Wait!!! Wasn't this supposed to be a weekend trip? TR COMPLETE 11/2 About This Page:

[lazanya]

How fun wandering around the WS!
Sorry about your headache.
That was pretty awesome the CM replaced the old Duffy with a new Duffy.

[Cam22]

Great wanderings around the WS! Sorry that headache is not going completely away! I'm suspecting that Angel may be very much like me and Stefanie. Once we love a stuffed animal, none other will do.

[mcc0313]

Originally Posted by jennie622

They just gave you a new Duffy? Holy Cow!

Sorry you got another headache.

Originally Posted by lazanya

How fun wandering around the WS!
Sorry about your headache.
That was pretty awesome the CM replaced the old Duffy with a new Duffy.

It definitely was the headache with no end....but the end is in sight

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great time walking around WS! Sorry about your headache! Glad you were able to get a new Duffy!

I was totally surprised at the offer for a new Duffy...but the CM looked at where the rip was and it was right on the seam, she said she was worried that it would happen again. I think I must have thanked her a dozen times before leaving the store.

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Wandering around WS is my fav! Poor Duffy! Glad you were able to get a new one. At least I think so! The same kind of thing happened to me once. I ripped the hood of my poncho (totally my fault), and when I went to buy a new one, the CM just gave it to me!

They are amazing with their customer service, my nephew once bought a pin, one of those that opened up and he was so excited a day or so after he purchased it he ripped the piece right off the hinge, they replaced it no questions asked even though we told them the whole story anyway.

Originally Posted by Jillybean

Mary Devall and I caught up with your tr last night! She is still talking about all of the fun that she had with you and your girls (Caleigh included) and is still holding me to next year!

It really was so much fun . . . and I'm glad that I got over my fear of ToT a few years ago!

I'm enjoying reading about what you guys did after we left! Epcot sounds like a blast so far - - and I love the picture of the three girls in the car! Scary, but cute!!!

Jill

I am glad you got over your fear as well , if not we would have had to send the girls to drop alone and sit and wait with a FAB . Angel is not the only one holding me to next year...Jasmine even asked if we were going to see you guys on next years trip as well. not only did she just fall in love with Mary Devall, but she throughly enjoyed talking with you.

Originally Posted by Cam22

Great wanderings around the WS! Sorry that headache is not going completely away! I'm suspecting that Angel may be very much like me and Stefanie. Once we love a stuffed animal, none other will do.

Your suspicions are correct, Angel is like very much like you and Stefanie...more to come on the story.

[OhToodles!]

All caught up! What a great time you're having - at least I think so even with the headache. Sorry about Duffy!

[disneydani]

What a great afternoon wandering WS....though I am sorry another headache cropped up. Glad you finally got to see Miyuki and her "shiny candy"...shame she can't give out her beautiful creations anymore.

Waiting on the Duffy drama....even though I know how the story plays out!

Danielle

[lexiemom]

Sorry about the headache. Uhoh, what is coming up doesn't sound good! I hope everything works out!

[mcc0313]

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

All caught up! What a great time you're having - at least I think so even with the headache. Sorry about Duffy!

I wasn't going to let the headache stop me, there were times that I really just wanted to curl up but for the most part it was bearable with medication.

Originally Posted by disneydani

What a great afternoon wandering WS....though I am sorry another headache cropped up. Glad you finally got to see Miyuki and her "shiny candy"...shame she can't give out her beautiful creations anymore.

Waiting on the Duffy drama....even though I know how the story plays out!

Danielle

We really enjoyed Miyuki, she is amazing what she does...and she makes it look so easy...(my candy would probably look like a lump...not even shiny )

The rest of the Duffy story is coming up tonight

Originally Posted by lexiemom

Sorry about the headache. Uhoh, what is coming up doesn't sound good! I hope everything works out!

It does work out...after some tears and some Disney magic

[mcc0313]

Day 4 July 31 - Part III

So I headed back to collect the girls thinking I was the best mommy in the world, saving the day by getting the ripped Duffy replaced. I did not say anything yet, we checked in and after a few minutes we were taken to our table. We all took in the atmosphere and we really loved the look of the restaurant. Our server noted that a chef would be coming to our table and he took our drink orders and I took this time to tell Angel the good news...

Me: Angel look (as I pulled Duffy from his carrying bag) they were able to fix Duffy' arm for you.

Angel: (with a big smile on her face) really....(as she opened his shirt to check out his arm) she them pulls him in for a hug and the smile on her face is replaced with a quivering lip...

Angel: mom this isn't my Duffy....

Me: Of course it is, the CM just fixed hs arm and made him as good as new...look (me reaching for Duffy and giving him a hug) see...its your Duffy

Angel: no its not, his hug is different and he feels different and even his feet are different

Me:

Angel: Mommy I want my Duffy where is my Duffy? (ok tears are watering now...here in the middle of the restaurant, Jasmine is thinking her sister is nuts and I...trying to figure out what to say)

Me: Angel, they did not have thread, and they were worried it would get worse so they gave you a new Duffy ok, look just hug him, you will love him too.

Angel: (Trying to be brave)...it’s ok mom, he's great (suddenly just laying him on her seat), I know you tried....thanks

Ok my heart is breaking, I should have known, Angel might act like she is a "big" girl now but there are some things to her that are sacred, I mean this is the girl who gets a new Webkinz every year and comes home and introduces it to all her others (about 50) and still remembers each of their names by heart. I should have known this would not go over well but I just was so happy they offered me a new Duffy I was not thinking.

Me: Angel we can go back ok, after dinner and get your old Duffy back ok...I promise.

Angel: No, mom it’s ok, I will get to know him it is ok (Her picking up her new Duffy and giving it a hug that I knew meant nothing...she was trying so hard to fake it for me

Jasmine: Angel it is Duffy seriously, now come on stop crying (ok Jasmine has never been attached to any stuffed animal in her life, a blanket yes...but no stuffed animal so she was not showing her sister much sensitivity)

Me: Jasmine, you should understand, remember your blanket that you loved so much.

Jasmine: You mean the one that Bobby's dog ate and shredded and you tried to replace with that other blanket....yes mom I remember (ok maybe Jasmine is still harboring some ill will over her favorite blanket being eaten by a dog)

By this point the chef came (I could have hugged him at that moment for ending this conversation) we discussed options and we placed our order. Our server brought our drinks and chips and I tried to change the subject.




By this point Angel was sitting with a frown on, trying to dry tears, Jasmine was shaking her head telling me "but mom she is going to be 11 years old", me was telling Jasmine "everyone has something that they love so much" and then finally Jasmine felt bad...

She hugged Angel and tried to make her see how wonderful this new Duffy was and Angel finally put on a smile (ok a very fake smile) and the topic of Duffy got dropped so we could try to enjoy dinner.

Jasmine and I split the Taqiza appetizer - it came with three tacos and we both really enjoyed the variety, it came with beef, chicken and pork.




(Please excuse the missing tocos, after this whole incident I almost forgot to take pictures )

Caleigh ordered the beef tacos - which she did not enjoy, she just wasn't enjoying it at all...but she did eat the rice which she said was good. Not sure why she did not like the tacos she just kept saying they were different from the tacos her nana makes. I asked her if she wanted to try something else but she said she wa fine, and between the rice, the green beans and the fruit at least I knew she got something in her stomach.




Angel did not have many options but the chef asked her if she liked tacos so he made her an abbreviated taco that would be ok for her allergies. Angel on the other hand really enjoyed her dinner...she cleaned her plate.




I decided to go for the Pollo al Pastor, marinated chicken with vegetables and beans. I really enjoyed the flavors and the vegetables were my favorite, as it was a sauté of zucchini and yellow squash.




Now Jasmine knew what she wanted...all she asked for was a meal at either La Hacienda or San Angel Inn as she wanted to try a Mole Sauce, she had never tried it and it was on the top of her list.

At La Hacienda they offer the Puerco en Salsa con Mole Negro and....Jasmine found out she does not like Mole Sauce, or at least not the one here. She said that it was just too nutty, that it took over the chocolate flavor and after trying to eat around the sauce (which was impossible) she stole some of my chicken (which was fine as there was so much) and she ate that with her rice and vegetables.



I felt so bad for Jasmine, even offered to get her something else but she said she was fine, she had the tacos (glad I ordered that appetizer) but unfortunately the sauce just really took La Hacienda off her list for awhile. She liked the chicken and I am sure she would have enjoyed other things on the menu...I think she was just disappointed as she was looking forward to this for so long.

We were all pretty full so we passed on dessert except Angel was wearing her birthday pin (even though I did not have it on the ADR) and he came out singing with "ice cream", I smiled and explained how she could not eat ice cream and I felt so bad because he felt so bad

Caleigh ate it though and as we were getting ready to pay the bill the chef came out (guess the server told him what he had done) with some churros that he said he fried up special for her so all was well.

Cost before tax, tip and TIW discount: $82.43
Cost after tax, tip and TIW discount: $85.07
TIW savings on this meal: $16.49
Total TIW savings so far: $63.34

Our combined rating for La Hacienda: 3.5 (but I think the mole sauce kind of brought Jasmine's rating down a bit, and Caleigh's rating wasn't too high either)

Would we come back, definitely but I think we will skip it at least one trip to give Jasmine time to get over her "mole nightmare".

As we were leaving Angel asked to talk to me...

Angel: mom would it be ok if we went to get my old Duffy back, I don't want you to be mad or for Jasmine to think I am a baby, but...I just want him back.

Me: Of course Angel we can go right now.

And we headed off...unfortunately the CM from an hour or so ago was gone so I went up to the counter and I explained to the CM what happened and how Angel did not care if her Duffy was ripped, she just needed her Duffy back. Well I think the story almost brought her to tears and suddenly another CM came over and she explained to her what happened and for a moment I thought they were both going to cry....she said it was the sweetest story.

The CM's name was Kate and said not to worry that they have an area in the back where they keep all the returns and they get picked up at the end of the week. Well she came back with a strange look on her face and went to the other storeroom, then she started checking counters...

Finally Kate came back over to me and said..."I can't explain it, I mean there are other returns in the back but there is no Duffy, I even looked in the office, I have no idea where it went "

We both looked over at Angel, and her face was breaking my heart, Kate asked if she could go and talk to her.

She took Angel over to the side and explained that every Duffy had an identical twin, a Duffy who was the exact same and that when one was lost or hurt, the twin Duffy would take its place. She told her that only Duffy's owner could find the right twin, so that she had to find her Duffy's twin...no one else could do it.

She took her to the shelves of Duffy and had Angel look at them all, she even moved the ones in the front so she could see the ones in the back...then they started whispering to each other and finally on one of the bottom shelves....Angel found her Duffy's twin (hark the angels singing here).

She took it in her arms and hugged it and the smile started to grow on her face, Kate took her to the counter and helped her remove the clothes from the "not right Duffy" and helped her put then on the right Duffy and all was well again in the world.

Kate brought tears to my eyes, she was so good with her, it reinforced why I come back each year, and that while there always will be a less then magical CM here and there that the majority of them truly are magical.

I could not thank this woman enough, I must have said a dozen times, but I could have given her a huge for what she did for Angel and as we were walking out Kate gave both Duffy and Angel a big hug. Truly magical moment of my trip.

It was at this moment that Jasmine realized she stained her shirt at dinner, and she could not walk around with a stained shirt...so yes mommy did save the day here by purchasing her a Mickey "Peace" shirt which she had on in minutes. Angel also got a Mickey Wallet to hold her gift cards in when they got delivered by "Fed Ex" (yes that was my story as she had no idea her aunt and nephew were meeting us in two days). So with purchases and more thank yous to Kate we finally made our way out of the store.

Now I made an executive decision here...as much as I wanted to stay to watch Illuminations I knew we would be back on Tuesday and Caleigh's aunt was due to pick her up at 10:30 at AKL so I told the girls we would do one or two more rides and then we would head back to the resort. I did not want to get stuck on a crowded bus after the show and get back to the resort and have to rush to get her bags together.

The girls wanted TT so we headed over there and hit the SRL which saved us a 40 minute wait. We then stopped at Mouse Gears since Caleigh did not spend all her money and she had been waiting to get a pillow pet (she got Tigger) and as we made our way to the front of the park we saw there was almost no wait for SE so we stopped for one more ride. On the way out I stopped at guest services and filled out an appreciation card for Kate and told them what a wonderful employee they had in her and what she had done to make our trip special.

Once that was completed we headed out to the buses, I think we waited maybe 10 minutes (still great luck with the AKL buses so far) and on the way back I got a call that Caleigh's aunt was running a bit late.

We got back around 9:55, headed up to back Caleigh's stuff and then we all headed down to the Mara for a snack. Caleigh wanted a salad, Jasmine had some fruit, Angel a allregy-free brownie and I....a Mickey Bar .

Jasmine headed up to take a shower and the girls and I went out and sat by the fire pit for a bit.



Before long Caleigh's aunt was there and the girls were hugging each other good bye as it would be another month before they would see each other again. On our way up Angel asked if she could take a fast swim...I told her ok and she headed up, changed into her suit and I took her back to the pool.

She swam for about 30 minutes and then I took her upstairs, now I told her to go take a shower and that I would be back in a bit...I felt like taking a walk. I watched her walk to the door, and I went back down in the elevator.

Well Angel decided to give me a heart attack tonight...I wandered outside a bit and then stopped to talk to a woman I had met at the pool the other day and her husband as they were sitting in the smoking area in the front of the resort as I walked by. We talked for about 20 minutes and then I headed upstairs...and what do I find upstairs?

Jasmine dead asleep and no Angel....I woke up Jasmine and said "where is your sister, she came up almost 30 minutes to take a shower"

Now Angel had gone right upstairs and did take a shower but Jasmine was half asleep and she just shook her head and said...."she did not come up". I leave her in the room and start to panic. I under the impression she never made it upstairs start to think maybe she knocked on the door and Jasmine did not hear the door so she was wandering around in a bathing suit and towel...so I head back to the pool to see if she was waiting down there. She was not there...I ran to the lobby and could not find her. Headed back upstairs and Jasmine was more awake now and texting her friends to say she had lost her sister (yes guess she was worried, instead of looking for her she was reporting her missing to her friends that were over 1000 miles away in NY - not much help there ) so now I am heading back to the lobby to tell the front desk what an irresponsible mother I am that I lost my child and just as I get to the lobby I forgot to check the arcade. So I decided to check that one last place before I headed to security to tell them that my child was probably sleeping with the zebras some where and as I head back to the elevator I turned as I heard foot steps and can we all guess who it was....it was Angel. Now my heart raced as I was so happy that she was ok so I grabbed her into a then I got and said where in the world were you!!!!

Well it seems she knocked on the door, Jasmine let her in, she did as I asked and took her shower. Jasmine fell asleep and she wanted to walk with me and she knew I was headed to the lobby so she told her sleeping sister she was going to meet me. When she got to the lobby and did not see me she sat herself down to watch cartoons...and she had been sitting there all this time.

I ran right by here during my first search and never saw her I took her back to the room and explained she can't do that without telling someone where she was going.

She said "mommy I knew where I was going, and I told Jasmine and she said huh so I went to find you and when I did not see you I know you said never to leave the resort so I waited in the lobby for you" then she gave me this little smile and apologized for making me so nervous.

I told her again that if I tell her to wait in the room, it means waiting in the room but that I was just glad she was ok. We headed upstairs where Jasmine looked and then started texting to her friends that her missing sister was found.

I looked at Jaz like she was insane, I asked her why didn't she tell me that Angel did come up and take a shower and her reply "she did? how did she get in? I told her she let her in...Jasmine's reply...sorry but I was half asleep.

I was tired now and after taking a shower I climbed into bed and suddenly Angel rolls over and says "mom do you really think that my Duffy is in his twin" (she was crying again). I reassured her that yes, this truly was her Duffy's twin and with that...she fell asleep and I followed soon after and Jasmine...well she stayed up texting because after her wonderful nap she was no longer tired

Up Next: The Typhoon comes to the Lagoon

[Dlandmom2]

Ah, the joys of motherhood! I'm just glad everyone was ok in the end, including Duffy's twin! I "lost" my daughter for about 10 seconds at DL when she was about 5 or so...it was the longest 10 seconds of my life! I can't imagine what you were feeling when you couldn't find Angel.

[chezp]

Wow, what a night. I'm so glad that you were able to find Duffy's twin. I have to admit my heart was breaking reading that installment.

[Colexis Mom]

Wow Meg, what a rollercoaster! Glad the CM made some magic for Jasmine and was able to find her Duffy's twin! So scary about Jasmine not being in the room. I would have freaked out as well! Glad it all ended safely!

[disneydani]

Sorry for the less than stellar meal at La Hacienda; it is always hard to be disappointed after looking forward to something for so long.
Love the Duffy story and I can just see Angels beautiful eyes filling up with water ad I know it broke yur heart....but awesome CM to the rescue....love the idea of the twin!
Must be a teen thing because AJ is capable to doing plenty half asleep and remembering none of it....glad Angel was never truly lost!

Danielle

[PrincessSharon]

Wow, that was some night! But kudos to Kate, who handled that situation perfectly. My heart started beating faster just reading about Angel being missing! Must've been scary for you.

[jennie622]

That is truly "these kids will be the death of me" story. Couldn't tell you how many of those any one of the women in my family had!

Glad everything worked out. Your Duffy story makes me want to fill out an appreciation card for Kate as well!!! Where does Disney get these people???? Do they drug them? Is it mind control?? I really don't care as long as they keep it up. Simply amazing.

[Cam22]

My emotions were all over the place in this latest update. Glad Kate was able to make a bad situation magical! Even though I knew you were going to find Angel, I was panicked with you. One of my greatest fears is losing Stefanie. But then I was laughing at Jasmine's short term memory loss plus the texting about her sister. I had to read part of this update to Luke!