Even the Best Plan Can Go......................

[drag n' fly]

With that being said let me say a few things. We were very well organized and planned this trip for a year. We went in with a positive attitude, realistic expectations and a go with the flow attitude. Even that was not enough to prepare us for our most recent trip. More to come......

 

[drag n' fly]

Flight Down
Have heard lots of not so good things about United. I can see why some people may say that. We are flying United via Calgary, Alberta, connecting in Chicago and going to Tampa. December 18-28.
After changing our flights five times, losing our luggage and charging us luggage fees (we bought our tickets before fees went into effect ( another story) on the way down, I could understand how one might feel that way. Things happen....roll with it.
We found the flight to be a very positive experience. Chicago and Tampa are very easy and pleasant airports to get around.
Tampa
Have heard lots of good things about Dollar Car Rental. Obviously Tampa is not one of those places. After repeatedly getting very rude and aggressive with us for not taking out the “necessary insurance”, three international phone calls ( to confirm to Dollar we were completely covered) and an hour of our time they finally caved and gave us the vehicle. This of course was after standing in line at United for 45 minutes filling out forms for our lost luggage.
We then spent 30 minutes in the parking garage in our rental talking to AIG travel insurance who also was completely uninformed on their policies and what they covered. Two hours and thirty minutes after we land we are finally on the road. This is only Day 1 of 10....OY

 

[tazdev3225]

Sounds like a "wonderful" start to your trip. Can't wait to hear if things improved.

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 1 cont......

Driving in an unfamiliar place is confusing enough. Driving in an unfamiliar place in the dark...well that’s a little more complicated. FYI if you miss the turn off in Tampa you will have absolutely NO place to turn off for a very long time because it is all water and well turning around on water could be hazardous to one’s health...especially in the dark. Yup even with printed directions and maps....were were really lost. So much so we ended up in St. Petersburg (I think lol). After finding a dry land turn around we managed our way back to Tampa.....or so we thought. We again took the wrong turn and VERY quickly realized we were in the wrong part of Tampa. Needless to say we drew a lot of attention very quickly. Our fight or flight response kicked in and we immediately booked it out of there as we were seriously outnumbered.
Four hours after we landed we finally managed to find our hotel. We checked into our hotel Embassy Suites USF (near Busch Gardens). Nice hotel, very clean, great price. It was dh’s birthday and I had planned to take him to the Hip Hop Soda Shop for dinner and the Halo 3 tournament but we were so exhausted we ate at the hotel restaurant instead. The food was very very good and so was the service. Tampa’s water tastes like rotten eggs though even worse than Orlando’s (if that was even possible). We headed to Wal-Mart and got toothbrushes and pj's and clothes for the morning because at this point our luggage had not been found. We scoped out the pool (see post #6 lol) and dropped like flies. The bed was heaven....Day 1 was officially over woooohooo!
Day 2.....Busch Gardens here we come!!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Oh I've dealt with lost luggage before. It's not a good start to a vacation. Not that being lost on the way home is much better. But at least you have a spare pair of PJ's on hand at home.

I hope things get better for you!

 

[drag n' fly]

It was definitely a headache. Finding supplies for 5 people at 11 at night was challenging. Wal-Mart did not have any swimsuits. I asked and she said they were a seasonal thing. Ummmmm I assumed since I was in FLORIDA I could find a cheap swimsuit for the five of us until our luggage showed up....nope nothing. After a crazy long day we couldn't even swim or go in the hot tub!!!

 

[OhMari]

Bummer about the swim suits.
I know there is a store in DTD and I saw some swim shops along the Beach Coast in Clear-Water, which was about 20 minutes away from Busch Gardens.
Looking forward to hearing how Busch Gardens went.
We were there Nov. 15th on a Saturday and the place was empty.
Jack Hannah was there and when we got to the amphe-theatre, we finally saw some people and animals from the park and he brought a Cheetah, OMG.

 

[AndymanGA]

Enjoyed meeting yall last week. Our luggage was late getting to our room on the Wonder but luckily it was there by the time we left for dinner. Cant wait to read the rest of your TR

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 2 of 10......
Today is Busch Gardens Day!

I open my eyes and something does not feel right. I sit up and almost pass out in bed. I REALLY do not feel well!!! I drag myself to the mirror and OH MAH GAWD it looks like I was in a bar fight minus the black eye!!The whole entire left side of my face right down into my neck is swollen and throbbing!!!!!!
Here is the short story. Seven months ago I got my eyebrow pierced. Well it decided on day 2 of our vacation it was going to get infected. I pour a bath and soak my head. I won’t get into the physical details. I get everyone up and load up on Advil.
Oh man this is going to be a long day........
The hotel offers a FULL breakfast for free. This was absolutely outstanding. It was like a complete Sunday Brunch!!! Unfortunately I was too nauseous and feverish to eat. I head back upstairs for Gravol. I decide to suck it up for my families sake. Nothing was going to bring me to my knees on this vacation....NOTHING....or so I thought!!!!
The hotel offers a free shuttle to and from Busch Gardens. To our delight we were fortunate enough to meet a very fine man. His name was Tom and he was from Cleveland(aka U-turn Tom). I cannot say enough wonderful things about this fellow. He worked for Air Canada for something like 30 years and wow we enjoyed the many endless stories from him and his travels and family.
We drop at BG and wow what a beautiful park. Completely different vibe here. No running, no rope drop....you get the jist. By this point I was so drugged up I could care less about my face.
It was busy but not a frenzied push and shove busy like at WDW. We spent the first day of 2 days at Busch Gardens. They have several great roller coasters at BG and I had come to ride each and every one of them. My greatest feat at 42 was to ride Montu. I had been looking forward to this for months. We decided since it was the most challenging we would save Montu for last and build our courage up along the way. The anticipation in my drugged state was almost too much for me. We got the meal plan and a bud and off we went! More on day 2 soon!
Day 2 cont.......

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 2 of 10 cont.....

Well BG is just a fantastic park. The food was very good and the souvenirs were really reasonably priced. Lots of large trees, shade and benches to stretch out on. We decided to cut down the middle of the park on our first day as we had done Sheikra and I was just too nauseous to do the other roller coasters so dh and the older kids went on them. I popped a Gravol and some more Advil and carried on. We decided to walk past Montu so we could get a looky loo at what we were in for.
Well what we were in for was an entire train of people completely stranded on Montu that had to be walked off the coaster....yup that’s right the coaster I had waited months to ride was broke down.
CRAP!!!!!
Well when one gets handed a lemon what do they do....yup make lemonade. We went and watched the live Christmas show had a great meal and some good beer. Montu would have to wait until our final day tomorrow.

More to come.....

 

[DisneyMama27]

It was definitely a headache. Finding supplies for 5 people at 11 at night was challenging. Wal-Mart did not have any swimsuits. I asked and she said they were a seasonal thing. Ummmmm I assumed since I was in FLORIDA I could find a cheap swimsuit for the five of us until our luggage showed up....nope nothing. After a crazy long day we couldn't even swim or go in the hot tub!!!

Hi, Annette! I feel your pain. My OWN fault, I left mine and DD7's swimsuits at home. Wal-mart in Orlando had NO swimsuits her size, and none I would be seen in. DTD had NO swimsuits her size, either. We finally got one for her at the Vero Beach gift shop and me one at Ron Jon's just before the cruise.

Sorry about your infection...can't wait to hear the rest. It ends good, right? We had some lemonade-making during the VB part of our trip, too. Nothing like infections and broken-down roller coasters, though.

Embassy Suites rocks - our favorite hotels outside Disney. DH and I enjoy the Manager's Special in the evenings - free drinks are always good!

Keep us posted, Annette!

 

[drag n' fly]

Hi, Annette! I feel your pain. My OWN fault, I left mine and DD7's swimsuits at home. Wal-mart in Orlando had NO swimsuits her size, and none I would be seen in. DTD had NO swimsuits her size, either. We finally got one for her at the Vero Beach gift shop and me one at Ron Jon's just before the cruise.

Sorry about your infection...can't wait to hear the rest. It ends good, right? We had some lemonade-making during the VB part of our trip, too. Nothing like infections and broken-down roller coasters, though.

Embassy Suites rocks - our favorite hotels outside Disney. DH and I enjoy the Manager's Special in the evenings - free drinks are always good!

Keep us posted, Annette!

Oh yes there is more to come...just wait lol

 

[drag n' fly]

More Day 2 cont......

We headed to Golden Corral for supper and then hit the free manager’s reception in the evening. This was great. Free drinks and pub food for a couple hours. Real nice touch! Everyone was all hanging out together chatting, playing cards it was real fun!
The luggage was delivered to the hotel. I was near death by this point from all the advil, gravol and beer but managed to put on my swimsuit and hit the hot tub and pool. It was heaven. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Things were finally looking up.......or so we thought!!!

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 3.....
Well today is day 2 of Busch Gardens.......Montu here we come!!!!!!!
I wake up feeling as if I had risen from the dead. I don’t know how much longer I can take this. Despite all attempts the piercing is refusing to drain and it looked like I had a marble implanted under my eyebrow and got in a serious smack down. I was not in good shape....at all. I finally make the decision to remove the piercing as it was not worth losing a holiday over. I went to the bathroom and yanked and twisted and pulled and reefed....NOTHING!!! The piercing was not moving it simply would not come apart. So now with me fiddling with it made it way worse. It was throbbing and my throat was sore and my glands all swollen. I was sweating....I conceded defeat. I loaded up on Advil and Gravol again for a second day and went to grab my day pack and the camera for our final day at Busch Gardens. I went to pack my camera and could not find it. I asked “Ok family where is the camera”? UHH I dunno is all I got.
I scoured the room under the beds went to the rental we had in the parking lot....nothing. Well it has to be here I just used it yesterday. We finally decided to not waste anymore time and would look for it later.
Off to Busch Gardens we went. We spent a lot of the day touring the animal side of Busch Gardens. What a lovely relaxing park. I highly recommend this park!
Montu was up and running again. We decided to stroll and end the day with a ride on Montu. As were coming up on the coaster line the inevitable happened. Right before park closing.....yup Montu craps out AGAIN. Just as we were getting in line for my months long anticipated ride. At this point I decided to act like an adult in front of my children and say “it’s ok kids maybe next time”. I seriously wanted to talk to somebody by hand! We grabbed some souvenirs and off to Cici’s all you can eat pizza for 5.99. This place rocks!
We hit the mangers reception and packed our suitcases. Tomorrow we were off to Orlando to check into our condo for one night so the kids could do some clothes shopping at the outlet mall. We had so many bags from shopping etc we were having trouble keeping track of where everything was.

Day 4
The van is packed. I was still feeling just as crummy as the day before except my throat was really really sore now. I gargled with water/hydrogen peroxide.
We hit Golden Corral and drove to Orlando. Tampa was really beautiful and the folks are real friendly; we hope to visit again someday!
Again despite the best printed maps we got lost and I was in no mood to get lost. After dh and I called each other a few choice names we finally calmed down and found the condo. It was 1:00pm. It was not ready. Did another stop at Wal-Mart for more unnecessary junk to pass the time and came back at 3:00. They checked us in. It had a really nice pirate pool. We all had our own bedrooms. I open the master bedroom and what do I see????? CUE the angels singing!!!!
THE BIGGEST BADDEST BATHTUB I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!!! It was like 4 feet deep and almost 7 feet long with three katillion jets and lights that even changed colour in the water. I quickly sorted the laundry and got a load going and poured what was to be the best bath I have ever had in my life. Dh took ds 6 to Target for more unnecessary crap and the other 2 kids watched tv and read and relaxed.
There was lots of nice smelly bath products in the room and I used every darn one of them. I soaked my head (piercing) for a very long time and felt relief for the first time in days.

...to be cont....

 

[noahdove]

Very interesting so far.

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 4 cont....
Dh came back from Target and took ds6 to the pirate pool. I lay down and watched tv, did laundry and dozed.
I decided to open up dh’s laptop. It managed to answer every other question I ever had. I googled how to remove an eyebrow piercing and sure enough I found it. I went to the mirror and did exactly as the web page told me...I twisted I yanked ....I pulled....nothing. At this point the tears were staring to flow. I was spent. My dh came over and told me I was turning the bead the wrong way and he loosened it and the bead came off. I slipped the earring out. I almost threw up and passed out at the same time....It was finally out!!!!!
We hit the Golden Corral. The new one is way better than the one in Tampa. A cold front was moving in and we planned to do our shopping in the morn.

Day 5
We hit the Lake Buena Vista Outlet and the kids blew all their money at Aeropostle and Converse. It was really cold out....even for a hardy Canadian like myself!!!
It was at this point reality hit. We had left my 500 dollar digital camera in Tampa probably somewhere at BG on Day 1 at the park.
I was so upset. Luckily Dh had loaded up on disposables while at Wal-Mart. It doesn’t make up for losing a camera of course and disposables of course don’t take the same quality of pics as a digital. I am going to contact BG and see if it was turned in.
We checked out, packed up the van and got ready for our first stay as DVC members at our home resort of Animal Kingdom Villas.
You automatically know when you have come to the perimeters of Disney. You can feel the magic everything changes and looks just like it did the time before....ahhhh we were here....finally.
Again despite very concise directions and maps were ended getting lost again mainly due to dh burying his head in his crackberry and trying to do some work. I was driving and he was navigating. Just once I would like to go from A to B without stopping at J..... M ......P..... T....... Z and back at J before getting to B.
We finally arrived at Animal Kingdom Villas. Not only was this our very first stay as DVC members we decided to blow the extra points and stay concierge. Concierge, valet....this rock star treatment was DA BOMB! We were escorted up to the 6th floor and given golden KTTW cards OOOOOHHH.
We really didn’t care what room we got as it was all good! We got a one bedroom villa overlooking the pool.
We checked in and dh and ds6 were given birthday bags courtesy of AKV!!!
The Villa was beautiful. The bed was heaven. It was pure bliss!
Some notables for those who care
-In Jambo you have to walk past the tub to get to the toilet. They are not separate areas. Annoying if someone is taking a bath.
-Not a whole lot of storage space for a family of five. I found the Villa too small for us. Next time we will get a 2 bedroom or bank and borrow for a Grand Villa.
-Concierge offerings were wonderful. They were very slow at times however re-filling things.
-The concierge lounge was heaven. If we got too crowded in our Villa we just went to the concierge lounge and relaxed and read paper, watched tv etc! It was really relaxing. People were stretched out on the couch just like they were at home...it was wonderful.
- AKV Concierge staff rock. I will be sending a letter mentioning how well we were treated. I had parcels delivered to the resort. Not only did they track the parcels for us they had them delivered to our villa. These people truly went above and beyond the call of duty. They handled every request with ease and communication flowed freely and promptly. I cannot tell how much easier they made our holiday.
While we slipped out on the first day they snuck in our villa and delivered and chocolate birthday cake for dh and ds6. They got birthday scrolls and a birthday card from Mickey and Pluto signed by both characters.
Not having a decent camera here completely sucked!!!
Day 6
We headed off to MGM for a day of fun! The Osbourne Lights were amazing. I just wanted to stay forever! We had little Einsteins Lunch (controlled Chaos) and dinner again at PrimeTime Cafe’ Again we had a hilarious first class experience and will be back again! We hit concierge as much as possible. It was just so great to be able to take a break and re-fuel and re-charge anytime of the day! We packed our suitcases and got prepared for the last leg of our Journey!

Day 7
-The resort was beautifully decorated for Christmas. On Christmas Eve morning a choir sang Christmas Carols in the main lobby first thing in the morning. What a wonderful way to start the day. I cannot begin to tell how wonderful our experience was here! Thank You AKV!!!!!

to be cont....

 

[drag n' fly]

NOW you know why my freakin trip report has NO pictures!!!!

 

[macraven]

i really hope that i will soon be reading that your camera has been found and soon to be in your hands.


i tell ya', my heart really goes out to you about that camera.

the gps screw ups, i could live with but the camera has to be painful.....

 

[drag n' fly]

Day 7 cont!

Well we checked out and hit the road Christmas Eve morning for our last leg of the Journey. A four night Christmas Cruise aboard the Disney Wonder!!!!!
By this time I was feeling a WHOLE lot better and was really looking forward to some sun and relaxation!
Dh HAD to stop at Wal-Mart again to get something to fix ds6 Cars carry on. I just sat in the van with the kids and cleaned out all the garbage in the parking lot. WELL an hour later he comes strolling out with more bags of unnecessary crap. All good deals of course according to him! I remind him that we still have to drive to Port Canaveral and board a ship. It is 11:50am.
We hit the road and drove and drove and drove. We pulled over 2 times just to make sure we were going in the right direction. Sure enough less land and more water meant we were doing great!
Anyone who has taken a Disney cruise knows the feeling I am about to describe. You know that hill you come up and a soon as you crest the top of the hill right before your eyes lies that beautiful ship! WOWZIE.
By this point it was getting on. After going through the security check points and dropping the kids, luggage and I off he went to park the van and we waited in line for security. We got to the top and began check in. We were told we were some of the very last people to check in. No terminal pics of course like every other normal family with a camera.
We went to Parrot Cay for lunch. Nice lunch good service. We had connecting cabins on deck 9 and checked out our cabin. One of the rooms was supposed to have divided beds and did not so the two boys slept in that bed and dd12 slept on the fold out. Dh and I had a cabin to ourselves. We had purchased the REAS pkg! There were robes, ice bucket, a bottle of chilled champagne and a bunch of other stuff.
After boat drill we got separated and I decided to take the DIS board advice and keep and wash out my sail away cup and re-fill it with the drink of the day 3 times before dinner. We had the second seating at 8:15pm. We the boat started moving and I couldn’t tell if I was drunk, getting my sea legs or both.....I was just a swayin!
We all somehow met up in the cabin and got dressed for dinner. Our dining rotation was TAAP.
We arrived at Tritons and were seated with a fine fellow Bob and his 2 kids. He was a lawyer from Louisiana. A real fine fellow too!
Then it hit...........I felt really nauseous all of a sudden. I looked out the window and that just made it worse. I took some Dis advice and tried to focus on something non moving.
I felt Dh was being pressured far too much to buy the wine package. One of our servers was not off to a good start with us. We ordered our beverages and 35 minutes later they showed up. He was so busy trying to sell dh the wine pkg he neglected to bring drinks for our table. I was so nauseous I barely touched my (lukewarm) meal. The drink guy offered to pour me some wine and I declined. My tummy did not want to drink and he was completely insulted. He said “you can’t do that. I must pour you a drink it makes your husband look bad!” I wanted to deck that potlicker I was so mad.
He poured wine in my glass even after I had declined. Two hours later the meal is finally finished. My ds6 is practically climbing the walls and I am wanting to barf at the table.
I was not impressed with Tritons. The entree was lukewarm and mediocre at its best. The drink guy was on my nerves and now was going to follow me every night....crap. I drug myself back to the cabin took some gravol and dimmed the lights. This is no exaggeration. The boat was rocking so much that when I lay flat on my back completely still I was rocking from the left hip to the right hip just from the motion of the boat. I asked God to take me now because I couldn’t survive another 4 days of this.

 

[adrianna_sarah]

Day 7 cont!
I asked God to take me now because I couldn’t survive another 4 days of this.

I remember feeling this way the first night of my first cruise. All that money and all I wanted to do was barf! I am assuming you are going to tell us that you got your sea legs in the next post.

I had to keep reminding myself of that the first night of this cruise. Of course by the next morning I was "ship shape". Hope you were, too.