Trip Report *COMPLETED* Hap-bee Holidays! 🐝

We're back! Okay, we have been back for weeks now but I am just getting around to starting this TR. "December was crazy, but January will be better," she told herself. Except, she didn't account for all the things she got behind on in December and now has to catch up on. And now she's going totally nuts, talking about herself in the third person. Enough excuses, let's get this party started!

Who: Me and M, with a few special guests (BOTH of our parents and brothers)
What: A Disney trip, of course! With a side of family time.
Where: The Swan (and Jacksonville)
When: December 26-January 4
Why: Because those Annual Passes aren't going to use themselves!
How: I'm still asking myself this.

Note: I almost called this "The One Where Everything Goes Wrong," because, well, A LOT went wrong. Illness, injury, family dramma, unfortunate planning (or lack thereof), travel changes, and probably more that I have conveniently "forgotten." But, despite multiple setbacks, we really did have a nice time and everything worked out in the end!

 

[bee]

Day 1: Thursday, December 26

We didn't have to get up terribly early because our flight wasn't until noon. We had done most of our packing the day before so we just had a few last minute things to do. The Lyft ride to the airport was fine and it didn't take too long to drop off our bag. Security was waaaaay quicker than it usually is at LGA and we had time to get a burrito to share on the flight before boarding.

On the plane we watched Empire of Dreams, a documentary about George Lucas and Star Wars, on Disney+. It was supremely ironic because they thesis of the movie seemed to be about what a visionary Lucas is and how he would he would never relinquish creative control of his baby to a major studio.

It was interesting, though, and filled most of the time of the first leg of the flight.

After the documentary ended we watched a bit of another documentary about African big cats.

Our plane stopped in Houston but the flight continued to Jacksonville on the same plane. As we were moving our things to better seats for the second part of the flight, a FA came by and told us we could get off the plane and then preboard because we had landed so early, as long as we brought our photo IDs to show the gate agent. We jumped at the offer, of course! In the airport we used the real bathroom (!) and got some quesadillas for the second flight. I was really bad at taking photos the first day so I don't have any food photos from this day, sorry.

We returned to the gate at the prescribed time and boarded the plane once more. This time we watched some of the free Southwest TV. Oh yeah, and we used some drink coupons!

We landed in Jacksonville on time and texted my FIL, who would be picking us up. Normally we would have rented a car for the whole Jville part of the trip, but rentals were absurdly expensive so we only rented it for our driving day to Orlando.

M has a coworker who is fascinated with weird Florida stuff, so M always sends her photos and stories from the trip. This was the first weird Florida thing of the trip.

We waited a long time for our luggage but eventually we retrieved it and M's dad picked us up shortly after. Once at their house we caught up with the family, including learning about MIL's...BROKEN FOOT!!! We knew she had injured it, but we did NOT know it was broken in two places, because she had downplayed the injury on the phone so we wouldn't be worried! She was in a boot instead of a full cast, but she needed a knee scooter and cane to get around. And this is just the beginning of why I almost called this "The One Where Everything Goes Wrong!"

We exchanged Christmas gifts before heading to bed after a very long day.

Up next: Day 2! What else can go wrong??

 

[Swissmiss]

You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family... (you can ignore them though )

My atheist brother often has conservative religious type reactions; he didn‘t speak to me for years and kept his daughters from having contact with me because he didn’t approve of my decision to have a child on my own ... by medical means. (I mean, come on, it’s not like I had a one night stand to get knocked up!)

 

[MinnieM123]

Oh bee, I can tell this is going to be quite the "vacation" TR?! Can't wait to read the next update.

 

[Darstarr]

because it is such a pain in the All Star Sports!).

 

[Spash007]

Intro and Background (Long post, lots of words, sorry)

The troubles started months before the trip began. We booked our flights and hotel back in May, as soon as Southwest released our dates on their website. We were planning to fly to Jacksonville on December 25 to spend the last few hours of Christmas Day with M's family in Jacksonville, then spend a few more nights with them before driving to WDW. Over the summer Southwest announced that they will no longer fly to/from Newark, our closest airport (yes I know I have said this multiple times in multiple trip reports but I will keep saying it because it is such a pain in the All Star Sports!). All of our holiday flights were cancelled and we had to reschedule our flights via different airports. We ended up moving our flights to depart from and arrive at LaGuardia, but the only flight from LGA to JAX on Christmas Day was sold out. So, we had to call M's mom and tell her we would NOT be there for Christmas. In the end it was kind of nice to have Christmas Day at home by ourselves, since I had just sung a concert and Midnight Mass the night before and was already exhausted before the travels even began, but we were still bummed we wouldn't get to spend Christmas with family.

The troubles continued when my parents decided they wanted to see me and my brother for Christmas. I have not had a good relationship with my parents in years; long story short, they are very religious and conservative and they believe being gay is a choice. And obviously it's the wrong choice. I have always been ready to forgive and try to have some kind of relationship with them if they are ready to accept me and accept M after treating her not-so-kindly for the last 10+ years. We spend pretty much every holiday with M's family because they are absolutely wonderful and have always treated me more like a daughter than just a daughter-in-law. All that to say, when my parents said they wanted to see us for Christmas I told them I had already made plans and they were welcome to join us in Disney, where we would be from December 29 to January 4.

In November I got a text from my mom that said, "We booked our hotel in Orlando December 26-29 and Jacksonville December 29-31!" I replied, "I'll see you on the 29th because I'll be in Jacksonville until then." I know I told them my travel dates multiple times and somehow they got them backwards. My mom asked if I could fly to Florida sooner and join them (no, I had to work and also what flights are left at this point??) and then decided they would leave Orlando a day early to come to Jacksonville to see me. THEN they decided they would stay in Orlando LONGER and change their departing flight on December 31 to leave from Orlando instead of Jacksonville. Are you confused yet? So am I. Not once did my parents double check my dates BEFORE booking their (NON-REFUNDABLE) hotels, and they also waited until the very last minute to book. I, on the other hand, got a great rate at the Swolphin when I booked during the summer and there was NO WAY I was changing that hotel! If they had just ASKED for help I would have been happy to try to help them book hotels since I'm good at planning travel and I'm way more familiar with the current Orlando hotel market.

I hope this has painted a picture of what a mess my family is (and why, if you have been reading my TRs for awhile, we always spend time with M's family and not mine). Feel free to leave any questions in this thread if you want more details.

Don't apologize about mentioning Southwest again - this finally just reminded me to tell my wife that, who flew Southwest out of Newark for YEARS. I find that so odd they just stopped, but then again, I guess it can happen with multiple airports.

As for family, sorry you had to go through that for so long. Family, especially parents I find, really can be rough. I’m hoping their desire to see you (even if not planned the best) was a good starting point for the future!

 

[bee]

Oof. That sounds... yep.
I am so hopeful that this trip went really well. Family is family. Sometimes people make bad choices (obviously your folks, not you) and it’s hard to move past that. My wife’s cousins are pretty religious—several live in Israel— and when meeting me and our son for the first time I wasn’t introduced at all and our son was introduced as “a baby.” We don’t see them much...
Fingers crossed for a great trip!

YIKES! "A baby?"

You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family... (you can ignore them though )

My atheist brother often has conservative religious type reactions; he didn‘t speak to me for years and kept his daughters from having contact with me because he didn’t approve of my decision to have a child on my own ... by medical means. (I mean, come on, it’s not like I had a one night stand to get knocked up!)

Oof. It's the worst when you are cut off from other family members because of a few.

Oh bee, I can tell this is going to be quite the "vacation" TR?! Can't wait to read the next update.

Don't apologize about mentioning Southwest again - this finally just reminded me to tell my wife that, who flew Southwest out of Newark for YEARS. I find that so odd they just stopped, but then again, I guess it can happen with multiple airports.

As for family, sorry you had to go through that for so long. Family, especially parents I find, really can be rough. I’m hoping their desire to see you (even if not planned the best) was a good starting point for the future!

We can only hope!

 

[bee]

Day 2: Friday, December 27

When M woke up she had a horribly stuffy nose and a sinus headache.

On the plus side, Hermione let us pet her for a few minutes in "her" bed (aka the parents' bed).

PS see my red nails (barely)? I painted those on Christmas Eve because the concert I sang had a dress code of concert black with red accents and I don't really have anything red so I painted my nails. So far they were holding up really well!

Breakfast was eggs, toast, and fake bacon.

M and I borrowed her dad's car to go to Target to get some decongestants.

Whenever I see anything about a "baby boy" I always think of this:

Ah yes, we are in Florida, where bathing suits are on display in December!

On the way home we passed this sign:

M's brother had been given a gift card to Outback Steakhouse by one of his students (he tutors math and science at a tutoring center) and he took the family out to lunch. There aren't a ton of veggie choices at Outback (being that it's a STEAKhouse) but we did enjoy a Bloomin' Onion:

Up next: Day 3: The Onion Strikes Back

 

[bee]

Day 3: Saturday, December 28

I woke up around 3:00am to the sound of M returning from the bathroom after being sick. Poor M was up most of the night running back and forth. I stayed up with her and held her because she just felt so horrible. Around 8:00am I think we both fell asleep and stayed in bed until late morning.

Although the illness had *ahem* run its course, M obviously felt bad for the rest of the day. FIL went to the store for some Pedialyte so she could start getting some nutrients and hydration back in her.

The family ordered some Chinese food and by dinnertime M felt strong enough to have a few bites of rice.

The plan was for us to pick up the rental car from the airport today and drive to Disney the next day. The pickup time was 3:00pm but M wasn't feeling up to the drive yet. Luckily, after the rest of us had dinner (and M had rice) she felt okay and BIL drove us to the airport to pick up the car.

We never figured out exactly what was wrong with M. We figured it was just a 24 hour stomach bug rather than food poisoning, because she and I ate the exact same things the day before and I hadn't gotten sick.

If there was a bright spot to this horrible day it was that Hermione seemed to finally not be terrified of us and let us pet and play with her quite a bit.

Up next: Day 4. We FINALLY get to Disney...and my parents

 

[bee]

Day 4: Sunday, December 29

When M woke up she felt MUCH better than the day before. We had intended to leave by 10, but packing took longer than we anticipated and then MIL took a very long time saying goodbye...I think she was delaying us on purpose.

Finally, around 11, we began the drive. We stopped around Daytona at a Jimmy John's, where M ate a whole sandwich and felt great!

We also stopped at a Publix for some snacks and drinks for the room. I was very sad that I did not get IDed when buying wine.

Traffic was heavy the whole way down, and what should have been a three hour drive (accounting for stops) took over four hours. We were supposed to return the rental car at 3:00 and we were still on I-4 a few minutes before 3, so I tried calling Alamo to let them know. I could not find a number for the Dolphin location, so I called the national 800 number to try to be transferred. The conversation went something like this:

"Thank you for calling Alamo."
"I am trying to reach the Alamo location at the Walt Disney World Dolphin."
"Oh, umm, well...unfortunately, you called the main Alamo line."
(duh)
"Can you transfer me to their office?"
"Oh, ummm, I can't transfer you but I can give you their number if you give me the ZIP code."
"Thanks. *gives ZIP code*"
"Okay, ummmmm, here is the number. *gives number*"
"Thank you!"

I called the number he gave me, and it was...the exact same number I had just called for the national Alamo office!!!

So we just did our best to get there as quickly and safely as possible. At least this makes everything better:

We also needed gas so we stopped at the Speedway near the Epcot resorts. I didn't get a photo, but the Death Buckets were stopped for quite awhile.

Meanwhile, my brother (Jay) and parents were already at the Swan waiting for us to arrive, because we had a FP for the 4:30 Finding Nemo show at AK and were supposed to arrive by 4:15. I asked my brother to try and keep them occupied so M and I could get to our room and have a moment to breathe and set our stuff down before the madness began.

We FINALLY dropped off the car at the Dolphin at 3:31 (31 minutes late!!!). When you drop off a rental at the Dolphin you just leave it with the valet, so we couldn't even talk to an actual Alamo person to apologize for being late.

My brother said he would meet M and me in the path between the Dolphin and Swan to help us carry our stuff. He said our parents were shopping and occupied. We got to the Swan and I left the bags with M and Jay so I could check in as the reservation was under my name. Our room was ready and I had a nice conversation with the front desk CMs.

As I turned around to find M so we could go to our room, my mother ambushed me with a hug. Then I saw my dad, who had found Jay and M. EVERYONE followed us to our room so we did not even get one quiet moment to set our stuff down. My mom also had a bunch of small Christmas gifts and she insisted we open them RIGHT THERE AND RIGHT THEN. Here's the other thing you need to know about my parents: when they are not berating me for my "sinful lifestyle" they are throwing material objects at me hoping that if they just give me more stuff I will somehow decided not to be gay anymore. No gift is really a gift; there are always strings attached. So while they have given me some nice things over the years, some of which have saved me money because I didn't have to buy the thing myself, I am always a little wary when it comes to gifts. I told you my family is a mess!

It was nearing 4:00 by now and we were supposed to be at Nemo at 4:15. How well do you think that worked out?

Up next: The race to Animal Kingdom

 

[riverside]

On the way home we passed this sign:

I must say that is pretty darn funny!!

 

[RememberWhen]

Death Buckets

 

[sheriffwoody]

Following along! So sorry you have to deal with family drama I really hate that for you guys.

 

[Spash007]

Day 4: Sunday, December 29

When M woke up she felt MUCH better than the day before. We had intended to leave by 10, but packing took longer than we anticipated and then MIL took a very long time saying goodbye...I think she was delaying us on purpose.

Finally, around 11, we began the drive. We stopped around Daytona at a Jimmy John's, where M ate a whole sandwich and felt great!

We also stopped at a Publix for some snacks and drinks for the room. I was very sad that I did not get IDed when buying wine.

Traffic was heavy the whole way down, and what should have been a three hour drive (accounting for stops) took over four hours. We were supposed to return the rental car at 3:00 and we were still on I-4 a few minutes before 3, so I tried calling Alamo to let them know. I could not find a number for the Dolphin location, so I called the national 800 number to try to be transferred. The conversation went something like this:

"Thank you for calling Alamo."
"I am trying to reach the Alamo location at the Walt Disney World Dolphin."
"Oh, umm, well...unfortunately, you called the main Alamo line."
(duh)
"Can you transfer me to their office?"
"Oh, ummm, I can't transfer you but I can give you their number if you give me the ZIP code."
"Thanks. *gives ZIP code*"
"Okay, ummmmm, here is the number. *gives number*"
"Thank you!"

I called the number he gave me, and it was...the exact same number I had just called for the national Alamo office!!!

So we just did our best to get there as quickly and safely as possible. At least this makes everything better:

We also needed gas so we stopped at the Speedway near the Epcot resorts. I didn't get a photo, but the Death Buckets were stopped for quite awhile.

Meanwhile, my brother (Jay) and parents were already at the Swan waiting for us to arrive, because we had a FP for the 4:30 Finding Nemo show at AK and were supposed to arrive by 4:15. I asked my brother to try and keep them occupied so M and I could get to our room and have a moment to breathe and set our stuff down before the madness began.

We FINALLY dropped off the car at the Dolphin at 3:31 (31 minutes late!!!). When you drop off a rental at the Dolphin you just leave it with the valet, so we couldn't even talk to an actual Alamo person to apologize for being late.

My brother said he would meet M and me in the path between the Dolphin and Swan to help us carry our stuff. He said our parents were shopping and occupied. We got to the Swan and I left the bags with M and Jay so I could check in as the reservation was under my name. Our room was ready and I had a nice conversation with the front desk CMs.

As I turned around to find M so we could go to our room, my mother ambushed me with a hug. Then I saw my dad, who had found Jay and M. EVERYONE followed us to our room so we did not even get one quiet moment to set our stuff down. My mom also had a bunch of small Christmas gifts and she insisted we open them RIGHT THERE AND RIGHT THEN. Here's the other thing you need to know about my parents: when they are not berating me for my "sinful lifestyle" they are throwing material objects at me hoping that if they just give me more stuff I will somehow decided not to be gay anymore. No gift is really a gift; there are always strings attached. So while they have given me some nice things over the years, some of which have saved me money because I didn't have to buy the thing myself, I am always a little wary when it comes to gifts. I told you my family is a mess!

It was nearing 4:00 by now and we were supposed to be at Nemo at 4:15. How well do you think that worked out?

Up next: The race to Animal Kingdom

Oh my gosh, what is it with parents and material possessions to make up for their (I can't think of a word that is allowed on here)?! Long story short - my parents hardly have a relationship with my kids. They have a million reasons that come up for everything (most of which are avoidable or can be worked around), so they don't travel for birthdays, Christening, actual births etc. But they send gifts like it's perfectly normal. And when I told them to stop sending gifts unless they bring them themselves, that then offended them. Oy

 

[PacNWTigger]

I'm late, but mesmerized by everything that has already happened. What's next??

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I was very sad that I did not get IDed when buying wine.

Awwww. Perhaps they are just irresponsible alcohol sellers? The worst is when you have your ID at the ready too.

It’s a crapshoot with me at this point. I’m happy I haven’t gotten carded for an R movie in a while but also sad when I don’t get booze carded.

 

[bee]

I must say that is pretty darn funny!!

I mean we actually passed it on the way there and I laughed enough to make sure I was ready to take the photo on the way back!

After riding them once I can't call them anything else (or ever ride them again!).

Following along! So sorry you have to deal with family drama I really hate that for you guys.

Thanks! We are incredibly lucky that M's entire family is supportive. Actually much of my extended family is okay, but my parents happen to be the most bigoted members of their respective families.

Oh my gosh, what is it with parents and material possessions to make up for their (I can't think of a word that is allowed on here)?! Long story short - my parents hardly have a relationship with my kids. They have a million reasons that come up for everything (most of which are avoidable or can be worked around), so they don't travel for birthdays, Christening, actual births etc. But they send gifts like it's perfectly normal. And when I told them to stop sending gifts unless they bring them themselves, that then offended them. Oy

Yikes! Both of our moms send us waaaaaayy too much stuff. They forget that we live in an apartment and not a giant house with multiple closets.

I'm late, but mesmerized by everything that has already happened. What's next??

The drammmmmma will continue, don't worry!

Awwww. Perhaps they are just irresponsible alcohol sellers? The worst is when you have your ID at the ready too.

It’s a crapshoot with me at this point. I’m happy I haven’t gotten carded for an R movie in a while but also sad when I don’t get booze carded.

Here in NJ/NYC we never get carded. But in Florida I am always ready!

 

[MickeyCB]

Following along and feeling your family pain. Life is too flamin short for all of this crazy.

 

[SharonD]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[LadyBelle]

On the way home we passed this sign:

I must say that is pretty darn funny!!

Us Episcopalians can be quite witty

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Following along Bee! I'm cringing with all the "stuff" that you had happen! I hope the rest of the report finds you having a lot of well deserved fun
It seems M got sick before the stay at WDW! My husband and I always get sick the last day of our trip, which makes the flight home ALOT of fun, LOL.