Trip Report 5 Adults vs 1 ten month old. Guess who won?!

Hi All!
Back from another stay at WDW and it was different for sure!
We had a new traveler with us and definitely did Disney differently for that reason and a few others.

I would like to give you guys a heads up before you read any further.
If you have read my trip report from last year you may be aware that my husband (Gary) is being treated for cancer and there are some references in here to how he is doing, because that changed a lot of how we toured this year.
If you are uncomfortable following along because not everything is pixie dust in this report, I will not in any way be offended if you click away. (I much prefer a sexy vampire book myself to a story that has moments of sadness)!
Luckily there were some great family/baby/children moments that brought us joy and new memories were made!

So with warning given and to those who are going to hang around, let's begin!

Our group consisted of myself, Cindy, my husband Gary, my son Seth, my daughter Aleisha our son-in-law Julio and our now 10 month old granddaughter Una. (And PS, she is a crazy girl)!!
We stayed at Bay Lake Oct. 21-27th.

Cast and crew (and one of my favorite pics of the whole trip).

To arrive at Disney everyone was coming from different places at different times. Gary and I headed down from Pittsburgh with an afternoon flight. We left around 2:15 pm and got in close to 4:40 pm-ish.
Us headed to the air side on our version of the monorail.

We had time to eat at Friday's (I think it was). Gary had some potato skins that he liked and I had a kids mac and cheese and french fries that I thought tasted pretty good.

In the meantime my little sleepy head was headed to Orlando from Sacramento with her mom. They started out at 6 am-ish, west coast time.

She did seem to perk up to her usual nosy self once they were on board!

One thing you will notice this trip is a disproportionate amount of baby pictures!

Seth headed down from Georgia, deciding to drive.

As crazy as it sounds, our 2 flights landed within 6 minutes of each other and we were able to meet Una and Aleisha as they got off of the monorail thing!
So excited to see this Mickey 50th wrap on one of the cars.

And Grandpap and Una's airport meet up!!

Julio wouldn't be arriving till the wee hours of Saturday am so we don't have any travel day pics of him.
Next up, is grabbing 800lbs of luggage and off to the Magic Bus!

 

[MickeyCB]

Finally got caught up with your TR! Loved the pics of Una on It’s a Small World, at Chef Mickey’s and Oga’s! She is a cutie! I’m looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks for following, and a lot more silliness to follow!

 

[MickeyCB]

I think the green onions on the charcuterie board are amazingly good!!
That picture of Una is the best!!

It's funny you commented on the onions. I seriously didn't see those till I posted this picture! Someone else at the table must have scarfed them up!
And thanks. She is turning out to be as we used to say, "quite the pistol". (Whatever that means)!

 

[riverside]

It's funny you commented on the onions. I seriously didn't see those till I posted this picture! Someone else at the table must have scarfed them up!
And thanks. She is turning out to be as we used to say, "quite the pistol". (Whatever that means)!

You missed out!! Try them next time!!
I've heard that saying many times before!!

 

[amjt660]

She is turning out to be as we used to say, "quite the pistol". (Whatever that means)!

I believe the origins go back to the 1800's when pistol firing mechanisms where not reliable and/or accurate.
So I pistol would just fire unexpectedly.

I think for the most part it is a compliment with an underlying aspect of being a little mischievious.


Max

 

[MickeyCB]

I think for the most part it is a compliment with an underlying aspect of being a little mischievious.

Thanks for the info!
But, I'm not sure about the compliment part. I have very clear memories of my (not so nice) grandmother shaking her head, discussing me, "she's quite the pistol"!
Call me prejudice, but I personally think MY darling granddaughter is the cutest of pistols!

 

[MickeyCB]

Try them next time!!

Will do!

 

[MickeyCB]

Hollywood Studios, cont.

We headed over to Rise and were able to use rider swap.
Seth and I watched Una while Aleisha, Gary and Julio rode first.
It was very hot and Una was trying to assert her dominance over us. So Seth gave her a bottle with some water in it to try and get her to cool her jets literally and figuratively!

It worked for about 2 minutes.

We tried to assert our dominance over her. She was not pleased.

But she finally acquiesced!
HAH! Finally, adults 1 point!!
She said, (I heard her), "Stich, I am so sad, they have defeated me"!

So, new score-Adults 1, Baby 3!

Next Seth and I got our turn to ride and it was excellent!
There are so many cool things with this attraction! (I don't think Rise should be called a ride).

Mickey was lovin it too!

We safely escaped and started to head out of the park as we had plans for the evening and wanted to rest a little.

I finally got to see where Tap House IS.
@Darstarr and @ajrwdwgirl will not be impressed that I only got to see it, not enjoy it. There was a line out the door and as occurred many times this trip, we either ran out of time or energy to enjoy a lot of Disney's offerings.

We did however get to ride MMRR on our way out of the park.
Probably not a popular opinion but I can take or leave this ride. I find it to be very hectic and lots of screen time.

 

[MickeyCB]

Exiting Hollywood Studios-

We caught a cavalcade on our way out with my personal favorite!

Gary had been wanting Aleisha and Julio to experience the Skyliner and the first plan was to ride it to Riveria and then catch a bus to MK then walk to Baylake. (A lot of added walking for the day), so Seth asked can't we just ride it back to HS? Yes, great idea, so that is what we did. They got a little taste of it, and much less walking and time involved.
I like the unwrapped ones that allow you to see out better, and the CM said no problem as there was no one else waiting. We got a nice ride both directions with nice airflow.

But, we had another contest.

No.

You.

Can't- hold me down!
I want to see!
(We choose our battles).

Once again I don't know if it should count as a full point, but we'll give her 1.
Adults 1, Baby 4

Also, in case you're wondering, she does have shoes but pretty much hates them and since she's not walking well yet we just leave them off. (Another battle not worth fighting). When she refuses and steps on to the 110 degree pavement it will solve itself.

We circled back to HS and walked to the bus stop.
A couple of our crew were fading fast!

We were supposed to eat at the Skipper Canteen before Boo Bash later this evening, but decided to cancel that and just mobile order from Contempo. That actually worked quite well, despite how much I despise being forced to use mobile ordering.
We all ordered while we waited for the bus and I hit we're here about 10 minutes out and Seth and I went up to get it and it was waiting.

I didn't take any photos of the food as we all dived right in but I do remember I ordered a 3 meat flatbread and it was awesome.
It's really nice to be able to get the food and go back to the room that has a dining table and a living area and be able to just chill and eat your dinner.

I did get photos of the 2 cupcakes we got and shared for dessert.
I'm not sure why I order these fabulous looking cupcakes at Disney because quite a few of them do not taste good. This one will get a B- grade from me. The cake was fresh but I don't like the crunchy stuff.

This one was just weird looking. (I get that it is supposed to be a monorail).
This cupcake got a B- too. Maybe a C+.

Anyway, with full bellies we decided to take a little rest.
Una went down for a nap with no fussing.
Gary had started to really feel bad towards the end of our time at the park. Pretty much exhausted, he wouldn't eat or drink and crawled into bed.
I talked with the kids and told them we could just not go if they were all too tired, but they decided with a little rest that they would like to attend.
So, tonight we will be attending our first Boo Bash. Will it be great, will it be a disaster?
Hint, not so great for a couple of reasons.

 

[MickeyCB]

It's Boo Bash night!

We decided that we weren't in a super hurry to get to the MK and watched the fireworks from the balcony again.
Gary was so tired we could hardly wake him and he said he didn't want to come.

So we got dressed in our matching T's that served as our costumes for the night. It was Gary's idea for us to wear "Unacorn" shirts that I found on line. Each person was a something corn. We never were able to get a group photo which was a bummer.
Here's a pic of them.

Una's other grandmother bought her the cute tutu to wear with her shirt.

And now, in addition to being bummed about Gary not coming along, as we walked to the MK in the 85 degree humid night, it started to rain. At first it was just sprinkles, and the kids decided we didn't need ponchos. So we got just wet enough when they finally broke down and agreed that we needed them that the oh so comfy plastic stuck to our arms as we wrestled the plastic on.
Are we having fun yet?

As we were entering the turnstiles I thought I would take a chance and asked one of the plaid wearing CM's if there was any way to get a refund for Gary as he would not be attending as he was ill. (It is listed as non-refundable, but she said no problem just go to guest services inside the park). The tickets were $180.00 each for this nights event so worth a shot to see if they could help us out. Stay tuned for our experience with Guest Services later in the evening.

We made it to Main Street at about 9 pm. I had bought a cover for the stroller and I've always thought it was sort of weird to put your kid in a plastic bag, but supposedly it's ok.
Apparently Una did not agree. I was pushing the buggy and Aleisha went up alongside it to make sure she was ok, and she said Una was pounding on the plastic like a trapped rat. But, as it was pouring we kept her trapped a little longer.

Between the late hour and the rain we sadly did very little at the event. We did go straight to It's a Small World again and it was hilarious. This time when we got on the boat Una started kicking her legs up and down, she was so excited. She did remember this ride!

And was just as enthralled the second time!

Mickey enjoyed the boat ride also!

As we exited, Seth Julio and Aleisha's names popped up on the goodbye screen.

After this we rode Under the Sea but didn't get any photos. Aleisha said Una really enjoyed it, but in the dark I couldn't see her very well.
There was a candy trail right outside of the mermaid so we did a loop through that and got a few candies. There were some nice choices, m&m's etc.

After that Aleisha and Julio decided it was getting late for Una so they headed out of the park. Seth asked me if I wanted to stay and ride 7DMT and my response was heck yeah!
They stopped for a cute photo by the castle on their way out.

Seth and I headed over to ride the 7DMT.

 

[Tuvalu]

Love, love, love the corn shirts!!
Also my mom is Gramma (spelled the same way) too.

 

[MickeyCB]

Love, love, love the corn shirts!!
Also my mom is Gramma (spelled the same way) too.

Thanks, I'll tell Gary you liked them.
He commented the other day that looking back on it now, how disappointed he is that he didn't go with us and wear his "special shirt".
And we're finding that we can't settle on the grandma's names yet.
We figure it'll work itself out as she starts talking and addressing us as something.

 

[MickeyCB]

Boo Bash night continues...

Seth and I got in line for 7DMT and waited probably 20-25 minutes.
But, it was one of those cool moments because Seth talked my ear off about school, his job and life plans. I don't know how things are with your kids, but we not only don't get a lot of time to talk, he isn't always inclined to share when we do.
It was a nice moment.

Love this ride!

The dwarf in front of us really wasn't that bashful.
Since we didn't ride much and it was fun spending time with Seth, I really wanted this photo and it didn't show up in MDE.
When we got home I called the photo pass team and waited 2 hours for a CM and then she spent probably an hour trying to retrieve this photo. We realized that in the photo they take from the front this guys hands pretty much blocked both of us and it took a good while to find it. But she did and I was grateful.

After that we stopped at one of the popcorn carts and the CM's were hilarious.
They were literally throwing treats at us, encouraging us to take more. We took a soda and a water and they were offering Mickey bars that I ended up turning down because they also were pushing popcorn boxes at us. Popcorn is one of the things that Gary will eat so we each took 2 of them for him.

We stopped at the wall by the castle where we take the kids photos each year that serves as a growth chart of sorts. (We were able to get the rest of the crew, I think the next day).

I love this picture of the castle lit up.

We ran into a couple at this location who asked us to take their photo and they took ours.
Those were the popcorn boxes with the 50th on them.
I've mentioned on here how much I love Disney paper and when we got back to the room, I dumped the popcorn into a plastic bag and Seth said, you are not keeping those greasy popcorn boxes?! And I said I definitely was and I bet some people were already selling them on Ebay. He thought I was nuts but looked it up and the first one he came to someone was asking $15 for an empty greasy popcorn box!
My response, HAH!
I don't sell my stuff, and it really annoys me to buy things from the ebay pirates which I am sad to confess I have done!

We headed to the hub area. There was an incredibly enthusiastic dance party going on and we joined in for a little. What had me in hysterics is they were playing a bunch of 70's tunes and Seth was belting them out! I said, how do you know the words to all of those songs?!
Mom, eyeball roll, (with laughter) was the answer.

I love the 50th Mickey and Minnie statues in front of the castle.

Mickey again makes an appearance!

After that we decided to head out with a stop at Guest Services first.

 

[Swissmiss]

I love how you have described your time with Seth - it IS fantastic when your kid opens up and talks about things.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Love those moments with my kids. They either clam up or they spill their guts. I cherish every time one of them opens up.

 

[amjt660]

While it is sad when the whole group cannot be together it is very special when you can have that one on one moment with a family member in the parks

Loving the report - keep it comin!!

Max

 

[MickeyCB]

I love how you have described your time with Seth - it IS fantastic when your kid opens up and talks about things.

Doesn't seem like much but I cherish those rare moments when he is chatty and I don't have to pry it from him!

 

[MickeyCB]

Love those moments with my kids. They either clam up or they spill their guts. I cherish every time one of them opens up.

While it is sad when the whole group cannot be together it is very special when you can have that one on one moment with a family member in the parks

Loving the report - keep it comin!!

Max

I love how you have described your time with Seth - it IS fantastic when your kid opens up and talks about things.

Isn't it funny as parents how much we all feel the same?

 

[MickeyCB]

Boo Bash night, almost over...

Seth and I headed down Main Street and went over to guest relations.
As we were waiting to talk to someone a cute Halloween cavalcade went by and I caught this pic right as they headed back stage.

As I mentioned before, the CM at the entrance to the park told me to come to guest services to see if I could get a refund on Gary's ticket. I wasn't holding out much hope as they are non-refundable but didn't think it would hurt to ask.
I was wrong, it hurt.

We approached the entrance and a CM was there asking what we needed. I explained and she said no problem and took us inside to another CM that was going to help us.
Sounds good so far.

We were introduced to Zoe. I explained that my husband has problems, without going into details, and that we use the DAS pass because he has decreased mobility. He became ill towards the end of the day and was back at the hotel unable to attend and we were wondering if we could get a refund or something for his ticket.

She says, "We'll let me look here". She apparently opened our account on the computer and said, "oh you guys went to Hollywood Studios today".
She starts scrolling and says, "Oh, you look like you were busy".
(We got there after 9 and left I think around 1-2pm). I can only remember us riding 2 or maybe 3 rides.
"Boy you guys had a long day".
It was about this time that it sunk in that she was implying if he was able to do those things why wasn't he here at MK.
I looked at Seth and he looked at me with a frown.

I was about to suggest that she could shove the refund we were asking for. Either it's policy that you can or cannot.
She finally said, "well I guess I can give you a Disney gift card with the ticket amount on it".
I said that we would appreciate that (in my head lots of sarcasm) and it took her about 15 minutes to do this.

So we left guest relations and I looked at Seth and asked if I was wrong but she seemed quite mean and judgmental.
I asked because he will scold me for being too snippy sometimes.
He said, "absolutely not"!
He said, "Mom, she's probably my age and why was she making us feel so bad, Dad's sick"?! (What he really said involved swear words and this is a Disney channel after all).
We talked about it and I said this was a good lesson in trying to not judge people and understanding that people can have a lot going on in their lives that isn't always visible.

What I will share with all of you is that at that time we knew Gary wasn't doing well but didn't know what was going on. He was already scheduled for a PET scan and CT of the brain for 2 days after our return.

It took me about a week after we got home to decide what to do and finally decided to write an email to guest relations. The tone of it was that I did not wish for this to be punitive but rather a teaching moment for this young lady. I of course have not heard back from them, nor I guess did I really expect to.
Very sorry for all of that text and a Disney downer moment, but as I said in the beginning there was good and bad this trip.

We shook it off and slowly exited the park deciding to walk back to BayLake since it was finally not raining and cooling off.
I have always loved these pumpkins above the exit at the train station.

As we were exiting there was almost no one out front and a CM there offered to take our picture in front of the lit up train station.

They were handing out little packages of stick on tattoo's to people as they were leaving. If I can find a picture of ours I will post it.
On the other side of the entrance were really cute topiaries of Mickey, Minnie and a 50th cake.

After that we had a nice slow walk back to our room and this is a close up (for other paper loving people) of the boxes I liked (that Seth made fun of me for keeping).

It's time for bed after a long day.
Tomorrow is Seth's last day with us.
But we start our day with a nice breakfast at the big O!

 

[Swissmiss]

So sorry the CM was judgmental. I would often cringe when I would hear certain coworkers dealing with people that came to our reception office for information/assistance. Luckily the worst of them have now retired and the newer staff that have since joined the unit have a higher level of empathy.

 

[amjt660]

I can understand why the CM at GR was looking up your activity on that day - there are too many people who are not honest.

And I am sure that the tone of your voice and the look on both your face and Seth's should have been enough for a good GR CM to see that you were being honest.

The method and tone of the conversation (based on your take) was unacceptable and warrants the follow up email that you sent.

It could have been handled so much better - gently asking questions/ showing compassion to understand why Gary's condition was declining as the trip went on and attending the Boo Bash was not possible.

I hope you get a reply and I truly hope that WDW uses it as a teaching opportunity - I have my doubts though - large companies often lose touch with both their customers and their workforce and do not take the time to communicate effectively / properly.


Max