Taking A Break from Life with a Trip to My Happy Place About This Page:

[crythomas]

Just catching up on your trip and it sounded just great. Reading all of the TR's is making me wish October would hurry up and get here so I can go on my second trip to WDW.

Hope the whole situation with your Mom moving is getting easier for you. I did not have a very close relationship with my Mother until I got in my 20's and soon after that she was gone.

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by chezp

Thank goodness you were finally able to make it to breakfast, after the problems with the monorail and what a relief about the cat too!

I'm shocked at how busy the park seemed to be - a 60 minute wait for the Haunted Mansion? Wow!

I couldn't believe it was that busy either. Although I should have known better when I was planning out our days. You'd think I'd know a thing or two about this sort of thing.

Originally Posted by Linnynad

Well despite the crowds it looks like you all got quite a bit done!! I have never taken Josie up the SFRT but I'm thinking this next trip we might have too.
Did Hope wind up liking BTMRR? We had FP's for it on our last trip, but then that was when that major storm came in and didn't want to end, so we never got on it.
Your pics look really good today, I so miss the castle with the ice lights.

Hope loved BTMRR. At first she was a little nervous, only because you're in the dark when you get going, but once the train really took off she was all smiles. We were seated in the middle, so there were pratically no hills either, since the train moves slowly down them, and then lets the back catch up with the front. I did sit with my arm around her though, just for a little added protection.

Originally Posted by Cam22

We've been on the monorail headed to breakfast when we hit the same kind of delay, a bit frustrating, but not much you can do until it moves again. Glad you all were able to get in for breakfast. Great final day at MK, though it seemed quite busy that day.

Yeah, and when one's down, the rest of them are down too, so everyone was pretty much in the same boat we were.

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Great day minus the monorail delay. Hope looks so cute sporting her sunglasses! So glad she got to meet Tiana and Merida!

Thanks. She still talks about meeting Merida, and wants to go back to shoot the arrow thingy.

Originally Posted by lauriep

Too bad the lines were so crazy on your last day, but you did a lot! Everyone says the Merida meets are wonderful, and I love that they have the archery set up as well. Seems like every TR from last fall mentions monorail problems.

I do think we did a lot despite the crazy crowds. Still sad I missed HM though.

Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark

Sounds like a great day, despite the monorail problems in the morning. I am glad they were able to seat you at GF although you were late.

I am so excited to hear Hope liked BTMRR! Great pics of her on it too.

Boy, I sure am glad that I headed to the world the Wed after Thanksgiving...those crowds look crazy!

After Thanksgiving will be a ghost town. You definitely picked the right time to go.

Originally Posted by num1DVCfan

I'm glad you were still able to get in for your breakfast reservation. I always get so nervous if it looks like we are going to be delayed before an ADR. I'm sorry you didn't get to ride HM, but it sounds like it was a good last day over all.

I get nervous too! I always feel bad when I'm late, but this time it was totally out of my control.

Originally Posted by mommapants

I have to say after I found out your cat was OK I was laughing. That is something my dumb dog would do. Although she must have been scared too. So sad you last day is coming to an end.

It's definitely funny now, but I wanted to kill Chad at first. I think the cat was scared with all the stuff going on inside the house, that he tried to find a safe spot to hide in, and it just happened to be in the floor.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Looks like a great day after the rough start! Great pictures! Sorry it's all coming to an end!

I'm sad it was the end of the trip, but happy that I'm almost done this TR since I've pretty much been dragging it on.

Originally Posted by lauriep

I can't believe I forgot to mention your poor cat in my response. Holly's post jogged my jet-lagged memory! It's a good thing the cat has a loud voice, and also a good thing the ceiling tiles could be removed rather than tearing up the just-completed dry wall.

That's why I'm shocked that Chad didn't notice he was missing. The second you walk in the door he is at your feet crying to be fed. If I came home and he didn't do that, I would think he was either missing or lying dead somewhere.

Originally Posted by KMB733

Your poor kitty cat! I'm glad he was located and doing ok!

That's great that you were still able to be seated for breakfast after the monorail delay! A great last day at MK. Glad Hope got to meet a few princesses before the end of the trip!

We really did have a great last day, and even with the crowds, we didn't feel rushed at all.

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

OMG! The cat! That is just crazy!
Even with a delay and long lines it seemed like a pretty good day - you got to do a few new things which is always good. I love Hope in her sunglasses too - so cute!

It will definitely go down as the crazy cat story. Happy that it happened at the end of our trip though.

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Glad the cat made its whereabouts known!
You managed to get a lot done, considering how bad the lines were.
Sorry the trip is ending.

I thought we did a pretty good job seeing as much as we could that day too. Especially with the delay from the monorail issue.

Originally Posted by JKnott17

Ugh, what a pain having to deal with the monorail and being late for breakfast! I'm glad they were able to seat you right away though. You got a lot done this day, even though the lines seemed crazy long!

I was pretty proud of us and our awesome touring abilities.

Originally Posted by poohbr2015

You really did have a great day despite the lines! So glad your cat was located! They do like to get into the strangest places! What did you guys have at cosmic rays? We have never gotten counter service there. Can't believe the trip is ending!

We had the rotisserie chicken that came with green beans and mashed pototoes. It was like half a chicken BTW. A lot of food, but really really good.

Originally Posted by Thomhazel

poor cat, my hubby would probably have kept quiet about that one.

glad Hope is better.

My dad said he should have kept quiet about that one too, and that he still has a lot to learn in the husband department.

Originally Posted by stardust190

Those were some crowds! I still think you got a lot done. You really must have tired Hope out on this trip though. Can't believe she slept through Pirates. Did you end up using all your dining plan credits? Will you be getting the dining plan again?

We did use all of our dining credits. It was easy using the TS credits, and then it got a little tougher with the CS credits, but with the snack credits, that's where it got to be the hardest. We didn't even know we had that many left over, and then there are only certain items you can use the credits on. It was something I'm glad I tried out, but will probably never do again.

Originally Posted by guerns17

I always wish I could fall asleep anywhere. Hope is a pro at it!

So do I. My father's the same way. He fell asleep sitting on the sidewalk at HS while the parade went by one time.

Originally Posted by iwonathomas

Just catching up on your trip and it sounded just great. Reading all of the TR's is making me wish October would hurry up and get here so I can go on my second trip to WDW.

Hope the whole situation with your Mom moving is getting easier for you. I did not have a very close relationship with my Mother until I got in my 20's and soon after that she was gone.

You're second trip! You still have a ton of stuff to see don't you? I still find new things I've never seen or done before, and this past trip was number forty-something. More reasons to go back I say. As for my parents house, it's really not getting any easier for me, and I'm not sure how long it's going to take for that to happen. I'm sorry you lost your mom at such a young age...I can't even imagine what that must be like.

[shazza]

Just caught up with the cat story - glad it had a happy ending. I guess Chad figured it was best to get yelled at on the phone

Love the photo of Hope with the dole whip and sunglasses - too cute. Also the ones with Merida and with her shooting the bow and arrow.

[honeybee723]

Day Six – Monday, November 19th
Our Final Morning and Final Thoughts

Our flight was at 10:30 this morning, so DME was set to pick us up at 7:35am, a little bit too early for my liking, but it was the cheapest flight out, plus I had to work the next day, and I would need some extra time to get settled back in at home.

I’m always a little down on our departure day, but this time was harder than it normally is. I woke up, and this overwhelming feeling of sadness just hit me like a ton of bricks, so I got up and hid in the bathroom for a few minutes while I had a good cry. I think the fact that we had such a great trip together mixed with the fact that my mom would eventually be moving away and selling my childhood home, just brought me back to reality super quick. In Disney, I was able to forget all of the things that had made me sad before we left, and now that we were leaving I would be forced to deal with them again. Plus, not knowing when I would actually be back in my favorite place, made it even harder to say good-bye.

I got myself together, put on a smile for the other two girls in the room, and quickly got the rest of our stuff together so we’d be out of the room on time. Once we were in the lobby, we waited about 10 minutes before we decided to finally go outside to meet the bus. It was chilly out there and thankfully we only had to wait an extra 5 minutes in the cold. Before we knew it, we were on our way to the airport, stopping at POP and AoA first to pick up a few more people.

We got there about an hour before our flight was supposed to take off, so we decided to grab a quick breakfast. Mom had started feeling yucky last night, so she wanted hot tea instead of coffee, but not me, first stop was Starbucks where I grabbed a latte and croissant, and then we went to their food court so we could get Hope’s breakfast and mom’s tea. While we were sitting there I got a text from Southwest saying our flight was delayed for another hour. Really?!?! The last time we were leaving Disney we had a flight delay, but at least this one was only an hour, so after we finished our breakfast, we took our time looking in the shops before making our way over to security.

Security was empty, which is usually something I never see at this airport, and soon enough we were on the mini-monorail to our gate. However, when we got off the monorail, I realized we had picked the wrong one, so we had to get right back on and go back so we could transfer to the right one. Obviously my brain wasn’t working real well this morning. When we finally got to our gate, we noticed our plane wasn’t there yet, but we figured it would be on it’s way soon because we only had about 45 minutes until our take off time. But as the minutes ticked by, we realized that time wasn’t gonna happen. No one from SW was making any announcements, so I finally got up to go check the departure time on the board, which was now showing another 25 minute delay. WTF??? By the time I got back to my seat, I got another text from SW telling me what I already knew. It was actually pretty funny because as soon as my phone went off, a ton of other phones started beeping and dinging at the same time alerting all of the other passengers to the delay.

Still no announcement from SW, but finally our plane did pull up to the gate, however, after it sat there for a good 10 minutes, and still no one had gotten off the plane, we were all starting to wonder what the heck was going on. We watched three flight attendants board the plane, but that was it. After another 10 minutes had gone by, they finally made an announcement saying that they were replacing those flight attendants with new ones, and we were just waiting on them to make their way to our gate before boarding could begin.

All I can say is that is was really strange. Those three flight attendants then exited the plane, and about 5 minutes later a man that we had never seen before walked off the plane as well. Was he the only passenger? Apparently, because no one else ever got off. Even though we still hadn’t seen the new flight attendants arrive, they made the announcement for all passengers with A boarding passes to line up, and because we had B boarding passes, we got up to get in the family boarding line.

While we were standing in line we started talking with a young mother who had her little baby with her, and by little, I mean under 6 months old. She was with her parents, and she was getting a connecting flight to Germany out of Baltimore so she could spend Thanksgiving with her husband who was stationed over there. She was starting to panic because the longer we waited to leave, the less time she would have to make her connecting flight, and she didn’t know when the next one would be. I could definitely understand her frustration because we had now been standing in line for about 10 minutes, and we still hadn’t seen those new flight attendants. We literally had no clue when we would actually be departing, so mom called my dad and told him she would call him as soon as we were actually seated on the plane.

Hope was getting very whiney by this time, so I picked her up, and within about 5 minutes she was out cold. I had to leave mom in line by herself so I could sit down since Hope had become major dead weight in my arms. Within in minutes of me sitting down, the new flight attendants had arrived and boarded the plane, and shortly after we were being allowed to board as well. Of course Hope woke up once we were seated, but I knew she would fall back to sleep once were up in the air. So our 1 hour flight delay, had somehow turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes, but we were finally on our way, and our vacation was officially over.

After a very uneventful flight, with Hope asleep for most of it, we landed around 3:25pm, with dad getting us home close to 5pm. I finally got to see what had become of our living room since having the wall knocked out, and our cat, who ended up getting a bath the very next night after who-knows-what he had gotten himself into in the ceiling. It was hard being home the first few days after we got back, but getting into the holidays really helped me adjust. A lot of things have happened since I got back, and to say it’s been a roller coaster of emotions is an understatement. From the moment they put their house up for sale and having it sell within two weeks, to watching my mom start packing up all of our memories and throwing out a few that she can’t take with her, has been so extremely hard on my heart. Then there was the issue with the contractor not pulling the building permits before they sold their house like he said he had done, and them finding out they can’t build the house like they originally thought they could due to the restrictions in our county. My parents had no idea what they were going to do or where they were going to go, but they had a meeting with the builder and my brother this past Friday about just building the in-laws quarters directly onto my brother’s house because they are no longer able to attach it via a breezeway like they originally intended to do.

This new situation has now become a sore spot with me, because when they first realized they would most likely have to move, I came to them with the offer to build an in-laws quarter onto our house, but they wanted to have a separate residence instead. Now that it isn’t an option, I once again came to them with the same offer, which would allow them to stay in the same neighborhood, and close to where mom works and goes to church. However, my mom’s response was that because my brother has been working so hard to figure everything out for them to move up there, it would only be right to continue keeping it that way. It hurts because here I am offering them a way to stay where they are, which I was the first to do anyway, and yet they still want to move up there because of all the work my brother has been putting into this. The only reason that was happening was because they originally had planned to build a separate residence on his property! We’re back to square one, and back to my original offer of help, but it means nothing, and just makes this situation that much more difficult for me. In a way, I feel like it’s pushing me away from them, but in another way, I know they feel like they’re stuck in the middle, and don’t want to feel like they are choosing sides. I honestly just want all of this to be over so I can go through my mourning process, and then move on in whatever direction life takes me, because no matter what, it’s going to happen, and I need to accept that now more than ever.

On a good note, I’m making great progress on our first floor. I still have to paint our kitchen cabinets and staircase railing, and make some other minor changes, but it’s really starting to come together nicely…thank goodness. It’s been very draining and time consuming, and I can’t wait to be able to just take a break. Lately I’ve been diving right into it as soon as I get home from work at night, and then using each weekend to do as much as I can without taking quality time away from Hope, but I still feel like I a bad mom. I told her that once spring gets here I’m all hers again, and things will get back to normal.

Final Thoughts:

I usually break up my final thoughts into sections, but this time I’ve decided to just do one big thought. It all pretty much revolves around the dining plan, and whether or not I will ever use it again. Without hesitation, I can honestly say that I will never purchase it again, and that’s only because it doesn’t fit our needs like it does for other families. First, it is just way too much food! Forget about needing any snack credits because the desserts that we had left over from our CS meals would have easily made up for them. Then the amount of food they give with a child’s meal is way too much for a three year old. Actually, I think the food they offer for an adult’s CS meal is a lot of food, and it could have easily been split between Hope and I. That’s where I felt we wasted money, because normally there is no way I would have ordered that much to eat.

When it came to the TS, I do feel like we saved money on the adult portions, but again, it was just way to much food for Hope. I’ve had her eat off my plate before, knowing how picky of an eater she is, especially when on vacation, so this was just another waste of money for us. There were meals where we were literally sending back her plate that still had ¾ of it full of food, and I hate being wasteful. It’s just something that I was taught not to do.

Other than that one minor negative, the rest of the trip was wonderful. From our incredible room view to Hope’s magical dance with Belle, this ended up being just the vacation that I needed at the time, and I can’t wait until we’re able to go back again. Right now it’s looking like May of 2014, but we’ll see if that doesn’t end up changing.

Once again, thank you for joining me for this long drawn out TR, especially waiting for this last update, but I do appreciate all of you sticking with me until the very end.

[dutchdisneyfamily]

You had a hard ending to your trip for sure. What wonderful memories you've made! Thanks for sharing them with us.

[OneLittleSpark]

I'm sorry life is so crazy and sad between your house and your parents.

I am myself looking into not using the dining plan my next trip. We have used it on every trip, but next one my DD will be considered an adult. Now normally at home, it's hard to get the girl to stop eating, but on vacation she eats so much less. I am thinking that at some a la carte places and CS we can share meals. I really have to crunch the numbers when the time comes though, bc we do lots of buffets and family style.
I found out that some restaurants give a 10% discount if you use your Disney VISA, so I will also have to check to see if I can find out what restaurants and if they are ones we go to, how that affects the price comparison.

That was a fantastic trip! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I feel your pain about not knowing when you will get back, we are hoping for 2014, but it seems like 2015 might be more doable. Ugh, 2015 sounds SO far away!

[lexiemom]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us! I am glad you had a wonderful time and were able to forget about your worries at home for just a little bit. Would love to see pics of the house when you get it finished.

[JKnott17]

I'm sorry you are going through such a rough time with your parents' move. I hope things get settled soon so that you can deal with it and move on.

I agree with you about the dining plan, it is way too much food! We used it for the first time in November because our dates fell under the free dining promo, and that's probably the only way I'll use it again, I doubt I would ever pay for it.

You made some great memories this trip, thanks for sharing with us!

[lauriep]

I'm glad you had such a good trip with your mom before all the dramas about their house. Whatever happens and wherever your mom ends up living, the bond you have with her is strong and that can't change.

[num1DVCfan]

Sorry your trip had a rough ending, but you definitely made some wonderful memories with Hope and your mom.

[lfredsbo]

Sorry you were so sad about leaving - I think we have all been there - but you certainly made some great memories for the three of you!
Sorry it's been so hard with the house transitions - I know is has to be hard not having your mom so physically close, but you two have such a bond

[Cam22]

What a delay on the flight home, but glad once in the air it was uneventful. You're reasons for not using the DP are the same Luke and I have. We don't eat that much food, and we don't like to waste. so much for sharing this very special trip with all of us!

[cubfancolleen]

Thanks for sharing the trip with us, Melissa.
Sorry about the continued house drama (and sadness).
The DP is a lot of food. With a teenaged boy, it works great, but I doubt if we'd use it once its back to just DH & I.

[KMB733]

Sorry the ending of your trip was rough, but glad you were able to make some great memories. Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

[chezp]

Sorry about the flight delays and I'm sorry life's been tough since you got back with your parents' move.