Summer & Steven's Fairytale Wedding TR, 20th Aug SBP Baby Pics!!!

[ForKeeps]

Summer!

What a fantastic start. I had to laugh about your Canada comments. Yes -- it is that big In fact flying from Ontario to BC can cost as much as a ticket from Ontario to England

Can't wait for the next installment

 

[c4alymom]

I have been a long time lurker on your PJ and I am loving your TR. Keep it coming!!!!

 

[Dolce27]

Great start to your TR!

You sound just like me when it comes to flying. The more I fly the more stressed out and scared I become. Just don't fly over Tokyo, Japan. I was flying back to the US from China last year and the turbulence over Tokyo was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. There were times that the plane would literally drop in the air and then begin to violently shake. I was terrified and honestly thought that I was going to die!

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Thanks everyone for your comments, yes, it was a very nerve wracking time for me. I honestly thought my dress was gone for good. The first few days in Orlando had several hairy moments, but we got through them to have the best honeymoon ever. You will see why later on in the TR.
Now for the next instalment...

 

[Glorydaz]

aaww Summer, type faster -I have to get ready to go to work!!

Michelle

 

[Kirsteen]

I'm on my lunch hour, sitting comfortably with soon potato, leek and rosemary soup - I'm so ready for the next installment

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day two, Part three

So I had my luggage, I breathed a huge sigh of relief as we went to find our Coach that would be taking us to WDW Now I hadn't told my mom this as I didn't want to stress her out but there had been two seperate coaches booked. My mom would be leaving WDW after 1 week so her coach transfer was going to be with Mears and our transfer was to be with Coach USA. I had only found this out about 4 weeks before we were due to leave and I tried to fix it, but we were told we would be charged $50 for my mom to be on the same Coach as us. I figured it would be fine for us to go seperately as it was going to drop her right there.
Anyway it took a little time to find where we were supposed to go. I know Sanford airport is small but the directions weren't that clear. I went up to the Airtours desk and I asked if I was in the right place. I gave her my name and she handed me my Welcome Pack, or at least that's what it said on the envelope. She told me to go out and take a left where I would see our Coach transfers. So, we gathered our luggage again and I went to see them, telling my mom and Steven to hang back. I told them we were here for our Coach transfers. I gave them mom's name first and they said they had her and confirmed that she was going to CBR, that was correct, they would also be picking her up from CBR in a weeks time, not correct, I explained to them that we would be moving to POFQ after 3 nights so she would need to be picked up from there. She seemed a bit confused but changed the paperwork to reflect our move. She then went on to us and said we are taking you to Crowne Plaza, not correct, we were going to CBR with my mom! So she said we were getting picked up from POFQ, not correct again, we were getting picked up from Crowne Plaza. I shown her my most recent paperwork which detailed my transfers, she sighed and said that the agency had not notified them of these changes but she would change all the documentation for me. Strike one for our travel agency!
She advised me that we would all be travelling in the same coach. Really? I informed her that I had been advised otherwise but she said that if we are all going to the same place then we would be travelling in the same coach. Okay, it worked better for us so I didn't complain.
After all that we moved round the corner to catch our coach. I couldn't see any driver there anywhere, so we saw our coach and started loading our luggage. A few minutes later the driver came up to us and said we couldn't load it ourselves as all the bags are in order of drop off, oops, we didn't know that. So he unloaded and reloaded our luggage, oh well!
Here is a pic of our coach:

We gave him our transfer tickets and boarded. The welcome agent came on the coach along with several other passengers, she picked up her mike and started going on about the welcome meeting etc, I never go to these things, I lose too much precious time when we have a schedule to work from
Anyway she wishes us all a great trip and leaves the coach, then we're on our way
I decide to look at my welcome pack and open it to find one sheet of paper with telephone numbers to call if we have any problems or emergencies. Okay where were my tickets? Where were my other welcoming things? My travel agancy did not explain the 'key to the world' cards. I had never stayed on Disney property before so was unaware that my theme park tickets would be on my room key. I paniced, where were my tickets?, I needed them for that night, I knew I didn't have the energy to discuss all this with my ground agent. All I wanted to do was get to the hotel and relax.
I started getting agitated, the coach driver comes over the mic telling us that CBR would be his 4th stop, ETA, 5.30pm. WHAT??? I had 'Ohana reservations at 7pm, there is no way we could make it, not if I had another crisis on my hands with tickets. I wanted a shower, to change, I wanted a nap god dammit!!!! How is that possible? We arrived at 2.05 pm, I thought I had made my reservation in plenty of time, great, everything is falling apart.
My mini meltdown became apparent and Steven started saying we would never make it to 'Ohanas for 7pm. WHAT??? Don't be silly of course we will, even though I knew he was right, I didn't want to admit it. I tell them 'Ohanas is just a bus journey away from the hotel. My mom looks at me and says "but I thought you booked a restaurant at the hotel"
"No, when did I ever say that, I have told you all for months where we are eating"
"Oh but I'm too tired to go out of the hotel, I thought you would have booked one there, what posessed you to book one far away"?
My good manner was about to falter, I was tired and annoyed and my mom was acting like I hadn't told her squat. I had made sure everyone was well aware of the plans I had made and now all I could see was them getting flushed down the toilet. I wanted to scream
Calmly I said "It is not far away, it is one bus ride away, I have had this reservation for 180 days, I don't want to eat at the hotel as I've read that the restaurant there sux, okay?"
As an afterthought I said "Why don't you stay home then and Steven and I will go out to eat?"
I didn't mean to sound annoyed or say anything like that, but I felt like I was going to explode. All I could hear were all the conversations of the past four months or so circling in my head, all the conversations where I told my mom what we were doing, when we were doing it, and she looked at me as if I had roaches crawling out of my ears when I mentioned the restaurant.
I really wanted to go to 'Ohanas but I knew deep down that we wouldn't make it. I asked Steven if he thought I should try and call and we could make it for 8pm, he said I could if I really wanted too.
My mom said she was too tired to go anywhere and wanted to go back and sleep, so I relented and agreed that we wouldn't go to 'Ohanas. I said if we were hungry later on we would just grab something at CBR.
I went quiet, something I always do when I am fuming, I looked out the window at the scenery and houses passing by. We stopped off at AKL first, then All Star Sports then Pop Century. I was already disappointed and started to worry about what was to come when I arrived at CBR...

 

[Kirsteen]

Aw Summer I can imagine just what you were going through - my Mum has a nack of saying things that have me thinking banging my head off the nearest wall would be just as efficient! lol You did well to sit quiet on the bus. I think I'd have been fumming too Kxx

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

Summer!

I read you PJ and now I'm sooo wrapped up in you TR. I'm glad I've caught it from the begining.

I almost cried when you luggage didn't come out, and I was fuming right along with you when your Mom "played dumb."

Thank you for providing such entertaining, relevant reading material!!!!!

 

[Glorydaz]

aaww Summer, I feel so bad for you! I know how heartbreaking it is when you've everything set in stone and then it starts to unravel - just makes you want to scream, cry and tell everyone else to go to hell, right??!!

I'm waiting for the next installment and keeping my fingers crossed that things turned out better at the hotel than you've left us with....

Michelle

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Kirsteen - Yes, I did have some very stressful moments with my mom, but we got past them and we are probably closer now because of it.

MistressOfAllEvil - Thanks for reading my long PJ, my TR is going to be even longer but once I get day 2 out of the way I have loads of pics to break it up. I have over 1300 pics that we took alone, let alone wedding pics.

Michelle - Yes, it does get better but not yet, I'm afraid we are in for a bumpy ride...

 

[Kirsteen]

Ohmygoodness - you've had enough bumps - so pleased that you have had lots of happy endings too looking forward to your next installment and your photos too.

 

[oneyodafan]

Oh no, more bumps! Say it isn't so. Hope it's nothing too major.

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

Day two, Part four

We arrived at CBR and we got out and tipped the driver $6.00, we didn't know the tipping suggestion so we tipped what we thought was okay. We ended up arriving at CBR at 5.45pm. I was exhausted as were Steven and my mom. We had been up since 05.30am UK time and it was the equivalent of 10.45pm UK time here.
We walked up to The Custom House and it looked beautiful, I smiled, very happy that I had chosen to stay at CBR. A Bell boy asked if we wanted our luggage to be taken to our room, totally surprised we agreed and said we hadn't even checked in yet. He explained that if we go and check in and come back with our room number he would then deliver our suitcases. Sure, I guess...
So we went into the Custom House, leaving behind our bags, and me constantly looking over my shoulder at them, not particularly wanting to leave my wedding dress yet again. We walked straight up to check in and I had all my vouchers at hand along with my mom's.
I immediately asked if my theme park tickets were here and she explained the 'key to the world' card to me, thank god, I relaxed a bit.
She then went on to explain the layout of the resort and gave us a map, EMH brochure and more info about the resort. She explained that we would have adjoining rooms, on a high floor, great, just what I had hoped for.
She handed me the key to my room and I looked at it and noticed that the check out date was wrong. It stated the 08/23, we were actually checking out on 08/19 and moving to POFQ. I knew I had to query this but Steven was standing right there and this was a major surprise I had planned, he had no idea we would be moving to POFQ, and I knew how badly he had wanted to go. So I bit the bullet and just decided to hell with it, I had to know why the check out date was wrong.
She looked up the computer and said "This is the funkiest thing, according to this you are checking out on the 19th but your key says the 23rd, huh..."
I asked her if she could possibly check my POFQ reservation to make sure it was there, she managed to do this and confirmed that, yes, it was there and we would be checking in there on the 19th, but there was a problem...
We had managed to secure 14nights DDP for our reservation, CBR had us down for 7 nights DDP, but only if we stayed there, POFQ had no note of our DDP but they did have a room reservation. This was the same for my mom aswell I didn't know what to do or say, neither did the receptionist. She said to just go to our room and for me to call POFQ in the morning and see what they are saying at their end, she assured me that this would all get sorted out somehow.
Hmmm, not very reassured, I left, I was so tired and really just wanted to go to our room and have a shower. I really wanted to look around the grounds at least and maybe grab a bite to eat.
We went outside and gave the bell boy our room numbers. Steven and my mom wanted to catch the bus to the room, but I flat out refused, I wanted to see some of the grounds and I knew we would likely only be about 5 minutes from our room. We were given the Aruba section on the second floor, the resort looked so beautiful and although we had a bit of difficulty finding it to begin with, we did eventually find it, 15 minutes later
So we finally got into our room and I immediately took some pics
This was a picture of the beds, I ran over to put the lights on first to make it cosy:

A view into the vanity area:

A view of our TV closet and table:

Another view of our beds from the vanity area:

A shot of the bathroom:

The room was huge, much bigger than I had imagined, it was very bright and cheerful, just what I needed after our long journey. We had adjoining rooms but the door could be locked for privacy. My mom was really impressed by it all and I could tell Steven really liked it too. We immediately went to the bed and was taken aback by how high they are, they were also really comfy. We both clambered on top of the bed and lay down, I wanted a shower asap so I decided not to fall asleep but to wait instead for my case.
So I waited...and waited, 30 minutes later and still no case, okay, where is it?
I decided to call down to reception and ask and she put me through to bell services. I gave them my room number and name and inquired about our luggage.
"Um, they have already been delivered" he said.
"Um, no they haven't, I haven't left this rrom since I checked in and they aren't here"
"Well it says here they have been"
"I think I would know if I had received my suitcases"
"Hmmm, I guess I'll have to go check then, I'm gonna have to call you back"
"Okay"

I hang up the phone and scream "MY SUITCASES ARE GONE, THEY SAY THEY'VE BEEN DELIVERED" I was very close to losing it at this point, I was shaking and I could feel myself going. My mom then comes through and starts to panic too, making it much worse for me.
"But you're wedding dress is in there"
This statement causes me to go.
I know this and stating it doesn't help at all, visions of me getting married in a sundress start floating in front of my eyes and I flop on the bed, my head is pounding and I can't see straight, white flashes appear and I feel very heavy all of a sudden. Everything fades to black...

 

[Glorydaz]

Michelle

 

[Kirsteen]

Nooo!! Kx

P.S. you are so good - you should publish this.

 

[Maddiesmum03]

Dont leave us in suspense Summer, we need the next installment!!!

but OMG you did have a bumpy start, I hope there aren't any more.

Your description of Sanford made me laugh, I remember being totally lost and confused looking for our transfer when we landed there on our first Disney trip. Oh, and our holiday rep had gone home.....LOL

 

[jasonandlisa]

oh my goodness!! what a tough first day...

 

[mcarthur205]

Sorry to hear about your dramas with the luggage! And every problem is magnified when you're tired and just stepped off a looong transatlantic flight! Hope everything gets better soon!

The CBR is a beautiful resort isn't it? It was the first Disney resort we stayed at in 1997 (we stayed offsite on previous trips). We were in Aruba too, also in a room on the second floor! I don't remember the room number now, but it overlooked a courtyard I think.

I agree with everyone else, you're a great trip report author! I'll be checking for updates!

 

[Missy H]

This so not fair Summer! You can't do this to us. What happened? Was it the heat or the missing suitcase?????? Please tell!!!!!!!

I am loving your report I just can't cope with the suspense!