Pt. 3

So this will conclude the Disney leg of our trip, due to some unfortunate events. :(

I was absent most of our AK day. I stayed back at our room with sick Sawyer. But Matt and Isabelle got some pictures!

Sawyer and I headed to AK before our reservations at Tusker. I was afraid he throw up on me ALL day!! He did not on that day, but continues for a week with issues. :(

Isabelle and I went to Disney Quest for a bit. That was new for us!

Made because we wouldn't let him go overboard! ;)

My happy eyes...

Sawyer decided he didn't like flying. :(

We headed for a break to our room after this. And now our "unfortunate" happening...

This is from the email I sent Disney. I am still waiting to hear back. You will see in the photos after we tried very hard to still enjoy ourselves.

"

What the issue is is that although we have been to Disney more times than I can count we did not realize that there was a policy that restrict you from keeping a firearm in your room. Not in the park that would be completely ridiculous! But in your room.

You see, we are in Disney World at least once a year, twice this year. The reason behind that is that in 2007, only a few days after a blissful 10 day WDW trip with my husband and 2 children, we were tboned by a truck running a red light. After nearly 2 weeks in the hospital my husband and I were released to bury our son. At only 16 mo, he was taken from us by a careless driver. So we return for the wonderful memories we have of that magical time we all had together.

So when we return to our room last week (we had been at POR 4 nights already, had two more and had added on another earlier that morning) we were locked out. We had no idea why. And we have had no problems up until that day. Matt went on a picture this morning and a housekeeper (must have been a new one, I sat there the day before watching the HK as she cleaned and she didn't mind at all) recognized his guns. It was reported and we were locked out of my room. As we waited for 45 minutes and no one would tell us why. Finally we overheard a security officer telling the manager we were waiting with that Orange County has been called. At that point we kinda figured it had something to do with the guns, which were not loaded.

When OC finally got there, Franky, the officer started explaining to us what the issue was and what steps could be taken.

At first everything was pretty friendly. They told us they could lock up his firearms somewhere on animal kingdom property. We weren't incredibly comfortable with that especially since my husband has  highly restricted NFA pieces that according to federal law cannot be in possession of anyone else without 10 years of prison in a quarter of a million dollars in fines. So we said no that's okay we'll go ahead and leave, based on principle, we were leaving of our own free will. We went started packing as we're packing Matt and I were discussing that we would like to see that policy because I did not know that it was a policy that you could not keep them in your private room. Especially considering we have had firearms in our room most of our trips to WDW, all staying on WDW property. So he went out and asked to see a copy of the policy while I continued packing. The manager who would not even talk to me because I was a woman (seriously, my husband even pointed it out and you could tell by the look on his face that was the issue after my husband told him that he could talk to me, since I book everything))...manager, I think Frankie (there were 2 Frankie/ys told him that he did not have to show it to him that he might drop it in the mail. Now remember we are already packing to leave anyway! But at this point they decide that they are going to tell us that we have 5 minutes to leave we are being evicted and we are trespassing.At this point I'm crying , b/c to me it seemed they were saying we were trespassing on WDW property, as in ALL  of it! And now my children are crying too. My husband is getting a little agitated and the cops are baiting him calling him a little man and telling him he has issues to need to bring guns on vacation. We have remained calm all we wanted to know was what the policy was. We were already leaving and we completely agree if that is their policy, we just wanted to see it. In all of our years going to WDW and THOUSANDS (just this year alone!) spent there, it wasn't a huge request.

We finally get all of our stuff and my husband got his arms and on the way out as we're crying, the sheriff has a pistol pulled out and ready to fire me and my family! I SERIOUSLY have NEVER been so terrified in all my life! I was scared to death! I was about to throw up! I was NOT armed. I was carrying a crying and SICK 14 month old and holding the hand of my 3 year old. How was I a threat!? I was NOT right beside Matt, he was 15 ft ahead, but those pistols were on ME and my children!

Now after we left we started googling and found the policy ourself. We also we also discovered that under Florida law you can keep it in your vehicle but they would not let us do that they said they had to be locked up on animal kingdom property only!and now I have to call and try to get refunded for the night and the tickets and the stuff that we didn't get to use.which I started trying to do yesterday got transferred 3 times after being on hold over 40 minutes and then disconnected. Because they said that I had to call to get a refund. I still have NO idea who to contact about Wednesday and our added on Thursday nights refund, not the mention unused park tickets out of fear of stepping into a park and being chased down at gunpoint!
We ended up going to Downtown Disney for dinner that night. But I have to tell you I was scared to death I really was afraid that if I stepped on Disney property and they found out that they might come after us. I don't know if we were completely kickoff Disney property or just got off a resort or anything else. :(

They never physically touched anyone but they did everything they could to make us realize very clearly that if they even thought something might go wrong they would shoot. Crying babies everything they did not care. And I left my rental stroller over by our room to be returned to bell services. I don't know why I wish I would've just kept it. but I forgot I left my key and phone in it and had to go back.I was carrying the baby. And crying and had a security officer follow me the entire way. I turned around and ask him if he was following me and he said no and backed up a little bit but when I turned around he was still back there. So I said to him you're making me really nervous and the manager finally made him stop following me. The manager walked beside me. This man was a total prick. I have never met a Disney employ I didn't like until him and the one security officer.

The way this was handled was totally unacceptable. I don't care who you are, no one should be treated like a criminal being carted off to prison when they didn't warrant it. First off Disney has my number. They could have called and asked us to come back to POR to clear up the issue. The POR employees would not even tell us why we were locked out of our room. They expected OC sheriffs to explain it. They could have tried to do something differently!! They made up their minds about us before even seeing us. And I truly believe that a copy of the policy should have been brought by the manager when he first came over anyway. By the way, the reason my husband had guns in our room??? He and my 11 year old daughter were taking a pig hunt near Daytona Friday morning. My daughter ended up catching the flu we had been passing around all week (yep it had already been a rough and miserable trip that we were trying SO very hard to enjoy anyway). But my husband did get his first pig! A trophy Boar.

We still had a good time, fairly anyway, visiting Busch Gardens and SeaWorld, staying off site at a Good Neighbor hotel (we made sure our guns were ok in our room). But we spent nearly $1000 we would not have spent and that hurts now that we are home. :(

But the saddest part of all!? Wondering if we will ever return.... Ever get to go on Living with the Land boat ride that my Levi loved so much or picture his face when we see Stitch or Goofy.

My issue is not your policy. I apologize for my ignorance on the issue (though it should be more clearly stated, as I have shared this story with dozens of friends that are LONG time WDW goers and they did not know either). My issue is the way it was handled. The way we were treated, both by Disney Cast members and Orange County.

We have been referred to an area Attorney and been told we should take this to local media. My heart is broken, but I still love Disney. I really don't want to be like that. I just want this made right.

Thank you."

Science lesson with dry ice! Love being a homeschool family!

My saddened puffy eyes, trying to be happy anyway.