We arrived at ASMo at about 12:30 p.m. on Friday 9/8. DD2 fell asleep in the car on the way from Sanford Airport (very easy drive AND airport, BTW) and was a bit cranky in the lobby. Check in was a breeze but, of course, our rooms in Love Bug (bldg 6) weren't ready so we headed to the food court to use our very first free counter service credits.
Headed to the Orlando Premium Outlet, where we killed a couple of hours. I called at 3:15 and our rooms STILL weren't ready so we headed to the Publix to p/u some snacks, sodas and milk. At 4 p.m. I called to check on the status of our rooms and was put on hold for 10 minutes as we sat in the Publix parking lot. I got disconnected (OOOOKKKAAAYY.....) so I called back. Got put into the queue and got another cast member who put me on hold to check on the status of our rooms. Waited another 5 minutes with an increasingly cranky 2yo and a 1/2 glalon of milk getting hot.... Was hung up on again....
Called back and asked to speak with a manager. Finally got an honest answer from Dennis, a super... "doing preventative maintenance on your rooms..." He couldn't tell me when at all they'd be ready and there were no other rooms available in the entire resort (100% sold out...RIIIGGGHHTT...the resort was soooo empty!!!). He said Disney guaranteed rooms between 3-5 p.m. Well, that was OK, but I knew there were ppl who were on planes and not arriving until that EVENING, so why didn't they just switch us with them?? Dennis promised to call me when our rooms were ready, and told us we could drop our milk in the luggage storage room's fridge, which we did, and drove to DTD to kill some time before our ressie at Rainforest Cafe.
Dennis called not 15 minutes later saying they'd miraculously found us adjoining rooms in building 4 (101 Dalmations) but at that point it was already 4:15 and we had 5:30 ressies so we went ahead and went to DTD.
After dinner, we went to ASMo where I stood in the concierge line to p/u our tickets. At this point, it was 7:30 p.m. and everyone was hot, tired, cranky (OK, mostly me) and ready to hit the pool. I got our keys and DH dropped us off (me, DD2, my parents and my handicapped brother) so he could park the van. We went to our rooms... and our keys didn't work.
I collected all the room keys and trudged back up to the front desk AGAIN, leaving them all outside the rooms with their luggage. At this point, my 60yo dad has HAD ENOUGH of Disney... I got the keys reprogrammed and walked back to the room, where DD2 is chasing lizards in the sandy grass
while my mom tries to keep her corraled out of the bushes.
The keys STILL DON'T WORK in the lock.
At this point, I was ready to go home...my dad recommended we switch keys...and they worked (and would have the FIRST time if we'd tried it
). Sitting on the table in a cellophane wrapper, was the LUMPY delivered by Peggy:
Lumpy was our constant companion throughout the trip. I truly thank Peggy for her generosity. She not only made a 2-year-old's day, but also a 29-year-old's (me) and a 55 and 60-year-old's day (my worn out folks). When Peggy said she'd do this, I have to admit I thought it would be nice, but it wasn't necessary and with the high price of gas, Ophelia, etc., I certainly didn't EXPECT anything. Peggy, and those like her, keep the dream of Disney alive, and I truly believe Mr. Walt Disney would be proud of legacies like her.
Thank you, Peggy, from the bottom of our Kentucky hearts!!
Lumpy & his girl on the carride back to the airport -- with Pooh's Heffalump Movie playing on the DVD player, of course!!.
Thanks a lot Peggy and Mandy, you made me cry. You are sooooo awesome Peggy!! 
