Trip Report This was supposed to have been last year's trip!

Hello all fellow Disney geeks! I'm Dave, & I'm proud to say that I am to, & to a milder extent so are my wife & son-- but I am the family's over-the-top Disney fan: I'm a former home-based travel agent for AAA of western NY for only Disney destinations, so I am a "College of Knowledge" Disney grad as well . . . I gave this up when AAA got to be a pain to deal with-- nothing at all against Disney-- it was all AAA.

Last year we started a post on our upcoming trip to WDW. My wife Andi & I would be coming on our own for the 1st time to celebrate our 25th anniversary as our son Kevin would be in college (he'd asked for his last summer "kid" trip with us to be hiking with our dogs in the Adirondacks) . . . BUT I've heard it said that if you want God to laugh, tell Him your plans: Just before the end of his senior year in high school, Kevin developed pain in his left shoulder, & after visits to doctors & then to the E.R., he was ultimately diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer. But that same God who threw us that curveball also blessed us with living in Buffalo NY with the excellent Children's Hospital & Roswell Park Cancer Institute in our backyard.

Upon diagnosis, the doctors warned that there'd be a very difficult 8 months or so ahead, but they were committed to helping Kevin beat this. And they were right: it was absolute hell for Kevin & for us as well, but true to their word, Kevin is now well & finally getting his life back! At his request, further info. is being kept strictly confidential, so there will be no more details given.

But some minimal mention was necessary to explain the reason behind this year's trip. As he was still 17 when diagnosed, hospital staff put us in touch with Make-A-Wish, & while Kevin at 1st was hesitant to accept, the Make-A-Wish representatives assured him that they're not just for little kids & that they exist for the purpose of helping all kids-- big & small-- to have a great time after they'd been thru such a tough one. They discussed many possible plans with Kevin, but he ultimately decided that he wanted to go back to WDW-- a place he knows & loves & where he can do what he likes at his own pace, as he's still recovering. M-A-W managed to get Kevin's wish granted before his 18th birthday, their cut-off age. Now that the background info's over, here are our upcoming trip details:

Our 2016 trip had been planned for August for 2 in Port Orleans Riverside. Thanks for the help from Kingdom Konsultants to replan from 2 to 4 for this year. We'd been planning to take Kevin & either his cousin or a friend to celebrate anyway, even before hearing from Make-A-Wish. So we now have 2 rooms at All-Star Music for 5 nights with a 5-day (4 + 1 free) pass. Kevin invited Garrett, one of his closest friends whom he'd known from 14 years of school together. This part of the trip Andi & I pay for, & thanks to Jill of K.K. for keeping up with all of our changes! Then we start with Kevin's MAW portion of the trip: 6 nights at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, then 2 nights at Daytona Beach. So we'll have 13 nights in FL!

After our initial self-funded time at WDW, Make-A-Wish is providing passes for 4 to 1 day at SeaWorld, 2 days at Universal, & 3 days at WDW, including hoppers & water parks, lodging & contribution toward meals & expenses. All they ask for in return is that we meet with their affiliate Give Kids the World & provide MAW with photos & notes. I'm a published photographer from the days of film, currently using a digital SLR with multiple lenses on a recreational basis, so I'll just be sharing with them what I'd be doing for fun anyway!

So this should be a wonderful trip with a lot of fun! MAW & GKTW seem to know how to manage things , , , I was concerned at 1st 'cause without advance info re. our #s, I couldn't preset fast passes, just our meal reservations for their part of the trip, BUT-- they provide the MAW child's group "Genie Wishes Pass" (access to alternate access to all parks & events, & no fast passes necessary) which is really good news as Kevin's still rebuilding his endurance. Of course we're all looking forward to being in attendance for the opening weekend of Pandora-- hoping there'll be a soft opening we can access before the official date!

This will be all of our 1st time at SeaWorld. For the Z's, this is our 2nd time at Universal & 6th at WDW . . . I was also there twice each in the '70s & '80s . . . Kevin & Garrett were there together for their senior class trip in November 2015. After a very difficult past year, we're all looking forward to just relaxing & having fun together! This catch-up-to-date has been a bit lengthy, but I promise that updates will be more concise. We enjoy reading the other posts . . . this is actually the 1st completed one of our own!

Itinerary in next posting , , ,

 

[Dave Z]

Harry Potter world!!

 

[Dave Z]

 

[Dave Z]

Tomorrow is the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, Andrea and I are going to do our best, next post will be on Friday 6/16/17.

 

[Dave Z]

Day 9: Saturday, May 27th, 2017 at Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom

Kevin & Garrett had asked for a more leisurely wake-up this morning, & for once Dave & I
were inclined to agree. We'd been going non-stop for over a week by this point, with only
the occasional mid-afternoon break to cool down & regroup a bit 'til we were heading off for
dinner & the evening's activities before a brief hot-tub unwind before bed. So the boys slept
in while Dave & I shared a quiet breakfast at Geyser Point, the counter-service at Wilderness
Lodge. Actually, "counter service" is only a technicality & does GP a disservice: don't confuse
it with "fast food" because every menu item is made to-order & is definitely a better-end menu
& quality-- but without those fancy prices. We made a point the next 2 days to do lunch & then
another breakfast there!

The boys finally decided that they'd like to go back to Hollywood Studios today. Typically we
find that it's really not a "whole day" park, but we had time the next few days to just poke
around at things we may have missed & redo those we liked best, & the whole point of the
trip's to do what Kevin & his friend choose anyway, so . . . Really no need to go back over
the sights & activities at HS, but we passed the next several hours there nicely. It was then
time to head to dinner, which we'd been anticipating.

We hadn't been to Planet Hollywood in DS since before its makeover, & were eager to see it.
It had become our go-to when we wanted a break from fancy eating to just get burgers & shakes:
somehow, that's always what we'd all wanted once we got there. Boy, were we disappointed!
I guess the Guy Fieri menu's supposed to be a big deal, but we found it unimaginative & an
excuse to raise prices. The burgers themselves weren't improved, only had different types of
toppings that any 9-year-old could dream up. Face it, he's no Gordon Ramsay. And then,
where they used to serve shakes right in the blender cup, you now get a mason-jar size. The
French fries weren't even served hot! Won't be going back!

After, we wanted to see Magic KIngdom in the evening, so off we went & enjoyed it with all of
the lights coming on . . . until time to head back to prepare for a new day!

 

[Dave Z]

All of these are the Wilderness Lodge

 

[Dave Z]

Some more from DHS.

Ice cream break again.

 

[12in12]

I am really enjoying your TR. So happy you are had a good time but I missed seeing a picture of you two together in your matching shirt and dress.

 

[Dave Z]

Sorry, somehow we miss taking a photo.....

 

[Dave Z]

Day 10: Sunday, May 28th 2017 at Universal

OK, so by now it's really kicked in: our trip is winding down. There's always some sadness
thinking about going back to the normal grind, but we also feel rather satisfied that we'll go
back home soon with nothing left undone that we set out to do. This has been a true
celebration for Kevin & family & one of his closest friends.

The boys opted to return for day 2 of Universal, & we decided to join in. Not much need to
repeat the attractions there, & we spent a bit more time browsing the shops & picked up a
few items. Dave & I pretty much followed the boys & held their belongings so they wouldn't
need to use lockers unless we went with them. Interesting the way the park uses this system,
but except for the mob of people all doing same, it doesn't work out too badly. Then time to
go back to WL & change out of our sweaty clothes before dinner.

We were having dinner at the Whispering Canyon Café right at our resort, & were interested in
checking out someplace we hadn't been before. When we were seated & our beverages arrived,
a request for straws that hadn't been provided yet was answered with about 20 being tossed
onto our table. So that's the way it's going to be, huh? Seems that the staff there works a theme
of pranking & mildly sassing their guests, & often get neighboring tables involved. "How's the
ribs?" "Ask this lady sitting at the next table-- she's half-way thru hers already!" So having fun
in return, we noticed our waiter's name: Diego. We just had to share the news with him that he
shares a name with a member of our own family. When he asked who, we confessed to him:
"It's one of our rescue dogs!" (Kevin had named him for his tendency as a puppy to pounce on
our German Shepherd Minnie, his adopted mama. So Diego was named after the saber-tooth
tiger from Ice Age!) Oh, & the food? Fabulous! Everything well-prepared. I'd been looking
forward to the trout for days, & I wasn't disappointed. The boys all shared a large mixed platter
with a variety of meats & sides, & all was excellent. We'll definitely go back. If you haven't
been there yourself yet, treat yourself: you won't regret it!

Leaving dinner too full to do much else, we opted to relax for the evening. The boys enjoyed
some down time with some of their favorite shows (seems nuts to us, but that's what kids do!)
while we relaxed in the hot tub before getting to sleep!

Andi

 

[Dave Z]

Good bye Universal we will see you again!!

 

[Dave Z]

Andrea and I took a tour of the Wilderness Lodge...

 

[Dave Z]

And some more!!

I try not to figure out what Kevin is up too.....

Ah drink in hand and a hot tub, Andrea was reminded by a life guard not to have drinks in the tub!!

 

[Dave Z]

Tomorrow Pandora, I did take lots of photos and with Kevin Pass we rode FOP 3 times so we will have our thoughts to post.

Dave

 

[Dave Z]

Day 11: Monday, May 29th 2017 at Epcot & Animal Kingdom

So we're off & running for another day. Consensus of opinion is to head to Epcot to run
the headliners, then head to AK to check out
Pandora & our other favorites. The morning consisted of a couple trips each to Soarin',
Test Track & Mission Space, entry facilitated each time by Kevin with his Genie Pass he
received courtesy of MAW & GKTW (fast pass entry to every attraction).

Express Bus Service. It's new
& just being tested out, but allows park hoppers to travel quicker from park to park on buses
that pick up & drop off from INSIDE the parks, behind designated attractions, thereby
eliminating walking to the bus queues & bag searches at each park. We opted to try it for
$19/day (or $29 for multiple days). Sure enough, we took cast-only roads & promptly got
to AK. The boys decided they'd try it in more depth the next day.

Now to AK: 1st, of course, we headed to Pandora. People were lined up for 3&1/2-hour
waits for Flight of Passage. Kevin shamelessly employed his Genie pass, & we did it 3
times. It's an extremely well-done simulator & beautiful-- Na'vi River Journey is also gorgeous,
BUT--- Pandora's much-delayed opening created a long time to wait for an overbudget park
and a lot of hype, but what did we really get out of it? NRJ was still way too short an attraction
to justify a 90-minute-plus wait, & it left us wondering if it were truly worth it. Jury's still out.
FOP is top-notch, but the experience never changes, so after 3 times, will we take the time to
do it again? Maybe once per AK visit (we're planning a Fall 2018 return, about 470 days from
now, just waiting for rates to be announced). So we've got 2 rides, a gift shop that had a 1 to 2
hour wait just to get in (we didn't bother waiting just to spend money), a counter service stand,
a restaurant & a bathroom, plus some artificial Pandora plants mixed in with exotic tropical
& black-light paint patterns on the sidewalks . . . I guess for all the money, time & hype Disney
expended, we expected more bang for the buck. Let's say that it fails to surpass what Universal
did with Harry Potter World. Will Star Wars Land in DHS succeed in doing so? For starters,
they'll need more than 2 attractions on opening day!

Dinner was at Rainforest Café in AK that evening. Again, a place you can't go wrong in-- good
food, fun service, nice gift shop, great look. We took in Safari at dusk, which was especially
fun because the lions were actually up, active & highly animated in the cooler evening air-- the
lionesses were roaring a duet! After a bit more fun with our favorites, the boys were heading
back to their room while we oldies did a bit more shopping, then followed shortly behind them.
In all, another great day.

Andi

 

[Dave Z]

Above photos sunrise at DWL.

 

[Dave Z]

Now to Animal Kingdom!!

 

[Dave Z]

The first picture I took from Pandora.

 

[Dave Z]

Thanks Kevin for taking a picture....

These pictures tell the story on well WDI can create a land, looking forward to SWL.
2019 can't come quick enough....

 

[Dave Z]

 

[Dave Z]

Back door to Pandora during the early part of the day it is used as an exit, later in the day they allow 2-way traffic.

Dinner time getting close to Rainforest Café, at AK this is the largest Rainforest café!