Trip Report A Not So Splashy, Very Dashy, Somewhat Sleepy and A Little Frisky, Uplyfting Sept 2018 TR (Completed!)

Once again, it is so hard to believe that our adventure in WDW is over. I don’t understand how time goes so fast when we are there. Even though this was our longest trip ever, it still flew by.

We returned home around midnight on Saturday and I’ve been getting back to reality and catching up on reading other TR’s before beginning my own.

Just in case you may not know us…

Me: Mary/mom

Ross – Dad AKA Grumpy, but was acting more like Sleepy on this trip. (And yes – those Crocs came along with him.)

Julia – DD Sweet 16 this trip

Hope – My 9 year old princess whose diagnoses of Autism usually lends itself to some interesting tidbits for my TR’s.

Trip details:

September 6th – 8th at Art Of Animation (Room only)

September 8th – 22nd Pop Century (MYW Package Free Dining)

Yep- that’s a LONG trip – our longest EVER. Still it managed to fly by in the blink of an eye.

If you’re not familiar with my crazy crew or you need to catch up, feel free to check out my pre trip report here:

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...feet-a-september-2018-pre-trip-report.944145/

All caught up? Are you ready? Okay then, here we go!

 

[Figment Forever]

I saw this today and thought of Ross... he can do this with the crocs the cm gave him back.

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HAHAHAHA

 

[Figment Forever]

Now in all honesty, I can't recall if I consciously sent out 'specific good vibes' to your hubby, but I did go to the zoo here in Milwaukee and went on my own safari of sorts and then celebrated with some sweet treats with my cast of BILLY ELLIOT at rehearsal that night, so we were kind of 'in sync' throughout the day! I'd like to think I'm always sending positive energy out in to the World, so I will accept a teeny tiny little part of the 'blame' for Ross' positive return experience.

In the company I work work for we're always encouraged to treat our customers with kindness and listen to their reasons for returns or exchanges on an individual basis and then act accordingly. We've even rewarded customers who have brought in stacks of old, expired coupons with SOMETHING for their trouble since they actually held on to those coupons and made their way in to the store to redeem them. I wonder if that was the Manager's way of approaching the Crocs return as well? In any event, I'm glad it worked out well for everyone involved.

It was a Happy September 17th all around!! Yipppeeeeee!!

Glad to hear you had a happy day and I will hope you never have to deal with a customer like Ross. lol

 

[Figment Forever]

Congratulations to Ross!! A happy ending to the Crocs story!

Yes - and I'm so happy because it's need. But now what is there left to write about? lol

Sorry to put this here, but I couldn't stop giggling at this guy's expression.

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HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Some times the best ride photos are of other people! lol

good to hear that ross had his magical crocs moment...

took guts to actually go thru with it IMO

He said he knew he had the support of his Magic Board friends, so it gave him courage.

When I started reading the infamous crocs post I imagined that Ross gave his entire crocs monologue while wearing those mouse ears. A little bummed to see the pic at the end and that I was wrong.

I never ever realized he wasn't wearing them! He wears them all the time!

Wow! Great job Hope!

Thank you!

Not sure what I loved more; the Dinosaur ride photos or the Conclusion of the Crocs story.

good job Ross!

Yes - the dino photo is hysterical!

I always love your reports! I am so happy Ross was able to accomplish what he set out to do, that is so awesome!

Thank you!! and thanks for reading along!

What a great end to the Crocs story, I love that Ross went through the whole experience of how he came to have the offending Crocs!

Thank you! I never thought I would be including a pair of shoes in my TR's - but hey, we are a crazy family.

Oh my goodness!!! She did so so awesome!! What a natural - I hope she gets picked!

Thank you - unfortunately, she didn't get picked.

Congratulations to you that you no longer have to hear about the crocs!

Thank you!

If they don’t choose her, they are CRAZY!!! She’s amazing!!!

Awwwww thank you!! Unfortunately, they didn't pick her. She was very sad, but for the first time, she showed real "sad" emotions, so in that sense, it was great for me to see she can exhibit those feelings.

All caught up, what an amazing trip so far. I'm glad Ross got his money back for the Crocs, it just shows that honesty is the best policy.

Thank you! My husband is crazy,, but he is honest.

Awesome story about the Crocs. You had me laughing at you hiding in the corner. So glad it worked out for him!

I thought I was going to knock over the rack, or someone was going to think I was trying to steal something! lol

 

[Figment Forever]

Sorry everyone - I've had so much going on, I haven't even been able to keep up with reading TR's lately. I promise to wrap things up soon. Although, I'm not sure it will be as exciting as waiting for the great Crocs return. Oh, wait, there was somehthing that happened to Ross on our last day that may want to make you keep reading...

 

[Tuvalu]

Sorry everyone - I've had so much going on, I haven't even been able to keep up with reading TR's lately. I promise to wrap things up soon. Although, I'm not sure it will be as exciting as waiting for the great Crocs return. Oh, wait, there was somehthing that happened to Ross on our last day that may want to make you keep reading...

Tease!

 

[Figment Forever]

Tease!

 

[meg0039]

I have been waiting for so long to see the conclusion to the crocs story. I interned on the management team of the merchandise shop at Pop Century last year and was very curious to see how it would play out! I'm 99% positive I know which leader he returned them with and I can definitely say that he probably got a good chuckle out of it! I know I would have!

 

[Figment Forever]

I have been waiting for so long to see the conclusion to the crocs story. I interned on the management team of the merchandise shop at Pop Century last year and was very curious to see how it would play out! I'm 99% positive I know which leader he returned them with and I can definitely say that he probably got a good chuckle out of it! I know I would have!

Oh my gosh, how funny would it have been if you were there when he returned them! Yes - I'm sure some CM's got a good laugh out of Ross' return. We were both very grateful, and impressed that they took them back and were so curious about it.

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 13: Tuesday September 18th

Now that the Crocs were forever gone, I awoke wondering if Ross would find new shenanigans to fill the void. I should also mention that by this time, Ross and I were together for whole week without any major fights, but we were getting close to our limit. I could feel the tension starting to build. We have been married for 27 years so we have had lots of practice on how to “disagree”. However very rarely is there a week when we are together non-stop. Whoever said, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” was on point. So I had a feeling that we were going to be going to battle soon.

I was up by 6:30 and got ready for the day.

The morning started out a little rocky as we were all having some stomach issues. We all blamed them on the food we had from Pandora the day before, since they started after that meal. Hope was the only one unaffected and she didn’t eat any of the food there.

We took our time before heading out to the busses at 10:45.

We were on our way to Epcot. We had a great bus driver who gave us a bunch of info and pointed out the solar panel field.

We stopped in the bathroom before the entrance to Epcot and hanging in one of the stalls was a pin lanyard. There was a birthday button with a girl’s name and her age on it attached to it. When we walked out of the bathroom, I looked around to see if anyone seemed to be looking for it, but it didn’t seem like it. I did notice someone who I thought it might belong to, so I called out the name, “Avery!” and the young girl and her mother turned and looked at me. So I held out the lanyard and little girl then obviously realized then she wasn’t wearing it. They seemed very relieved, and I was glad I found them before they got too far.

 

[Figment Forever]

After a few pictures, we headed to Test Track.

The kids played a few games before we made our way to our next FP.

 

[Figment Forever]

I thought Ross would take a nap while riding LWTL, but he was wide awake today.

 

[Figment Forever]

We left the Land and walked back over to WS. We had ADR’s today to celebrate Julia’s birthday at Japan. Our chef was great as was the food. I would eat here every trip. Julia even got a birthday hat! And of course, we all sang Happy Birthday to my sweet 16!

 

[Figment Forever]

With our bellies full, we made our way to check out the store.

Then we walked over to America. Julia and I wanted to see The American Adventure. I was hoping Ross would be looking forward to a nap, since history is not his idea of vacation time. He was fine with it, but Hope wasn’t having it. She didn’t want to see the show. I told her we were going anyway – she actually loved the show last year, so I’m not sure why she was being so obstinate. If I knew the carnage that would ensue as a result, I probably would have changed my mind. In we went. We saw the singers first; they were spectacular!

After, we headed into the theater.

We sat in the back so Hope could sit in her stroller. But then she wanted to sit in a seat – then back to her stroller. She was just very cranky and disruptive. I should have just pulled her out of the theater, but now Ross was intent on having her stay. By the time we exited, none of us really enjoyed the show and Hope was in complete meltdown mode along with Ross. He was going to take her back to the room, and normally, I would have been right there with his decision, but honestly, I think I set her up for failure. So thankfully, we all got ourselves under control and continued with the day. However, the window of fighting had now officially open for Ross and me.

 

[Figment Forever]

Hope wanted to meet Mulan, so I was hoping she was out in her garden. I checked the APP as we walked towards China and I was happy to see she was there. I think she was really excited to see Hope wearing her dress. Thankfully, it made Hope’s crankiness disappear. It was so unbelievably hot as we waited. Julia and Ross went over to get some iced drinks.

 

[Figment Forever]

We headed to ride Donald’s boat ride.

And then Hope wanted to check out all the Coco stuff in the pavilion.

 

[Figment Forever]

We decided to go back to Future World to see figment, but Hope saw Daisy and we had to stop. There was absolutely no line, which was very cool!

On our way to Figment, we stopped in Club Cool to cool off! A CM noticed Julia’s hat and then her pin, so she did get a birthday Icee – which made her very happy!

 

[Figment Forever]

Finally, we made it to Figment , but didn’t play too long because the girls wanted to see the Pixar Film Festival again!

When we walked out, there was a storm coming. It seems always to storm when we are in Imagination.

We booked it out and returned to the Land to ride Soarin.

Julia wanted Creme Brûlée so we stopped in SS to pick one up. I think she let me have a bite of it. lol

While we were there, Hope got some mac & cheese. The rest of us wanted to eat around the world for dinner, and usually Hope isn’t too much into the food from F&W Festival, so we figured it would be good to let her eat and then she could relax in her stroller and maybe take a nap while the rest of us walked around and stuffed ourselves.

 

[Figment Forever]

As we entered World Showcase, there was a group of people who were really being disorderly. It was so odd to see it at Disney – but luckily a group of security guards were right there to break things up.

We started our way around and stopped for various delectable’s. I didn’t take as many pics as I would have liked. I think we were so hungry that I kept forgetting.

The food was all delicious. My favorite was the lamb chop – same as last year.

Ross's favorite was the filet in Canada. I liked the cheese soup.

We stopped at America, the scene of our meltdown earlier, and used the bathrooms. Ross got a lobster roll, actually, I think he had three of them.

 

[Figment Forever]

Since Illuminations was starting, we didn’t want to walk through the crowds, so we just hung out and watched it from where we were.

We walked back to Future World, stopping at China to get Julia a bubble tea, one of her new favorites.

 

[Figment Forever]

We shopped around a bit in Mouse Gear.

Julia and I got new t-shirts and we picked up a few things for friends and family back home. Hope got herself a new magic band. She wanted the one with Minnie Mouse on it. As we were on line, a person was stopped upon exiting the store – they were trying to shoplift things in a pizza box! It was quite interesting. Our CM who was ringing us up didn’t even flinch

She activated Hope’s magic band, but I was nervous that it wouldn’t work. It didn’t matter because we had her other ones – but I don’t know why I had a bad feeling her new one wouldn’t work.

We had one last FP for Test Track that I had made earlier in the day, and the girls wanted to go, so we did.

Hope snoozed a bit until she had to design her car – then she popped back into action.

As we headed out of the park, it started to rain. We stopped to put our ponchos on and used the bathroom.

By the time we got to the bus stop, the rain had stopped. We returned home and for some reason, Hope decided she wanted grapes! So we stopped at the food court to pick some up for her. She munched on her way back to the room and then I saved the rest for breakfast. It was a long, fun day and it felt good to fall into bed.