Welcome to my September 2014 trip report. I know I’m starting it a little late – but life has been so crazy and hectic since we have returned, there doesn’t seem like any time to just sit and write.
Me – Mary, aka “mom”. I am a teacher turned homeschool mom, advocate and blogger.
Ross, the daddy, aka “Grumpy”. He is the character who works non-stop all year to make this trip possible for us.
Julia, aka “sissy”, our oldest daughter who is 12. This will be her last trip with us before she turns into a… I hate the word… teenager! She LOVES Disney as much as I do and I pray that she always does.
Hope, aka “the Hopester”, (a nickname she somehow adopted when riding Spaceship Earth last year). She is my youngest daughter, 5 ½, diagnosed with severe Autism and Sensory Integration Disorder
Many people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them we are taking Hope to WDW. But it’s like 10 days of intense therapy for her. It challenges her so much while presenting her with the greatest incentive and rewards. We sacrifice the whole year to make this trip possible and it is so worth it.
Hope’s WDW goals for this trip:
Ride Splash Mountain and like it.
Ride 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.
Ride the Monorail without a meltdown.
Sit in booster seats rather than a highchair.
Tell me what she wants to eat rather than me just deciding for her.
Sit in a theater seat rather than her stroller during a show.
Julia's goal: Skate at Hollywood Studios
My goal: Eat at Columbla Harbour House!
Ross' goal: Eat at the Food & Wine Festival
Will we all meet our goals? You'll have to read to find out!
Since we took full advantage of EPCOT’s EMH the night before, we took our time in the morning.
Hope decided to be Pocahontas today.
A good choice since Julia wanted to get a picture with her. We were soon on a bus for Animal Kingdom…
We had such an amazing time last year in Animal Kingdom, we decided to schedule 2 days to spend here this year. Julia and I really wanted to take our time and walk all the paths.
Instead of eating at FQ, we just had some snacks in the room and decided to eat an early lunch at Pizzafari. We had fastpasses for the safari, EE and Dinosaur but not until the afternoon.
We stopped for a few pictures.
Showing my Disney Side... a little scary – I know.
We arrived at Pizzafari right at opening time. I think we were the first ones there. I’m not use to seeing an empty line for food!
I was so excited that Hope was really sitting in chairs – even when there was no booster seat.
Julia loves the pizza here as much as Pizza Planet. It drives Ross CRAZY that she likes these pizzas but doesn’t like the pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express!
My food pictures:
Julia posed with the wall art.
After lunch Julia and I rode Dinosaur while Hope and Ross did the Triceratops Spin. We were on our way to EE, but as we were walking by Nemo, we notice the show was about to begin – so we just walked right in! We really enjoy this show – it was great to see Hope “watch” it this year. I always cry at the end. I don’t know why, call me sentimental.
Now I have to say, I usually do not eavesdrop on people. But the family that was on our safari tour made it impossible not to get sucked into their drama. When we got to the vehicle, we rode along with a family of 6 in front of us 3 men and 3 women. The weird part is the men acted as if they were not with the women. I thought that was really weird – at first. In the row in front of us sat 3 generations of women, a grandma, mother and granddaughter. The granddaughter was around 15 or so and wanted to take pictures with her I-Phone. But the grandmother was so nervous that she was going to drop the phone out of the safari bus and it would be gone forever. I know this because she kept repeating, “Jenny you are going to drop your phone out of this safari bus and it will be gone forever!” To make matters worse, the mother would then repeat it to her daughter as if she didn’t hear it from grandma. The granddaughter tried to put grandma’s mind at ease – but to no avail. Grandma kept assuring her that she would take pictures with her camera. Unfortunately, Grandma’s camera was a bit outdated for today. It used film – as it was not digital and it was the camera that you have to “click ahead” in order to advance to the next shot. Wow I feel old saying that!
The granddaughter wasn’t giving up until dad piped up from the front row and yelled at her to listen to her grandmother. And so… the girl did give up with an eye roll and a “whatever”.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many active animals on the safari! It was quite amazing! The best part is that Hope really was enjoying it. She is not a big animal lover – and in the past has never really been into looking around for them. But this year she was looking all around and named so many animals – some that I don’t even know where she learned about them!
Sadly, the poor girl in front of us wasn’t having as much fun. She really wanted a picture of the hippos and so as we were approaching them, grandma kept repeating, “Don’t worry Jenny, I have this shot!” Until you heard, “Oh darn, I’m on the wrong side! - Don’t worry I’ll get a great shot of the giraffes.” But as we passed the giraffes, grandma realized she never advanced from the last shot and missed them completely. But the best was when grandma tried to get a shot of the lions and dropped the camera on the floor!
After our most entertaining safari ride, we went to see Festival of the Lion King in its new home. I LOVE this show – and like Nemo, I get teary eyed at the end.
Julia did not want to ride Kali River Rapids – so Ross and I did something we had never done before. We left Julia & Hope with some snacks (and Hope’s I-Pad) at a table near Yak & Yeti and we rode by ourselves. I’m not sure why I did it though because I was the lucky person in the boat who got soaked and I am someone who gets cranky when I am wet & chilly.
When we returned to Julia and Hope I noticed that Julia seemed a bit nervous. I asked if everything went okay. Julia is very capable and not afraid to be in charge of Hope, so I didn’t think it had to do with that. After a few minutes she told me that a cast member had approached her because she noticed Julia chewing on her hair. (A habit she acquired after giving up biting her nails.) Julia said the CM walked up to her and asked her if she ever saw “100 Ways To Die”. Julia said she was so startled that she thought about grabbing Hope’s stroller and running away from her. But she remained and listened. The cast member continued to tell her about an actress who died and during her embalming at the funeral home; they found a big clump of hair in her stomach. The cast member must have seen how unsettled poor Julia looked and apologized and told her she was just worried about her health and then wished her a magical day.
Ross and I looked at each other and agreed never to go on a ride alone again!
We went into one of the shops which was also a FastPass+ “help center”. I told Julia she could do some pin shopping. I mean after the whole hair clump of death debacle – I figured I owed her a couple of pins…
Since the FastPass+ kiosks were there, I thought I would give it another try. We were trying to add an addition Pass since we had used our first 3. But the girl said we couldn’t do it because 2 people hadn’t used the Fast Pass for EE. When Julia and I rode EE, we got a rider switch for Ross so we figured the Fast Pass would just expire for him and Hope – it was well past the window by now. The girl said yes that they had expired but since two people didn’t use the Fast Past, the kiosk would not be able to give another FastPass selection. Huh??? Ross was getting cranky so I just gave up and went off in search of a princess.
We found quite a line for Pocahontas so Ross ran and got some frozen lemonade and ice cream while we waited on line. Even though there was a wait, it was so worth it.
Julia wanted to do EE and Dinosaur again, so we obliged. I think EE is my favorite ride in Disney! Dinosaur is one of Julia's favorites.
Soon it was time for our dinner reservations at Yak & Yeti. On the way, we had time for a picture.
We made it to Yak & Yeti just in time because it started to POUR!
We all like the food at Yak & Yeti – but the service hasn’t been that great the last couple of times. Our server Stacey seemed really nice at first so we had high hopes but unfortunately, it went downhill really fast - and it all started with a kid’s apple juice. He went over the dining plan like all the servers do and we gave our drink orders. I ordered an apple juice for Hope and he quickly mentioned that there were NO free refills on apple juice – we would have to pay. Ross suggested to get her lemonade instead, but I said it was no big deal because I had a bunch of juice boxes with me. So if she wanted more apple juice, we were good. Well, I don’t know if that made us sound like the world’s biggest cheapskates, but Stacey’s attitude became so curt and rude after that, it was bizarre. Ross figured he thought it meant we weren’t going to leave a tip for him. But really? He came back and took our dinner order and then asked for our dessert order at the same time. I thought that was a little odd and I made the mistake of saying it out loud. He abruptly informed us that the kitchen was CLOSING after our order went in. Ordering dessert was no problem for me – can you say fried wontons? But still his attitude was in the toilet! (And I don’t mean a Rapunzel themed toilet!) It was just nasty. After that statement, he didn’t say a word to us!
Dinner was yummy.
Ross who was still annoyed with my food portraits decided to "pose" my fried wontons.
Sadly, Stacey’s attitude was making us a little uncomfortable. It was obvious that the restaurant was still seating other tables, so I doubt the kitchen was closing with our order. By the time dessert came, he just plopped the check on the table with not so much as an utterance to us. We signed the check and then discussed the tip. Ross said if we didn’t leave a tip, it would make him right and us look cheap. Then again, if we tipped him for his lousy attitude, we had to be morons! The best part was as we were having this conversation; Stacey must have seen us with cash near the check and suddenly started to converse with us again! All of a sudden he wanted to know how our trip was going and what our plans were for the night!
We learned 2 things as a result of that dinner. First, we would not be returning to Yak & Yeti for a long while and second, we are morons because we left a tip.
One of the reasons why I love eating dinner at Yak & Yeti is because we get to walk out of Animal Kingdom after it has closed and it is completely empty!
Our bellies were so full! We took our time walking out and admiring a very quiet and peaceful AK.
As we were walking, Julia and I came to the realization that AK seemed different this year. Maybe it was because of all the construction? Everywhere we walked it seemed there was a wall up or something blocked off.
We thought there would be so much more we would want to do... but the truth was we really didn't want to spend another day here. Ross caught wind of our plan altering discussion and put a stop to it. He reverted back to his, "If it's not broken..." and warned us that we should stick to the original plan.
Before we exited, we used the restrooms at the front of the park. While we waited for sissy, Hope did a few dance moves. Somewhere on this trip, Ross invented the “Disney Shake”.
We said goodbye to AK and headed for the buses.
We have never eaten at Rainforest here in Disney. We used to have one back home in NY but it closed. Too bad because it was a fun place!
We were now about to embark on another adventure that we have never done before. Julia has wanted to see POP Century and Art of Animation Resorts so I promised her we would take a short trip to see them. Ross was less than thrilled. He doesn’t see walking through resorts anything more than a complete waste of precious Disney time. But he was a good sport and went along and enjoyed taking some time to make fun of what he considers odd.
So we boarded a bus for POP. It was about this time the skies became very angry looking. I was holding my breath because it took a lot of doing to get Ross on board – all I needed was a downpour to go along with our sightseeing adventure.
I have to admit both resorts were amazing. It reminded me of when we stayed at All Star Movies, larger than life in your face Disney. I have a lot of parent guilt because I know Julia would trade FQ for POP or even the Movies again. I’m sure that Hope would be completely immersed in these resorts too, but I have a hard time leaving FQ.
We walked around POP for a while and even Hope was checking things out.
That’s a lot of PlayDoh!!!
I remained aware of the sky and we went on level 5 poncho alert.
After we got our fill of POP, we walked over to Art of Animation. This was a cool walk for Julia and me because we had watched YouTube videos of the abandoned “Legendary Years” section of POP. (I think that’s what it was called.) Julia is obsessed with forgotten and extinct Disney stuff.
Once over at AoA, Ross’ patience was wearing down.
It was all good because by now, I figured we were really testing the weather so we headed to…
The rain started when we boarded the bus, but as we approached DD, it began to stop. Yeah!
We went to Once Upon a Toy and Pin Traders.
Julia wanted to shop around T-Rex as she is still a dino fan, but just as we were getting close, the rain came down hard and we couldn’t even fit in the entrance. We made a mad dash to The Lego Store and played around for a good hour or so as the rain continued to come down like crazy.
We waited until the rain stopped enough for us to leave. We wanted to take the boat back to FQ but since there was a thunderstorm warning, the boats were not running. So we headed to the bus and went back home for the night.
Our friends were waiting for us and our beds were looking cozy!
Looks like the family had a wonderful day.The dress Hope wore was so cute for Animal Kingdom. Sorry the waiter wasn't very good, I myself would have discussed the attitude issue with a manager so that person would understood why I wasn't going to leave a tip. Your visit to Pop and Art of Animations looked really fun. The going to DTD was a great way to finish the night. Following along.
Looks like the family had a wonderful day.The dress Hope wore was so cute for Animal Kingdom. Sorry the waiter wasn't very good, I myself would have discussed the attitude issue with a manager so that person would understood why I wasn't going to leave a tip. Your visit to Pop and Art of Animations looked really fun. The going to DTD was a great way to finish the night. Following along.
We thought about speaking to a manager but Julia did not want the drama - after the scene with IASM we promised her we wouldn't have any more drama on this trip. Poor Julia if only she knew what was coming our way!
Today we were heading to the Magic Kingdom with a breakfast reservation with the Fab 5 at Chef Mickey’s.
I was loving the fact that Hope was requesting to wear her princess gowns every day. Today she would be Princess Tiana.
We arrived at Chef Mickey’s a few minutes late because the bus took so long to pick us up. For some reason there were no buses coming for MK. Then finally, two buses arrived at the same time.
We were seated at the same table from last year and with the same waiter , Robert – who is amazing!
Breakfast was very yummy and high energy.
I always think Donald steals the show from the others.
Who's number 1?
This was the first year I think Hope did NOT pull Pluto’s tongue! I remember last year, he walked away in disgust!
Of course she decided to share some breakfast with poor Minnie. This is Hope tossing a grape into Minnie’s mouth! Sorry Minnie!
As soon as we arrived in the MK, we went to visit Tinkerbell, still a favorite of Julia. She was sad to hear that you can no longer meet one of Tink’s friends. She still hopes that one day Disney, will build Pixie Hollow. Actually, I do too!
After Tink, we did the usually Peter Pan & Small World. Then we had Fast Passes for the Mine Train. Unfortunately, Hope was not going to ride again! So Ross rode with Julia…
Then we switched Magic Bands and Julia rode with me. It was funny because Hope did NOT want to take off her Magic Band!
We had actually gotten a rider switch for the Mine Train because we didn’t know if we could swap bands, which turns out is easier than getting a rider switch. So as we were walking away we still had it and I figured we would ride again at a later time. What I didn’t know was when Ross was waiting for Julia & me to ride, he overheard a couple with a little baby and a grandma talking. The couple wanted to ride but didn’t have Fast Passes. The grandmother was encouraging them to do the stand by line which was about an hour and a half, but the couple didn’t want to leave her that long with the baby. As we were leaving Ross saw them at the back of the stand by line and gave them our rider switch. The look on their faces was priceless! To be honest, the look on my face was a little priceless too – I couldn’t believe he did that!
We had a Past Fast for Enchanted Tales with Belle. This would be a first for us, but unfortunately it wasn’t as enchanting as I thought it would be. We waited in the Fast Pass line but it seemed as though they were letting in the standby line first. So by the time Fast Pass walked in, the room was already filled. It was very strange. With Hope in her stroller, the CM brought us in and positioned us where he wanted us to stand in the wheelchair section. It was PACKED! The CM also made an announcement for everyone not to worry, we would be going into another room where everyone would be able to see and that there would be more room. As we stood there, the woman behind us looked at Ross and me and complained – “It’s not fair that you people can just cut in front of everyone. My son should be in front of you so he can be in the show.” I think the both of us were really taken aback because even Ross, who would usually have a great comeback, was stunned and silent.
When we went into the next room, we understood what she meant by “be a part in the show”. For once, I didn’t really research this attraction so I didn’t realize it was interactive. The woman’s son did take a part in the show. If only she knew that there wasn’t a chance that Hope would have taken his part away. She didn’t have the ability to take part in the experience.
For Ross and me, it was a sobering moment. Usually, Disney is where I can forget about Autism and the fact that my kid is very different from others. But the truth is that this is our reality – no matter where we are. And that's okay.
Yet, the show lost all its magic to us and it was hard to sit there. The cast members asked if Hope wanted to sit up front, but we knew she would want to run around and that’s all we needed. Poor Belle wouldn’t know what hit her! At the end, one of the cast members, who I think sensed something about us, came over and asked if Hope wanted to meet Belle. I was hesitant but the CM was insistent that it would be fine. So I brought her up and in the end, it was magical. (Please excuse my big butt at the end.)
I now have a new Disney goal for Hope. It may take more than a year, but one day, she WILL be able to play a part in this show.
After Belle, we all needed a drink…
Then it was time to meet Princess Tiana. She was great! Hope started to run circles around her, stomping on her beautiful dress. I was so nervous – but she calmed me down and let me know it was fine.
Off to save the galaxy!
Speaking of achieving goals – I did it!
Well, not really. The ride got stuck and I relentlessly kept shooting until I maxed out.
We went back to Small World & Under the Sea with Ariel
and then Winnie the Pooh. I remember just a couple of years ago Hope HATED this ride. Now? She loves it!
It was funny - the Fast Pass line was closed, but the stand-by line was walking through the Fast Pass one. I thought maybe it was because the stand-by line was having a problem with all the interactive stuff?
