The whole World according to Moi! - COMPLETED!

[donaldsgal]

Welcome to my pre-trip report. We leave in 12 days for our Easter trip, and we are very ready and excited to go! Yes, you have stumbled upon a PTR with a name fashioned after the catchiest song ever to come out of the Disney Channel writer's room. I'm not too ashamed to admit it.

To get you in the mood, why don't you take a moment to partake in this very guilty pleasure known as "Fabulous" in High School Musical 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4JUpJlPjmw&feature=email

Okay, well maybe I am just a little. After all, I am a 28-year-old single woman. My excuse is that my clients (I'm a counselor) have gotten me hooked on these teenie-bopper movies and TV shows to keep up with the times. Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

So anyways, I suppose it'd be helpful to you if I introduced who's going.

Me - Jenny or "Tia" as I'm known to my niece, who we'll get to in a minute. As I already said, I'm a mental health counselor and work with children and adolescents. I live with my sister and niece. I'm the planner of the family for life in general, and I'm DEFINITELY the planner for Disney trips.

Missy - my older sister. She's 33 and has a daughter named Hannah. She also loves Disney and is the DVC owner in the family. She's a big fancy scientist - I won't confuse you with the name of her job - suffice it to say she's a smartie-pants. She's as ready for this trip as I am!

Mom - Don't be confused by the name. She's my mom. I know - never woulda guessed it. She's a late-in-life Disney fan. Actually, I suppose the three adults on this trip all are. Missy and I took our first trip to Disney the day after my 21st birthday as an early college graduation gift to me and an early Ph.D. completion gift to herself. We had an awesome time and that's a big reason that contributes to our frequent trips back. Whoops - I'm supposed to be talking about Mom. Her first trip was in 2004 with us and her sister (my dad has no interest in going - not sure if we're really his or the milkman's ). She said at that point she didn't want to go back for a long time. She subsequently returned with us in Christmas of 2006, in June of 2007, and now this trip too! Disney should pay us for the souls we convert!

Hannah - the darling of the group. She's a few months over 2 years old. We were blessed to have her join our family through adoption, and part of her indoctrination into the family was a Disney trip by age 1. This will be her third trip. We're extremely excited for this trip for her. It will be the first one where she can interact in a significant way with her surroundings - she knows the characters, she's a bundle of energy and is always on the go, and she's still very much believing that everything she see is real. How fun!

Our trip dates are March 21-28. In the next post, I'll explain how we picked those, where we're staying, and some of the details of what we're doing each day. Welcome aboard!

 

[donaldsgal]

Gotta love alliteration. Well, you do if you're a recovering college English major like myself.

I first thought you might like to get a gander at my gang. Let me introduce our lovely faces to you.

Miss Hannah:


Mom in front of one of her top three favorite rides:


Missy (and Hannah):


And moi:


Aren't we a good-lookin' bunch?

So I promised to explain how we landed on these dates. Being DVC owners, we have contracted a commonly-found illness known as "add-on-itis". This debilitating condition leads to people who already own one DVC contract to add-on by purchasing more points or at another resort altogether. Last fall, Missy was given a bonus at work that gave her the ability to add-on with 100 points at AKV. Originally, we discussed buying a small contract at BWV or BCV. However, at the time, DVC was offering one of two incentives for adding on points at AKV - $10 off per point or get 200 one-time points for buying 100 points. While the $10 off per point would have saved her $1000, the thought of 200 more points immediately sent visions of another Disney trip dancing in our heads!

We went with the DD points, and that gave us 200 points to use before August of 2008. Finally, both of my schools had the same spring break (as I mentioned, I'm a mental health counselor, but my agency has a contract with two local schools. I work with their students at the school). Because it's a contract, one of the downsides of my job is that I can't take time off while the kids are in school. That leaves summers, Christmas, and spring breaks for us. Unfortunately, those times are the ones I'd least like to travel during. We're used to going in September or October, so the busy (and sometimes hot!) times of year are less appealing. And on top of that, if my schools have different spring breaks, I can't travel that time of year. They finally do this year - ! So that lead to us deciding to travel to Disney over spring break. My mom is a cook at the high school we graduated from, and one of my districts happens to be hers, so she was on board with going at the same time! Yes! It was time to pick a resort.

Okay, so we've stayed at Coronado Springs with points, and then at OKW last June. We LOVED OKW. Ironically enough, if you glance at my signature we don't own at OKW. We own at Saratoga Springs and AKV. However, we have no desire to stay at SSR. We wouldn't be opposed to staying there - just not our decor style. We bought there because that's what they were selling when we bought in in 2005. (Note: I say when "we" bought in because I live with my sister, make most of the reservations, and definitely make all the plans.)

Our mom has never stayed at a hotel in Disney - on points or not - within walking distance of one of the parks. We really wore her out last June; standing in line at 8:30 AM and already dripping with sweat was hard on all of us, but her moreso. So a trip in much cooler temps, within walking distance to a park to boot, would be a great way to spend Easter break. Also note that this trip will be a slower pace. I'm trying to let the DVC mentality sink in - we are guaranteed the chance to come back since we're owners, so we don't have to go, go, go. That said, we'll have a couple park days that are only partial touring days, and we'll be doing less each day. When you read what we end up doing, you'll probably think, that's LESS than usual? But it will be, and I'm actually looking forward to a more relaxed pace. I really, really, REALLY want to give myself permission to sit on a bench with a pastry or ice cream cone in the middle of the day or evening and just soak it in. If my report ends up being live, someone hold me to that, will ya?

We settled on BCV or BWV. Missy and I stayed at the Beach Club Resort in 2001 on our first trip ever on a land-and-sea vacation. We loved being able to walk to Epcot. The one thing that we didn't do that trip - and don't ask me why - was to enjoy Storm-A-Long Bay.

So we decided - Beach Club Villas for our Easter trip it was! Now we just needed to try our luck with reserving a room there at the 7-month window since we don't own there. I called day-by-day and got the reservation without wait listing.

Hallelujah!

We had 200 points to use, which just so happened to be the exact point allotment for 5 nights at BCV in March for a 1 bedroom villa. We used them up and started making plans.

We - scratch that, I - don't like to fly, so we decided we'd drive again. We drove last June, and it actually wasn't that bad. My sister got a new van last year, and it has a DVD player, which keeps Miss Hannah entertained during long drives. It has headphones so that some people can watch and hear the movie while others are having a conversation. Nice feature! So we'll be taking her 2006 Chrysler Town and Country once again. It also has Stow-n-Go seating, which will make storing the luggage easier.

Now, since we're driving, we want to get there ASAP. Originally, we thought we'd leave around 9 PM so Hannah would sleep most of the night in the car (which equals less fussies due to the car seat). We'd get in around 5 PM, and we reserved a room at All Star Movies so we could hit the food court, sleep,a and, and make our move to BCV in the morning.

However, as we got to thinking about it, we really didn't like the thought of driving in the mountains in the dead of night. After much careful thought and discussion (read: Missy said, "Do you want to leave when you get off work?" and I said, "YES!"), it shifted to arrival at 3-4 AM. We are opting not to stop over anywhere but to instead drive straight through. I know - , right? Not so much. Missy and Mom have the day off that day, so while I work a short day at work (leave by 11 AM), they'll be home resting/sleeping. Missy will take the first shift driving, which will be until we're through the mountains, and then I'll take over after having gotten my rest.

The next issue to figure out was what to do with arriving at 4 AM. Again, much conversation (again - I said, "Do you wanna hit the parks that day" and this time SHE said, "Yes!"), we decided we'd even spend the morning in Magic Kingdom! However, after the long drive, we'd need to shower and have a comfortable place to rest while we wait for the opening of MK. More importantly, we are "tour in the mornings - take a break in the afternoon - go to dinner - tour at night" people, so I was really worried we wouldn't get in to ASMo on the 22nd early enough to take a much-needed afternoon break.

We tried adding on a night for the 21st at ASMo, and we had no luck. I researched some hotels in the area that are recommended by All Ears and Mouse Savers and was ready to book the Radisson Resort Orlando - Celebration, but some of the reviews on All Ears left me leary. So we decided to give Priceline a try. After about an hour of bidding, we ended up with.....

the Radisson Resort Orlando - Celebration!

Okay, so it must be the will of God. For $64 per person, we are getting two nights there, as opposed to $49 per person for one night at ASMo (which would have been $98 per person for two nights). It saved us money, which is nice. It's about 15 minutes from the MK, which is a bit farther than we'd like, but hey, we have a car and shouldn't have any trouble.

I know I promised the daily details, but this is a long post, so I'll submit this one and get started on those details. I'll also do our ADRs in that post or the one after.

 

[PISCESANGEL]

good start - can't wait to hear more!

(and see, shameless advertising does work)

 

[donaldsgal]

So in keeping with my HSM2-induced TR name, I'm giving each day a name based on a line from "Fabulous" as well. Considering I expect this trip to be Fabulous, I thought it fit.

Day 1: "Goodbye clouds of gray, hello skies of blue!"
What better name for our first park day? We are heading to MK that day. We'll be driving ourselves almost everywhere we go even when we're on site, so we'll be parking at the TTC by about 7:15 so we can be the monorail stationing whisking away to the MK in time for entry at 8 AM. We are avid TourGuideMike followers, so we follow his recommendations. Disney just recently changed the park hours for MK to 8 AM to 1 AM daily, along with 7-8 AM EMH every day between March 16 and 31. Unfortunately, since we are now staying off site for that night, we can't get there at 7 AM. We'll be there ready to roll at 8 AM, though. We have a stronger emphasis on Fantasyland rides this trip, given the fact that Hannah knows the characters now and is very interactive. She should love it! We have dinner scheduled at Kona, then we'll return to MK for Spectro (the first show given the late night we had the night before), then Wishes, and then back to the Radisson.

Day 2: Easter Sunday, or "We're gonna relax and renew!"
Today we move from the Radisson to BCV. We will be up and at 'em at 7:30 or so in order to get to BCV early in the hopes of getting our room sooner rather than later. We have breakfast ADRs at Chef Mickey's. After that, it's back to BCV where we plan to - you guessed it - relax and renew by lounging around at Storm-A-Long Bay. Even if we can't get in to the room before 4 PM (check-in time), we'll rest by the pool and just enjoy the pool (I feel silly calling it that - it's more on par with Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, no?). We'll eat lunch at the pool bar.

On this day, we also plan to hold an impromptu Easter egg hunt at the hotel for Hannah. Missy suggested just doing it in the room, but for me, part of the fun growing up was walking around barefoot outside in the grass looking for eggs. We'll do a few in the room to ensure she gets some, and the reason for that (because I realize that sounds strange) is that we plan to bring a bunch of eggs with some candy and hide them in the courtyard at BCV, and then any kids that are nearby and want to participate can do so. If no one wants to, fine, but most of the resorts have nothing formal planned for Easter, so we thought we'd spread the for others.

For dinner we will walk into Epcot to get CS at Yorkshire County Fish Shop. BRIEF PAUSE: You should know that, as part of my anal planning, I look at menus ahead of time. I don't just know where we'll be eating for table service meals; I usually know counter service meals too
(although those are more flexible in case we don't feel like eating at that place for that meal), and I even know WHAT I'll be getting. I won't bore you with those details.

Back to your regularly-scheduled PTR....

So anyways, we'll eat at YCFS for dinner. Missy and I have APs, so going in for counter service is not a waste for us. However, Mom only has a 6 day park hopper, so either we'll have her add on a day once we arrive for about $5, or we'll just leave her and Hannah in the room and walk to Epcot to get the food while she relaxes in the room. I may stay in the park to walk around a bit. I may even go in earlier to soak up the atmosphere of the Flower and Garden Festival, which I hear is lovely.

Day 3: "Iced tea imported from England, life guards imported from Spain..."
We'll head to Epcot on day 3. I know, I know - Spain isn't in World Showcase, but you get the world-traveling theme, right? We love Soarin', so expect to read about my scramble to get in as many rides as possible. And again, given the Hannah-emphasis this trip, we'll be doing Turtle Talk, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Ellen's Energy Adventure (not a commonly loved kid attraction, but we really like it), and Imagination with Figment (never done this before). After lunch it's back to the room for a rest. We'll have dinner, and then Missy and I are heading to AK PM EMH - we've never seen this park at night, and I'm really excited to try it! Mom and Hannah have the night off, and Mom is very excited about this!

Day 4: "Bigger and better and best"
Appropriate for the biggest park with what may arguably be the best mountain, right? Thanks for agreeing! We're big EE fans, so multiple rides are a given. After a late lunch, we're heading back to the room with the rest of the day off. Again, Mom and Hannah have the night off while Missy and I spoil ourselves with a fancy dinner later on. More details to follow.

Day 5: "I like what I see, I like it a lot"
Back to MK today, but this time we get to enter at 7 AM with the rest of the crazies... I mean, planners! After lunch we head back to the room for a break. Dinner is in Epcot, and then we'll go back to MK for rides, Wishes, and the second Spectromagic. Woo hoo! The evening entertainment here is our favorite, so it should surprise no one we are doing it twice!

Day 6: "It's out with the old, and in with the new"
Again, great title for our first trip back to the newly-renamed Disney's Hollywood Studios, right? We are ToT and RnRC fanatics, so we're excited for this day. We're also doing more of the shows for Miss Hannah. We'll leave for a break, have dinner, and then afterwards, head back for our last night at Disney. We will see the second showing of Fantasmic!, which we haven't seen since 2004. That's really shocking for us, since I make every effort to see and do it all. We're looking forward to this.

Day 7: "I. Want. More!"
*Sniff, sniff*. It's our last day at Disney. Miss and I will head back to MK at 7 AM, while Mom and Hannah pack up the day bags in the van. They may come in with us - not sure yet. In any event, we'll hit our favorites, then monorail over to Epcot. We will ride Spaceship Earth and try to do Test Track before lunch. After lunch, it's time for the weeping and gnashing of teeth as we head out of Florida to South Carolina where we'll be spending two nights with my aunt and uncle.

I can't wait!

Next up: ADRs.

 

[DisDancerina]

I can't see the pics

 

[donaldsgal]

good start - can't wait to hear more!

(and see, shameless advertising does work)

Awesome! Welcome to my TR. Thanks for responding!

 

[donaldsgal]

I can't see the pics

Really? Let me fix it before I keep going.

ETA: I changed where I uploaded them from. Please let me know if that worked! I don't really care if you see me or not, but Hannah is simply gorgeous, so it's important everyone see her!

 

[DisDancerina]

I CAN SEE IT!!! What are you talking about? You're pretty Hannah's a cutie!!

 

[donaldsgal]

Anyone seen Ice Age 2: The Meltdown? If so, the name of this post should sound familiar. It's one of my dad's favorite scenes from that movie.

We try to incorporate our favorites into every trip, as well as some new ones. I'll mark which ones are new or favorites; the rest are ones we've been to before and like but don't make a priority to visit each trip.

Anyways.... let's talk about food!

Day 1: arrival at the pre-crack of dawn to the Radisson.
Breakfast: Main Street Bakery
Lunch: Columbia Harbour House or Cosmic Ray's (depending on where we are in the park at that time)
Dinner: Kona Cafe at 5:30 PM - first time there, and I'm excited!

Day 2: Easter Sunday - "relax and renew" day
Breakfast: Chef Mickey's at 9:55 AM
Lunch: Hurricane Hannah's at Storm-A-Long Bay (given Hannah's fiesty, energetic personality, this couldn't be more appropriately named for us this trip! )
Dinner: Yorkshire County Fish Shop - CS at UK pavilion

Day 3: Epcot
Breakfast: Sunshine Seasons
Lunch: with the belly-dancers at 12:45 PM at Restaurant Marrakesh - 1st time
Dinner: Beaches and Cream - first time

Day 4: Animal Kingdom
Breakfast: CS somewhere in AK - maybe just a soft pretzel somewhere
Lunch: Rainforest Cafe at 1:30 PM
Dinner: California Grill at 9:10 PM - okay, not a must do every trip, but certainly a favorite! It's just Miss and I - Mom and Hannah will fend for themselves by walking into Epcot or around the lake over to the Boardwalk or just by going to Hurricane Hannah's/Beach Club Marketplace. We've time this so we'll see Wishes from CG, which will be a first for us. This trip is two weeks after my birthday (which was Friday the 7th) and two weeks before Missy's (which is tax day ), so we may splurge for something extra sweet that night.

Day 5: Magic Kingom again
Breakfast: Crystal Palace at 8:15 AM. We originally were set to go here on Monday but we swapped days with Epcot. Anyways, Mom LOVES Eeyores, and I love breakfast, so it worked out perfectly! We've eaten here for a good dinner in 2006, so this will be a first for us for breakfast. We had to settle for two tables of two, so send us pixie dust that we'll get one table for 4. We'd be bummed if we couldn't see Miss Hannah's reaction to everything.
Lunch: Columbia's Harbour House, Cosmic Ray's, Casey's, etc.
Dinner: Coral Reef - a favorite but not an every trip visit. Excited about this one! Hannah liked it last year.

Day 6: DHS
Breakfast: Starring Rolls
Lunch: Toy Story Pizza Planet - we do this every trip, and I must have very accepting taste buds. I love the pizza here, and I know that makes me a DIS boards freak, but I'm okay with that.
Dinner: Yachtsman Steakhouse - this is our second trip, first for Missy and Hannah. Missy and I were supposed to eat there the last night of our June trip, but Missy didn't want to (in her words, she was in a bad mood that day due to being hot and tired, so Mom went with me in her place instead). It was great! I'm a bit nervous about this one because of Hannah. I'm a bit of a doting aunt, but don't be confused - I am fully aware of her faults! Anyways, the reason for my worry is that this is a "fancy shmancy place" (that's a technical term ) and I will be very irritated if she is fussy. I'm paranoid she'll be fussy/loud and ruin the experience for other diners. I think I'm worrying for nothing because she's been fine the last several times we've eaten out. And on top of that, in an effort to respect others who want a quieter experience, our reservation is at 5:30 PM, which is right when the restaurant opens. I expect the meal to take about 2 hours, but we'll come prepared with lots of things to do to keep her busy and take her out if she gets out-of-hand. I'm not ready to take her to California Grill (although I've seen as many kids there as we have YSH). Probably because I adore CG and just am really really fond of YSH. Anyways, we'll be back to the room by 2 at the latest, and since the restaurant is right next door, we won't have to leave until 5:15, so Hannah should get a good long nap, which should help.

Day 7: MK
Breakfast: Main Street Bakery for the last time
Lunch: Teppan Edo at 2 PM - our favorite and must-do every trip
Dinner: Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or Bob Evans - our typical favorites for an impromptu meal. We'll be on the road en route to Spartanburg, SC by then.

So, yeah, these are our meal plans! We are very excited!

 

[timandlesley]

Great start. Thanks so much for the invite. Look forward to much much more.

 

[jwwi]

Great start, Hannah is adorable, 3 adults to one child=enjoyable trip for ALL.

 

[PISCESANGEL]

Hannah is adorable - and yes, the rest of your bunch is cute too!

Alot of information - alot of great food choices. Looking forward to hearing more...

 

[donaldsgal]

Yes, it is 1:25 AM as I type this. I'm not tired, so I figured I'd update my PTR since I'm not sure about my ability to do so this week. As you join me in my journey through a very stressful week, you'll realize why.

About a month ago, Missy was the lucky winner of a hit-and-skip accident when a woman plowed into her driver's side middle door (she has a Town & Country van). Thankfully, a woman in the car behind my sister got the lady's plate - 5 of the 6 digits - so the police were able to take a statement. Also (thank God) Hannah wasn't injured, and neither was my sister. This woman hit her at about 40 miles an hour - she had her blinker on to make a right-hand turn but given the speed she was traveling, Missy waited to turn until after she passed. Unfortunately, the lady turned at the last minute and thus plowed into her (would have broken Missy's leg if she'd hit further up).

The police did track her down. She said she pulled over down the street and waited for my sister to come get her information. She also said she waited for a while and then left. Um, . Oh, and the reason she didn't report it was that she was really shaken up. The police officer explained that, um, yeah, that's not how it works. He also explained that she's a known drug-user in the area, so she's well-known in the legal system. As a side-note, does it scare anyone else that there are apparently high/drunk people driving around us all the time? It always makes me stop and thank God that He protects us so often and we don't even know it.

Anyways, so she was able to get an estimate for the damage done. I should've taken a picture. She has one of those vans that has remote door openers for the middle seats and the rear hatch, so having one door out of commission wouldn't have been such a huge deal except that that would have forced whoever is the in the back (usually will be Mom) to climb over Hannah's car seat to get in. Maybe for you skinny minny's out there, that'd be no big deal, but us Pooh-sized people wouldn't be able to suck it in enough to squeeze by! (where's the chest/face puffed out and gut sucked in smilie when you need it?)

That put us to getting the van in to the body shop for the repair. Luckily, this happened about a month ago, so no sweat to get it in before the trip, right?

Wrong.

Sigh. I really HATE poor customer service, which is why I really LOVE Disney. They are by NO means a perfect organization, but we have almost always had great service. In fact, I can't think of a time when we were treated poorly or ignored. There have been CMs who don't look thrilled to be there, but then again, there are days where I'd rather be at home than talking to my clients about their problems (and I love my job), so I give them grace for that. Anyways, Missy gets in touch with the body shop and sends the faxed estimate the same day, as they requested. This was about a week after the event. We were told they'd contact her to set up an appointment. Two weeks goes by (maybe a week and a half, but still) and no word. Okaaaaaaaaay, so she calls them. Oops! So sorry ma'am - we got the fax on the day that a lot of other faxes came in as well, so we missed it. We're really sorry. The door hasn't been ordered (she has to replace the whole door on the driver's side). We'll do that today and call you when it comes in.

Okay, not a big deal. Not great, but we've still got two weeks before we go. A week goes by. No communication. She finally gets a call last Wednesday (March 5). The door is in. Please call us to schedule a time. She calls - they aren't there, so she has to leave a message. She gets no return call. The weekend hits, along with the biggest snow storm we've had over a 48 period in years. They also aren't open on Saturdays.

I am a kind, forgiving person. However, I'm not a fan of poor service, and I am - ahem - strong-willed. Some may call it opinionated, hot-headed, stubborn. I am a complex woman, what can I say? Anyways, I'm getting perturbed. I have a tendency to be pushy, so I'm bugging my sister to be calling daily to get in touch with them. She calls again Friday, I think. No return call. You may have read somewhere that I'm not a fan of poor customer service? It's not a rumor - it's true. I equate no return calls with bad service. I can call my client's back in one day, so I expect others to do the same or at LEAST call back and say, I got your message. I'll be able to call you at this time to discuss it more. I can live with that.

Missy recruits Mom to call for her on Monday to get this scheduled. I get a call from Mom on Monday afternoon around 3:30 PM. They didn't have a record of the estimate. Didn't know anything about an ordered door.

WHAT?!?!?!? Isn't a DOOR sort of hard to miss?

They put her on hold. Oh, yeah, okay, we have a door back there. Sorry 'bout that. They said the van will take 5-6 days to repair. She got an appointment. The first one they offered her was -

wait for it -

Monday March 17.

WHAT?!

We're leaving March 21st for Florida. Do the math with me. It's not my greatest subject, but Monday + 5 days = Friday at the end of the day. And that's IF they get it done in 5 days, not 6.

to be continued.....

 

[donaldsgal]

Okay, so we're at the point of the story where they were offering an appointment 4 days before we leave to fix something that would take 5-6 days.

Mom calmly explained to them that we would be leaving to go out of town in a major way - as in, FLORIDA - on Friday at 11:30 AM. Oh, says the guy. Big sigh. Hmmm. Well, bring it in Friday and we'll try to get it in. As Yoda would say, Do or do not. There is no try.

He also offered the suggestion that, if my sister has rental coverage on her policy, we could get a rental. To which I reply, If you'd have done your JOB and gotten us in sooner, we wouldn't NEED to use a rental! Of course, I'm ranting at Mom, who by the way doesn't work there and has no control over the situation, so she can't really do anything about my awesome observation.

She's telling me this on the phone. Anyone else's blood pressure rising from this story? I can tell you I wasn't thinking Christian thoughts. My pushiness reared its ugly head. I told my mom she needed to call them back and inform them that this time frame was unacceptable. She doesn't want to. She's very sweet and felt like we wouldn't get anywhere. The owner of the business is now our state senator, so I'm ready to call him to call out the National Guard. Okay, not really. I'm not THAT pushy.

So my other concern with this? I don't know how many of you have had this problem, but there have been reports throughout history that sometimes, a body shop/mechanic starts a repair and inevitably find something else that needs fixed. Ever happened to you? And not to offend the mechanics of the world - it isn't always (or even often) an attempt to get more money out of you. It's just the nature of the beast. So it's going to take 5-6 days, we're dropping it off Thursday night, and we're hoping it'll be done by Friday AM. I say to Mom, Do you know how angry I'll be if, come 11:30 on Friday, that van isn't sitting in the driveway when I pull in after work? She said - being all-knowing, calm, and possessing the ability to respond without being judgmental or mean, says, "Oh, yes, Jen. I KNOW." Gotta love mothers.

We decided I'd call back and have a chat with the manager. I call and he's not available. I tell them I want a call back today. He calls back about 10 minutes later. I explain that I'm extremely uncomfortable with the time frame and want in sooner. He wasn't a jerk or anything, but also not terribly inclined to help me. He basically said that they have a lot of vehicles right now. I'm free to bring the van in sooner and they'll *try* to get it in sooner. I tell him we both work and we really can't be without a vehicle if we aren't sure if it's doing us any good to be without it. I remind him that she did fax in the request the same day they wanted it and they were the ones who "misplaced it". He doesn't really say anything to that. I'm looking for him to say, You know what? We screwed up. Get in here today and I'll make it a priority. No such luck.

I call Mom back and am livid. By the time Missy gets home, they've closed, so she can't call back. She calls Tuesday when work is less crazy. She left a message to be called back. Guess whether or not she got called back? I have gone from to to to. She called again Thursday. No one can talk - they're out in the body shop working on cars - which for some reason I find really ironic - and she had to leave a message. This time she said, You're giving me the run-around. I have NEVER been called back in this entire process. I want a GUARANTEE this will be done by Friday at 10 AM.

AHHHHH!

We dropped off the van Thursday night with the keys. I had to take her to work today, Hannah to the sitter's, and get myself to work by 7:30. I also picked them both up after I left work. She gets in the car and says that she was called by the other manager before she had a chance to call today. He apologized for all the delay in responding to the fax, ordering the part, and the miscommunication. He explained they had no excuse for the fax, but they did order the van door and got it quickly. Apparently it was junk and he wasn't going to put it on, so he ordered a new one. Great, says Missy, but I had no way of knowing you were doing that since no one was calling me back. He acknowledged that. He told her he'd be out next week due to his wife having a baby, but he said he didn't see any reason why it wouldn't be done BEFORE Friday. Congrats to him, and finally some good news for us.

Missy went over at lunch because she'd left an item in the van we need to return before the trip. She got there, and the van was all torn apart and being worked on. Awesome! Progress!

But you knew that couldn't last, right?

When she got there, he said that, upon looking at the van, there was more damage that was done than the insurance adjuster noticed. The track that the van door moves along to open up had been damaged, which is why we couldn't get the door opened. Guess what that means? Yup, it needed more work than we thought. At this point in the story, I was about to scream or puke, one of the two. We all love being right, but not like this! Thankfully, the body shop has a good relationship with Missy's insurance adjuster, so they called him. Normally the process stops at this point, the adjuster comes back out, does another estimate, etc. He gave the body shop the green light to take a picture and just keep going. Okay, so we're back on track.

The other piece to this puzzle is that the remote and headphones for the van's DVD player don't work. It's not the battery - they've never worked. When Missy called originally, they said they'd get the van in to service for that to be looked at as well. Couldn't guarantee it was fixable, but they'd look. It's not a huge deal, but we figured we'd have it looked at since it was going to be there anyways. We weren't clear, though, if this step was included in the 5-6 day repair time. The manager said they'd made a call to service to see if they could get the van in by Friday, but should they hold it up if it couldn't be looked at before Friday? Um, NO!!!!! They'll try to get it into paint by Wednesday so it's ready Friday. Missy tells him she'll be calling daily next week to check on it (with Mr. Sorry-about-your-luck Manager I talked to earlier this week overseeing the progress), and this manager encouraged that.

Here's the catch - Missy leaves TODAY (as in Saturday) at 3 PM for the airport so she can fly to Seattle for a business trip. She obviously can't drive herself since her van is at the shop, so I'm driving her. She'll be there until Thursday. She was supposed to be gone until Wednesday but there were no flights that left after she presents her speech at the conference, so her company had to get a flight for Thursday. Hopefully the van will be ready Thursday night and she can pick it up then. So she'll go from the top left of the country to the bottom right in about 36 hours.

In the meantime, I'm on full-time Tia duty. I have to take Hannah to the sitter's, which is 15 minutes out of the way, and pick her up after work. The sitter is a good friend, so she's flexible with the earlier drop-offs, so that's no big deal - just means I need to be on the ball this week with getting out the door on time. Mom is picking her up Monday since I work late shadowing our crisis department (I'm learning to do emergency evaluations at the police station, ER, or in the community for mental health issues like suicidical or homicidal threats). On Thursdays, I teach a parenting class for out-of-control teens (using drugs, run aways, failing school, being violent in the home/community/at school, promiscuity), so Mom will get her then too before heading to Cleveland to pick Missy up after she gets in. (My job is very intense but there's a lot of variety and I love that.) Then Friday we leave.

So the blessing is that the van is in the shop for the week where Missy is out of town and I don't need to coordinate my work with picking her up too. Today after I take her to the airport, I'm going to my coworker's house to make sure our dogs get along. She has graciously agreed to watch him while we're out of town as long as Maggie and Oliver won't kill each other. So it'll be: leave for Cleveland at 2 PM, get to the airport at 3, drive back to Wooster (where I work and my coworker lives, about 25 minutes from my house), introduce our dogs, have dinner (with Hannah in tow), come home, get her to bed. She's also been a real grump this week with the time change, so that whole dynamic is going on.

I need a vacation.

But have you noticed my ticker lately? Looks like I'm gettin' one!

Everything will be fine. It'll be better than fine - we're going to Disney soon! And all that stress with the body shop is not a big deal. Getting THROUGH it has been really stressful, but in the long-run, at least Missy isn't paying for the repairs, right? And she got a bonus today at work, lots more than she was expecting, so that was a HUGE blessing! God is good! We'll have a working door, seven days of Disney delight, and a mini-visit with family to boot. I'm so excited! I will try packing tomorrow night/Sunday night to get a head start since it is a busy week with meetings for my clients, watching Hannah, and the extra work responsibilities I mentioned.

Before you know it, we'll be en route to our Happy place. I will try to post again before we go, and my plan is to update this live while we're there. I'm taking my laptop so I can upload my pictures from my snazzy new camera every day, and since DVC members now have free wireless internet in the rooms, I figured I'd take advantage. My sister's Treo is able to be a portable modem, and the thing we returned at Radio Shack (although we have to go back tomorrow to still get another one since the new one isn't working either), is a car power adapter for laptops. If we get one that doesn't keep shorting out (we've had bad luck with car issues lately!), I can post live while we're on the road even. I see "We're in Virginia!", "Entering North Carolina", and "Welcome to Florida" posts in my future! And yours too, if my long posts haven't scared you away.

 

[PISCESANGEL]

Wow, I'm crossing my fingers for you that your van is ready!

I hope your week goes well - looking forward to more!




ILoveDisney!

 

[donaldsgal]

Wow, I'm crossing my fingers for you that your van is ready!

I hope your week goes well - looking forward to more!



ILoveDisney!

Good news - the van was painted today, will be buffed tomorrow, and will be in service Wednesday for the DVD issue! Progress!

I was really sick yesterday, but today is much better. Things are looking up - but aren't they always when Disney is on the horizon!?

 

[donaldsgal]

As I type this, we are en route to Florida! We left about 11:40, made a quick stop at the bank, and are now driving on I-77 (and will be continuing to do so for the next 587.96 miles - or thereabouts). We've got Disney CDs playing in the car, and we're all settled in for the looooooong drive to our favorite place in the world! To help pass the time, I'm reading others' trip reports, will probably spend some time on TourGuideMike, and check email. Good time!

 

[donaldsgal]

Okay, so I know I've only got like three readers, but I'm determined to actually finish this TR this time. I will start it tomorrow or Wednesday night. I'm in the process of Noiseware-ing my pictures to make them pop. We had some awesome experiences this trip - especially of the Wishes fireworks. I was thrilled with that part of it. The drive was supremo obnoxious - more on that in the report.

I'm looking forward to writing it. If I have readers, that'd be peachy!

TTFN!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

I'm here! Looking forward to reading all about your trip!

 

[jwwi]

I'm here too, can't wait to hear all about your trip...........