The Honeymoon that Never Happened Trip

[jnorth1007]

Ok we have one week until we leave for our mom and dad only trip to Disney. I figured I would give you all a little pre-trip info and let you know how things came about.

It was January 2007 and I had decided that I was going to plan a family trip for our family which includes myself, my DH Brandon, my children Callie 6, Grace 4 and Justin 3. This time is was going to PLAN the trip. Our past trips were scheduled but not planned. I began my research. Funny how things take you from one place to another without you ever knowing you had started on the trip? I began by just pulling up websites that discussed WDW. One of the first things I realized was that I could get a travel agent who could "help" me get a discount for my trip. I decided on one from Small Word Vacations and made my reservation for December 2- 8 2007. Great we are set. YEAH RIGHT!!!! I then stumbled across The Dis. Funny, things began to look a whole lot different from this point LOL. There were people having conversations about planning their trips without an agent. I researched for weeks on the DIS and got NO sleep. About this time comes the famous post card that Disney sends out. Well I will be damned I got one. I called my travel agent, got some prices and realized I was saving enough on my 2 rooms from December that I could in fact almost pay for a trip for 2 in October that would also use the postcard. It took a little convincing for Brandon that we could go to Disney alone in the same year we were already taking a family trip and that the kids wouldn't freak.

[jnorth1007]

So after giving him the numbers he realized it was in fact possible. I also had to lay a little guilt on him. See, when we got married 7 years ago we didn't have a honeymoon. We paid for much of our wedding ourselves, we didn't make much money and we just couldn't swing it. We decided to do a trip for our 5th anniversary. WELL HELLO! Exactly one month before my 5th anniversary Hurricane Katrina changed our lives forever and there was no celebration for our anniversary. As a matter of fact, we didn't even have electricity for our anniversary. It seemed we would never get to have an anniversary trip. Well this fell into our laps and we realized that one of the weeks was for out anniversary. Now, I am a smart girl. See I learned a long time ago that 1 BIG gift is much better than 2 small ones. So I planned out wedding 1 week before my 30th birthday. So every year I get one really nice gift that is a combination anniversary and birthday gift. So this trip will celebrate my 7th anniversary and also my 36th birthday.

At this point all of the dates were set. I just needed to keep researching. Well I heard mention of two other things on DIS at this point. These two things also changed my life. TourGuideMike and Sunshine Rewards. I had never been to or heard of either of these sites. I started reading and researching both feverishly. And here we are 7 months later and I am good and thoroughly addicted to SR. I have not only found a way to contribute to my families lifetime of enjoyment and vacations I have also found a family! I spend more time chatting with my friends on here than I do with most of my friends Ive known my whole life. I get great encouragement and advice here. I also have made some real friends on TGM. I also have gained the knowledge and confidence to have a super wonderful vacation from TGM. I know that I will go and that I will not be trapped in the crowds but leisurely walking around enjoying what is disney. Who knew that when the time to go on vacation would come that I would be just a little sad that I would be missing all you guys so much for a week? I have now changed my plans over and over again and now feel really confortable that this is going to be a trip of a lifetime for Brandon and I.

[nolacindy]

So glad that you are finally getting your Honeymoon! My husband and I had a similar situation. We got married in March before Katrina (we lived in the upper 9th ward) and as yourself not much money for a honeymoon at wedding time. We planned to go to Key West in November... well..... between Katrina, Rita and then the hurricane that hit the keys that October there was no trip. Finally we made our trip to Disney last October as a Honeymoon and had a fantastic time! Now we just count every vacation as a honeymoon.

[Hedy]

I'm so glad you guys get a honeymoon!

[coastalgirl]

I am so glad the 2 of you get to go by yourselves. And what a wonderful time to go for the food and wine festival. How much fun that will be!!

[ItsmeSunnyV]

Aww J dog!! That was a cute lil' story. I'm excited for you!! You go have fun, and dont you worry about us, we'll all still be here waiting for you when you come back. Waiting to hear your T.R!! :p


V Dog:)

[bbangel]

Ah, the famous postcard.
They lured me back in with that one too. Before I knew it I was buying DVC.
Those marketers are brilliant.

Can't wait to hear about your trip. It has to all be uphill from the crane smooshing the truck.

[Blessing and Miracle]

You made me teary-eyed! I'm so happy for you! After being married for almost 27 years, I know how important those get-a-ways without the kiddos! Have a wonderful!:)

[Magical JenK]

Janet-
Thanks for sharing your pre-trip! How very fun & exciting! You & Brandon will have a TON of magical fun! How great you get to go twice in a few months!! That will be so great!

Be sure to let us know how it goes!!
Jen

[LuvMyBoys]

I can't wait to hear how your "parents only" vacation goes!! I hope you guys have a wonderful time and actually get to relax on vacation (imagine that! :rotfl: )

We're almost 12 years into our marriage and I'm still waiting on a honeymoon! Some day....:angel:

Have lots of quiet dinners, leisurely walks, and sleep in! :hugs:

[bs4free]

Well I am very glad that you will get to have your honeymoon trip/birthday/adults only/Pre-Family Disney Trip! Now say that 10times fast LOL! Have a great trip and yes the WWW--->TA---->DisBoards------>TGM is a very common path! And well ending up on SR was Great too!

Enjoy your trips!

[linanglab]

Oooooo....Can't wait for the rest of it!

[jnorth1007]

Well we were so anxious to get things going that we decided to leave early on Saturday and stop along the way and get a hotel. That was the plan but of course that isn't what happened LOL. When we hit Mobile we decided to just go the whole way and so I called Disney and made a room only reservation at the All Star Sports. We were making very good time and figured we would hit Disney before 10pm. With the time change that meant it would be less than 9 hours. Well things didn't work out that way. We were using the new "shortcut" and the directions from Mapquest got a little fuzzy once you got off near Disney. We were lost for about an hour and a half. Finally, we were able to back track and figure out where we went wrong. We checked in to the ASSp and the parking lot was CROWDED. We had to park far away from our room. We didn't get to bed until about 1:00am. No problem right???? We were planning on getting up early and moving to our room at Port Orleans Riverside. Then we would meet Cindy for breakfast and hit Epcot for about 11am for a stroll around the World Showcase.

[jnorth1007]

So we were up bright and early! Even though we had lost and hour and gotten to bed very late we were too anxious to sleep. We packed up and showered and dressed and headed out. On the way to the new resort I called Cindy and we laughed and giggled for a few minutes and decided that they would meet us at our resort for breakfast. We got the POR and checked in and luckily our room was already ready. YAY! We went and got settled in there and then headed over to the lobby to meet Cindy. They arrived and we had a wonderful breakfast at the Boatwright Resteraunt at POR. It was a wonderful time and Brandon had a ball discussing everything under the sun with Cindy and Jeff. Finally, we had talked ourselves out and decided to head out. It was around 11:30am when we got to Epcot. Now as a side bar, I had ordered some very wonderful new fitness shoes from shoebuy for our trip. Some of you may remember that I gave Brandon a very hard time because he ordered his from THe Sport's Authority and so I got less rewards. I was also certain that my shoes would show up before the trip and his might not. :rotfl: Guess who's shoes got there and who's didn't. Yep mine didn't make it in time. I had to wear my Sketchers to Epcot. No big deal right? I mean I have been wearing them to work out how bad could it be. We got to Epcot with the intention of strolling the WS but checked on fast passes and lines for the rides as we went. Turns out we got to see the whole place by the time we went to our ADR at LeCellier at 5:30pm. By the time we got there however I was having major issues. First, my feet were in major pain. I had a blister and my feet were hurting so bad I could barely walk. The crooked walking coupled with a new pair of shorts created a whole nother issue and I was hurting to say the least. We got to LeCellier a little early and they sat us very quickly. This place is probably my almost favorite place to eat. I loved everything we had. This was where I started my Blue Glowtini Obsession :angel: After the first one and the cute little light up ice cube I decided that it was delicious and I needed a whole set of ice cubes. I mean I have 3 kids, I can't come home with one cube! Right??????

[jnorth1007]

After dinner we headed back to the resort and I soaked in a bath and rested and then Brandon decided he had waited long enough to see Tower of Terror and wanted to hit MGM. They were having a late night extra magic hour so we decided to head over and check it out. I changed to my comfy pants for the rest of the trip and also my crocs flip flops. We got to ride TOT a couple of times and had a ball. We also got to fit in a few other rides that we usually like to hit, Great Movie Ride and Star Tours.

[bs4free]

WOW thats a busy first two days... What happend next...

[m 'n c]

Oh I can't believe your shoes didn't make it in time. Sketchers are no match for a Disney Park. Glad you had some back up crocs. Anxiously awaiting more!

[Kycha]

Welcome back! Sounds like your trip started off really well. How did you get down there? You had posted about your husbands truck and the crane incident. Did you get a rental?

[jnorth1007]

We did have a rental truck. A full size Silvarado. It was good on gas and we didnt have to put the mileage on our own vehicles. It was also easier to get into parking spaces then his F-350 Super Crew LOL.

[jnorth1007]

So we hit the hay. I had planned things out pretty well for the week using TGM and I have to say. All of my mornings were TGM mornings and we didn't wait on any rides unless it was in the evening and we chose to wait LOL. So now that we had done most of what we wanted to do in Epcot (Soarin', Mission:Space and Test Track: amazingly I had never done ANY of these rides before) and at MGM. Rocking Roller Coaster was closed out first few days so we knew we would need to go back at the end of the week. We decided that we would skip MGM on Monday and hit Magic Kingdom. We were up and out early and we got to see all of Fantasyland, Haunted Mansion and then we hit SPLASHHHHHHH!!!! Yay! We LOVE LOVE LOVE that ride and did it about 5 times with no waits at all. We also did Pirates and I love all of the new changes. We got to go on the Jungle Cruise and had a blast. Then the weather started looking bad so we hit Tiki Room which we had never ever done before. Nice cool place to avoid the rain. When we came out the rain had stopped so we went to have some counter service at Pecos Bill's. We strolled around for awhile and then decided to go back to the room. We had an ADR at Mama Melrose's for that night at MGM since we were supposed to have been there that day. We rested and bathed and then hit MGM. WHen we got there we rode TOT again- TWICE!!! We then shopped awhile and then went to our ADR. This is NOT a place I will ever eat again. Not only was the service BAD but the food was only ok. Even the blue glowtini wasn't that good. The weather turned really ugly at this point and we got hit with a major downpour. We went back to the resort. I went to sleep early and Brandon hit the Arcade. We were supposed to do MK the next day but decided that we would hit AK instead.

[jnorth1007]

Tuesday

We woke up today and got ourselves all ready for AK. Brandon was dying to try Expedition Everest. When we walked outside we realized it was pouring down raining. Luckily we had out ponchos from the MGM downpour and we had gotten a small umbrella. We suited up and headed for the park. It was pretty empty and we rode EE 4 times in a row. We then went a rode Dinosaur and It's tough to be a bug. We also got to ride the safari. AWESOME in the rain. All of the animals were out and near the trucks. We had a great time with this one. We went to ride Kali River Rapids but it was closed so we hit EE again and decided to leave. The sun had come out and the park was getting busy and VERY HOT AND MUGGY! This has got to be the muggiest park ever. We were set to have dinner at Artist Point that night for my birthday. We went to the resort and rested and bathed and then drove over to the WIlderness Lodge. AWESOME!!!! I love Artist Point. I had 2 glowtini's this night LOL and we had a wonderful meal with amazing service. I will do this one over and over. We went back to the resort and rested.

[bs4free]

TGM is great.... Glad you got to do alot of rides!

How was pacos Bills? and Mama Melrose's was really that bad!!!

Did Brandon win anything at the arcade.....

[jnorth1007]

Wednesday

Today we decided to go hit Epcot again and take it VERY slow and easy and see all of the countries. I had a few things I knew I wanted to do. I wanted to see the lady who makes candy, I wanted to select 2 oysters at the pick a pearl place in Japan and have pendants done for the girls and I wanted a Grey Goose Lemon Citron Slush from Paris. We got all of those things done and more. We did a few of the things we normally wouldnt do but did since we had time. Living with the land was actually a VERY cool attraction and we will do that one again with the kids. We did HISTK and wished we hadn't lol it was as awful as always. Half way through the day I realized that I had forgotten to put my diamond earrings and silver chain and pendant on when we left that morning. I had taken them off and put them in a glass on the shelf so I wouldn't lose them. Keep that in mind because it will become important later. We got each of the girls an oyster and ended up with 2 very beautiful pearls and had them mounted on silver pendants for them. I got to drink my GGLCS and enjoyed it. We had ADR's for Coral Reef for 5:30 and realized early on that we didn't want to wait that late to eat. We headed to CR and they agreed to seat us early. Delicious food and the blue glowtini was marvelous! Atmosphere was only ok but I think it was because they were have a food and wine pairings on one of the sections so it was a bit loud. We finished eating and headed back to the resort. We get into the room and I go to look for my jewelry and realized that the maid had taken the glass containing my jewelry. The silver necklace and pendant I could care less about. MY DIAMOND EARRINGS I cared about. I got all hysterical and ran to the front desk. I of course get the most laid back manager ever who declares that they will do everything they can to find my earrings. She decided to send a runner to look on the carts from the maids to see if they are there. She says she will call me when she finds something out. I go back to my room and cry for 2 hours while I wait. Brandon in the mean time is in the arcade. He's mad, he's just not hysterical like I am. LOL. Finally, I call back to the front desk and am told that the manager I was dealing with had left for the night. They had not found my earrings and she was supposed to leave me a message but must have forgotten. At this point I had words flying out of my mouth that made me glad the kids weren't there :rotfl: I regained my composure and asked what else could be done. I was told that the main Lost and FOund would be open in the morning and the morning manager would call and see if they had them and then call me on my cell phone and let me know. OK, I guess I can handle that. They said to go and have fun they would contact me. I was so mentally exhausted and worn out that I went right to sleep. SOB I cant believe this trip is gonna cost me an additional $2,000 in replacment costs for my earrings. Brandon at this point is confident it is no problem because he will just tell them that if they dont relace the earrings he will cancel our December trip and my Disney Cruise and they will lose money and he will show them. :rotfl: Way to show them honey. I bet they'll crumble at that threat!

[ligrumpygirl]

OH NO!! Janet1, I hope you got them back!!! I would be heartbroken as I am sure you were...

[bs4free]

Oh No!!! What happend!!! DID they find them... DID DH cancle all your other Disney Trips.... OH OH!!!!

[pattip03]

Oh no! Then what happens....:confused:

[disneynut]

Oh no dont leave us hanging. What about the earrings. Did you get them back?
Reminds me of last year, our trip cost us my wedding ring being lost. :(

[jnorth1007]

Thursday

Well I woke up this morning in a better mood and decided that everything would be ok. We had scheduled to start meeting people today for the Tourguidemike Zag N Meet. We were scheduled for a Thriller meet at MGM and I had shirts and everything so we went. We met up with about 19 other people and headed straight to TOT. We rode that sucker a couple of times and each time we had our own elevator. I will post the pics when I get the photpass cd. It was so much fun and we all had matching shirts. Brandon made yet another friend in one of the girls DH. We had an ADR at 50's Prime TIme at 11:00am so we headed over and there were 8 other people who had the same ADR's. We had a great lunch. It was a hoot. This was my first time at this resteraunt and I enjoyed it. I think part of it was the company and part of it was the atmosphere of the place. I had the pot pie and it was very tasty. When we were exiting TOT that morning a CM had hinted to us that they were going to open RNRC a day early and it would open at 1:00pm. We walked around for a while and then headed over to wait. There were several people waiting and we sat there for awhile. Some higher ups cam by and said that they weren't sure when or if they would be opening it so we walked away. When we got a little ways away we realized thay were probably just rying to clear out the line before they opened it. We walked back over and they were just opening it. We were the first ones to ride it when it reopened. We rode it twice in a row and then headed back to the hotel because we were going to the MNSSHP that night and needed to rest and change.
We got back to the room and realized that we hadn't heard anything from the manager. I walked to the front and spoke to yet another manager. She told me to go to my room and wait for the Housekeeping Manager to call me there. I went back and waited and she called to tell me they had not been able to find my earrings. They had questioned the maid who said she hadn't seen any jewelry. Well DUH if she had seen it she wouldn't have taken the glass. How stupid can you be. I made sure to let them know that I didn't believe that she had stolen them but that she had mistakenly taken the glass that contained them. My next step was that I had to call Security and Guest Claims and file a claim. The Security guy said that if they can't find them then chances are that Disney will reimburse me for the items. Ok fine I can handle that I guess. After spending 2 hours handleing that I was worn out. I took a nap and then woke up and showered and changed to go to the party.

[bs4free]

TOT and photopass when did they start puting the ridephotos on your photopass....

I can not wait to see if they do find them.. How was MNSSHP....

[jnorth1007]

They don't but one person bought the pictures and SHHHH they are going to scan them and add them to the photopass cd we are sharing LOL.

[bs4free]

Ok That makes alot of sense, Photopass shareing even better, and photo scans... That a great idea...

[m4travels]

Great to read your report, Janet. So sorry about the jewelry.

Those glowtinis were EXTREMELY popular this weekend at D'land as well. They had just added them to the drinks menu the night before we got there so everyone (okay...that's an exaggeration) had these flashing cubes bouncing in their drinks.

Michael

[jnorth1007]

MNSSHP

We arrived at around 4:30pm for the party and went in to get something to eat at Pecos Bill's. We met up with some other TGM members there and after eating went over to the Haunted Mansion for the meet and greet. There were alot of people there. After takinga bunch of pictures everyone split up and went their own ways. We rode HM with some of them and then headed over to ride Pirates again. We also did a little trick or treating. We then headed over to ride Space Mountain and Dumbo and then hit Toontown. It was so cute to see all of the costumes and the kids were having a great time. We rode Pirates again and then headed over for viewing Hallowwishes. This was my first fireworks showing at Disney. I don't know why but I have never wanted to take the time to stop and watch them. It was wonderful and I am going to be sure to take the kids to see Wishes in December. We then went and staked out a viewing spot for the parade. AWESOME! Very cool to see. At this point we were exhausted and decided to leave. Mistake! Everyone was leaving and it was a mess to get back to the truck but we did. I think we were in bed by about midnight.

[jnorth1007]

Friday

Today we decided that we REALLY miss the kids and so we are going to leave on Saturday around lunch instead of Sunday morning. We decided to go back to MK today since we hadn't done much of Futureworld yet. We went straight to Spacemountain and then we also saw Laugh Factory, the transportation thing, and a couple of other things. We then decided to start looking for lunch. We went to Columbia Harbor House and had a bite to eat. We decided that the park was getting crowded and we had an ADR for later for Kona so we left and went back to the hotel. After clearing out our room charges with all of my SR Disney GCs we went and rested. We got dressed and went to Kona and had a wonderful dinner. The food was really good but this was not my favorite place. I think it was the whole resort that I didn't really like. Too noisy and busy. Unlike the Wilderness Lodge that was quiet and serene. Poly was a madhouse. I decided to try a Lapu Lapu for the first time. Ughhhh big mistake. That thing made me so sick that I laid in bed the rest of the night watching TV. I guess we needed the rest because I slept most of the time.

[jnorth1007]

Finally its Saturday!

I know, most people would be begging for more. We had 7 days without the kids and I tell you we saw EVERYTHING we wanted to see and some things we didn't want to see LOL.

It was, yes, raining again today when we woke up. We had an ADR for Rainforest for lunch at 10:30am so we went to AK at rope drop and went to EE and rode and got FP's. We then had the bright idea of riding Kali River Rapids. We got soaked and it wasn't crowded so they asked us if we wanted to ride again so we did. AGAIN, soaked! We left there and rode EE one more time and then we had to go to the gift shop at RFC and buy new clothes to wear to lunch. We changed in the restroom and had our lunch. Nice atmosphere and very good food. The kids are going to love this place in December. We left right after lunch and went back to the resort and packed up to leave. We were on the road by about 12:00pm and home before 9:00. It rained part of the way home and we luckily got within hearing distance of the LSU game in time for Brandon to catch it on the radio. It was a long, enjoyable, tiring trip and I can't wait to go back in December. The one thing I learned about this trip is that:

1. Disney is a much different experience with kids than without.
2. It is possible to have fun in Disney without kids.
3. Kids make EVERYTHING at Disney just a little more fun!
4. Don't leave jewelry in your room at Disney LOL.

I still don't know the outcome of the jewelry thing. I have to call back next week and see what they are going to do. The last thing I heard from them they had sent a man to dismantle the sink and drain in our bathroom looking for them. DUH, the pendant would have never fit in the drain without getting stuck! But we let him do his job and we will be in touch. Ill let you know what happens.

[bs4free]

What a Trip! Thank you so much for shareing it! I do hope to hear some good news about your earings soon! and WOW your going back in only 2 more months!

What is one thing you wish you got to do...
What is one thing you are sorry you did...
What was your best meal....

Any photos....

[coastalgirl]

Janet I am glad you had such a good trip. I so understand missing the kids. We actually had to leave Sea World once because I felt so guilty! :rotfl:
I sure hope everything works out with the missing jewelry. I am so stubborn I would not have left with out a check or something. Thanks for sharing. I wish I would have given ya my # and you could have called me on your way through! I would have loved to meet you and Brandon! It sounds like the 2 of you had a wonderful anniversary/birthday trip!

[jnorth1007]

What a Trip! Thank you so much for shareing it! I do hope to hear some good news about your earings soon! and WOW your going back in only 2 more months!

What is one thing you wish you got to do...
What is one thing you are sorry you did...
What was your best meal....

Any photos....

I wish I would have gone to Jellyrolls for a TGM meet they had but I was so sick from the Lapu Lapu that I couldn't do it.

I was sorry I went in to see HISTK again LOL really its still that bad.

My favorite meal was Artist Point. Awesome really! I also really enjoyed LeCellier.

I will have photos but I have to wait for them from the photopass cd I am sharing with others.

[bs4free]

thanks! I can not wait for you to get your cd...

[chipndale]

Just love your trip report. I agree the glowtinis are wonderful. My mom fell in love with them also. Between the two of us we managed to collect over 20 "collector" cubes during our May trip. Oh how I wish I had a glowtini in my hands right now. :rotfl: I guess I will have to convince dh that we need to go back to Disney sooner than December 2008.

[jnorth1007]

Well here is the update on the jewelry. Florida has an innkeeper law that limits the liability for losses to theft or "strange disappearances" to $500. So after crying for a half of an hour on the phone and then getting mad. Im getting $500 to replace my $1700 earrings. I really thought that Disney was going to do the right thing. I was wrong! Very wrong!

[LuvMyBoys]

Well here is the update on the jewelry. Florida has an innkeeper law that limits the liability for losses to theft or "strange disappearances" to $500. So after crying for a half of an hour on the phone and then getting mad. Im getting $500 to replace my $1700 earrings. I really thought that Disney was going to do the right thing. I was wrong! Very wrong!

I'm sorry Janet, that really sucks! :(

[bs4free]

Well here is the update on the jewelry. Florida has an innkeeper law that limits the liability for losses to theft or "strange disappearances" to $500. So after crying for a half of an hour on the phone and then getting mad. Im getting $500 to replace my $1700 earrings. I really thought that Disney was going to do the right thing. I was wrong! Very wrong!
I am so very sorry janet... that you are only getting a tiny fraction of the cost of the ear rings back!

Thank you for keeping us updated, and now we know that in FL anything over $500 will not be covered...

[linanglab]

Sorry about Disney not replacing the whole amount of your earrings. That stinks (major understatement).... I know how upset you must be....:(