Trip Report Honey, I Blew Up The Magic Band (Completed!!)

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

Soon, we seemed to be back in the groove. I mean, what else could possible go wrong today?

We did our usual favorites.

We were hoping that maybe Mickey’s PhilharMagic would open a little early from its refurbishment. But no luck.

Julia was also hoping that maybe CoP would still be open – but no.

In the afternoon, we split up. Ross went with Hope and Julia & I went to take on the Mountains.

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

But first we stopped for a treat…

Who wants to stand in that line??

We do!!!!!

On to the mountains...

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

We met up at the Country Bears

and then headed to Buzz Lightyear.

When we left Buzz, we asked for a return time to ride later that evening. Now for those of you who are not familiar with the disability card. When you ask for a return time, the CM checks the stand-by wait then writes the return time on the card. Then they have to stamp the card next to the return time. Each attraction has its own special stamp. Well, don’t you know, Buzz Lightyear lost their stamp today. So Brian, the young man who now recognized Hope, signed it instead.

We attempted to have everyone see Monsters Laugh Floor.

But Hope objected - she HATES poor old Mike & Sully!

So Ross & Julia went in and Hope and I stayed outside.

Soon it would be time for our dinner at BOG. As we starting walking, we noticed the skies were not looking too happy.

As we were walking, we decided to ride Haunted Mansion after dinner instead of Buzz Lightyear, so we walked up and asked the CM if it was possible to cross out Buzz and give us return time for Haunted Mansion. At first she said no problem but then she got so nasty and said in such a snotty voice, “Next time you write in your own time, use a stamp!” At first, I don’t think Ross and I knew what she was talking about. I thought maybe she said something in character to joke around with us. Then I realized, she just accused us of forging the DAS card. Suddenly, I heard Ross say, “It’s not my fault Buzz Lightyear lost his stamp!” Which when you think about it, sounds utterly ridiculous.

Trying to overt another battle, I just pulled Ross away. I reminded him we were all hungry and a nice dinner would relax us all.

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

Our reservations for BOG were for 6:20 and we arrived right at that time. I expected a wait – even with the ADR, so we checked in and waited…

And waited…

And waited…

At 7:30, it was getting extremely annoying. However, we were not alone as it soon became apparent that some people were running 2 hours behind! Ross who had no interest in eating at BOG gave his opinion.

Hope wasn't too thrilled either.

Julia wanted to take a picture of the gargoyle – which I think is comical with the two guys in the background.

People were beyond angry – we had no energy left to complain, so I was happy that so many others were voicing our opinions for us! Finally at about 7:50, we were seated.

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

Our waitress was amazing – but looked just as annoyed as some of the guests. She told us a computer malfunction was stopping them from seating tables. We did notice that there were many tables empty. She said that the system would not allow checks to “settle” so there was no way to sit another family until it was completed in the system. Apparently, there were some waiters who only had 1 or 2 tables because they couldn’t get any of the other tables in their section cleared. Of course she got to hear our drama from the day as well.

As bad as the wait was… dinner was YUMMY.

As was dessert!

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

As we headed out, we met with the Master.

Now this will become a very important picture. (I’ll explain in a litter bit.)

As we left the restaurant, it was POURING outside! Ross put Hope in her stroller and secured her in with her plastic cover. Julia & I donned our ponchos and off we went to the Haunted Mansion to use the return card time.

As we were leaving BOG, the crowds waiting to come in were still full force and I heard people saying everyone was at least 2 hours behind in their reservation times!

We had a great time riding Haunted Mansion & then we headed to Space Mountain. When we arrived at Space Mountain, Ross held out his arm to scan his Magic Band when…

ROSS - WHERE’S YOUR MAGIC BAND?

Yep – it was gone. We checked all our stuff but to no avail… Ross’ Magic Band was gone! We walked back to HM and asked if anyone found it – but no. For some reason Ross was certain he must have lost it at BOG. So back to the Beast’s Castle we went, in search of the Magic Band, in the POURING rain.

Since the stroller slows us down, Ross ran ahead. He said he went inside and asked for our waitress. She said no one turned it in, but together, they searched everywhere he had been.

By the time Julia, Hope and I reached BOG, the crowds were still crazy. Ross texted me and said they were still looking inside. We crammed ourselves by the door to get some kind of shelter from the rain. At least Hope was dry underneath her plastic covering. I lifted it up and poked my head inside to make sure she was okay. I thought maybe she would be sleeping. She was not sleeping, but guess what?

We found the Magic Band!

Remember the other picture?

Ross had it when we left BOG. We figure when he helped Hope into the stroller, it must have either fallen off or she somehow swiped it off his arm without him knowing! I told Julia to watch her while I ran inside and found Ross and told him. We were all hysterical laughing.

Figment Forever · Mar 11, 2015

We ended up skipping Space Mountain. Ross and Julia went to see the Monsters a couple of times while Hope and I just stayed dry for awhile in the shops.

Then we rode Buzz Lightyear one more time.

The CM, Brian, was there again and smiled at Hope and commented on how much she liked the ride. We spoke for a few minutes as we were waiting and I told him what the CM at HM said about the stamp. He apologized and I laughed and said it was just part of our day. I told him about our drama that unfolded throughout the day. He joked that the day was almost over so we should be safe. He asked if we were coming back to MK any more days. I told him the 25th was our last day and we were coming back to MK one last time. He said he was working that day so he told Hope he would see her then. When we were exiting the ride, we waved good bye to him and he motioned for us to wait at the exit. He gave Hope a coupon that could be used as a Fast Pass for any attraction when we returned on the 25th. I thought it was so sweet of him!

Somehow, we got to be the family who does not watch parades or fireworks. But Wishes was starting – so Hope and I got a spot somewhere by Space Mountain and watched. While Ross & Julia went to the Monsters one more time.

We met up with Julia and Ross and exited the park. It was a long and crazy day!

When we got back to FQ, this poor little guy was stranded on the bench. I said to Ross, “See, someone had a worse day than us!”

We got Hope tucked in and then asked Julia to watch her for a minute. We really wanted to go to the front desk and see if they could tell us what had happened with our Magic Bands. Julia was so tired – she was afraid that she would fall asleep so we told her not to bolt the door. But she wanted the bolt on, so she promised she would stay awake. We begged her to plug in with her I-Pad, blast her music, and NOT to fall asleep or we would have serious problems. As we walked to the front desk, I wasn’t sure we had made the right choice. I started to wonder how comfortable the pool chars would be to sleep on…

When we got to the front desk, we began our tale of what had happened with the Magic Bands. But first I gave our disclaimer: “We do not want anything! No Fast Passes or dining credits, no free ice cream; I don’t even want an apology; we just want to know what happened.”

The CM asked to scan our Magic Band and once again, the same look of horror came over her face. She excused herself and went into the back. Ross and I wanted to jump over the counter to see what they were seeing. After a few minutes another woman came out of the back and looked at us – yet again we told her what happened.

She was VERY nice. She told us from what she could tell; it was because of the 11th day ticket purchase. She didn’t know why the CM sold us the 11th day because it is not allowed. She didn’t even understand how he did it because there is no option for it in the system. (Ross gave me full credit for his downfall.)

Whatever he did, when the 11th day was added to our 10 package, it must have confused the system so much that it blew up everything. It forced the computer to “end” our trip but since our trip didn’t end until the 25th the system went backwards and said we arrived on the 11th. We asked about the computer having us in AK for the 11th – 15th. She said yes – that the system shows us in AK for those days. BUT it also has us entering the park at midnight everyday!

She had no explanation of why that happened. She did say that the first CM who we dealt with us this morning should have known immediately something was wrong just by that information.

She also explained why we lost the reservations. According to the computer, our package had ended. They had to give us a new 4-day park ticket. Since you don’t need a ticket to make a dining reservation, those were not affected. But when our park tickets were canceled out, so were our Fast Passes.

We thanked her so much for the explanation. Somehow we felt a little better.

When we reached the room, we knocked and called for Julia. We waited… and waited… and waited... Just as I was about to go choose a pool chair by the cute alligator, I heard her feet running over. She was in the bathroom.

As I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep, Julia whispered to me, “Well mommy, at least now your trip report won’t be boring!”

It was a good night’s sleep

Up Next: Our Return To Hollywood

jlthomas81 · Mar 11, 2015

Oh my goodness!! What an adventure. Definitely a trip report worthy story! I am also glad to hear that Hope seemed to adapt to the situation pretty well for the most part. Okay, my question is, how old is Hope again? My son who just turned 6 is also on the spectrum, but he loves to walk and wants to be like his big sister so much that we are deciding to not bring a stroller with us in May. What are your thoughts on that? Blake is a toe walker, and gets distracted VERY easily, but I also didn't want to add to his frustrations by making him feel like a baby (his words) and bringing a stroller. We would actually probably rent one from one of the local companies as we only have an umbrella left.

LisaBelle · Mar 11, 2015

Wow!!! So sorry you had such a crazy day. Glad you were able to find out what happened. Looking forward to reading more.

joshsprincess921 · Mar 12, 2015

WOW!! OMG, that was a crazy, wild day! So, sorry that happened to you guys, but it looks like ya'll didn't let it stop you from having fun!

Tuvalu · Mar 12, 2015

I don't think reading a trip report has ever given me stress before...until I read about your MK "Twilight Zone" day

! Each sentence that described your experience trying to enter the park just made me madder. Are there really that many people who try to cheat the system that they assume even the honest ones are liars? Maybe I am naive, but the way you were treated so rudely and were assumed to be guilty was inexcusable, especially for Disney.

And it is a little scary that even with printed proof of FP+ and ADRs you can lose them if your MagicBand "blows up"!

Kudos to your family for truly using lemons to make lemonade that day! I hope that you have successfully contacted someone higher up in the MDE department and shared your story.

mrdrift · Mar 12, 2015

Wow is all I can say. I guess adding tickets should be done at the end of the trip and not the middle. Sorry you had to go through this but once again we all have learned something new from your pain. Tell Ross to give you a break because you had the best intentions for the family by adding the extra park ticket. Love all the pictures. Following along the not so boring report

.

fractal · Mar 12, 2015

Great report! Still catching up but Hope is adorable. I love your little side stories; the grandmother on KS with the camera, the rude waiter @ Y&Y, your experience in Enchanted Tales with Belle. Makes me feel like I'm part of the trip because every trip has is ups and downs. Nice work with the photos, they really help tell the story.

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

jlthomas81 said:
Oh my goodness!! What an adventure. Definitely a trip report worthy story! I am also glad to hear that Hope seemed to adapt to the situation pretty well for the most part. Okay, my question is, how old is Hope again? My son who just turned 6 is also on the spectrum, but he loves to walk and wants to be like his big sister so much that we are deciding to not bring a stroller with us in May. What are your thoughts on that? Blake is a toe walker, and gets distracted VERY easily, but I also didn't want to add to his frustrations by making him feel like a baby (his words) and bringing a stroller. We would actually probably rent one from one of the local companies as we only have an umbrella left.

Thanks for reading!

Hope is 6 years old. She was a couple of months shy of 6 when this trip took place. For us, at this point in our journey, a trip to Disney without a stroller would be disastrous. Even if it’s an umbrella stroller, I think it would do the job for us.

I would allow your son to know he is in control of when he wants to be in the stroller. He may be thinking that you want him in there the whole time. Let him know you are bringing a small stroller so mommy doesn’t have to carry anything around during the day and the stroller is there for whenever he or his big sister needs a break. Talk to your older daughter and get her on board with the plan - even if she “pretends” to sit in it for a while when you stop for a snack. If he thinks that she feels it’s a good idea – he may be more accepting too.

You could also come up with some ideas for when you want him to be in the stroller - but you want it to be more his idea. For example, you could make up a stroller game – like stroller BINGO – similar to car BINGO or stroller I SPY. But tell him he has to play while sitting down so he can see all around the park. You could have a different game board for each park you visit. You can give Disney ‘tokens’ out as prizes and tell him he can use them to pick something out in the gift shop later in the trip.

Wishing you a magical journey! Looking forward to your TR.

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

LisaBelle said:
Wow!!! So sorry you had such a crazy day. Glad you were able to find out what happened. Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for reading! It was a crazy day - but I'll take a crazy day in Disney over a calm day somewhere else! Plus, we can look back and laugh now.

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

joshsprincess921 said:
WOW!! OMG, that was a crazy, wild day! So, sorry that happened to you guys, but it looks like ya'll didn't let it stop you from having fun!

You're right - I'm so glad we just kept plowing ahead. It really was a most memorable day and a lot of fun. Thanks for reading!

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

Tuvalu said:
I don't think reading a trip report has ever given me stress before...until I read about your MK "Twilight Zone" day ! Each sentence that described your experience trying to enter the park just made me madder. Are there really that many people who try to cheat the system that they assume even the honest ones are liars? Maybe I am naive, but the way you were treated so rudely and were assumed to be guilty was inexcusable, especially for Disney.

And it is a little scary that even with printed proof of FP+ and ADRs you can lose them if your MagicBand "blows up"!

Kudos to your family for truly using lemons to make lemonade that day! I hope that you have successfully contacted someone higher up in the MDE department and shared your story.

Ross and I wondered the same thing - how many people really try to scam them that they were so fast not to believe us!

I agree - the scary part of the new Fast Pass is that there seems to be no way to retrieve your original selections if there is an error.

I'm afraid to admit - I did not contact anyone when we returned. Life got so crazy when we returned home, it lost its importance. By the time we got home, we were laughing about it anyway. Plus - I couldn't help by feeling a little to blame because of that 11th day. But I really would have loved to see their side of the computer.

Thanks for reading!

ginadee · Mar 12, 2015

Figment Forever said:
Before I begin my account of day 8 of our trip, I must stop to mention a conversation that Julia and I had as we were walking through POP Century. She had asked me if I was keeping notes for my trip report. I told her yes – but I told her I was worried that it was going to be boring because nothing really “exciting” happened. That being said…

Day 8: Monday September 22nd Magic Kingdom (Or are we in the Twilight Zone?)

As I have said many times before, our family is not very good with rope drops or opening shows – we always run late. But I vowed today would be different. We had an early reservation for Crystal Palace before park opening so we could walk through before the crowds. But as hard as I tried, of course, we were running a little late, so I didn’t even attempt to take a single picture!

When we got to Magic Kingdom, we looked for the breakfast line, but couldn’t find it and the CM we asked didn’t seem to know what we were talking about. Maybe it was gone because we were late – so we got on the LONG line and waited to get in. Okay, so no pictures without crowds – maybe next time.

As we got to the entrance, I scanned my Magic Band as I did for the past 7 days but to my shock, that whizzing circle did not turn green today, instead, it turned a very troublesome shade of blue. I tried again and again and again. Then Julia tried and Ross and Hope. Uh Oh!

I was so worried that we would miss our breakfast ADR’s. A CM with an I-Pad pulled us to the side and looked up our info. My stomach sunk as soon as I saw the look on her face. I don’t know what she saw on her screen – but it must have been a doozey!

“You used all your days – you have no park days left.” She said.

Ross and I looked at each other. We told her it was not possible, we had a 10 day ticket, added an eleventh day, so we still had 4 days left.

“No” She said very firmly. “You have used all your days.”

We were beyond confused. We asked how that was possible – we arrived on the 15th and today is the 22nd so that would make 7 days – there were 4 days left.

She gave us the answer, “No, you arrived on the 11th and the 21st would have been the last ticket used. You have no tickets left.”

Bewildered we told her, “We didn’t arrive on the 11th – we arrived on the 15th”!

We pleaded our case to her. But she was insistent “No you did not – you arrived on the 11th – it is right here in our system.”

Part of me wondered if we were on one of those prank shows – I kept looking around for a camera or someone to jump at us and laugh that we were “punked”. But no such luck.

I assured her that we were most definitely NOT in WDW on the 11th – but in NY. I started to pull up our Jet Blue itinerary on my phone. I also asked her to please call FQ to confirm when we checked in.

As I was pulling up information on my phone, Ross asked her a brilliant question. “Where were we on the 11th”?

She responded without hesitation, “Animal Kingdom.” She said. “You were in AK on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th .”

By this time, I knew it was no joke. I was shaking and ready to cry. I could tell by the tone of her voice, she didn’t believe a word we were telling her.

I showed her my phone with the Jet Blue info on it – and My Disney Experience which had our check in date. For the first time, I think she realized something was extremely wrong and that we were not MK crashers. She told us to remove our Magic Bands and give them to her and get in line at Guest Services.

Now if anyone has seen the Sandra Bullock movie, The Net, you will understand how I felt taking off that Magic Band and handing it off to her. I looked at Ross and said, no one will ever believe who we are!

We didn’t have any choice though. We stripped ourselves of our Magic Bands and got in the longest line for guest services I have ever seen.

By now the opening show had commenced. The entire MK gang was dancing and singing away as we waited in a complete fog, not knowing what was going on.

When we got up to the front, just as I thought, the CM didn’t know what I was talking about. They had to find our Magic Bands and then the first CM we spoke with. Soon, I found myself retelling the whole story of adding the 11th day and of course her response was, “You can’t do that – it’s not possible.” It was obvious; she did not believe my story until I pulled out the receipt and showed her. She said to wait a moment and caucused with other cast members who were all scratching their heads and staring at us. Soon, 3 CM’s were at the window starring completely in disbelief at a computer screen and trying to figure out what was going on. Once again, I explained what had happened. At last, I got the first sign of hope when she said, “I’m sorry – we are trying to figure out what happened.”

I told her that we had reservations at CP that we’re now beyond late for – she promised they would call over and let them know what was going on so they would seat us when we arrived and we would not get a charge.

We waited and waited.

As one can imagine, Ross was fuming. He may as well have had a neon sign on the top of his head that flashed, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” Yes – it was completely his day of redemption, “This is why you don’t change the plans!” The only thing that I had going for me was that he was even more upset at the CM’s who were treating us like we were liars.

The whole time, Julia was doing her best trying to keep Hope entertained but understandably she was just as frustrated as the rest of us. She came over and asked Ross what was going on. Ross told her, “Mommy broke the Magic Bands!”

FINALLY, after what seemed to be an eternity, it was about an hour; we got our Magic Bands back. They never told us what happened or why it happened. They said they had NEVER experienced anything like this before, but that everything was okay. They also added an extra Fast Pass on to our day for the delay and told us we could get back on to the line to enter MK.

Being so late for breakfast, I figured we could be escorted to the front of the line, but no, that wasn’t the case. I asked the CM, after all the time we wasted trying to figure this out; don’t you think someone could get us into the park without waiting on another line? Nope. Her response? “That’s why we added an extra Fast Pass to your day.”

When we arrived at CP, I went to check us in. Of course, no one had called ahead and they didn’t see us in the system right away; but thankfully, they located us, gave us a pager and told us it would be a few minutes.

I didn’t mind the wait. I think we all needed a few minutes to regroup. We were still in disbelief and tried to figure out what had happened. Obviously, we figured it was because of the now “doomed” 11th day being added on, but it was so weird how elusive they all were.

As we were waiting, I checked my phone to see the times of our Fast Pass reservations, figuring with the huge delay, we would probably have to move some around. I pulled up “My Plans” – and the APP crashed. No big deal. I just deleted it and re-downloaded it.

The APP was back and running and I pulled up my “My Plans”. That’s when I realized our troubles were not over – because we had NO plans. All of our information for our trip was gone.

NO Fast Pass reservations

NO Dining Reservations

NO FQ reservations

NO information about our trip at all – everything was wiped out!

NO WAY!

By the time they called us in, Ross was beaming. He didn’t find the loss of the reservations that bad and he took full advantage of getting the point across that he was right and I was wrong.

So instead of enjoying Pooh’s Puffed French Toast, I found myself choking down an extra portion of crow. But at least I dined in good company.

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Hope is just beaming at every one of them. Sooo cute.

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

mrdrift said:
Wow is all I can say. I guess adding tickets should be done at the end of the trip and not the middle. Sorry you had to go through this but once again we all have learned something new from your pain. Tell Ross to give you a break because you had the best intentions for the family by adding the extra park ticket. Love all the pictures. Following along the not so boring report.

I passed your message on to Ross! But I definitely won't be adding on extra tickets during our next trip!

Figment Forever · Mar 12, 2015

fractal said:
Great report! Still catching up but Hope is adorable. I love your little side stories; the grandmother on KS with the camera, the rude waiter @ Y&Y, your experience in Enchanted Tales with Belle. Makes me feel like I'm part of the trip because every trip has is ups and downs. Nice work with the photos, they really help tell the story.

Thanks so much! It's so much fun to relive it all by sharing all our adventures - even the crazy ones!

Thanks for reading along!

Trip Report Honey, I Blew Up The Magic Band (Completed!!)

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