Putting the "Win" in "Food & Wine" - The Ultimate Mother Daughter Trip | Sept 2017 PTR | Life - 7/27

MouseketeerKelsey

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 19, 2014
Well hello there!! I could not be more excited to be starting this PTR!! I haven't written one in quite a while but that could be because I haven't been to Disney in over a year and a half! o_O Shocking, I know.

A lot has happened in that time and it honestly feels like life is completely unrecognizable since when I would have written the last PTR. I might go into that a little more in a bit but for now let's get into some introductions!

Hi, I'm Kelsey. I'm 21 years old, an obsessive over-planner and Disney Addict.

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(that's me)


For this trip I will be headed back with, you guessed it, my mom!!

Kathy to most, mom to me. She is my best friend and my favorite Disney companion.

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(that's us)

I am doing everything in my power to make this the most incredible trip ever. We need it and deserve it after the last year. I won't go too far into it because no one likes a downer but I think it is important to just give a little background so you guys understand why this trip means so much to us.

If you have read any of my past reports you will know that I have suffered from a lot of health issues for the last 8 years. One of the biggest issues has been severe chronic abdominal pain that just never stopped. For over 5 years we have been fighting to get me the surgery I needed to have the best shot at getting better.

On July 19, 2016 I finally was having the surgery. I was scared but mostly just so relieved. I woke up from surgery and right away noticed something wasn't right. I couldn't feel or move either of my arms at all. They told me it could just be from the medicine used to put me to sleep so I waited. It turned out one of the doctors made a mistake when positioning me for surgery. The metal brace used to keep me on the table damaged all of the nerves in my neck and arms. I spent 6 days completely paralyzed. I spent two weeks in the hospital in 6 hours of physical therapy a day and was able to regain very minimal use but still had no feeling at all.

I got out of the hospital on a Thursday afternoon. Friday I went to the mall with my dad to celebrate being home. My dad and I have always been incredibly close and he had always been my best friend in the world. Saturday I was too drained from what I did Friday so I slept all day.

Saturday night my dad had a heart attack and died completely out of the blue. He was 59.

My mom and I were completely destroyed. We couldn't believe any of it was real. I was still paralyzed, had only been out of the hospital for 48 hours and now my dad was gone forever.

It has been almost a year and it still doesn't feel real. Just trying to type that made me cry so I won't go too much more into it.

Basically the last year has been so incredibly hard. I still have no feeling and very limited movement in my arms, we almost lost our house without my dads income, our dog died.

Then there was the DCP incident. A week after my dad died I applied for the Disney College Program. It has always been one of my biggest dreams. I got accepted! At the time I was having issues with my arms but my doctors said they thought I would get better. As it got closer to my check in date, I wasn't getting better.

May 15th I moved into my apartment, went to casting, met my amazing roommates and got ready to start my new life in Orlando. Then the next day I had to go for a physical for my job location and because of problems with my arms it wasn't considered safe for me to take part in the program. I had to pack up my apartment less than 24 hours after moving in and move back home.

It has all been hard and my mom has been incredible through all of it. We both really need to get away and just have some fun and celebrate life. The last year has pretty much maxed us out and we know sometimes you just need a break and some fun to put it all into perspective.

That's what this trip is.

This is going to be THE ULTIMATE MOTHER DAUGHTER DISNEY TRIP!!!!!

We are so excited!! We will be there from September 4th - September 8th making it our longest Disney trip yet!!

I am just letting myself start to get really into the planning and get excited about it so I thought I would start this PTR! I wasn't letting myself get excited and plan everything out like I normally would and I think doing this report will help with that.

I'm sorry for the sad stuff in this intro post but I promise it will only be fun, Disney happiness from here on out! I hope you will come along on this journey with me as I plan this much needed Disney escape!!!
 
Following along!

Thank you for sharing your personal story. You have gone through a lot in a short amount of time and I really hope this trip is perfect for you and your mom. You both deserve it :hug:

I can't wait to hear all about your plans! September is a great time to visit the parks and you two are going to have a lot of fun together!
 
Now, onto the fun stuff!! I should be cleaning/organizing my bedroom right now after a crazy week but in all honesty I just don't want to so it seems like the right time for an update! I'm so excited and all I want to do is work on planning this trip. The only problem is that it seems like my planning skills have gotten a little rusty!! How crazy is that?! I'm sure as I jump back into it more it will all come rushing back. Until then let's get some basics out of the way!!

Who?

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Us! My mom (Kathy) and I will be escaping to Walt Disney World!

What?


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A magical Disney adventure!

When?

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September 4th, 2017 - September 8th, 2017

We actually may be heading to Orlando on September 3rd and just taking ti easy for the day but we aren't totally sure yet.

Where??

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This photo says it all! I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!

The plan is to hit all 4 parks, stay at 2 resorts and take in absolutely everything we can!

Why??

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We really need a vacation!! I need some Disney STAT!! This is the longest I have gone without a Disney trip in many years and I DON'T LIKE IT!!

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Now with all of that stuff out of the way we can get into some real plans!!

I couldn't be more excited because for the first time we are finally staying at....

drumroll please

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ART OF ANIMATION!!!!

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We are so excited. We have wanted to stay here for years and it just never has worked out for our trips. We actually will be staying here for the first two nights. We will be staying in a

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Little Mermaid Room!! This is one of my all time favorite movies so I am beyond pumped! After two days we will be packing up and heading to...

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The only All Star Resort we haven't stayed at yet! By the end of this trip we will have stayed at all of the value resorts!! I'm kinda a crazy baseball fan so I'm excited to see what we have in store for us!

I have an idea of where I hope our room is at each resort and will probably use Touring Plans to request them. I've done that in the past and it has always worked out perfectly!

I think I am going to break this into a second post to talk about our plans for each day since this has been a little heavy on photos! I've been working on our daily plans and I'm really happy with how they are turning out so far!

 
Hi Kelsey!! I haven't been back on the boards in so long but yesterday I logged back in and today I was so happy to see that you've posted!

I am also very saddened to hear all that you and your mother have gone through. From the deepest of my heart I feel for you. You and your family are in my prayers!

I can't wait to follow in your postings in your PTR. Ya'll deserve this trip so much and I hope that the 2 of you get the trip of your dreams
 


You are going to LOVE AOA! Especially the Little Mermaid rooms, they're so cute and that whole area is so pretty and photogenic! Little Mermaid is one of my favorites too, and I've always wanted to stay there!

All Star Sports is a ton of fun, I hope your requests work out!

Can't wait to hear more :)
 
Following along!

Thank you for sharing your personal story. You have gone through a lot in a short amount of time and I really hope this trip is perfect for you and your mom. You both deserve it :hug:

I can't wait to hear all about your plans! September is a great time to visit the parks and you two are going to have a lot of fun together!

Thanks for following along! I'm honestly just so glad that I was able to make this happen, even more for my mom than for me. I know we both have been through everything that happened but it has really been hard on her so my goal is to try and make her forget about some of the things going on in our life, even if only for a few days.

Hi Kelsey!! I haven't been back on the boards in so long but yesterday I logged back in and today I was so happy to see that you've posted!

I am also very saddened to hear all that you and your mother have gone through. From the deepest of my heart I feel for you. You and your family are in my prayers!

I can't wait to follow in your postings in your PTR. Ya'll deserve this trip so much and I hope that the 2 of you get the trip of your dreams

Oh my goodness hi! I'm so excited you are here! It's crazy, I haven't been on in probably 8 months and just came back on and was wondering if you were still on here. Thanks for the prayers, always greatly appreciated. :lovestruc

You are going to LOVE AOA! Especially the Little Mermaid rooms, they're so cute and that whole area is so pretty and photogenic! Little Mermaid is one of my favorites too, and I've always wanted to stay there!

All Star Sports is a ton of fun, I hope your requests work out!

Can't wait to hear more :)

I think the Little Mermaid is a very underrated Disney princess movie tbh. I'm honestly so excited to spend some time exploring the resort and just taking tons of photos!
 
Hey Kelsey! I'm new around here but I'll definitely be following along! I teared up reading your intro, you're such a strong woman having gone through so much in a year and I can't think of anyone in the world who deserves a magical trip than you and your mom! I'm really looking forward to seeing what you have planned!:earsgirl:
 


Sounds like both you and your mom deserve this trip! I love Art of Animation and the Little Mermaid rooms are so much fun!
 
Sorry for the delay in updating! Last night I went to see Shawn Mendes, an absolute favorite of mine, in concert. Part of my nerve condition is trouble with specific sounds and them being linked to severe nerve pain. Sadly bass and drums are major triggers for it. I was good and went in my wheelchair but am still paying the price today so I really have had to just stay in bed and try not to use my arms or legs too much as I keep intermittently losing use of them. I know that all sounds insane and dramatic but its kinda just par for the course now lol. But I just keep watching videos from the show last night and reminding myself that the complete joy I felt while I was there is 100% worth the pain I feel now. I have been working on putting my planning binder together. That's something I always love doing for trips and it is always a fun thing for me. I was thinking that I might do an update explaining what I put in it and how I use it if anyone would be interested. It is what I use to run my whole trip so it's an important part of planning!

Hopefully I will be feeling up to posting a real update either later tonight or tomorrow. The pain has been keeping me up so I haven't slept in almost 72 hours. Hopefully I will crash soon but if I can't I may try to squeeze in an update tonight. Thanks for being patient with me :flower1:
 

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