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]

Then it was time for our first adventure in BB.

We began by taking a spin on the lazy river.

I liked that you could get out of the lazy river and continue on to the attraction you wanted, but I have to say, I found BB to be a little confusing compared to TL. I don’t know if it was us or what but I definitely like the layout of TL better.

We wanted to ride the family raft ride so we began to make the heavy duty walk to the top. Little did we know we could have taken the ski lift up!! Lol Oh well, newbie mistake. We corrected our error and rode 2 more times.

We also tried out the wave pool. A HUGE difference compared to TL! It was fun but again, I think I like TL’s wave pool better.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

The other day we ran out of the kids shampoo and conditioner so took the Disney ones to swimming lessons. I told the girls when we got home to have dad smell their and say @ doesn't it smell like Disney!" He was not impressed with me at all. Apparently it's too good not to use? Lol

 

[Figment Forever]

The other day we ran out of the kids shampoo and conditioner so took the Disney ones to swimming lessons. I told the girls when we got home to have dad smell their and say @ doesn't it smell like Disney!" He was not impressed with me at all. Apparently it's too good not to use? Lol

lol Yes it seems hard to find just the "right" occasion to use it.

 

[Figment Forever]

WOW - I made it to my my last post!!! It only took 8 months to complete!



Still at BB...

It was getting near time to leave but since we were all hungry, we decided to get a bite to eat. The girls wanted doughnuts and frozen lemonade but unfortunately, when we got to the kiosk, they didn’t have any ready and wouldn’t any for at least a half hour! We walked on and found another place where Ross and I had another one of our famous miscommunications. I wanted to eat at the place near the entrance but he thought I wanted to eat here, so we got our food which was not so great. The worst part was there were a ton of bees buzzing around us as we tried to eat.

Sadly, after our less than stellar lunch, we headed out.

We hoped to be back at the hotel by 4:30. And this is where our no-stress departure became a no-go. At 3:30 we got on the line to return to AK. That was no problem and by 3:55 we were at AK waiting for the bus to POR.

We waited and waited. Finally, at 4:40 a bus pulled up, but the driver got off and left. Okay – we figured the bus would get a new driver and it did, but apparently he wasn’t going to POR and the bus pulled away! It was 5:10 by the time the next bus pulled up to take us back to the resort! We arrived at POR at 5:20! Once again, we were in our usual last day panic mode… Get the snack credits, get something to eat, pick up our bags and use the bathroom.

Ross went to get the bags while I ran to the gift shop to use our last snack credits. There was no thinking – I knew what I wanted 6 bags of the caramel popcorn. I plopped them at the register and the CM told me they weren’t part of the snack plan. I was shocked because I asked a CM if they were included a few days earlier. It wasn’t that big of a deal except the time aspect. I ran over and grabbed 6 bags of gummies and lollipops and back to the register.

I had 3 credits left so I rushed back to the food court and ordered 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream for Hope and 2 Vanilla milkshakes for me & Julia.

I raced to the counter and ordered out of breath, as soon as the girl started to repeat my order back, I knew I was in trouble because this young lady must have been Flash from Zootopia in disguise! As I stood there waiting, she slowly started to scoop the ice cream. I was frantic. I wanted to jump over the counter and just get it myself. The idea of a no-stress departure was long gone. Se handed me the vanilla ice cream and started on the first vanilla shake. I walked to the registers to pay for everything, figuring it would saved some time. That’s when I got a text from Ross that said, “Bus is ready to leave.” I thought he was kidding – but a few minutes later he called and said, “You know the bus is ready to go right?”. Apparently I got the departure time wrong by 15 minutes. I hung up as the girl handed me Julia’s shake. I told her to never mind about the other one – I had to go. She looked confused as I dashed away.

I hopped on the bus and gave the girls their ice-cream. I was so upset. My long planned day of leisure and no rushing to leave was a disaster! I was stressed, out of breath, Feeling like I was forgetting something AND… I had no ice-cream!

Orlando Airport was fine – no issues. We got changed and went through security without any issues. I read that some people had issues going through with food the next day – but no one said anything to us.

Soon we were New York bound…

Once our plane landed, we headed over to get our luggage. Hope was pooped.

Julia needed to use the bathroom – she wasn’t feeling well. Anyone remember last year’s report when Hope had a case of flying vomit at the airport? I was praying that Julia was not going to repeat it. I kept going into the bathroom to check on her - she was taking quite a while. Finally we were on our way, but she was still a bit queasy.

Somehow we had an overabundance of carry-on bags with us that Ross was trying to balance. He was still rocking the socks in Crocs.

By the time we got to the luggage carousel, all the bags were gone! I started to search around when I saw our bags being taken into a small office. Apparently, we took so long to get there, they thought it was lost luggage! They were thrilled to see us and happily handed us our bags.

Once we had our belongings, I called the hotel shuttle to pick us up. That’s when we found out that they couldn’t pick us up right outside – we had to take an “airbus” aka monorail to a different location. Actually, we had to take 2 of them. It was very confusing and annoying. Give me Westchester Airport anytime! It probably took us about a half hour just to get there - all the time having to deal with too many bags!

Once we found the shuttle guy, we were on way. He dropped us off and we packed everything into our car and headed home. Ross decided he would pick up his car from my sister’s house the next day. At 2:30am we were driving up the thruway feeling thankful and grateful about our trip and how blessed we are to have family and friends help us out. We were lucky to have a good friend of mine keep her eye on our house – I had given her my house keys to check in on things while we were away. And that’s when we both just stopped and looked at each other. My friend had my keys and Ross’ keys were at my sister’s house. We had no way of getting into our house!

I told him no way was I calling my friend at 2:30 in the morning - I didn’t even want to call my sister! I contemplated getting a hotel room but neither one of us wanted to spend the money, so reluctantly, I called my sister. She didn’t pick up her cell, so I called her house, hoping I wouldn’t wake my parents who live in the downstairs apartment. No answer. That hotel room was looking more inevitable. All of a sudden my phone rang – it was my dad. Now my folks are up there in age – 86 & 84 so when my dad answered, I scolded him for being up so late and asked him what on earth he was doing. He told me nonchalantly that there was a John Wayne festival playing and he was watching it. My phone number came up on the TV screen when I called the house and he wanted to make sure I was okay. Ross turned the car around and drove to my parent’s house. Both my mom and dad were up when I got there. My mom asked if we all wanted to spend the night and offered to make us French Toast, but Ross and I really wanted to get home. I thanked my folks and asked them to please say goodnight to the Duke and go to sleep.

Ross got in his car and I drove my car home. We pulled into our driveway at around 4:AM. I hit my pillow and fell asleep all while trying to digest the amazing and crazy adventure we had – and having to acknowledge it was over.

Thanks to all of you for following along and all your kind words and comments. Thanks especially for your patience of me taking so long to complete the retelling of our journey! And what a journey it was!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Please purchase an Uber gift card before your next trip. For around $10 you could have Ubered from Blizzard Beach to POR in less than 20 minutes.

(Of course you may prefer having your readers enjoy another funny and highly entertaining last post in your next report....if your sanity allows. )

 

[Figment Forever]

Please purchase an Uber gift card before your next trip. For around $10 you could have Ubered from Blizzard Beach to POR in less than 20 minutes.

(Of course you may prefer having your readers enjoy another funny and highly entertaining last post in your next report....if your sanity allows. )

Yes.... I'm thinking Uber is the way to go.... Do you want to send Ross the memo? lol

 

[Tuvalu]

Yes.... I'm thinking Uber is the way to go.... Do you want to send Ross the memo? lol

My thought was if you "saved a little off the grocery bill this month" you use the savings to purchase the gift card, which you then link to your Uber account. Then when you need to use Uber, the ride has already been paid for, and you can "remind" Ross of that. How could he possibly complain about a free ride?

 

[Ellen Ripley]

thank you for another fantastic report!

 

[Rista1313]

Thanks for the report!

 

[KatieLVT]

Thank you for the report! I really enjoyed following along

 

[Gurt]

lol Yes it seems hard to find just the "right" occasion to use it.

We only get to Disney once every 3 years, I take mine on our little weekends away at home here in the UK.

 

[dizfan917]

What a hoot! I'm sure your last day didn't seem like quite as much fun at the time... but it makes a great read!

Thanks for letting me tag along on your trip (and for the birthday wishes... that WAS this trip, right?)

Looking forward to reading about your NEXT adventure!!

 

[riverside]

Another great trip report!! I really enjoyed it!! Looking forward to your next visit!!

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Soon it will be time for you to write a pre-trip report and then start on your next trip report. I'll be anxiously waiting.

 

[PacNWTigger]

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. I enjoy following your reports.

 

[KellBelle]

You have a beautiful family. I really enjoyed your trip report. Thank you for sharing!

 

[RememberWhen]

I’m so sad it’s over, but only a few more months before the next trip, right?

 

[becca_]

Thank you for writing this and going through all the way to the end!!

 

[krisri18]

My thought was if you "saved a little off the grocery bill this month" you use the savings to purchase the gift card, which you then link to your Uber account. Then when you need to use Uber, the ride has already been paid for, and you can "remind" Ross of that. How could he possibly complain about a free ride?

That's Shirley logic right there ! Love it !

 

[rshell68]

This might be one of the most epic trip reports ever! Move over Iliad and Odyssey! Thank you so much for sharing!!!