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?
I love the fact that Ross wears that particular set of Mickey ears. I don't think I'm confident enough to try those for more than 10 minutes! Good for you, Ross!!
I wanted to find a bus to Epcot, but Ross thought we should take the boat. So we began the walk to find the boat. Unfortunately, we walked the wrong way and when we did get to the boat dock– there were none ready to go. So Ross suggested we walk.
It was HOT. Julia’s feet were bothering her. I was cranky too. But it was still a beautiful walk and we didn’t race; we took our time.
Since we were taking our time, there were several families that passed by us on the walkway. One such family had a young boy, maybe about 10ish who, as he was passing by, sneezed. Like a good health minded young person, he turned away from everyone in his family to sneeze away from them. Unfortunately, Ross was in the direct path of the sneeze. And boy, what a sneeze it was. Ross paused and looked down at his shirt, which had sneeze drippings on it. I shook my head. By this time, not only did his MB never allow him to charge things, he had also been sick, peed on, and now sneezed on… I felt his run of bad luck had to be done. What other type of calamity could he possibly encounter? (Little did I know there was one more run of bad luck left...)
Our main for this evening was to eat around the world. I apologize I have no pretty pictures of adult beverages – just food. Lol I didn’t even get pictures of all of it because we were so hungry, we ate it too fast. We started in France for Julia.
We stopped in Japan for dumplings.
Ross had a Lobster Roll in America.
Hope wasn’t too excited about our menu choice, so we stopped inside America’s quick service, Liberty Inn, for her to get some chicken and French fries.
I had never been in here and I have to say how beautiful it is and very spacious. They also had a coloring station which I thought was really nice since I've only seen them in sit-down restaurants.
It was great to take a break and then the eating marathon continued.
We were so full! There were still some items I wanted to try but there was no way I could eat anything more.
We had time for a last ride on Soarin so we walked over to The Land Pavilion. AS we were on line, I realized Hope had no shoes on.
Me: “Where are your shoes Hope?”
Hope: “The shoes are not on your feet.”
Me: “I know they are not on your feet – where are they?”
Hope: “They could be anywhere!” (Which usually means, "I don't know.)
Luckily, her shoes were buried under her dress.
It was almost 9:00PM so we headed for the busses, opting not to watch Illuninations.
When we got to the bus stop for POR, it was MASSIVE again. We looked at the much shorter line for FQ and decided we would take the bus there and walk over to POR.
Of course as soon as we were settled on the bus it was a race between me, Ross and Julia to suggest we stop for beignets! Lol
Julia and I shared an order of the GF beignets while Hope had vanilla ice cream and I believe Ross have the newly offered the (new to us) beignet sundae.
When we finished, we enjoyed the walk back to Riverside. By this time, I knew we would not be returning to POR next year. We had booked a bounce back and they changed the free dinning program, so for financial reasons, it didn’t work for us. I was surprised how sad I was. I never thought I really cared too much about where we stayed, but we had really grown fond of PO – both FQ & Riverside. I knew I would miss it.
Soon, we were back at our room where our friends were waiting.
I packed a few things before going to sleep. Tomorrow would be our last park day.
I wanted to find a bus to Epcot, but Ross thought we should take the boat. So we began the walk to find the boat. Unfortunately, we walked the wrong way and when we did get to the boat dock– there were none ready to go. So Ross suggested we walk.
Since we were taking our time, there were several families that passed by us on the walkway. One such family had a young boy, maybe about 10ish who, as he was passing by, sneezed. Like a good health minded young person, he turned away from everyone in his family to sneeze away from them. Unfortunately, Ross was in the direct path of the sneeze. And boy, what a sneeze it was. Ross paused and looked down at his shirt, which had sneeze drippings on it. I shook my head. By this time, not only did his MB never allow him to charge things, he had also been sick, peed on, and now sneezed on… I felt his run of bad luck had to be done. What other type of calamity could he possibly encounter? (Little did I know there was one more run of bad luck left...)
We started the day with VOTLM. I know many people feel this show is old and should be changed, but I still love it. View attachment 269420
Then we walked across to Disney Jr.
I can’t help remembering about how this show was all Hope ever thought about – and the only attraction she wanted to do in HS! Now she has so many other interests. I’m sort of sad wondering if and when she will “grow” out of it.
A little back story… When Hope was 3 ½, the world of Autism still felt new and so overwhelming to us. It was even before I realized I could get a disability assistance card at WDW to help us out. Hope was completely non-verbal. We tried teaching her signs, but even that wasn’t going so well. She couldn’t even point to things, so communication was non-existent between us. Everything was a guessing game – and a very frustrating one.
So here we were in WDW coming out of Disney Jr. Live On Stage. She was walking with Ross while Julia and I were walking a little bit in front of them. We were heading across to VOTLM when I realized Hope & Ross were no longer behind us.
I grabbed Julia’s hand and ran back to Disney Jr. and there they were under the big “Disney Jr.” sign. Hope was on the ground SCREAMING out of control. Ross was frantic – he was trying to pick her up, but he couldn’t even get her off the ground.
He looked at me so scared and said, “I don’t know what’s wrong – she just started to scream and all she does is flap her arms together. What does this mean?” He motioned his hands together touching the tips of his fingers. I looked at Hope on the ground completely inconsolable. She was frantically touching the tips of her fingers together again and again.
I started to cry. I looked at Ross and said, “She’s making the sign for “more”! She wants to see the show again!” I got down on the ground and told her we would go back on line for the show. She started to calm down, the crying stopped and she got off the ground. We all walked back into the show.
It was the first word she ever “spoke” to us. So Disney Jr. Live On Stage will always hold a special spot in my heart...
What an amazing story! Didn’t Hope get to be the first one to enter the Disney Jr. show on a previous trip? She really has a connection to Disney Jr.
What rotten luck for poor Ross!
What an amazing story! Didn’t Hope get to be the first one to enter the Disney Jr. show on a previous trip? She really has a connection to Disney Jr.
What rotten luck for poor Ross!
Okay, I've left you all in suspense long enough. No really - sorry, life has just been crazy, but it's time to wrap this up...
Day 15: Friday, September 22th: What The Crocs Just Happened?
We woke up and got ready while feeling that sickening “tomorrow we go home” feeling that comes at this point of the trip.
Unwanted mail..
Today was our last park day and we would be spending it in MK and EPCOT. Originally, I had us in MK all day until the early close for MNSSHP and then leaving for dinner at WCC. But as we got closer, I think we realized we would prefer to hop to another park rather than eat. So we decided to hop to EPCOT, which was opened until 10:00pm.
We began or day by having breakfast with Winnie & friends.
As we were deciding what to do next, we realized we still had not ridden Jungle Cruise so I walked up to ask for a return time. As I walked up, it started to rain. Ross and the girls were standing up by the camel waiting for me. Just as the CM scanned my MB, the rain changed into a downpour. I made a dash to where I had left my family, but they were nowhere to be found. Apparently, Ross had taken the girls to find shelter away from the monsoon of a downpour. You may be thinking to yourself, “No problem - just call your husband.” But my phone was on the charger in the stroller so I had no way to get in touch with them. I walked back to the JC entrance – they were not there. I was getting really upset and very wet because the rain was brutal. Finally I spotted him. He had left the girls to find me and we were both walking in the rain trying to locate the other. I was wet, cold and extremely grumpy.
It was clearly time for an Ice cream break. I was so sad… my last dole whip for another year.
