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.

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?

 

[Figment Forever]

Your eggs from BoG looked so good! How were they?

They were really yummy! I would definitely order it again. I had the GF option so it was on a different bread. I think they are usually served on a baguette roll.

 

[Figment Forever]

So happy you got a chance to write more of your TR!

Thanks for be patient with me! Life gets so crazy - it's hard to keep up with the girls' schedules sometimes!!

 

[Figment Forever]

As we left Pecos Bills, Julia wanted a pretzel so we picked one up on our way to Adventureland.

Once in Adventureland, Hope wanted to ride the Magic Carpets so off we flew.

I wanted to ride Jungle Cruise, but we found out it was closed due to damage from Irma. The CM said they hoped to have it opened in a few days.

So instead, we went to see the Tiki Birds. It was okay – but I have fonder memories of this show when I was a kid.

We decided to go back to Guest Services to fix Ross’ Magic Band. They said his band wasn’t set up to charge - again, this CM also said how wise I was for not letting him have the charge privilege - and again, hubby was not amused! But they reset it and off we went.

Then it was time for our FP at 7DMT…

Such a fun ride!

 

[Figment Forever]

Then we split up for a bit. Julia & I rode Space Mountain while Hope & Ross went off to Monsters Laugh Floor where Ross was picked for “That Guy”.

We all went to ride Buzz, but again Hope was not having it. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t like Buzz this year - she loved it last year. She was holding her ears on the ride – a clear indication that she was battling an issue. But she was fine as soon as we were done.

 

[Figment Forever]

Ross & Julia went to ride Space with a rider switch and Hope and I went on the TTA- People Mover – I always forget the official name these days. I was shocked as Hope did not want to get on the ride. This was another ride she really liked last year so I was stumped and a little disappointed. I hoped she wasn’t going to continue this with a bunch of rides throughout the trip. I was baffled.

We met Ross and Julia at CoP.

We were happy to rest in some AC and relax and watch the show. I was horrified that I actually dozed off! I made fun of Ross last year for falling asleep and here I was doing the same!

We had our next FP for BTM – Ross was excited to ride with Hope. He was so happy to know that she loved it.

It was almost time for dinner but since we had a little time, we decided to ride POTC.

There was no wait so we pretty much just walked right on. This was a ride I knew Hope didn’t like. She doesn’t like the splash which is bizarre because she really likes the water now - even a roaring rapids water ride – so I don’t get it. However I did have a solution…

A Poncho! Ross was not happy. He is not a fan of the ponchos on water rides – but too bad I told him! It worked - she enjoyed the ride!

 

[Figment Forever]

Then it was time for dinner. I was excited because I wanted to try a few new places this trip so I was happy to have gotten a ADR for Skipper Canteen.

Ross was not as excited. He wasn’t too thrilled with the menu I showed him. But he was willing to give it a try. In all honesty, he didn’t have a choice.

Hope decided she loved the restaurants that gave her the activity menu - and she had a blast doing all the puzzles.

It was very quiet in the restaurant and we basically walked in and were seated within a few minutes. The servers were AWESOME! They played the part so well.

 

[Figment Forever]

Julia got the lamb...

Hope got Mac & Cheese…

I got the pork…

Ross got the steak…

It was amazing! Can you tell by our empty plates?

So good! Even Ross who was nervous had to admit it was delicious – and a lot of fun too! Of course dessert was just as good as dinner.

When the check came, Ross scanned his Magic Band, but once again, it didn’t allow him to use it. Needless to say, he wasn't a happy camper, but we started to realize that we needed to laugh about it. We figured that POR could fix it when we got back to the resort.

 

[Figment Forever]

After dinner, we went to Pooh since I managed to get a FP during dinner.

As we were on line for Pooh, I managed a FP for Under The Sea With Ariel since we hadn’t done that yet. However, as we walked towards Ariel, Hope started to kick off. She did NOT want to ride. I was baffled. Ross didn’t see the big deal and didn’t want to make her and I didn’t want to fight, so I rode with Julia and he waited with her.

As Julia and I boarded the ride, I was upset. Something wasn’t right. She didn’t want to ride Ariel, Peter Pan, Buzz or The People Mover. Plus yesterday, she didn’t want to ride Spaceship Earth. All rides she loved last year… There had to be something going on that I wasn’t getting. Then as we were stepping into our shell mobile, it hit me…. They were all omnimover rides with a conveyer belt boarding. I nearly exploded during the ride – I told Julia what I thought it was. There was only one ride left that I felt would prove me right. As soon as I got off the ride I went over to Ross and told him what I thought it was. He thought I was nuts of course. I knelt down in front of Hope and asked her if she wanted to ride Nemo when we went back to EPCOT. She yelled, “NO!” and covered her ears! And then I was sure that that’s what it was. She was afraid of what I called the moving sidewalk rides. I just didn’t know why since she had loved them last year.

Mystery solved, we waked over towards Main Street to find our VIP viewing area.

We were of couse running late, so there was a crowd when we arrived. I walked uo to a CM and asked her where the special VIP garden viewing area was. She looked at me a little strange and then I said the magic words… “Ashley sent us”.

She pointed her flashlight and off we went following her to in front of the castle. We settled in a nice area and got to sit down and wait. It was an awesome spot. Actually we could have probably gotten an even better view, but we decided to stay a little back where it was really empty.

The show was awesome. It was a completely different experience seeing it up close. Even Ross who is not a fireworks fan admitted it was great. When it over, we saw Ashley and walked over to her to say a big THANK YOU!

 

[Figment Forever]

Since it was EMH, we still had some time left in the park. Julia really wanted to play SOTMK. I knew Ross would never have the patience to play it, so Julia & I went off while Ross and Hope did their own thing. It was a very quirt night in MK.

SOTMK was fun but it took a while to figure out how to play the cards. The wand from MagiQuest was much easier. Julia finished her quests in Fantasyland and then it sent us Liberty Square. Unfortunately, we didn’t do so well then so it sent us to Frontierland. Lol

We decide to sneak over to Adventureland to get some ice-cream in between missions.

After a while, she had her fill and we met Ross & Hope over at Philharmagic.

Then it was time to call it a night. We said goodnight to MK and headed back home.

When we reached POR we got the girls into bed and then went to the lobby to see about fixing Ross’ Magic Band. We explained that it wouldn’t let him charge anything. They took it and once again, said they re-set it. Would it work this time? You’ll have to wait and see…

 

[becca_]

I'm so happy to hear you guys had a positive BOG breakfast experience!! I have reservations for next month & I have read a lot of negative reviews - but I wanted to see the inside of the castle no matter what

 

[ELIZABETH BASICH]

Reading about Hope's experience with Belle, I was tearing up myself, just more proof on the Magic of Disney!!

 

[ELIZABETH BASICH]

Can't wait to read more!! my son wants to play Sorcerer's this year I am a little worried bc I know nothing about it

 

[Courtney6682]

I love hearing about Hope's progress every year. I'm interested to see in the next few posts if you ever found out what exactly changed since last yr with the omnimover rides for her!

 

[krause]

We are trying Jungle Skipper for the first time in February! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I am so tempted to pay for the Plaza Garden view of HEA but don’t know if I can justify the price. Maybe we’ll just track down CM Ashley!

 

[VDisneyFan18]

Surprised you liked Skipper Canteen! My family and I hated it over the summer? Maybe the changes they did were significant enough that we will have to try again!

 

[Gurt]

I didn't love our meal at Skippers but I would be willing to give it another go trying a different meal, OH loved the chicken.

 

[DryerLintFan]

I'm really late but I'm here and enjoying your trip report so far!!

 

[Figment Forever]

I'm so happy to hear you guys had a positive BOG breakfast experience!! I have reservations for next month & I have read a lot of negative reviews - but I wanted to see the inside of the castle no matter what

I would definitely recommend BOG for breakfast. We have had dinner there too, but so far breakfast is the winner! Even though Beast does not make an appearance.

 

[Figment Forever]

Reading about Hope's experience with Belle, I was tearing up myself, just more proof on the Magic of Disney!!

It was such an awesome experience. It makes it hard to decide to vacation somewhere else.

Can't wait to read more!! my son wants to play Sorcerer's this year I am a little worried bc I know nothing about it

It's a fun game but I wish they would put one outside of the parks. It's hard to dedicate "park" time to playing it. It would be awesome if they built one inside their resorts. But then Julia may never sleep!

I love hearing about Hope's progress every year. I'm interested to see in the next few posts if you ever found out what exactly changed since last yr with the omnimover rides for her!

Oh those omnimover rides - they were a challenge for us! lol Actually, we have never figured out the reason. We have some suspicions, but can't say for certain - so it it remains a work in progress. Thanks so much for following along with us. Hope you have a Merry Christmas trip!!!!

We are trying Jungle Skipper for the first time in February! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I am so tempted to pay for the Plaza Garden view of HEA but don’t know if I can justify the price. Maybe we’ll just track down CM Ashley!

Hope you have a good experience at Skipper's! HEA was a great experience and we were very thankful that we had that sprinkle of pixie dust, but it's not something I would pay for. I just can't justify the amount of money!

Surprised you liked Skipper Canteen! My family and I hated it over the summer? Maybe the changes they did were significant enough that we will have to try again!

Sorry you had a bad experience. Did they change the menu from summer? We were nervous about it so I'm glad it was a good time and delicious food.

I didn't love our meal at Skippers but I would be willing to give it another go trying a different meal, OH loved the chicken.

Based on our experience, I would say give it another try. It was also nice that they gave us so much attention, but I know that would probably not happen again since it was due to the low crowds from Irma.

I'm really late but I'm here and enjoying your trip report so far!!

Thank you @DisneyBound2017! Welcome aboard!!

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 7 – Thursday, September 14th

I had no intention of waking up early today. I knew Ross was tired from his travel day and the girls and I were exhausted from 2 back to back, open to close, EMH days. I opened my eyes around 8 :00am and took my time getting ready. Julia was the next one up. She got ready and hopped on her computer to work on some chemistry & Japanese.

Her foot was still bothering her somewhat, but she still refused a wheelchair. Hope woke up third and watched some Mickey Mouse Cartoons before she got moving along. Lastly, my Prince woke up -hopefully well rested.

Oh - I have to fill in a couple of things from yesterday that I forgot.

The first is about our gift cards. Ross and I always try to bring our “spending” allowance on Disney Gift Cards – that way we can just charge to the room for convenience but pay it off with the gift cards. It allows us to discipline ourselves with our spending and not come home to a huge charge bill. At the end of each day, Ross goes to the lobby and pays off our balance. In all honesty, I would be fine doing it at the end of the trip or every 2-3 days, but Ross likes to go at the end of each day. So I let him be happy. So last night, in addition to trying to fix his MB, we also attempted to pay off our balance. The first card worked – no problem, but then every other card we gave the CM came up as a ZERO balance! Talk about scary! I knew it had to be a problem with their system and we agreed that we would try again in the morning. So before Ross even showered, he ran to the lobby to make sure everything was OK – which it was!

The second thing I forgot to mention was about Hope and the discovery of her fear of the omnimover rides. As we were waiting to watch HEA, I make some texts to her OT – (some people have “phone a friend”, I have “phone a therapist”.) Lol I explained what was happening and asked for her advice. The way I saw it, we could 1) Not have Hope ride any of those type of ride, 2) Carry her on and off and see if that helped, or 3) Encourage her “aka” make her to do them even if she hesitated.

As I was getting ready, this morning, I received a bunch of replies from our OT. We texted back and forth for a while and we came to the conclusion that it would be best to encourage her to do the rides. We use a “tapping” system to help calm her when she is feeling stressed, so I would incorporate that technique as well. (We are into the holistic/natural ways of doing things – so some of what I may say would probably sound completely nuts! Lol )

I told Ross what her advice was and he wasn’t happy. He does not like Hope to get upset, but I told him that I strongly felt we should do this. Sometimes pushing her and making her do something uncomfortable made her stronger – and I felt this was one of those times. He reluctantly agreed.

Okay – back to this day…

Our plans today were for the Studios. Even with all the construction going on, the Studios remains a favorite of ours.

Off we went…

We could still see all the work that was being done to restore the resort after Hurricane Irma.

When we arrived, the crowds still seemed low. We breezed through security and thought we would do the same through the entry, but Ross’ MB turned Mickey’s head blue. I started to panic... not being able to charge was one thing, but what if his band wouldn't let him enter the park?? We had to wait a few moments for a supervisor who asked him some questions and then took his picture. Thank goodness that was it and we were on our way!