All the Makings of a Disaster, The Wrap up 11/20

[lurkernj]

Originally Posted by shalom

Totally agree. Just re-read a Disney Food Blog on all the creme brulee in WDW, and now I'm thinking about rearranging all my meals around that.


mmmmm the creme brulee at Puck Express was our favorite, though I haven't tried any at the signature restaurants



My dad's like that -- when he drives you into his neighborhood, he'll give you a rundown on what all the various neighbors are up to as you pass. Maybe it's that he grew up on a small town where knowing everyone and what they're up to is really important? I dunno. My mom grew up in small towns, too (although her family moved a lot, which dad's didn't), and she's almost as oblivious as I am. Dad always grumbled about how her family is a bunch of recluses, though.

Of course, all the stories your FIL creates, you've got a good stock going without worrying about the neighbors -- since he thinks what he's doing makes perfect sense, maybe your FIL has a greater need for neighborly entertainment.

Yes, my SIL and I entertain each other regularly with our encounters with FIL and MIL. I don't think my FIL thinks there's anything wrong with him, though he's quick to point out when MIL has a moment.

[lurkernj]

Alright, let's get this show moving along and complete the trip home.

The ride to the airport was uneventful. We got there, grabbed all our stuff and headed in. We said our goodbyes to Chuck and off he went to find the United counter, while we went to the Airtran counter.

I have to admit, I was fully expecting to have an issue using the $57 credit for our baggage. I couldn’t decide if I was beaten down enough to just hand over my CC, or if I was going to go into full blown battle mode.

Well, imagine my surprise when she looked it up, applied it, asked for the $3 difference, gave me new boarding passes and sent me on my way. Thank you very much. I have to say I was hesitant to fly Airtran since we've never flown with them, but they were great.

Security was uneventful and Pop didn’t get called aside for his hip this time. He was trying to get to security ahead of us because he didn’t feel like having the boys make fun of him for it, but no need this time.

We got to the gate and I read a book. Kids played games on their laptops, and Nanny and Pop read their books. Thank you.

The flight was also uneventful. I sat between the boys, and Nanny and Pop were up a little from us. Brian did homework, Matt played a game, and I read. I think we landed 20 mins early again.

As soon as we landed, we headed for baggage claim and everything came up very quickly. We headed out and there was already a van to our parking lot. We got on immediately and were off.

We are doing really good here right?


We have two cars here now, so the boys and I get dropped off at our car and Nanny and Pop get dropped off at theirs. I find them and we drive to the line to pay at the drive up window. Nanny has asked me to put hers on my card since they won’t use credit cards, so I have my ticket and hers.
I made these reservations about 6 weeks before our trip. I got a discount, put down a deposit for each car, and received a confirmation of what I owed. Chuck apparently had the printout for our car (because he brought it home from Europe with him), and I have no idea what I did with Nanny and Pops printout, but I have both confirmations on my smartphone and I pull them up.

When it’s my turn at the window, this girl is like mmmmnope, I can’t use that. I need the paper. I tell her to scan in the barcode from the phone, nope can’t do that, I need the paper. I show her the balance due, nope can’t honor it, I need the paper. Ok, fine, well, how about the deposit I put down, nope no can do, I need the paper. Can I speak with a manager, nope not here. All with an attitude.

I’m not one to have violent tendencies, but I’m feeling like I’m going to have to hit her and end up getting arrested(or put in the hospital since she was much bigger than me) if I don’t get out of there, so I just hand over my cc and pay.

Then I tell her I want to pay for the car behind me and here is their ticket. She tells me I have to pull out of the parking lot and walk back up to the window to pay her if I want to do this. I am ready to reach through the window and grab her by the collar at this point.

I pull out, walk back in, Pop is watching me wondering what the heck I’m doing and leans out the window and starts asking what’s going on. I cut him off and tell him I got it, don’t worry about it. I’m ready to snap and don't need the interrogation now. I give the girl their ticket and my card. The balance I owed on the two reservations was $98. Since she would not honor my reservation number or the deposit I put down when I made the reservation, the balance it actually cost me to get both cars out of the lot was $138. This was really disappointing as we’ve used this lot before and it really is convenient, but I must have always had the paper.

In my haste, when I took my signed copy (from Pops reservation), I took the cashiers too. I didn’t notice til I got home, but I at least felt better that she now doesn’t have a “paper” to prove I signed for this charge, because I plan on disputing this.

So that’s how the story ends. Seriously.


Well ok, if you insist, I’ll include some more ugly details of the return week, then really, I must go for hypnosis to have it all removed from my brain, because the week before our trip, the actual trip, and the week after our trip were some of the most mentally exhausting weeks I’ve endured.

Stay tuned next week

[xDisneyAngelx]

Hey,

Great trip report and beautiful pictures. It seems like you had loads of fun :-)

[lurkernj]

Originally Posted by xDisneyAngelx

Hey,

Great trip report and beautiful pictures. It seems like you had loads of fun :-)

Thanks!

Yes, despite all the annoyances there was indeed some fun had by all.

[lurkernj]

I didn’t sleep well after our return, I was so perturbed by the final day events from the resort credits to the carpark.

I got the kids off to school, and thankfully I had off this day, so I did some laundry, and tried to relax with my Main Street bakery cinnamon bun and a coffee. The carpark situation was really eating at me, so I tried to call 4 times and was told that the manager would be back in an hour (all 4 times). I gave up on that and the next morning contacted my credit card company. I scanned all the documents over to them, and was issued a credit a few days later (the $40 difference of course). Thank you Chase.

I needed to take Matt to the urgent care facility to get his pinky x-rayed on my first day back, so he could get back to football. No break, just sprained thank goodness, and another week off from practice.

But when we got home from there, my dog was limping. He does this often, since he is constantly running up and down the stairs and jumping on/off the furniture. He’s a pretty big dog, a Weimaraner, and he’s about 85-90lbs. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Yes foreshadowing again. We’ll get back to that. And keep in mind, Chuck is in Europe, so I’m on my own here.

On Wednesday Matt complained that his tooth was hurting a lot, so I got him a dentist appt for the next day, where I was told he had a pretty bad infection in his jaw bone from a fractured root and the tooth should come out, so he was put on pain killers and antibiotics and had the tooth out the following week. Fortunately it is the last molar in his mouth, so the orthodontist will connect a brace to the wisdom tooth growing in and move it into this now available space.

Well, the dog got worse throughout that week. On Thursday he only got up twice to go outside and cried/yelped the whole time. By Friday morning, he could no longer walk at all and I can’t lift him, so I waited til Chuck got home from Europe that afternoon. I was sure he had a broken hip or something. I got Chuck from the train station around 3p, I think he was upset that he didn’t get such a warm homecoming, but I was afraid of what was wrong with the dog and worried that we might have to make a terrible decision at the vet.

We stopped by the house and carried the dog on his bed into the car and took him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with severe arthritis due to his off the charts lymes disease (I think they said most dogs with lymes range between 200-300 and poor Winston was over 600). The poor thing couldn’t walk for almost a week. Everytime he stood up he was crying, so he only got up twice a day to go outside, which was really an effort for him. He’ll be 9 in January, so he’s not very old. It’s been almost two months now and he's back to normal, but it took several weeks for him to not be in pain.

I also wrote a letter to POR regarding the room situation and the difficulty with older people and my request to be moved a little closer to the main building, though I didn’t expect them to reply since I chose a standard room this was the chance we took. I also included the final day issue with the in-laws dining credits. This was about seven weeks ago and the only response I got was that they would forward my response to management. Wasn’t looking for anything, just wanted to make them aware how these issues were handled.

I can say with all seriousness that it took me a full two weeks to recover from this trip. I was moody and pensive when I got home since this wasn’t at all the trip I had expected, and was really a lot more work than actual enjoyment. Oddly enough, I thought the kids would have been the issue, but they were really good sports about it. It was the three adults I was with.

There were moments when it made me sad to see the difference in Nanny and Pop from our trip 4 years ago when they were so much more able to handle themselves, to basically being helpless and childlike this trip. Pop’s questions weren’t really anything new, though they did seem a bit more frequent and repetitive, but I think I was just around him too much this trip since they couldn’t be left alone much.

All in all, I still feel like it was worth it, as I know Nanny had a great time and really does enjoy Disney. She really is a sweet person and does so much for others, that I’m glad she had a chance to go. Sadly, I think this will be their last trip, as I don’t think the boys will be wanting to go as a family again, and the in-laws won’t go alone (nor should they).

As for Chuck, he keeps seeing the RunDisney stuff on my facebook page and has asked when we will run another Disney Race. I flat out told him that I don’t think I’d go to Disney with him again until we have grandkids. He’s just not much fun there between the attitude, the sleeping, and not being able to eat what I want, it’s just not fun for me to be there with him, and it’s just not the ideal vacation for him. We go on other trips and have a great time, with and without the kids (heading to Vegas in January), but I think Disney will be my thing from now on.

Usually when I get home, I am already checking the calendar to see when I will go back (or I’ve booked the bounceback), but this time, I felt like I was done and would be for quite some time.

Now that it’s been almost two months, and I’ve had time to recuperate, I am starting to think that I need to start planning my re-do. I mentioned it to Matt and he said he’s good for a while, that I should go with my BFF. I’m thinking next October for food/wine again, either solo or with BFF. I think I’d actually love to do a solo for 4 or 5 nts at Art of Animation or Pop. I tried to do a solo two years ago but BFF wanted to go and we did have a great time.

Thank you all for reading along. I hope it entertained you. I’m glad I wrote this trip report, so if I think about going again with the group, I can re-read this and make a better decision.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!!

[shalom]

Originally Posted by lurkernj

he had a pretty bad infection in his jaw bone from a fractured root and the tooth should come out, so he was put on pain killers and antibiotics and had the tooth out the following week

Is every football season like this? (It's football, right?) Infection in the bone is pretty unnerving. Glad to hear there's a work-around for that lost tooth.

Originally Posted by lurkernj

He’ll be 9 in January, so he’s not very old. It’s been almost two months now and he's back to normal, but it took several weeks for him to not be in pain

Aw. Poor puppy. Glad to hear he's doing better. But before you said "not very old," I thought nine years was well into old age for a dog that big. We're cat people, where average age is determined more by whether the cat goes out than breed, so I dunno.

Originally Posted by lurkernj

This was about seven weeks ago and the only response I got was that they would forward my response to management.

The mantra on the Disney resorts board is, "Get it taken care of while you're there," which kind of bugs me, to be honest. We always get stuff taken care of while we're there with our resort network (Bluegreen) -- but getting it taken care of there is far less hassle than it sounds to be with Disney! People will report calling and calling and calling, and, even when someone shows up, nothing gets done.

Granted, we're hearing from people who are ticked off enough to report their problem to the Dis board, so Disney's average could be a lot better than it looks, but people report gripes about my resort network to other boards, and "they never showed when promised" is not often on that list. "I shouldn't have to tell them about this" is the more common one. Granted, I tend to discount slow response on holiday weekends, because you know they're swamped, but I get the impression that Disney, which is filled to much nearer capacity much more of the year, doesn't seem to cope any better.

Which is one of the reasons I waffle a lot about staying onsite. I think the magic would make up for a lot for me, but not so much some of the other members of the family.

Originally Posted by lurkernj

He’s just not much fun there between the attitude, the sleeping, and not being able to eat what I want, it’s just not fun for me to be there with him, and it’s just not the ideal vacation for him. We go on other trips and have a great time, with and without the kids (heading to Vegas in January), but I think Disney will be my thing from now on.

With your first sentence, I was going to suggest separating while in the parks, because that's the only way I would enjoy them going with hubby, but it sounds like this is more of a Disney-specific deal with you guys. The parks amplify it with us, which is why we mostly don't tour together, but we have those moments on all our trips. I think your half solo/half BFF trip sounds terrific, though.

This trip report definitely makes me feel better about the fact my parents aren't going this next time. But I still want to get them in the parks some time. It may have been a lot of work, but you got a lot of memories to treasure, I think.

Thank you for your trip report, and Happy Thanksgiving!

[lurkernj]

Originally Posted by shalom

Is every football season like this? (It's football, right?) Infection in the bone is pretty unnerving. Glad to hear there's a work-around for that lost tooth.

Oh D D D Dear, sorry if it was misleading, the tooth had nothing to do with footbal. It was a root canal he had about a year and a half ago, apparently the root cracked inside his gums (maybe he bit down on something hard, not sure), then the infection formed.



Aw. Poor puppy. Glad to hear he's doing better. But before you said "not very old," I thought nine years was well into old age for a dog that big. We're cat people, where average age is determined more by whether the cat goes out than breed, so I dunno.

Generally 9 isn't that old (and he's actually still 8, won't be 9 til January), usually they live to be around 12. My SIL's larger dog died last year and he was 15.




The mantra on the Disney resorts board is, "Get it taken care of while you're there," which kind of bugs me, to be honest. We always get stuff taken care of while we're there with our resort network (Bluegreen) -- but getting it taken care of there is far less hassle than it sounds to be with Disney! People will report calling and calling and calling, and, even when someone shows up, nothing gets done.

Granted, we're hearing from people who are ticked off enough to report their problem to the Dis board, so Disney's average could be a lot better than it looks, but people report gripes about my resort network to other boards, and "they never showed when promised" is not often on that list. "I shouldn't have to tell them about this" is the more common one. Granted, I tend to discount slow response on holiday weekends, because you know they're swamped, but I get the impression that Disney, which is filled to much nearer capacity much more of the year, doesn't seem to cope any better.

I attempted to have us moved on day 1, but that didn't get me anywhere, and once we were all unpacked and settled I didn't want to repack if they could find us a place. I thought it would only be an issue for a day or two. Honestly, I did just pay for a standard and got what I paid for so I didn't want to make a big stink over it, but just wanted them to know how it impacted our trip so maybe they can be more accomodating when such a request comes in. I don't think people should have to pay an extra $250 per week(per room) to be able to find the food court.

Which is one of the reasons I waffle a lot about staying onsite. I think the magic would make up for a lot for me, but not so much some of the other members of the family.

I would absolutely still consider on-site. The flexibility with the buses is huge for us so everyone can head back to the room when they want and everyone else doesn't have to go. Kids were free to go to DTD etc and I didn't have to worry about picking up/dropping off.



With your first sentence, I was going to suggest separating while in the parks, because that's the only way I would enjoy them going with hubby, but it sounds like this is more of a Disney-specific deal with you guys. The parks amplify it with us, which is why we mostly don't tour together, but we have those moments on all our trips. I think your half solo/half BFF trip sounds terrific, though.
Yeah, I think it's just Disney specific for us since we do a lot of things together normally and don't have any major issues. I'm loving the idea of a solo trip, now just to figure out how to make it happen

This trip report definitely makes me feel better about the fact my parents aren't going this next time. But I still want to get them in the parks some time. It may have been a lot of work, but you got a lot of memories to treasure, I think.
Yes indeed it was a lot of work, but yes, worth it. But not again When the urge hits you to go with them, come back here and read this

Thank you for your trip report, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for reading along and commenting so often so I didn't feel like I was talking to myself

[shalom]

Originally Posted by lurkernj

I would absolutely still consider on-site. The flexibility with the buses is huge for us so everyone can head back to the room when they want and everyone else doesn't have to go. Kids were free to go to DTD etc and I didn't have to worry about picking up/dropping off.

Yah, that's a big part of the draw. I don't care about driving to the parks -- actually I would probably drive to the parks even if staying onsite -- but being able to have my teens and hubby use the onsite transportation would be terrific. The biggest issue really is that we find their two bedroom villas too small, and I'm not willing to pay for a grand villa. Once we're not traveling with all five kids we'll definitely give onsite a shot.

But I'm not convinced Disney is as good at hotel/villa management as they are at theming.

Originally Posted by lurkernj

Thanks for reading along and commenting so often so I didn't feel like I was talking to myself

I enjoyed it very much.

[luckylady]

Wow I can't believe I let so much time pass since I last read. All done now. I was thinking if DH really wants to run with you you could always go a week before and since the race, more then likely, isn't until the weekend he could join you for that. Just a thought. Having gone through the question stage with my inlaws I feel for you. I know it isn't easy and makes you want to rip your hair out. it's the pits growing old. I truely enjoyed readin all about your trip and thanks for posting it. Hope it was a good football season for DS and Happy Thanksgiving.

[preschoolmom]

I just read your whole trip report in one night! It was great!!! Nicely written, just the right length updates... Lots of pictures... You were really honest about all of your ups and downs - and that was really nice to read!

Thanks for sharing it!

[lurkernj]

Originally Posted by shalom

Yah, that's a big part of the draw. I don't care about driving to the parks -- actually I would probably drive to the parks even if staying onsite -- but being able to have my teens and hubby use the onsite transportation would be terrific. The biggest issue really is that we find their two bedroom villas too small, and I'm not willing to pay for a grand villa. Once we're not traveling with all five kids we'll definitely give onsite a shot.

But I'm not convinced Disney is as good at hotel/villa management as they are at theming.



I enjoyed it very much.

Yeah, I could definitely see how having 5 kids would have you off site. The space (and cost) is a huge factor with that many.

The themeing is great at the Disney hotels, but yes, I think the management could use a little work.

Originally Posted by luckylady

Wow I can't believe I let so much time pass since I last read. All done now. I was thinking if DH really wants to run with you you could always go a week before and since the race, more then likely, isn't until the weekend he could join you for that. Just a thought. Having gone through the question stage with my inlaws I feel for you. I know it isn't easy and makes you want to rip your hair out. it's the pits growing old. I truely enjoyed readin all about your trip and thanks for posting it. Hope it was a good football season for DS and Happy Thanksgiving.

Eh, if he wants to run, he can do it somewhere else besides Disney

The best thing about football season is that it's over

Thanks for reading along and posting

Originally Posted by preschoolmom

I just read your whole trip report in one night! It was great!!! Nicely written, just the right length updates... Lots of pictures... You were really honest about all of your ups and downs - and that was really nice to read!

Thanks for sharing it!

Wow! Thanks, I'm flattered I could keep you interested long enough to read the whole thing at once!

Definitely not my best trip, figures I'd pick this one to write about I will hopefully have another next year and it WILL BE BETTER