Trip Report Hurricanes, Foot Pains and “What The Crocs Just Happened?” Anniversary Tale – A Sept/Irma 2017 TR (COMPLETED)


So here we are again… Another amazing trip is over.

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My original title for the is report was:

The Best-Laid Plans Of The Mouse & Men… because so many of our carefully thought out schedules & plans were completely turned upside down by Irma and other “forces” along the way.

However, Ross and Julia who do not share my love for Robert Burns or John Steinbeck vetoed that and came up with their own title.

Before I begin our tale, I want to express and offer our thoughts and prayers to all who suffered in Hurricane Irma as well as Harvey & Maria. There are times when I joke about the fact that we were in Florida during the hurricane, but in no way do I not realize the devastation that was caused to so many.

That being said... Let the Trip Report begin! Who’s in?
 
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Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
blgauger said:
The Royal Rooms are just stunning! :inlove: I hope I get to stay there one day!

Even though Irma is long gone, it's still so scary reading about your experience leading up to and during the storm! It makes me thankful all over again that we decided to evacuate. I'm not sure that I could have handled all of the worry! :oops:

So excited to read all about the "real trip" now that the storm has passed! :)
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You would love the Royal Rooms!

I'm trying to get going on the post Irma TR - hoping to get a new post uploaded soon!
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Courtney6682 said:
I may be jumping ahead, but did you receive any type of credit for the parks not being open?
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I don't believe WDW offered anything for the days that the parks were closed. We didn't miss any of our park days so we didn't ask for any compensation. I think we could have argued for something, but we really saw no reason to. Even though we were "stuck" at the resort for those 2 days, we found it to be a good time and were really impressed with all Disney did to make a horrible situation enjoyable for the guests. I did however hear people who were not able to use all of their park day tickets speaking about how WDW was giving refunds or a future ticket.
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Asian2000 said:
It's funny seeing Irma through someone else's eyes. We were there, staying the same resort actually, at the same time as you. We saw you guys a few times and I noticed some of my family members in a few of your Lobby and food court pictures. We actually were on the same Monarail and Bus as you guys a few times. Can't wait to follow along with the rest of your report :)
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Oh - I wish you would have come over and say hi to us! Hope you guys had a good trip. Thanks for following along!!
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Gabe1 said:
I'm following along too as we were there for the before, during and afters of Irma on an extended Disney vacation. While we more often than not stay at POR we happened on a great deal for the Wilderness Lodge for the the same time frame this year. Worked well for the 2 day hiatus curfew days in the middle of our trip. While this was our 3rd Hurricane trip this was the most disruptive. We never lost 2 days before lodging in the middle of the state before. It is an interesting flash back now to see others experiences we all shared. Still trying to find time to at least put together thoughts in a mini trip report mini version. Glad we did it. We never considered cancelling.
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Wow - 3 hurricane trips? This was our first and I hope our last. But looking back, I am glad we didn't cancel. Thanks for following along! Please tag me if you do a TR!!
 
Gabe1

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Figment Forever said:
Wow - 3 hurricane trips? This was our first and I hope our last. But looking back, I am glad we didn't cancel. Thanks for following along! Please tag me if you do a TR!!
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Yes 3! But 3 in the course of 20 some years. We increase our odds by traveling a chunk in the fall. Yes we gamble but I was pretty confident by Irma that there would be some damage but not flattened like Puerto Rico, just too far from impact. This was the first hurricane for us where Disney took 2 full days and an early close the night prior for a hurricane. Irma was not kind to WDW in several spots but it wasn't as Ugly as Charlie. The prior two we did they opened 2 parks the day after and DTD. Interesting how a prep evolves over time.
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

Day 5: Tuesday, September 12th

I set my alarm for 6:00AM this morning since it was our first park day. I got ready and then woke up Julia and Hope. We all got ready and were out the door by 7:45 – I think that is the earliest we have ever left our room to get to the bus. Hope was extra excited because we were eating in the castle for breakfast. We ate there when she was a baby - so she has no memory of it. For her, this was a first!

We could still see a presence of utility vehicles around the resort. A reminder for us of what we just experienced with Irma even though it felt like "business as usual" in WDW.

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Our room was closest to the East Depot, so we headed over that way. When the bus arrived, it was pretty full and I made a mental note that we should walk to the north depot from now on.

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There was a seat for Hope & Julia and then I just decided to stand.

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There weren’t too many people getting on with us – but when we made a last stop at the south depot, there was a massive amount of people – looking pretty angry I might add, waiting to go to MK. That’s when our driver did something that I thought was crazy…

Apparently, there was a scooter waiting to board and the CM who was there asked if the bus driver could take him. At first, the driver said no – because it was a full bus, but then he changed his mind. I don’t know if the CM complained or the person in the scooter complained, but whatever it was, the driver was going to board him. Needless to say, our entire bus was pretty mad. The driver had to ask about a dozen people to get off the buss so there was room for the scooter to maneuver on. They were not happy! Actually no one on the bus was very happy. Even after the dozen people got off, the rest of us who were standing had to squish to each side to give more room. Some people were yelling at the bus driver and it was not a vey comfortable situation. Once the scooter rolled on, the people who were with the scooter got on too which made the people who had to get off the bus even madder.

Finally, the scooter was on along with everyone else who had gotten off. The whole situation took about 20 minutes. But then we were on our way to MK!

Julia and I started talking about our plans and she asked Hope if she was excited to eat in Cinderella’s castle – and that’s when my face dropped and I started to feel sick. Julia noticed my frantic expression and exclaimed, “You forgot the autograph book, didn’t you mom?”

Yep – I forgot the autograph book.

Now, if any of you read my TR from a couple of years back, you may remember how I would keep forgetting the pens and had to keep purchasing them for $5.00 each, now I had to realize I forgot the entire $20.00 book!

Julia asked if we needed to go back to the resort to get it. I knew there was no way that would happen. Then she asked if I was going to buy her a new one. At this point I wasn’t sure. It killed me to have to buy a new one, but we had a couple of M&G planned for today and I would hate to have to worry about getting the signatures another day. So I conceded and admitted, I would pick up another one so she would have it for the day. I tried to make myself feel better by telling myself I could put the other one away for our next trip.

Then Julia proposed another interesting question… “Mom, are you gonna tell dad?”

Me: “Of course I’m telling daddy.”

Julia: “When?”

Me: “When he reads my TR.”

We exited the bus and made our way into MK.

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The new security was odd to us but there was no wait and we zipped past it.

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Soon we were in MK!

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It is always the most exhilarating feeling seeing the castle for the first time. Wow that must sound so geeky, but it truly takes my breath away and makes me tear up.

As we walked down Main Street I realized I was experiencing something that I had never experienced before and may never again. MK was empty! It was so strange, but yes – the MK was really empty. The usual bustle down Main Street was not there. I recall how important it was for me to get into MK early so I could experience this – and here we were getting to do just that - unintentionally. The only downside was that there were not a lot of photo-pass photographers out.

We made our way down Main Street and headed for the castle.
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

We were seated and again, I was in shock… it was almost 9:00am and there were 6 families in the dining room with us!

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We ate breakfast – but I really think we were all so excited, that we didn’t enjoy the food that much.

We got a regular pastry plate and a GF one.

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Hope got French toast and cleaned her plate.

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Julia got the doughnut thing and ate about half.

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I got the shrimp & grits, which were good, but my stomach was just too excited to eat too much.

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Our server was very sweet.

It was so strange to be in an empty castle!
 
Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster

The princesses were awesome! They took their time and made sure the girls stood out of the bright sunlight so I could get a good picture.

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I could tell Hope really enjoyed breakfast. She seemed in awe of eating in the castle, which makes a hefty price tag and lackluster food fade away. It’s all about the experience and that was perfect!
 
ksr99

ksr99

Active Member
Figment Forever said:
After a while we decided to walk over to FQ and swim there since we hadn’t been there in several years. It would be the first time we make the walk over and I found it very beautiful and relaxing.

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Hope loved the new splash area - so much more fun than the old kiddie pool.

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But unfortunately she got kicked off the slides! Yup – a lifeguard came over and asked how tall she was. I said she was 49 inches and he said you had to be under 48 inches to do the slides.

She was having such a good time it broke my heart to tell her she was too big to play there – but I didn’t have a choice. I could see she was disappointed. I was hoping that she wouldn’t meltdown, but she didn’t even have a chance because Julia walked over to her and said she should go down the big slide in the big pool. I was shocked when Hope agreed and off we went.

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Julia walked her to the top and I waited at the bottom. I have no pictures of her on the slide because I was too concerned with making sure she didn’t go under the water when she flew out but she had a blast! I think she ended up doing it at least 6 times! To the point where Julia had enough and didn’t want to do it anymore! Lol

Finally, I suggested we head back to Riverside and get changed and get some dinner. We all agreed.
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Hope as an awesome sister!!! Must really be a blessing for you too!
 

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