we got to WL.