I woke up the other morning and was plunking away at the keyboard writing and reading emails all pertaining to the school auction. A little ring diverted my attention to my arriving emails. I saw the following words... warm weather, parks filled to capacity, bring a collapsible cooler and ice packs... pool is closed at the hotel. I did a double-take. Say WHAT?!?!?! So immediate I called the now familiar numbers 1407-WDISNEY and declared to know what the hell was going on. "It's listed on our website ma'am." No it's not. I saw the list of closings of all the other pools and that is why we chose to stay at this particular hotel. Just a couple of days to go before departure and now I find out that I will be lounging in front of a closed pool? Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. They tell me that there are other pools at the resort. Three other pools. I tell them I do not want another pool. I want the big one with a slide. I can hear myself whining. I can hear myself sounding more like a three year old than I want to and mean to. But I make no excuses and no apologies for the disappointment in my voice. A regular pool. That's not good enough I tell the person at the other end. I have regular pools here in Connecticut too. (I do not bother to tell her that here in Connecticut it is not warm enough to use a "regular" pool and I do not tell her that I per se do not have a "regular" pool.) What she doesn't know won't hurt her. I then go on to explain, in a calm, rational only semi-whiny voice, that we do not do Disney every year and that when we do go we really like to make it a special trip for the kids. We're spending big bucks on this trip. Despite the recession we've stopped at nothing. We're helping the economy. Instead of getting applauded for our efforts I am told that the parks and hotels are filled. To capacity. I asked to switch to another luxury resort. Disney, it seems is either recession-proof, or Disney Dollars are magical indeed. Whatever it is, there is No Room at the Disney Inn. I ask to speak to a manager. I am sure I sound more like a three year old asking to speak to her mommy. I thank Vivian for her help and say "I would like to speak to your superior, so that I do not have to yell at you!" She senses my good-natured joke and we share a little laugh before connecting me to Anita.

Anita explains that there is a clear mention of the pool's closing. I tell her there is not. I want to know why I was informed of all the other pool closings but not this one. I would like to try to find another resort I tell her. We need a 2BR villa. I am on vacation and I want to enjoy myself. She tells me she will look for me and will call me shortly.

A few hours later I come home and see there is no message on the machine. The red light is still, not flashing. My cell phone never rang with a 407 exchange. I was out at a meeting all morning and then at the park with the kids in the afternoon. Sensing I was given the shaft I called Disney back. I got no more help after being transferred around all over the place I secure a room somewhere between the main building with the restaurants and the side pool. I am told that yes, we do have a washer and dryer. I am told that we have reciprocity with the hotel across the way. We can take a boat launch and use their pool. It's better than nothing. And it is a damn nice pool. Not as convenient as having a pool in your back yard, but there's nothing at this point I can do. We will have a nice trip. We will make it fun no matter what. We are just like that. No use crying over spilt milk -- spilt wine, yes -- but not spilt milk!

A short while later I took Rebecca to ice skating. When we got back Daddy gave me the message that Anita had called. She searched high and low for us across all of DisneyWorld to find us another location. There simply was none. To help make our trip a more magical one she would give us passes to the water park. Daddy said she was lovely and felt terribly. It's not a pool in my back yard, but I have been dying to try out the water park there! So now, my biggest issue on hand is will it be Typhoon Lagoon, or Blizzard Beach?!

Thank you Anita, I think I will have a Magical Day after all!