Losing our jobs... but still went to Disney! A Halloween 2009 TR - FINAL Update 3/1
- Thread starter Simba22
- Start date
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Thanks, Nikki!
LOL sorry I sent it out so late! I thought about it every single morning and then forgot by the time we made it to the main building!
jordanyosh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Well everyone, it's time for me to fill you in on what's been going on here at home, and the reason for my delay in writing out my TR. I apologize in advance because it's kind of a long story, but I'll do my best to give you the Reader's Digest version.
Late last winter (around the end of March, I believe), Lumar's mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Coincidentally, Lumar had quit his job as store manager of a local Game Stop store, about 2 weeks before we found out. He tried to find another job and for some reason, just wasn't getting anywhere. So finally it occurred to us that maybe he was SUPPOSED to be out of work, so that he could take care of his mom.
His father passed away in June 2005 from Leukemia. He was not going to his chemo/radiation appointments, refused to take medication, and continued to smoke and drink.
Lumar made it clear to his mom that he was going to stay with her no matter what during her treatment. They got her to quit smoking and he took her to 7 weeks worth of chemo/radiation, and we brought her to the hospital on Christmas Eve so that she could have her surgery. They removed the cancer and half of her pancreas, but she had a great prognosis. The doctor's told us that she responded to the treatment better than almost any other patient they had treated. She didn't lose her hair, she managed to maintain a healthy weight, etc.
Come November, Lumar's younger brother Robby, accepted an internship at WDW through his culinary school. So he was home for some of it, but was gone from November through May.
After the surgery, it appeared everything was going well but she kept complaining of pain in her abdomen and no one could figure out why. They did CT Scans, MRIs, you name it, and they couldn't find anything wrong. After a few weeks of this, they finally found an abscess at the site where a tube had been inserted (not sure if it was a feeding tube, maybe?). After that was cleared up, they sent her to a rehab facility so that she could learn to go back to a normal life. After they discharged her though, she started complaining of pain again. We ended up bringing her to the ER again, they admitted her, and told us to prepare for the worst. She spent all of this past spring and summer in a nursing home and they finally discharged her in September with a clean bill of health.
For whatever reason, from the time she got home she started to decline again. We think that she may have started smoking again but she suddenly lost her appetite completely. Keep in mind, that Lumar and I moved to our own place this past March. So his mom was back at her apartment (about 30 minutes from out place) and living just with Lumar's brother. She kept telling Robby that she was fine and that she ate before he got home, or whatever the case may be. In reality, she hadn't eaten since the nursing home discharged her. She was always a tiny lady to begin with...95lbs maybe. It was about 3 weeks before Robby brought her back to the ER because she was so malnourished that she kept passing out every time she stood up. I believe she was down to around 70lbs at this point. This was in the beginning of September. She has been in the hospital ever since. When we first brought her in, she was on a respirator and the doctor's told us that she was in such poor condition, she probably wouldn't last the weekend....when she did, they said she probably would make it another week. Two weeks later, she was off the respirator, sitting up, and talking to us. They moved her out of ICU and into a regular room. She was there for about 2 weeks.
About 1 week and a half before we left for our trip, Robby showed up at the hospital to visit her and found her unresponsive and having a seizure. They moved her back to ICU and put her back on the respirator. It was determined that she had a small stroke. We went to see her the night before we left and she was on the respirator still, but she was able to nod her head, wiggle her toes, squeeze our hands, etc.
Unbeknownst to us (and this will come into play during my TR), she had another larger stroke a few days after we left. The doctor's kept calling Lumar everyday talking about taking her off of life support, and this was the end, and blah blah blah. Since we had no idea that she had had a 2nd stroke, we were completely confused as to what would make them say this, when she was completely responsive a couple of days earlier.
We came home on 11/1 and went to see her on 11/2. The doctor told us that day that she had had yet another stroke, probably the day before we got home. They told us that there was basically no brain activity and if it wasn't for the respirator she would most likely not be breathing on her own.
We made the decision yesterday to take her off of life support but Lumar really wanted her pastor to be there and he had another service to attend last night so we waited until today. They removed the breathing tubes at 12:20pm today, and she surprised us all by continuing to breathe on her own for the next 10 hours. She finally passed away at 10:10pm on 11/12.
Lumar is one of 5 children...He and Robby were here for the whole thing (or, mostly the whole thing in Robby's case), but they have another brother that lives in NY and 2 sisters that live in NC. The 2 of them are holding up exceptionally well, and both of them are just relieved that she's not in pain anymore, her body is no longer working against her (not wanting to eat, but at the same time killing itself through malnourishment).
So that's pretty much the whole story and my reason for being slow with getting my TR started. I promise I will get it going in the next few days though once we've gotten through everything here.
Take care everyone! And thanks for listening/reading!
Late last winter (around the end of March, I believe), Lumar's mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Coincidentally, Lumar had quit his job as store manager of a local Game Stop store, about 2 weeks before we found out. He tried to find another job and for some reason, just wasn't getting anywhere. So finally it occurred to us that maybe he was SUPPOSED to be out of work, so that he could take care of his mom.
His father passed away in June 2005 from Leukemia. He was not going to his chemo/radiation appointments, refused to take medication, and continued to smoke and drink.
Lumar made it clear to his mom that he was going to stay with her no matter what during her treatment. They got her to quit smoking and he took her to 7 weeks worth of chemo/radiation, and we brought her to the hospital on Christmas Eve so that she could have her surgery. They removed the cancer and half of her pancreas, but she had a great prognosis. The doctor's told us that she responded to the treatment better than almost any other patient they had treated. She didn't lose her hair, she managed to maintain a healthy weight, etc.
Come November, Lumar's younger brother Robby, accepted an internship at WDW through his culinary school. So he was home for some of it, but was gone from November through May.
After the surgery, it appeared everything was going well but she kept complaining of pain in her abdomen and no one could figure out why. They did CT Scans, MRIs, you name it, and they couldn't find anything wrong. After a few weeks of this, they finally found an abscess at the site where a tube had been inserted (not sure if it was a feeding tube, maybe?). After that was cleared up, they sent her to a rehab facility so that she could learn to go back to a normal life. After they discharged her though, she started complaining of pain again. We ended up bringing her to the ER again, they admitted her, and told us to prepare for the worst. She spent all of this past spring and summer in a nursing home and they finally discharged her in September with a clean bill of health.
For whatever reason, from the time she got home she started to decline again. We think that she may have started smoking again but she suddenly lost her appetite completely. Keep in mind, that Lumar and I moved to our own place this past March. So his mom was back at her apartment (about 30 minutes from out place) and living just with Lumar's brother. She kept telling Robby that she was fine and that she ate before he got home, or whatever the case may be. In reality, she hadn't eaten since the nursing home discharged her. She was always a tiny lady to begin with...95lbs maybe. It was about 3 weeks before Robby brought her back to the ER because she was so malnourished that she kept passing out every time she stood up. I believe she was down to around 70lbs at this point. This was in the beginning of September. She has been in the hospital ever since. When we first brought her in, she was on a respirator and the doctor's told us that she was in such poor condition, she probably wouldn't last the weekend....when she did, they said she probably would make it another week. Two weeks later, she was off the respirator, sitting up, and talking to us. They moved her out of ICU and into a regular room. She was there for about 2 weeks.
About 1 week and a half before we left for our trip, Robby showed up at the hospital to visit her and found her unresponsive and having a seizure. They moved her back to ICU and put her back on the respirator. It was determined that she had a small stroke. We went to see her the night before we left and she was on the respirator still, but she was able to nod her head, wiggle her toes, squeeze our hands, etc.
Unbeknownst to us (and this will come into play during my TR), she had another larger stroke a few days after we left. The doctor's kept calling Lumar everyday talking about taking her off of life support, and this was the end, and blah blah blah. Since we had no idea that she had had a 2nd stroke, we were completely confused as to what would make them say this, when she was completely responsive a couple of days earlier.
We came home on 11/1 and went to see her on 11/2. The doctor told us that day that she had had yet another stroke, probably the day before we got home. They told us that there was basically no brain activity and if it wasn't for the respirator she would most likely not be breathing on her own.
We made the decision yesterday to take her off of life support but Lumar really wanted her pastor to be there and he had another service to attend last night so we waited until today. They removed the breathing tubes at 12:20pm today, and she surprised us all by continuing to breathe on her own for the next 10 hours. She finally passed away at 10:10pm on 11/12.
Lumar is one of 5 children...He and Robby were here for the whole thing (or, mostly the whole thing in Robby's case), but they have another brother that lives in NY and 2 sisters that live in NC. The 2 of them are holding up exceptionally well, and both of them are just relieved that she's not in pain anymore, her body is no longer working against her (not wanting to eat, but at the same time killing itself through malnourishment).
So that's pretty much the whole story and my reason for being slow with getting my TR started. I promise I will get it going in the next few days though once we've gotten through everything here.
Take care everyone! And thanks for listening/reading!
jordanyosh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
She can finally be whole again in heaven....
Take your time....
Take your time....
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
OMG you guys are NOT going to believe the things that happened over the last two days...
This is completely NOT WDW TR related, but I will start my TR hopefully today, I promise!
OK so the funeral for Lumar's mom was yesterday. On Monday night, I ordered the casket spray from a company here in CT called ProFlowers. The arrangement cost $240 and they said that it would be delivered on Tuesday to the funeral home, between 9am - 5pm.
At 6pm on Tuesday night, the funeral director called to tell us that there was no casket spray.
I called ProFlowers right away and spoke to a rep who told me that there were no notes in the system indicating a problem with the order, but she would try to call the local florist that they used to check the status. She put me on hold and when she came back she said they weren't answering and that they were probably closed for business but were most likely still out making deliveries.... I told her I would wait another hour. She told me that she would send an email to the florist to let them know that I was calling and that they should call me as soon as they get that message.
At 7pm, the casket spray had STILL not been delivered. At this point, Lumar and I were going out to the store to get him a new shirt to wear to the service. I called ProFlowers again from my cell and got another rep on the phone. Let's just say that by the time I was done with this girl, she was probably ready to quit. And it sounded like it was her first day on the job. I apologized to her in advance that she was the one that had to take my call, and I told her that I work in Customer Service and in no way do I blame her personally for what's happening but I was very VERY mad. Basically, our conversation went like this:
Me: "The confirmation paper that I have from your company state VERY specifically, that my flowers would be delivered TODAY between 9am and 5pm. It's now 7:30pm and my flowers are NOT here.
ProFlowers: "OK let me check on a few things, do you mind holding?"
(hold music)
"OK, it looks like that for these types of services, the florist calls the funeral home to make drop off arrangements for the day of the service, so that the flowers can be as fresh as possible."
Me (after a moment of steaming silence): "OK.....then WHY does your paperwork say that they will be DELIVERED toDAY? Not TOMORROW, but TODAY. No one has called ME, no one has called the FUNERAL HOME."
PF: "I'm sorry that the florist didn't call you, but the arrangement should be there first thing tomorrow morning if the service is at 11am...."
Me: "That word 'should' is REALLY bothering me. The fact that you're saying 'should' instead of 'will' leaves room for doubt. For two-hundrend and forty dollars, for an order that was placed 24 hours in advance, there should be NO DOUBT."
PF: "Well we've never had any problems with orders not getting to their destination, unless of course there was a problem with the address or something like that..."
Me: "I understand that you can't reach the florist right now, but that's EXACTLY my problem. ALL florists are closed now. I can't even call someone else to make other arrangements. I just have to go off of blind faith that your florist will do their job. Can I have the name of the florist? I'll go pick it up in the morning myself."
PF: "Unfortunately, we're not allowed to give out that information."
Me: "OK, so once again, I have to go on blind faith that my mother-in-law's casket spray will actually be at her funeral tomorrow morning...."
PF: (cricket.....cricket.....)
Me: "This is absolutely 100% unacceptable. I don't know if you need to put me on with a manager or a supervisor, but I feel that I am well within my rights to ask for a refund. Your company CONFIRMED IN WRITING that this arrangement would be delivered today and it wasn't delivered. I don't care if you're telling me that they 'should' get delivered tomorrow. That wasn't the deal...that's not what was advised to me and since no one has called to confirm that, as far as I'm concerned, I did not get the item I ordered."
PF: "Well I can refund you up to 50%...."
Me: "That's fine, but you better believe that if my flowers aren't at the funeral home tomorrow morning by 10:30am, I will be calling back for the rest of it."
PF: "That's fine, but like I said, they should be there and I can leave a note here for someone to call the florist in the morning and then call you back to confirm that they were delivered..."
So I stood at Sears outside of the men's fitting room yelling at this girl for about 20 minutes. We finally hung up and I called my mom....MISTAKE. Of course she makes me feel even worse by saying "why did you order ONLINE?" and "Ugh I wouldn't have used ProFlowers...don't you remember that tulip arrangement I was supposed to get and I got the correct card but the wrong arrangement and half of them were wilted? I will never use them again." So after another 10 minutes of that, I decided to let the chips fall where they may. It was too late for me to order another arrangement so I had to have faith that the one I already ordered would get there.
At 9:45am on Wednesday, the spray was still not there.
I called ProFlowers and spoke to someone who claimed to be a supervisor. He told me that there was a note in the system from the florist.
PF: "Did they call you this morning?"
Me: "No! No one has called me!"
PF: "Ok.....well.....it looks like they weren't able to make the delivery by 11am.....
Me: "WHY!?"
PF: "......I don't know......."
Me: "You don't know......(this is part where I scream a lot of obscenities into the phone and tear this guy a new one.)
PF: "Give me a chance to make this right...I'm going to call another florist in the area and see if they can send out something right away."
He calls me back within 3 minutes and says that he found another florist who can send something out within the next 20 minutes
PF: "It won't be a casket spray but it will be comparable..."
Me: "I don't need something COMPARABLE! I NEED A CASKET SPRAY! I ORDERED FROM YOUR COMPANY ON MONDAY! IF YOU'RE NOT ABLE TO CREATE THE ARRANGEMENT AND DELIVER IT WITHIN 24 HOURS, THEN IT SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTION ON YOUR WEBSITE WHEN I CHECK OUT! YOU ALREADY HAVE MY MONEY AND I DON'T HAVE MY CASKET SPRAY!"
PF: "I understand and I am really sorry, I know this is a delicate situation as it is....but it will be worth the money you paid for it..."
Me: "Well I don't really have a choice at this point now do I? To be honest, I don't believe that it will actually get there after this experience. I have to leave, I'll be calling you back later."
We called the funeral director on our way down and she gave us the number to another florist in the area that she worked with previously to see if she could throw together ANYTHING within the next half an hour. I called the florist and I thought the poor woman was going to fall over when I told her. I could hear the panic in her voice but she was absolutely willing to help and told me she would work as fast as she could to get it there by 11am.
The funeral director called to say that SOMETHING just arrived...with no card and no information. It was the arrangement from ProFlowers. "Wait until you see this..." she says.
This is what they sent that was supposed to be comparable to a casket spray, and worth $240:
Thankfully, the other florist, Rosa (God bless that woman's soul), came through for us. At 11am on the dot, she delivered a beautiful casket spray, it looked better than the online picture of the one I originally ordered, and she was $30 cheaper.
I called ProFlowers this morning and demanded a full refund. So far, they've only refunded us $7.49....Not sure why, since we were supposed to be getting 50% back initially...but as long as I have $240 back in the bank within the next 3 days.....
Lesson learned.
Just before we were about to leave the funeral home and head to the cemetery, the funeral director approaches Lumar and says "did you bring money with you?" Of course we didn't...I wasn't involved in any of the arrangements so I had no idea what he had worked out with her...but apparently he was supposed to be $1150 to the service because we have to pay the cemetery up front. Thankfully I had a credit card on me that actually had money available. We still owe the funeral home $2300. We're both not getting paid for 3 days and our rent is due on 12/1. Not to mention we haven't even started Christmas shopping. Thankfully, some family members have sent some money to help contribute towards the funeral costs but I am totally freaking out right now... Wish me luck.
This is completely NOT WDW TR related, but I will start my TR hopefully today, I promise!
OK so the funeral for Lumar's mom was yesterday. On Monday night, I ordered the casket spray from a company here in CT called ProFlowers. The arrangement cost $240 and they said that it would be delivered on Tuesday to the funeral home, between 9am - 5pm.
At 6pm on Tuesday night, the funeral director called to tell us that there was no casket spray.
I called ProFlowers right away and spoke to a rep who told me that there were no notes in the system indicating a problem with the order, but she would try to call the local florist that they used to check the status. She put me on hold and when she came back she said they weren't answering and that they were probably closed for business but were most likely still out making deliveries.... I told her I would wait another hour. She told me that she would send an email to the florist to let them know that I was calling and that they should call me as soon as they get that message.
At 7pm, the casket spray had STILL not been delivered. At this point, Lumar and I were going out to the store to get him a new shirt to wear to the service. I called ProFlowers again from my cell and got another rep on the phone. Let's just say that by the time I was done with this girl, she was probably ready to quit. And it sounded like it was her first day on the job. I apologized to her in advance that she was the one that had to take my call, and I told her that I work in Customer Service and in no way do I blame her personally for what's happening but I was very VERY mad. Basically, our conversation went like this:
Me: "The confirmation paper that I have from your company state VERY specifically, that my flowers would be delivered TODAY between 9am and 5pm. It's now 7:30pm and my flowers are NOT here.
ProFlowers: "OK let me check on a few things, do you mind holding?"
(hold music)
"OK, it looks like that for these types of services, the florist calls the funeral home to make drop off arrangements for the day of the service, so that the flowers can be as fresh as possible."
Me (after a moment of steaming silence): "OK.....then WHY does your paperwork say that they will be DELIVERED toDAY? Not TOMORROW, but TODAY. No one has called ME, no one has called the FUNERAL HOME."
PF: "I'm sorry that the florist didn't call you, but the arrangement should be there first thing tomorrow morning if the service is at 11am...."
Me: "That word 'should' is REALLY bothering me. The fact that you're saying 'should' instead of 'will' leaves room for doubt. For two-hundrend and forty dollars, for an order that was placed 24 hours in advance, there should be NO DOUBT."
PF: "Well we've never had any problems with orders not getting to their destination, unless of course there was a problem with the address or something like that..."
Me: "I understand that you can't reach the florist right now, but that's EXACTLY my problem. ALL florists are closed now. I can't even call someone else to make other arrangements. I just have to go off of blind faith that your florist will do their job. Can I have the name of the florist? I'll go pick it up in the morning myself."
PF: "Unfortunately, we're not allowed to give out that information."
Me: "OK, so once again, I have to go on blind faith that my mother-in-law's casket spray will actually be at her funeral tomorrow morning...."
PF: (cricket.....cricket.....)
Me: "This is absolutely 100% unacceptable. I don't know if you need to put me on with a manager or a supervisor, but I feel that I am well within my rights to ask for a refund. Your company CONFIRMED IN WRITING that this arrangement would be delivered today and it wasn't delivered. I don't care if you're telling me that they 'should' get delivered tomorrow. That wasn't the deal...that's not what was advised to me and since no one has called to confirm that, as far as I'm concerned, I did not get the item I ordered."
PF: "Well I can refund you up to 50%...."
Me: "That's fine, but you better believe that if my flowers aren't at the funeral home tomorrow morning by 10:30am, I will be calling back for the rest of it."
PF: "That's fine, but like I said, they should be there and I can leave a note here for someone to call the florist in the morning and then call you back to confirm that they were delivered..."
So I stood at Sears outside of the men's fitting room yelling at this girl for about 20 minutes. We finally hung up and I called my mom....MISTAKE. Of course she makes me feel even worse by saying "why did you order ONLINE?" and "Ugh I wouldn't have used ProFlowers...don't you remember that tulip arrangement I was supposed to get and I got the correct card but the wrong arrangement and half of them were wilted? I will never use them again." So after another 10 minutes of that, I decided to let the chips fall where they may. It was too late for me to order another arrangement so I had to have faith that the one I already ordered would get there.
At 9:45am on Wednesday, the spray was still not there.
I called ProFlowers and spoke to someone who claimed to be a supervisor. He told me that there was a note in the system from the florist.
PF: "Did they call you this morning?"
Me: "No! No one has called me!"
PF: "Ok.....well.....it looks like they weren't able to make the delivery by 11am.....
Me: "WHY!?"
PF: "......I don't know......."
Me: "You don't know......(this is part where I scream a lot of obscenities into the phone and tear this guy a new one.)
PF: "Give me a chance to make this right...I'm going to call another florist in the area and see if they can send out something right away."
He calls me back within 3 minutes and says that he found another florist who can send something out within the next 20 minutes
PF: "It won't be a casket spray but it will be comparable..."
Me: "I don't need something COMPARABLE! I NEED A CASKET SPRAY! I ORDERED FROM YOUR COMPANY ON MONDAY! IF YOU'RE NOT ABLE TO CREATE THE ARRANGEMENT AND DELIVER IT WITHIN 24 HOURS, THEN IT SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTION ON YOUR WEBSITE WHEN I CHECK OUT! YOU ALREADY HAVE MY MONEY AND I DON'T HAVE MY CASKET SPRAY!"
PF: "I understand and I am really sorry, I know this is a delicate situation as it is....but it will be worth the money you paid for it..."
Me: "Well I don't really have a choice at this point now do I? To be honest, I don't believe that it will actually get there after this experience. I have to leave, I'll be calling you back later."
We called the funeral director on our way down and she gave us the number to another florist in the area that she worked with previously to see if she could throw together ANYTHING within the next half an hour. I called the florist and I thought the poor woman was going to fall over when I told her. I could hear the panic in her voice but she was absolutely willing to help and told me she would work as fast as she could to get it there by 11am.
The funeral director called to say that SOMETHING just arrived...with no card and no information. It was the arrangement from ProFlowers. "Wait until you see this..." she says.
This is what they sent that was supposed to be comparable to a casket spray, and worth $240:
Thankfully, the other florist, Rosa (God bless that woman's soul), came through for us. At 11am on the dot, she delivered a beautiful casket spray, it looked better than the online picture of the one I originally ordered, and she was $30 cheaper.
I called ProFlowers this morning and demanded a full refund. So far, they've only refunded us $7.49....Not sure why, since we were supposed to be getting 50% back initially...but as long as I have $240 back in the bank within the next 3 days.....
Lesson learned.
Just before we were about to leave the funeral home and head to the cemetery, the funeral director approaches Lumar and says "did you bring money with you?" Of course we didn't...I wasn't involved in any of the arrangements so I had no idea what he had worked out with her...but apparently he was supposed to be $1150 to the service because we have to pay the cemetery up front. Thankfully I had a credit card on me that actually had money available. We still owe the funeral home $2300. We're both not getting paid for 3 days and our rent is due on 12/1. Not to mention we haven't even started Christmas shopping. Thankfully, some family members have sent some money to help contribute towards the funeral costs but I am totally freaking out right now... Wish me luck.
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
So now that our departure to WDW was nearly a month ago 
sad
, I say it's about time that we get on with the show.
Arrival Day: 10/23/09
Our flight out of Hartford was scheduled to leave at 3:05pm. We woke up around 7:30am, and everything actually went very smoothly. I had dropped the bunnies off the night before, and there was no rushing around like a maniac to do any last minute packing. I was surprised at how easy the morning actually went.....
Of course, it was just the calm before the storm. I tried using the WDW Resort Online Check-In service and the system was down. Strike 1.
My mom showed at at 10:30am and it took us 15 minutes to get everything loaded into the car. We made it about 8 miles from home when I had an apostrophe...I mean epiphany.... I didn't remember packing the tickets for MNSSHP. We pulled over into a gas station so my mom could fill up and I could check my Passporter to see if the tickets were in there.
They weren't.
Strike 2.
Now let me back up just a smidge.... The tickets that we ordered for the party on 10/27 had been purchased as soon as they went on sale which was like April or May...I can't remember for sure. However, at the time of purchase, I did not yet own the Passporter. So everything that I got in the mail from Disney went into the plastic accordian-style folder that I keep my bills and other statements in. I never got around to putting the tickets into the folder because within a week, they were gone. I don't know if they got thrown out (which is most likely) or if my brother grabbed them with a bunch of his mail and they somehow ended up his room...AKA the Land of the Lost. If his rabbits weren't as large as they are (one is 13lbs the other is 15lbs), I would probably never find THEM...let alone a piece of paper with plastic Disney tickets stuck to it.
Sooo... when I got the new set of tickets and the ones the ones for the party on 10/31, I put them immediately into the folder. You know....so they wouldn't get lost.....again....
A couple of weeks later, I got the Passporter on a trip to Barnes & Noble. That night, I went home and cleaned up all of the paperwork Disney sent me and organized everything into the Passporter. I specifically remember NOT putting the tickets in there, in case the book got lost or stolen or something.
So...flash-forward to 11am on October 23rd, and I'm now turning my happy **** around to go back home to get the tickets.
We finally made it to my dad's house around 11:45. I dropped off my birds (I know, that sounds like a metaphor for going #2 but it's not....I have zebra finches who were staying with my dad for the week. Or maybe I'm the only one who saw that as a metaphor.....).
We were finally on our way to the airport and got there at 1pm on the dot. Lumar and I went over to the Southwest counter to print our boarding passes and to check our luggage. My suitcase was only about 15lbs. Lumar's on the other hand....
6lbs over weight.
SIX
FREAKING
POUNDS
The limit is 50lbs. So I start trying to move some stuff from his suitcase into mine. We put it back on the scale.....
51lbs.
The girl told me she wouldn't charge us for 1lbs since I put in a valiant effort. She marked it at 51lbs and let us go without a fee. I call this one a foul ball.
As I'm typing this, it occurred to me that I definitely got us a luggage scale earlier this year so that we could avoid this problem. We moved in March into our own apartment and it obviously got packed somewhere and has yet to be found. It's probably in my brother's room.....
So we make it through security (no lost boarding passes this time), and sit down for some lunch, then head to our gate which is actually NOT 8,000 miles away! It's the FIRST gate!
Our flight was supposed to be leaving at 3:05pm. At 2:50, the plane that would be flying us to Orlando was JUST LANDING at our gate. They still had to unload the current passengers, clean the plane, then reload the new passengers. We finally started boarding at 3:20pm.
For those of you who don't know this, Southwest does not have assigned seat numbers. They give you a position number on your boarding pass (B-51 for example), and load you by position number. You are free to pick any available seat on board. By the time we got on, there were only single seats available. Lumar and I were opposite sides of the aisle and he was behind me so we didn't even get to sit together. The woman next to me was very nice but rather plump and since she was there first, I felt it was my responsibility not to invade her personal space. So I sat at an angle facing the aisle, with my legs tucked as close to my chair as I could get them....for 2.5 hours. My iPod battery died after the first 30 minutes.
The flight attendants, however, were very nice and quite funny. During the pre-flight safety drill show, I remember the attendant said "Should this Southwest flight turn into a Southwest cruise, the exits are located at the front, center, and rear of the aircraft, but your seat cushion can longer be used as a flotation device."
When we finally landed at 6pm, the attendant came on again saying "Thank you for choosing Southwest, we hope you enjoyed your flight to Orlando, but if not, we really don't care. Please collect all of your personal items before exiting, and if you do leave anything behind, please make sure it something of value that can be split 3 ways."
I felt like a pretzel, but she made me laugh so it worked out OK.
There was only 1 family in front of me in line at the DME counter so check-in was pretty quick. Here we are waiting on the DME bus:
And this, believe it or not, is the entrance to WDW. It was night time, OK!? I tried! You can actually see Minnie's dress if you look closely....
We got to POP at 7pm and checked in at Classic Hall. I was really excited when the CM told me we were in the Roger Rabbit building....come on! I get to be in the BUNNY BUILDING! Then....we actually walked there. And I wanted....to hurt....someone. I'm pretty sure that the Roger Rabbit building is the building furthest from Classic Hall. It's like, almost on CBR property, that's how freakin' far away we were, OK?
Since it was dark, none of the pictures we took came out very well. Don't worry, I have some later on when it was daytime.
So we get upstairs (2nd floor, room 7252) and see luggage waiting for us! YAY!
Except....it's definitely NOT our luggage. Someone else's luggage had been brought to our room by mistake. I called the lobby and they sent someone to come get it. We left for DTD shortly after, at 8:15pm. Our ADR for Planet Hollywood was at 9:30pm but we were starving so we headed over there to check in early. They got us in right around 8:45pm and we were on the lower level right in front of the DJ. Thankfully, there were no shenanigans played on his behalf.
We had the potato skins for an appetizer...there were 6 when we started, and then I remember to take a picture:
Lumar had the chicken & steak fajitas:
They changed the name of the Bananarama to the Spiderman something-or-other:
And I also had the L.A Lasagna which was fantastical:
After dinner, we headed back to the bus stop. There was about 30 people waiting already....
A bus came and was pretty much completely packed...I think the bus driver let about 10 people on.
Another bus arrived about 10 minutes later, and this one was also packed full. This time, the driver let 4 people on.
We finally came to the determination that the bus was filling up over at the Marketplace stop and at the rate we were going, we wouldn't get on a bus until after 11pm when the Marketplace closed. So we decided to just walk over to the Marketplace stop and get on over there.
There was NO ONE there. We sat there for about 5 minutes, and 2 other families ended up getting on with us.
We went right to bed when we got back to POP. Coming up next: Our first day at Epcot!
sad, I say it's about time that we get on with the show.Arrival Day: 10/23/09
Our flight out of Hartford was scheduled to leave at 3:05pm. We woke up around 7:30am, and everything actually went very smoothly. I had dropped the bunnies off the night before, and there was no rushing around like a maniac to do any last minute packing. I was surprised at how easy the morning actually went.....
Of course, it was just the calm before the storm. I tried using the WDW Resort Online Check-In service and the system was down. Strike 1.
My mom showed at at 10:30am and it took us 15 minutes to get everything loaded into the car. We made it about 8 miles from home when I had an apostrophe...I mean epiphany.... I didn't remember packing the tickets for MNSSHP. We pulled over into a gas station so my mom could fill up and I could check my Passporter to see if the tickets were in there.
They weren't.
Strike 2.Now let me back up just a smidge.... The tickets that we ordered for the party on 10/27 had been purchased as soon as they went on sale which was like April or May...I can't remember for sure. However, at the time of purchase, I did not yet own the Passporter. So everything that I got in the mail from Disney went into the plastic accordian-style folder that I keep my bills and other statements in. I never got around to putting the tickets into the folder because within a week, they were gone. I don't know if they got thrown out (which is most likely) or if my brother grabbed them with a bunch of his mail and they somehow ended up his room...AKA the Land of the Lost. If his rabbits weren't as large as they are (one is 13lbs the other is 15lbs), I would probably never find THEM...let alone a piece of paper with plastic Disney tickets stuck to it.
Sooo... when I got the new set of tickets and the ones the ones for the party on 10/31, I put them immediately into the folder. You know....so they wouldn't get lost.....again....
A couple of weeks later, I got the Passporter on a trip to Barnes & Noble. That night, I went home and cleaned up all of the paperwork Disney sent me and organized everything into the Passporter. I specifically remember NOT putting the tickets in there, in case the book got lost or stolen or something.
So...flash-forward to 11am on October 23rd, and I'm now turning my happy **** around to go back home to get the tickets.
We finally made it to my dad's house around 11:45. I dropped off my birds (I know, that sounds like a metaphor for going #2 but it's not....I have zebra finches who were staying with my dad for the week. Or maybe I'm the only one who saw that as a metaphor.....).
We were finally on our way to the airport and got there at 1pm on the dot. Lumar and I went over to the Southwest counter to print our boarding passes and to check our luggage. My suitcase was only about 15lbs. Lumar's on the other hand....
6lbs over weight.
SIX
FREAKING
POUNDS
The limit is 50lbs. So I start trying to move some stuff from his suitcase into mine. We put it back on the scale.....
51lbs.
The girl told me she wouldn't charge us for 1lbs since I put in a valiant effort. She marked it at 51lbs and let us go without a fee. I call this one a foul ball.
As I'm typing this, it occurred to me that I definitely got us a luggage scale earlier this year so that we could avoid this problem. We moved in March into our own apartment and it obviously got packed somewhere and has yet to be found. It's probably in my brother's room.....
So we make it through security (no lost boarding passes this time), and sit down for some lunch, then head to our gate which is actually NOT 8,000 miles away! It's the FIRST gate!
Our flight was supposed to be leaving at 3:05pm. At 2:50, the plane that would be flying us to Orlando was JUST LANDING at our gate. They still had to unload the current passengers, clean the plane, then reload the new passengers. We finally started boarding at 3:20pm.
For those of you who don't know this, Southwest does not have assigned seat numbers. They give you a position number on your boarding pass (B-51 for example), and load you by position number. You are free to pick any available seat on board. By the time we got on, there were only single seats available. Lumar and I were opposite sides of the aisle and he was behind me so we didn't even get to sit together. The woman next to me was very nice but rather plump and since she was there first, I felt it was my responsibility not to invade her personal space. So I sat at an angle facing the aisle, with my legs tucked as close to my chair as I could get them....for 2.5 hours. My iPod battery died after the first 30 minutes.
The flight attendants, however, were very nice and quite funny. During the pre-flight safety drill show, I remember the attendant said "Should this Southwest flight turn into a Southwest cruise, the exits are located at the front, center, and rear of the aircraft, but your seat cushion can longer be used as a flotation device."
When we finally landed at 6pm, the attendant came on again saying "Thank you for choosing Southwest, we hope you enjoyed your flight to Orlando, but if not, we really don't care. Please collect all of your personal items before exiting, and if you do leave anything behind, please make sure it something of value that can be split 3 ways."
I felt like a pretzel, but she made me laugh so it worked out OK.
There was only 1 family in front of me in line at the DME counter so check-in was pretty quick. Here we are waiting on the DME bus:
And this, believe it or not, is the entrance to WDW. It was night time, OK!? I tried! You can actually see Minnie's dress if you look closely....
We got to POP at 7pm and checked in at Classic Hall. I was really excited when the CM told me we were in the Roger Rabbit building....come on! I get to be in the BUNNY BUILDING! Then....we actually walked there. And I wanted....to hurt....someone. I'm pretty sure that the Roger Rabbit building is the building furthest from Classic Hall. It's like, almost on CBR property, that's how freakin' far away we were, OK?
Since it was dark, none of the pictures we took came out very well. Don't worry, I have some later on when it was daytime.
So we get upstairs (2nd floor, room 7252) and see luggage waiting for us! YAY!
Except....it's definitely NOT our luggage. Someone else's luggage had been brought to our room by mistake. I called the lobby and they sent someone to come get it. We left for DTD shortly after, at 8:15pm. Our ADR for Planet Hollywood was at 9:30pm but we were starving so we headed over there to check in early. They got us in right around 8:45pm and we were on the lower level right in front of the DJ. Thankfully, there were no shenanigans played on his behalf.
We had the potato skins for an appetizer...there were 6 when we started, and then I remember to take a picture:
Lumar had the chicken & steak fajitas:
They changed the name of the Bananarama to the Spiderman something-or-other:
And I also had the L.A Lasagna which was fantastical:
After dinner, we headed back to the bus stop. There was about 30 people waiting already....
A bus came and was pretty much completely packed...I think the bus driver let about 10 people on.
Another bus arrived about 10 minutes later, and this one was also packed full. This time, the driver let 4 people on.
We finally came to the determination that the bus was filling up over at the Marketplace stop and at the rate we were going, we wouldn't get on a bus until after 11pm when the Marketplace closed. So we decided to just walk over to the Marketplace stop and get on over there.
There was NO ONE there. We sat there for about 5 minutes, and 2 other families ended up getting on with us.
We went right to bed when we got back to POP. Coming up next: Our first day at Epcot!
jordanyosh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
Sorry about the whole flower fiasco. Not something you want to deal with on the day of the funeral. I'm surprised the ProFlowers guy didn't just refund your money right then....
I'm flying Southwest for the first time cross country...I'm hoping for good mojo.
I'm flying Southwest for the first time cross country...I'm hoping for good mojo.
Yaaaaay! You started your report! Are you going to get it moved?
I can't believe your suitcase only weighed 16lbs! Go you. My shoes weighed that much.
I loved your flight attendants, how freakin funny! I guess you have to have a sense of humor to do that all day. Or be the total opposite.
Having someone elses luggage in your room sure doesn't make me have much faith in the system. Were you worried where yours was going to end up??
You dinner looked YUMMY! I love Planet Hollywood.
Can't wait to hear about Epcot!
Have a Great Thanksgiving!
I can't believe your suitcase only weighed 16lbs! Go you. My shoes weighed that much.
I loved your flight attendants, how freakin funny! I guess you have to have a sense of humor to do that all day. Or be the total opposite.
Having someone elses luggage in your room sure doesn't make me have much faith in the system. Were you worried where yours was going to end up??
You dinner looked YUMMY! I love Planet Hollywood.
Can't wait to hear about Epcot!
Have a Great Thanksgiving!
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Honestly, when I called and talked to supervisor on Wednesday morning, he honestly tried to help me. They were already refunding me 50% and I'm not one to try and get something for free just because I'm upset. And since he placed the back-up order through another florist, he didn't know what they were going to send either. At that point, I was just happy he was trying to help.
Southwest was not bad at all...just try to check in as early as you can so that you can be in the first boarding group.
Thanks, Nik! It was a rough few days but everything has been OK since the funeral, for the most part. And yes, never order flowers online...at least not if it's for a special occasion. Local florists are the way to go...you can SEE what you're paying for and since you actually deal with them in PERSON, you know who is handling your purchase.
I did PM OhMari like a week ago and asked her to move me, but she hasn't yet. I was actually wondering if she was on vacation herself, but I'll PM her again this weekend if I'm still not moved to the TR thread.
My suitcase literally had ONLY our Halloween costumes in it. My boots were like a pleather material and bright red so I didn't want them getting scratched and then having red paint all over something else... And Lumar's costume was just a complete PITA. I packed it really carefully, on top of all of the heavy stuff so that it (hopefully) wouldn't get crushed.
The flight attendants were a lot of fun, but it didn't really make up for the fact that I was squished next to a stranger and my legs and back were killing me for 2.5 hours....
I WAS nervous about the luggage being in the wrong room.... When we booked our trip, we had two confirmation numbers so we go two DME packets. It didn't occur to me before we left to make sure that the numbers/barcode in the booklet matched the tags I put on our luggage. For some reason, I was terrified that our luggage was going to get lost somewhere if we had a different barcode in our booklet than what was on the tags. Thankfully, nothing got lost.
The L.A Lasagna was HEAVEN! I swear, every time I look at that picture I drool just a little bit! SO FREAKIN GOOD!
Well, we're headed to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm actually going Black Friday shopping tomorrow morning! Have a GREAT holiday weekend everyone! I may be able to post the next installment either tomorrow or Saturday!
Honestly, when I called and talked to supervisor on Wednesday morning, he honestly tried to help me. They were already refunding me 50% and I'm not one to try and get something for free just because I'm upset. And since he placed the back-up order through another florist, he didn't know what they were going to send either. At that point, I was just happy he was trying to help.
Southwest was not bad at all...just try to check in as early as you can so that you can be in the first boarding group.
Oh my goodness! What a horrible flower mess. I sure hope you got your money back. That certainly isn't what you ordered.
Note to self....Never order flowers online!!
I'm so sorry about Lumars mother.
Thanks, Nik! It was a rough few days but everything has been OK since the funeral, for the most part. And yes, never order flowers online...at least not if it's for a special occasion. Local florists are the way to go...you can SEE what you're paying for and since you actually deal with them in PERSON, you know who is handling your purchase.
I did PM OhMari like a week ago and asked her to move me, but she hasn't yet. I was actually wondering if she was on vacation herself, but I'll PM her again this weekend if I'm still not moved to the TR thread.
My suitcase literally had ONLY our Halloween costumes in it. My boots were like a pleather material and bright red so I didn't want them getting scratched and then having red paint all over something else... And Lumar's costume was just a complete PITA. I packed it really carefully, on top of all of the heavy stuff so that it (hopefully) wouldn't get crushed.
The flight attendants were a lot of fun, but it didn't really make up for the fact that I was squished next to a stranger and my legs and back were killing me for 2.5 hours....
I WAS nervous about the luggage being in the wrong room.... When we booked our trip, we had two confirmation numbers so we go two DME packets. It didn't occur to me before we left to make sure that the numbers/barcode in the booklet matched the tags I put on our luggage. For some reason, I was terrified that our luggage was going to get lost somewhere if we had a different barcode in our booklet than what was on the tags. Thankfully, nothing got lost.
The L.A Lasagna was HEAVEN! I swear, every time I look at that picture I drool just a little bit! SO FREAKIN GOOD!
Well, we're headed to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm actually going Black Friday shopping tomorrow morning!
Have a GREAT holiday weekend everyone! I may be able to post the next installment either tomorrow or Saturday!
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
OK everyone, sorry for the long delay... When I had contacted the mods to move me from the PTR thread to the TR thread, they accidentally moved me to the Completed TR thread, effectively LOCKING my TR. So I finally have it fixed and I will be posting an update sometime in the near future.
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Sorry everyone for the delay...I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles.... 
I have to warn you that my Firefox is rebelling against me and is refusing to open so I am working off of Internet Explorer and it's driving me absolutely nuts, it's so slow.
I started this at about 10:30pm...it's now 11:41pm and I'm being told that I have 31 images and I'm allowed only 25 so I have to delete some...
OK so on our first official Disney Day, we woke up at 8:15am, showered and dressed (I watched the new Stacey video literally 5 times in a row while Lumar was in the bathroom) and left for Everything Pop at 9:30am. Here's some scenes from around the resort:
I had been drooling over the little menu in the room since the night before at the prospect of an actual breakfast. My breakfast usually consists of coffee and an egg & cheese croissant from Dunkin Donuts on my way into work. I immediately decided on chocolate chip pancakes, and Lumar ordered the French Toast.
After breakfast, we wandered through the gift shop, since you have to go through it to get to the bus stop (Disney planning at it's finest here, folks). We finally made it out to the bus stop and left for Epcot around 10:45am. It was definitely later than I originally planned, but we were on vacation and I didn't want to rush it away.
Upon arrival, we made a beeline for The Land pavilion and got FPs for Soarin'. Anyone want to venture a guess at our return time? Here's a hint: It wasn't for an hour later.
It wasn't even for 2 hours later.
FOUR HOURS LATER between 3:50-4:50pm. Although I have to say that I did feel lucky just to get FPs for Soarin'. It sure beats standing in the 85+ minutes stand-by line.
So we headed to LWTL which had a 20 minute wait. I really like this ride so I took a lot of pictures. Here's a few of my favorites:
After LWTL we headed over to Figment (which had no wait, at all, as usual), then finally headed into World Showcase. I was excited for the Food & Wine Festival I was NOT excited when I saw the massive crowd as we entered into the Canada Pavilion. It was ridiculously crowded and it was also ridiculously hot. I guessed it had to be close to 90 degrees. But at least it wasnt raining!
UK:
We stopped to watch the American Adventure show and got to see the Voices of Liberty a cappella group. The show was really good but shows like that always make me want to cry.
We stopped in the Italy pavilion for gelato (heavenly) and one of the items on my list for the F & W Festival a Primavera. Its definitely a girly drink and I dont even remember if there was alcohol in it or not but it was darn good. Im guessing it was non-alcoholic since I didnt get carded.
We sat on a little bench and ate our gelato and drank our primaveras, then headed to Norway for FPs for Maelstrom. Those came with a return time of 3:20pm.
We finally made our way to the San Juan, Puerto Rico booth and I was practically starving by now. The gelato was great on such a hot day, but not a meal by any means. We ordered arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), ham croquettes (which we confirmed are actually more of a Cuban dish than Puerto Rican) and 2 Dragon Berry Coladas. THOSE were alcoholic and kicked the snot out of the primavera IMO. Both were good, but the Dragon Berry wins hands down.
We went to Norway and rode Maelstrom (for anyone out there that watches True Blood, I wondered what Eric would think of this ride while we were on board the boat .crazy, I know), then headed back to Future World to ride Soarin. We had to stop for a bathroom break on the way back to World Showcase. Lumar had gelato .nuff said.
Soooo .after the pit stop at the bathrooms and then another pit stop at Mouse Gear for some aspirin (which I did bring with us but left in the room), we headed back to World Showcase for our dinner reservation at Tutto Italia which was scheduled for 6:15pm. We headed over to the Mexico side so that we could catch the boat across the lagoon to the Germany pavilion, rather than walk all the way around again.
I never ate at this restaurant when it was Alfredos so Im not sure if they made any changes to the restaurant itself or not, but the inside is beautiful. This is probably the most comfortable couch in the world, despite its uptight appearance:
I had the Petto di Pollo:
Lumar had Penne Caprese:
For dessert, I had a canoli and Lumar had Tiramisu:
As we left, we decided right off the bat that this was the meal to beat for this trip. The food was perfect, our server was fantastic, and everything was quick. We were seated and our server told us he would be right back with our bread. When he came back, we placed our orders. The next time we saw him, we assumed he was bringing our drinks he had those PLUS our meals! It was the fastest Id ever been served in a restaurant and the food was a good temperature. It wasnt too hot to eat and it wasnt cold like it had been sitting around for a while. It was just absolutely perfect.
We stopped in Japan before we headed out and I decided (against my better judgement) to pick a pearl. Well clearly my better judgement was NOT better I got twins in my oyster! I had a very pretty wishbone style pendant made and we headed back to Pop at about 9:10pm.
We were originally planning to stay for Illuminations but thought we would have a better chance with the bus if we left prior to the show ending. We ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for a bus. The first one came and filled up rather quickly so we waited for the next one. We ended up on a bus with someone we now refer to as Drunk Girl. She was sloshed, trashed, hammered, s---faced, whatever you want to call it she was it. She was trying to have a normal conversation with her family/friends/posse but she was SCREAMING every word. Then she noticed that the bus radio was playing some 80s song I cant even remember what it was now but I remember being totally humiliated on her behalf. She was attempting to sing along and dance and it was just awful. She was standing and tried to use the handrails for support but that was just not happening so the man Im guessing was her father told her shut up and sit down. She fell off of her seat, OK? For no reason at all. She didnt miss the seat, she actually sat on it and then just slid off somehow. Then she started crying because the guy yelled at her in front of a whole bus full of people and she FELL OFF HER SEAT.
She was a hot mess, thats all I can really say about her. Then it occurred to me that she was staying in our hotel and I cringed again, making a mental note to go the opposite way of whatever way she went when we got back to Pop.
We crawled into bed at 10:30pm. It was a great first day and we accomplished a lot of things that were on our list so I felt really good!
I have to warn you that my Firefox is rebelling against me and is refusing to open so I am working off of Internet Explorer and it's driving me absolutely nuts, it's so slow.
I started this at about 10:30pm...it's now 11:41pm and I'm being told that I have 31 images and I'm allowed only 25 so I have to delete some...
OK so on our first official Disney Day, we woke up at 8:15am, showered and dressed (I watched the new Stacey video literally 5 times in a row while Lumar was in the bathroom) and left for Everything Pop at 9:30am. Here's some scenes from around the resort:
I had been drooling over the little menu in the room since the night before at the prospect of an actual breakfast. My breakfast usually consists of coffee and an egg & cheese croissant from Dunkin Donuts on my way into work. I immediately decided on chocolate chip pancakes, and Lumar ordered the French Toast.
After breakfast, we wandered through the gift shop, since you have to go through it to get to the bus stop (Disney planning at it's finest here, folks). We finally made it out to the bus stop and left for Epcot around 10:45am. It was definitely later than I originally planned, but we were on vacation and I didn't want to rush it away.
Upon arrival, we made a beeline for The Land pavilion and got FPs for Soarin'. Anyone want to venture a guess at our return time? Here's a hint: It wasn't for an hour later.
It wasn't even for 2 hours later.
FOUR HOURS LATER between 3:50-4:50pm. Although I have to say that I did feel lucky just to get FPs for Soarin'. It sure beats standing in the 85+ minutes stand-by line.
So we headed to LWTL which had a 20 minute wait. I really like this ride so I took a lot of pictures. Here's a few of my favorites:
After LWTL we headed over to Figment (which had no wait, at all, as usual), then finally headed into World Showcase. I was excited for the Food & Wine Festival I was NOT excited when I saw the massive crowd as we entered into the Canada Pavilion. It was ridiculously crowded and it was also ridiculously hot. I guessed it had to be close to 90 degrees. But at least it wasnt raining!
UK:
We stopped to watch the American Adventure show and got to see the Voices of Liberty a cappella group. The show was really good but shows like that always make me want to cry.
We stopped in the Italy pavilion for gelato (heavenly) and one of the items on my list for the F & W Festival a Primavera. Its definitely a girly drink and I dont even remember if there was alcohol in it or not but it was darn good. Im guessing it was non-alcoholic since I didnt get carded.
We sat on a little bench and ate our gelato and drank our primaveras, then headed to Norway for FPs for Maelstrom. Those came with a return time of 3:20pm.
We finally made our way to the San Juan, Puerto Rico booth and I was practically starving by now. The gelato was great on such a hot day, but not a meal by any means. We ordered arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), ham croquettes (which we confirmed are actually more of a Cuban dish than Puerto Rican) and 2 Dragon Berry Coladas. THOSE were alcoholic and kicked the snot out of the primavera IMO. Both were good, but the Dragon Berry wins hands down.
We went to Norway and rode Maelstrom (for anyone out there that watches True Blood, I wondered what Eric would think of this ride while we were on board the boat .crazy, I know), then headed back to Future World to ride Soarin. We had to stop for a bathroom break on the way back to World Showcase. Lumar had gelato .nuff said.
Soooo .after the pit stop at the bathrooms and then another pit stop at Mouse Gear for some aspirin (which I did bring with us but left in the room), we headed back to World Showcase for our dinner reservation at Tutto Italia which was scheduled for 6:15pm. We headed over to the Mexico side so that we could catch the boat across the lagoon to the Germany pavilion, rather than walk all the way around again.
I never ate at this restaurant when it was Alfredos so Im not sure if they made any changes to the restaurant itself or not, but the inside is beautiful. This is probably the most comfortable couch in the world, despite its uptight appearance:
I had the Petto di Pollo:
Lumar had Penne Caprese:
For dessert, I had a canoli and Lumar had Tiramisu:
As we left, we decided right off the bat that this was the meal to beat for this trip. The food was perfect, our server was fantastic, and everything was quick. We were seated and our server told us he would be right back with our bread. When he came back, we placed our orders. The next time we saw him, we assumed he was bringing our drinks he had those PLUS our meals! It was the fastest Id ever been served in a restaurant and the food was a good temperature. It wasnt too hot to eat and it wasnt cold like it had been sitting around for a while. It was just absolutely perfect.
We stopped in Japan before we headed out and I decided (against my better judgement) to pick a pearl. Well clearly my better judgement was NOT better I got twins in my oyster! I had a very pretty wishbone style pendant made and we headed back to Pop at about 9:10pm.
We were originally planning to stay for Illuminations but thought we would have a better chance with the bus if we left prior to the show ending. We ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for a bus. The first one came and filled up rather quickly so we waited for the next one. We ended up on a bus with someone we now refer to as Drunk Girl. She was sloshed, trashed, hammered, s---faced, whatever you want to call it she was it. She was trying to have a normal conversation with her family/friends/posse but she was SCREAMING every word. Then she noticed that the bus radio was playing some 80s song I cant even remember what it was now but I remember being totally humiliated on her behalf. She was attempting to sing along and dance and it was just awful. She was standing and tried to use the handrails for support but that was just not happening so the man Im guessing was her father told her shut up and sit down. She fell off of her seat, OK? For no reason at all. She didnt miss the seat, she actually sat on it and then just slid off somehow. Then she started crying because the guy yelled at her in front of a whole bus full of people and she FELL OFF HER SEAT.
She was a hot mess, thats all I can really say about her. Then it occurred to me that she was staying in our hotel and I cringed again, making a mental note to go the opposite way of whatever way she went when we got back to Pop.
We crawled into bed at 10:30pm. It was a great first day and we accomplished a lot of things that were on our list so I felt really good!
jordanyosh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
Drunk girl! I laughed though when you realized you were going to the same resort.......
Sounds like a great day. I really enjoyed Tutto and am eating solo there in feb...mmmmmm....
I laughed though when you realized you were going to the same resort.......Sounds like a great day. I really enjoyed Tutto and am eating solo there in feb...mmmmmm....
Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Drunk girl!
Sounds like a great day. I really enjoyed Tutto and am eating solo there in feb...mmmmmm....
Sounds like you had a fantastic start to your trip! Except for drunk girl - yikes!
She was a ridiculous mess. Words really don't do her justice. I wish I had been able to video tape her.
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