Third Time's a Charm PTR - May 2012 - I should give up on planning trips.

[rentayenta]

I also like an afternoon flight when returning from WDW, I like to take my time packing and picking up, have a nice breakfast, send the kids to the pool, and maybe a little DTD time too before heading home. Glad you found a suitable alternative.

 

[ACDSNY]

I never see non stop flights. Do they usually cost more?

We get ripped off in Nor Cal, no non-stops to FL.

We usually take the 5PM flights home and it sure makes for a long day as it's usually around eight hours to get home with a layover.

 

[Leshaface]

I agree! No ADR's just wing it and enjoy the extra half day that you have coming!

 

[hedgehog2owl]

Hi! just reading along, enjoying your PTR! We are going to be there at the same same time!

 

[franandaj]

AA changed that 1 pm flight??? That used to be my flight out of MCO of choice as well.

Maybe the 5.40 won't be too bad.

I know! I'd rather do 5:40 than early. Uh, oh! I just realized I better check my flights for my other trip!

I never see non stop flights. Do they usually cost more?

From LAX we have a lot of them, I don't know what they cost since we never pay!

I also like an afternoon flight when returning from WDW, I like to take my time packing and picking up, have a nice breakfast, send the kids to the pool, and maybe a little DTD time too before heading home. Glad you found a suitable alternative.

For us it never seems like we are taking our time, but much more so at 5PM instead of 9AM!

We get ripped off in Nor Cal, no non-stops to FL.

We usually take the 5PM flights home and it sure makes for a long day as it's usually around eight hours to get home with a layover.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm assuming that you would need to either fly from LA, SF or DFW, any of which would require a layover.

I agree! No ADR's just wing it and enjoy the extra half day that you have coming!

We don't have a lot of time, and I'm sure that Fran will have her own ideas, so I'm just going to play it by ear.

Hi! just reading along, enjoying your PTR! We are going to be there at the same same time!

Welcome! Who knows we may run into each other!

 

[franandaj]

So I had a realization a week or so ago. We thought that we didn't need the rental car until a couple days into the trip. However, if you all remember a couple weeks ago we also changed up our plans. Instead of spending our first full day at AK park and dining at AKL, we decided to do an evening Fantasmic! dinner package.

Because of this we need the rental car on our first full day. We certainly don't want to be trying to use Disney transport with three scooters after F! lets out. We had a couple options, picking up the car on property (expensive!) or Fran offered to skip taking DME and drive to the resort. Since this option saves us about $250 for the week, yesterday we decided to go this route and booked an SUV through Enterprise.

This will be a slight PITA, but in the end it will be worth it. What this means is that when we get off the plane instead of heading right to DME, we will need to go to the rental car counter, and get the money issues taken care of. Then go to the car and I will load up Fran's scooter and any carry ons before sending her on her merry way. Arline and I will take DME so that our suitcases will be delivered to our room later that evening.

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone yesterday with Member Services trying to figure this all out. While I don't anticipate us having more than four checked bags between the three of us, I had to contend with Fran in the background asking inane questions about bag limits and other things. I just figured that we would take the four tags that DME has already sent us (two for me and two for Arline) and discard the two for Fran. Instead, she had me order yet another set of tags. I guess now I will put three tags on mine and Fran's shared bags and Arline will use her one tag. You see if you do not check in at DME and actually board the bus, they do not take your baggage to your resort.

The drag will be that on the way back, I will need to drive and return the rental car since Fran can't unload the scooter on her own. What will be nice is that our luggage will have been checked at the resort so I will only have to deal with carry ons after returning the car. I'll meet up with them at the airport when they get off their DME bus. Who knows maybe I'll have a chance to sneak in a quick drink before they show up!

At least that part of the puzzle has been solved, one less headache. Now I just need to wrap up my shopping list and place the order so I get the delivery time window that's convenient for us.

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm glad that was a relatively quick fix, $250 is a nice amount to save. I love that they have the airline check-in at the resorts, it is such a nice perk.

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad that was a relatively quick fix, $250 is a nice amount to save. I love that they have the airline check-in at the resorts, it is such a nice perk.

Yeah, I'm glad that we were able to get it figured out. I hate that Fran will have to go separately than us, but she's OK with the whole thing. Ugh that I have to take the car back....

 

[franandaj]

For anyone not following my other TR or other threads, that same little infection that caused us to cancel our trip last October didn't actually heal up all the way. I will explain this as best as I can with my limited medical knowledge.

When a wound has an infection, the body gives off proteins which are mostly a milky, creamy white substance that you will see in open sores. Evidently these protiens somehow got sealed inside Fran's leg when the wound healed over last November. Following her last RA infusion (which basically stops the body's immune system from working) a sore appeared on her leg with that milky white stuff.

We began to agressively treat it with her taking antibiotics and sending the doctor pictures and she started having a wound care nurse coming on March 28th. When it did not seem to be getting better, she was referred to a wound care specialist whom she saw last Wednesday April 4th. After trying to remove the infected protein cells in his office with local anesthesia, he realized that the protein was much more pervasive and it would require a general anesthetic and hospital setting to clean it up. Friday she went in for surgery, the whole process took longer than expected, but she was released and came home.

Friday night was incredibly painful, and we discovered the next day why. They had wrapped her leg so tightly and under the Ace bandage was a drainage tube about 2-3 cm wide that was digging into her shin so far that it left a giant indentation. Once the nurse removed the bandage and the tube, she was much better and is managing the pain with her normal medications.

Friday we are supposed to go to Las Vegas for a business meeting, but that is up in the air. We want her to be healthy to go to Florida in May, so we'll see about whether we go this week. We can always listen to the meeting via teleconference and not have to drive so far with her not resting the leg and risking future problems.

We are also having issues with the idea of her having this "wound vac". We will see the Dr. on Tuesday morning to see if she really needs to have the wound vac.

Anyways, I hope that THIS trip is not in jeopardy, we'll have to see tomorrow.

 

[franandaj]

So we’re up to Saturday May 5th. I wonder if they celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Florida?

I’ve been anxious to try out Via Napoli ever since the place opened, so we have an early lunch reservation there at 11:30AM this morning. Probably on the schedule for this day will be a quick light breakfast of Yogurt or Bagel & Cream Cheese before we jet out the door to Epcot. We may take the Monorail since, it’s not that big a deal for three scooters. We know that one of us will be in a separate compartment, but that’s OK.

Once we get to Epcot, I know that Fran will want to check out Mouse Gear if she hasn’t already, and probably that Art store over by Spaceship Earth. We’ll probably hit a ride or two on our way over to Italy and of course, check out some of these!

Now those were last year’s topiaries…I’ve already seen some pictures from this year’s festival and the one at Epcot for the entrance was really nice. I think it was Mickey and Minnie, but I can’t remember for sure.

At Via Napoli, I would like to try a couple things. I love Arancini. Most people have not even heard of these things, but there was this little “hole in the wall” restaurant that I used to love in the (SF) Valley. It was in a strip mall and one of their entrees was Arancini. They were these wonderful little footballs that had meat filling in the middle, seasoned rice around the meat, then breaded and deep fried.

Evidently the ones at Via Napoli are Cheese Filled, but they follow the same concept and I would love to try another version of them!

Fran might like these (I wouldn’t mind a bite either)

They have these awesome pizza ovens here shaped like mouths of gods

I’m thinking that we should start with a pizza. I tend to like the lighter kind, but who knows what will happen when we get there, my pizza idea might be overruled.

I’m hoping that we might also share a pasta thing….

I doubt that my wishes will come to fruition. Chances are that once we get there Fran will be cranky because she doesn’t really like Italian and she will complain the whole time and say that she doesn’t want anything. So lunch will be tense, she will tell Arline and I to order whatever we want, she will just “make do” and then when we don’t get something she likes, she will complain that she didn’t have anything to eat.

I will make her a meatloaf sandwich when we get back to the room! Don’t you love being married for a decade and a half!

The rest of the afternoon will depend on how much of Fran’s crankiness we want to put up with. However, I actually just thought of a whole nother plot here. Fran might just send me and Arline to Epcot and stay home…in fact she might do that a whole lot of this trip. I think on a lot of instances we will take her up on that. Sanaa, but not Brown Derby/Fantasmic, maybe Raglan Road, but not the next one I’m about to tell you about….

The other thing is that she wants me to investigate renting an electric recliner chair for this trip. We did it on our last one it helped out immensely. What she wants me to investigate is will the guys in the Bell Desk move it with our luggage. We had no problem with renting it last time, but we only had it for one resort, this time she is thinking of moving from resort to resort and only paying one delivery fee. Personally I don’t care, it is a bargain if it makes her feel better! So perhaps I should just book it and see what happens!

OK the rest of our plans for Saturday will come soon, but for now I need to go to bed and see the Doctor tomorrow to know if continuing this TR is even an option!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Well, I know it is hard to deal with the issues. Hopefully everything works out. But you do want her leg to heal. At least you WDW will still be there.

 

[franandaj]

Well, I know it is hard to deal with the issues. Hopefully everything works out. But you do want her leg to heal. At least you WDW will still be there.

yeah, lets just hope that she can safely enjoy the trio
she feels well enough but if she doesn't feel well enough to travel, we lose the points. Don't think they can be used in CA so we're screwed.

 

[Leshaface]

Oh gosh..I REALLY hope her leg heals in time for WDW Is it looking/feeling better this week? Can't believe how quick your trip is coming up!

 

[franandaj]

Oh gosh..I REALLY hope her leg heals in time for WDW Is it looking/feeling better this week? Can't believe how quick your trip is coming up!

Well we can hope that it heals in time for the F&W trip to WDW, but I don't think it will be healed for this trip. I've recapped this on several other threads but I'll give the short version here. No wound vac, but I have to clean her wounds and apply a salve daily to her wounds. They are nasty. Imagine if you had opened and Nectarine and removed the pit think of what you see, but larger and deeper. That is what I have to clean.

Perhaps she will be somewhat better by the May trip, but from the depth of those wounds, I can't imagine they will be even close to healed, just managed. They aren't hurting her which is good. Imagine a hole in your leg the size of one of those Reses peanut butter Easter Egg Candies. Bigger than a Reses peanut butter cup and that's the size of the wound in her leg. It makes my head spin just thinking about it. I feel incredibly selfish that I'm even thinking of this vacation while she is in this state, but she says she's OK. I just need to give her lots of down time.

In all reality, I hope that these wounds are healed by the time that we go on the cruise!

 

[franandaj]

Well good news! Today I showed Fran the pictures of the Caprese Salad and the Arancini and she said they both looked good!

I’m hoping that on this day we get to Epcot fairly early, enough so that we can go on some of the rides that we missed the day before. I hoping we can explore a Future World Pavilion or two before we head over for lunch. I’m going to guess that the day we dine at Chefs de France we will enter through the Epcot main entrance and turn right at WS heading through Canada and the UK to get to France.

So on this day, I will also imagine that we will enter through Future World and go to the left towards Mexico and Norway to get to Italy. If we traversed the complete rotation of WS Friday, then who knows what we will do after lunch, but if we did not then we will for sure complete the rotation. However now that I think about it. we will have had to make a complete loop because I wanted to hit Karamel Kuche on our first day in Epcot and the only way we could have done that would have been to make a complete loop. Who knows what we will do! This is all speculation!

Regardless, I’m sure that we will be heading back to the room at some point before 3PM. The other two will need a nap for sure. This might be the time that I visit the pool, or just catch up on the TR. I’ll probably need to rest a little bit. The evening’s entertainment includes the Hoop De Doo Revue. Now I’ve never been a big fan of the Melodrama. I didn’t even know what they were until my first fiancés family took me to one (this was in good ole Bakersfield when I spent a summer living in the Central Valley). It was corny and silly. However in my age and seasoning I have learned to appreciate this sort of ‘merican entertainment! Besides Arline says she really likes this type of show and Fran did it many years ago and said it was fun. I figure this might be one of the only times that I get to see it and what the heck? They serve all you can eat Fried Chicken and Ribs so it can’t be all bad!

Here’s some shots that I found online of what to expect.

I’m sure we’ll have a rootin tootin good time! Now one thing I noticed tonight is that we are signed up for the 7:15 show. We have to be there at 6:30PM and the next show starts at 9:30PM. I’ve noticed that in doing research for cruises, none of the shows are longer than 45 minutes, and that is the case for the Aladdin show at DCA. I’m going to guess that they will give us from 7:15 to 8:00 to get situated, the show will get going somewhere just before 8PM and around 8:45 they will be ushering us out preparing for the next batch of guests.

The reason that I am noting this is that we paid beaucoup points for a MK view room at BLT and I started to realize that we have dinner reservations every night that may interfere with our viewing of the fireworks from our room! however, with the next show starting at 9:30PM, I’m sure that we will be back in our room by 10PM well in time to see the fireworks from our balcony for the second night in a row.

For anyone who remembers the original schedule, we’ll be changing that up tomorrow as well. We have two full days and half a day left after today.

 

[usnuzuloose]

We havent eaten at alot of the restaurants at WDW. The food looks amazing. But eating around the world can be like eating on a cruise. So much food. I agree sometimes it is nice to kick back and relax by the pool. Sounds like you have everything planned out very well.

 

[Leshaface]

Well we can hope that it heals in time for the F&W trip to WDW, but I don't think it will be healed for this trip. I've recapped this on several other threads but I'll give the short version here. No wound vac, but I have to clean her wounds and apply a salve daily to her wounds. They are nasty. Imagine if you had opened and Nectarine and removed the pit think of what you see, but larger and deeper. That is what I have to clean.

Perhaps she will be somewhat better by the May trip, but from the depth of those wounds, I can't imagine they will be even close to healed, just managed. They aren't hurting her which is good. Imagine a hole in your leg the size of one of those Reses peanut butter Easter Egg Candies. Bigger than a Reses peanut butter cup and that's the size of the wound in her leg. It makes my head spin just thinking about it. I feel incredibly selfish that I'm even thinking of this vacation while she is in this state, but she says she's OK. I just need to give her lots of down time.

In all reality, I hope that these wounds are healed by the time that we go on the cruise!

Okay, reading this gave me quivers and my leg hurt a bit. Yikes. I'm really hoping that this upcoming trip will get her excited and hopefully forget about the pain for a bit and focus on other things going on around her. Sometimes being in a different environment helps!

I've never considered doing the Polynesian Luau or the HDDR. The food looks pretty good at the HDDR though. I'm trying to remember, is this at the WL? If so, not too far from your room right?

 

[skiingfast]

Having the recliner sounds like a great idea, hopefully it can get moved for you.

I've never done the hoop de due reveiw, I mean Hoop Dee Do Revue. Fried chicken and BBQ ribs sounds quite heavenly, and tempting, but it's just too easy to see something similiar near my home.

 

[ACDSNY]

I think we've been to the Hoop De Doo review twice and I remember the strawberry shortcake being very good. That was many years ago so I wonder if they still have it.

Your trip will be here in no time.

 

[rentayenta]

Sending good vibes that you're upcoming trip goes off without a hitch.