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]

Day 12: Tuesday, September 19th

When I woke up, I knew right way something was wrong. Ross is usually hard to wake up in the morning, but today, he just couldn’t move. He said he was up most of the night coughing and congested. He was tired and his head was spinning. I felt so bad for him. Ross never gets really sick. He probably has the strongest immune system of all of us. Yet here we were in WDW – and he can barely stand up.

I told him he should stay in bed, take some medicine and rest for a while. I am one of those people who when sick - I stay away from others. When the girls are sick, I keep us all home. Why spread our germs? So I didn’t like the fact he was heading out to possible contaminate others. But we had an ADR for Chef Mickey’s and he didn’t want to miss it. At least he wasn’t having a coughing fit. He thought if he got some food in him, he would feel better. I didn’t think so, but there was no convincing him to stay, so off we went to catch a bus to MK.

Julia’s foot was bothering her again today.

I asked if she wanted me to rent a wheelchair for the day, but she refused.

At the bus stop, there was an overabundance of people waiting for MK. The first bus that stopped was pretty full so we happily waited for a second bus to come. We managed a seat on the second bus and soon we were off.

There was a little girl sitting across from us – she was probably 4 or 5 years old, holding on to one of the poles and licking it. I didn’t mean to stare but it was hard not to. She was licking that pole like it was a tootsie roll pop. I was going to say something to her mom, who was sitting next to her until I saw her glance down at the little girl and then go back to her conversation. Now Hope has severe sensory issues and there have been countless times when she’s tried putting something in her mouth completely not edible. So I am usually not phased by situations like this, but I was astonished that mom did not tell her daughter to stop. I am no germaphobe, but… beyond gross.

Soon we arrived at MK.

 

[Figment Forever]

From there we took the monorail to the Contemporary. We were a few minutes late – surprise, surprise… but it didn’t matter, we were called soon after our picture was taken.

This was Hope’s birthday breakfast. I thought the server was bad at Tusker House yesterday, but this server was HORRIBLE. At least the server at AK attempted to be friendly, but this one had no interest in us. I asked her about 3 times to please refill Julia’s apple juice and she never did! We usually tip at least 20% at WDW. But I have to tell you, I wanted to leave her nothing. That’s how horrible she was. That has only happened a few times in the past and ironically, one time was at Chef Mickey’s.

I had originally wanted to request Robert - a waiter from NY. We had him a few times and he is awesome. We saw him when we walked in, but with Ross feeling so sick, we didn’t want to wait any longer than we had to. By the end of the meal, I was sorry I didn’t request him.

The food however was great!!

 

[Figment Forever]

Again, the characters were awesome. I was so thrilled that by now, we had everyone’s autograph except Minnie. I love the character meals, but the need to get autographs are can be so stressful.

 

[Figment Forever]

Ross was feeling bad. He realized that there would be no way he could make it through a full day at the park. So he said after breakfast, he would head back to the resort to sleep. He finally agreed to take some medicine so I gave him directions as what he should take. He asked me not to text or call until 4:30. He was hoping he could wake up and join us for dinner at Garden Grill.

We all walked to the monorail. I told Ross to get off at MK and take the bus back to POR but he insisted on tagging along with us to the TTC. At the TTC, the girls and I headed over to the Epcot monorail. I told Ross to walk over to the busses and find the one for POR. He decided to come with us to Epcot and then go back to the room from there. Again, I questioned him – actually, I told him he was crazy. He looked like he was ready to fall down. I told him the faster he got back, the faster he could get to sleep. He insisted he was fine so we boarded the monorail to EPCOT. Unfortunately, as soon as we boarded we were told that the monorail had to go through maintenance. We sat on the monorail for 20 minutes!

Hope wasn’t too happy.

Ross was regretting his decision.

Julia and I were being patient.

When it finally began, it inched forward a few feet and then paused… inched forward a few feet and then pause… about 10 times! At last we were on our way. We waited over a half hour to be on our way to EPCOT!

 

[Figment Forever]

Once there, we said our goodbyes.

I felt really bad for him. He works so hard all year to make this trip possible. Now, he was so sick, he could barely enjoy it. I was praying after a good day’s sleep and some medicine in his body, he would snap out of it.

As the girls and I walked by Spaceship Earth, I noticed there was a massive line.

According to MDE it was over an hour wait. I wondered if it had went down for a while because I don’t ever think I saw a line that long for it.

Our first stop was Imagination – no hour long wait there.

Julia and Hope both wanted to see the Pixar Film Festival again, so why not? We just realized the other night that you can see them all on Netflix.

Hope wanted to zoom around the earth so we walked over to Mission Space.

I was sad we couldn’t visit Mars anymore.

 

[Tuvalu]

While Ross should have stayed on the monorail to MK and bussed back to POR, he was right to join you on the Epcot monorail.

There are no resort buses that depart from the TTC so he would have wandered around sick and helpless....until he figured out needed to get back on the MK monorail.

 

[Figment Forever]

While Ross should have stayed on the monorail to MK and bussed back to POR, he was right to join you on the Epcot monorail.

There are no resort buses that depart from the TTC so he would have wandered around sick and helpless....until he figured out needed to get back on the MK monorail.

While Ross should have stayed on the monorail to MK and bussed back to POR, he was right to join you on the Epcot monorail.

There are no resort buses that depart from the TTC so he would have wandered around sick and helpless....until he figured out needed to get back on the MK monorail.

Oh wow, I thought the bus were there as well. Well it's a good thing he didn't listen to me! lol

 

[Tiggerlovr90]

Bummer getting sick on vacation is the worst. I am enjoying your report. Your more patient than me, the waitress, manager and I would have been having words. There is no excuse for non service. We were in WDW Sept. 22nd thru Oct. 3rd. and had great service the whole time.

 

[Figment Forever]

Thanks for reading!! Luckily, the amazing service we received far outweighed the poor service from this CM. I hope you had an awesome time on your trip!

 

[disneypearl]

Too bad Ross got sick! It’s awful to not feel well, and have to miss out on the fun.

 

[Tiggerlovr90]

Thanks for reading!! Luckily, the amazing service we received far outweighed the poor service from this CM. I hope you had an awesome time on your trip!

Our trip was amazing. We have been to WDW multiple times. People just don’t understand when you tell them you are going back. (Except on forums like this) It is never the same trip twice. We tried to do one new thing everyday.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've a cold twice on Disney vacations, once at Disneyland and then at WDW so I sympathize with Ross. Poor guy, I hope he felt a little better after some rest.

 

[Figment Forever]

Too bad Ross got sick! It’s awful to not feel well, and have to miss out on the fun.

I know - it stinks! I felt so bad for him! I was sick on our trip a couple of years ago and Julia was sick the year before I started writing my TRs. In her case, we needed a trip to the Urgent Care. Not fun! He did feel better the next day after a full day of rest.

 

[Figment Forever]

Our trip was amazing. We have been to WDW multiple times. People just don’t understand when you tell them you are going back. (Except on forums like this) It is never the same trip twice. We tried to do one new thing everyday.

lol I stopped telling people we are going to WDW. We have those who say we are crazy - but we don't care. You're right - it's never the same trip twice and that's part of what makes it so magical.

 

[Figment Forever]

I've a cold twice on Disney vacations, once at Disneyland and then at WDW so I sympathize with Ross. Poor guy, I hope he felt a little better after some rest.

He felt better after an (almost) full days rest, but I felt so bad for him. I'm am seriously thinking about having us wear masks on the plane from now on. Julia says they are a fashion statement in Japan so she's fine with it. I'm not a fan of hand sanitizer, but I may make that a must have in my backpack from now on.

 

[Figment Forever]

We had a FP for Test Track, which also had a very long standby wait time, so we entered the FP line. It moved very slow. As we were about to enter the design room, there was an announcement warning everyone that a storm system was about to pass through and that the ride would close when it happened. Julia and I looked at each other. We agreed we should stick it out and hoped that we would board before “the system” would appear. The girls made their vehicles and we moved on.

Soon we were next to board.

We did it! We beat “the system”. Or so we thought.

Just as we were about to get into our vehicle, the CM’s made the announcement that the storm system was upon us and the ride would be temporarily closed. They unloaded all the passengers and ran the ride empty until all the cars were empty and then they shut it down. The CM’s could not tell when the ride would be up and running again, but invited guests to wait it out. Most people didn’t budge. They sat down and waited. I consulted with Hope and Julia. At first, we decided we should try to wait it out. But after the first 10 or 15 minutes, the truth was, we had no idea how long it would be. So we admitted defeat to “the system” and left.

We stopped to play some of the games. It was funny, since the ride was not working, the game area was completely deserted!

While the girls were playing games, I thought to myself how far Hope has come. A couple of years ago, she would have a meltdown if we had to leave the line – let alone being the next to get into the car! Now she was disappointed like the rest of us but was happy to move on to some more fun.

When we walked outside, it was raining. No thunder – but lots of rain. We made our way to The Land and went on LWTL and then Soarin.

 

[Figment Forever]

The APP was showing TT was still down but since it had stopped raining, we walked over to see if it was opened again - and it was. I realized that when we left, we didn’t get a return FP for the ride going down but the CM said no worries and gave me this.

We had a FP for Frozen so we decided that we would return to TT later and then ventured out to WS. We stopped for a drink…

Again, here was another FP line that was crazy long. But if I’m correct, Frozen kept going down too, so I wonder if that what backs it up? If I remember correctly, I don’t think they even had the standby opened at all when we went on.

Hope seemed to have the water rides beat - she just puts on her rain jacket and she is good to go!

 

[Figment Forever]

We stopped into the bakery in Germany and picked up some more Carmel popcorn. I have to say, it was delicious, but I like my popcorn crunchy. I didn’t know if it was because of the humidity that was causing the Carmel corn to be “sticky” or if this is what it is, but I wish it had a nice crunch to it.

Soon it was time for our ADR at GG. Sure enough Ross had texted me to say he felt better and was meeting us for dinner. I told him he should stay in bed, but it was like taking to a wall. He was on his way. He seemed a little better than breakfast but he was really tired.

GG has always been one of our favorites but I honestly didn’t like the changes. I miss the fish and steak. But the biggest loss is NO SWEET POTATO FRIES!!

GF Dessert - it was soon good! Sometimes GF cake tastes nasty - this was delish!

Hope's B-Day cake - she was very excited! (Even though she doesn't eat cake! lol)

 

[Figment Forever]

Mickey and the gang were great. GG has to be one of the best character interactions at WDW. They come around at least 2-3 times and are never in a rush. Our waitress was awesome and brought out a birthday cupcake for Hope and we all sang Happy Birthday. Mickey even stopped to join in. It was very cool.

Ross ate but I could tell he still needed to be in bed. He took some medicine so I figured it was making him tired. He was hoping to ride Soarin with us after dinner, but decided he would return to the room.

Again we said our goodbyes.

 

[SweetEvangeline]

When we walked up to her, she remembered Hope - again. She said she was happy that she decided to visit her again. We told her that her pictures never showed up in our MDE. She was so sweet! She said she needed to find a different place for a picture and then proceeded to walk over to the bridge near the exit. The Photographer followed behind. She told Hope a story and then walked back over to her area and told the Photographer to take a “special” shot.

View attachment 262431View attachment 262422View attachment 262423View attachment 262424View attachment 262425View attachment 262432View attachment 262436View attachment 262433View attachment 262435View attachment 262434

I have never experienced a character that takes so long with guests and really makes her visit so personal. The wait for Pocahontas is always longer than some of the other characters – but she is SO WORTH THE WAIT!

These are just simply FANTASTIC!!!