There's Always Too Much Sauce - A July 2022 TR *Updated 3/23

[amazingact21]

I'm here, Alicia! Not sure how well I'll be able to keep up with being gone all of Sept and October, then starting classes again in November, but I'll at the very least be reading!

Aw, thanks so much for popping in here. I know your life is absolutely crazy right now so I appreciate it.

Ready and waiting to hear all about it!

Thanks for following along!

 

[Hubie]

I'm joining in too.

 

[Stasieki]

Excited to read about your newest adventures!

 

[Disney102015]

Loved your PTR and excited to follow along here! Hope you’re staying cool!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm here, but need to get caught up!

So excited!

 

[vamassey1]

Ok, all caught up.

Loved your intro post and I'm ready to read all about your ups and downs.

Please tell Landon we support his choice to do the DCP. If he has any questions you know someone who can get you the answers.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[MaleficentMe]

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Has it broke for you yet? Currently, it's raining right now so I think the worst is finally over.

Yesterday thank goodness

I wish you had!!!
You should have seen my face when I read your comment on my Guardians post.
"Alex, I think Moira is here too."
"No, surely not. She would have told me if she was."

We had made a pact that if any of us tested positive for the illness that shall not be named none of us would travel. With one son at school, the other son a teacher at school and me a childminder to a wee boy who’s parents are both doctors and he attends yet another school from my two plus my grandson goes to , you’ve guessed it, yet another school- let’s just say I am stunned that I didn’t catch the lurgy!!!

n all truth, I am sad we were both at Disney and missed a DIS meetup, but I understand you wanted to keep it under wraps and were dealing with heat-related health issues.
I guess this just means I need to meander over to Ireland before I move.

Truthfully I am sad about that too and I regret not messaging you. I knew that by the time you were staying on Disney property we were heading home but I really had intended to message you when we arrived. Then my poor boy’s troubles started and it took so much out of our plans it made arranging anything impossible. We took turns hanging out with him in the hotel during the day when he couldn’t hack the heat anymore, then my older boy got a job interview for a permanent teaching post here at home so that meant a lot of interview prep, a shopping trip to buy a shirt and tie and a 5am wake up call for him to leg it over to the business center to do the interview by zoom. He found out he got the job (while we were sitting in the Italy pavilion having a glass of vino and seeing the odd firework) which was amazing and believe it or not the highlight of our trip.
We had a good trip but there were definitely some health issues and some struggles with the heat so it was a very different trip from what I’d planned/ what we’d done in the past.

Don’t know why my last quote hasn’t appeared but YES you really should visit Ireland before you leg it back to the states

 

[amazingact21]

I'm joining in too.

Welcome! Thanks for joining along.

Excited to read about your newest adventures!

Thanks for following along!

Loved your PTR and excited to follow along here! Hope you’re staying cool!

Thank you! And yes! It finally rained yesterday so the temperatures dropped. Currently trying to catch up on laundry since I didn't want to run the dryer during the heat wave and my line to hang outside broke.

 

[amazingact21]

I'm here,

Yay! Thanks for following me to this report.

Please tell Landon we support his choice to do the DCP. If he has any questions you know someone who can get you the answers.

Haha, he probably will take you up on that offer one day. Right now he's still amazed Disney has the program. "I can't believe I can go work at Disney while I'm only college-aged."

Welcome and thanks for joining along!

 

[amazingact21]

let’s just say I am stunned that I didn’t catch the lurgy!!!

Yes, the odds weren't in your favor, were they? Especially since this summer was when that BA.5 variant was running rampant.

We took turns hanging out with him in the hotel during the day when he couldn’t hack the heat anymore,

I completely understand. Sometimes, life doesn't go the way we plan. And at Disney it seems like there's so much of everything going on at once, it's hard to keep up with the basic necessities. I'm just glad you were able to go to WDW, as well, and get back to the magic. Even if it had to happen a little differently than you'd hoped.

my older boy got a job interview

Oh wow! I had no idea this happened! A massive congratulations to him!!!!
And what a way to find out he got the job. I'm sure that's an evening you'll remember for a long time. Plus, it gives him one heck of a story to tell.

struggles with the heat so it was a very different trip from what I’d planned

I know we've already talked about it, but it's unbelievable how hot this July felt. Maybe there wasn't as much cloud cover as years in the past? Because it just felt like that 90 degree sun was beating down on you.

YES you really should visit Ireland before you leg it back to the states

Alex wants to drive and take the ferry over from the U.K. to Dublin and then roadtrip north. But whew...that would be a lot of time in the car!

 

[amazingact21]

*Friends, I am truly humbled. Thank you all so much for reading my intro and following along on this crazy journey. If someone would have told me twelve years ago that I would still be documenting my trips to Disney, still talking with fellow Disney lovers about all things mouse-related, I would have said they were crazy. But making that first post, thinking about when I’d be able to write my next update, it brought all the joy of vacation back to me. So thank you for allowing me to live in the magic just a teensy bit longer.*

Now, on with the show! I apologize in advance that I'm breaking our travel day into two posts. I know these are some of the least exciting updates in a trip report, but something happened halfway through our travel day that requires talking about. It's extremely relevant to the rest of our trip and not to be missed.
So hang on folks! We can get through this slog together.




If there's one thing you need to know about me, this meme right here sums it up pretty well.





I grew up military, I married military, I basically breathe military protocols. And in that world, if you’re fifteen minutes early to something…

Then you’re late.



If I make a 3 o’clock appointment, that really means I better be standing at the check-in desk at 2:45.

Which really means I’m there at 2:30.

Sitting in my car at 2:15 waiting those last fifteen minutes until I can walk inside.




So you better believe when news outlets starting spewing articles on the current state of Heathrow Airport, I panicked. HARD.

Everywhere we turned, Alex and I were hearing horror stories about long queues at check-in desks, luggage getting left behind, chaos reigning down amongst the terminals of London’s busiest airport.

You see, at the time of our trip, Heathrow had way, way overbooked flights and were having to cancel departures left and right. Simply because they did not have the capacity to handle the amount of people coming through their doors. Also back then, airlines had an exemption that allowed them to cancel flights with incurring a fee.


It was the wild west at London Heathrow this summer.



Needless to say, I was not taking any chances.

Our happy selves were going to arrive at the airport four hours ahead of time.


Yes. Four hours.

And let’s be real, if I was traveling on my own, I might have made it five.

Just to be safe, you know?



The drive to Heathrow takes about two hours in non-rush hour time, so for our 12:45 flight, I planned for us to leave the house at 6:30 a.m.


Well, actually. 6:30 was the absolute latest I wanted us gone. So Alex and I told ourselves we’d shoot for 6 o’clock.

Because we all know in that last half hour a million random things pop up.

Gotta take the trash out.

Who left crumbs on the table?

What do you mean you forgot your glasses case? Well go get it!



In addition to those lovely little details, Alex and I, who are in a beautiful, healthy relationship and love each other deeply….well, all trust between us goes out the window when its time to close up shop.

No matter if the man sees me check a door with his own two eyes, my husband HAS to check and make sure all the lights are off, the windows are shut, and the doors are locked.



I remember coming downstairs, looking him dead in the eyes and saying, “Everything is closed. I literally just checked.”

I go to our car, get in the passenger seat, and watch as Alex runs up the stairs to check everything.


Just because.

It’s like a ritual for him.

*sigh*



The clock on the car’s dash read 6:30 exactly as we pulled out of the driveway and began our journey.


An hour into the trek, I made Alex stop at a gas station for a potty break. At first, I felt bad for the inconvenience, but then Landon announced he had a headache so it was good we stopped. I opened the trunk to dig around for the travel medicine and discovered my first slip up of the day.
(Notice the "of the day" mention. Because it's early yet and there's still time for more colossal discoveries.)


The night before, when gathering all our medicines, I opened a new bottle of kids Motrin. We had about a third of a bottle left in our old one, but I wanted to bring a brand new bottle to make sure it lasted the month.

So. Two bottles. One old, one new.

Guess which one I put into the medicine bag?



“Alex, we are going to need to go to Target tomorrow.”
“Already? Did you do this on purpose?”
“Would I do that?”
“To get to Target….yes.”


True though that was, I really didn’t mean to bring the wrong bottle.

The positive to that mistake was, while I dwelled on it the rest of the way to airport, another, bigger, error was soon to eclipse this one.

Short on Motrin?
Hold my Dole Whip, I got something better.




Every time we park at Heathrow, we use the long term lot and utilize the shuttle service that drops us off at the front entrance.

It really is an easy process.

If you don’t have four backpacks, three suitcases, two car seats, and one wife who injured her rib a month ago and can’t lift anything heavy.

Poor Alex, he had to shuffle bag upon bag upon bag onto the bus, load them onto the storage racks, then unload them a few minutes later.


It’ll be a glorious day when the kids don’t need booster seats anymore.

We’ll probably take a plane ride somewhere just for the novelty of it.

Look Ma, no car seats!




Moving along...
Breaking News: media outlets are known to exaggerate on occasion.


They were not this time.


The check in area of Heathrow was a madhouse! We had to wait outside in line before finally being shepherded inside. Thank our lucky stars, Alex and I booked Economy Delight, which allowed us priority check-in. Because there had to be over fifty people in the regular line. It was a mass of switchbacks and suitcases and misery. Think Figment popcorn bucket line. Only without the Epcot music in the background.


Even with priority, it took us over 40 minutes to get our bags sorted. Someone at the front of the line was having issues, and finally an agent saw the kids and took pity on us. We had to roll our suitcases over to one side of the building, meaning cutting through ALLLLLL those people.

“Excuse me, pardon me, HOLD ON KIDS DON’T LET ME LOSE YOU!”

Then we had to swim BACK through the masses to the other side of the floor where oversized luggage was dropped off. (Our car seats had to go there.)


It was chaos.

Walmart on Black Friday madness.



Surely, security would be a little better, right? I mean, the entire population of England was currently downstairs in line. There couldn’t be THAT many more people upstairs waiting their to turn to go to their gates.

Right?

Wrong.
Oh so wrong.


Apparently, the whole country of Wales and Scotland decided to congregate upstairs. Had to round out the entirety of the United Kingdom at the London Heathrow Airport.

(I haven’t forgotten about you, Northern Ireland. You were in the shops past security, taking up EVERY seat in the reception hall.)



It took us over an hour to get through security. There were lots of people forgetting liquids in their bags or digging out laptops from their carryon suitcases.

Friends. Let me do you a favor and give you a piece of advice.

If you’re flying, please, please PLEASE do not shove your laptop at the bottom of your case.

Otherwise, you’re going to be on an archeological dig in the middle of the airport, allowing all your clothes to fall out, your other belongings to traipse ahead of you on the conveyor belt, your fellow flying companions to sigh at you in their exasperated impatience.


Just don’t do it. Save yourself the sweat. Since you’re here on the boards, you’re likely going to Orlando, which means you will have plenty of opportunities to sweat later. Don’t waste it on a laptop.




For those unfamiliar with the layout of London Heathrow, once you’re through security there are lots of duty free shops and places to grab snacks and waters and restaurants. The gates branch out from a central hub, but unfortunately, the airport doesn’t announce your gate until an hour before boarding. So you kind of just have to sit in a big waiting area and pay attention to the boards.


It was here in which we fed the kids.

Key to smooth travels with kids: Always keep them fed. A full kid is a happy kid.



And it was also here that we watched person after person run to their gates.

It seemed that while I heeded the news’s warning….others did not.

There were LOTS of panicked travelers.

One unfortunate gal was running so fast she fell over her suitcase and Alex had to help her retrieve her glasses. Poor girl.


And it was while we were sitting here, munching on some grapes (eat the fruit first! Can’t take those bad boys off the plane.) that Landon made the comment, “It’s like we’re watching a race where everyone loses.”


Very true, Landon. Very true.



We only had about twenty minutes to sit and relax before our phones gave our gate number.

Four hours early, and we only had about twenty minutes to spare!

Traveling during the summer is not for the faint of heart, friends.





Up Next…I Wish I’d Ordered That

(The next update will have more pictures, I promise!)

 

[pinkxray]

Hi Alicia!
I don’t read too many trip reports anymore, and mostly lurk over comment but had to say hello before lurking through this one. I’ve been reading your reports since your pre-kids days. I remember little Landon when he was a baby on Main Street with his cute glasses and Mickey hat. Can’t believe he is so big!

Your travel day sounds stressful Traveling with kids and all the stuff it takes is rough. I can’t wait to not have to drag two car seats through the airport.

I love that you and Alex get some adult days. Dh and I signed up for the Orlando Informer meetup in Dec and are trying out kids nite out to get some adult time. they show up. Dh and I haven’t been on a ride together since 2012 since we always split up to ride with a kid.

Looking forward to reading more!

Also love your being early for everything. I have always been that way. Dh spent 4 years in the marines and he still thinks I’m too overboard. We too arrive too early for everything a spend too much time in parking lots. I remember on my first day of orientation for Xray school, I walked in and the board said “ If you aren’t 15 minutes early, you are late” I knew I found my place

 

[NJlauren]

Hi!!! So happy to see another one of your reports!!

I’ll read it alllll even if I don’t always comment! Stay cool hopefully this heat wave is ending or ended for you already!!

 

[suse66]

If there's one thing you need to know about me, this meme right here sums it up pretty well.

I grew up military, I married military, I basically breathe military protocols. And in that world, if you’re fifteen minutes early to something…

Then you’re late.

So we are basically the same person then......

Moving along...
Breaking News: media outlets are known to exaggerate on occasion.


They were not this time.

Ugh! I know London Heathrow is horrendous but Toronto Pearson (where I am flying out of on Sunday) is not far behind.

Apparently, the whole country of Wales and Scotland decided to congregate upstairs. Had to round out the entirety of the United Kingdom at the London Heathrow Airport.

(I haven’t forgotten about you, Northern Ireland. You were in the shops past security, taking up EVERY seat in the reception hall.)

Summer travel is so fun! Or not.

And it was while we were sitting here, munching on some grapes (eat the fruit first! Can’t take those bad boys off the plane.) that Landon made the comment, “It’s like we’re watching a race where everyone loses.”

Well said, Landon. Well said.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

It’ll be a glorious day when the kids don’t need booster seats anymore.

We’ll probably take a plane ride somewhere just for the novelty of it.

Look Ma, no car seats!

Oh my goodness, I feel this so much!!! Now that my kids are 8 and over 50lbs, we know the glory of the Graco Rightguide booster. It's about the size of a large tablet or small laptop and includes its own bag, meaning each of the girls can easily carry her own!! Plus, we can use three across in most vehicles, so we can rent a "normal" car now. We used them on our last minute trip to Nashville and it was glorious freedom. (There are a few other very portable boosters on the market, like mifold and bubblebum, but they can be difficult to use, get a good belt fit, etc. This is the smallest one that the car seat safety people actually like, so it gets my vote.)

If you’re flying, please, please PLEASE do not shove your laptop at the bottom of your case.

My planning self doesn't understand this AT ALL. If you know you have to take these 3 things out at security, they should be right at the top of the bag, easily accessible. You pack the carryon knowing how you want to get through security and then rearrange for easy of use on the plane once you're through. Heck, we have precheck now, so we shouldn't have to take any of that out. But I still pack that way, just in case the x-ray tech wants to see something up close.

“It’s like we’re watching a race where everyone loses.”

LOL! That's an incisive kid you've got.

I can't believe you had to get there 4 hours early to avoid losing the race, too, but there's nothing worse than starting a trip racing to the gate.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Here and following along!!

 

[footballmouse]

I have a feeling this is going to be well worth the reading, already very entertaining!!

 

[rdkeim]

Oh my - I was laughing so hard on your last post and that's not usually me. I get the being early thing but my DH does not. That has made for some tense moments over the years. We flew home from Heathrow in May. It was crazy, loud, chaotic but we made it to our gate without too much anxiety. Hold my dole whip best TR line ever. Love your DS's line too - very insightful. When I see people running through the airport I think to myself - should have gotten here earlier. I know that's not always the case but I can't help but think it. Hope your flight was smooth and drama free! I've also been reading your TR's from your pre-kids days

 

[Steppesister]

YES!!

This. Right here.


I'm already completely freaking out we'll miss our Frankfurt connection. Never mind that we have a 2+ hour layover, but... yeah. I'm panicking.

This sounds so chaotic and awful!