Spectromagic and PMS; A Cautionary Tale Updated!

[BeautyNBeast]

I love the way you write. I am laughing right now. Cannot wait to read more.

 

[teriGSF]

HA! Gladys Crabbitz and irate, Tinkerbell-pen holding lady - too much! What a great reference and an even better visual. Thanks for the laughs, Hannahsmom, and keep 'em comin'!

 

[Hannahsmom]

Hey everyone! Thanks for your kind words. I haven't been able to linger at the computer and ignore my family today. Had to deal with real-world things like work, dentist appt's, housework and the dreaded 1st grade homework. Man, that homework is hard! Really, it was! I will try to get out the next chapter tomorrow, I promise.

 

[Hannahsmom]

I wish either Hucifer or BeautyNBeast had been my Eng.101 teacher. She didn’t seem to appreciate my writing skills quite so much.

I am going to just touch on the PMS part of the Trip Report title. I suggest if you are a man who is uncomfortable with the whole menstruation thing, leave now. But I guess if you were such a man you would not have entered a Trip Report with PMS in the title. Ye be properly warned. I am sure after reading the first 3 installments, you must be wondering why there has been no mention of PMS or Spectromagic. I’ll get to the Spectromagic part later, but as is my own personal Disneyworld vacation tradition, I was in the final stages of PMS. Every single time we’ve been to Disneyworld, I have been in some stage of, as we like to call it, Punctuation. And this time was no different. You think I would have been smart enough to pay some attention to the dates this time. Ah, but no. So once again, PMS is casting its dark shadow across the happiest place on earth.
Although, I do have to say in my defense, I am not one of those crazy-kill-your-husband-using-PMS-as –your-defense kind of gals, but it tends to make me a little less patient and a little more emotional. There were days where it was tempting to crawl back into the Xanax bottle, but I would need those to get home.

To start back up where I left off………..The weight of disappointment was heavy as we stood there on the deck of the greatest pool in Disneyworld. We were near tears. Well, really only Hannah was. Thankfully I was still riding the Xanax wave and Jay was indifferent. What does a family of 3 do when mired down with disappointment? They go to Beaches and Cream! Ice cream solves everything.

We walked over to Beaches and Cream totally expecting a long wait. It was prime dinner time, after all. As we approached the podium we got a glimpse inside, the tables were full, but there was a lot of counter space available. We were able to get right in. Unfreakinbelievable. We have always had a minimum wait of at least 30 min. At least something was going our way tonight.

We bellied up to the bar. Lime Rickey please, and make it a double. We reasoned over hamburgers that this really was for the best. If we had been able to swim, we wouldn’t have gotten to eat until at least 9:00 or 9:30 and we really wanted to be able to see the Illuminations fireworks and try to get to bed at a decent time, since we would be up really early the next day. I felt that if I kept saying that I might have started to believe it.

As we sat there, I got a good look behind the counter. I got to see where all the “magic” took place, and what I saw was, well, it was kind of gross. It was a tad unsettling to see. I’m not talking rat and cockroach gross, but it really needed a good cleaning, or at least some Clorox wipes, for Gods sake. I wouldn’t call my self a germophobe, but I do prefer the surfaces my food is prepared on to not be cleaned with a rag that looked as if it had been used to clean a toilet. I’m just funny that way. Call me crazy, I guess. But it was too early in the trip for food poisoning. Ever since I saw that commercial for Clorox wipes, you know the one, the one where the lady is wiping her counter off with a chicken breast, I have never been the same. I’m getting that puke feeling in the back off my throat just thinking about it.

We had finished up our E-coli burgers and decided not to get dessert right away. We meaning, the adults. The child raised her objection, but she was overruled with a promise of a funnel cake later. We then headed on over to the Boardwalk. I had never been to the Boardwalk before. Jay had been a few times to ESPN, because God forbid he actually miss a football game on vacation. It was always on the list of things to do, but never done. The Boardwalk was all lit up for the night, beckoning us to come, have some fun.

We took the boat over, instead of walking. Once we got over to the Boardwalk, Hannah immediately noticed the Carnival games. All four of them. It’s funny, but in the real world I would never have forked over $5 for her to play a carnival game, but I think my Lime Rickey had been spiked. Ten minutes later and $25 poorer, we walked away with a $25, 8” stuffed purple thing. I don’t know if it is a lion or a dog. Maybe it’s a bear. For the money they at least could have actual Disney stuffed things. This thing looks like something I could get at Chuck E Cheese.

We walked down the Boardwalk, stopping to enjoy the banjo guy’s show, and then walked back up the Boardwalk. We were finished with the Boardwalk after about 25 min. Not a lot to do if you have someone under 21 with you. We walked through the store, but it had the same kind of stuff you can get anywhere in WDW. Same with the candy store and God knows we were too full to get anything from the Bakery. Jay did wander around the ESPN store; while I took Hannah down to get the promised funnel cake. I was a bit concerned about leaving Jay in the ESPN store unaccompanied, as he has quite an affinity for anything with a sports logo on it. Thankfully, he came out empty handed. We then wandered over to the bridge closest to the Epcot gate to wait for the fireworks. There were already a few people that had staked their claim against the railing. We on the other hand, being lazy, decided to sit on the bridge against the railing, on the opposite side. We were able to catch the fireworks, which is a nice way to start the vacation. But funny enough, because there is a long break between fireworks, due to the globe in the lake thing that you can’t see outside the gate, there were a lot of people that started to walk away after the first part of Illuminations. Rookies.

This is when the extra money spent for the BC really pays off. We were back in front of our building within seconds. SECONDS. How great is that? We did have to walk past the quiet pool, and what was that? I thought I heard someone calling my name? Hello Mr. Hot Tub. We did end up taking a short dip in the quiet pool, which we had checked thoroughly for Baby Ruth’s beforehand. Not a brown floatie as far as the eye could see.

 

[BeautyNBeast]

For this TR, I give you an A+! I am still loving your TR!

 

[NewOrleansLady]

I am absolutely your TR! You have a way with words for sure

 

[hucifer]

I am going to just touch on the PMS part of the Trip Report title. I suggest if you are a man who is uncomfortable with the whole menstruation thing, leave now. But I guess if you were such a man you would not have entered a Trip Report with PMS in the title. Ye be properly warned. I am sure after reading the first 3 installments, you must be wondering why there has been no mention of PMS or Spectromagic. I’ll get to the Spectromagic part later, but as is my own personal Disneyworld vacation tradition, I was in the final stages of PMS. Every single time we’ve been to Disneyworld, I have been in some stage of, as we like to call it, Punctuation. And this time was no different. You think I would have been smart enough to pay some attention to the dates this time. Ah, but no. So once again, PMS is casting its dark shadow across the happiest place on earth.
Although, I do have to say in my defense, I am not one of those crazy-kill-your-husband-using-PMS-as –your-defense kind of gals, but it tends to make me a little less patient and a little more emotional. There were days where it was tempting to crawl back into the Xanax bottle, but I would need those to get home.

You kept me giggling the entire time, but this part was my favorite.

And I TOTALLY understand about the dirty counter thing.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Can't wait for the rest of your report! You have me laughing here, esp about the pool poop! And at a Deluxe even! The horror!

Allyson

 

[Hannahsmom]

I have to be honest; I have had a hard time figuring out where to take this trip report. I can not use the usual formula for trip reports, because of the TourGuideMike thing. But I do have to say, I am not TourGuideMike, I do not work for TourGuideMike, and I am not being compensated by TourGuideMike in any way, shape or form. With that being said, TourGuideMike rocks. Over the course of 10 days we hit all the parks, and saw everything we wanted to see and we did not have to wait more than 5 or 10 min. for anything. I know some have said the parks weren’t very crowded last week, but I think they were smoking Crack. When I planned for the last week in August I was hoping for September-like crowds, and if you’ve been the first 3 weeks in September you know what I’m talking about. But apparently everyone on the Eastern Seaboard, half the United Kingdom and half of South America had the same idea. It was pretty crowded, and I know crowded. I’ve been over 4th of July and lived to tell the tale. Anyhoo, I’m asking you to just cut me some slack if I start to bounce all over the place or sometimes become vague.

On Friday morning we were up before dawn to truck over to POFQ to check in and get our park tickets and dining plan. Now I am so not a morning person, not at all. AT ALL. Not even on Christmas morning. In fact I don’t consider myself mentally capable until after 9 on weekdays and Noon on weekends. My family and former college roommates can attest to this fact. But when we are at Disneyworld, I am always the first one up. For me, the Mickey wake up call isn’t so much a necessity, but entertainment. That first morning was the easiest to get them up and out, but it became increasingly difficult throughout the rest of the trip.

I had secured a late check out of 1:00 that afternoon, so we could come back to the BC around lunchtime, change into our bathing suits and finally get to experience the Stormalong Bay sand between our toes, God willing. We had decided to take a taxi over to POFQ, since we wanted to get there before dinnertime. Hannah was a little freaked out about actually riding in a car without a booster seat. It took some reassuring that it was alright. I can see it now; she will meet her date for Prom at the door with a boutonnière in one hand and her booster seat in the other.

As we pulled up to POFQ, I had forgotten how pretty it was. In the morning the sun streams in through the big window in the entry way, making the lobby kind of sparkle. I particularly like the Cajun/Dixieland/Jazz music they play, it is so relaxing. As we walked into the entryway, Hannah went right over to the fountain. What is with kids and water? She immediately started asking for change. Sorry Hannah, Disney is getting enough of our money this week. I am honestly surprised Disney doesn’t have more fountains around their property. What a cash cow. It is quite ingenious really, fill any extra container or low lying ditch with water and people literally throw money away. Maybe I should put a fountain in my front yard.

Jay had taken Hannah to the food court to grab some breakfast, while I checked in. For the record, I did not have to present my entire party when I checked in. Surprisingly, our room was ready at that early hour, but since I was in a hurry to grab me some of that yummy Nescrape, I did not pay much attention to our room location. You would think I would have learned from lessons of the past.

I don't know what we ever did to piss off the Disney Room Assigners, but apparently they hate us. I envision that our names, written on a sticky note is stickeyd to all the computer monitors in the assigners office. Kind of like what they used to do in the grocery stores with the bad checks that were taped to the cash registers. My requests have only ever been, non-smoking and 1st floor. I've never asked for a particular building, certain view or closest to pool, bus stop or food court. But it never fails, we always get the worst room in the Resort. And of course it would be on the 2nd or 3rd floors. And this trip would prove to be no different, as we would later find out.

I went to find Jay and Hannah in the food court to join them for some thoroughly overpriced breakfast. Before free dining, I can't believe we ever willingly paid those prices. Jay ordered one kids pancake meal, one yogurt parfait, one cinnamon roll, two milks and one coffee for $24.00! Vive le free dining!

 

[OK GRUMPY]

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[PrincessV]

I don't know what we ever did to piss off the Disney Room Assigners, but apparently they hate us. I envision that our names, written on a sticky note is stickeyd to all the computer monitors in the assigners office. Kind of like what they used to do in the grocery stores with the bad checks that were taped to the cash registers. My requests have only ever been, non-smoking and 1st floor. I've never asked for a particular building, certain view or closest to pool, bus stop or food court. But it never fails, we always get the worst room in the Resort. And of course it would be on the 2nd or 3rd floors. And this trip would prove to be no different, as we would later find out.

I'm gonna take a chance here: was it 6302 perhaps? That's where I just came from. I could almost hear the evil room assigners, "Single woman traveling with a 4 year old? Oh yes, let's put them on the top floor, in the farthest room of the second-farthest building from the pool and food court."

 

[Hannahsmom]

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch………………Sorry I’ve let a few days pass without the next installment. You know how there are those weeks where every minute, of every day there is something planned? Well this week was one of those weeks for my family. Open House at school, soccer practice, softball practice, dance, brownies, staff meetings, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea. Plus I think I am suffering from a touch of PDVD. And no, I do not have a venereal disease. I am talking about Post Disney Vacation Disorder. Sigh. Alright, enough of my excuses, I’m starting to sound like a whiner.

When I left you, we had decided to grab breakfast at POFQ before heading out to an undisclosed park. I had never wolfed down my food so fast in all my life. And consequently my daughter had never eaten so slow in all her life. I guess I could say she was too excited to eat, but man was she slow. And since the price of the waffle was pretty close to the price of my first car, we were not going to throw it away.

After the morning in the park, we caught a bus and headed back to BC to change into our bathing suits. When we arrived at the BC, the sun was shining and it was working towards being pretty hot. We got back to the room, changed our clothes and threw the odds and ends that needed to be back in the suitcases for the transfer to POFQ. After calling Bell Services we realized we had $283.00 in cash and that total consisted of 14 $20.00 Bills and 3 $1.00 bills. We proceeded to do the dig for small bills. But we came up empty handed. Unfortunately, Jay drew the short straw and had to wait in the room for the poor Bellboy. I felt bad, as I am generally an over tipper. Especially for people that do anything for me that involves physical labor, and we did have 6 bags. I felt even worse when I passed the said Bellboy on his way to our room and he looked to be as old as my Grandpa.

As Hannah and I walked out of the BC we noticed that the sky had darkened a bit while we had been inside. I wasn’t too concerned; there are always clouds in the sky in Florida, right? Once again we walked right into Stormalong Bay, found some chairs to lay our stuff on and started to undress. Right as I got my shirt off we heard it. Thunder. God Bless America! I looked over at the Lifeguards, but they did not seem to be concerned. Hannah and I walked over and stepped into the water. It felt nice. I was afraid that by the end of August, the water would be really warm. But it wasn’t. It was perfect. And that sandy bottom felt really nice on my sore feet. And right when I had dunked my head under they blew the whistle. You guessed it, everybody out. They were closing the pool. If you had only seen the look on Hannah’s face. You might as well have told her that her kitten had been run over by a car.

Right when we got out of the water, Jay had joined us. I actually think he was smirking a bit. Payback for leaving him with the short-tipped Bellboy. We quickly decided to head over to Hurricane Hannah’s for lunch. It hadn’t started to rain yet, just a little thunder. And we didn’t want to go far so we would be able to jump back in the minute SAB opened back up. When we got over to the snack bar we had to stand in line with what I assumed had been half the population of the pool. We were all dripping wet and looking a little crestfallen. We ordered our lunch. I got the Cape Cod Wrap, Jay got the Caesar Wrap and Hannah got the Beach Meal with what would be the first of many chicken tenders. The Beach Meal was included in the Dining Plan by the way. We also got cookies for our dessert. My wrap was okay. But not spectacular. Jay said his wrap was okay, as well. Hannah ate everything in her meal and if you know kids that means two thumbs up.

We sat at our table under a big umbrella and finished our lunch. It had started to rain, but not heavily. But it was still thundering, dagnabit. We sat and watched the birds while they waited. Those ducks at Disneyworld have quite a good thing going. I am really surprised you don’t see many 65 lb. ducks walking around that place.

After what seemed like a small eternity, they finally reopened SAB! I swear you could actually hear the Hallelujah chorus! We once again walked in unbanded and picked out a slightly damp couple of chairs over by the kiddie area. I was grateful later that I had had the foresight to put our things under our chairs, as it did drizzle off and on for the rest of the afternoon. It was not a postcard-perfect Florida afternoon, but for the money we paid for the BC, it would do. And really, excluding the yucky weather, we had a great afternoon. Hannah and I walked over to the Pirate ship to do the big waterslide. I decided to go first so I could be at the bottom to help her if she needed it. I went down the slide and half way through it I thought, “Oh crap, she is going to hate this”. She hates heights, which I was really surprised she even wanted to try that slide, and she hates anything that goes too fast. But that last one is totally subjective to her mood, since she tells me to drive faster most of the time in our car. But, when I got to the bottom I was bracing myself. She came barreling down that slide and flew into the water. When she resurfaced she was laughing. I think she even called it Pathetic. Where does she get these things?

I swam with Hannah and Jay sat in the Hot Tub. Jay swam with Hannah and I sat in the Hot Tub. We all swam together. We loved everthing about SAB, except the Lazy River thing. That was a little scary. Both Jay and I are pretty strong swimmers, but we were honestly struggling to keep Hannah up in there. That current is really strong and it is very deep. After one try, we decided that thing was off limits.

After a couple of hours, Hannah had moved over to the kiddie beach area to break in her new shovel and pail from her lunch. And Jay and I actually got to sit in the Hot Tub together. We spoke with a woman from New York who new of the DIS and Mousesavers, but somehow missed that she could’ve gotten free dining during that time period. You should have seen the look on her face when I mentioned it. Actually, we met many people that week that had absolutely no idea about Free Dining. Poor Schmucks!

Around 5:00ish we decided it was time to get out and start to dry off so we could get back to POFQ and get some dinner. I had actually not planned any TS for that evening so we thought we would stick close to POFQ and try and get into Boatwright’s. We had been up awfully early and spending most of the day in the water; we knew it was not going to be a long evening for us.

After many attempts, we finally got Hannah out of the water. Just as we got out of the water and started drying off we heard someone yell for the Lifeguard. It wasn’t so much the fact that someone yelled “Lifeguard” that got my attention. It was the panic in the man’s voice that did. I looked over my shoulder to the far end of the Kiddie beach, and saw two people dragging a limp, wet female out of the water. Not only did I see this, but Hannah did too. In that split second chaos erupted. People were grabbing there children out of the water. Lifeguards came running from all directions blowing there whistles. People were shouting and some were screaming. I immediately turned Hannah away and started walking, calmly in the opposite direction. As we walked, Hannah asked what was happening. I explained that someone was hurt and the lifeguards were coming to help her.

I walked her around the bend in the building, and sat her in one of the chairs out of sight of the commotion. There was a woman a few chairs down who asked what was happening. I told her what I saw and we both commented on how could anyone drown in 1 ½ - 2 feet of water? At that time I thought it had been an older child, 10-12 years old, but it turned out to be a woman. After about 5 min. Jay walked back to us and told me that he thought she was moving. I felt better hearing that. We looked over to tell Hannah that she was okay, but she had fallen asleep. Jay sat with her while I went back to our chairs to collect the rest of our stuff. I could see the woman was indeed moving. Thank God! I felt that I could finally breathe.

I finished dressing and Jay picked Hannah up from the chair and we started walking to the boat dock. We had decided to take the boat to MGM and catch the POFQ bus from there, since it seemed to include the least amount of walking. As we walked through SAB we passed one of the Lifeguards. Since I like to be informed, I asked if the woman was all right. He told us she was fine, and apparently she had had too much to drink. He then proceeded to tell us, with an added smirk (what is it with men and smirks) that her family had complained to the Lifeguards earlier in the day that there were not enough Pool waiters in the area. Nice.

Hannah started to wake up when we got over to the boat dock area. She asked about the woman in the pool. We told her that the woman was going to be fine. She asked me why I didn’t want her to see her. I told her sometimes when people are sick they throw up, and I know she doesn’t like to see stuff like that. “Yeah”, she replied. She seemed fine with my explanation. But little did we realize then, she would be and still is affected from what she saw that afternoon.

 

[hucifer]

Yay! Another installment!

Hugs to your Hannah for experiencing that scene. Sort of frustrating when you hear it was just someone who drank too much.

 

[blue_river]

How did DD make out on her first day of school??

Loving your tr so far!

 

[Hannahsmom]

Hannah's first day of school went okay. She didn't want to leave us, or vice verse. By this time we had figured out her new "clingy" behavior was a direct result of witnessing the drama at the Pool. We also had figured out that was why she was going to have nothing to do with the Kid's Club. She is generally a very outgoing, go-with-the-flow kind of kid, but she was really thrown for a loop. Thankfully she has gotten a lot better, but she was pretty shaken. On the bright side she loves her teacher. I knew I would like her when I saw the Mickey Mouse Bordette on one of her bulletin boards. Thanks for asking, Blue River!

I am working on the next installment, hopefully I can get it up tonight.

 

[kaysmommie]

Enjoying your trip report! I have been laughing out loud for most of it. Can't wait to find out about PMS and spectromagic. WE were there over Labor day week too and it was pretty crowded when we checked in. Mk was busy most of the week and yes we had a few parade problems. Must have been in the air or something. I would have done the same thing with my DD6 with the pool situation. How scary for a kid to see that. How did you like Beach club? Were you sad to leave and go POFQ? Waiting for the rest.

 

[Hannahsmom]

We had gotten back to POFQ in a relatively short amount of time. I think it only took us about 45 min., not bad when you have to rely on Disney transportation. While on the bus I found our new KTTK cards with the PO map that had our room assignment on it. It was then that I realized that once again we got a crappo room. Bldg 1 on the parking lot side (furthest from everything) and surprise, surprise 2nd floor. OH ROOM ASSIGNERS WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US!!! The only thing that would have made it worse was if it had been in a smoking building.

When we got off the bus we decided to swing by Bell Services to pick up our luggage. I had assumed that since it had been almost 6 hours that our luggage would have arrived by then. But you guessed it, no luggage. I was impressed with the CM at the POFQ Bell Services; I think he was more upset that our luggage wasn’t there than we were. He told us he was going to get on the phone right then and tell them how mad we were that our luggage wasn’t already there. I told Jay that I had a sinking feeling that our $3 tip got our luggage a one-way ticket to the bottom of Crescent Lake.

We found our way over to Bldg 1, climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor and found our room. Our “standard view” was of the parking lot, which that is what I paid for and really that didn’t bother us. But it definitely would have eased the pain of having a crappy location if we had something pretty to look at.

We opened the door and walked into our “home” for the next 10 nights. It was not good. Don’t get me wrong, it was clean. But there was an “odor”. I don’t mean to gross anyone out during the dinner hour, but to the best of my descriptive powers I will say it smelled like dirty, sweaty pantyhose. And maybe some cheese thrown in there for good measure. Are you still with me? It was a stanky room, in a stanky location on the stanky second floor. The pillows were flat and the bedspread was not “crisp”, but rather looked like it had been washed. A lot. Which normally I would have been thrilled about, but it just made the room look sad.

I guess I had that look on my face, because Jay sighed and said, “You are not going to be happy in this room, are you?” Does my husband know me, or what? He grabbed our KTTK keys and headed back to the front desk to see what he could do. He is actually quite familiar with this since he did the same thing last year at POP (90’s bldg, 2nd floor, don’t ask). And since our luggage hadn’t arrived yet, now was the time to act.

Hannah and I entertained ourselves by watching Stacy and making fun of her. Honestly, if I hear, “Look at all the lazy people in the lazy river” I will snap. The really sad thing about this was we would have probably had towel animals since there was already one in the room holding the TV remote. It was very cute, but not worth living with the “odor” for 10 nights.

After about 20 minutes Jay came back with a spring in his step. Bingo! We were out of there! Jay led the way to our next room, but he would not tell us where it was. And just for good smart-alec measure he led us through literally every building in POFQ. He is lucky that I was still giddy from getting a new room, or else I may not have found him very funny. We walked through Bldg. 6 to the side that faces POR and the Sassagoula River. Down a few doors until he stopped in front of room 6124, I think that was the room number. Our room was perfect. We were on the 1st floor, close to the bus stop, food court and pool. We had a view of the river and there was a little seating area surrounded by Crepe Myrtles. The room itself was good too. It was odor-free and it had crisp bedspreads, plump pillows and no mold in the shower. And again, no sign of bedbugs. Jay actually thinks I am crazy for even looking, but he would thank me if I ever found some.

We were giddy over how good this room was. I asked Jay if he had any problems at the Front Desk and he said no, they had been very accommodating (obviously). Jay did have to call down to Bell Services to let them know we had changed rooms, and still no sign of our luggage. By this time it was after 7 and we could tell Hannah was fading. We were also pretty hungry. Do we wait for the bags or go ahead and leave to get something to eat? To make matters more complicated, I had placed an order with Gardengrocer.com for water and milk that was supposed to be delivered between 7-9, but I knew he would be on the later end of that timeframe since I had spoken with him that morning. We had just decided to head over to the food court when we got the call that our luggage had arrived. Now we were in business! Can you say “Momma needs a shower”?

I am going to give you a short pop quiz to see if you have been paying attention.

1. How much cash did this family have on hand earlier in the day?

2. Did this family purchase anything, per the trip report, using cash?

3. How many singles would the family have on hand?

If you answered the above questions correctly, you would have surmised that once again we were up the tip creek, with out a paddle.

 

[Libade]

Jay called and asked what his appetizer selection would be tonight. I hung up on him.

BWAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAA!

I am in!

 

[blue_river]

Where'd ya go? We're waiting for more! and umm...I was paying attention but i'm not answering the questions

 

[Hannahsmom]

Oh Blue River, ye of little patience. I am working on the next installment right now. I have had some "technical difficulties" this week.