- Continued from Part 1 (duh) -
After we left the Magic Kingdom we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Yum! There is no Chick-Fil-A in Buffalo, so we were totally EXCITED to eat there! Anyway, after indulging in the best chicken sandwiches and coleslaw ever, we unwound at the hotel. Abby, Chip, and I took a nap together. We planned on waking up around 4, and then heading back to the park.
We awoke, refreshed from our two hour nap, and we hurried to get ready to leave. I told Chip, "Don't forget our tickets! We can't get in without 'em!" Chip, sure he had them, looked in his wallet to confirm their whereabouts. No tickets.
In fact, no tickets in the car, the stroller, the diaper bag, or his right pants pocket. He was livid when I told him I SAW him put the tickets in his pocket. "Why didn't you say something?" he shouted. I told him I thought it was odd for him to put the tickets in his pocket, but I thought he would put them in his wallet later on. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't speak up. It didn't matter the reason; all we knew was that the tickets were gone.
Chip was sick, and rightfully so. We spent $170 for two hours of "fun." If you break it down, we spent $42.50 per ride. What a rip-off! Chip was ready to cut his losses, but me being the incurable optimist, tried to find a way around the situation.
I called the only Walt Disney World number I could find, and after waiting 10 minutes, the kind lady on the phone said there was nothing she could do, but that I should go back to the concierge desk and see if they could help me.
Off to the concierge I went, receipt in hand. I was hopeful but still feeling sick over our loss. I explained the situation to the man at the desk. "I'm sorry ma'am. Our system isn't set up to track what we sold. There's nothing we can do. Maybe someone at the Magic Kingdom customer relations can help you."
I wanted to shout, "Nothing you can do! I just spent a lot of money, and there's no way to prove what I bought?!" I didn't scream. I thanked the man, and walked slowly back to the villa pondering how I would break the news to Chip.
When I got back Chip was still searching. I told him to stop. The tickets had to have fallen out of his pocket. "Maybe someone turned them in," I said cheerily. Despite my cheeriness, I couldn't even persuade myself.
Chip did not want to go back to the park - he couldn't stand the thought of driving out there, parking, riding the shuttle, riding the tram, and finding the customer service place only to be told there was nothing they could do for us. I cannot say I blame him - it was a stretch, but I told him we would never know unless we tried. I told you, I'm hopelessly optimistic.
Back at the parking lot, we caught the shuttle bus, got off, and headed up to the tram station. Just as a tram approached, I looked down and noticed that one of Abby's shoes was missing. A quick inspection of the area around us revealed no brown shoe. Aaggh! Was this God telling us that we put in a valiant effort, but we should turn around?!
Chip was fit to be tied. I told him to wait there - I would go find the shoe. [I'm laughing now just thinking about the situation.] Well wouldn't you know that the shoe fell off right where the shuttle bus dropped us off - about a three minute walk away from the tram station. What luck! I was glad to have found her shoe. I almost cried.
I ran back to Chip, got on the next tram, got off, had our bags searched, and then found the customer service office. Again, I was hopeful. After all, I'm sure we weren't the first couple to have lost their tickets, were we? By the look on our customer service lady's face, apparently we were.
Debbie was her name. She was from Indianapolis. Debbie told us that had we bought the tickets at Disney World it wouldn't be an issue. [Should have known that convenience fee would come back to haunt me.] I handed her the receipt, the only proof I had that we had paid $170 for something.
Debbie called the hotel. We waited about thirty minutes outside her little glass window. Chip and I took turns waiting at the window. I hated when it was my turn - it was so embarrassing! Abby didn't mind waiting; she had fun dancing and eating raisins.
Finally, Debbie told us that the hotel said they weren't responsible. Debbie, I never said they were. She grumpily mumbled, "I'll meet you at the gate and walk you through." As she approached the gate, she told the gate attendant, "They say they lost their tickets." I felt so stupid.
By this point it was after 5. Needless to say the most magical place on Earth was starting to lose its charm. Chip later admitted that he hoped Debbie wouldn't let us back in the park.
Despite our unnerving ordeal, we rode a few more rides. It turns out that Abby's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear - she got to hold a joystick that spun our car from side to side. Chip and I got to "shoot" aliens. We all had fun.
We left the park about 8:00. We didn't stick around to see the parade or the fireworks.
We aren't sorry we missed it either.
We experienced some kind of magic that day - albeit, black magic. What else could have caused all those things to go wrong?
Sigh. Farewell, Magic Kingdom. Farewell.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The (un)Happiest Place on Earth - Part One
"Abby, want to go see Mickey?"
"Mick-mey!" Abby squealed.
"Yes, let's go see Mick-mey."
______________________
It started innocently enough. Chip and I had been scouring the Interval website (a time share company) for family friendly vacation spots. After our last plane ride with Abby we decided that the maximum amount of time we could spend in a plane was three hours. Bye, bye Colorado, Arizona, California and...Maui. These were all great options, but again the plane ride would be too long.
After much hemming and hawing we picked a two bedroom villa in sunny Orlando. Chip and I joked that we should go to Disney World, because after all, how often are we really going to be in Orlando? Rarely, or so we suspected.
Me, being the hopeless planner, researched things to do with a toddler at Disney World. To my surprise there are endless opportunities - did you know you can take your kid on almost every ride? I didn't know that. I presented my newfound knowledge to Chip:
"We can take Abby on any ride that doesn't have a height requirement. People say that children of all ages love Magic Kingdom. The best days of the week to go are toward the middle of the week. Oh, and it's going to cost $150."
Chip gasped, "One hundred and fifty dollars?!"
____________________
Fast forward two weeks, one plane ride, and several low-quality restaurant meals later...
We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom on a Wednesday. The park opened at 9 a.m., so we decided we should get there about 8:15 to get a good parking spot. We also decided that it would be a waste of time to purchase our tickets at the park, so instead, we purchased them from the resort concierge. We wound up paying $170 because the resort charges a $10 convenience fee. Whatever. I charged it and practically skipped back to the villa. "We're going to Disney World! "We're going to Disney World!"
We got to the park about 8:30, only a few minutes past our self-imposed deadline. For those of you who have never been to the Magic Kingdom I'll explain the logistics of getting to the park. You park in a HUGE lot, ride a shuttle bus to the tram station, and then take the tram to the park. The whole ordeal could take about 20 minutes or more.
We finally made it to the gates and we inserted our tickets into the ticket-reading machine. I fed mine to the machine and pushed my way through the metal bar.
"Don't forget your ticket, ma'am!" a woman shouted to me. "You'll need it if you want to get back in the park."
I thanked the woman and quickly handed my ticket to Chip who then put my ticket and his ticket into his right pants pocket. I thought to myself, "Those tickets are going to fall out," but I didn't say anything to him.
We followed the advice of the Disney World books, which said to take a left as you enter the park because most people take a right. The logic is that you'll encounter shorter lines that way.
The first ride we got to was the Haunted Mansion - a Disney classic. Abby was great. She let us hold her, and she was very still on the ride. "Wow, this is great," I thought.
The next ride, Peter Pan, was equally as nice. Abby was a joy. She sat still with her mouth open. I could only imagine what she was thinking as we "flew" through the air. Success.
We finally made our way over to the well-known ride, It's a Small World. Again, Abby was great. In fact she was so great that when we got off the ride we decided to seek out some Disney characters. Where were they hiding? We were there to see Mic-mey after all!
"There's Tigger and Pooh!" I shouted. Abby didn't seem interested. By now her happy facade was starting to crumble. I decided to enter the line in hopes that we could get her picture taken with Tigger. Unfortunately, the line was about 20 minutes long, and Abby's fuse was about 60 seconds long. You do the math. Rather than make everyone around us listen to Abby screaming, I took her over to Pooh's play area (an outdoor playground). She had fun sliding, but Chip and I got really bored after about 20 minutes. We decided to go find more rides. Abby had other ideas.
I don't even know how to describe the events that ensued, but I'll try. Abby started screaming, and I mean SCREAMING. She was gritting her teeth, holding her breath, kicking her feet, arching her back, turning red, and shaking. She didn't want to walk; she didn't want to be held; she didn't want to ride in her stroller. Who knows what she wanted. I surely didn't.
Chip and I had already decided that we would leave around lunch and go back to the hotel so that Abby could nap. Although we had only been at the park for two hours, we decided this would be a great opportunity to leave.
Abby finally started to calm down (about 20 minutes later - it seemed like an eternity!), so we decided to try one more ride. We chose a "boring" ride that circles Futureland. The ride lasts about 10 minutes. As we boarded, the ride operator commented that Abby would probably fall asleep. "I hope she does," I replied. I was serious.
Abby fell asleep just as the man predicted. We left the park as planned with the intention of coming back that evening. Who would have guessed what would happen next?
- Please continue to Part 2 -
"Mick-mey!" Abby squealed.
"Yes, let's go see Mick-mey."
______________________
It started innocently enough. Chip and I had been scouring the Interval website (a time share company) for family friendly vacation spots. After our last plane ride with Abby we decided that the maximum amount of time we could spend in a plane was three hours. Bye, bye Colorado, Arizona, California and...Maui. These were all great options, but again the plane ride would be too long.
After much hemming and hawing we picked a two bedroom villa in sunny Orlando. Chip and I joked that we should go to Disney World, because after all, how often are we really going to be in Orlando? Rarely, or so we suspected.
Me, being the hopeless planner, researched things to do with a toddler at Disney World. To my surprise there are endless opportunities - did you know you can take your kid on almost every ride? I didn't know that. I presented my newfound knowledge to Chip:
"We can take Abby on any ride that doesn't have a height requirement. People say that children of all ages love Magic Kingdom. The best days of the week to go are toward the middle of the week. Oh, and it's going to cost $150."
Chip gasped, "One hundred and fifty dollars?!"
____________________
Fast forward two weeks, one plane ride, and several low-quality restaurant meals later...
We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom on a Wednesday. The park opened at 9 a.m., so we decided we should get there about 8:15 to get a good parking spot. We also decided that it would be a waste of time to purchase our tickets at the park, so instead, we purchased them from the resort concierge. We wound up paying $170 because the resort charges a $10 convenience fee. Whatever. I charged it and practically skipped back to the villa. "We're going to Disney World! "We're going to Disney World!"
We got to the park about 8:30, only a few minutes past our self-imposed deadline. For those of you who have never been to the Magic Kingdom I'll explain the logistics of getting to the park. You park in a HUGE lot, ride a shuttle bus to the tram station, and then take the tram to the park. The whole ordeal could take about 20 minutes or more.
We finally made it to the gates and we inserted our tickets into the ticket-reading machine. I fed mine to the machine and pushed my way through the metal bar.
"Don't forget your ticket, ma'am!" a woman shouted to me. "You'll need it if you want to get back in the park."
I thanked the woman and quickly handed my ticket to Chip who then put my ticket and his ticket into his right pants pocket. I thought to myself, "Those tickets are going to fall out," but I didn't say anything to him.
We followed the advice of the Disney World books, which said to take a left as you enter the park because most people take a right. The logic is that you'll encounter shorter lines that way.
The first ride we got to was the Haunted Mansion - a Disney classic. Abby was great. She let us hold her, and she was very still on the ride. "Wow, this is great," I thought.
The next ride, Peter Pan, was equally as nice. Abby was a joy. She sat still with her mouth open. I could only imagine what she was thinking as we "flew" through the air. Success.
We finally made our way over to the well-known ride, It's a Small World. Again, Abby was great. In fact she was so great that when we got off the ride we decided to seek out some Disney characters. Where were they hiding? We were there to see Mic-mey after all!
"There's Tigger and Pooh!" I shouted. Abby didn't seem interested. By now her happy facade was starting to crumble. I decided to enter the line in hopes that we could get her picture taken with Tigger. Unfortunately, the line was about 20 minutes long, and Abby's fuse was about 60 seconds long. You do the math. Rather than make everyone around us listen to Abby screaming, I took her over to Pooh's play area (an outdoor playground). She had fun sliding, but Chip and I got really bored after about 20 minutes. We decided to go find more rides. Abby had other ideas.
I don't even know how to describe the events that ensued, but I'll try. Abby started screaming, and I mean SCREAMING. She was gritting her teeth, holding her breath, kicking her feet, arching her back, turning red, and shaking. She didn't want to walk; she didn't want to be held; she didn't want to ride in her stroller. Who knows what she wanted. I surely didn't.
Chip and I had already decided that we would leave around lunch and go back to the hotel so that Abby could nap. Although we had only been at the park for two hours, we decided this would be a great opportunity to leave.
Abby finally started to calm down (about 20 minutes later - it seemed like an eternity!), so we decided to try one more ride. We chose a "boring" ride that circles Futureland. The ride lasts about 10 minutes. As we boarded, the ride operator commented that Abby would probably fall asleep. "I hope she does," I replied. I was serious.
Abby fell asleep just as the man predicted. We left the park as planned with the intention of coming back that evening. Who would have guessed what would happen next?
- Please continue to Part 2 -
Monday, October 27, 2008
Junkie
Okay, I'm about to go to the post office to mail my application. (More on the job hunt later.) But, how sad is it that all I can think about is stopping by the gas station on the way home to buy a pack of peanut M & M's?
I feel like an alcoholic. "Yeah, honey. I'll run that errand...[so I can pick up some booze at the ABC store]."
What gives? Why do I need so much chocolate?
I feel like an alcoholic. "Yeah, honey. I'll run that errand...[so I can pick up some booze at the ABC store]."
What gives? Why do I need so much chocolate?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ka-Kanes and Papis
Three whole days. That's how long Abby went without a pacifier.
Chip and I have been trying to break Abby of her pacifier "addiction" since her first birthday. My idea was to only give her a paci at naptime and at bedtime, and during the rest of the day I would "hide" them from her. Despite our best efforts, Abby always found the pacifiers that were either in the kitchen drawer or tucked under the blanket in her crib.
Well, as many of you know, we went to Orlando last week. I packed all four of Abby's pacis. We wound up throwing two of those away by day two of our trip. By day four, the other two went missing. Any time Abby threw a tantrum she would yell for her papi (her pronunciation of paci). Trust me, if I had had a paci, I would have shoved it in her mouth - lovingly, of course! Anyway, I figured losing the pacis was the easiest way to break her addiction.
It turns out the other two pacis weren't really gone forever. One fell underneath the hotel bed and the other was underneath the passenger seat in our rental car. Both of them took a bath in the dishwasher, and I put them safely back in the diaper bag.
Things were going smoothly - Abby made it three days without her paci, proof that she can in fact live without them - until our flight back home. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 a.m. Chip and I were dragging, but Abby had her usual never-ending supply of energy. I tried to keep her entertained by walking around to all the gates and showing her the planes. Abby was so excited. She kept yelling, "Ka-kane! Ka-kane!" That's Abby's way of saying "airplane," by the way. We even got a pilot to wave at us.
After an hour and a half of walking around, it was finally our turn to board the plane. By this time Abby was almost fit to be tied. She didn't want to be held, she wanted to run around. I tried corralling her, but as she was running away from me she fell and hit her head on the ground. And when I say "hit," I mean she HIT the floor - everyone around us heard the thump. Needless to say Abby let out a blood curdling scream, and everyone around us was giving us the "What kind of parents are you?" and the "Please don't sit next to me with that kid!" look.
My mind raced, "How do I get her to be quiet?" I went into panic mode, and the first thing I thought of was the paci tucked into the diaper bag. I told Chip to give her the paci, and when he did, Abby immediately calmed down. What magic. Although the paci powers defeated my attempts at "curing" Abby, as Chip put it, "It was necessary this time."
Since we've been home Abby's been asking for her "papi." I'm trying to keep it away from her. As you can tell, we've got a long road ahead. The paci has a strong hold on my daughter...wish me luck.
Chip and I have been trying to break Abby of her pacifier "addiction" since her first birthday. My idea was to only give her a paci at naptime and at bedtime, and during the rest of the day I would "hide" them from her. Despite our best efforts, Abby always found the pacifiers that were either in the kitchen drawer or tucked under the blanket in her crib.
Well, as many of you know, we went to Orlando last week. I packed all four of Abby's pacis. We wound up throwing two of those away by day two of our trip. By day four, the other two went missing. Any time Abby threw a tantrum she would yell for her papi (her pronunciation of paci). Trust me, if I had had a paci, I would have shoved it in her mouth - lovingly, of course! Anyway, I figured losing the pacis was the easiest way to break her addiction.
It turns out the other two pacis weren't really gone forever. One fell underneath the hotel bed and the other was underneath the passenger seat in our rental car. Both of them took a bath in the dishwasher, and I put them safely back in the diaper bag.
Things were going smoothly - Abby made it three days without her paci, proof that she can in fact live without them - until our flight back home. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 a.m. Chip and I were dragging, but Abby had her usual never-ending supply of energy. I tried to keep her entertained by walking around to all the gates and showing her the planes. Abby was so excited. She kept yelling, "Ka-kane! Ka-kane!" That's Abby's way of saying "airplane," by the way. We even got a pilot to wave at us.
After an hour and a half of walking around, it was finally our turn to board the plane. By this time Abby was almost fit to be tied. She didn't want to be held, she wanted to run around. I tried corralling her, but as she was running away from me she fell and hit her head on the ground. And when I say "hit," I mean she HIT the floor - everyone around us heard the thump. Needless to say Abby let out a blood curdling scream, and everyone around us was giving us the "What kind of parents are you?" and the "Please don't sit next to me with that kid!" look.
My mind raced, "How do I get her to be quiet?" I went into panic mode, and the first thing I thought of was the paci tucked into the diaper bag. I told Chip to give her the paci, and when he did, Abby immediately calmed down. What magic. Although the paci powers defeated my attempts at "curing" Abby, as Chip put it, "It was necessary this time."
Since we've been home Abby's been asking for her "papi." I'm trying to keep it away from her. As you can tell, we've got a long road ahead. The paci has a strong hold on my daughter...wish me luck.
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