Surf and Turf UPDATED: 10/14
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orionchika · 08-02-2009, 10:01 PM

Hello everyone and welcome

to my very first trip report

:thew ave:…. I have gone to see the Mouse many, many times – but I had never stayed in a Disney resort – just on property – at SoG and I have never planned beyond just picking the dates, getting the tickets, deciding who would drive the first leg from DE, and trying to get on as many rides as possible until either 1. – kids had to be dragged through the parks, or 2. – the parks closed. Then I found this site and I realized that I had to regroup as I was determined to “savor” this trip and really plan – (not as easy as I thought it would be). I was so nervous about writing this as I wasn’t sure what to write – how much to write – or when to write. But I got a big boost of confidence after talking to Cam22 (thanks Cam), goofyboysmama (thanks) and others…(thanks everyone)…. Then I was getting nervous about when to start as I had already washed, ironed, folded & packed, had the tickets and everything all ready to go and was trying to find things to do since April….. Then I just decided – just do it when I hit the 30 day mark…. So here I am.

My trip this summer will go a little something like this:

Those coming along for the ride:
Me – Theresa, 42 - ex- US Army, ICU RN, Chef, well-travelled- loves food, jazz & the mouse!!!

DH – Mark, 39 (will be 40)... ex - USANG, Senior BMET, loves the wife, so will do what wife wants -most of the time

DS – Donovan, 10 - great student- loves having fun and travelling & amusement parks

DS - Gabriel, 4 (will turn 5 on this trip)... loves playing and rides

DFil – Franz, (Opa) retired; From Germany, lives in USA

DMil – Erika, (Oma), retired; From Germany, lives in USA

*Wednesday, September 2nd - leave home and fly out of PHL to MCO
Arrive MCO 18:30 - take DME to AKL, club level
ADR at 20:15 @ Jiko – Celebrate Gabriel’s birthday
* Thursday – Sunrise Safari, AK, rest of day at Epcot
ADR at 16:15 @ Garden Grill
* Friday – P/U rental vehicle (surprising DH with a Hummer) – spend the day at Aquatica; 18:00 - Cirque du Soleil – La Nouba
Dinner reservations at Morton’s Steakhouse – 20:30 – Return rental
* Saturday – ADR @ Boma at 08:40 - DME to Port Canaveral - board Disney Magic -Stateroom #8034

Sunday – Key West – renting an electric car for DMil – celebrate Oma’s bday
Monday – At Sea – Me: Alone time; Adults: Palo High Tea & Palo Dinner – celebrate Gabriel’s bday
Tuesday – Grand Cayman – Island tour and Butterfly Farm w/ in-laws – celebrate Opa’s bday
Wednesday – Cozumel- Me: Mexican Cuisine Workshop and Tasting; DH and both DS – Dolphin swim @ Dolphinaris
Thursday – At Sea –Me: Alone time; Adults: Palo Brunch – celebrate Mark’s bday
Friday – Castaway Cay – Me & DH: Couples cabana massage; DH & DS10 – Jet skiing;
Saturday - Port Canaveral

* Saturday – Check-in to Poly – MK all day
ADR – Crystal Palace @ 17:25
* Sunday – Hang out at Poly pool - DME in afternoon to MCO to home

Next: So how did this all happen?

Lemap760 · 08-02-2009, 10:06 PM

Great start.

**chezp** · 08-03-2009, 01:58 AM

Great start.

LouigiAnne · 08-03-2009, 02:14 AM

Nice Plan's!! Can't wait to see all the picture's too!! Try to ride the Conch Train in Key West, they drive you around to see all the good stuff like Sloppy Joe's. And ya never know Jimmy Buffet is sometimes there too. Hav A Great Time

LouigiAnne

lauriep · 08-03-2009, 08:48 AM

What a great trip you have planned!

buzzspal2 · 08-03-2009, 09:30 AM

Sounds like fun

Ceara's mawmaw · 08-03-2009, 10:07 AM

Great start!!!!! We only have 30 more days too!!!!

Nimros · 08-03-2009, 10:11 AM

Great start and great plans.

a_bernard · 08-03-2009, 08:55 PM

Hi Theresa: Your trip sounds like a lot of fun. You have a lot of things planned. Will be fun to read your TR.

**Cam22** · 08-03-2009, 09:14 PM

Yeah, Theresa, you've started!

Terrific start! Your plans are awesome, too!

orionchika · 08-03-2009, 10:28 PM

Every year we try to go to at least 3 different places, but Disney is always on the list

– so really only 2 different places….So last August, since work and finances were starting to get funny; we decided to go on just one “nice” Disney trip next summer. We waited for the DCL rates and went to AAA to put down a deposit on a Cat. 3- since we had already tried a cat.6 and a cat.4. Then in late August/early September, my work injury got extremely bad and I went to see a few more specialists and a pain doc. Well, of course no one knew what exactly what was going on, but they sent me for a battery of tests and MRIs. The pain doc’s secretary called my home and left a message on the phone saying that they were cancelling my appt that week because I had to get my “cancer” diagnosis cleared first. But I didn’t know that she had called and had gone by the office for some paperwork and she told me that she had not too long ago left me a message on my home phone – OK, what was it?… then she told me that my MRI had showed CANCER…. WHAT!!!!

Who in the HECK said that I had cancer?????

I can’t even begin to tell you or describe what I was thinking or going through at that moment…(I wasn’t a nurse at that moment) I’m thinking at the worst- that I had a badly sprained ligament that just wasn’t healing or a tear in my shoulder – since the earlier docs missed the tear (I sustained with this injury) in my elbow, I figured they had just missed something else…. I walked out stunned and my DH – who was waiting for me in the car, asked me what was wrong -so I told him… He sort of laughed it off and said –“you got to be kidding”

. I sort of freaked out at about then,

and we then drove across the street - to the cancer center to get the ball rolling and to get to the bottom of this!! I made all of the necessary appts and I STILL had to wait about 4 weeks to even get seen by an oncologist. I never cried so much in such a short period of time

… I was literally walking on eggshells – in a trance. So - I finally get in to see this doc and she was just as upset as I was and stated that she wished that she could get her hands on the idiot who wrote “cancer” in big letters on the referral sheet on my chart – (I’d like to know too). She immediately tried to be reassuring and comforting. She said for the types of cancer that this could be – she couldn’t see it being likely as I was pretty healthy and if I were to have this type of cancer (bone) I would “look” sickly and my previous labs would look entirely different, which I agreed (being a nurse). So she ordered more labs, x-rays, etc and scheduled a follow-up. There we found out that I had NO

type of cancer whatsoever!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!

But the MRI was showing swelling in the shoulder and bicep, Duh…. I had been complaining of pain for almost 4 years!! Next, we went back to the pain doc, gave the secretary a little piece of my mind (more like a scolding

) as I told her that it was not her place in the first place to tell me that type of news, it was the docs responsibility!!! I then went to a different ortho doc - and lo and behold I did have a really bad (labral) shoulder (around the socket) tear & scar tissue– which was just repaired this past January and RSD!!!

Just what I said before the cancer scare!! So with all of this behind us – we then decided from here on out to make all of our family time and vacations even more special and memorable, so we will splurge a bit more on this vacation; we added a week at the parks, tours and upgraded lodging, etc. And since I get emotional at times

– (I cry at some commercials, good hallmark cards, or these shows where lost family members are found, when someone average gets recognize for their sacrifice and gets an award, or when someone pulls themselves by their bootstraps and becomes successful, etc.), I’ve invited my in-laws to come along – since they have never done any trips with us and I have been with their son for about 16 years and married to him for 9 years, it was beyond time!!! I want my boys to have some memories with them as my in-laws are in their late 70’s –early 80’s; and they have loads of memories/vacations with my parents... So this year Oma & Opa are foregoing their yearly trek to the their motherland (Germany) to be with us....and to see the Mouse for the first itme in about 40+ years!!!

Next: The TA that should not have been…..