Can't wait to read more about your VR. I got myready.
Movin' Right Along is DH's FAVORITE song, so it gets stuck in our heads on trips too...
Your doggies are too cute!
I just wanna scratch their bellies!
He was a huge Muppet fan!Congratulations! Loving your TR
Ok, so you just shortened my guest list....
You all look amazing! Your girls are adorable!!! I can't wait for more of your TR.
such cute doggies. ours always stay with grandma and poppa too, so i guess in that case i'm glad they won't be attending our VR, one less thing to stress about!!
WOW you did a great job packing all that into that little car!!!
It was one of those "snow ball effect kinda things" that made me cry and we hadn't even got to Disney yet! UGH! It's an 8 hour drive to Disney from where we live, so our plan was to drive to Gainesville, spend the night, drive the rest of the way on Saturday and spend our FREE night at the Sheraton outside of Disney and then check into the AKL on Sunday! Great plan, right? 
Well, since we left way ahead of schedule, Joe JUST HAD TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY TO ORLANDO! Okay, I'm on board, let's do it. So, now he has the bright idea of getting an AP rate at a Disney value or moderate and spend two nights there and then switch to the AKL on Sunday. Okay, so give up our FREE hotel?? 
I'm trying to save money, trying to STAY ON BUDGET, right? I know, you're thinking we are STUPID for giving up a FREE night even if it's outside of DISNEY. I blame the "DISNEY HIGH" we were on, or maybe the fact we had two kids and my mom with us and we didn't want to switch hotels 3 times! 
I don't know....so anyway, here is what happened...I call Starwood (mind you, we travel often, at least once a month, which is one of the reasons I had so many points for a free room)...what is the cancellation policy for cancelling a starwood point room?? I was told you just lose your points, that's it. 
Okay, no big deal, I have tons of points!! So, I call Disney, values are booked (of course) but the POR is open (And we have never stayed there) so I book 2 nights with an AP rate! This is when it goes down hill! I call the Sheraton hotel back directly to cancel the FREE room. The lady says you realize we will charge you $219 to cancel this room! 
What the heck? I have to pay $219 to cancel a free room? They charge you one night, RACK RATE! Not the going rate, which is $99 a night. This is how they treat their frequent hotel guests? So, what's running through my head now is....I can't cancel the Disney hotel, because we are under the 5 day mark and now I'm going to be charged $219, so my FREE night has turned into a $500 screw up! 
I hang up the phone and start start crying, I'm not sure why I guess because we just started the trip and I spent $500 and we haven't even arrived! What was I thinking? Joe immediately gets back on the phone with the Sheraton and talks with another lady...she says the same thing. So, Joe the sarcastic man that he is (I just love that about him)....says to the lady, so basically I have to check in to the hotel (but not actually stay there) so I will not be charged the $219. And the lady was like, "YEP." Just check-in and then just check-out (it doesn't matter if we actually sleep there). Crazy, hugh? I really didn't want to go through the hastle, so he calls back one more time and asks to talk with a manager, who was WONDERFUL! He explained the situation and immediately cancelled the ressie with no charge! 
I was so emotionally drained after that, but I will say it made the trip go by faster! We finally arrived at about 10 p.m. and it was soooo...good to sign our sign, we had arrived:
Just what we needed with my Mom on board. We quickly found our room and went to bed! Oh, side note, the FROGS, OMG they are so noisey!!!! That's all I heard all night! You really feel like you are in the Bayou! 
Your feet aren't tired yet and you are just so ready to go! We got up early & went to eat breakfast because we had a lot planned for today....we had to check out POR, deliver all the welcome bags to Pop Century, CSR, Shades of Green & Fort Wilderness Campground and enjoy some R&R before the "family drama" arrived on Monday! 
:
for heading right to Disney! Although I was drained from reading the drama! How dare them charge for a free room-glad you got out of that one--and how fun to get to stay at a new resort-I try and book a new one every trip-until we have conquered them all!
(Oh wait - maybe you were reserved at the Sheraton Visitana, in which case, scratch that!)
I'm glad your first evening went well! can't wait to read more! It looks like POR was a great idea !!!
We stayed at that Sheraton, and let me tell you, you didn't miss much - except the live gators in the lobby!
I knew Joe was a gem when I found out about the surprise he arranged for you, but now it is confirmed - any man who can get results from Starwood's customer service is a keeper!
it was actually the Sheraton Studio City, which from the pics it doesn't look like we missed much either. We stayed at the "AKL wantabe" with points a couple of years ago! I'm glad it was free, because I wouldn't have been happy paying for it!! YAY for new resorts!
Good for your DH!
road trips can always present a challenge or two, but its always nice to see the sign when you arrive! POR looks preety cool- we were scheduled to stay there but then switched on our last visit. Did the girls enjoy the resort?Your mom looked like she was excited too! My mom usually always travels with us too!
worship: God Bless the brides that have more than that to deliver, I don't know how you do it ).
We stayed there every summer in a tent, in the middle of July when I was a kid! Yes, it was hot! And it was back in the day before golf cart rentals!! It was either the internal bus service or you just had to walk! Anyway, everything went smooth. The campgrounds were very famillar with handling the welcome bags and knew exactly what to do! It was like breaking into Fort Knox! My brother & sister and my in-laws were staying at the Shades of Green and they needed their bags!! 
The guard pretty much said he would give us a visitor's pass but he didn't think the front desk would take the bags! What? 
I let Joe handle this one. Maybe his Military background would come in handy. As he tackled the front desk, I took some pics, for $89 a night, this place is a steal!!! The rooms are bigger than the GF, it's just beautiful! (But they better take my bags )
) I'm not sure why I don't have any pics of the CSR or Pop. I guess because I've stayed there so many times, I didn't feel the need to take pics! However, just, FYI, CSR, not so good on taking the bags (they didn't seem to know what to do with it, maybe it was just the CM I got). Pop gets 10 pixie dust stars 
for their welcome bag procedures. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! I think they have to when you are dealing with 50 billion guests at once! That place it's so crazy loud! We were done delivering bags! Yeah! Now, will they actually get them when they checkin? 
Or maybe, I'm just obessive complusive, yeah, that's probably it! I just had to do a walk through, Here are some pics of us doing our own little rehearsal:
