If it wasn't for bad luck we would have no luck at all...Update 1/4 Evening at the Magic Kingdom

[Chicago Mo]

I totally understand bad cars.. and bad appliances. But now that the bad is here lets get to the good stuff!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

Ugh, what a horrible streak of bad luck! I just had to have a bunch of repairs done on my Chevy Equinox but luckily it was still under warranty. Oh and I totally understand about the Bradford Pears. We had two in our front yard and one went down and smashed our mailbox. A few more inches and it would have gone through our front window. We ended up taking the other one down because apparently those trees have a very short life span and tend to break easily.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Hi, I followed from Mo's PTR also. I am thrilled you won the trip. Sounds like you could use some good news. Your string of bad luck is heartbreaking and the Tax refund stuff is just awful.

I know the bad luck bug. Our AC at our house went out right before our WDW trip last year and then when we returned, as we were leaving the airport, the driver's side window got stuck down. Had to drive 2 hours of freeway, with it down. We had planned some back to school shopping on the way home, but couldn't leave the van with all of our luggage at the mall with a window down.

So excited to hear about all of your planning and winning. I have 2 in college and one just going into 6th grade. You will have a blast on this trip.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

So, I had entered all the sweepstakes at the Mousesavers website. On June 10th, I was sitting on the patio while Henry played on the little swingset. I was playing Tsum Tsum's on my phone and I decided to check my email. I was looking through all of the emails and I see Congratulations! Winner of the Magical Sweepstakes! I run into the house and open the laptop, and wait for the emails to download......

I start reading it and saying "is this real?" "is this real?" so I forward it to my husband who is working at his computer in the other room and my 10 year old son comes in and says what? is what real? what are you talking about? He reads the email over my shoulder and runs up the stairs to my 14 year old's room because she is still asleep. He squawks at her "we won" "we won!" She didn't pay him any mind and went back to sleep.

Of course I am shaking and trying to read and remember all the different contest for trips that were on that website.

My husband says it looks real, why don't you call the number.

I replyed to the email, which was asking me to confirm my contact information and to confirm that I was over 21 years of age as well.
Then I called and chatted with a very nice lady from Food Network. Then we started trying to fill out the affadavits and get them notarized.

My Credit Union didn't want to notarize the forms for my kids. The forms for them only give permission for Food Network to use our names and likenesses. No big deal. So I just had them notarize mine which stated that I am a US citizen and I am over 21. My husband had someone at his work Notarize his form, and the next morning I drove over to the county courthouse and got the kids forms taken care of. I scanned the forms and sent them to Food Network.

She emailed me back and said Disney would contact me next.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

I want to hear all about winning a trip to Disney.




My daughter had that happen to her and they told her that she most likely won't get her tax refund until November. It is scary to think how vulnerable we all are now with all the reported data breeches out there. And the IRS could have prevented those tax fraud cases if they ran a simple verification first before sending out all those tax refunds. It makes me angry to think how irresponsible the government is.

We've been told it would take until August, somebody needs to do something about the problem, it is only going to get worse. Luckily, since we filed right away, they didn't send the person any money.

Ugh, what a horrible streak of bad luck! I just had to have a bunch of repairs done on my Chevy Equinox but luckily it was still under warranty. Oh and I totally understand about the Bradford Pears. We had two in our front yard and one went down and smashed our mailbox. A few more inches and it would have gone through our front window. We ended up taking the other one down because apparently those trees have a very short life span and tend to break easily.

I really want to have the two trees in my yard cut down, the one that broke is still standing! We need to pay someone to take them down though and that's not gonna happen anytime soon. Oh those trees smell so bad, I really hate them.

Hi, I followed from Mo's PTR also. I am thrilled you won the trip. Sounds like you could use some good news. Your string of bad luck is heartbreaking and the Tax refund stuff is just awful.

I know the bad luck bug. Our AC at our house went out right before our WDW trip last year and then when we returned, as we were leaving the airport, the driver's side window got stuck down. Had to drive 2 hours of freeway, with it down. We had planned some back to school shopping on the way home, but couldn't leave the van with all of our luggage at the mall with a window down.

So excited to hear about all of your planning and winning. I have 2 in college and one just going into 6th grade. You will have a blast on this trip.

Driving down the freeway with the windows down is so noisy! But in our case, if you don't crack the window you will have a heat stroke. So we just stay home a lot right now or drive my husbands 1998 Ford Explorer, because the AC works in his vehicle.

Today is Ethan's 11th Birthday and we have been hanging out at home. My Sister-in-law brought her boys over for Ethan to hang out with. I am waiting to hear some news about my Grandma in Illinois. At the beginning of June she needed a blood transfusion, they did some tests and discovered a tumor on her colon. She chose to have surgery and try and fight it. She did well during the surgery, and was recovering, then they needed to do another surgery because of an surgical hernia she developed. But on Friday, she started getting weaker and has decided she doesn't want anymore medical treatments and they have moved her to Hospice.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

So... is it this trip that you won or the June 2013 trip? Either way I'm in to hear about your plans!

I didn't do a trip report about our June 2013 trip. This is about our trip we just won. THings at Disney have changed since our last trip so I hope I can get some help planning. We haven't used the Magic Bands, or Fastpass + so that is all new for us! And we always drive but the trip we won includes airfare and magical express so that is all new to us as well!

I can't believe all the bad luck with the Honda. I'm a nanny and they had the odyssey for years with no problems until someone rear ended them. We've had a Honda CR-V and now an accord and love them. Just regular maintenance. Boo for the bad luck. BUT--going to disney after winning a trip sort of makes things better, right?

Yes, winning a trip makes things better, and when we get the tax refund we will fix the van because it is paid off! I'd rather fix it than make a car payment right now.
Thanks for following along.

 

[Dentam]

I didn't do a trip report about our June 2013 trip. This is about our trip we just won. THings at Disney have changed since our last trip so I hope I can get some help planning. We haven't used the Magic Bands, or Fastpass + so that is all new for us! And we always drive but the trip we won includes airfare and magical express so that is all new to us as well!

Awesome - congrats on your win! I entered some contests in January but didn't win. My family is not a winning one when it comes to contests though so no shocker there. I'm afraid I won't be much help with info on the new things in WDW since we haven't been since 2010. Unless you're going after this September since we'll be there the week of Labor Day!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

oooo, that's exciting! I probably would have convinced myself it was just some advertisement or something--lol!

 

[Pluto0809]

So exciting that you won! I probably would have questioned if it was real too. Can't wait to hear about all the details!

 

[Chicago Mo]

this is just he best news EVER!!! Silly girl sleeping through such AMAZING NEWS!!!

I am just giddy to read this whole thing!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

If I had gotten the email, I think the entire neighborhood would have heard me. So exciting. My daughter, now 18, would have probably slept through it too. I bet now that it has sunk in more and she had time to wake, she is just as excited.

I am sorry to hear that your grandma decided against medical treatment and has been put on hospice. Hopefully, you will hear some news soon.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

My Grandmother passed away on Wednesday, June 24th. We just got back from the funeral in Illinois. I hope to do an update later today, I need to take the rental car back and get some groceries.

 

[Pluto0809]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[ICanDis]

This is soooo exciting and sounds like it came at just the right time!!

I'm following along!

 

[ICanDis]

I just read the last post, I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[kde175]

So sorry...you and your family will be in our thoughts.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

So sorry for your loss.

I just read the last post, I am so sorry for your loss.

So sorry...you and your family will be in our thoughts.

So sorry for your loss.

Thank you for your kind comments.
In June of last year my grandfather died, he was 97 years old, my Grandmother missed him so much. They were married 71 years and had 13 children (my Dad was #3) 44 Grandchildren, 51 Great grandchildren (+4 more on the way) and 1 Great Great Grandchild! What an amazing Legacy they have left behind. It's hard to believe they are both gone. My Grandmother was 90 years old though, and she was the most loving person I have ever met. She told my uncle not to worry, She said "I know what's coming, and I think I know where I am going."

The services were really wonderful, and my kids had a great time playing with my 2 brothers' kids. So in spite of the sadness we had a good visit with family. I worry a little about my Dad.

Stay tuned, I am going to work on a Disney update next.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

About 2 weeks ago, we received the questionnaire from Disney, they asked us to list 3 Deluxe hotels, 3 different dates for our trip, and also what time of day we would like our flights to depart from, and what time we would like to depart from Disney, which airport we would like to fly out of.

We also found out that the Character Meal we won would be for 6 people, so that helps cover Henry, and also the VIP seating for the parade is for 6 people as well. Thank you Disney!

So, we had to make some decisions. We looked at the different Deluxe Hotels, and then I asked my husband, what Disney Hotel have you always dreamed of staying at. He said "Polynesian," Abby also liked the Polynesian, and I think the rooms are really pretty. As a kid I was always fascinated by the Contemporary, with the Monorail running through the middle of it. And we really like Epcot park, so I thought it would be nice to be able to walk or take a boat to Epcot. So our choices were Polynesian, Contemporary, and Beach Club.

Next we had to pick dates. My Daughter is starting High School in the fall, and my middle son is starting 6th Grade. So I don't want them to miss too much school. We have a short break in October so that is the first dates we put down on the form. I really want to go at Christmas time because we have never gone before Christmas. We have visited in the beginning of January before, so we have seen some of the Christmas decorations but we have never been able to see the Osbourne Lights, or hear the storytellers at Epcot or see the Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian. So our second choice for dates was the first weekend in December, the 3rd-7th. The third option we put was November 12-16 because my husband could get off work and the Christmas decor should be up then. I am really hoping they book our trip in November or December, because we have been to Disney twice in October. (I do love Halloween at Disney though! We went to the Halloween Party in 2009 and 2010 and had a great time both times.)

I sent the questionnaire into Disney on June 22nd. We are so excited to hear back I am checking my email often.

In the meantime we have been talking about some of the restaurants we would like to eat at. We have a tentative list of places that we would like to go to.

The luau at the Polynesian
50's Prime Time Cafe
Biergarten for Lunch
and Tusker House for dinner for the character meal we won.

The other thing we have been discussing is flying. My husband and I haven't flown since the '90s I really like having a car to drive, sometimes we like to leave Disney and get some Chikfila for breakfast or dinner. We always bring breakfast food with us to eat in the mornings, I have to have my Chai Tea. I drink Tazo Chai Tea every morning, it is my caffeine I need to wake up and it comes in a concentrate in a box. I just add 1 cup chai and one cup milk and ice and I am ready to go.

The other thing about flying is we have to buy Henry's plane ticket, and then I guess we will have to pay baggage fees, or pack carry on bags, but I think I would have to buy a couple bags, we have only one small bag and it may be too big.

 

[ICanDis]

Sounds like some good plans/options so far, awesome hotel choices!