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Hope DD has a very happy Birthday and you were able to enjoy your 2 day's off At the Poly too!! Can't wait to hear about the good time had by all. And the pixies are for you to find your forever job with Disney!!! LouigiAnne
Dawn,
I hope you are having a great time at the Poly and that your daughter is having a wonderful 13th birthday! I'm sending that everything else will work out!
Finally getting caught up with this thread. It's been quite a journey for you, but I'm glad to see that things are starting to work out for you and I have continued faith that you will soon have the answers you've been waiting for regarding whether you'll be staying @ WDW.. You are inspiring to me for having the courage to follow your dreams. I'm not sure what I want, but I know I'm not happy where I am, so I need to start making some changes.
I hope your DD's birthday celebration and DH's visit are fun for you all. You deserve some fun family time together. Can't wait to hear all about it!
__________________
-Lisa
The World is a book. Those who do not travel read only a page." - Augustine
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Dawn-
We didn't make it to AK until Tuesday (our last day). I made it to Dinoland and looked for you (but didn't ask for you in case you were behind the scenes and busy). Looks like you weren't working. So sorry we missed you this trip. I really looked forward to giving you a hug!
We didn't make it to AK on our March trip. We spent a lot of time there on the previous trip and this time they were just more into Epcot so we skipped AK for more time at Epcot. They really enjoyed the new Kim Possible thing. I wondered if we saw your daughter when we were there. The CPs there were very friendly and adding to the magic especially the first time we did it when they weren't as busy. Is she still working KP?
I am counting on your being able to extend so we can meet you on our next trip! You are the kind of magic maker they need! I know it must be a stressful time with people being let go, but I hope it works out for you.
Hope you are enjoying the much needed time off and that the drama is at a minimum for you.
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Thank you all again for the pixies. They were very needed, used, and in demand over the last few days.
I opted not to take my computer to go live from the Poly as I didn't think I'd have any time, nor did I want to pay the $$$ for internet. This little vacay was supposed to be on the cheap as much as possible.
Picked up hubby from the airport. Mind you, the night before 20yo and her DBF both said MCO is the easiest airport to get around, very well-signed, which I agreed. Hubby called, upset b/c I wasn't already there (DDs were running late packing last minute stuff, we were still about 15 min away) and he didn't know how to get to the arrivals pick up area. Ummmmm...follow the signs. Finally, after a frustrating conversation, I told him to find a way outside and tell me where he was. It took forever for him to figure out that he was at departures (the ticket counters and people checking baggage should've given a clue... ) so I told him to stay put and I would find him. Not an auspicious beginning to our time together.
Side note: I have very little patience for hubby's behavior. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of feeling like I have a 3rd, even less mature child to care for when he's around. I might possibly be more patient IF he wasn't such a jerk about DDs' problems and how "they just need to get over it and function" Pot and kettle much??? That puts me in a seriously cranky state when I do my best to help them live as fully as possible while trying to balance their various needs and he barges in, worse than they are, and then acts all huffy and angry b/c I accomodate them occasionally. Whatever. Back to the regularly scheduled TR...
At this point, S (b-day girl) does not know where we are staying, only that we are parking at a resort to hop to a park (yeah, a no-no, but she doesn't know that). She's been asking where her card is, like the ones in the commercials where the balloons pop out, so the night before B (10yo) and I colored a downloadable printout from the WDW website w/ the castle and balloons and pasted it inside a card. We "addressed" it to S and used a Tinkerbell sticker that looks like a stamp on the front and hid it in a bag in the car. I told B to give it to S as we pulled into the Poly drive, which she did. S opened it just as I was telling the guard we were checking in. The look on her face was priceless and she got the giggles. I had done the online check in, so we just took our park stuff and went straight to the online desk, but no one was there. I finally found a CM who retrieved our packet. our room was ready, so we went to drop off the paperwork, Raratonga, right next to the Ceremonial House!!! This was our first ever time staying here, so we were all pretty excited about it.
We hopped the monorail to TTC and picked up the monorail to Epcot. Hubby had never ridden up front, so we got to do that. We rode Soarin', then went to Coral Reef for lunch. We waited a bit, but we got a tankside table which was awesome. The food was "eh", as usual, but the fish make hubby happy, so that was worth it. We did Test Track and Spaceship Earth, then hopped back to the Poly for a bit to settle in. Went back to Epcot for dinner at Morocco for S and Germany for the rest of us. Wandered around a bit and enjoyed Illuminations, although hubby says it's "boring". When we got back to the Poly, the girls and I put on our swimsuits (hubby refused to pack his and I think he's only worn it once at home) and we went to the quiet pool (our room overlooked this pool, BTW, with a 3rd floor balcony...BEEEEyootiful) We swam for a bit and went to bed with an early wake-up for a 13th Birthday.
S had her day all sorted out, so we started in Captain Cook's with muffins for breakfast, then drove to the Beach Club to valet. Stopped at Will Call to get S's Birthday Fun Card (shopping card) and had a problem w/ hubby's ticket (it was an old one), so we had to get that settled. We did Test Track and Imagination, but she decided against Soarin' (which came back to haunt us). We picked up a Mission Pass for KP and walked around to Norway where we shared a waffle and a Schoolbread for a snack, then rode Maelstrom. Got our Kimmunicator and set off to save China. It was fun, we hadn't done that one yet. Mulan was standing around with nothing to do, but only B would pose with her. Walked around to the Outpost and bought some Croc flip-flops as S's feet were hurting her (whole other side story...) She decided she didn't "look right" anymore, so her day started collapsing. We walked around to the IG and took the boat back to the BC which was S's pick for lunch (BC Marketplace). She ordered her usual favorite, but it had changed (no pesto sauce) which made the day go sour faster. She also wanted gelato, but the case was empty so that was a panic moment, before we found out that they had it in the back. Whew!
She wanted to go back to the Poly rather than hop over to the MK to change clothes and regroup, so we did. The afternoon was supposed to be at the MK, but a deluge moved in and it was serious storminess and rain. N (23yo) had showed up and we were all stuck in the room with a lot of uncomfortable. N doesn't always dress/behave appropriately (Aspergers) and this was no exception. We finally just sat on the balcony watching the toad-strangler and trying to decide how to salvage the day.
The storm passed and S finally agreed to go to the MK to at least do a few things on her b-day list. We monorailed, then hopped the train to Frontierland for Splash and BTMRR, then hoofed it around to the Tea Cups. Hubby spun them, so they were flying and the looks on their faces will forever be etched in my memory. Sheer Joy. Heads thrown back, smiles, laughter...all of the reasons I want to work here...to make that happen even in the smallest way.
N decided she was "dehydrated" and HAD. TO. HAVE. VITAMIN. WATER. NOW. The bottle of water in my bag would not do, so we told her we'd meet her at Kona for dinner. Hubby spent the rest of the evening complaining and convinced that he had damaged his brain spinning in the teacups. Seriously. I won't even get into the conspiracy crap and politic talk that I had to squelch every day. We walked through ToonTown and caught the train back to the front and monorailed to the Poly for our 635 dinner at Kona Cafe. I told the girl at the desk that it had NOT been a successful birthday and I would really appreciate if they could do something a little magical for DD to help out.
We were seated and the waiter took our orders. Right before our food came, someone at the table right behind us vomited all over the floor. I even got some on my purse that was hanging on my chair. Ick, right? They tossed a napkin over it and proceeded to bring our entrees. Fortunately, it was me and S sitting next to it and she and I are VERY familiar with "protein spills" (she has "stomach migraines"), so we were able to overlook it enough to choke down our food, but it was very difficult. Between the entree and dessert, the custodial person came and used a foul smelling chemical to begin the clean-up. The waiter brought a plate the chef made up for DD with a cream puff, decorated with a chocolate stencil for her b-day, but he basically tossed it in front of her and walked off. About 15 minutes after that, he brought our desserts while the clean up was still happening. He also botched N's order altogether, without apology. I was not a happy guest. :
I asked for a manager and explained that you don't get a do-over for a 13th birthday and I'd really counted on Kona to come through for S (it WAS her favorite and where she chose to go). The manager apologized profusely and asked us to come back to Ohana in the morning for breakfast on them. I thought that was very generous of them and I agreed, but like I said, no do-over for S and with Aspergers, it's a tough pill to swallow. B/c the dinner had taken so long, we didn't have time to get back to the MK for Wishes, but the dining mgr assured me they played the music on the beach at the Poly. (pssst.....they don't ) That was the final disappointment of the night and we went back up to the room. N had brought a birthday cake, so we had some of that, but no one was very chipper. Oh, hubby refused to even take a bite b/c he'd had enough at dinner. Yeah, that was pretty much how the whole time was with him (more on that later...)
We got up the next morning and did enjoy our breakfast at Ohana. B did the parade for the very first time, overcoming her anxiety, and it made me cry. Hubby doesn't understand. At all. Went back to the room for B and I to change to swim in the volcano pool. We were on a time limit b/c I had to work at noon, so we got there at 10 for the slide to open, only, it wasn't. They didn't get it open until 1015, so B only had 15 minutes to slide. Went back up, changed, and cleared out of the room.
Few notes on the Poly: LOVED it, with a few caveats. The showerhead was too low for me and I'm 5'6". Hubby couldn't get under it at all at 6'. Blow dryer was a toy and not a real appliance. They were also soaping the tile hall floors and power washing the sidewalks at 10am, so we had a few scary slippery moments that could have been avoided by doing that in the middle of the night. Captain Cooks...YUM. Not the speediest CS, but still very good. I would definitely stay at the Poly again and it is the only monorail resort I can say that about. We now only have one more resort to go (Port Orleans) and we will have stayed in them all.
Back to the day...we checked out and I had to stop in costuming b/c I'd grabbed pants instead of shorts. No pants on a 90 degree day, sorry! Went to AK and I used my pass to get hubby and girls in and we went our seperate ways. A little while later, they come in the shop and hubby is clearly irritated, and is snapping at me. Sorry, NOT at MY job, mister. I took them outside and smilingly sent them on their way with a promise to meet at MK when I got off. He was SUCH a crank. Everyone teased him about his Grumpy shirts, but hey, if the shirt fits, KWIM?
Work was the usual MR and I got off at 730. My phone was about dead, so I made a quick call to find out where to meet and they were back at the Poly having dinner at Captain Cook's. I met them there only to be faced with more drama. Hubby was tired of carrying a pink bag (had the ponchos, I had carried it, plus my own bag for 2 days while he carried nothing, thankyouverymuch). S had a wet-denim rash. B was in meltdown over the fighting that had been going on all day. Once again, I had to be the grown up. I sent him and S out to the van to get her a change of shorts while I took B back to Capt Cook's for my own dinner (backup...I had to go over to the opposite side of AK on my break to print out hubby's boarding pass, so I had nothing to eat after Ohana and it was 8pm). I had parked in an easy-to-find spot, but hubby had to be all dramatic and helpless as usual. I was very happy when my phone died and I had an excuse for some silence. They came back in and we monorailed to the MK. We found a spot to watch Wishes, right in front of the castle and it was AWESOME, I've never seen it from that perpective. We went around toward Liberty Square and it was wall-to-wall people, so hubby was in his silent-freak-out-pissed-off mode. I got to hear about how stupid Disney was and how they need better crowd control. Whatever.
We went into Fantasyland and did Small World, Peter Pan, and Philharmagic before heading back down Main Street with Spectro going on. More fun. (not) We opted for the boat to the Poly and it was a good call. Of course hubby was flipping out about how we'd never get on, it was too small, there were too many people, yadayadayada, but we made it just fine and it was a pleasant ride.
Got the car and headed home, although hubby kept calling it "the rental" or "the apartment" and refused to call it "home". Anytime the girls said something about home, he'd make some dumbarse remark about Ohio. We got here and there was no BF and M (20yo) had the place gorgeous w/ homemade cookies. She had put out the rest of S's birthday (from her, BF, and my parents) on the table and it was very nice. (I forgot to mention that she didn't bother to come to the birthday dinner which made the whole day that much worse).
Hubby walked in, announced to me that it wasn't nearly as nice as home and proceeded to go to bed. I was majorly over him by this point and ready to make him sleep in the car. Livid. Furious. How DARE you walk into MY home and talk about it like that?!? He also announced that it was lights out, even though B and I were still trying to settle in and figure out her sleeping arrangement. I gave him The Look and said, "My castle. My rules" and that shut him up.
We were supposed to go to the Boardwalk this morning and rent one of those bike thingies, but thank God there were storms, so we just went to CiCis and took him to the airport. The whole trip, he was pressing me about when I'd be back. I kept telling him I didn't know exactly. Even if I don't do anything else, there is still off-boarding paperwork that has to be done and I haven't scheduled any of that. I finally told him that if I'm offered a PI, I'm taking it so I got the silent treatment all the way to the airport. The only other time I have been so glad to leave someone at the airport curb was my mother.
On the way back home, S talked to me (B was on her phone w/ her BFF) and said that the only reason he wants me back home is to cook and clean and keep him from being alone. I think her quote was, "He only wants us there for his own self". Pretty darned sad.
We are back home now, after a trip to the grocery store, ready to get back to our new normal. I'm really struggling. S is perfectly fine (and much happier) when he's not around. B is a total pleaser and loves everyone. I'm done with selfishness and everything being about what HE wants with absolutely no regard to anyone else. I miss my house in Ohio. I love it there and I had it pretty much the way I liked it after years of design and remodeling. I miss my space and my stuff and my yard with my lavender and blackberries and watching my girls on their swingset. I know they miss it. Funny thing, though, there is one glaring omission from the "Miss List" and he's only added as a formality or afterthought.
Please continue to send pixies for WISDOM to make the right choices when the time comes.
Oh Dawn...I am so happy that even with issues DD still seemed to have a good birthday, but I am so sorry that it was so stressed for you. Sometimes that "space" is what someone really needs to see what they have been dealing with....and whether you stay at Disney or not - you definitely have a lot of thinking to deal with, not only for you but the girls too.
Much to you, hope that now that he has left your "normal" routine might bring a smile back to your face. Continued pixies for the PI or the extension, I think either one of those could definitely be considered a sign.
Dawn,
I keep reading all your post and I admire what you are doing right now at WDW. But my parents always tell me that I have to take care of me & the kids no matter what DH does or happens to him.
You have the wisdom.
Sounds pretty bad- and am not defending your husband at all, but in his mind and for him, Ohio is home and if he doesnt even have an idea that you are planning on staying on, guess you cant blame him for those remarks- the rest sound intolerable and I am sorry he contributed to the bad bday- I would have insisted they move me if some barfed where I was eating, and moved me far away!!
Hope things get back to normal for you guys!
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and you were able to enjoy your 2 day's off At the Poly too!! Can't wait to hear about the good time had by all. 
LouigiAnne
) so I told him to stay put and I would find him. Not an auspicious beginning to our time together. 
Pot and kettle much??? That puts me in a seriously cranky state when I do my best to help them live as fully as possible while trying to balance their various needs and he barges in, worse than they are, and then acts all huffy and angry b/c I accomodate them occasionally. Whatever. Back to the regularly scheduled TR...
Walked around to the Outpost and bought some Croc flip-flops as S's feet were hurting her (whole other side story...) She decided she didn't "look right" anymore, so her day started collapsing. We walked around to the IG and took the boat back to the BC which was S's pick for lunch (BC Marketplace). She ordered her usual favorite, but it had changed (no pesto sauce) which made the day go sour faster. She also wanted gelato, but the case was empty so that was a panic moment, before we found out that they had it in the back. Whew! 
We walked through ToonTown and caught the train back to the front and monorailed to the Poly for our 635 dinner at Kona Cafe. I told the girl at the desk that it had NOT been a successful birthday and I would really appreciate if they could do something a little magical for DD to help out.
:
I met them there only to be faced with more drama. Hubby was tired of carrying a pink bag (had the ponchos, I had carried it, plus my own bag for 2 days while he carried nothing, thankyouverymuch). S had a wet-denim rash. B was in meltdown over the fighting that had been going on all day. Once again, I had to be the grown up. I sent him and S out to the van to get her a change of shorts while I took B back to Capt Cook's for my own dinner (backup...I had to go over to the opposite side of AK on my break to print out hubby's boarding pass, so I had nothing to eat after Ohana and it was 8pm). I had parked in an easy-to-find spot, but hubby had to be all dramatic and helpless as usual. I was very happy when my phone died and I had an excuse for some silence. They came back in and we monorailed to the MK. We found a spot to watch Wishes, right in front of the castle and it was AWESOME, I've never seen it from that perpective. We went around toward Liberty Square and it was wall-to-wall people, so hubby was in his silent-freak-out-pissed-off mode. I got to hear about how stupid Disney was and how they need better crowd control. Whatever.
,
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