So we loaded up the jet and we flew to Dis-a-neee! World, that is. Swimmin' pools...

[themilesfamily]

Movie stars...

Welcome to our October trip to the World!

Five children, four adults, three resorts, two grown-up siblings from one slightly dysfunctional family -- and a partridge in a pear tree.

Have a heapin' helpin' of our hospitality!

PRE-TRIP:

PART 1: A Slight Snafu
PART 2: We Have a Replacement Resort
PART 3: A Whole New Cast of Characters
PART 4: AARGH! I have plantar fasciitis!
PART 5: AARGH! I Fell in a Hole!http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27965750#post27965750

THE TRIP: (This is where the photos start!)

Our tentative itinerary:

Day 1: The Big Reveal, We Fly Out, We Check Into the Boardwalk Villas
Day 2: Sunrise Safari, Animal Kingdom, 1900 Park Fare for dinner
Day 3: Epcot Food & Wine Festival/World Showcase, Check into the Wilderness Lodge Villas, Haunted Hayride at Fort Wilderness
Day 4: Magic Kingdom, Cinderella's Royal Table
Day 5: Albatross Treasure Cruise, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
Day 6: Epcot, Akershus Princess Lunch
Day 7: Fly home

 

[themilesfamily]

Part I: A Slight Snafu

THE ORIGINAL PLAN: Hubby and I bought plane tickets and made DVC reservations for our family and for my lovely sister and her three children. The plan was to have a seven-day/six-night Disney extravaganza -- two nights at the AKV Concierge, followed by four nights at the Wilderness Lodge Villas.

A SLIGHT SNAFU: Lovely sister blew up at me, informed me she never wants to speak to me again, and will not be attending said vacation. Nor will her children.

I also found out today that the AKV Concierge is closed during our stay.

THE NEW PLAN: I have to admit I was incredibly depressed and lost interest in the vacation for a while. I tried to call sis. I thought I would see if the vacation could be salvaged. But she hung up on me. So, I'm going to forge ahead and rework the trip to accommodate just our immediate family.

The AKV Concierge being closed may actually be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we can combine the points from our room with the points from my sister's room and have greater flexibility to move elsewhere.

I'm going to work on finding a new resort tomorrow. Tune in and see where we end up.......

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: Planning a vacation with people who aren't legally obligated to love you and travel with you 'til-death-do-us-part is risky. Don't pay for things you can't get a refund on.

 

[nts4wdw]

Hoping it works out!

 

[themilesfamily]

Thanks, Lynn!

The trip was going to be a surprise for all of the cousins -- her three little ones and my DD. We bought treasure chests and personalized luggage for all the kids and we were going to surprise them with packed luggage inside the treasure chests on the day we were to leave for the trip. It would have been so fun!

But, we'll make it work with just our family. It will just be a little more low-key, and that's okay.

p.s. I love your little bagpipe playing smiley -- that is so cool! My husband's family is from Scotland and he wore a kilt at our wedding -- so I love all things Scottish!

 

[nts4wdw]

Thanks, Lynn!

The trip was going to be a surprise for all of the cousins -- her three little ones and my DD. We bought treasure chests and personalized luggage for all the kids and we were going to surprise them with packed luggage inside the treasure chests on the day we were to leave for the trip. It would have been so fun!

But, we'll make it work with just our family. It will just be a little more low-key, and that's okay.

p.s. I love your little bagpipe playing smiley -- that is so cool! My husband's family is from Scotland and he wore a kilt at our wedding -- so I love all things Scottish!

A kindred spirit! I am desperately in love with Scotland! You will be going to see Off Kilter while you are at WDW, right?

Your plans sounded so cool! But now you can concentrate on making it super cool for your family. I always feel like our Disney trips are kind of a cocoon where we have no distractions and can concentrate on each other.
Looking forward to more!

 

[themilesfamily]

I LOVE Off-Kilter. Love, love, love.

We had bagpipers play at our wedding reception -- the Iowa Bagpipe & Drum Corps came and played a few songs. It was wonderful!

And I know a family who has a New Year's Eve party -- each year at midnight they have a pipe & drum corps show up to pipe in the New Year. Really cool.

Any other Scots or Scottish-loving folk out there?

 

[themilesfamily]

PART II: WE HAVE A REPLACEMENT RESORT!

Drumroll please -- errr...strike up the Bagpipes -- we will be staying at the:

BOARDWALK VILLAS!
DVC, concierge, preferred view

So, the first two nights we will be at the Boardwalk Villas. The last four nights at the Wilderness Lodge Villas.

Hooray! I think the Boardwalk sounds dandy.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: Go with the flow and keep a great attitude. Things may not work out exactly as you planned -- but the alternative may be just as good or better! At Disney, no alternative is bad.

 

[nts4wdw]

The Boardwalk Villas? Awesome! It is a gonna be a great trip!!

 

[themilesfamily]

PART III: A WHOLE NEW CAST OF CHARACTERS

Welcome to the latest mutation of the trip. Big changes, yet again.

We have a whole new family joining us. Sis is still not speaking to me, so my brother and his family, (who she is also not speaking to), are going to Disney with us! We'll just have to live with the pain of being shunned, together, down in Orlando.

Sooooo this is who is going on our trip now:

1) Hubby -- just turned 35!
2) Moi -- 39
3) DD -- 4
4) My bro -- 34
5) My sis-in-law -- 33
6) Niece #1 -- 17
7) Niece #2 -- 13
8) Niece #3 -- 10
9) Nevvy -- 6

Don't even try to remember everyone!

We're still doing the Boardwalk Villas/Wilderness Lodge Villas split-stay. They will stay in an All-Star Music family suite.

And now, I'm going to have a drink (hello caffeinated Diet Coke!) and start reworking our itinerary!!! This is going to be quite a task. It's one thing to set an itinerary for your own family and expect them to follow it. It's a whole other thing to anticipate the needs and wants of another family. I think I will need to come up with a very, very loose itinerary and plan for a lot of diversions.

Come back and see our reworked itinerary...

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: The more the merrier! Right?

 

[themilesfamily]

PART IV: AARGH! I've got plantar fasciitis.

I've been waking up with horrible pain in my heel and the side of my foot. I went to the doctor last week and it's plantar fasciitis. (Very painful, virtually impossible to walk long distances, takes a long time to heal.) We're one month from our trip!

I think I've been thrown a lifesaver, though. I went out and bought a pair of Crocs. They are HEAVEN for the feet. I honestly feel 10 years younger wearing them. I ordered a pair of Crocs Rx and another pair of regular Crocs online. So I'm going to Disney armed with 3 pairs of Crocs and a whole lot of prayer. If nothing else, I'll be in a wheelchair by day two and my husband can push me everywhere.

The only thing I have left to do for the trip is to order our food from wegoshop. We will be in a two-bedroom villa the last four days of our trip and we definitely want to utilize the kitchen.

There is also some turmoil about exactly when we'll fly out on the first day. I had scheduled a late afternoon flight. Now it's sounding like the whole crew would like to get there earlier. There is a super-duper early-morning flight that day that is an option. The airline told me that if there is room and we want to show up and fly standby, we can.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: Don't get plantar fasciitis. But if you do, buy some Crocs!

 

[themilesfamily]

Part V: AARGH!!! I FELL IN A HOLE!

I've been warning everyone not to get sick or injured before we leave on our trip -- clearly I need to take my own advice. I've had two minor accidents in the last 24 hours.

We have huge floor vents in the upstairs hallway. Yesterday I took the grates off to clean them. I went into the bathroom to scrub them down, walked back out into the hallway -- and fell into the vent in the floor!!! I banged up my leg pretty good but the worst part was, on the way down, my arm caught the stair railing and twisted in ways it should never be twisted. I really thought I'd broken it.

So I went into the bathroom to clean the blood off my leg, came out -- and fell in the hole again!!!!! At that point I'm thinking I deserve whatever pain I'm in.

Then last night, I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and on the way back stepped on some plastic sharp-edged child's toy. It dug a big chunk out of my foot and bruised up the area right over my plantar fasciitis.

Today I felt like I was hit by a bus. I'm too big to fall around like that.

I may have to become the girl in the bubble for the next three weeks, until we leave.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: I'm a klutz.