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]

I hope Ross was just having a bad allergies & felt better quickly. It’s awful to not feel 100% on vacation.
It’s impressive that Julia takes Japanese! Seems like such a difficult language to learn, even with an encouraging teacher. It must be extra difficult with a teacher like that! Hopefully she will get someone more helpful if she sticks with it.
I love Hope’s determination to move to Florida! She has a plan & is giving you all time to make it happen.

Thank you! I hope she sticks with it because I know she had a great passion for it when she started. Hopefully, we will find a better teacher for her next year.

I am trying to convince everyone we should speed up Hope's plan because I am done with the brutal winters here. We are expecting snow again tomorrow and Wednesday! At least our temps are in double digits today.

As for Ross' allergies, I will leave you in suspense for a while longer...

 

[Figment Forever]

After our Frozen adventure, we made our way to the International Gateway. My original plans for tonight was to eat around the F&W booths but a few weeks before our trip, Ross asked if we could eat at Cape May Café. He was reading a TR and thought it looked good. Unfortunately, the only ADR I could get was for 8:55PM tonight. I had a gut feeling it was a bad idea. It was too late for us to have dinner – especially for Hope. I tried finding a better time but with no luck, we kept the 8:55 time slot and I hoped for the best.

We arrived a little after 8:00PM hoping they could take us early. When we checked in, we were excited to see a large amount of empty tables, but they took my phone number and said we would get a text when they were ready for us. We settled in front of a TV and let Hope watch some Disney Jr. and I hoped I would get a text soon.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get seated until 9:00 PM. A CM led us to a table, but since I saw a line of booths, I asked if she could seat us at one instead of a table. I figured Hope could lie down if she ran out of steam. I was shocked to see the CM give a face and then reluctantly seat us at a booth. I can tell you by now, Cape May was not winning us over, and then came the food… it was horrible! We walked the buffet and soon realized that we were getting the remains of the day. There were about 3 crab legs left and we had to ask if more would be brought out. I was glad they did – and they were delicious but much of the food was “old” and many of the salads were empty - and would not be refilled and that’s one of Ross ‘favorites.

As we were getting dessert, the chef made his rounds at the tables and asked how everything was and if we wanted anymore hot food. I guess we should have said something, but it didn’t seem worth it. However, even some of the desserts ran out. The waitress came over and we said something to her but she defended that it was the end of the day and this is what’s to be expected. She said she could bring us anything we wanted so Ross asked for a another piece of the cheesecake, which she responded that they had no more because they are only provided with a certain amount every day.

Hope had crashed after her mac&cheese. She requested her stroller and since they was no one around us – it didn’t seem like a big deal. Like I said, I knew it was a bad idea to attempt this ADR and sadly, I was right.

A part of me would like to give the restaurant another try at a different time but then I don’t want to repeat a disappointment.

We walked into Beach Club and took a bus to DS and then a boat to POR. We made the last boat of the night. It was midnight when we fell into our beds.


Up Next: Ross' Number One Bus Ride

 

[Doc Disney]

Not sure where in NY you guys are but I'm in Buffalo and we're getting a Blaze near where I go to college!! Hopefully this is good news for you & it spreads to where you are

WHAT?!?!!?! This is so exciting! How did I miss this! haha

The waitress came over and we said something to her but she defended that it was the end of the day and this is what’s to be expected. She said she could bring us anything we wanted so Ross asked for a another piece of the cheesecake, which she responded that they had no more because they are only provided with a certain amount every day.

Wow...that sounds awful! Why bother even asking if you want anything!

 

[Ayden]

Ah such a shame Cape may was such a disappointment
On a positive note I really like Julia's Mulan shirt!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

We did Cape May but for breakfast, and probably won't be back. It's a lot of money to pay to only get 3 characters.

 

[Figment Forever]

WHAT?!?!!?! This is so exciting! How did I miss this! haha




Wow...that sounds awful! Why bother even asking if you want anything!

I know... We really didn't want to make a big deal of it - especially since I knew the ADR was doomed to begin with - but we did think it was messed up and not very "Disney" like.

 

[Figment Forever]

Ah such a shame Cape may was such a disappointment
On a positive note I really like Julia's Mulan shirt!

Thanks - it was from the Disney Store - Mulan & Pocahontas are her favorites so I'm always happy when I can find a T-shirt with them in an adult size.

 

[Figment Forever]

We did Cape May but for breakfast, and probably won't be back. It's a lot of money to pay to only get 3 characters.

Wow - 3 characters? Is that typical or was one or two MIA for the day? I didn't think there were any less than 4 at character meals. I was sad because I REALY wanted to love it. I've heard so many good things about it... but I should have been smarter and held out for a better time.

 

[becca_]

WHAT?!?!!?! This is so exciting! How did I miss this! haha

Yes!! It's going in a plaza where Ulta is on Niagara Falls Boulevard!! (sorry for taking over this TR with my Blaze excitement!)

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Wow - 3 characters? Is that typical or was one or two MIA for the day? I didn't think there were any less than 4 at character meals. I was sad because I REALY wanted to love it. I've heard so many good things about it... but I should have been smarter and held out for a better time.

I'm not sure! We were definitely expecting the typical 4 or 5. I guess we should have read the reviews. We did it because it was in our hotel.

 

[melmel89]

I'm all caught up yay! i keep seeing if i can spy myself in the background of any of the pics, we always seem to be at WDW at the same time.

 

[Elizabeth Swann]

Joining in. I think if you are going to be in Florida during a hurricane then Disney is the safest place to be. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Figment Forever]

I'm all caught up yay! i keep seeing if i can spy myself in the background of any of the pics, we always seem to be at WDW at the same time.

Thanks for reading! Oh - I wish we could have met up! Maybe one day...

 

[Figment Forever]

Joining in. I think if you are going to be in Florida during a hurricane then Disney is the safest place to be. Looking forward to reading more.

Welcome aboard! Yes - I think Disney was amazing how they handled the situation. I was nervous, but felt safe.

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 9: Saturday, September 16th

Today was our Animal Kingdom day and if you have read my previous reports, you will know that AK is not our family’s favorite park. It funny when I read other TRs and people describe HS as a ½ day park, because we can easily spend 2 or more days there, even with the construction, but AK is our ½ day park. Of course that was before this year. Last year we had missed ROL so not only would we get to view that, but the long awaited Pandora was open and FOP had me intrigued. Would AK finally win us over?


We were still wiped from the day be fore and I realized letting everyone start slow was a good idea. We decided to have breakfast at the hotel before leaving for AK. Instead of getting the bus at the south depot, we walked back to our room and dropped off our mugs and walked to the north depot. We discovered that the busses at the south depot were crazy over crowded so it was worth the walk back to north where you didn’t have to fight to get on.

Ross still wasn’t feeling great but he refused to take an allergy pill I offered him. (I was still hoping it was his allergies.) He never takes anything unless he is super sick.

We arrived at AK – wasn’t there a sign that said, “Have a Wild Time!” before you walk in?

We went through security quickly. Hope stopped for a park map before heading to…

 

[Figment Forever]

We wasted no time heading for Dinoland – NO! I’m just kidding we made our way to Pandora!! We had a FP for FOP so that would be our first ride of the day!

Hope was the most excited among us. Ross, Julia and I were hopefully optimistic. We tried watching the movie several times and just couldn’t get through it. Yet we entered the land wanting to be impressed. No sooner as our feet stepped into the land, we realized that it was packed with people – much more than the rest of AK. We got a return time for the boat ride and then headed to FOP.

I tried to become immersed with everything – I tried. I wanted so badly to use the words breathtaking, spectacular, amazing and unbelievable. But those are not the words that came to mind; not even the floating mountains really did it. Sorry guys, don’t hate on me, but I didn’t like it. There was this one plant that reminded me of this crazy plant from the movie, “Little Shop of Horrors”. I think someone here may have made the same connection in their TR. Nonetheless, as we approached FOP – I still held out hope, I would be blown away.

The guy in the pre-show was horrible. Ross didn’t mind it, but my pet peeve is when people have to say “umm” or “ah” when they speak, so I can’t tell you how much he got under my skin. It was painful to listen to him!

When we entered the ride, Ross and I helped Hope on her banshee and told her to hold on tight and NOT to let go. When the ride first opened, we thought she would be able to ride with one of us – I think there was a concept art picture that showed it. But soon we realized that wouldn’t be the case so we wanted to make sure she would be able to do this solo. We had her ride the motorcycle arcade games to practice and she liked them plus her desire to ride FOP was huge – so I knew she could handle it. We told her it would be like Soarin – but feel much faster. I really like the restraint system, and by the time she was secured, I wasn’t really worried. The ride was AWESOME! We all loved it. Hope asked almost immediately to ride again but we told her we had other things to do.

We exited into the gift shop, which I would have liked to look around, but it was too crowded. I had to get out. Julia wanted to check out the banshees – but the area was so packed it wasn’t worth it. We left and walked around a little. I wanted to get a magic shot photo, but it proved difficult. The one line we waited on – the photopass photographer said he didn’t have any.

 

[Figment Forever]

We left Pandora and decided to wait to meet Pocahontas. Her line wasn’t too long which was surprising for her – she usually has a big line. Turns out, we just had good timing because soon, a very long line gathered behind us.
Funny story – we were the next ones to go up to Pocahontas so we watched as a husband and wife went up to her. The husband was so into it – he spoke to her like she had a part in his everyday life. He had a special autograph book with paper in it that was also a special kind of paper that he had her sign. Then after all the pictures of him with his wife he requested pictures alone with her. It was very strange.

When it was our turn, Pocahontas made a big deal out of Hope’s dress. I was pretty sure this was the same Pocahontas as last year – but I was taken aback when she said. “didn’t I meet you last year?” Maybe she said that because of the outfit, but she seemed very earnest about it. Again, her meet & greet was the BEST. Hope just LOVES her!!! She asked the Photographer to take a “special” shot and she spent so much time with us. I was so sad when her pictures didn’t show up in MDE!

(They actually did show up – 3 days later! I have no idea what happened.)

 

[Figment Forever]

 

[Figment Forever]

Then we ventured into Africa for our safari ride.

The safari was great! The animals were really active which is always a plus! Hope, who is not a huge animal fan, seemed to really enjoy looking around at them all – a bonus!

 

[Figment Forever]

After our safari, we were able to do something as a family that we hadn’t done for a long time – Kali River Rapids!!!

Yep – I have no photo proof but my Hope donned her poncho and off we sailed! I couldn’t believe it when she came off loving it. Ross has been working hard having her ride these type of rides at our local 6 Flags and credit to him because it paid off. If only Splash was opened….