3 in 1! A PACKED trip report! 8/11/14UPDATE!- TRIP 3! Many Updates and a new TR!!

[dreamerchic33]

Hey everyone!
Here we are on the last day of the 1st trip of this report!!!
the second and third trip have more pictures and details! I hope you will continue to read along!!

I forgot to mention, momma bear and I had ordered this on our MK night...


So on our last day, we had a leisurely morning as we had a mid-day flight!
We went to Kouzzina again...
It was a new chef and she was lovely....



After breakfast we walked around the BW for a bit, it was a beautiful day! Isn't it always a beautiful day when you are leaving?!?!









We always used to hang out on that deck area and it was so nice doing it again! All of a sudden this terrible thought jumped into my head.....what if Disney ever went bankrupt and there was NO disney left?!?!?! My mom was hysterical laughing at me! She also calmed my fears lol....

We headed to the lobby and awaited our DME back to MCO :-( I hate leaving but i was excited to see my hubby!!!!!
The ride to NY was terrible! Ughhhh my mom thankfully slept through it, but the turbulence was out of control! I was praying the entire way home!

Next up!
The anniversary trip!!!

 

[pellegirl]

Looks like a great trip so far. Check Disneystore.com for charms for your mom's Pandora. They aren't Pandora (and they will apparently void any warranty you might have bought for the Pandora), they are Chamilia and you can find Disney ones on their website as well as Chamilia's website. I have a cute "Dream really do come true" bead now and eyeing some more!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Looks like a great trip so far. Check Disneystore.com for charms for your mom's Pandora. They aren't Pandora (and they will apparently void any warranty you might have bought for the Pandora), they are Chamilia and you can find Disney ones on their website as well as Chamilia's website. I have a cute "Dream really do come true" bead now and eyeing some more!

thanks so much for reading along!! Thank you so very much for that information! I will have to check it out!
xo

 

[disneybarbie]

Looked like a really nice trip with your Mum, thanks for sharing.. looking forward to the anniversary trip!


Emma x

 

[dreamerchic33]

Looked like a really nice trip with your Mum, thanks for sharing.. looking forward to the anniversary trip!


Emma x

Thanks Emma!

 

[missangelalexis]

You and your mom are SO cute!! Enjoyed part 1 of your trip report

 

[dreamerchic33]

So I thought before I start trip 2, you need to know some background!
You know when you have a feeling about something, just that gut wrenching feeling?? Well, from the day we booked this trip, I just felt it was not going to happen. I just knew something was going to happen and I never truly got excited for this trip. Well, all seemed to be going fine about 1.5 weeks before the trip...that was until there was talk of a hurricane. I thought, no big deal, it will just be rain and all will be good. A co-worker of mine (weather nut) said, i have a feeling this is going to be bad. I really did not obsess about the weather until we got closer. It was looking worse and worse but it was also looking as if it would clear up by the time we were going to leave. I do not think any of the northeast expected what was in store.

The weekend before the trip i took these pictures at work





I remember posting these on IG and writing "#crazyclouds #sandy #frankenstorm #goaway #justwanttoseemickey!"
That Saturday, we went out to eat and went to the supermarket to grab some last minute items, you know, "just in case".
This is what almost what the entire store looked like.
I started getting nervous. We loaded up on batteries, candles, and flashlights.
Sunday came around and I called Jetblue and the lady told me they didn't see any reason why by Wednesday they wouldn't be up and running. She advised me not to change plans yet, the storm was still unpredictable.

Well, the storm hit us a bit earlier then expected and it hit us worse then predicted. My job was closed for almost the entire week. My hubby had to go into work monday morning (weather was horrible) and thankfully he came home early.

Considering the timing of the storm and when we thought we would lost power, I decided we would celebrate our anniversary early!



We had a fondue celebration and it was great!

We tried to enjoy it, but watching the news and hearing the trees fall was just so scary. We were very lucky in that we, our families, and our homes were fine. Our friends and close ones however, were not so lucky. The damage this storm did was just unthinkable and devastating.




NY was shut down...


I was very stressed not hearing from certain friends who lived in the hardest hit areas, and the cell service was also having problems. We just stayed inside and prayed. We tried to make the best of it!



Eventually some areas were open...


we got some pizza and ordered a few pies to hand out to those families who lost power and had trouble leaving their homes because of the damage.

During this time, we cancelled and rescheduled the trip a number of times, the airports were underwater (not something that they planned for). Disney and Jetblue were great to deal with but it was a frustrating process.

I went to finish my week up at work to check in on my clients and help them with FEMA forms and of course support. My hubby and I went through our closets and packed bags and bags up of clothes and we volunteered at a shelter. We were able to help families reunite and get other people medication. It was a powerful and humbling experience to say the least. A lot of where we live was without power for a very long time and there was a gas shortage which was also a very scary experience. This impacted my family greatly, as my father and brother travel quite a ways to and from work. We had to take rounds with cars and take turns getting gas. This problem went on for quite some time, even after we returned from the trip. We would wait hours at a time. It is amazing how much we all take for granted.

We were able to know that our friends and close ones, although had damaged homes, were at least safe!

Eventually we were able to pack up and leave for our trip. I couldn't help but feel so guilty that we went on this trip. We even considered not going at all. But eventually decided we should go!

Next up! Arrival day!

 

[dreamerchic33]

You and your mom are SO cute!! Enjoyed part 1 of your trip report

Aww! thank you! and thank you for reading along!

 

[blairbear]

Hi Christina! I love your trip report so far. It looks like you and your mom had a great time! I would love to do a mother/daughter trip to Disney some day, hubby and I took my parents to Disney for the first time last year and it was amazing to see how much they enjoyed it. I can't wait to hear more about your anniversary trip. I am sorry it got off to a rough start like it did with the storm coming through but I think that it is wonderful how you and your husband ordered pizza and helped others in that time.

I am going to read your honeymoon trip report as well and check out your blog!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Hi Christina! I love your trip report so far. It looks like you and your mom had a great time! I would love to do a mother/daughter trip to Disney some day, hubby and I took my parents to Disney for the first time last year and it was amazing to see how much they enjoyed it. I can't wait to hear more about your anniversary trip. I am sorry it got off to a rough start like it did with the storm coming through but I think that it is wonderful how you and your husband ordered pizza and helped others in that time.

I am going to read your honeymoon trip report as well and check out your blog!

Aww thank you! and thank you so much for reading along!!
So happy to hear you and your family had a great time!!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Ahhh! I have been such a slacker! I am so sorry!!! Life just gets a little crazy sometimes!! I have been trying to make some positive life changes and sometimes they take up a lot of time lol....I registered for to disney princess half marathon!!! So i have been training my princess booty off!!

Let's get back to this report!

Arrival day!!!

We were picked up extra early to ensure we would arrive at the airport nice and early without any issues! It was crazy to still see gas lines, power outages, and the damage. We tried to stay positive and happy as we got into the airport. We went through check-in and security very quickly! We did our usual Jamba juice stop!



Before we knew it, we were on the plane!

We had landed in no time and were on our way!



So much love for the DME!

Franz was our DME driver and he was AMAZING!!!! I can't even describe how cute and magical he was! Loved him!!!


Finally I got a picture of the sign!!!
We arrived at Old Key West and were immediately checked in! yay! The CM was so sweet hearing we came from NY! She also gave us our anniversary pins! We were quickly told how to get to our room and soon were settled!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Some room pictures!




We loved the room and the theme was great!
We were quite hungry and had a long time until our dinner reservation, so we went to Olivia's for lunch!

LOVE the decorations!
We were seated right away, and Meghan was our waitress. I have a tree nut allergy and so the chef came out to speak with us before ordering! They were great about my allergy here!
We each started off with salads


hubby got this
I got a burger

DELISH!
Hubby saw Key lime on the dessert menu and ordered it, he LOVES key lime since discovering it on our honeymoon!

This was amazing! banana bread pudding! YUM!
Service was fine, atmosphere was great, and the food was even better! we walked around a bit to familiarize ourselves with the resort. We also stopped in one of the shops as i felt an icky cold coming on.
We then went to our room to relax, i took a nap, and then we got ready for our special anniversary dinner!

 

[jwgm2012]

Hi Christina! I just got caught up on ALL your reports! Craziness, I know but thanks for sharing... I loved the trip for you and your mom - you seem so close, just like me and mine...

We stayed at OKW in June and really liked it a lot! We had a 2bdrm villa and it was really like a small house - loved the serenity of the property and was just an all around nice place. I'm hoping to do a 10K through Disney sometime in the near future (within a year) so kudos for signing up!

Can't wait to read the rest...

gina

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I'm all caught up (although I'm sure I will forget to comment on something that I wanted to lol)

You and your mom are so cute, and I bet that you get told that you look alike all of the time! This happens to me and my mom too It is so nice that you got to take that trip together. I'm sorry about the rude CM at the Pooh ride, but it is great that you had such a good attitude about it all and didn't let it ruin your time.

Wow that is quite a storm! I'm glad that you are alright!

Yay for the start of trip 2! Looks like it is going to be a great one for you and your DH!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Hi Christina! I just got caught up on ALL your reports! Craziness, I know but thanks for sharing... I loved the trip for you and your mom - you seem so close, just like me and mine...

We stayed at OKW in June and really liked it a lot! We had a 2bdrm villa and it was really like a small house - loved the serenity of the property and was just an all around nice place. I'm hoping to do a 10K through Disney sometime in the near future (within a year) so kudos for signing up!

Can't wait to read the rest...

gina

Aww thank you!!!
I can't wait to stay in larger accomodations one day with a family!!
Good luck with your training and thanks for your encouragement!
xxoo

 

[dreamerchic33]

I'm all caught up (although I'm sure I will forget to comment on something that I wanted to lol)

You and your mom are so cute, and I bet that you get told that you look alike all of the time! This happens to me and my mom too It is so nice that you got to take that trip together. I'm sorry about the rude CM at the Pooh ride, but it is great that you had such a good attitude about it all and didn't let it ruin your time.

Wow that is quite a storm! I'm glad that you are alright!

Yay for the start of trip 2! Looks like it is going to be a great one for you and your DH!

Thank you! xxoo

 

[dreamerchic33]

So back to our anniversary dinner!!

We asked the bellhop to call us a cab to go over to GF...I know I know we could have just went to MK and monorailed it over, but since I wasn't feeling good, we just were last minute. The bellhop was amazing though and just took us over himself without charging us! Of course we tipped him! He gave us the # to call when we were done, and if he was able to, he said he would pick us up!
We arrived at the GF in no time at all! I just ADORE this place, its sooo amazing!

We wandered slowly to Narcs and enjoyed thinking about our honeymoon!
we checked in and went to the outside waiting area



We were quickly seated and given customized menus!
http://s31.photobucket.com/user/lab...=2&o=127&_suid=137705097069703989004974460312
Looking at the menu, there were some major changes from last year with the addition of lost of tree nuts! I figured all would be okay as the chef last year was amazing!
Amir was our waiter and he was not so friendly and the service was slowww (we had a later reservation, and it was not that busy). The chef came over to talk about my allergies and I was a bit disappointed with his attitude. He really was not helpful and made ordering a little difficult. We just stayed positive because really in the grand scheme of things, life is good!
Apps:


yummmyyy!!
our meals:


Sadly, hubby's steak was practically purple lol...we had to send it back....
overall, dinner was a bit lack luster...It was a combination of things though, stressful week, travel day, and feeling sick.

We skipped dessert, but did get to watch wishes from Narc's and that was fantastic!

We called our bellhop friend and he was unable to get us, so we were able to get a taxi. Now, I am from NY, city of the overpriced cabs! This ride cost us $25 before tip! I could NOT believe it lol $25 would get you a LONNNGGG way even with traffic in the city! I was joking about it in the cab and the cab driver did not find me so amusing, OH well!

Tomorrow at Epcot is a seriously amazing and magical day!
xxoo

 

[dreamerchic33]

so the next morning, we slept in a little bit but not too late. We skipped breakfast because it was food and wine fesitval day! As we were getting ready, there was a knock and the door!


Mickey and Minnie wishing us a happy anniversary! They also included a photo pass card!

We walked over to the bus stop and waited.



Hubby talked me into wearing sneakers and not flip flops today. I hate to say it but my feet were much happier then usual! I just like my outfits to match lol


The bus driver wished us a happy anniversary! It was so nice!!!
Lots of pixie dust this morning!
Oh epcot, I love you!

Beautiful fountain, I love you too!

OK, i love you too hubby!
We wasted no time embracing our inner children!

So just a headsup...we split everything we purchased, didn't eat it all, and really took our time walking/eating around!

 

[dreamerchic33]

Greece was our first stop!



Delish!

Next up, Canada!


So I didn't want to try the steak, but hubby took one bite and said I HAD to try it...So i tried it! OMGGGG It was amazing! That truffle situation, OMG!!! LOVED it! I decided right then and there that our next trip would include le Cellier!
We spoke to some other people while we were there. Almost everyone we spoke to today were either delayed with plans or stayed a little longer due to the storm.

Ireland was next!

we only ordered the cheese platter, but they gave us those adorable and delicious cakes because it was our anniversary!


We took a little break and walked around the shops! It was such a beautiful day!




We stopped in France and watched these guys! There were FANTASTIC!





Hubby wanted a little something sweet! I LOVE brulee and he does not....This brulee was way too big but sooooo delish!
We hung out back here and it was great!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

What a great bellhop you had! I love those little Disney touches. I'm sorry about the way your dinner went though - at the prices you pay to eat there, I'd be a bit upset if I got poor service.

Looks like you had a great time at Epcot (so far!)