Let the (Soaken Wet) Memories Begin TR- Update 12/8

[Tnkrbelle565]

Hi All!!! We're Back and are slowly drying off!!!


Well we have been back from WDW for almost 48 hours so it's about time to get going on that TR before i forget everything since I didn't take notes and will be relying on my pictures, receipts, and (poor) memory to write this! For those who have never read my reports before, I probably should start with introductions for our cast

Hi, I'm Kristine. I'm a 34 year wife/mommy/social worker/scrapbooker/sewer/photography enthusiast from Boston!

Here is Princess Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling for those of you who don't speak Gaelic ) She's 7 going on 15.

Last but not least...my Prince Ok, I don't really call him that. This is my personal chef, Randy

Randy puts up with all my Disney whims with very little complaining. And I'll forgive him the few complaints because he ends up being our packmule, will still hold Aisling to see at parades, runs for TSM FPs, carries around AG dolls when Aisling gets bored of holding them, dresses up for MSNSSHP, and stands up for women on packed Disney busses after the fireworks.

If you didn't read my PTR and would like to see some of the planning...here is a link The Smiths are Heading Back....for 10 Days of Disney Magic. I will give you the first hint of my TR- that PTR name was a complete misnomer

If you would like to catch up on some of our past fun...Here ya go! And if you tear up at surprise videos, please check out the first page of Our Trick AND Treat for the link to ours.

The Rebel Forces Were Strong But the Smiths are Stronger TR

The Smith's "Yes We Are Pulling DD Out of School Twice This Year" PTR!


Tink Got Me My Very Own Sharpies!- A Surprise Bday TR

Our Trick AND Treat- DD's Surprise Bday Trip!- PTR

The Smith's YES we are going to Disney AGAIN PTR!

Does the Pixie Dust Count if You Don't KNOW about it?

Santa Got me A DISboarder Weekend to the Mouse!

Sew Much Fun...13 of Cinderella's Mice Head to WDW! TR






Updates:

Getting There and Checking In
Kristine Makes Mistake #1
Discovering SAB
Mass-Produced Seafood= YUM!
Day 1 Comes to a Close!
Day 2 Begins!
Makin' Waves on Main St
Not-So-Fine Dining with Mickey
Nighttime Magic...and Glowsticks
I WISH that we were back at the hotel before tomorrow
Running of the TSM bulls
There goes my dream of being an Imagineer
Hanging on the Boardwalk pier
Where you can be in the movies...or be in B movies
Finally Aisling faces Evil!
The Land and Seas of Epcot
Blame Canada
Even kids like Disney Veggies
Kristine AKA Kate Gosselin
Getting Wild @ Tusker House
Sunny Safari
Aisling in the Mist
I just can't wait to be King
Being pampered amongst the Hurricane and Earthquake
A Beachy Breakfast and Frozen Lunch
Dinner with Dinosaurs
Legos and Dancing Queens
First Ones Here, First Ones Here
Beverly and other Surprises
"Dinner" at 1900 PF????
Aisling could never be a Wicked Stepsister

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

If I had to choose a picture to sum up our trip...this would be it.

Thank goodness I packed a LOT of ponchos because we needed them. However, our attitude is that being in a poncho at WDW is better than being at work without one

Shall we begin?

If you follow my reports, you know how trips begin for our family...with a visit from Tink

Tink had to visit early this trip because we had a very early morning flight and I knew that there was NOOOOO way Aisling would be awake enough to appreciate Tink's gifts at 3:30am. So Tink arrived on Thursday Aug 18th instead. Thursday was a busy day...work for Randy and I- Camp for Aisling plus a quick visit to the spa and Thursday night I was getting together with out of town friends. I got home from dinner at about 10pm and had to be back up at 3am. Guess who never went to bed??? And to make matters worse, when I got home- Aisling and Randy were both still up watching the Disney Channel However, despite limited sleep, I was able to get them both out of bed fairly quickly because it's DISNEY DAY!!!

Aisling immediately ran downstairs to check of the final day on her countdown

While Randy organized all the luggage with my mom who had generously offered to drive us to the airport at this ongodly hour. Overpack??? Us????

Aisling, who takes about 20 minutes to get her school uniform on, was dressed in 2 seconds flat and was ready to go

The drive to the airport was uneventful and we quickly got dropped off and checked in at curbside...behind a bunch of people who still didn't know that you have to pay for extra, overweight baggage. The woman in front of us had 6 checked bags ALL of which went over the 50lbs. I cringed to see how much she had to pay at the gate. And she had a dog with her so she had to pay for him too!

After a quick nutritious breakfast at Dunkins, it was time to board. If you read my PTR/follow on FB, you know that Aisling was given B boarding while Randy and I had A. Happy to let you know that they let her just come with us. I thought were were going to have to wait with her since she had the last number.

We boarded the plane and then sat...and sat. Turned out there was some light on that wasn't supposed to be. So we had to wait for mechanic to come check it out. Our flight ended up being delayed by about an hour.

We arrived at MCO after everyone got a little snooze on the plane and were greeted with a WALL of people at ME. I've never seen so many people there in all our trips. But it's Disney and they are fairly efficient so it moved very quickly!

I believe we stopped at Caribbean Beach, Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club. We went in and were greeted by several CMs who directed us to the front desk where there was zero people in line so we got our check in documents in seconds! A quick drop off of our carryons to Bell Services and we were off to:

We were meeting up with Jen (Jennifer48) and her family for lunch. We got there about noon and only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table! One thing I did not think about at all prior to this trip since I had never been there...Beaches and Cream counts at a TS. Needless to say we did not use credits and paid OOP but I immediately thought what a gigantic waste of TS points and our meal cost under $50 with tip. I only have one pic from this outing but Jen has a pic of all of us that I'm sure she may share

During lunch we got a fabulous text...our room was already ready! So off we went!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Great start, great pics, can't wait to hear more!!!!!!!

 

[DisneyTiger]

Is it weird that I am on the edge of my seat reading this? I can't wait to hear all about it

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Great start, great pics, can't wait to hear more!!!!!!!

Is it weird that I am on the edge of my seat reading this? I can't wait to hear all about it

Hi Girls! Thanks for coming over .

Talissa- it's only a little weird because you are on fb so probably saw most of what happened already LOL!

 

[justakrazymom]

I'm in.. we must have overlapped our trips so i can't wait to see someone else who had their poncho's out..a LOT like us..lol

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I'm in.. we must have overlapped our trips so i can't wait to see someone else who had their poncho's out..a LOT like us..lol

Love your TR name...heading over to check it out!!!

 

[eeyore3847]

LOving it so far

 

[Lady Lallie]

Yay! You started. I really feel you on the poncho/rain thing. That is how my May 2009 trip was but at least you are Disney which is much much better than at work!

 

[sohappy]

I'm here. can't wait to see pics and read a recap (of what I didn't find out through text).

 

[eecteacher82]

I'm here! I really wanted to be first, but of course you had to pick my baby's first day ever of preschool to start so I wasn't home until now! Anyway, I'm here! Can't wait to read about your wet adventures (well, the ones that I don't already know about)!

 

[jenb1023]

Signing on!

You are so right - a wet trip to Disney is better than being at home!

wow - that is a lot of luggage!

Love the poncho pic and that cute plane shirt!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Jennifer48]

I'm here!

Man thats a lot of luggage for 3 people! We drove down, stayed for 2 weeks and we still didn't have that much luggage! You should have asked me to take some down with us!

Yes I have that group photo and will try to post it tonight when I get home.

You must tell Ash that she's my new BFF. I loved chatting with her at lunch!

 

[twob4him]

Subscribing....and going to go catch up now! Glad you figured out the resizing issue within PB! yaa!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

LOving it so far

Thanks Lori!

Yay! You started. I really feel you on the poncho/rain thing. That is how my May 2009 trip was but at least you are Disney which is much much better than at work!

When I looked at the extended forecast it said rain for every day and I thought...oh that can't happen. It's florida, it will rain for 2 seconds and then be over. Not-so-much

I'm here. can't wait to see pics and read a recap (of what I didn't find out through text).

Ok no giving away my secrets just because I chatted with you half of vacation!

I'm here! I really wanted to be first, but of course you had to pick my baby's first day ever of preschool to start so I wasn't home until now! Anyway, I'm here! Can't wait to read about your wet adventures (well, the ones that I don't already know about)!

How was Olivia's first day????

Signing on!

You are so right - a wet trip to Disney is better than being at home!

wow - that is a lot of luggage!

Love the poncho pic and that cute plane shirt!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks!!! Remember that picture at the END of the TR...when we didn't have Bell Services

I'm here!

Man thats a lot of luggage for 3 people! We drove down, stayed for 2 weeks and we still didn't have that much luggage! You should have asked me to take some down with us!

Yes I have that group photo and will try to post it tonight when I get home.

You must tell Ash that she's my new BFF. I loved chatting with her at lunch!

We flew SW. We didn't need to pay for bags...in fact we could have taken another bag LOL! And you travel with a boy. Aisling requires a lot of junk!

Oh and yes, I should have mentioned that Aisling talked Jen's ear off at Beaches and Cream.

Subscribing....and going to go catch up now! Glad you figured out the resizing issue within PB! yaa!

It's a true miracle. Thanks for your help too!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

We are going away tomorrow to Maine for the weekened so I figured I better squeeze in another update.

After lunch we walked back over to the lobby and said goodbye to Jen and fam as they headed off to Vero Beach. I completely forgot where I left the luggage claim tag...Disney brain already set in...but found it after an exhaustive search of my park bag

So off we went into the villas

First impression is that this hotel needs a major overhaul. Everything looked a little dingy. Just not Disney quality. They were doing a lot of painting and construction while we were there but it would be nice if they would give the Villas the same facelift the regular rooms received.

Aisling found the first hidden Mickey of the trip

We did get a 4th floor room (we requested 4th or 5th floor) which was fabulous. We had Villa 470 which was a bit of a hike but was SUPER quiet. Aisling immediately ran out to check out the view

And score we had a full balcony!!! (some of the rooms only have standing balconies) We had a view of the canal and the quiet pool- which was closed 90% of our trip making it that much more quiet

Anyone want a peek of the room??? Well yes or no, you are getting one

We had called down to luggage services to bring up our Garden Grocer order and they ended up bring up our bags from ME as well Since we had everything, I figured this was the perfect time for me to get unpacked and organized and send Randy and Aisling to SAB.

I spent about an hour organizing the room and ironing the customs Aisling would be wearing for the next 2 days (I do my Disney ironing in shifts because I hate ironing at home...let alone on vaca!)

When everything was done, I changed into my suit to join them. But then I remembered that I had a large amount of cash in my purse that I probably shouldn't just be leaving around the room. So I went to go put it in the safe. Except there was no wallet. Anywhere. At all. The room I spent an hour organizing was completely pulled apart again. No luck. I remembered tipping the Bell Services downstairs but Randy had tipped the one upstairs. I called the front desk in a panic. They connected me with lost and found but nobody picked up.

Now as upset as I was about having to cancel credit cards and losing hundreds of dollars...what really had me worried was how I was going to get on a plane with no ID!

Now I told you that Villa 470 was a hike. And boy was it a hike when you are running to find lost and found. I was completely hyperventilating, tears streaming down my face by the time I got to the front desk. Remember those nice people who greeted us? They immediately jumped into action to find it. One of the porters went into a back room and came out waving it. I immediately proclaimed that I could kiss him Remember when I was looking for that luggage tag? Well I had taken cash out at the same time to tip the porter when i found it. And then left my wallet on the couch! Kudos to honest Disney people. Everything was still in it

I made the long trek back up to my room (slightly annoyed at this point that it had been a really long time and Randy hadn't called concerned about me at all!) I locked up the cash in the safe, grabbed my camera and Kindle, and headed out to SAB FINALLY!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Oh my goodness, you have REALLY bad luck with wallets on vacation. I think if we ever get the microchip option of credit cards in our fingers that you should absolutely take advantage of that. You need to barcode yourself!

That story had me all tense, my goodness!

I can't believe you iron on vacation, you are a very good Mommy!

 

[princess&her4princes]

Oh Kristine! Thank goodness they found your intact wallet!!!!! I was so nervous reading about it, I can only imagine how you felt! And I would have been annoyed too, at Todd, if he hadn't called wondering where I was! I don't blame you there, lol!

The room looked really nice, love the space and the balcony!!!

Hope the rest of the day got better!!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

And that, my dear LL, was just Day 1. But yes, I should never ever ever carry money on vacation. It does not work out well for me (well it always turns out okay in the end but not before i send my blood pressure skyrocketing!)

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Oh Kristine! Thank goodness they found your intact wallet!!!!! I was so nervous reading about it, I can only imagine how you felt! And I would have been annoyed too, at Todd, if he hadn't called wondering where I was! I don't blame you there, lol!

The room looked really nice, love the space and the balcony!!!

Hope the rest of the day got better!!

Kristen, since you haven't read the rest of my TRs, let me assure you...things like this happen to me frequently. In Ireland, last October, an ATM ate our card and we couldn't get it back for the whole trip, on Aisling's first trip I dropped all my credit cards and ID and realized it when I went to check in at the airport, and that's just 2 examples LOL!