From Disappointment to Joy!
By: Sari PalmeriOur plans had been made in August 2012 when we were on our first Disney Cruise. We took advantage of onboard booking and reserved the cruise portion of our 2013 vacation. We waited until we could book the resort stay for the first part of our land and sea vacation. The dates were announced for the Wine and Dine half marathon, and being a new runner I wanted to take part in this since our vacation dates coincided. Of course, that was after being convinced by family and friends that I “could” run 13.1 miles since my longest race had been a 10K (6.2 miles).Fast forward several of months, now with my training schedule I was feeling nervous and excited about the race. I’ve heard such wonderful things about a Disney race that I knew it would be an amazing experience for my first half marathon. Less than a month before the race I was on a training run and my knee simply gave out. I was able to walk home and figured maybe it was a small injury. I did all that I was supposed to: rest, ice and “patiently waiting” for my knee to heal before going back out for a run again. I only got 2 miles before my knee gave out again. I tried a few more runs and went to the doctor to see if I could get an injection in my knee so I could do the race. I was sent for an MRI and was told that I should not do the run or I would end up needing surgery. This was a major disappointment for me and I was so upset that I almost cancelled our entire vacation. My husband convinced me that if I did cancel I would just be more upset in the long run (no pun intended).
We arrived on our scheduled day, and because I wasn’t going to be doing the race we spent more time in the parks than we had originally planned for the first two days of the vacation. We had a split stay and were spending the first three nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House and the next three nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village. We were lucky enough to get what they called a partial savanna view and my kids loved seeing the animals. We had a 1 bedroom villa and it was perfect. When we checked out and moved over to Kidani Village we had a 2 bedroom villa and got upgraded to a savanna view and it was the most amazing view. The reason we switched was because my parents were surprising my kids and joining us for the cruise portion. They went to visit friends in the Tampa area and since we switched rooms to the 2 bedroom they came to us the night before they were supposed to. We put my kids to sleep and when they woke up my parents were there. The looks on their faces were priceless. We told them my parents just came to spend the day and night with us and we toured around the hotel and did bead activities. We told them we were all leaving to go home the next day.
When they woke up the next morning we told them that we had a surprise for them and we were going on a 3-night cruise on the Disney Dream. They were shocked and so happy because they had been asking to go on another cruise ever since the first one we took. Being on the Disney Dream did not disappoint us. The food, the activities, the characters, the shows and the kids club are all above and beyond amazing. The time we spent together and memories we made will never be forgotten.
We arrived on our scheduled day, and because I wasn’t going to be doing the race we spent more time in the parks than we had originally planned for the first two days of the vacation. We had a split stay and were spending the first three nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House and the next three nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village. We were lucky enough to get what they called a partial savanna view and my kids loved seeing the animals. We had a 1 bedroom villa and it was perfect. When we checked out and moved over to Kidani Village we had a 2 bedroom villa and got upgraded to a savanna view and it was the most amazing view. The reason we switched was because my parents were surprising my kids and joining us for the cruise portion. They went to visit friends in the Tampa area and since we switched rooms to the 2 bedroom they came to us the night before they were supposed to. We put my kids to sleep and when they woke up my parents were there. The looks on their faces were priceless. We told them my parents just came to spend the day and night with us and we toured around the hotel and did bead activities. We told them we were all leaving to go home the next day.When they woke up the next morning we told them that we had a surprise for them and we were going on a 3-night cruise on the Disney Dream. They were shocked and so happy because they had been asking to go on another cruise ever since the first one we took. Being on the Disney Dream did not disappoint us. The food, the activities, the characters, the shows and the kids club are all above and beyond amazing. The time we spent together and memories we made will never be forgotten.
Due to my injury, this wasn’t the “full” vacation I had planned, but we made up for me not being able to partake in the Disney Wine and Dine half marathon with a fantastic vacation and wonderful memories.