"Can I Get A Hangover Steak, Please?" An Adults-Only, Irma-Rific TR! - NEW PTR Link 4/11

[Grumpy's Wife]

I've been following along in your other trip report. So glad this one is up and running.

I live in Louisiana so I know all too well about Hurricane's. I'm glad your trip wasn't cancelled and hopefully you had a wonderful vacation. I look forward to reading all about it.

 

[Chris B.]

Following along.

 

[Kimmy]

Enjoying your trip report! Following along!

 

[stephtron312]

I totally agree that the day before a vacation is the most exciting!! And you had a jam packed one

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following along.

We were there too at the same time, but it's too bad we never saw each other! Actually, our first night we did a late dinner at Disney Springs and ended up staying until closing (we were still on west coast time and had that Disney energy so could stay up later). While walking back to the buses I could see a blond 20ish girl with her boyfriend and a woman who looked like her mom. I tried to hurry up to see if it was you guys but nope!

I had some time before my 6:45 appointment, so I read the DIS in the salon’s parking lot. BAD IDEA!!!! All I could see was post upon post about Irma, and basically stating that anyone traveling to Florida during the storm was stupid and reckless. Not cool, peeps!

I made a vow to myself to force quit out of the Irma forum, because it was causing me nothing but anxiety

Totally agree! We ended up deciding to actually change our trip to arrive before the hurricane, which everyone thought was insane, but turned out to be the best decision ever! I'll talk more about it once I can get started with my own TR (maybe this weekend). But that forum and reddit were just stressing me out to no end, so I had to stop reading along. I think though once I pulled the trigger to change our flights and book 2 additional nights I didn't have time to stress as we had to finish packing suddenly and get all work done, hurricane supplies obtained, etc!

 

[Mollydolly334]

I love using this gif for excitement. I see my directions weren't to bad.
Looking forward to hearing all about this grand trip.

Haha, yes!! Thank you so much for helping me put in gifs Thank you, looking forward to writing about it!

Y'all were delirious with three hours sleep! Hope you were able to sleep on the plane.

Haha, I'm pretty sure we were delirious for all of our trip #teamnosleepatdisney

The day before vacation is always full of that nervous excitement! And I am sure more so for you since you had the hurricane on your mind!

Love the color you picked out for your manicure

Haha Oh I definitely watched Rock of Love back in the day!

Haha it was definitely a nerv-cited feeling; in retrospect, I wish I would have let myself be more excited! YES Rock of Love is the best!!

*Thunderous applause* Subscribing and looking forward to reading all about your trip! So glad that Irma didn't ruin it, sounds like it was lots of fun.

Thank you so much! Irma definitely didn't ruin it- we had a great time! And OMG your trip is so soon, have an absolute blast and make sure to fill me all in when you get back!!

I'm totally with you! Even the week before is so exciting for me because I like to start packing and shopping early

GIRL SAME. I'm pretty sure I go to the store for toiletries and random carry-on things like a month in advance!!

Sounds like a great day leading up to the trip! How fun to treat yourself to a mani-pedi!

The day went by so fast surprisingly! And yes of course- a pre-Disney tradition for Mom and I

Im here. Loved your last report and cant wait to hear all about your new adventure!

and thank you so much!!

That thread was really awful. Although I did agree with canceling mine everyone's situation was different. For instance yours started earlier than ours would have so to me that still makes sense to go. With ours I wasn't sure if our flight would go out, and then we would be in the hotel room most the Disney portion of the vacation so I canceled.



Congrats!



I do the same thing on Disney days when I get out of work!



My vacation drink of choice too yum.



I followed along for most of that thread, and people got really mean and judgmental in there. It was no longer helpful at a certain point when people were just arguing and calling each other dumb for the decisions they made or for caring about their Disney trip (on a Disney forum) when worse things could happen. Plus people seemed like they were trying to scare other people and telling them it would be rude to the locals to go anywhere near FL afterwards



YES! I loved that show when it was on, and this year they aired the first 2 seasons around V-day on VH1, and we watched them all!



Is the third season on Hulu? (We have Hulu but I didn't think it was). They didn't air it with the other 2 which was disappointing.



Isn't that how it always happens? We did that for our most recent trip too

Ok, YES on all of the Irma Disboards thread opinions. Usually the DIS is a fun, inviting place, but I didn't want to touch that thread with a 10-foot pole. Some parts of that thread were the perfect example of mob mentality and the "not as bad as..." fallacy So much shaming going on! If I was in your case, I probably would have cancelled as well, but since it was only affecting the tail end of our vacation, we decided not to. You would have thought I stepped on a puppy though if I voiced it in that thread

Anyway, onto happier things...

Strawberry Acai Refreshers are AMAZING! Have you tried the Pink Drink?! SO GOOD, it literally tastes like a pink Starburst! I usually switch off between those two and throw in the occasional frappuccino.

Isn't Rock of Love amazing? Tom and I watched a few episodes when we were in Wisconsin Dells near Valentines Day, but decided not to completely watch the seasons until we finished Parks and Rec. We were hooked from there!

And yes season three is on Hulu! We are on episode 4, although I have to say I liked the first two seasons better; this season more just seems like a bunch of girls trying to get famous and be as ridiculous as possible!

I died at this gif


Yass! And flavor of love! So trashy but so good

I would have been so stressed out by Irma but so glad you guys decided to keep your plans!

Hahaha, Tom and I have made a vow that once we're finished with Rock of Love, we will watch Flavor of Love as well as all of their spin-offs, like I Love Money, Daisy of Love, etc.

Oh believe me girl, I was stressed to the max but Disney makes everything better, amiright?

I loved Rock of Love! My favorite was Kristy Joe

Haha, it's the best! Oh Kristy Jo... she sure brought the drama wherever she went I'm glad that things seemed to work out with her husband after she left the show, though!

 

[Mollydolly334]

I've been following along in your other trip report. So glad this one is up and running.

I live in Louisiana so I know all too well about Hurricane's. I'm glad your trip wasn't cancelled and hopefully you had a wonderful vacation. I look forward to reading all about it.

and glad to have you here Yikes, I can't imagine what you've been through with hurricanes living in Louisiana. Despite Irma, we had a great time

Following along.

and thank you!!

Enjoying your trip report! Following along!

Thanks so much!!

I totally agree that the day before a vacation is the most exciting!! And you had a jam packed one

Isn't the day before the best?? And thats how I like them, too much free time = too much time to think = driving myself crazy with excitement!!

Following along.

We were there too at the same time, but it's too bad we never saw each other! Actually, our first night we did a late dinner at Disney Springs and ended up staying until closing (we were still on west coast time and had that Disney energy so could stay up later). While walking back to the buses I could see a blond 20ish girl with her boyfriend and a woman who looked like her mom. I tried to hurry up to see if it was you guys but nope!




Totally agree! We ended up deciding to actually change our trip to arrive before the hurricane, which everyone thought was insane, but turned out to be the best decision ever! I'll talk more about it once I can get started with my own TR (maybe this weekend). But that forum and reddit were just stressing me out to no end, so I had to stop reading along. I think though once I pulled the trigger to change our flights and book 2 additional nights I didn't have time to stress as we had to finish packing suddenly and get all work done, hurricane supplies obtained, etc!

Hi!! Glad to have you aboard!

Ahh shoot, I'm sad we didn't run into each other, that would have been so cool!

It's funny I was reading the DIS just before we left for Disney and saw your post. I remember thinking, "Good for her, at least we're not the only ones!"I can't wait to hear all about your trip, you should definitely start a TR! I totally agree; I am 100% positive that going to Disney despite Irma was the best decision we could have made. Glad you thought so too

 

[Mollydolly334]

Day 1: Part 1- “I’m Leaving On A Jet Plane, Don’t Know When I’ll Be Back Again!”



Let’s rewind back to last night, where Tom and I’s heads hit our pillows at 12:30 AM, with visions of Disney dancing in our heads…


One minute later, we woke up.





Well, not exactly one minute, but that’s what it felt like!


You know how the night before Disney World is usually spent restlessly tossing and turning, like the family in this commercial?

Well, not tonight! Both Tom and I slept like rocks. Even though I slept soundly, I woke up before my alarm at about 3:10 AM because I heard my dad get up and turn on the shower. I was debating on trying to get some more shut-eye, but let’s face it, I was WAY too excited! Being the kind girlfriend I am, I just played around on my phone and let Tom sleep peacefully.


FINALLY at 3:40, the alarm went off! Luckily, Tom hopped out of bed without much convincing; the Disney adrenaline is real, guys!





Since our flight took off at 6:05 and it takes about 20 minutes to get to Milwaukee’s airport from our house, we figured we should leave a little after 4 AM. We all put on our matching t-shirts and were ready to go at 4:15! Yes, we had matching t- shirts. Haley gave them to us for Christmas and we had been saving them for this very moment! You’ll see them a lot in later updates!


Right before we left, Dad sat us all down in the living room. I was momentarily confused, but he more or less just clapped his hands together and said, “This is vacation time now, so everybody have fun!” It was a cute way to start the trip I feel like after that speech we all should have put our hands in the middle and yelled “break!”


We took two cars; the kids rode in one, and my parents rode in another. Mom and Haley dropped the rest of us off at the Southwest gate while they parked and took the shuttle over to meet us. I’m glad to say that check-in and security were a breeze, except for the fact that the TSA agents took an extra look at Tom’s so-called “chain” (AKA- a cross necklace from his Confirmation ). Mom also got pre-check, and proceeded to rub it in our faces even though the lines were exactly the same!!


Once we got through security, we headed to our gate in search of breakfast. Of course, my Snapchat friends had to know what we were up to!





My dad came back with coffee, bananas and pretzels from Auntie Anne’s for everyone. This is where I noticed Tom start to get a little...squirmy. Now, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but Tom is terrified of heights and flying


Like, this terrified…





It took LOTS of convincing and inner strength for Tom to be able to fly to Disney World. I was very proud of him; he made sure never to “complain” around my parents for fear of sounding ungrateful! His doctor prescribed him some Ativan for the flight to calm his nerves, so he took half a pill just before we boarded. I could *feel* the excitement seeping off of him...


r





We boarded the plane and left Milwaukee right on time, heading for bright and sunny Orlando!! Our flight was practically empty, so each couple got a row to ourselves!


Take-off and landing were a bit nerve-wracking for Tom, but otherwise he did awesome! We kept ourselves busy by watching some TV on his laptop. We watched an episode of South Park (another guilty pleasure of ours), two episodes of the Kroll Show (think like SNL but with comedian Nick Kroll), and about a half-hour of Toy Story 3. Before we knew it, we were starting our descent!


We arrived 10 minutes early, at about 9:40 AM. When we landed, I couldn’t help but shed a few happy tears This whole year was spent planning, planning, and planning, and we were finally here! It’s the absolute best feeling when you have a whole week of potential and excitement ahead of you.


Tom almost shed a few happy tears as well, but just because he was happy to finally be on the ground again Overall, Tom was a bit disappointed in the Ativan and felt like it didn’t do much to calm him down. He said that on the flight home he’d try having a few drinks instead! You'll have to wait until Day 7 to see how that worked out





Once we disembarked, we could feel the humidity overcome us! Ahhhh…


First order of business was the bathroom, second order of business was Starbucks! Three of us in particular needed our caffeine fix to get us through our marathon first Disney day. I got a tall Pumpkin Spice Latte (because I’m basic), Mom got a venti Jade Citrus Mint Tea, and Tom got a grande Pike Place brew.


Then, it was time for everyone’s favorite Fake-O-Rail!





Tom got very excited when he saw his first palm tree ever


After we got off the fake-o-rail, I kind of wanted to look around in the EarPort, but my dad was rushing us along to the Magical Express. This is a common theme with my dad- we often joked on the trip that he was always 20 paces ahead of the rest of us We actually didn’t get lost this time (a miracle, I know) and made it to DME in record time! Once we scanned our bands and were sent to Line 10, we were met with this beautiful sight…









YES! I don’t think I have ever seen DME this empty! Even so, we still had to wait about 15 minutes before boarding a bus.





A nice lady from the line next to us snapped this picture of all of our custom shirts!





We had to wait an additional 15ish minutes while on the bus for others to board. Tom took this time to get in a quick cat nap, but woke up when the bus started moving. Our first stop was Coronado Springs, then AKL Jambo, then AKL Kidani!


As we drove through the desolate swampland of central Florida, Tom turned to me and said, “Florida is...um...interesting.”





Little turd


It was cool passing Gaylord Palms, since Mom, Dad, and I had stayed at the Gaylord when we traveled to D.C in May! But, nothing could have compared to the excitement of passing through those magical gates!





Honey, I’m home!





From then on, we were in the Disney bubble! I had made sure to keep 90% of all things Disney a secret from Tom, so he could be surprised. He was really impressed by the front gate, so I knew right then that he would love Disney


Before we knew it, we were entering CSR! It was cool to see this resort, since Mom and I almost stayed here in 2015. In retrospect, I think we would have liked CSR better than CBR. This resort is soooo nice! Our family loves to go to Mexico, so we can appreciate the festive decor. That being said, the entrance was completely torn up by construction I don’t think even the best deal could get us to stay there right now; it looks like a work zone!


Only one family got off at the CSR, so we were quickly on our way!


And then, at exactly 11:30 AM… we pulled up to our home for the next 6 nights





We scrambled out of our bus as fast as we could, tipped the driver, corralled all of our carry-ons, and approached the front gates..





And I knew we had picked a great resort when the first words we heard were: “Welcome Home!”





Coming Soon- Day 1: Part 2- “I’m Back Where I Belong, Yeah I Never Felt So Strong!”

​

 

[Neverland_Girl]

Right before we left, Dad sat us all down in the living room. I was momentarily confused, but he more or less just clapped his hands together and said, “This is vacation time now, so everybody have fun!” It was a cute way to start the trip I feel like after that speech we all should have put our hands in the middle and yelled “break!”

Awe your dad is so sweet!

Tom almost shed a few happy tears as well, but just because he was happy to finally be on the ground again Overall, Tom was a bit disappointed in the Ativan and felt like it didn’t do much to calm him down. He said that on the flight home he’d try having a few drinks instead! You'll have to wait until Day 7 to see how that worked out

Poor Tom! That's how my mom is too. She always takes something and then says it didn't do anything for her.

A nice lady from the line next to us snapped this picture of all of our custom shirts!

So cute!

Also, any good travel day update should include Bridesmaids plane gifs!

 

[DisBride572011]

Following along!

 

[annie170]

Glad your flight went okay with the nervous passenger. It's always a plus when you land ahead of schedule.

Cute family pic waiting for Magical Express!

 

[buteraa]

Great report so far! Isn't it the best thing ever when you drive through those gates! Ahhh the Disney bubble. Cant' wait for our trip in December!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Glad the flight was uneventful. YAY for the Disney Bubble!! Can't wait to read about the rest of your first day!

 

[rmw1313]

Following along! Entering the Disney bubble might just be the best thing in the world! Can't wait to hear about your stay at AKL- we are staying there for the first time in a few weeks!

 

[Raeven]

You know how the night before Disney World is usually spent restlessly tossing and turning, like the family in this commercial?

That's me every time

Tom got very excited when he saw his first palm tree ever

I did too! That was one of the most exciting parts of our first trip I still get excited, when I see a palm tree it feels like the trip has really begun!

 

[missangelalexis]

SO cute of your dad to give a little pre-vacation pep talk!

I love your hat!!

Empty DME line, how awesome! Omg you all look too cute in your shirts

 

[stephtron312]

Those matching shirts are adorable!!!

And yess to that throwback commercial! I play it the night before I leave for Disney every time, its just to darn cute and perfect!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I love your shirts. So adorable!

Glad to hear that Tom didn't have any problems on the plane.

 

[Raeven]

I just realized I forgot to quote this when commenting!

Ok, YES on all of the Irma Disboards thread opinions. Usually the DIS is a fun, inviting place, but I didn't want to touch that thread with a 10-foot pole. Some parts of that thread were the perfect example of mob mentality and the "not as bad as..." fallacy So much shaming going on! If I was in your case, I probably would have cancelled as well, but since it was only affecting the tail end of our vacation, we decided not to. You would have thought I stepped on a puppy though if I voiced it in that thread

It was a trainwreck I couldn't look away from Because I was really hoping to keep our trip and was looking for Disney centric news. It got really bad towards the end which was weird because the hurricane was pretty much over by then and everyone had already made their decisions.

Strawberry Acai Refreshers are AMAZING! Have you tried the Pink Drink?! SO GOOD, it literally tastes like a pink Starburst! I usually switch off between those two and throw in the occasional frappuccino.

So good! I haven't tried the Pink Drink yet but it sounds so good! I used to always get the chocolate chip frap too (or back in the day when they used to have these around the holidays the salted caramel one).

Isn't Rock of Love amazing? Tom and I watched a few episodes when we were in Wisconsin Dells near Valentines Day, but decided not to completely watch the seasons until we finished Parks and Rec. We were hooked from there!

And yes season three is on Hulu! We are on episode 4, although I have to say I liked the first two seasons better; this season more just seems like a bunch of girls trying to get famous and be as ridiculous as possible!

Yes! I used to watch every week back when it aired And I watched like all the spin offs too.

Ooo I have to go watch again! I don't remember that season as well, but it's not a classic like the first 2 Can anyone ever top Lacey's insane behavior?

Spoiler alert for season 3 but the thing I remember most about it was that some girl popped an implant during one of the challenges

 

[disneyAndi14]

Awesome family picture with your matching shirts! How excited to see AKL and welcome home!