We Don't Play Nice With Others. (Complete!)

[TheMaxRebo]

my goodness that is a long and stressful travel day! Glad everything worked out in the end but handling all those connections and changes with kids must have been very stressful.

And to close customs at 9pm? What do they do if your plane is delayed and you don't make it? Just kinda hang out there until the morning?

Yeah for upgrades on the cars though - that is good! As well as having no bed bugs! And, at the end of the day/start of the next day you were in Orlando!!!!

 

[teekathepony]

We should definitely get on that. Some sort of hidden camera in Mickey Ears?

Huh. I really like that idea. Hidden camera Disney and airport videos. Could get interesting!

I would have been psychotic and nobody would have been safe in my wrath lol You handled that much better than I would have

It was very rough, I (and everyone else) got lucky -- no one really got in my way!

my goodness that is a long and stressful travel day! Glad everything worked out in the end but handling all those connections and changes with kids must have been very stressful.
It was, I'm not a fan of the changes and connections anyway, but seriously this was ridiculous. I have to say though, the kids were great! Certain high energy nervous adults on the other hand...

And to close customs at 9pm? What do they do if your plane is delayed and you don't make it? Just kinda hang out there until the morning?
I honestly don't know. They told us if we missed it we would be stranded in Toronto for about two days. How is that ok??

Yeah for upgrades on the cars though - that is good! As well as having no bed bugs! And, at the end of the day/start of the next day you were in Orlando!!!!
Uhm... let's go ahead and say, "no bed bugs yet."

 

[ZehnJahren]

Ok, I'm home from my own trip and I'm here! Wow, what a start to everything! The worst part is sitting on a plane in the air feeling like there is no chance you are going to make your connection, and having to feel that way the entire time you're in the air! I seriously haven't taken a connecting flight in YEARS because I just can't handle the stress. I think my last connecting flight was about 15 years ago; just can't do it.

Then add newbies to the mix? Aww, it could have gone so wrong.

Uh oh, one toothbrush. Well Johnny could just use his finger.

 

[teekathepony]

Ok, I'm home from my own trip and I'm here! Wow, what a start to everything! The worst part is sitting on a plane in the air feeling like there is no chance you are going to make your connection, and having to feel that way the entire time you're in the air! I seriously haven't taken a connecting flight in YEARS because I just can't handle the stress. I think my last connecting flight was about 15 years ago; just can't do it.

Then add newbies to the mix? Aww, it could have gone so wrong.

Uh oh, one toothbrush. Well Johnny could just use his finger.

Welcome home, and to my report!! Glad to have you here! (You know, despite the rocky start!!)
We had to share the toothbrush. It was a low point in my life.

 

[JulieODC]

Oof, what a crazy start to the trip!! SO glad you made it, albeit late -- what a long day!

 

[scholastica]

Wow! It is nothing short of a miracle you made it! I once had to do the airport dash with a 5 year old and 2 carry on bags. It is not pleasant.

 

[ValarDisneyus]

We had to share the toothbrush. It was a low point in my life.

Oh, girl. You have my sympathies.

 

[teekathepony]

Oof, what a crazy start to the trip!! SO glad you made it, albeit late -- what a long day!

It was crazy, and long, but we actually made it. Still can't believe it!

Wow! It is nothing short of a miracle you made it! I once had to do the airport dash with a 5 year old and 2 carry on bags. It is not pleasant.

Yikes! It's not fun, that's for sure. We had four adults and a 6 year old and all together I think 5 pieces of carry on luggage (though one was just my purse!) I can't believe we didn't lose anything!

Oh, girl. You have my sympathies.

Thanks. Things were rough.

 

[teekathepony]

Chapter 2: Friends, Family, and Enemies.

[Warning: This whole day was very light on pictures so I'm going to skip through as fast as I can!]

The next morning we were up and at 'em earlier than expected due to a very loud early riser in our group. (Not used to sharing a house with more than just Johnny and I... this was not easy to get used to! See TR title. ) Johnny got right on the phone with Air Canada -- the enemies of the chapter title.

They were 100% useless. They simply could not find our bag at all, but were not ready to call it "lost" -- this prevented them from authorizing us to spend any money that they would reimburse.

Reminder: I had nothing at all. We brought almost nothing to carry on, I had just my purse and Johnny had a small backpack with no clothes or toiletries. I had the clothes I was wearing on the plane and the one toothbrush we had picked up at the gas station and that was it.

Johnny fought with them some more and finally they authorized us to go get some essentials and when we got home we could file for reimbursement. (We've done that, now let's see how that goes!)

So I put on yesterday's clothes and we were off to find the closest shopping center. MIL, S-FIL and Billy came too, it was also grocery day.

We stopped at Target and figured we would do it all there. They set about getting groceries and Johnny and I went on the hunt for clothes. Do you know how hard it is to find shorts for sale in September? Even in Florida!

Eventually we both got two pairs of shorts, two shirts, some undies, deodorant, and some laundry soap. Enough to do us a little while. We also picked up a couple of grocery items.

Back to the condo we went.

Anyone notice anything missing from my list?

We forgot a second toothbrush. Oh well. We'd just have to share until another store run was made. I put our new clothes in the wash. There was a request for a beer run so Johnny somehow (despite drinking absolutely no alcohol) got roped into going too. He, Billy and S-FIL went while Shellie took the kids to the pool. MIL was on the phone with the head office of the condo company. Apparently during her bed bug check, she thought she had seen something. They sent up someone from housekeeping to check.

They found one silverfish in MIL's bed and one in mine.

It was under the matteress so no, I wasn't sleeping in close proximity to any critters. The housekeeper said that they are harmless, and the very small numbers indicate that they came in on someone elses luggage, but still, she recommended that we change rooms. So we did. Of course at that time we had to haul ALL the groceries back down, but at least we didn't have to go far. Just down one floor.

Also, Johnny brought me back a gift -- a second toothbrush!

(At this point in our trip, the little things were worth giant celebrations!)

Here are the only two pictures I took inside the condo:
Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

If you'd like to see more about the place, check out their website.

It was a nice enough place. The 8 of us were a little snug in the condo. There were four bedrooms and three bathrooms, so getting ready in the mornings wasn't too bad. The living area was very small and only the master bedroom (where MIL was) had a TV. Also the master bath was the only one with the soaker tub that I reeeeeeeally fell in love with (and never got to try.)

The place was clean and neat. One MAJOR complaint was that the kitchen sink, when running made a very loud hum/screech sound. Nice when people were making coffee at 4:30am.

I liked it ok but the location wasn't that great. We were close to stores and restaurants and anything we might need, but nowhere near close enough to Disney for my tastes. More on that later.

We got re-situated and had some snacks. I was changed into my new clothes, washing my old ones, and ready to go and trying to convince everyone to do the same. We had an ADR to get to!

T-Rex at 3:30pm!

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

I had been hearing some horror stories about the parking at DTD so I knew I wanted to leave early. Finally, about a half hour after I told everyone we should leave, we were programming DTD into the GPS and on our way. Our first time ever driving to Disney!

We were happy to find that it was pretty easy! When we got to DTD we were directed to the Casting parking lot. We easily found two close spots together, just across the road from the Marketplace. So easy! Oops! I guess we didn't have to leave quite so early after all!

We walked around a bit, no one was really interested in looking in the shops sooo... we kind of just walked and looked.

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

So. Much. Construction.

I felt a little sorry that this was Billy and Shellie's first Disney experience, wishing they could have seen it before the construction.

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

We were all starving so Johnny and I went to the podium to check in just a few minutes early. With a party of 8 we didn't really expect to get in too early, but we didn't wait long at all and we were being seated in the Sequoia room. In the back, past the fish tank and beside the ice cave, if you can't think of where that is. It was a great spot for us!

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Billy and Shellie were completely blown away by the themeing in here. When the first meteor shower hit they were just looking around at everything, loving it all. PrinceC6 was of course, enthralled by everything, and PrincessD11 was having a blast.

Whew! Our first recommendation was a hit!

Shellie and I both ordered a new item on the menu;

"Mastadon Stuffed Chicken - Marinated chicken breast stuffed with artichoke hearts and creamy spinach, topped with sun-dried tomatoes and lemon butter. Served with red skinned mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Add a Jurassic Salad for $3.99 or Asteroid French Onion Soup for $4.99.. $19.99"

It was absolutely delicious. Omg my mouth waters just thinking about it.

Johnny had a steak with waffle fries. PrincessD had kids pizza... hmm. I can't remember anyone else. All I know is that we all loved our food and the theming. We had a great waitress who kept our drinks topped up! Speaking of drinks, Billy ordered both kids and himself the souvenir light up glasses. A very fun way to kick off the trip.

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

A fantastic meal among friends and family!

For dessert, we ordered three "Ice Age Indulgence - Layers of ice cream sandwiches, fudge sauce, whipped cream and Heath Bar Crunch $8.99"

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

...to share around. None of them got finished completely, and we probably could have just shared one, but oh my, did we enjoy them!!

After our wonderful meal we wandered around DTD a little bit more, made a special stop in Disney's Days of Christmas for our traditional yearly Christmas ornament. Here's the one we picked:

Side one -
Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Side two -
Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

When we got back to the condo, everyone headed down to the pool except for Johnny and I. We got back on the phone with Air Canada. Still unable to locate our bag. We decided to go down to the pool with everyone.

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

Untitled by teekathepony, on Flickr

I had no bathing suit, but (natebenma -- you'd be so proud of me!!) I jumped in fully clothed, with no intentions of letting this missing bag ruin my trip.

After our swim we were exhausted and we headed back to our room to go to bed.

Coming up next: Finally in a park!

 

[jedijill]

Ugh on the missing bags! I can't believe Air Canada was dragging their feet so much! I'm glad you guys managed to find some clothes and finally got a second toothbrush!

I'm glad you had a great meal at T-Rex!

Jill in CO

 

[ValarDisneyus]

You may have just sold me on booking the T-Rex dining experience! I figure we'll probably have a DTD night after our AK day, since they close earlier than the other parks and most of the big rides there are for buddies taller than my wee buddy. I bet she'd love it! Thanks for letting me vacation with you again! Hope your skippies are recovered soon! <3

 

[teekathepony]

Ugh on the missing bags! I can't believe Air Canada was dragging their feet so much! I'm glad you guys managed to find some clothes and finally got a second toothbrush!

I'm glad you had a great meal at T-Rex!

Jill in CO

Yeah AC has terrible customer service. Not only were we missing everything, the person on the phone couldn't possibly care less.
T-Rex made up for a lot, it was awesome!

You may have just sold me on booking the T-Rex dining experience! I figure we'll probably have a DTD night after our AK day, since they close earlier than the other parks and most of the big rides there are for buddies taller than my wee buddy. I bet she'd love it! Thanks for letting me vacation with you again! Hope your skippies are recovered soon! <3

I LOVE T-Rex! It wasn't our first time there and it won't be the last. It's really, really cool, their menu is great and the food is delicious.

 

[obxlvr13]

Im so sorry your luggage was lost!! Im glad you decided to jump in the pool anyway!! Cant wait to see how the rest of the trip goes!

 

[amazingact21]

I cannot believe your rotten luck so far this trip. It's like, if something could go wrong, it did.
I mean, come on, having to switch rooms...that stinks.


Doesn't it kill you when you are with people who don't want to go in and look around shops?


That dish does sound delicious! Makes me want to go to t-Rex, just to try it.


Perfect way to end the update, Wendy! not letting all the crud get to you and living in the moment. I loved it.

 

[geckodani]

The next time Adam gives me a hard time for packing a carry on stuffed full to overflowing, I am going to direct him here.

I had an experience like yours once, and since then I manage to cram as much as possible into my carry on. I got all my shirts, undies, socks, an extra bra and 2 changes of pants into it last time, LOL! I'm so sorry you were off to such a rough start!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Missing luggage bites the big one. I will send pixie dust that the claim goes through!

I've never tried T-Rex but may have to sometime soon. It looks pretty awesome!

Hooray for the new toothbrush!!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Joining in! Wow--you guys are having some adventures to start your trip! I'm glad you're not letting them spoil the fun! And bless Johnny's heart for remembering that second toothbrush! I'd be having a problem with that-even with my DH!

I'm glad you all had such a great experience at t-Rex! We sat in that same area when we went. It was so much fun and our girls loved it!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

See that's the part that is so frustrating. It's one thing to lose the bags, but to not just call it what it is... LOST... That's where I would lose it.

Haha, it's amazing when you have almost nothing how even the smallest things seem so huge like the toothbrush. To be honest, that would probably be a good thing to apply in our every day lives.

Ah YAY, Finally something Disney. So glad your parking experience went so well because So. Much. Construction.

So awesome that T-Rex was such a big hit. Score!

 

[JulieODC]

-- how frustrating about the bag situation!! Good luck getting reimbursed though!!I'm anxious to see whether and when you actually get your bags!!

Great job with the DTD parking!! Sounds pretty luck to me!! (Maybe a little pixie dust your way after such a stressful travel day! )

TRex looks really cool, and the food sounds good!

 

[Clarf]

Yikes! What rough start. That sucks about your bags being lost. Really sucks. I'm glad you finally got your own toothbrush though.

The condo looks pretty. How long did it take you to get to the Disney area from there?

I had heard nightmare stories about parking at DTD too. We always drive, but we had the same experience you did. Parked in the casting lot and walked right in. No problem at all.

T-Rex is so much fun! We had our first visit there this year. Your entree sounds delish! I may have to try that one next time. Glad everyone liked it!

Love your Christmas ornament. Good pick!