What a disaster!!

[kath1210]

I haven't written my silly moment yet. Therefore, I decide to post the rest of the pictures of my Lake Placid trip.

Gorgeous pictures! Looking at this one makes me feel like I am actually flying along the road!

 

[topdog]

After your disaster, you could still debate? Drive all the way, it's the only way... YOu choose the hotel. When you look at all the hours you spent, waiting for a plane, on a plane, changing planes, you could've been enjoying the scenery and taking more gorgeous pictures! You get to bring anything you want, and not worry how to carry it all home! No question about it... Driving is the best way!

Your pictures of Lake Placid are gorgeous, thankyou for sharing

Glad you like the pictures.

You do have a point about driving. However, flying would restrict us how much we can bring and how much we can buy. That's a good thing. Otherwise, we end up over buying everything at Disney. Maybe that is a bad thing.

Beside that, 20+ hours of driving and seating in that tight quarter is just too much on my back. I do like the idea taking pictures along the way.

Sounds like you and DW must have been thrilled to finally arrive home.

Thanks for sharing your story with us!

For once I was glad to be reading a TR instead of wanting to be there with the writer. Hopefully you and DW can laugh about it now.

Thanks. We definitely glad to be home. DW doesn't talk about the trip at all. All she talks about is when are we going back again.

thanks for sharing the rest of your tr to wdw and the lake placid pictures. i've really enjoyed the writing and the great photos.

Thank you. So glad you enjoy it.

apparently not. What airline was it? Sorry if you've already answered this question.....

From PA? I have some friends that drive to Orlando every year from PA. They just always make sure to drive half one day and drive the other half the next day so maybe if you do it that way it would work. Might just have less time in WDW that way tho.

The original flight was Delta. The reconnect flight from Atlanta to Detroit was NorthWest.

I guess we can do that. We do have family at NC we can stay overnight and then continue our trip afterward. But I will have to add 2 more days of traveling.

 

[topdog]

Cool! A TR within a TR!

I thought the Lodge you stayed at looked a whole lot like Wildnerness until you told us to google that other Lodge. Um, that's wierd! They're almost identical!!!

Enjoyed the new pics, too. What beautiful scenery...

The Whiteface Lodge is magnificent. It was equally stunning as WL. Lake Placid was beautiful. My friend and I are planning to go back for skiing this up coming season.

I have enjoyed your trip report so much!

Thank you. Glad you like it.

Gorgeous pictures! Looking at this one makes me feel like I am actually flying along the road!

Thanks. It wasn't easy to take that picture. I have to stick my camera out of the window on top of the roof while my friend was driving. I was afraid my camera might blew away.

 

[topdog]

At this point, we are not sure when is our next trip yet. We did contemplate for a land/sea Disney cruise since neither one of us ever went to a cruise before. That's a possiblity. However, both of us really want to experience Christmas at Disney.

Initially, we thought we can go again at the beginning of this December since that seems to be the low time at Disney. I wouldn't want to go during Chrismas day. Althought I did do that once back in 1977 and I even stick around for New Year Eve firework as well. That was then. I am sure the crowd is much more intense now.

We did receive the 40% discount code and then free dining offer after we came back. However, both of those offer only go as far as to October. On top of that, I've been planning a long term project at work for almost a year now. It's getting close to be implement and that will take 4 to 5 months of work to install everything. During the implementation, my management want all team members on site at all time. I can't blame them because it's a very expensive expansion project. Therefore, a trip for this Christmas for over a week would be out of the question. Weekend trip or a day here and there is one thing. What kills me was Disney just email me another free dining plan promo yesterday. This time...they did extend the offer into December!! Grrr... I don't know I can't go without doing the DxDP. That's a MUST for me.

So...chances are the next Disney trip won't happen until Feb or Sep 2010 and then again on Dec. It's just something to hope for. We really like late Sep time frame the best. Low attendance and we don't have to worry about snow storm when we come home. I will definitely push for next Dec as well. We've been wanted to see the Disney Christmas decoration for a very long time.

As for travel arrangement, flying is still an option for us. We just might have to drive down to Philly for a direct flight instead of Allentown for a connect flight at Atlanta. We might drive also. Is there anyone here who live between Carolina and Georgia willing to put us up for a night? Just think, that's a possibility you can be part of my TR.

Other possibility is Adventure by Disney. We want to try China because DW want to have picture taken with a panda on her lap. It will take some serious saving for that trip.

 

[GoofyFairie]

topdog you are such a busy man, how do you get any sleep?!

I am advising the drive to the philly airport for a direct. It is still way less hours in the car driving to Disney that you could be spending in a park!

I can't wait to read another trip report and see pics of DW holding a panda. You better get a second job to pay for all these trips!

 

[topdog]

Sorry I haven't been around lately. It rained so much here...I have to squeeze in all my chores between "dry" time. My grass was so tall...It's a jungle out there. I managed to mowed it Friday after work right before it rain again. Spend the who Saturday at home cleaning and vacuuming. We finally have some sun yesterday so I can do some outdoor stuff for a few hours.

topdog you are such a busy man, how do you get any sleep?!

I am advising the drive to the philly airport for a direct. It is still way less hours in the car driving to Disney that you could be spending in a park!

I can't wait to read another trip report and see pics of DW holding a panda. You better get a second job to pay for all these trips!

You are right boarding at Philly. I am just not a big fan of big city and I grew up in NYC. We do have family members live at NC so we do have a place to rest should we chose to drive.

Trip to China with a panda won't happen for a long time unless the U.S. currency gets a little stronger quick.

 

[WDWAtLast]

Lake Placid is beautiful!!! And I would also love to be at Disney for Christmas (in early December!) Maybe in a few years!!!

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

We went the week after Thanksgiving in 2006 and they had all the Christmas stuff out. We stayed in Wilderness that year, too. Lovely! Breathtaking! Awesome! Lots of those types of adjectives to describe what I saw. I'd give anything to do Disney again at that time of year. Crowds were perfect - never had to wait more than twenty to thirty minutes for any ride and FP were obtainable also.

(Of course, that spoiled me for when we went in March and the crowds were ENORMOUS!!!! )

 

[scottny]

great updates and pics.

your pics are so gorgeous.

Your Lake Placid trip looked really nice too.

Sorry about the trip home, what a mess that was.

I called today and got the free dining for Mid October. Very happy. You can do deluxe on free dining but it is like half price I believe.

 

[topdog]

I got an interesting update. Thanks to mecllap's warning about Disney might have issue on my photo book should I choose to sell it. I decide to send an email to Disney corporate customer relation and ask how to acquire permission to sell the photo book of my Disney trip. That was a few weeks ago. I thought I would never hear anything from them.

Interesting enough, I got an email today from Disney corporate stating their business unit doesn't handle this type of request. However, she gave me a mailing address and a fax number of Disney's permission department because Disney won't give any kind of permission through internet inquiry. (I never thought there is such department exist.) I can sent or fax a letter explain what are my photos about and what are the nature of the photos so Disney can consider to give me permission or not should I need it.

I guess my next step is to mail or fax Disney a letter and see what's their response.

So stay tune for further development...

 

[Leger13]

At this point, we are not sure when is our next trip yet. We did contemplate for a land/sea Disney cruise since neither one of us ever went to a cruise before. That's a possiblity. However, both of us really want to experience Christmas at Disney.

Initially, we thought we can go again at the beginning of this December since that seems to be the low time at Disney. I wouldn't want to go during Chrismas day. Althought I did do that once back in 1977 and I even stick around for New Year Eve firework as well. That was then. I am sure the crowd is much more intense now.

We did receive the 40% discount code and then free dining offer after we came back. However, both of those offer only go as far as to October. On top of that, I've been planning a long term project at work for almost a year now. It's getting close to be implement and that will take 4 to 5 months of work to install everything. During the implementation, my management want all team members on site at all time. I can't blame them because it's a very expensive expansion project. Therefore, a trip for this Christmas for over a week would be out of the question. Weekend trip or a day here and there is one thing. What kills me was Disney just email me another free dining plan promo yesterday. This time...they did extend the offer into December!! Grrr... I don't know I can't go without doing the DxDP. That's a MUST for me.

So...chances are the next Disney trip won't happen until Feb or Sep 2010 and then again on Dec. It's just something to hope for. We really like late Sep time frame the best. Low attendance and we don't have to worry about snow storm when we come home. I will definitely push for next Dec as well. We've been wanted to see the Disney Christmas decoration for a very long time.

As for travel arrangement, flying is still an option for us. We just might have to drive down to Philly for a direct flight instead of Allentown for a connect flight at Atlanta. We might drive also. Is there anyone here who live between Carolina and Georgia willing to put us up for a night? Just think, that's a possibility you can be part of my TR.

Other possibility is Adventure by Disney. We want to try China because DW want to have picture taken with a panda on her lap. It will take some serious saving for that trip.

Bummer that a trip for first week of December won't work this year. As you know that is when I am going and we could have had a dis meet. Chris and I are also contemplating land and sea cruise. Sounds like a blast! I hope they offer free dining again next year so you can get it in September again. It's always such a good deal. And you got a pin code for free dining in December!? I haven't gotten that yet! No fair! Oh well, I wouldn't be able to use it anyways. A friend of mine hooked us up with CM discount on our room so that's always better than free dining. We just can't get the dining plan at all with that kind of discount though so that stinks. Oh well. Can't have everything.

I have a question....how far are you from Akron Ohio? I have family in PA and whenever we go to visit them we fly into Akron because we hate the Philly airport as well. Maybe you could try that? (I can't remember where you flew out of for this last trip).

Anyways, hope you're having a great week! Almost Friday!!

 

[topdog]

Bummer that a trip for first week of December won't work this year. As you know that is when I am going and we could have had a dis meet. Chris and I are also contemplating land and sea cruise. Sounds like a blast! I hope they offer free dining again next year so you can get it in September again. It's always such a good deal. And you got a pin code for free dining in December!? I haven't gotten that yet! No fair! Oh well, I wouldn't be able to use it anyways. A friend of mine hooked us up with CM discount on our room so that's always better than free dining. We just can't get the dining plan at all with that kind of discount though so that stinks. Oh well. Can't have everything.

I have a question....how far are you from Akron Ohio? I have family in PA and whenever we go to visit them we fly into Akron because we hate the Philly airport as well. Maybe you could try that? (I can't remember where you flew out of for this last trip).

Anyways, hope you're having a great week! Almost Friday!!

That would've been fun if we can have a Dis meet in December.

I am way on the northeast side of PA. That's about 6 to 7 hours of driving from Akron, OH. We normally fly out of Allentown airport. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is the next closest but they don't have direct flight either. Philly is the closest airport that has direct flight to FL. Otherwise, Newark NJ is the next option.

Unfortunately, this is a rough week. I got home tonight and found out our fridge just died. Water everywhere. Now we have to shop for a new fridge this weekend. Not fun.

 

[ang38]

Good luck with that! Years ago I sent a letter to them to request permission for a high school play to be performed. I did receive a confirmation letter telling me they had indeed received my letter and will get back to me soon. Well, I am still waiting! It's been 8 years I think I should give up I hope you make out better

I got an interesting update. Thanks to mecllap's warning about Disney might have issue on my photo book should I choose to sell it. I decide to send an email to Disney corporate customer relation and ask how to acquire permission to sell the photo book of my Disney trip. That was a few weeks ago. I thought I would never hear anything from them.

Interesting enough, I got an email today from Disney corporate stating their business unit doesn't handle this type of request. However, she gave me a mailing address and a fax number of Disney's permission department because Disney won't give any kind of permission through internet inquiry. (I never thought there is such department exist.) I can sent or fax a letter explain what are my photos about and what are the nature of the photos so Disney can consider to give me permission or not should I need it.

I guess my next step is to mail or fax Disney a letter and see what's their response.

So stay tune for further development...

 

[GoofyFairie]

I have a question....how far are you from Akron Ohio? I have family in PA and whenever we go to visit them we fly into Akron because we hate the Philly airport as well. Maybe you could try that? (I can't remember where you flew out of for this last trip).

Anyways, hope you're having a great week! Almost Friday!! [/QUOTE]


Maybe you mean Pittsburgh airport. It is on the western side of PA.

 

[Leger13]

That would've been fun if we can have a Dis meet in December.

I am way on the northeast side of PA. That's about 6 to 7 hours of driving from Akron, OH. We normally fly out of Allentown airport. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is the next closest but they don't have direct flight either. Philly is the closest airport that has direct flight to FL. Otherwise, Newark NJ is the next option.

Unfortunately, this is a rough week. I got home tonight and found out our fridge just died. Water everywhere. Now we have to shop for a new fridge this weekend. Not fun.

Wow so not a lot of options for you as far as good airports go huh? That totally sucks that you're so far away from Akron. I'll be flying out of Akron to go on my trip in November to WDW. Will be visiting my family there in PA and then going straight to Disney from there. Hopefully nothing awful will happen.

Oh man sorry to hear about your fridge That happened to us last year but it was a lot cheaper to fix the old fridge than to go out and get a new one. I hope you guys can at least find a good deal on a fridge that you're happy with. You just don't realize how much you rely on that appliance until it craps out on you.

 

[Leger13]

I have a question....how far are you from Akron Ohio? I have family in PA and whenever we go to visit them we fly into Akron because we hate the Philly airport as well. Maybe you could try that? (I can't remember where you flew out of for this last trip).

Anyways, hope you're having a great week! Almost Friday!!

Maybe you mean Pittsburgh airport. It is on the western side of PA.[/QUOTE]

ah yeah that's what I meant....Pittsburgh......haha I was SO bored yesterday that my brain was in "off" mode. I'm finding I made a lot of mistakes in the posts I made yesterday

 

[cherokeemamma]

Hi TopDog!

First, I want to say that I am sorry for abandoning your TR over the last month. I work at a church in the Children's division and we have been getting ready for VBS. I worked many, many hours. Have not been on here at all. VBS is over now so I finally caught up!

Wow...what a report. Great pictures! I am terribly sorry for your last series of disasters. Thankfully, everything worked out well in the end. I also live close (about 45 minutes) from the Atl airport. So, if you are ever driving through or have a layover we should plan a Dismeet.

I had a similar thing happen a couple of years ago. My DD and I went to WDW for a long weekend. A friend is a flight attentant for Delta and gave us buddy passes. We had no problem leaving Atl but on our return we spent the entire day...14+ hours waiting to get on a flight. We never did get on a flight and had to get a hotel room. Unfortunately for us, Delta doesn't pay for standed buddy pass riders so all expenses came out of our pocket. Thankfully we did get on a flight the next morning. The bad thing was my DD missed a day of standardized testing at school. The teacher and school administrators were not happy. It was very stressful but looking back, we laugh about it now. The really sad part of my story was that we could have spent that day at WDW because we had another day's pass. But who knew.

Love the pictures form Lake Placid...looks beautiful and the lodge there reminds me of something else...Wilderenss Lodge. Glad you had a great guys weekend.

Let us know what happens with your email to Disney about your pics.

I am sad to see your report come to an end. It has been fun. Thanks for sharing with us.

TTFN
Darlene

 

[TeresaNJ]

Hey TD! Long time, no see. Sorry to be slacking on reading the ending of your TR. I've just been so preoccupied with my daughter's graduation from college, and a few personal health issues. Oh my goodness, I would have been freaking if that happened to me on a flight home. Your poor wife! You too, of course. What a lousy ending to a magical trip. I was happy to read your luggage made it home safe and sound. That is always one of my big fears.

Loved your Lake Placid pics. I've never been there, but it looks like a beautiful place to visit. I just can't seem to pull myself away from Disney vacations though. We've got one planned for this December, staying at the new Contemporary Bay Lake Villas, and then our next family trip after that will be to the Grand Californian in Disneyland, woo hoo!!! I've never been to California, nor have any of my kids, so we're planning on going in October 2010 so we can do MNSSHP there. My son and daughter-in-law are huge Nightmare Before Christmas fans, and are dying to see the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland decorated like NbeforeC.

I was telling my DH about your flight troubles, and he said you could get a direct flight out of Allentown to the Sanford Airport, which is about a 30-40 minute drive to Disney. Maybe you could do that and rent a car when you get there. It looks like Allegiant Air flies out of Allentown directly to the Sanford/Orlando Airport. My niece flew into Sanford from Notre Dame to meet us at Disney, and my DH had to go pick her up, and he said it wasn't a bad drive at all.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your Disney book!

 

[topdog]

Good luck with that! Years ago I sent a letter to them to request permission for a high school play to be performed. I did receive a confirmation letter telling me they had indeed received my letter and will get back to me soon. Well, I am still waiting! It's been 8 years I think I should give up I hope you make out better

Magic can happen, right??

Maybe you mean Pittsburgh airport. It is on the western side of PA.

You know...I've been at Pittsburgh airport a few time. Never even thought about that airport.

Oh man sorry to hear about your fridge That happened to us last year but it was a lot cheaper to fix the old fridge than to go out and get a new one. I hope you guys can at least find a good deal on a fridge that you're happy with. You just don't realize how much you rely on that appliance until it craps out on you.

I fixed the old fridge a few times already. This time, the motor just died and it will cost a lot more to fix it plus we would be out of a fridge for a week or two. Not sure if it's worth to fix it. The new fridge was delivered yesterday. We shopped the best as we can and I think we got a pretty good deal. Hope this one last. The old fridge was 12 years old.

ah yeah that's what I meant....Pittsburgh......haha I was SO bored yesterday that my brain was in "off" mode. I'm finding I made a lot of mistakes in the posts I made yesterday

Maybe you need some black coffee and heavy dose of chocolate.

Hi TopDog!

First, I want to say that I am sorry for abandoning your TR over the last month. I work at a church in the Children's division and we have been getting ready for VBS. I worked many, many hours. Have not been on here at all. VBS is over now so I finally caught up!

Wow...what a report. Great pictures! I am terribly sorry for your last series of disasters. Thankfully, everything worked out well in the end. I also live close (about 45 minutes) from the Atl airport. So, if you are ever driving through or have a layover we should plan a Dismeet.

I had a similar thing happen a couple of years ago. My DD and I went to WDW for a long weekend. A friend is a flight attentant for Delta and gave us buddy passes. We had no problem leaving Atl but on our return we spent the entire day...14+ hours waiting to get on a flight. We never did get on a flight and had to get a hotel room. Unfortunately for us, Delta doesn't pay for standed buddy pass riders so all expenses came out of our pocket. Thankfully we did get on a flight the next morning. The bad thing was my DD missed a day of standardized testing at school. The teacher and school administrators were not happy. It was very stressful but looking back, we laugh about it now. The really sad part of my story was that we could have spent that day at WDW because we had another day's pass. But who knew.

Love the pictures form Lake Placid...looks beautiful and the lodge there reminds me of something else...Wilderenss Lodge. Glad you had a great guys weekend.

Let us know what happens with your email to Disney about your pics.

I am sad to see your report come to an end. It has been fun. Thanks for sharing with us.

TTFN
Darlene

Thank you for catching up. Another Atlanta "connection", I am all set now. LOL...

Hey TD! Long time, no see. Sorry to be slacking on reading the ending of your TR. I've just been so preoccupied with my daughter's graduation from college, and a few personal health issues. Oh my goodness, I would have been freaking if that happened to me on a flight home. Your poor wife! You too, of course. What a lousy ending to a magical trip. I was happy to read your luggage made it home safe and sound. That is always one of my big fears.

Loved your Lake Placid pics. I've never been there, but it looks like a beautiful place to visit. I just can't seem to pull myself away from Disney vacations though. We've got one planned for this December, staying at the new Contemporary Bay Lake Villas, and then our next family trip after that will be to the Grand Californian in Disneyland, woo hoo!!! I've never been to California, nor have any of my kids, so we're planning on going in October 2010 so we can do MNSSHP there. My son and daughter-in-law are huge Nightmare Before Christmas fans, and are dying to see the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland decorated like NbeforeC.

I was telling my DH about your flight troubles, and he said you could get a direct flight out of Allentown to the Sanford Airport, which is about a 30-40 minute drive to Disney. Maybe you could do that and rent a car when you get there. It looks like Allegiant Air flies out of Allentown directly to the Sanford/Orlando Airport. My niece flew into Sanford from Notre Dame to meet us at Disney, and my DH had to go pick her up, and he said it wasn't a bad drive at all.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your Disney book!

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon. I saw your daughter's graduation pictures. Very nice!!

Lake Placid was very nice. DW and I might go there some time at the end of the summer. My manager already gave me an order...I am not allow to take any vacation days from late July until mid Sep unless it's family emergency.

Holloween at Disney must be fun but we want to see Christmas at Disney first. Not too far from me, we have a haunted mansion too which is somewhat the Disney one base on from what I was told. It's the Harry Packer Mansion at Jim Thorpe. It's much creeper than the one at Disney.

I heard about the Sanford airport. DW told me about it. That's definitely another option but then we won't able to use the ME. Grrr.... If Disney would participate at Sanford airport, then I am all set.

I should able to post a few page of my photobook layout soon. Stay tune and don't touch that dial...

 

[Leger13]

I fixed the old fridge a few times already. This time, the motor just died and it will cost a lot more to fix it plus we would be out of a fridge for a week or two. Not sure if it's worth to fix it. The new fridge was delivered yesterday. We shopped the best as we can and I think we got a pretty good deal. Hope this one last. The old fridge was 12 years old.

Maybe you need some black coffee and heavy dose of chocolate.

Oh man yeah I would have decided to get a new fridge at that point too. Sounds like the old one lasted you a good long time though so that's good Ours was only 5 years old by the time it decided it needed a new defrosting element.

yeah, I think you may be right on that one. Hopefully this week will prove better for me since it's a short week