[woohoo]

Well Im back-
I so badly want to say that it was as magical as I had planned but it had so many flaws- I keep going through the pictures to remind myself of all the things that I did enjoy-
I will write a nice report when Im less tired and have a clear headed memory- but the short of it was this-
Our PS were all screwed up with the Magical gatherings completely going wrong- all of our 10+ ps made us sit in remote locations and we were made to feel like we were an inconvenience everywhere we went- especially when trying to explain that we had 4 rooms between us so our checks needed to be seperate for the wishes to add up. I even had the waitress at CRT complain that it was more work for her.
Our rooms were all wrong- they had my husband in my sisters room for the majority of our reservation with wishes all split weird- I asked to have it changed but was told that they couldnt. They accused us of not checking in for our last night and front desk came knocking on the door at 8am our last day to say just that when I had checked both our rooms and had a whole other set of keys to prove it- Housekeeping also came at 8am the last day (my birthday and the only day I had to sleep) and to top it off my baby spilled coffee on the bed so I pulled the sheets back so the housekeeper could see and she set the bed over it so my DH had to sleep in a puddle of coffee- she made cute little bears when we tipped her but still never emptied the garbage or exchanged towels ( both a bother since we cleaned up milk sippy cups with the towel and dirty diapers in the garbage)
I had some wonderfull times too so dont get me wrong- but for every good thing there was equally bothersome.
for instance-
Loved the whoop dee doo- but because of our party size we were stuck in the back even though we made reservations over 6 months ago- our friends who were just 4 were right on the stage and I made her reservations for her 2 months after mine- and they gave me a hard time with wishes.
Loved the spa!! But it took me close to 2 hours to get back to PC from GF because I did not know that there was no bus to MK and the monorail was down for 45 min.
I Just Love CRT but again we were given a hard time about our party size and then she said it was more work for her to have to ring seperate checks-also they dont have mickey shaped pancakes anymore
I tried to use the fastpass but something was wrong with the clock at jungle cruise and I thought there was an hour wait but i got passes for 3:30pm it was only 11am, I could get new passes at 3:15 but had to be at downtown disney at 5pm and since there is no tram service from MK to DD I had to leave at least an hour ahead of time- ARGH -
Ok - so here is the basic flavor of the whole time- A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

On a lighter note - I still love the Cruise and I cried when I had to leave it this morning- I have nothing negative to say about it except that I wish my brothers dining tickets were correct so we wouldnt have had to rush to Tritons and miss picture ops with the captain ( he was given tickets that said the wrong rest since he had 2nd dining until the day before we left) I wish it was sunnier and less windy at Castaway Cay. I have no tan. And the adult beach was unbearably cold and windy . I wish that my brothers family could have come and enjoyed the beach with us but they were quarantined to their room all saturday due to the stomach flu. but I absolutely loved the cruise!!!

Ill write a better trip report later when I have had some sleep-

[FireAngel]

So sorry to hear that you didnt have a great trip. At least some good things happened. Anyways, I cant wait to hear the rest of the TR.

[Erin]

WELCOME HOME! I am so sorry you had a hard time. I can't wait to hear full details and see pictures!

[boucher0911]

Woohoo -
Man, what a bummer!! I know how much you were looking forward to this trip. I hope there were a lot of good memories, too. I know - the negative are always the ones that seem to stick with ya, though. I can relate with the PS issues - I've had a heck of a time trying to get PS for our large party (when my friends from West Palm come up to see us). I just don't understand how they push all this family togetherness (wasn't their last ad campaign for "Magical Gatherings"?) and then it is next to impossible to get PS unless you want to sit at seperate tables. What a pain!

Anyway - I'm looking forward to your TR - Can't wait to hear about all the good parts! How was the weather? My dad was on a cruise last week, so he probably was chilly too. Hope you get some rest and feel better in the AM. I'll be checking in for the TR later!

[Pooh Fan]

Woohoo,
I am so sorry to hear that your trip was not as magical as you had hoped. I do hope that after some rest you are able to look back at the good times and fun that you had and that will be enough to outweigh the bad things that happened. I will be looking for your detailed trip report tomorrow. Get some rest tonight though.

[Dana]

WElcome home to DC. I am so sorry to hear that you had some unmagic during your stay. Get some rest.

[Kippage]

Aw, I'm sorry you had so many bad things happen, especially with the rooms! I hope the rest of the TR is a bit sunnier!

We'll be waiting....

[Jen]

Welcome home, Woo-hoo!

I'm sorry your trip wasn't "Disney Perfect" In time, I'm sure you'll forget about the "bad" parts.

I can't wait to hear more about the cruise. Get some sleep and post some pictures tomorrow!

Jen

[Dopey]

Bummer. Makes you wonder why they push the Gatherings so, when they aren't really prepared to give you a magical time.
Why don't you sit down and write to them and explain what you expected and what you actually got. Makes you feel better and they can work on making their program better.

[dznygrl]

Oh Woohoo, it always leaves such a sour feeling in your stomach when all that kind of stuff goes wrong! I'm sorry to hear things didn't work out better for you. I would still love to read the details of your trip--good and bad--when you have the chance.

For now, rest up and think positively toward your NEXT Disney trip (no matter how far away it might be!)

[woohoo]

ok- Im better rested- kids are in school and all the laundry is downstairs-

The list of crud that happened is still in my heart and I will write a letter for sure. I am not one to really complain but after all the planning and organization I had, the stuff that went wrong would have been so much worse if I did not have it all together myself. I also think that if the manager at PC suggested I write a letter then it was worthy of doing something. I do want to state that she gave me my money back from my last night of stay for the coffee in the bed thing- this was nice because I bought myself a nice souvenier on the cruise with it.
The Grand Gathering promotion is a joke though! It was awfull to be stuck in dark corners or seperated - they wanted us to use one card for all the wishes but there were 4 rooms and 3 families so that would not work. It was so mixed up that when we used our wishes for the last time at Planet Hollywood they said I had no more wishes and we had to dig through reciepts to count out how many we used. The waiter was so upset that he had to keep reringing it up but it was not our fault. We were almost late for Cirque- we had to run in the rain to the Cirque building and we missed the warm up act just because of the sorting. I think that next time we will go just as my little gang and not bring the world with us. At least when something bad like this stuff happens its just my DH that I have to argue with or keep calm.
I will say that Quicksilver rocks!! It was the one thing on our trip that I was not worried about!
Oh and you can have something to drink in every country of epcot!!! We tested this theory! Between beer and margharitas and wine and specialty coffee, I had the best time at Epcot!!
Ill put together a light TR later when the baby is sleeping with pictures included!

[Pooh Fan]

I am glad that you are feeling better this morning. I will be watching for your trip report and of course the pictures. Keep us informed on Disney's response to your letter. I hope it all works out for you and that Disney makes it right.

[woohoo]

I am so glad that you are all not down on me for being down myself- I was worried that I was just looking for perfection in an imperfect world and that it was just me. I am curious to see what will happen with the letter. I have to figure out a way to post the pictures easliy here- they are pretty large- Im working on it!

[Erin]

Woohoo - I'm glad you're back! We wouldnt be down on you. If you experienced that much dificulty, you should be upset. It takes alot of planning and moula to make a trip to Disney work. There is no reason why it should of been such an issue.

I really hope they can come to some sort of fix for you...and - I really hope you can focus on the positive! It's not a good feeling when you feel as though your vacation is a bust.

[woohoo]

I am playing with the pictures now so Im feeling better - you are right- its a lot of money to go and I think its hard to sit here knowing I still have to pay for a lot of the trip with a bad taste in my mouth.