Trip Report The mistakes that I learned from..Trip back in time..

Friends, I've been thinking,

I need a major distraction, and also, I received too many compliments for my laid back style..
I'm going to continue on the trip report binge and do a comparison of our 2015 trip here. It won't be as long.. I promise. If you want to follow along with my madness, you are welcome. I've had a rough past few days and need something to keep me busy.

So here it goes.. first I should change the title though..
ETA- actually its easier to do in a separate thread.

So here I am....

 

[21stamps]

Photo Bombardment Incoming (again).

As if it wasn't bad enough that we didn't have a sunset.. LOOK AT THESE PHOTOS!!!!

Do NOT let Walgreens ship a disposable camera off for developing. I was sick when I looked at these. (Better yet, don't take so many photos that your phone dies as a result)

Leaving the harbor..

Cruising around...

Our SUNSET

 

[21stamps]

We disembark and walk back to the car. I have to be up at 5am tomorrow. T has to be up at 5:45. And I want to pack the car tonight, leaving one bag to get ready in the morning. Our last night in Key West, but we need to be rested tomorrow. Dry Tortugas and then a 4 hour drive to Boca for one more night staying at my BFF's house, and then driving to MCO the following morning.

I couldn't sleep. I was a nervous wreck over the weather. Please. Please. Please let the storms pass!!! Even if the snorkeling isn't the best, I still want to bring my son there. I've been waiting for this moment for 5 years!! Dry Tortugas is my favorite playground in the USA.

We might not be going by Seaplane.
But, we'll travel the 70 miles by boat.

I toss and turn all night. Finally give up on sleep at 4am. Start drinking coffee.
I sit on the balcony and watch the rain. It has time to stop!

Those are not my photos. All stolen from Google.

This is what we should have seen..

This is my photo, and what we actually did see...

T was sleeping. I started crying.
38 years old, crying with my head in my hands.

I received the call that the Yankee Freedom would not be taking her journey to Dry Tortugas today. I would receive a full refund.

I cried. Like a baby. Embarrassing, but unfortunately true.

 

[BigHero4]

I cringe every time I read a new post for this trip because of the bad luck... I think you should have called this TR "The Murphy's Law vacation".

 

[21stamps]

I wake T up and break the news to him.
Shockingly, he took it better than I did! No tears! He was disappointed, but he said- "Don't worry, mommy. We can do it next time." Maybe he knew I had reached my breaking point as well. Thank you, son!!! I gave him a huge, tight hug, and held on to him until he complained. Lol
We have breakfast in the room, and then checked out.

I didn't want to drive US1 in this weather, more accurately, I was scared to get stuck sitting after some idiot tourist caused an accident. We were stopping at a friend's house anyway to say our goodbyes.

She requested that we just hang out there for the day.

And being the super awesome person that she is.. she made us a delicious Nutella treat. And Turkish Coffee for me. I love my friends. ❤

T had fun playing with her dog, then her daughter when she returned him from school. A few of our other friends came over, more food was made, and we had a wonderful meal, full on Israeli style.
I was feeling much better!

 

[Thecorsi4]

He's always been that way. At age 4 he would tell me that I am "not using my manners" if I don't stop and look at him when he's talking to me. I have to explain to him that doing the dishes and listening to someone at the same time is not rude. It's called multitasking.lol.

I had no intention of renting a stroller that trip. But, pretty much every one of my friends told me that I will be crazy not to. I've always hated strollers. I was a huge fan of baby wearing for as long as I could, and worst case I would use the lightweight stroller...I've been to a zoo, amusement park, outdoor mall, etc, many times without a stroller when he was 1, 2, and even 3, and I regretted it after about 10 minutes. I just don't like dealing with them though, one time I actually had the big stroller at a zoo, mistakingly left my DSLR (in bag) in it while we walked inside an exhibit..came out and it was gone. My fault, but at least I can't forget something if I don't have a place to set it.lol
I gave in at Disney because of the weather forecast, but we would leave it parked in one land, go do another, and come back for it a few hours later. I made a huge mistake with this in Epcot.



Thanks. It was a little embarrassing to type that all out.. but maybe some "new to Disney" person will read it and not make the same mistake. I need to relive it every once in awhile so I won't make that same mistake again.

I am not new to Disney but your amazing report has given me pause. We do not go until July this year and after reading through some of this report i am already doing these things. The nine year old is trying to help me plan( a deal we made if she hit her reading goals. not only did she hit the goal she crushed it.) I have not really let her help. she will say what she wants to do or what day we can go to a certain park and I have been telling her no we are going to do it this way or that........ :```( I am going to try and be better... THANK YOU for haing the courage to be honest about what was going on.

 

[21stamps]

I called "D" and told her about the delay. We would be leaving soon.

But then.. the SUN came out!!!!!
Sunshine!! Finally!!

T! I'm going to get our suits out of that car. We are going to rent a boat!! Right now!!!

...or not... all water sports/boat rentals were closed. Ok no problem. We'll hit a few more spots and then leave.

I had a con leche and T had an island smoothie, then we did some more shopping and shipped some more items home.. shells and More Ornaments lol

This is the MOST SUN we have seen all week!! And we already checked out of our hotel no going to the pool now.

I tell T that we have to get on the road. He cries. Now he doesn't want to leave.

We have a flight in the morning buddy, we have to go.

 

[21stamps]

We didn't leave though.. we went back to my friend's house and we both took a nap.

I woke up at 3am.

Omg! We have to go!! Obviously we can't stop in Boca now, we have to drive straight to Orlando.

Come on T!

We make the 2.5 hour drive out of the Keys, hit the Turnpike..

And encounter This..

WHERE ARE YOU ASHTON KUTCHER??!!!
WHERE ARE THE CAMERAS???

Surely I am being PUNKED!!!

This is NOT HAPPENING!!!

I sat in that spot for 4 hours.
FOUR HOURS!!!

An accident had caused the turnpike to close. Exactly what I had feared about the Overseas Highway yesterday. I didn't drive because of it.
And now today I encounter the thing I was trying to avoid. On the Turnpike?!?!?!?!

No!!!!!!!!!!!


I left in PLENTY of time to allow for traffic. But not this kind of standstill!!!

I call Delta and explain the situation.
I'm informed that there are not any more available flights today. I must make it!!!

T has school tomorrow. I have work tomorrow. We MUST make it!!!

 

[21stamps]

We arrive to MCO. Turn in the rental.
I put our luggage on a cart and sprint to the Delta desk.
If you saw a crazy woman at MCO doing a full sprint with a luggage cart, yelling at her kid to keep up..

That was me. In all of my hot mess glory.


We didn't make it. We missed it by 10 minutes.

I beg the man at the Delta counter to help us. Just get us on another flight!!!

A few minutes later he says that he can get us to Atlanta. But we will be standby from there..no guarantees that we will make it to CVG tonight.

No, I don't want that. What's the earliest flight tomorrow?

1:50pm

Fine. Give us that one. We'll just stay in Orlando tonight.

He says "Ok. The fee is $150 per person."

I stare. Seriously? I am just tearing up money this entire trip!!!!!!!!

I probably look on the verge of a breakdown.

He says "You know what. I'm not supposed to do this, but I'm going to comp the fee. Let me print out your tickets."

I immediately fell in love with this Delta Man. I had to stop myself from jumping up on him and giving him a huge hug.

We get our tickets and go back to the rental desk.

"Sorry. We've already cleaned the car. And you can't use the same special. It will be $95 for today."

What? I just paid just over $100 for more than a week!

"Sorry."

"Whatever. How soon will a car be ready?"

"An hour."

"Fine. Where do I sign."

We went in the restroom to change into clothes from our carry on and wash our faces. Then walk outside while I search on Hotels.com for accommodations for the night. We needed some fun, I wanted to stay near Old Town instead of the airport.

Poor T. He just stood with him balloon while I tried to figure it out.

 

[LeighM]

You have had the absolute worst luck this trip! I keep expecting to see Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo make a guest appearance or something. It's such a National Lampoon trip.

 

[21stamps]

Here were my requirements for a hotel-

Nice Indoor pool.
Outdoor pool.
Close to Old Town.
Reasonably Priced.

I found one! The inside pool area look great! Waterfalls etc! And it's a great deal!

Hotel secured.

I call T's school.

I call my job.

I call T's football coach.
(I was so worried that he will sit out in the game this weekend, I asked the coach to email plays to me and I would work with him)

We finally get the rental and off we go. We will swim first thing T!!!

Up the elevator to our room looking at the pretty pool..

 

[21stamps]

We change into our suits and go down to the pool and waterfall....

T jumps in.

And screams.

"It's FREEZING!!"

He hurriedly climbs out.

I stick my leg in. The water feels like melted ice.

I look around and notice that the tiki bar is closed. We cover with towels and go to the front desk.

"Yes. Something is wrong with our pool. It should be fixed in the next 48 hours."

At this point am I really surprised???

Unfortunately, No. I'm not.

We go to the outdoor pool.

It's gross. Leaves all over it.

We go back inside to the jacuzzi.

COLD.

Awesome.

I waited for T to have a melt down.

He did have a mini one. He cried. But not as bad as I thought. I think we were both accustomed to disappointment by that point.

I promise him games and rides..

We go up to the room, change, go to dinner, and then head to Old Town and Fun Spot.

 

[21stamps]

We had So Much FUN here!!!!

@Courtney6682 This one always reminds me of Wildwood!!!

 

[21stamps]

T yelled at me the entire time we were on the Vortex Go Carts. There was 2 sets of teens on our turn.. I wanted to stay away from them. T just kept screaming "Go Faster!! NOW!!"

We go on a few more rides and then I declare it's time to go.

T has been begging to go on The Slingshot ever since he first laid eyes on it from a distance.

T, I'm an adrenaline junkie too. But, I don't think you're quite ready for that.

He begged.

And begged

And begged some more..

We watch other people do it. And he keeps begging..

I talk to the ticket counter..

No, I don't think he's ready..

"Please, mommy. PLEASE."

 

[Courtney6682]

Looks like fun!! Kevin and I did Wildwood last Labor Day weekend!

 

[21stamps]

Looks like fun!! Kevin and I did Wildwood last Labor Day weekend!

Do they still have that ride? It goes forwards and backwards while loud music is playing. The one at Wildwood used to go inside too..in darkness. That was one of my favorites.

 

[21stamps]

Like I said, T was begging.

Here was my ONLY hesitation with that ride-
I've been on it several times, but- I can't see him, if he starts freaking out in the air -I won't be able to do anything. If he sticks his head out and snaps his neck- I can't do anything. If he gets whiplash- I can't do anything.

Yes, those thoughts are dramatic. But I didn't know if a 5 year old was ready to be flung 365 ft in the air.

I ask if I can just see him in the restraints before I agree to it.

The ticket person allows it.

I still don't know...

 

[21stamps]

I agree.

I can't post the video here.. so I'll share an array of screenshots.

Before we took off- I was literally praying.
..and repeating "T, keep your head back, ok?"

"T, what did I just say?"

"Keep my head back."

"Yes. Keep your head back. Just keep it back"

..and then I prayed again...

Here we go!!!

We exited. T loved it. And now asked to go on a trampoline...

He jumped for a while..he was on
Cloud 9..adrenaline pumping..we walked around..and finally called it a night.

This ended up being one of the best evenings of the trip!!!

Are our mishaps gone? Will things go smoothly til we get on the plane tomorrow?

I go to sleep wishing for it to be true.

 

[Courtney6682]

Do they still have that ride? It goes forwards and backwards while loud music is playing. The one at Wildwood used to go inside too..in darkness. That was one of my favorites.

I loved that ride when I was little too!!! Not sure if it's still there, we didn't do the rides...we were uhhh...in the room a lot lol

So awesome that he did the slingshot!!!

 

[21stamps]

We wake up.

No hiccups in the morning!

I did inform the front desk that they may want to stop advertising a beautiful pool area that's covered in leaves, and an indoor pool that isn't usable.

T has a private moment saying Goodbye to his Balloon.
We had decided that we would give it to an arriving child.

Remember that kid who doesn't move on moving walkways?

He's still going strong.

We got our Starbucks..
And waited to board our plane.

We were both ready for our own home.

 

[21stamps]

I cringe every time I read a new post for this trip because of the bad luck... I think you should have called this TR "The Murphy's Law vacation".

I know!!!!!