[Dana]

I love the things they do with leggos

[Dana]

random shot

[Dana]

candy crash - on the boat to OKW

[Dana]

DD's dance...lol

[Jen]

Your DD is so funny!! It's so cool that she's a ham for the camera ~ most girls her age duck everytime there's a camera around LOL!

Sounds like another great day dana!!

[E&B's Mom]

Originally Posted by stusbabydoll

Your DD is so funny!! It's so cool that she's a ham for the camera ~ most girls her age duck everytime there's a camera around LOL!

Sounds like another great day dana!!

My DD sounds just like yours! She absolutely loves posing! This is such a great TR. I'm so impressed with how quickly you are getting it done!

[cinderbella]

Dana! You are SO good...It took me two and half weeks to finish my TR and you did it all in 24 hours!

I wish I had your dedication!

[Dana]

Last day - 11/1

The alarm sounded at 6:30. I had arranged for a luggage pick-up for 7:15. The towncar was due to be there at 8:20, but they are always early, so I figured better get the luggage down there. WE all got ready and I sent the girls to go get breakfast at the fast food place. Apparently they open at 7am, but don't serve breakfast until 7:30...that's a bit stupid to me, but whatever. They came back with cinnabuns and a coffee for me. The bags were picked up right on time by Mufasa (sp?)...he was the most pleasant person I had dealt with all week...just a joy to speak to. He took all my stuff down and offered me a ride to the main house. I declined cause I wasn't completely ready to go.

I finished up in the room and did a final "once over" to make sure nothing got left behind. AS we walked out the front door, the rain started coming down. I said to my DD "see all of WDW is crying tears of rain cause we are leaving"..lol We headed over to the food stand and I grabbed a breakfast sandwich. We still had 3 counters left and 2 snacks..lol so much food! I had to go in the gift shop and buy a bag to carry my carry-on stuff. We used my carry-on and the spare duffle for all DD's clothes...her suitcase was destroyed and wouldn't hold anything. WE sat and waited for the car when mufasa came back and got all our luggage out of holding for us. He then pulled a bench out of the rain and wiped it down for us and insisted we sit while we waited for the driver. (I tipped him REALLY well...he was what every WDW employee should be). I went into the check-in building and called for the manager and made sure she knew how fantastic he is.

The driver finally showed up at 8am....ran right past us and went into the bathroom. I guess she had to go. She came out eventually and threw out her coffee cup. The bell services worker working the desk, annie, pointed her in our direction. She walked right past us never saying a word even after annie told us we were her pick up. She went to the car and came jogging back....right past us again and into the bathroom...back out with a frantic look and had her arm in the trash can...she lossed the keys to the car. Annie handed them to her...she found them on the ground. Still not saying a word to us she pulled the car around and parked in front and popped her trunk....never getting out to load us, I loaded the trunk with the help of annie. We let ourselved into the car and she said very cocky-like "what time is the flight?"......she didn't even know..holy cow! This woman had such a case of road rage on the way there that I wanted to kill her by the time we got to the airport. She double parked and laid on the horn for people to move out of the unloading zone....she was a piece of work. Finally we pull in and she pops the trunk. I get out and unload my stuff before she can even get out of the car...I was a bit piffed. She is standing there gaping at me I guess waiting for her tip....I gave her nothing...not a dollar...nothing. That shows you how piffed I was. I tipped Joel for goodness sake and he was a jerk. She left with a spin of the wheels and I didn't even look up at her as she left.

I go over to the curb-side check in area and guess who is waiting on me...oh yes, Joel...what a morning. Fortunately he didn't remember me or my middle finger...lol. He had a compltely different attitude this morning and was very helpful. I tipped him the towncar's money..lololol After getting our boarding passes we went directly to the security area. This was a bit messy this morning, but nothing to serious. The one TSA lady was really giving an older woman a hard time about finding her ID and yelled to the crowd behind her to get their ID's out before they got to her...I kinda don't blame her. This lady was so unprepared and holding the entire line up. We went right through the x-ray area with no problems. They didn't make me unwrapp my ornaments that I bought or anything. We headed to the gates and waited to board. My DD sat on a chair reading her Adventures of uncle remus book she bought at splash mountain and her DF slept on the chairs. We boarded soon enough and had an uneventful perfectly on time trip home.

Once at the airport, I could not find my parking tag and had to find someone to show them my departing boarding pass so they could over-ride the parking machine. We took the 50minute drive home and that was that.

Great trip with lots of lessons learned, but totally magical in every way despite any bumps in the road that were encountered. I was greeted by my two pups that were in mouring for 7 days with me gone....love how excited they get when I get home.

I have some final thoughts but I am going to throw a few more pictures in first.

[Dana]

two tired kids on the way to the airport. I am so glad they weren't awake for that ride

[Dana]

DD reading in the airport

[Dana]

I have decided to post this picture even though you can't even tell it's me...

[Jen]

I can't believe how horrible your driver was!!


I see you have a countdown going already missy....

[Dana]

WEll that was the report. Here are my final thoughts on this vacation:

the dining plan - great deal even if you don't eat everything that you are suppose to. You may not save much but you at least break even. I like having things prepaid and this is an option I will use again just to have it paid off.

bringing friends - not a good idea. The kid is great. It's not her fault that she was home sick. I just think these trips are easier with just family. You get used to doing things a certain way and it's hard and dissappointing at times to have to change up your normal way of doing things. I will do just DBF, DS and DN next time. Those three got along with no problems at all. The next trip in August, however is just for me and DD.

Saying no to buffets - I am done with the dinners. I can find stuff at the breakfasts making it worth it to me to go, but the character dinners are forever banned on my vacations to WDW.

Planning things to the gills - yes, I love to plan, but I changed so many things once down there. I think next time the plans will be looser and the only things planned with be the parks and the sit down meals. If someone asked me what we were doing at a certain time one more time on this trip, I was going to shoot them. I am so flexible when down there and hate having to go with a schedule. I like having a park to go to and a meal...that's it. I think the planning is just something to keep me occupied while I wait to go.

service and food quality -I hate to say it, but the quality of the food has taken a nose dive. The service, excpet for O'hanna, was just fine though. I didn't notice any difference because I was on the dining plan. I just think we had a bad server at O'hanna...it does happen. DD and I have decided to try all new places next trip and just stick to one or two character breakfasts that are tradition for us.

Atlantic city airport - I will totally be flying out of there every trip if the price is right. SO much easier than philly.

Thanks to all for reading my report. I loved sharing it all with you. Now, back to the planning stages. I will start in two weeks. I'm a bit disneyied out for now.

[noahsark45331]

Wow! Dana what a great TR! Sounds like all-in-all it was a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing all your pics.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by stusbabydoll

I can't believe how horrible your driver was!!


I see you have a countdown going already missy....

Yes, its up already. I have in my mind to leave for WDW on the 22nd of august...I haven't decided for sure yet. That driver was a disgrace. We are renting a car next trip now that I have some knowledge of the layout and have driven around a bit.