I Will Not Be Denied-A Pre Trip Report

[LisaInNc]

Cast Of Characters:
Me-Lisa 41 and obsessed Disney Freak
DD-Princess Grace 6 ½ Future Disney Tour Guide
DH-Donnie, 43 My Brave Soldier, can take or leave Disney
DSister-Dawn 37 works in banking and hates people
DNephew- Joseph 7
DNiece-Tayla


I am so overdue for this trip. I should have been there and been back already! You see, I never leave WDW without another date in mind. It helps me swallow the large lump in my throat when I see the castle for the last time. My next date was supposed to be June 17 through 28th with a weekend stay with my Sister who lives an hour from Orlando.

Here is the background:

Disney is my Happy thought. You know when you get getting a shot and you need to go to your happy place? Main Street sitting on a bench eating popcorn is my happy place. I have used that happy thought a lot lately.

Last Sept Princess Grace started school and that really put a big anchor in our travels. I mean those people actually expect her to be there daily. It is bad enough she is away for 5 hours a day, now we can’t go to Disney whenever I can find a cheap airfare! The indignity of it all! I knew there was a reason I should have home schooled her!

During my last trip in December I knew that I was not going to be able to return to WDW until June. There was no way I was going at Easter so I would have to wait 6 long months.

I had the June trip all planned. All the reservations were made, my ADRs were in place my DD had been earning points by doing extra chores for the trip and we had started to countdown how many days.

I had Gastric Bypass surgery in April and it went fine. I was cleared for my June trip and I started to delight in my rapidly shrinking body.

Then it happened…I got sick.

Really, really, sick the entire thing lasted 3 weeks. I ended up in the hospital for 8 days, spent 4 of those on a feeding tube.

Good Times!

When I got home and came off all the mind altering drugs they gave me in the hospital. I realized what the date was! I had a week until I was scheduled to leave. That freaked me out a little because I am someone that likes to pack early. I do a lot of shopping and the last weeks before the trip were the most fun. I had lost 3 weeks to being sick! Three weeks of packing and sealing things in little ziplock bags, shopping for stuff we really don’t need obsessively reading the Dis.

In other words I missed a lot.

When I happened to mention the trip to my DH I saw him exchange a look with my Mom who had come down from RI to help care for me. I didn’t like that look. It was one of those parent to parent looks.

What my Mom and my DH know well is I live in a town called Denial. It is a very pleasant place to live. People are kind, no one cuts line, bad things don’t happen and no one ever walks out of a public bathroom dragging toilet paper on their shoes You could say that I sometimes walk around in a mental state as if I had my hands over my ears shouting lalalalalalal I can’t HEAR you, whenever someone tried to tell me something not so nice.

I was not going to take this well. I know they were doing the mental conversation of.

“You tell her”

“No. YOU tell her”

“I gave birth to her my job was done long ago, you are stuck with her now (insert evil laughter) you get to tell her”

It ended up that no one told me what I was soon to find out.

I found out the first time I tried to climb the stairs in my house. I had spaghetti legs. Flimsy noodles that had been left to boil for too long. I was way too weak to do stairs how was I going to do Main Street?

It took me 3 days of trying to work it out I kept hoping for an amazing recovery. I looked into renting an ECV. Then the Mayor of Denial knocked on my door and I had to admit that I didn’t have the strength for a trip like that.

I was so sad.

I needed a Disney trip. I am like a junkie sometimes. There are trips where I think that a herion addiction would be cheaper!

When anything bad happens to me all I want is Disney and I had just been through a very unpleasant experience. I needed my Mouse!

Then I got my next shock.
Oy!

Lisa

 

[LisaInNc]

My husband had left for training, he is going to Iraq very soon. I had started to get sick a few days before he left. As it got worse he got more worried he was away and I was at home alone. He called my Mom to come stay with me which was smart to do that because it was a lot worse than anyone who lives in Denial would realize. My Mom hopped in her car and drove 10 hours to be at my side without a thought. She stayed 3 weeks. The problem was she was not working but still had her bills. She lives on a very tight budget. My little sister is still in college. She really could not go 3 weeks without pay.

Do you see where this is going?

I did what was right and offered her what she would have earned at her job. But that meant that my Disney money was just about gone!

Then there was the matter of Princess Grace. I had to tell her we were not going and the look in her eyes was so sad I started to cry with her. I felt a little foolish to be crying like that over a trip, wasn’t I supposed to be so grateful that I was recovering?

I had a lot of time to sit around and do nothing or sit around and think Disney. I figured I could do a much cheaper trip, we could drive and that would equal the airfare but would save the rental car that I insist on having. I could look for a budget hotel and we could eat some meals outside of Disney. I ran the numbers and it would be close but I figured I could make it work.

So I did what any Insane Disney Pass Holder planner would do, I got out a calendar and I picked another date. This time we would go a few days longer so we could really take it easy. We are leaving August 16th and will return August 31st. I opted to do the unthinkable and stay off site. Since I was being wild with an off site hotel I decided to to even further and visit Sea World and Busch Gardens too. We have season passes to the parks in Williamsburg and that allows us to get in free at the Florida parks. We had never done that before, I just could not bear the idea of giving up a day in Disney. This trip it seemed we were already out of our usual routine that Sea World and Busch Gardnes would fit in nicely.

I rented a 1 bedroom time share through SkyAuction for an amazing cheap price. It had a full kitchen and I was going to need that with my weird dietary needs. I was going to like having the seperate bedroom.

So with all that booked I started to relax a little.

Until I called Disney Dining

 

[mvazul]

I am so sorry you got sick and had to cancel your trip. But, it sounds like you have an even better tripped planned now. I'm sure all of you are going to have a great time. My mother, sister and I will be there the same time as you - just not as long (8/26-8/31 - link to our pre-trip is in my sig!).

BTW - I have a Princess Grace, too. She is 5 1/2 and will start kindergarten the first full day I will be in Disney.

I look forward to reading more!

 

[LisaInNc]

My mother, sister and I will be there the same time as you - just not as long (8/26-8/31 - link to our pre-trip is in my sig!).

BTW - I have a Princess Grace, too. She is 5 1/2 and will start kindergarten the first full day I will be in Disney.

I look forward to reading more!

I have been reading your trippie also. I will be looking for the 3 of you in your matching flip flops! I wanted to tell you, your photography is awesome!

 

[mvazul]

I have been reading your trippie also. I will be looking for the 3 of you in your matching flip flops! I wanted to tell you, your photography is awesome!

Well, stop by and say hi!!

Unfortunately, we won't have matching flipflops. Mine didn't fit. But I do think all of us will be wearing some variation of Crocs and will have matching Misty Mates!!

Thank you so much! I wish I could get more people to hire me - then I wouldn't have to be a nanny for the rest of my life!! We used to live in NC and I had a great client there. She had me doing a shoot almost every three months for her. I absolutely loved working with her and her daughter.

Anyway.......I need to know what happened when you called Disney Dining!!