The Good, The Bad, & the Nuts! ...ANYONE GOING MAY 8-15?

[vamassey1]

Tanya, I'm sorry I've been missing. I got real behind on all the reports I follow. I'm slowly trying to get caught up.

I really enjoyed all the "way back" photos and information. Your memory is amazing. There is no way I would be able to remember as much as you have.

Your start to this trip doesn't sound too bad yet, but that ending has a real foreboding feeling to it. I hope it's not too bad.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

maybe he was just checking the airport in front of you to make sure it was all clear like the secret service does for the president.

 

[mom3sonstt]

Sun - Go to airport way too early for 10:26 flight.
1:45 land in Orlando and drag carry-on stuff to Magical Express
3-ish arrive at Boardwalk and get checked in. Check on dialysis supplies and scooter. Hopefully get settled in room
Go to Studios, buy new annual passes and try to catch Fantasmic

The above is correct clear up until you get to “Check on dialysis supplies and scooter”.

At the Boardwalk the check in desks are along a long wall. As you are facing them to the left is the the Bell Services desk. Clear at the other end of the lobby, to the right of check in is the concierge desk.

We checked in, got our room assignment. I headed over to the Bell Services where, for the last half a dozen trips I’ve done since I’ve been using a scooter and doing dialysis is where I need to go to collect my items. Danny followed me over there. I waited a little bit because there weren’t very many bell service people there, and the ones that were there were occupied. When it was my turn I told the guy that I had a scooter to pick up and had some boxes of medical supplies delivered last week that I needed sent to my room. He told me I needed to go to the concierge desk.

So I go to the concierge desk, Danny’s portion of this trip included going to the Children’s Miracle Network Golf tournament that was being held at the Palm and the Magnolia. Last year when we came the “tickets” (just a tag that you wear at the tourney) were in a stack at the check in desk. We did ask about it at check in and were referred to concierge for that too. At the concierge desk I go to Mariea – a nice girl who has no idea what she is in for. (oh – Danny is already starting to bubble – he’s not mad yet, but he doesn’t think we are supposed to be at concierge for something that we have always gotten at bell services) I tell Mariea that I was just at Bell services (so she wouldn’t send me back to them) and that they had sent me over here to get my scooter and set up my box delivery. She called over to Bell services – I forget now what she said to them. I think she also looked up to see if I had any boxes and did see that there was a delivery for me. Then we also asked her about the golf tourney tickets. That totally baffled her. She had no idea there was a golf tournament taking place on Disney property. We explained its an annual event, and that last year the tickets were just in a stack at check in, but this year they told us to go to concierge. After already being told that Bell Services passed the buck on the scooter and boxes, you could tell she was a little frustrated with everyone being sent “to concierge”. Everybody else at the desk was busy. She made a couple different phone calls – I don’t know to who but whoever they were, they also had no clue about the golf tournament. She told us that she knew they didn’t sell the tickets there. Danny pipes in with they aren’t “sold” they are just available for guests. He is still civil, but is getting frustrated (not good). Finally the gal at the next station finishes with her guest and Mariea asks her if she knows anything about it.

Now – have you ever seen the big placemat looking thing that they have right there by their printers and stuff that show all the different ticket options when you are buying your tickets at the resort? Well, in that same little stand up file – just inches away from where she has been this entire time is another big placemat thing full of information about the golf tournament. On it, it says that you just go over to the course and show them your resort id and you get your admission ticket there. Danny says “Are you sure I am not going to get all the way over there and need something else?” She pulled out the thing again and he read it himself and seemed somewhat satisfied. Ok – one issue down – now where’s my scooter and boxes???

She went in the back to look for my scooter and I didn’t think we would ever see her again. After listening to Danny sigh, and huff and puff for awhile about how nobody seems to know anything around here….blah, blah, blah, I thought it might be a good idea to remove him. So I told him to go ahead and see where the room is at and take the stuff down there.

I thought I was pretty smart. Eventually – Mariea came back. She had been gone at least 20 minutes if not more – so at this point we had probably been there about an hour. When she came back she said my scooter was back there, but that it was dead and there was no battery charger. She called some number a couple times an it must have been busy – then she asked me if I rented it there – I think Buena Vista rents scooters on site at Boardwalk. I told her that, no I had rented it from Walkers (which is plastered all over the scooter). She didn’t have that number handy, so I got out my confirmation and she called them. They had her go back and check again because the charger would be “in a pouch on the back”. She was very adamant on the phone that it was not there. In fact she got a little snippy with them saying “I wouldn’t lie about it”. So Walkers said they would be there in 10 minutes. Well, their 10 minutes is a lot longer than 10 minutes.

Somewhere in there Danny called on my cell and told me that I better hope they find my scooter because our room is a mile away and that it’s like an ice-cube in there and the thermostat is an antique, and there is a message on the phone that he can’t get to clear…..and….well, he was really getting himself worked up. I told him that they found my scooter, that the battery was dead and I was waiting for Walkers. Yeah – that went over well.

Instead of standing at the desk, I went and sat down and waited for Walkers. I got a phone call from Walkers about the same time I saw some guy riding a scooter over to the concierge desk. The call was to tell me that the scooter had been there the entire time, that the battery was not dead, that someone had put it in freewheel mode – when it’s in freewheel the key doesn’t work – it just flashes. And as for no charger. Well, I got the kind I like – just the plug in cord, instead of the one that has a battery attached to the cord. So it was just stuck in the back pocket of the seat. Mariea, being in concierge instead of bell services, does not usually deal with scooters so was unfamiliar with “freewheel” and thought all the scooters had the big charger with the battery. Had bell services went in got it there probably would not have been an issue. So that’s two issues down – only one to go!

Oh wait – while Danny was in the room he was getting madder and madder about the thermostat and the phone. When we checked in DVC had left an envelope for us. The message on our phone was for us to get that. We already had it. But when he followed the directions it took him to the front desk and they didn’t seem to know anything.

Apparently sitting in the room alone wasn’t working for him, so he came back to the lobby. I had moved on to trying to get my boxes. Well, while I was talking to Walkers, Mariea got busy with another guest, so the gal who had helped out with the golf info asked if she could help me. She could tell I was waiting for something else. I told her I had some boxes delivered that I needed sent to my room. She looked on the computer and said something about an envelope. I told her I already had that, that these were 6 boxes of dialysis fluid that were delivered last week. She asked how I knew they were delivered – if I had called to confirm it. I told her I hadn’t called there, but that my supplier told me they had a confirmation on Friday morning. So here we go again on the phone. She calls somewhere and gets somebody and then she is on hold for a good 15-20 minutes. I asked her if she had somebody, or was trying to get through. She said she talked to them, and they were going to look to see if the boxes were there – and if they couldn’t get them to me tonight they would get them to me in the morning. I was aching from standing, I was hungry because breakfast was half burnt toast and fake eggs a very long time ago, I knew my husband was brewing for an explosion and now she is telling me that I may not get my boxes until tomorrow. I told her that was totally unacceptable – that I do dialysis every night and that I needed those boxes today.

While she is still on hold, here comes Danny back to the lobby, Mariea is freed up again so he goes to her. He is complaining (loudly) that the thermostat is outdated and he wants switched to a different room. She says they are all the same. He says that we were here last year in a studio and he knows it wasn’t the same type of thermostat. The one in our room only had dots on it – no numbers – so you couldn’t set “a temperature” you could only say “gee it’s cold in here” and move it and hope that it didn’t get too warm.

While he is griping about that – and about the message that won’t clear the gal I am with finally has life on the other end of the line. She says a few things and hangs up. Then she tells me my boxes are there, they will send them right over, and it will be $10 per box delivery fee.

Now I am ticked. I said “since when?” She looked confused. I said “when did they start charging a fee to give me my boxes?” She, evidently seeing this was going nowhere good, fast picked the phone back up and called back over to the place. She told them I was questioning the charge, I told her it was medical supplies ,she relayed it, told me it was $10 a box and asked if I wanted to talk to her. So she passed the phone over to me. The gal on the other end I would have very much loved to slapped. Granted, she didn’t see how tight I was strung, trying to keep Danny from going ape-crap, while I am also very upset. I asked her when they started charging this. She said they had been there since 2009. (At some point I was told they were a 3rd party package handler). I told her I was just here in June and wasn’t charged anything and had even more boxes – and if it was just a Boardwalk thing than I was here in Nov 2009 and had boxes and wasn’t charged – that this was the first time I had ever heard of anybody charging for my boxes. Then I explained that these were medical supplies – that she can even read on the side of the box what it is, and that if I were shipping down my luggage so I didn’t have to deal with it in the airport that I could see having a delivery fee – but that these are necessary medical supplies. She could really care less – kind of chuckled and said that they get all kinds of medical supplies, oxgen and what-have-you and that that is the fee, And if I have a problem with it that I should complain to the front desk for not notifying me about it.

I think during this conversation Danny figured out what was going on and "ka-boom" he became “that” guy – the one that you see on You Tube videos. He was loud, and embarrassing, and could not be shut up or calmed down. He was bellowing how all Disney does is try to screw the visitors anymore – everything is about money – anything they can jab you with they will ……and once he’s on a roll….well, then he threw in the antique thrmostat, and that he was 56 years old and even when he was a kid the thermostats had numbers on them, and nobody knows anything, he’s tried to clear the message off his phone and nobody can seem to get it cleared, and we’re gonna sell our points and this is it he’s never coming again everytime he comes its just worse and worse. And he was getting louder and louder, and there were some decidedly non-Disney-appropriate words thrown about.

Then manager, some poor girl named Maureen, had come out earlier during my box phone call. She was trying to calm him down – talking softly like you do to wild animals – she was explaining that the charge for delivery was not a Disney charge so she could not waive it, but that she would credit our account for half of it for the mis-understanding. He was not calming at all he was loud and determined he was not paying one dime that those were medically necessary and they “would” deliver them. She said that the package place issues the charge when they release them so she could not get around that. She kept asking him to lower his voice which only caused him to raise it and say things like “Why, don’t you want anybody else hearing how Disney screws over its guests”. She told him that no, she didn’t care, but it was her job to maintain the lobby. So he asked if there was somewhere else we could go – she said there wasn’t and if he didn’t lower his voice that she would call security over. Yes, he was that loud, and that obnoxious. He made some crack about them not giving me my boxes and me dying in their hotel because they refused to give them to me. She told him that she was not refusing to give me the boxes, he was refusing to take them. But that was a vicous circle because of the fee. He finally told her to deliver one for that night and he would have them deliver more to him directly tomorrow.

Then we went to the room – we had been in the lobby for a little over two hours.

I got into the room and he’s going on and on about the lack of plug-ins that I had to drive my scooter clear in to the middle of the living room to charge it. At Beach Club in the entry way there was a plug in, there weren’t any there at Boardwalk. The rooms are laid out pretty much the same - but fewer plug ins.

Then I looked in the bedroom to see how and where I could set up my machine. Well, the plug in for my side of the bed – was behind the bed. Could nothing go easy????

And the message light was still flashing. I called it and there was a message from Maureen saying there were 2 different kinds of boxes so they were going to send over one of each since she didn’t know which I needed. I thought the light would clear off after that. It didn’t. I called again and followed all the directions and got someone who said “ok, I’ll clear that off” she didn’t. Danny called again a little while later, was told the same thing – nothing. So he called again and said, calmly, but you could tell he was holding it in that we had called 5 or 6 times, and nobody seems to be able to clear the message light off the phone. This gal apparently could because it finally went away – success at last!!

Then Housekeeping showed up to show him how to work the thermostat. She was not helpful – and while not loud, he was snippy with her. She said she would send over maintenance. What he was looking for was whether the dots stood for numbers – If they were actually 80, 70, 60….or what? Maintenance told him the same as everybody else – it’s just “warmer – colder”. He grumbled and we fought the temperatures all week. Of course it didn’t help that the actual temperatures outside were hot to cold too. It’s easier to keep your room the right temperature when it’s always hot out or always cold but when it fluctuates so much it’s not so easy.

The next couple of hours were spent in silence – with him periodically ordering me to order new boxes. I told him it was Sunday I couldn’t get any. He said there had to be some way – what if they hadn’t been delivered. Well, there was an emergency number that I made the mistake of mentioning. So he insisted I call it. I refused. I told him that Baxter (my supplier) would not consider my boxes sitting at the resort and us not accepting them an emergency. You could tell he was disgusted with me too. So then he told me that I was done with Baxter that I needed to find a new supplier and that we weren’t traveling again until I got a kidney….. and more silence. I was sitting in the chair in the bedroom waiting for him to blow over. Every so often he would leave the room. One time after he left the luggage showed up so I sent him a text message.

He came back and said he knew – he’d seen them in the hall and to not unpack it.

Whatever – I wasn’t going to anyway – they are too heavy for me to throw up on the bed to unpack – and I was pretty settled in to sulking in my chair.

Eventually – about 7PM – he said “let’s find something to eat”. It was grumbled – but the steam was no longer rolling so he was finally coming down off his fit. (Looking back at my call history – the call from Walkers about my scooter was at 3:49 – I had called Baxters 800# (which is closed on Sundays) at 5:17. So it was literally hours that we spent doing absolutely nothing in our room while he fumed.

We walked (when I say "walked" that means he walked - I was on my scooter) out of Boardwalk – I had no idea where he was going – we had no park tickets, so I figured we would eat at Boardwalk or Beach Club. He headed towards International Gateway and as we got close to the ticket window he said “go get your ticket” (not “our”). I got to the window and said “I need two?? Annual Passes DVC rate” and kind of looked at him to see if he was going to correct me. He didn’t say a word. She asked for our ids and printed our tickets. He got Minnie I got Donald – how backwards is that???? Then he noticed she had the Food & Wine gift cards that you can wear on your wrist there. I had told him I wanted to get one – so he pointed it out and said that I should get that now. I put $50 on the gift card (at 7:18PM) and off we went. nearly 5 1/2 hours after landing.

Supper was a silent meal of a chili cheese dog for me and chicken nuggets and a cup of chili for him at the American pavillion. From there we walked over to Germany. We got to the new carmel shop and he said “Here – isn’t this the place you wanted to see”. It was extremely crowded and you couldn’t really see the display case so we left.

He suggested that we head out before it got too crowded with Illuminations. At about that time the Jon Secada concert let out and we were caught trying to get past that crowd.

From there we went back to the resort and to the giftshop where he picked up some bread, butter, a bag of cheetos, peanut butter, and I got a couple bottles of strawberry milk. He also asked the cashier about the DVC-only Vinylmation – which she had – and he bought one of those. She said there were 2 versions but she only had the first one.

As we went in to the building to go back to the room Danny said – go talk to “your friend Maureen” (said sneeringly) and do what you have to – but I don’t want to hear a word about it. Basically he was “giving me permission” to do exactly what I intended to do the next day anyway. I went to concierge, told her to go ahead and have the rest of the boxes shipped, and deduct whatever she could. And that I wanted all the contact number she had for this 3rd party company so I could contact them when I got home.

Back in the room we got all the stuff unpacked and put away, got my machine set up. Danny was running around in just his sleeping shorts when there was a knock on the door at about 10 or so. He went and hid in the bathroom (dork) while I let the guy in with the rest of my boxes. When he left, Danny moved them from the entryway to the closet, I changed for bed, got hooked up, went to bed, and started reading my book, he went out in the living room and piddled on his computer for awhile.

Nothing was accomplished today.

The big question – “Why do I put up with it????” I don’t know. I’m used to it, I guess. His father was exactly the same way. They blow up hard and loud and ugly then when they are “over it” they think everybody else should be over it too. I have seen it play out numerous times. I try to intervene and cut him off and take over certain conversations. Sometimes it works – sometimes it doesn’t. This time there were so many little things going wrong in so many locations that I couldn’t stamp them all out before they started igniting.

If I haven’t totally scared all of you off at this point – I will say that that was the last of it. If we could erase our time in the lobby and the subsequent carry-over into the room – the trip was good. There were no more blow-ups. There was the occasional smart aleck reference to the blow-up….but no more “scenes”.

And this is why, although I would love to meet you someday, I will probably never set up a Dis meet. I would hate to subject anybody to one of his moods - even though I am confident he would never blow up at any of you I would be mortified if we, say met for lunch, then later that evening he's blowing his top about something as you happen to walk by. So I remain semi-anonymous on vacation. Yes, I have posted pictures, and yes I give the dates that I am there, so technically, if we were there at the same time we could run in to each other and maybe recognize each other. If it happens organically - so be it - but I will probably never set it up in advance. That doesn't mean I love you all any less I am just trying to protect you all (and myself) from a potentially awkward situation.

 

[glennbo123]

Oh wow, Tanya. Not a magical afternoon. I'm sorry to read about that, it sounded pretty awful. Spending 2 hours in the lobby would try anybody's patience though.

Please tell me that you did not need special tickets for the golf tournament.

 

[mom3sonstt]

No - the golf tournament was fine. Apparently having stacks of tickets at the check in desks of all the resorts wasn't efficient. So instead of that, you just had to show your resort id when you entered the tourny. That probably makes more sense - there were probably people in years past that didn't know to get them at their resort and got all the way over there with no ticket.

 

[KatMark]

Tanya, I'm so sorry it was such a bad "first afternoon" at the resort. I'm glad to know that things get better and there are no further blow ups. Still what an awful start to your trip.

 

[All7OfUs]

OH Tanya, that sounds like a dreadful scene! How awful to have to start your vacation off like this!! Glad you didn't have to endure a repeat of all of that nonsense!! Glad you can be honest here and share the bad with the good-

 

[mom3sonstt]

Tanya, I'm so sorry it was such a bad "first afternoon" at the resort. I'm glad to know that things get better and there are no further blow ups. Still what an awful start to your trip.

OH Tanya, that sounds like a dreadful scene! How awful to have to start your vacation off like this!! Glad you didn't have to endure a repeat of all of that nonsense!! Glad you can be honest here and share the bad with the good-

Thanks so much! No, it was not fun. But, unfortunately, I am starting to see a pattern. My husband does not travel well. At least on vacations - he travels for work sometimes and I never hear of any problems then. Maybe its the expectation that vacations are supposed to be relaxing and fun - and the first little hiccup throws him - then he keeps piling up each little thing until he has enough to blow up about. We had already talked about next year me flying down while he drove - that I would order manual bags for my dialysis the first couple nights and he would bring my machine - then we wouldn't have the hassle of flying with the machine - or the hassle of hauling boxes to the hotels along the road and hopeing the room had the right lay-out for me to hook-up.

The added benefit - and to me the best reason ever to do it this way - is I would be there before them and could get us checked in to the rooms before they ever set foot on Disney property.

 

[mom3sonstt]

I had high hopes of getting back to this and getting to the "good" stuff. I had typed up the beginnings of a report before Thanksgiving, go interrupted and never finished it. Then I decided I would use the beginnings of it, and fix it a little, and add pictures. So today I go in on DH's computer and start to upload the pictures to PhotoBucket. I found the first day's, went to my pics and uploaded them - there were 32 plus 5 videos that were too big and kept bombing out.....so you won't see those. Then I went to his folder........Day 1 he took 837 pictures! Holy Cow! So I am back on hold while I keep running in there and selecting batches to upload.

In the meantime, let me share our photo, storing system. Every night at the resort DH collects all of the cameras and downloads all the pictures. He has a folder - for this trip it is Nov 2010. In that folder are other folders 11-8, 11-9, 11-10, etc. Inside each of those folders are more - "Danny", "Tanya"....(and so on if the boys are there, too). Inside the "Danny" folder is usually two more folders - one labeled Canon, and one Nikon. Sometimes if he takes one of his smaller cameras (mainly at the waterparks) there will be a folder for them too. But the Canon and the Nikon are his "good" camera, and his video camera. The video camera can take still pics, so sometimes he has pics from it. He re-sets the counter at the beginning of a trip so all the cameras start with 00001 - plus whatever pre-fix it automatically puts at the beginning of the number. He also sets the clocks on all the cameras when we get there. Or, I should say, sometimes he sets the clocks on all of the cameras. With the digital pics I can sort my time - so on some of the trips I have thrown everything in to the same folder and sorted by time to see different views.....it's kinda funny when we are in different parks to bounce back and forth between them. But sometimes, he forgets to reset them and something will be on a different time zone than the rest.

Another peek inside our minds - when we travel we make lists. My list is in a little notebook - each person has a page, on that page I list out each article of clothing. I know how many shirts & shorts each person has and which ones they are. I make sure there are light-weight (dry easily) ones for Animal Kingdom (Kali River) day - and make sure that stuff will mix and match fairly easily. My husband, goes to Vegas with a buddy every year. They have a 2 1/2 page spreadsheet of all the camera and computer equipment and other gadgets they take with them, there is also one line that says "clothes".

I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving, found some bargains on Black Friday - or Cyber Monday, is staying warm, and is enjoying the holiday season. I am trying to do as much shopping online as possible. I figure every gift I can buy from the comfort of my room while drinking coffee and sitting here in my sweats, is that much less time I have to spend out there in the cold and crowded stores. I am becoming quite the recluse!

 

[marvali]

Glad to see you are at least alive and well! Not like the rest of us have been burning the DIScandle at both ends lately! Very busy time for everyone it looks like!!!

 

[PennyLane1084]

Here in 2010 I am going to leave Mark & Ethan scrounging around in the back of the car in the airport parking lot looking for DVDs…..that should keep them busy for awhile.


Meanwhile in 1988, the honeymooners saw things that people may never see again. One of them was the long lost Diamond Horseshow Revue.

Another was brand new! DH had never seen it before so it was somewhere we could discover for the first time together. It was

Mickey’s Birthdayland!

At that time it wasn’t Toontown – it was Duckberg

Most of the buildings were just facades

Donald’s boat was even smaller….must have been his starter-boat. You couldn’t play on it….there looks like there is a sidewalk there so maybe you could go get your picture taken. I don’t have any pics of anybody doing that so that’s just a guess.

Goofy hadn’t taken up flying yet and Grandma Duck still owned the barn. And amazingly we have no pictures of the animals Grandma Duck kept there. But she did have some. I’m thinking they were goats. Now that I see the picture blown up it looks like there's a sihouette of a horse and a pig on the sign....so maybe they were there too. And it seems like Minnie Moo lived there for awhile…..but that’s just a dusty, suspect recollection.

You could still go in Mickey’s house (but not Minnie’s). This was before he hired Donald to remodel his kitchen so many years ago

And instead of winding around watching old cartoons– we were invited to Mickey’s birthday party!!

They had a nice little stage show with characters trying to throw a surprise party for Mickey – they brought presents and made a cake

And Mickey came!

After the party was over then you could go back to meet the birthday boy…..uh….mouse!

Come back soon for more adventures in the Walt Disney World that was…….

OMG I was just skimming through your pictures from your honeymoon. And I remember Mickey's Birthdayland. I went for my first time in 1989 and that was still there. My dad taped that birthday show with our HUGE camcorder and I remember Duckberg. Wow, I feel like I'm revisiting my childhood!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Hi Tanya,

Yep, we're all pretty busy now with the holiday stuff going on. AND, we have a big impending move looming ahead. Just breathe and take your time- sharing time with family over the Christmas season is more important.

And about that photo storage system.... All I can say is "WOW!!" I can thank Mary for taking care of our backupping every night.

 

[vamassey1]

If I ever thought I was a little anal, well it doesn't even compare to your DH. I like to upload our pictures by day but not to the extreme he does.

 

[mom3sonstt]

If I ever thought I was a little anal, well it doesn't even compare to your DH.

Anal? yep that's a good word for him!

 

[mom3sonstt]

Initial sketchy plans.


Mon - DH planning to go to AK early and spend time trying to get the perfect pictures on the safari and the walking trails. I will probably hit Epcot and try some of the Food & Wine stands.....well, the food stands anyway.
That evening we plan to go back to the studios for the Osborne Lights. I don't know how smart that is since it's the first night they will be lit and I imagine it will be a zoo - but it's also extra magic hours that night so DH seems to think that will give us a better opportunity (more time) to see the lights. Since we are at Boardwalk we can take the walking path to get "home" so the crowds won't affect us as far as transportation
.

Monday started with coffee and toast in the room. Danny had gotten a new lens for his camera that he wanted to try out on the safari, so we headed out together. He headed for the bus stop and I moseyed over to Epcot. I wasn’t in a big hurry because it was just after 8:30 and the park didn’t open until 9. I stopped and took a few pictures around the waterfront as I worked my way over to International Gateway.

I went through bag check then wound up in a big bottleneck. They weren’t letting people through the turnstiles yet so it was crowded. Since I was on my scooter I had gotten pointed in the wrong direction and couldn’t really get turned very well. I decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle and just kept inching forward - which for me was towards a corner away from the turnstiles. They started letting people through and it didn’t take long for them all to clear out then I was able to get pointed in the right direction and go in.

The CMs were lined up blocking the bridge to France and in generally just motioning us through to Future World. I saw some people stopping at the phone booths in the UK and got out my cell phone. I had seen the phone numbers for the phone booths online and was going to try to call them. But they left before I got my phone out and had the numbers looked up.

I checked out the empty food & Wine booths as I passed by.

After leaving World Showcase I decided to go to Imagination. I was not even going to attempt the elevator at Soarin without Danny there – especially first thing in the morning. At Imagination I saw the signs for Captain EO and decided to go watch that.

I swear we had seen it on our honeymoon, but I had no pictures of any signs. Danny says he’s never seen it. After watching it I don’t remember if I had seen it or not. I have never really been a Michael Jackson fan, in spite of growing up in the 80’s. I did enjoy some of his music, but until his death, I had never owned a record or cd of his. And technically, Danny bought the cd after he died so I guess I still have never bought any of his music. But that show showed how talented he really was back then – when he was young, and black, and had mostly his original face. His nose looked like he had already started the work. The 3d effects were only so-so – but it was a 30+ year old show and can not compete with Philharmagic.

From there I went to the gift shop. My oldest son loves Figment and wanted me to look for new Figment merchandise. Surprisingly there were several new Figment t-shirts. I took pictures on my phone and sent them to Sean. (hmm…Danny must not have confiscated my phone to get the pictures….or else I ust haven’t discovered where he hid them yet).

From there I wandered through the Innoventions – did my first time - of getting a Velcro frog. I had seen the Velcro show before but either they didn’t have the frogs there then or I had my eyes closed when I went out, but I got me a frog.

I also heard the Jammin’ Chefs play. I have never seen the Jamminators so I don’t know if it’s the same guys only in a Food themed (I assume for the Food & Wine festival), but they were good.

There were 3 of them with stoves and a rack of pots and pans and they drummed on all of it….with I think wooden spoons (Marv???) I’ll have to check the pictures when I can get to them. …..(Nope – just drum sticks……spoons would have been better!) And they told silly food-realted puns. They started with talking about being a fan of jams, like strawberry, boysenberry, raspberry, and….Halle Berry!

I had pulled up before they got started, and a bit of a crowd gathered around. We were at the “land” side of the breezeway and a lot of people were cutting through to go see the attractions on that side of the park. For the most part they walked behind those of us watching the performance. There were some who were oblivious and didn’t realize we were standing there for a reason until they were already cutting between us and the show. Most of them realized and hustled on through out of the way. Then there was this guy

He started through, turned and looked right at me and stopped. Had I been standing I could have just scooted sideways so I could still see, but scooters don’t scoot sideways. And there were people all around me….not in a massive crush, but close enough that I couldn’t maneuver the scooter around without causing other people to have to move. So I tried to lean around this guy. Fortunately, along with being rude, he has a short attention span, so he didn’t stay too long – maybe through the end of the song he walked in on – and then he left.

After watching them I cruised through MouseGears and then out to the other side where they were setting up for another set. Sean called me about that time so I rolled back out of the way so I could hear him, and also not bother the people trying to watch the show. He was telling me which of the Figment shirts he liked best.

After getting off the phone with him it was 11 and World Showcase was open so I headed over there to try some food.

First stop was Ireland. The time is 11:07.

Sorry – no food pictures. I had enough trouble juggling the food while on my scooter. I thought having my own seat would be an advantage, but it really didn’t work out that way. If I’d been smarter, I would have stood at the tables they provide….but nobody has ever accused me of being smart recently – so I tried to make a table out of the stuff in my basket. Worked sometimes – but not so well with anything that was juicy or had sauce. In Ireland I had the Lobster and Scallop Fishermans Pie and the Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baily’s Irish Cream Ganache. The Fishermans pie was a little cup of a fish “stew” with basically mashed potatoes on top. It was spicier than I anticipated, but very good. The Chocolate Lava cake was tiny. Like a little bite-size muffin. When I first saw it, I was disappointed. But it was very, very rich, so I don’t know that I could have eaten a bigger piece. I didn’t really notice anything on the inside (I guess I thought it would have a filling of chocolate) – or maybe it did, but it was so small I didn’t notice it. It was very moist, and the sauce poured over it was like a thin hot fudge sauce. No mild milk choclate for the Irish – nothing but “rich” chocolate. I also bought a bottle of lemonade there, but would have preferred a cold glass of milk to go with my dessert.


Next stop – Belgium. Time 11:34.

What says Belgium like a waffle? This one was yummy – and after nearly flipping the whole thing over in my basket – I did get a little smarter and used a table so I could cut through it. The fruit compote was tart berries – which was real good with the whipped cream and warm waffles. So far I’m 3 for 3 on my taste testing.

From there I moved on to Germany and the item I had been craving ever since I saw the Food & Wine menu. Apfelstrudel featuring Werther’s original Karmell sauce. The time is 12:22, and evidently this is when I gave up on the camera.

I think I had this too built up in my mind because I was underwhelmed by it. The carmel sauce was good. But the apple strudel was just missing something. I’m thinking I am more accustomed to cinnamon on my apple desserts, and I don’t think this had much in the way of spices. Which would have probably been ok if the apples had more flavor – were tarter, but they weren’t. It wasn’t bad, it just could have been better….for me.

I stopped at China at 12:44 and had the Pot Stickers and BBQ Chicken. Hmmm, well, I don’t know how to describe the potstickers. Let me start by saying my experience with Chinese food comes mainly from our local grocery store’s Chinese buffet. I typically get the General Chicken and an eggroll. The potstickers were nothing like those. I like spicy and sweet – these were almost sour?? I did eat them – I wouldn’t get them again – just not my taste. The chicken was good. And, considering how universally small the portions are at the Food & Wine booths, I am almost hesitant to say, there was too much of it. But again, that’s me – I am not a big meat eater. I am in no way a vegetarian, or vegan, I just don’t care for meat. My mom told me when I was little I didn’t like any food that I had to chew for very long. I guess some things really haven’t changed. The flavor of the chicken was good and maybe if I could have taken it off the skewer it was on and put it on a bun I would have eaten all of it. But just eating a stick of meat….I only ate about half and tossed the rest.

By this point I had pretty much circled the countries and was kinda full. I went back to Mexico and watched the end of the set by these guys.

Beautiful voices! There was a girl in the crowd with a birthday button on that they sang to – just incredible. I’m sure she was melting.

When they were done I took a little boat ride

.

After the ride I rolled back across the walkway to the Handcarved Ring stand. On my way through on my eating adventure, I had stopped and looked at the rings there like I do every year. The guy was on break at that time. So the cruise through Mexico was just about enough time for him to get back. If you haven’t looked at these rings before, they are just bands with a squared off top that they carve initials, or names into. When I was looking at the samples I noticed that there are some symbols and pictures that they will carve into them too. One of the samples was a guitar. I asked the guy if, with the guitar, he can also add initials. He thought he could but that they would be on the sides of the ring and not across the top. The sample he pulled out had the initials carved on the bottom.

Backstory – As I have mentioned before, my only brother, Bret, died two years ago. (That is who is referred to in my signature). Since then I have been looking for a ring as a memorial of sorts. I don’t wear a lot of jewelry – at all. I have my wedding & engagement rings, a mother’s ring with my and my kids’ birthstones in it, and a black onyx ring that was one of my first “grown-up” purchases. When my grandmother died (two months after my brother) she had a couple opal rings that I took – opal was Bret’s birthstone. But neither of the rings fit, and they were unable to be resized.

So I had been on the look-out for an opal ring. But the problem was – I didn’t like any of them. I did see some black diamond rings that were kinda cool that I thought about getting (Bret was a Raider’s and a Harley fan, his casket was a shiny black with silver trim) I thought the coloring would be appropriate even if it wasn’t his birthstone. But again, nothing ever spoke to me enough to get it. So while looking at these rings and seeing the guitar – well it spoke. As a teenager, Bret played bass guitar all the time. He had it set up in the basement with amplifiers and what not – you could hear the boom boom boom of his bass for blocks away…literally. After he had left home he got away from his guitar. When he moved back home he didn’t play anymore. He said he was afraid he wouldn’t be any good anymore after not playing for so long. He had put on quite a bit of weight over the years, some due to the kidney issues, and dialysis, but most due to dad’s bad genes, and our bad eating habits. He was trying to lose weight, but on dialysis your energy is sapped, so you really don’t feel like doing much. Somewhere along the line he picked up another guitar and started playing again. That gave him something to do that wasn’t just watching tv or sitting on the computer and snacking. He also started re-building his old Harley. So some of the weight was coming off. He also was teaching two of my boys how to play guitar. Sean wasn’t grasping it very well but Mark was doing pretty good. Bret had bough Mark an electric guitar, but Mark thought the bass would be easier, so they had traded – Bret was learning how to play mark’s, and Mark was learning how to play bass. When Bret died, Mark still had his bass – he still does. On Bret’s tombstone is an etching of a laptop computer (he was a programmer) and a bass guitar. So a guitar is very much a “Bret thing”.

Bret, Me, Grandma (Dad's mom), Mom, Dad, Ryne, & Mark at Grandma's 90th birthday Jan 2007. Sean was at a Speech Meet that day. Who knew then that in two years two of them would be gone - Grandma died on the morning of her 92nd birthday.

I ordered a ring with the guitar and with Bret’s initials on the side. That was always another issue – his initials are B.A.D. , so I never wanted to get a ring with just his initials on it. But the guitar – that’s cool. I just got a cheap brass one – I was going to get sterling silver, but he didn’t have a blank in my size that was wide enough and I wasn’t ready to commit to a gold one. I figured if I get the brass one, and I’m comfortable with it and I don’t grow to hate it, maybe some trip I will upgrade to a gold one. The one I ordered was $12 plus 5 for the guitar and 2 for two initials – so $19 plus tax. He told me to come back in half an hour to pick it up. The time was 1:53 when I paid for it inside the shop, then I had to take my order back out to the ring carver – so it was closer to 2:00 but the time he got started.

Another goal I hadn’t met yet was having a Grey Goose slushie. So I rolled through the crowds back to France and started my drinking and driving adventure! ( 2:17 ) You couldn’t drink it too fast or there would be brain freeze issues, so I rolled over along the water front and watched an epic lizard battle. There was some shrubbery behind Morocco where I was sitting and I thought I noticed something fall out of it out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and there were two of those tiny little lizards that are everywhere. They must have been fighting over the same little girl lizard because they were not happy with each other. I sat there for several minutes and just watched them – they would puff up, and stretch up on their little lizard tippy toes and bounce up and down a little then one would pounce and they would roll around for a couple seconds then separate and puff and bounce some more. Eventually one of them ran off in the bush, and the other one declared himself the winner. It was a little bit of light entertainment while I drank my slushie down enough to put it in the cup holder without splashing all over while I drove.

I circled back over to get my ring. It was still a little too early and there was no line for Maelstrom so I took another boat ride.

From there I went and picked up my ring – I love it!

By this time I have heard from Danny, he is on his way back to the resort from Animal Kingdom. I decided to go ahead and go back to the room too. I was full from lunch, but didn’t want to keep snacking because we planned to go to Hollywood Studios that night and would eat supper there somewhere.

I had started with $50 on my gift card that I had purchased for the Food & Wine. After todays samplings I was down to $16.75. I had actually been doing pretty good until I went for that Grey Goose slushie – it was $9.50 – and like my poor apple strudel – it did not live up to the hype. Again, it was fine, I am not much of a drinker. I do remember going to a work outing with my husband years ago and they had a cooler of vodka-lemonade. It was very good – but you really tasted the lemonade. I thought that this would taste kind of like that, only in a slush. It didn’t. Maybe it was more lemony than the GranMarnier – which is supposed to be more orange-y?, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Satisfied with my morning’s adventures, and happy that Danny’s mood appears to have improved considerably from the day before I headed back to the Boardwalk to take a little bit of a break.

And since I still have 100’s of his pictures from that day to finish uploading – I will break there. When I come back I will share his day in pictures – not all 800+ - but enough to let you know how he spent his morning. Think about it though – he was only there about 5 hours or less and has over 800 pictures….. Wow! I think you can guess how he spent his time there!

 

[vamassey1]

Tanya wonderful update! I love the detail descrpitions of the food since I've never been there for F & W. Your recounting of the ring was very touching. Do you have a picture of the ring?

 

[Flossbolna]

I am so glad that your trip improved after that horrible start! Did you ever get the issue with your medical supplies sorted out? I have heard that the resorts with a convention center charge for deliveries. But just as you said, there is a difference between someone shipping luggage ahead (or convention supplies) and medical supplies!

Have you ever considered contacting the phone line for guests with disabilities to find out about the layout of outlets in the different rooms? Perhaps they may be able to help you in the future with that issue?

The ring for your brother sounds like a wonderful way to remember him. I am very sorry that you lost him at such a still very young age!

 

[mom3sonstt]

Tanya wonderful update! I love the detail descrpitions of the food since I've never been there for F & W. Your recounting of the ring was very touching. Do you have a picture of the ring?

No....I don't have a picture of the ring. I tried to take one with my phone to send to the boys but couldn't get a good one. I'll have to dig out a camera one day and try again.

I am so glad that your trip improved after that horrible start! Did you ever get the issue with your medical supplies sorted out? I have heard that the resorts with a convention center charge for
deliveries. But just as you said, there is a difference between someone shipping luggage ahead (or convention supplies) and medical supplies!

Have you ever considered contacting the phone line for guests with disabilities to find out about the layout of outlets in the different rooms? Perhaps they may be able to help you in the future with that issue?

The ring for your brother sounds like a wonderful way to remember him. I am very sorry that you lost him at such a still very young age!

As far as the medical supplies and this trip....well, we were charged $60 and Maureen credited back $30. Once I was home I dig some digging around online and saw that someone else had the same issue. They called special services and had the charge removed. I don't know if they were still on property at the time or not. I. Called that number after I got home, I was referred to the guest services email. I sent them an email, received a return phone cal(or three). During the 3rd conversation I mentioned something about DVc. So she sai I would be talking to them. so I. Called there. Finally, just a couple days ago it all got settled. I shouldn't have been charged, there will be a $30 credit on our room on our next trip. To make things easier, next trip I will call special services and DVc customer service before I go to let them know what the box situation is.

The outlets by themselves probably wouldnt have been an issue if we hadn't already had so many other problems. We pack an extension cord and a multi-outlet plug with us now and can usually work around the room layouts.

Thank you for your condolences. My brother actually spent about a year or so in Germany when he was in the army. I think he was there in 1984-85. I want to say he was stationed near Hanau (??) he loved it there and wanted to stay longer, but paperwork wasn't his strong point and he didn't get his request in in time .

 

[mom3sonstt]

I apologize for the typos, strange puncuations and capitalizations on the above post. I'm using dh's iPad and it doesn't like how I abbreviate and I don't like what it calls a keyboard.

 

[KatMark]

I'm back, Tanya (I've finished my TR so now I can concentrate on all of the others). You had a great update; glad to see things improved and loved the food descriptions at the F&W. That was a very warm story about the ring.