Mom, Can You Quit Hanging on to Me and Just Hang on to Yourself? Update 11/2/16

[DopeyDonald]

Haha, when I first started reading and you said "I need to explain what happened on Wednesday morning." I thought you meant Christmas Eve.

Emily, I think you can file away your mixed emotions completely. I read nothing here that I would ever consider to be complaining. I've seen complaining, and this wasn't it. I think you did everything exactly right. You just simply gave feedback and you did it the right way. Rest assured, you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about AT ALL. And super kudos to Disney for coming through like they did. That is so awesome. That's simply a great story of customer service and pixie dust, and I loved hearing it. It's what a Disney vacation is all about.

Too funny about Christmas Eve - I did start that off kind of funny.

Thanks for the kind words. I think I will always feel a bit guilty. There was a surprise waiting for us in the new room also - they just went above and beyond that day.

It sounds like you handled it really well. I'm glad they were able to make it right for you.

Thanks! They really made our vacation - though it probably worked out in their favor as we really loved the bunk bed room we were given and we need 2 of them...... so in the future they'll get more of our money!

 

[DopeyDonald]

I don't know where else to put this, because let's face it - I am NOT a PTR writer (yet - ) But I am so excited about our upcoming trip.

Things have changed a bit - we adjusted the dates - we are going a week sooner now! And prices changed so much in that week that we are staying an extra night for less money! Disney Math at it's finest!

*edited to add: we have named this trip - OPERATION B.S. (for Operation Birthday Surprise) We needed to be able to call it that and settled on that- lol So we told the kids that is what we are calling January, since DH is training in some new reps and will be gone pretty much the whole month. This way we can make reference to it.

So, as it sits now, we are arriving at POR on January the 28th. We are now staying until February the 4th. We have ADR's at Teppan Edo for Annie's Golden Birthday Dinner (it's her favorite and our second choice since we had to give up the CRT in lieu of coming before our AP's expired), a dinner for her and Daddy in France at her other favorite restaurant and my request - dinner at 1900 PF.

We will get 6 full days in the parks - when did this turn into a full on vacation??! I still haven't told anyone else we are going...they are all going to think we are absolutely BONKERS. But oh well. My DH has been working at least 80-90 hrs a week and has been home about on average 4-5 days a month for awhile now and we NEED this trip.

I think that's all for now.... GAH - we leave in less than 4 weeks!!!

 

[DopeyDonald]

So, We were all tired after our late party night the night before, so we slept in….surprise, surprise – The plan for the day was to take it easy, do some laundry, eat lunch at Roaring Fork and watch the boys take the SeaRaycer out.

Wyatt was finally old enough to drive it and he was EXCITED.

I woke up a bit earlier than the kids and started in on the laundry. I gathered up a huge duffel bag and headed down the hall only to find out that the Villas Laundry room was out of service – they were working on some big project in a villa near it and they had shut the water off.

I wasn’t sure if there was any more laundry rooms on any of the other floors, so I went on a hunt. But alas, there is not. I think the VWL has to have the smallest laundry room on property!

Oh well, I really needed to wash some things so I walked over to the main lodge, bit the bullet and just paid for the loads.

By the time I got back the kids were stirring and everyone got up and dressed. I’m not going to lie, by the time this all happened it was nearing 11am.

We decided to grab our mugs and head for Roaring Fork. While the rest of the crew was mug filling, I went and switched the wash to the dryer. I joined back up with them and we ordered our food.

Here are a few pics of our lunch…

Wyatt being a butt – I have no idea how he can change his expression so fast – once second he’s smiling nice, and then bam – this is how the pic turns out!

Now Annie is joining in! Arg!

Finally!

After lunch the boys had an impromptu photo shoot

Graduation Bribery Photo!

After lunch and pics we headed back to the room. The boys were getting ready to take the SeaRaycer out. Wyatt was sooooo excited – he was finally old enough to drive. This was his special choice for the trip – we usually let the kids each pick one, special thing to do.

The boys left and the girls and I chilled out. I ran back to throw another load in (the washers had been pretty busy earlier and I still had one load to do) while the girls colored on Cassie’s board. (It was during this trip back that I spoke with the front desk for the first time.)

When I got back the girls and I got ready to head to the dock to take some pics and video of the boys.

Here are some beach pics – it was SOOOOOOOOOOO hot on the beach. It was a gorgeous day.

Beach feet

Here are my boys in the boat. Wyatt was all serious and never would look over at me. He is Mr. Obey the Rules.

I love this pic – My boy is looking so serious after his big trip

This pic is one of my fave of the trip – it cracks me up every time I look at it. DH can’t believe he survived riding with Wyatt and is showing us that…*weirdo…

After the boat/beach time we headed back to the room to decide what to do.
After getting cleaned up – which was difficult since we had no water (see my above post for that whole story) we decided that DH would take Wyatt and Cassidy to Epcot while Annie and I went to Tea at the GF. After tea, Annie and I would meet up with the rest of the fam for an evening in Epcot.

Up next our Tea and a very fun Epcot evening!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

DopeyDonald, it looks like you guys will be at WDW at the same time as DisneyKid4Life and his friends!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

"OPERATION B.S." HAHAHAHA I love that!!! Perfect on so many levels. And January 28 you say... sounds like we will be in the World at the same time. And seeing as how small it is, we're bound to run into each other, lol.

Ah so nice to see the WL in the photos. I'm still so excited to stay there.

What a great experience zipping around the lake. So much to do that doesn't need a park.

 

[MissMaryQC]

Firstly I think you handled the issues with your room perfectly. I work in customer service and am of the opinion that when you are paying for a service (amount doesn't matter but we all know Disney ain't cheap!) you should have the very best that can be provided. Disney is great about fixing their hiccups and that what you guys needed! So I'm glad it all worked out, and it don't think you need to feel anything but good that you guys were given the quality service that Disney is known for. *end rant*

You have such a beautiful family! And I adore the series of photos with the goofy faces from the kids at lunch.

I love that you guys do something special for each kid on your trips, and I like that their is one on one time with each child. I have three younger sisters (two half sisters) and it was sometimes hard getting time with just my dad or just my mom. I'm sure your kids love it!

Yay for Operation BS!! :rofl2: I can't believe how quickly it's coming up!! As a new mama, I hope I'm able to surprise my DD the way my mom used to, but I'm a terrible secret keeper, especially when I'm excited about what the secret is!! ADRs for Annie's big birthday sound great! She's a girl with good taste. Can't wait to see how your Operation BS unfolds!

 

[amberg93]

It's great that Annie was picked for the show.

Those are all great Splash pictures. You all look awesome.

Aww man, no soundtrack and no stage show? That is a super bummer, but you're right, the parade is amazing.

Emily, don't at all feel guilty about what happened. You were having issues and you didn't ask for anything, so what you got was just good service You're right, you paid a lot of money for your trip and it makes sense that they'd do something to help you out.

Very cute pictures of the girls on the beach.

Oh man, I bet Wyatt was just having the time of his life being able to drive. And very safe he was, not looking at you while driving

 

[DopeyDonald]

DopeyDonald, it looks like you guys will be at WDW at the same time as DisneyKid4Life and his friends!

It would be so neat to see another "celebrity", I had a few sightings on this September trip of Dis "celebrities" but never did have a moment to say hi.

"OPERATION B.S." HAHAHAHA I love that!!! Perfect on so many levels. And January 28 you say... sounds like we will be in the World at the same time. And seeing as how small it is, we're bound to run into each other, lol.

Ah so nice to see the WL in the photos. I'm still so excited to stay there.

What a great experience zipping around the lake. So much to do that doesn't need a park.

Yeah, I think DH told the kids it means Operation Busy Season or something to that effect. Our trip overlaps with the 2 families whose trips I've been planning also. You just can't beat the crowds and prices that week! I was wanting to go later in Feb, but our AP's expire on the 23rd and I really felt like we needed to squeak the trip in before they expired. It would drive me INSANE to pay for tickets days after our "free" (for purposes of this trip) tickets expired.

WL is amazing. It just is. *sigh

And yes, we love ALL the things Disney has to offer. In the grand scheme of things we probably only spend 60% of our time in the parks.

Firstly I think you handled the issues with your room perfectly. I work in customer service and am of the opinion that when you are paying for a service (amount doesn't matter but we all know Disney ain't cheap!) you should have the very best that can be provided. Disney is great about fixing their hiccups and that what you guys needed! So I'm glad it all worked out, and it don't think you need to feel anything but good that you guys were given the quality service that Disney is known for. *end rant*

You have such a beautiful family! And I adore the series of photos with the goofy faces from the kids at lunch.

I love that you guys do something special for each kid on your trips, and I like that their is one on one time with each child. I have three younger sisters (two half sisters) and it was sometimes hard getting time with just my dad or just my mom. I'm sure your kids love it!

Yay for Operation BS!! :rofl2: I can't believe how quickly it's coming up!! As a new mama, I hope I'm able to surprise my DD the way my mom used to, but I'm a terrible secret keeper, especially when I'm excited about what the secret is!! ADRs for Annie's big birthday sound great! She's a girl with good taste. Can't wait to see how your Operation BS unfolds!

Thanks for the kind words. It ended up working out so well for us. We fell in LOVE with staying in the main lodge though...so maybe Disney's plan worked after all and we'll end up staying there in the Deluxe room -

I am SO excited to be able to surprise the. They are such great kids and really appreciate every trip we've gone on. They love it so much. I dont' think they would EVER expect the surprise as we've always had so much fun planning them and they know their mom is the worst secret keeper on the planet. (I have to buy all my presents on Dec 22nd or else I give them away early lol)

I will be posting my idea for the surprise soon to get some feedback on my idea....I think it's a good one and I can't wait for that day!

It's great that Annie was picked for the show.

Those are all great Splash pictures. You all look awesome.

Aww man, no soundtrack and no stage show? That is a super bummer, but you're right, the parade is amazing.

Emily, don't at all feel guilty about what happened. You were having issues and you didn't ask for anything, so what you got was just good service You're right, you paid a lot of money for your trip and it makes sense that they'd do something to help you out.

Very cute pictures of the girls on the beach.

Oh man, I bet Wyatt was just having the time of his life being able to drive. And very safe he was, not looking at you while driving

We were SO excited when Annie got picked. She had so much fun. Though now we are greedy and want it to happen again!

The soundtrack was a bummer, but now we know for next year.

Thanks for helping me feel better about the room switch, I think I'm finally letting the guilt go

We had so much fun on the beach, but it was SOOOO hot that day....would love to be feeling that now though....it's VERY cold and yucky out.

And yes, my son had an wonderful time driving the boats. He loves hitting milestones like that at Disney. His next big goal was the Dolphins at Epcot at age 13 (I think...) After that he can't wait to take some of the tours at 16.

I have to tell you also that I've been reading your girls trip report-I have no idea how I missed it before- GREAT reading- I stayed up wayyyy too late last night and read it from the start!

 

[DopeyDonald]

So Annie and I were on our way to the Grand Floridian to have some tea and the boys and Cassidy were headed to Epcot.

Annie and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Grand Floridian. We love to have Tea here, just the two of us. (I also ended up taking Cassidy by herself later in the week.)

Our tea was scheduled for 3:40 in the afternoon, and we arrived just early enough to sit for a few minutes to enjoy the lobby for a bit. We were seated in our favorite spot – the booth in the far left corner near the window.

Annie ordered the Mrs. Potts for kids with hot chocolate and sandwiches – no tuna but an extra ham and cheese . I had the Buckingham Palace with the Princess Breakfast tea.

In no time at all we were enjoying our lovely tea and sandwiches. They had some new ones this year, which was nice. There was one with goat cheese that my picky palate didn’t try, but the rest were lovely.

My silly girl with her hot chocolate – notice she had already eaten the large dallop of fresh whipped cream off the top –

The next thing that came out was my scone and jam tart. Annie had a few bites of my jam tart, but there was no way she was getting any of my scone and lemon curd. I actually think about licking the bowl every time I eat that stuff – YUM!!

Finally it was time to choose our desserts. We both knew we wanted a chocolate covered strawberry, but had a hard time deciding on the rest. Those cream puff swans are always so pretty, but the flavor this day was mango I think and we didn’t know if we’d like it so we played it safe. Annie got a chocolate éclair and I went with a raspberry brownie type thing. Very good.

After we settled up with our bill, we had the waitress take our pic. I love this time with my girl!

After our relaxing tea, we browsed in the shops a bit. We love basin here. I know the one at DTD is bigger and has more to choose from, but there is something about the one at the GF we like better. Annie is also in love with the gift shop up on the second floor also (the name is escaping me). She’s loved it since our first trip and always wants to look around.
After our girls fun, we decided we’d better rescue daddy (Cassidy can get whiny if I’m gone too long – what can I say, she’s a momma’s girl!)
We walked back over to the car and headed to EPCOT!

So sorry for such a short update, but I am in the middle of last minute planning details for our trip in 20 days!!!!!!

 

[MissMaryQC]

Your tea looked lovely! I've never been to tea at GF, but I have always loved tea time. One of my baby showers was an afternoon tea. :

Hopefully DD will be like me and she and I can enjoy a Gf yes party, just us two. I love time with just my mama, makes it really special.

The phot of you and Annie is great! You both look so happy.

20 days?!?! Wowwy! Coming up so quick!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Awww, how lovely to share that experience with your daughter. Special memories for sure. And seeing the oicture of just the two of you together, you guys have the same big smile.

 

[amberg93]

Excellent milestones for Wyatt to have with the dolphins and the tours. No better place to celebrate things than Disney

Our girls trip was something else. I didn't mean to make you stay up and read it though But if you did it probably means you're enjoying it and that's good.

The Grand Floridian is such an awesome place to spend time just the two of you. It's really beautiful there.

Sounds like just a wonderful time for the two of you and that's so special. I like that you and your husband seem to have one on one times with all your kids, I bet that it's something that they'll always remember too.

And at least you continue to update so no hard feelings

But 20 days?! You must be getting so excited! Have an amazing time.

 

[DopeyDonald]

Your tea looked lovely! I've never been to tea at GF, but I have always loved tea time. One of my baby showers was an afternoon tea. :

Hopefully DD will be like me and she and I can enjoy a Gf yes party, just us two. I love time with just my mama, makes it really special.

The phot of you and Annie is great! You both look so happy.

20 days?!?! Wowwy! Coming up so quick!!

We always enjoy a good tea I'm not sure why we aren't the most refined people, but we enjoy it just the same. I'll bet a tea made for a lovely baby shower.

If you start her early enough I'm sure she will love them. It is one of the things my girls love most about our trips

And now it's 17 days.....AAAGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Awww, how lovely to share that experience with your daughter. Special memories for sure. And seeing the oicture of just the two of you together, you guys have the same big smile.

Definate good memories made at our teas

Excellent milestones for Wyatt to have with the dolphins and the tours. No better place to celebrate things than Disney

Our girls trip was something else. I didn't mean to make you stay up and read it though But if you did it probably means you're enjoying it and that's good.

The Grand Floridian is such an awesome place to spend time just the two of you. It's really beautiful there.

Sounds like just a wonderful time for the two of you and that's so special. I like that you and your husband seem to have one on one times with all your kids, I bet that it's something that they'll always remember too.

And at least you continue to update so no hard feelings

But 20 days?! You must be getting so excited! Have an amazing time.

Yep - Disney is the BEST place to celebrate!

And yes, I'm enjoying that trip report very much. As soon as I get caught up I'll comment - read too many updates in a row to remember what I wanted to say!

We love our one on one time with the kids. He is gone so much so neither of us much get one on one time with the kids, him because he's gone and me cause I don't want to leave the others home. Then when he is home we want to have family time. So Disney is perfect for this.

And I'm afraid you guys are stuck with me - I'm loving writing this- what a great way to relive our trip!

 

[DopeyDonald]

When I left off before Annie and I were leaving the GF after our tea and we decided to swing by the lodge and change before EPCOT. We were a little too fancy for our liking.

When we got back to our room we STILL had no water or toilet. This is when I went back to the front desk and talked to them again and it was decided that we would move to adjoining rooms in the Lodge the next day.

After changing our clothes it was back to the van for the short drive to EPCOT. We parked and headed into the park. Annie and I had to stop for some photopass since we were alone – We got one of my favorite shots of the trip.

Love this Magic shot.

Now a fun one

Finally a couple of nice ones of my girl and I

After some pics we were on our way. We were going to meet the rest of the fam in Mouse Gears to have a look before our first fast pass of the day – Test Track.

I’ve never ridden TT before *gasp I know. It was Cassidy’s first time also. Verdict? She loved it and I enjoyed it. She of course wanted to go again right away, but it had a decent line so we said no.

Here is our PP Pic

After TT it was time to head for a tour of the countries. All of us just love walking the World Showcase. We decided to start with Mexico this evening.

Approaching my favorite country.

We walked in and headed straight to ride the most perfect ride ever created……Gran Fiesta Tour!!!! After our boat ride with my favorite duck, we of course had to try on sombreros.

Wyatt and Cassidy waiting by the fountain for Annie and DH to finish shopping

After hats and some browsing the kids decided to do Duffy’s again, as they hadn’t done them in a few years. So we made a stop for that before heading on to the next stop on our tour.

The 3 kiddos with their Duffys

One last pic before heading to Norway

Up next Norway…I stopped here because I want to see how the size of these pics turn out. Part of the reason updating has been sporadic is that it is such a pain with photobucket to resize pics. I don’t know how to do it other than the slow way (and my computer is ancient, so it’s REALLY slow) so I want to see how they look without any resizing. Let me know how you feel about the size. If they are too large PLEASE tell me – I don’t want you all to have to look at each hair on our heads…

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

My goodness, I can't even imagine not having water in the room. That's so un-Disney like.

What a great magic shot. Honestly, for a second I thought maybe Annie actually wore wings that day. And seriously, you two are almost twins in your photos.

I'll let the fact that you call the Gran Fiesta Tour "the most perfect ride ever created" slide since it had Donald and I know you kinda like Donald.

Also, the pictures look fine Emily. Not too big, not too small. They're just right.

 

[amberg93]

That's alright, there's a lot going on over there

One on one time being another perfect to Disney makes it all the better.

And I love reading it, so that's good news

Oh my goodness that magic shot! It's amazing. I didn't even know that they could do it.

Very nice pictures of the two of you as well.

Test Track is great, but the line does get pretty crazy since Epcot isn't big on the rides.

I agree with Rob that the pictures look fine in size. Photobucket isn't awesome for resizing pictures, unfortunately, so if this works better for you go ahead and continue.

 

[ethansmommy]

Just joining in. Loving your trip report so far. WL is our favorite resort as well!! Im so excited for you to be planning a surprise trip. Im really bad at keeping secrets like that. I always want to include my ds in the planning. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[MusicMicha]

What a great Tea! You will be at the world one week after us this time. We leave in a week and I have barely started packing.

 

[DopeyDonald]

My goodness, I can't even imagine not having water in the room. That's so un-Disney like.

What a great magic shot. Honestly, for a second I thought maybe Annie actually wore wings that day. And seriously, you two are almost twins in your photos.

I'll let the fact that you call the Gran Fiesta Tour "the most perfect ride ever created" slide since it had Donald and I know you kinda like Donald.

Also, the pictures look fine Emily. Not too big, not too small. They're just right.

Yeah, I thought so too about the water. It didn't really get me too much as we were literally a few yards away from the lobby bathroom, but I was hoping that by the time we got back that evening, it would be ready to use.

That magic shot took us by surprise. We had no idea what it would turn out to be until we looked at it online I do love how it turned out!

And what do you mean - you'll let it slide?? The Gran Fiesta Tour IS the greatest ride ever - I would live on it if I could. And I don't think I'm joking....

That's alright, there's a lot going on over there

One on one time being another perfect to Disney makes it all the better.

And I love reading it, so that's good news

Oh my goodness that magic shot! It's amazing. I didn't even know that they could do it.

Very nice pictures of the two of you as well.

Test Track is great, but the line does get pretty crazy since Epcot isn't big on the rides.

I agree with Rob that the pictures look fine in size. Photobucket isn't awesome for resizing pictures, unfortunately, so if this works better for you go ahead and continue.

Thanks for all the compliments - I am still amazed at how well you rocket out the comments! I see you have another update up - I'm gonna go read it now

Just joining in. Loving your trip report so far. WL is our favorite resort as well!! Im so excited for you to be planning a surprise trip. Im really bad at keeping secrets like that. I always want to include my ds in the planning. Looking forward to reading more.

I can't believe we are doing this surprise trip. The ONLY reason I am holding it together is because we have such a short time to go. This was a somewhat spur of the moment thing and if it had been for ANY longer it would not have worked I have not been able to tell ANYONE else either - my poor parents don't even know we are going yet. They all think we are going to Wisconsin Dells - which is what we told the kids - I just wont take the chance that someone will slip. (Though I do plan on telling my parents soon...)

What a great Tea! You will be at the world one week after us this time. We leave in a week and I have barely started packing.

It was a good tea - I recently found a perfume that smells JUST like the GF. Not even kidding, like THE GF. So Annie and I have been wearing it around and smelling our wrists all day

Bummer on just missing you - you are going during a great week - I have friends that are leaving a week from tomorrow and I'm helping them plan. I haven't started packing either, which is VERY unusual for me, but I have to wait till the kids go away next weekend with my parents! If I don't "talk" to you before then have a GREAT time!!

 

[MomBird]

What a great thread!! I just found it yesterday and am now all caught up, so I'll have to stay tuned for "Operation BS" reports.

You have a beautiful family! I love the part where you asked your kids if they wanted to stop by Epcot "on the way to DTD" lol! I totally think like that, too. That is awesome and those are some of my kids' favorite moments - those impromptu "run ins" just to do a couple of cool things at the part at night.

I will be going this June for my son's high school graduation celebration!! I have no idea where the time went because it seems like only yesterday that he was too little for Space Mountain!! But now both of my kids are teenagers; thank goodness they still enjoy a good trip to Disney!