Trip Report Lessons in Geography

We've been back for about a month now, and I got my pictures all sorted, and I don't have daily rehearsals or performances now, so I guess this is the time to start my trip report.
I never finished the one from 2016, but I took notes this time, which should make it a bit easier, but it's still a 3 and a half week trip, so there's a LOT to cover.

The basic details:
July 20th-August 3rd at Disney with my four: Myself, my husband M, my Daughter E (13) and my son A (11)
My brother's family joined us for the first week: My brother J, his husband also J, and their daughter N (6).
My cousins met up with us the first day, and we all had dinner together....I believe there were 20 of us in total.
August 4th-6th was just whatever we wanted to do.
August 7th-11th at Universal Orlando
August 12th- Flying home

We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort for the Disney portion of the trip, and at Royal Pacific (Universal's version of the Poly) for the Universal part. In between we were at the Doubletree at Seaworld, and for the last night before we flew out, we were at Allure resort.

Here's my 4, my brother's 3, and 3 of the cousins' group.
Adults left to right:
My brother-in-law J,my brother J, me, my cousin's boyfriend K, my cousin C, my husband M.
Kids:
My niece N (6), My cousin's daughter L (8...yes, she's tiny), my son A (11) and my daughter E (13)

Got all that? Good! Let's go!

 

[Songbird76]

Friday, August 9th, continued...

A few more pictures....

Ah, this one is from the Minions ride.

The obligatory castle shot:

I love the theming...it's so well done. I would actually love to go in the winter when it's cold, and get myself a hot butterbeer, and park it in the Three Broomsticks. It would seem even more real. I think we ended up leaving when it started looking like this:

After this I'm fuzzy...I don't think we went back to the resort. I think we met up with M and got lunch. At some point, we had gotten the refillable coke freestyle bottles. I think it was the day before, and you could pay each day to reactivate it. M had had problems all day with it this day...when he got to the park in the morning, some parts weren't open yet, and there was a refill machine 5 feet away and the TM wouldn't let him walk those 5 feet to refill his mug. He had tried filling it at one of the other stations, but it said it was performing maintenance and couldn't refill at the moment, but by placing your cup on the sensor, it reads it and thinks you've just had a refill, even though you haven't. So when he tried another machine, it told him he couldn't get a refill for another 5 minutes. This is a significant issue that we dealt with every day. One machine would be out of what you wanted, but you can't see that until you place your cup on the sensor. But once you do, you can not use another machine. It happened to us time and time again....they say "unlimited" refills, but that is not nearly the case. Universal needs to bone up on their vocabulary....they keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.

So I think we went to the Monsters Cafe for lunch because M LOVES Ribs, and we must have walked back to the studios to meet up with him? I know one day we went there and the food was TERRIBLE. The ribs at the Three Broomsticks had been so so good, but these were nasty. There was barely any meat on them, and what there was was so tough you couldn't bite into it. And I think I got brussells sprouts, which I love, but they were undercooked and almost still raw...very hard. We left unsatisfied and decided to go to Disney Springs that night to go to Polite Pig, and we had planned to also go to Chicken Guy. I am not sure what we did for A. He had plenty of snacks from our stash of leftover Disney credits, so I suppose he ate that. I think M went to go check on him because he didn't answer his phone. We allowed him to stay at the resort, but we checked on him periodically throughout the day, and I think he didn't answer, so M ended up having to go back to make sure nothing was wrong. Then I think we split up again anyway, because E and I were going to go do some rides M had already done that morning.
We did the Jimmy Fallon ride...again I had my eyes closed throughout the whole thing. And we did the Shrek show....that was fun. I think we left early to go to dinner though.
We went to Disney Springs, I think it was this night. We ate at Polite Pig, where E and I shared, and we figured then we'd have room to share something from Chicken Guy as well. But when we got to Chicken Guy, there was a huge line, and it wasn't wanting to load the mobile order on the app, so we just decided to skip it. We went to sprinkles instead, and got cupcakes. A didn't like any of the cupcake options, and he started to meltdown again. It wasn't fair that we all got dessert and he didn't, and he had waited all day for food he liked and he was hungry and he just wanted a chocolate cake/cupcake. We tried to calm him and explained we would do our best to get something for him, but we couldn't promise, and we talked to him yet again about how sometimes he was going to have to eat something that wasn't his favorite because there are so few foods he likes. On the other hand, he was right...it WASN'T fair for all of us to get dessert when he didn't. So when we got back to the resort, we contacted the concierge desk and asked about finding chocolate cake. We explained the situation that our son was autistic and was having a hard time with food issues and we needed to find him something he would eat. They sent us downstairs to the restaurant, and they provided us with a GIANT chocolate cupcake, no charge. A real magical moment....at Universal.

Since I have no notes, I am not positive about the order of events at Universal. The cupcake incident may have also been the night before....I don't know. And I am not sure when we were all together and when it was just E and I, or when M was with us...it's all mixed up. But it all happened at one time or another.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm so sorry...life got in the way and I didn't have time to work on this for the last couple of months. But let's get this wrapped up, shall we?

First, I forgot a fun anecdote from check-in at Universal. When we pulled up to the valet and bell services, the guy who helped us was really friendly and laughed about our massive package of bottled water and how important it is in Florida to stay hydrated and the kids were telling him about some youtube video where it says "Hydrate! Don't Die-drate!" and it became a running joke with him and the kids. So he gets everything loaded onto the cart and then we go and park the car and walk back up to check in. As we are walking up the path, the bell services guy jumps out at us from the bell services shed with some little bottles of water and says "Hydrate! Don't Die-drate!" It was so funny and I wonder how long he stood there waiting for us so he could do that.

Anyway, Saturday, August 10th

We got up this morning for our breakfast with Gru and the girls and minions. Thank goodness there is signage EVERYWHERE...it made it easy to find the place. First you get your picture taken.

Then you are seated with another family or two. I am pretty sure the only thing you got to drink was a small glass of orange juice and coffee for the adults. I don't drink coffee, so I was able to use my mug and fill it with milk from the cereal station. I was disappointed that there was no option for milk to drink. A won't drink orange juice, and they didn't give you an extra glass, which was why I used my coffee cup.
You go through a buffet line in a big conference room and have the basic breakfast foods. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal, and I think there were some pastries. There were issues with the food staying warm, and it was definitely not very high quality. This breakfast is solely about the characters. It was pretty fun and I got a kick out of the kids from the family seated with us at the table. We had seen the family the day before and they were such a sweet looking family. The little ones were like...1.5 and 3? And one of the dads was british and the other was French and they lived in England. It was kind of comical because French dad was so outgoing and not at all the stereotypical snooty Frenchman, while the British dad was more reserved. Friendly, but quiet. And the kids were just too cute and so funny. The little girl was so impatient to meet the characters...and then she screamed in terror when it was her turn for a picture and she refused. Then when the characters were all the way at the end of the room, she decided she was ready for a picture. It was so sweet. We really enjoyed talking to them.

Overall it was a cute experience, but not worth the money for the food you get. I did see servers refilling other people's glasses, but they never got to ours, so if I hadn't been creative to get milk, we would have gotten one small glass of OJ to last throughout the whole meal. Either they need to set up a table where people can get refills themselves, or they need to have larger glasses or something, because that just isn't enough. Hydrate! Don't Die-drate! If you have a kid who LOVES Despicable Me, it is a fun experience. We enjoyed it, but it's a one and done.

I think this might have been a pool day. I know the kids were wanting some down time, we had seen most everything we wanted to see and do, and I don't have any pictures of this day until the evening when E and I went back for the night show at the castle.

This picture is for my friends in the Where in the world isn't Bob Sagget thread. @JenniferS , @InnKpr , @Goofyernmost , @Nemo14 , @93boomer , @MinnieM123 , @Eric1955 , @PUSH , @ajrwdwgirl ...I feel like I'm forgetting people...

Where was I?

It's hard to see the Five Guys sign by the Perkins American flag, but it's there, just down the block from IHOP.

We actually went to Perkins. I know...I'm boring, but I love just a plain mixed greens salad with croutons and ranch dressing on the side. NO TOMATOES!! And E and I get the sampler platter with chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings and we share it. A just gets french fries and I don't know what M got...he's not picky.
We had a really great server this night who went out of her way to make sure our visit was great. When we couldn't decide what to get to drink from the freestyle coke menu, she suggested a mixture of cream soda and orange. It was really good, but in the end we went back to just standard rootbeer, since it's a real treat we don't get to indulge in much. And I got Apple Cheesecake something or another for dessert....so good! This was my happy food!

 

[Nemo14]

This picture is for my friends in the Where in the world isn't Bob Sagget thread. @JenniferS , @InnKpr , @Goofyernmost , @Nemo14 , @93boomer , @MinnieM123 , @Eric1955 , @PUSH , @ajrwdwgirl ...I feel like I'm forgetting people...

Where was I?
View attachment 454658

It's hard to see the Five Guys sign by the Perkins American flag, but it's there, just down the block from IHOP.

We actually went to Perkins. I know...I'm boring, but I love just a plain mixed greens salad with croutons and ranch dressing on the side. NO TOMATOES!! And E and I get the sampler platter with chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings and we share it. A just gets french fries and I don't know what M got...he's not picky.
We had a really great server this night who went out of her way to make sure our visit was great. When we couldn't decide what to get to drink from the freestyle coke menu, she suggested a mixture of cream soda and orange. It was really good, but in the end we went back to just standard rootbeer, since it's a real treat we don't get to indulge in much. And I got Apple Cheesecake something or another for dessert....so good! This was my happy food!
View attachment 454659

Looks like International Drive to me.

 

[Songbird76]

Saturday, August 10th, continued...

After dinner E and I went back to catch the light show at Hogwarts. My pictures aren't great and E never sent me hers, so I'm sorry, these are not great.
There are apparently multiple viewings of the show and when we got there, one had already started. We had wanted to try the butterbeer ice cream and the butterbeer potted cream, so we went into The Three Broomsticks. During the day it had been really orderly and there was someone waiting to send you to a register to place your order. In the evening, the person stationed at the entrance was AWOL right up until we got there, so it was a bit chaotic. The people before us were already at a register and just when it should have been our turn, some people pushed right past us, saying they were with the group of people that was at the register, which meant that we had to wait. When we were finally directed to a register, we were behind a large group where the register next to us only had 2 people, so by the time the group in front of us was finished and it was our turn, several groups who were behind us in line were already waiting for their orders and more were at those registers, with us still waiting to place our order. And the people who had pushed past us WEREN'T together. Well, they were, but they were all ordering and paying separately, taking up the one register for several minutes as they each ordered and paid and repeated the process and still had to look at the menu and decide what they wanted. When we finally got to order, I mentioned to the TM that the person at the entrance had let these people cut and had sent us to the longest line instead of the shortest. She apologized for the inconvenience and said it was usually more organized but they don't always station somewhere when it's not busy. I get that approach and would have preferred that no one was there rather than someone who sent us to the longest line. If we could have chosen, we would have gone to one of the shorter lines....I think the TM just really needed more training. She was sending people to lines in chronological order rather than based on which line would be free next. It seems pretty common sense to me that if you have 3 lines and 2 have 5-6 people in them and one only has 2 people, the best place to send the next people is to the line with only 2 people, not the one with a party of 6 who is obviously going to take longer to order, but the girl seemed flustered and was not a take charge person. We got our ice cream and potted cream and went and sat down. The potted cream was disgusting!! I don't know what it is, but it was NASTY. We shared the ice cream cup and could hear the music for the next show starting. I was hoping we weren't missing the only show.

We came out to find a HUGE crowd....people packed in like sardines and we had no idea what was going on. There were TMs lining the path, but they were too busy chatting with each other to direct guests. There was a pathway on both sides but we were told we couldn't walk there, we had to get behind the throng of people. We couldn't see the castle so we had no idea what all the people were doing just standing there....they weren't watching the show. It wasn't until we tried to get past that a TM said we either had to turn around and leave or we had to stand in the group to wait for the next show as this one was at capacity. This is when we found out there was more than one showing. And we were told if we stood in the throng of people, once the first show was let out, we would be escorted to the viewing area for the next one. So we stood there and waited. Then we were told we could enter the viewing area and it was chaotic. They kept telling people they couldn't stand in this area or that area, but as soon as they would move one group out, another would take its place. Or the same people would creep back in. Again we were packed in like sardines and we couldn't see. People bumped into us and we bumped into the people in front of us, we were apologizing and the people in back were trying to push their way up towards the front. It was CHAOS. And for a light show that only takes something like 5 minutes and happens several times throughout the evening, it's not worth that. It was mostly due to TMs not really doing their jobs to herd people or giving them any information like how many shows there are and how often they start, etc. Everyone was just trying to push in so they didn't miss it in case it was the last one.

We were actually relatively close to the front, but some big guys pushed up in front of us so we could hardly see. We ended up shifting a little bit and there was a family next to us with a boy about 10 who couldn't see either, so we shifted to make sure HE could see, and E could see, but we adults didn't have much of a view. It was worse than the fireworks shows at Disney.

That's pretty much it of my pictures. Not impressive, though the show was really cool. I wish I could have seen it again! Afterwards, we were directed through the gate at the back of the park to exit. I had no idea where were were going, so I just followed the other people. We were really thirsty so we were looking for a place to fill our mugs. We asked a TM and she brought us to a quick service restaurant, but they had just closed, so she sent us on the path and told us there was a station further up the path. We got there and put one mug under the dispenser and it told us that it could not fill our mug because it was undergoing maintenance and to use a different machine. We waited for the next machine to be open only to have it say we had just refilled and would have to wait 6 minutes. E then put HER mug in and we discovered it didn't have rootbeer. And then of course, her mug wouldn't work for another 4 minutes in the 3rd machine because she had JUST refilled....except neither of us had gotten to refill. We stopped the next people from using the machine that was undergoing maintenance so they wouldn't be stuck waiting for however many minutes....I wish the people who had just used that machine ahead of us and then had to wait had warned us. So we warned several. I thought our time was almost up, so I put my cup under and it said I had to wait 4 more seconds. Seriously? 4 seconds?? I thought the idea of these cups was to "Enjoy unlimited refills". Except you can't use the machines in the morning because some of the machines are in areas that aren't open yet and you aren't allowed to walk 5 steps to access them. And you can't refill your cup if you had just recently had your cup under a machine, even if the drink you wanted wasn't available and you hadn't actually put anything in your cup. And you pay $10 per day for the priviledge of waiting in line to fill your cup only to find that over half of the options are empty, and then not being allowed to fill your cup at another station until you've waited 5-10 minutes. Seriously, Universal...FIX THIS SYSTEM. If I'm paying for unlimited refills, I want unlimited refills, and I want the machines to have all the options. If you can't deliver what you promise, don't offer it.

We made our way to the front of the park and then promptly got lost....we took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up walking back further into the park before finally finding an exit. We started walking back to our resort and there are bike taxis that run between the parks and the resorts. We heard one of them talking to some guests who asked how much it costs and he said it's a freewill thing...you give however much you want, and MOST people give him $20 bucks or more. Yeah....right....I'm sure. We opted to walk.

As this was our last night at Universal, we decided to take a swim when we got back to the resort. I don't remember what M did, but he didn't come with us. Every night there's a movie in the pool. I don't even remember what the movie was, but the kids weren't really watching it. There were some people playing volleyball with a beach ball...not very conducive to watching a movie. But we enjoyed our swim and then called it a day. The next day was check-out day.

 

[Songbird76]

Looks like International Drive to me.

I think it probably is. It was kind of a mess with some construction there, but across the street from the Perkins was a McDonalds, so we got A his chicken nuggets and fries and then went to Perkins for the rest of us and I think A got some French Silk pie.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Saturday, August 10th, continued...

After dinner E and I went back to catch the light show at Hogwarts. My pictures aren't great and E never sent me hers, so I'm sorry, these are not great.
There are apparently multiple viewings of the show and when we got there, one had already started. We had wanted to try the butterbeer ice cream and the butterbeer potted cream, so we went into The Three Broomsticks. During the day it had been really orderly and there was someone waiting to send you to a register to place your order. In the evening, the person stationed at the entrance was AWOL right up until we got there, so it was a bit chaotic. The people before us were already at a register and just when it should have been our turn, some people pushed right past us, saying they were with the group of people that was at the register, which meant that we had to wait. When we were finally directed to a register, we were behind a large group where the register next to us only had 2 people, so by the time the group in front of us was finished and it was our turn, several groups who were behind us in line were already waiting for their orders and more were at those registers, with us still waiting to place our order. And the people who had pushed past us WEREN'T together. Well, they were, but they were all ordering and paying separately, taking up the one register for several minutes as they each ordered and paid and repeated the process and still had to look at the menu and decide what they wanted. When we finally got to order, I mentioned to the TM that the person at the entrance had let these people cut and had sent us to the longest line instead of the shortest. She apologized for the inconvenience and said it was usually more organized but they don't always station somewhere when it's not busy. I get that approach and would have preferred that no one was there rather than someone who sent us to the longest line. If we could have chosen, we would have gone to one of the shorter lines....I think the TM just really needed more training. She was sending people to lines in chronological order rather than based on which line would be free next. It seems pretty common sense to me that if you have 3 lines and 2 have 5-6 people in them and one only has 2 people, the best place to send the next people is to the line with only 2 people, not the one with a party of 6 who is obviously going to take longer to order, but the girl seemed flustered and was not a take charge person. We got our ice cream and potted cream and went and sat down. The potted cream was disgusting!! I don't know what it is, but it was NASTY. We shared the ice cream cup and could hear the music for the next show starting. I was hoping we weren't missing the only show.

We came out to find a HUGE crowd....people packed in like sardines and we had no idea what was going on. There were TMs lining the path, but they were too busy chatting with each other to direct guests. There was a pathway on both sides but we were told we couldn't walk there, we had to get behind the throng of people. We couldn't see the castle so we had no idea what all the people were doing just standing there....they weren't watching the show. It wasn't until we tried to get past that a TM said we either had to turn around and leave or we had to stand in the group to wait for the next show as this one was at capacity. This is when we found out there was more than one showing. And we were told if we stood in the throng of people, once the first show was let out, we would be escorted to the viewing area for the next one. So we stood there and waited. Then we were told we could enter the viewing area and it was chaotic. They kept telling people they couldn't stand in this area or that area, but as soon as they would move one group out, another would take its place. Or the same people would creep back in. Again we were packed in like sardines and we couldn't see. People bumped into us and we bumped into the people in front of us, we were apologizing and the people in back were trying to push their way up towards the front. It was CHAOS. And for a light show that only takes something like 5 minutes and happens several times throughout the evening, it's not worth that. It was mostly due to TMs not really doing their jobs to herd people or giving them any information like how many shows there are and how often they start, etc. Everyone was just trying to push in so they didn't miss it in case it was the last one.

We were actually relatively close to the front, but some big guys pushed up in front of us so we could hardly see. We ended up shifting a little bit and there was a family next to us with a boy about 10 who couldn't see either, so we shifted to make sure HE could see, and E could see, but we adults didn't have much of a view. It was worse than the fireworks shows at Disney.

View attachment 454707View attachment 454708View attachment 454709View attachment 454710
View attachment 454711View attachment 454713
That's pretty much it of my pictures. Not impressive, though the show was really cool. I wish I could have seen it again! Afterwards, we were directed through the gate at the back of the park to exit. I had no idea where were were going, so I just followed the other people. We were really thirsty so we were looking for a place to fill our mugs. We asked a TM and she brought us to a quick service restaurant, but they had just closed, so she sent us on the path and told us there was a station further up the path. We got there and put one mug under the dispenser and it told us that it could not fill our mug because it was undergoing maintenance and to use a different machine. We waited for the next machine to be open only to have it say we had just refilled and would have to wait 6 minutes. E then put HER mug in and we discovered it didn't have rootbeer. And then of course, her mug wouldn't work for another 4 minutes in the 3rd machine because she had JUST refilled....except neither of us had gotten to refill. We stopped the next people from using the machine that was undergoing maintenance so they wouldn't be stuck waiting for however many minutes....I wish the people who had just used that machine ahead of us and then had to wait had warned us. So we warned several. I thought our time was almost up, so I put my cup under and it said I had to wait 4 more seconds. Seriously? 4 seconds?? I thought the idea of these cups was to "Enjoy unlimited refills". Except you can't use the machines in the morning because some of the machines are in areas that aren't open yet and you aren't allowed to walk 5 steps to access them. And you can't refill your cup if you had just recently had your cup under a machine, even if the drink you wanted wasn't available and you hadn't actually put anything in your cup. And you pay $10 per day for the priviledge of waiting in line to fill your cup only to find that over half of the options are empty, and then not being allowed to fill your cup at another station until you've waited 5-10 minutes. Seriously, Universal...FIX THIS SYSTEM. If I'm paying for unlimited refills, I want unlimited refills, and I want the machines to have all the options. If you can't deliver what you promise, don't offer it.

We made our way to the front of the park and then promptly got lost....we took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up walking back further into the park before finally finding an exit. We started walking back to our resort and there are bike taxis that run between the parks and the resorts. We heard one of them talking to some guests who asked how much it costs and he said it's a freewill thing...you give however much you want, and MOST people give him $20 bucks or more. Yeah....right....I'm sure. We opted to walk.

As this was our last night at Universal, we decided to take a swim when we got back to the resort. I don't remember what M did, but he didn't come with us. Every night there's a movie in the pool. I don't even remember what the movie was, but the kids weren't really watching it. There were some people playing volleyball with a beach ball...not very conducive to watching a movie. But we enjoyed our swim and then called it a day. The next day was check-out day.

Bummer about the refill cups. How frustrating. We have never done the refill cups, and thanks to your experience never will.

 

[Songbird76]

Bummer about the refill cups. How frustrating. We have never done the refill cups, and thanks to your experience never will.

Well, if it works properly, it really can save you money. We kind of cheated and only used 2 cups for the 4 of us. A hardly went into the parks, so E and I shared one and M had his own. E and I don't drink as much as M does, and we like the same things, so sharing just made sense when we were all together. When it was just E and I, we each had one, but we only reactivated 2 each day so it saved us a lot of money not having to buy separate drinks all the time. With a large family, if you like the same things and don't mind sharing, it can really save you a ton. It's just that we kept having issues with not being able to access the refill machines for whatever reason, and when we could, some of the stations were out of everything. We found one station outside of a quick service restaurant that was kind of hidden, and there was seating in the shade just around the corner and no one was there, so it became our go-to refill spot...right across from the animal actors thing. I wouldn't hesitate to get them again, but I wouldn't get one for each member of the family. And I would avoid the machines that are on the main pathways as those are the most used and therefore most likely to be out of certain kinds. The more out of the way ones were way better. But I DO think they need to fix the glitch where you can't access it if you just tried and didn't actually put anything in your cup. If they can't do that, then they need to not say "unlimited refills."

 

[Songbird76]

Sunday, August 11th

I'm pretty sure we just slept in this day because we could. I think we may have gone swimming, but I don't know. I have no pictures from this day and we were headed to a different hotel for the one night.

When I booked our Universal part of the trip, I booked a package that had 4 nights at the Royal Pacific, and 4 day tickets. I wasn't sure how much time we'd need in the parks, but I didn't want to fly out on our checkout day because it would be a waste of park tickets since you have to check in so early for an international flight. Then later, I saw Universal had a deal that if you bought 3 day tickets, you got 2 days free....so a total of 5 for the price of 3. But I had already paid for 4 days. So I called and asked if we could apply that to our tickets, and we could. So I got money back and we got an extra day of tickets. But this meant extending our trip by one day or the 5th day ticket was worthless.

We started looking for an inexpensive hotel for just one night. My husband found Allure Resort, which only cost something like $52 for a night and he said it looked like a whole resort with some rides and a pool, etc. So we booked it.

I think we let the kids swim for a bit in the morning, then at least E and I went to the park so I could see the Durmstrang and Beaubatons performances.

And I tried once again to get a picture of the disappearing people at Kings Cross station on the Hogwarts Express.

I have no notes for this day. I know we checked out, and drove to the Allure resort after leaving the parks. I do know that we put in the address for Allure into the GPS but it was sending us to a hotel where the parking lot was inaccessible due to construction and you had to go around and then the hotel had a different sign. We did eventually find it and then the guy couldn't find our reservations. We had reserved through Travlu and they had apparently forgotten to send our info to the Allure resort. I think we ended up having to pay a little bit more than we anticipated because of resort fees and such. We found the amusement park rides, but they were not part of the resort, and the pool actually belonged to a gym next door, but they let hotel guests use it. The beds were springy and uncomfortable, but it was only for one night, so we dealt with it.
The nice thing about this hotel was that we could just walk across the parking lot and there was a Saltgrass Steakhouse. I'm assuming we took A to McDonalds, and I don't remember what we ended up doing for E, but I know she didn't want to go with us. I think maybe she took a nap and we couldn't get her up for food. So we had a date night.

M said his steak was the best he's ever eaten and wished we could come back and enjoy it again. They are part of the Landry food group and our server suggested becoming members so we could come back the next day and the kids could eat for free with the membership monthly special. We could then also make use of some other deals for that night's meal and the $25 cost for membership was already made back with the extras we'd get. So we did! Here's my cheesecake, which was SOOOOO good.

I took some pictures of the amusement park rides, which we had seen before and E said she wanted pictures to send to her best friend, who would LOVE the swing ride.

 

[Songbird76]

Monday August 12th

Departure day. The dreaded day that your vacation is over and you now have a long trip back home. Ugh. We got up and M took the kids for a swim while I packed all the suitcases and dumped everything we didn't want. All the unused disposable rain ponchos, bottled water, glow sticks, etc...I left a note that it could be donated or taken home, whatever. M came back and the kids waited while we packed the car. When we came back to the room, the kids were a bit freaked out. Apparently housekeeping had been by and didn't speak English. So some random stranger just walked into the room and started talking to them, but they didn't understand what they were saying so they hadn't realized it was a hotel employee. No English? So much for my note...

This part was tough. Back when we had eaten at Chuy's, the balloon artist had made an owl for E and a Pikachu for A.

We had been carting them around during our travels, but now that we were headed to a plane, we couldn't take them with us, and we had warned the kids that these were just temporary and we'd have to toss them when we went home. A had forgotten about that, so he was very upset at having to leave Pikachu behind. He wished he had a Pikachu plush that he could hold and cuddle. We promised we'd look for one.

We went for lunch at Saltgrass and asked our server if he knew where we might find a stuffed pikachu. He said he had heard something about Universal aquiring rights to Pokemon, so perhaps a Universal store at the airport, or maybe the Outlet malls. So back to the outlets we went. No luck. We headed to the airport. Our flight was in the evening, but being international, we had to check in several hours in advance, meaning we'd be in the airport during dinner. We had tried to get A some chicken nuggets from McDonalds for breakfast, but the one we went to didn't serve anything but breakfast food until later in the day. He didn't like the fries at Saltgrass. So we told him we'd get him McDonalds for dinner. We knew there was a McDonalds at the airport. By the time we turned the rental car in, we were cutting it close and just wanted to check in for our flight and get through security and it wasn't dinner time yet.

We got to our terminal and gate and there was no McDonalds there. A started to cry. First he had had to say goodbye to his balloon friend, then we couldn't find a plush one anywhere, he hadn't eaten anything all day, and now there was no McDonalds. And then alarms and flashing lights started going off, and our flight was delayed because of awful weather. A was melting down...it was just too much. We tried to look for somewhere he could just get fries. I don't remember for sure, but I think there was a burger king and we decided to get food there, but A doesn't like their fries or their chicken nuggets, and we were facing a very long flight on which he wouldn't eat. When they announced our flight was delayed even more, he completely melted down. He was crying, rocking back and forth, pounding his legs with his fists, so I gave him my neck pillow to punch instead. People were looking and I apologized and explained that he has autism and is struggling with the change in routine as well as the flashing lights and the sirens (they were working on alarms I guess). Everyone was very kind, but as a parent, it's really embarrassing when your child is having this degree of meltdown and you can't stop it. You feel like it's your job to fix it and everyone is thinking you're the worst mom ever. Unfortunately, you just can't plan for some things, and flight delays and alarm system testing are outside of mom's control.

The upside to all this was that now that our flight was even more delayed, M had time to take A back through to the main airport entrance to the one McDonalds we knew was there. So he was able to get his food and get back through security well before our flight actually boarded, which helped, although nothing was going to completely make up for this awful day and all the let downs.
I don't even remember our flight home. I don't remember if we were seated together. I don't remember the food or the movie options. I DO remember that when we landed, we looked for our baggage claim number and stood there waiting forever. Our suitcases never came out. We finally heard from someone else that a bunch of people on our flight had to go fill out forms because our luggage was sent on a different flight or something? It didn't make it to Amsterdam with us. All that time waiting at the baggage claim had been for nothing. We now had to wait in a line with all the other people with no luggage to get a form, then fill it out and wait in another line to turn it back in so our luggage would be delivered to our home. This meant all our clothes and such were lost for now and all we had was the clothes on our backs.

It was eventually delivered to us a couple of days later, but A was having a hard time after the day before, and now having something else go wrong. My in-laws had to wait for ages for us to come out of the baggage claim area because we were filling out those stupid forms...I felt so bad for them. E and I kept A occupied by playing Heads Up on one of our phones, but he was anxious and tired, and just drained. We were so glad to just get home.

Disney would be the most amazing thing ever if we could just learn to teleport/aparate so we didn't have to deal with flight checkins and security and lost luggage. I hope someone is working on that whole teleportation thing.

Other than the trip home, our trip was pretty great. It was nice getting to spend time with my family, and we enjoyed introducing my niece to Disney magic. It went by too fast, but when is that NOT the case? And now, I'll go back to living vicariously through all of you!

 

[Spash007]

Monday August 12th

Departure day. The dreaded day that your vacation is over and you now have a long trip back home. Ugh. We got up and M took the kids for a swim while I packed all the suitcases and dumped everything we didn't want. All the unused disposable rain ponchos, bottled water, glow sticks, etc...I left a note that it could be donated or taken home, whatever. M came back and the kids waited while we packed the car. When we came back to the room, the kids were a bit freaked out. Apparently housekeeping had been by and didn't speak English. So some random stranger just walked into the room and started talking to them, but they didn't understand what they were saying so they hadn't realized it was a hotel employee. No English? So much for my note...

This part was tough. Back when we had eaten at Chuy's, the balloon artist had made an owl for E and a Pikachu for A.

View attachment 455963
We had been carting them around during our travels, but now that we were headed to a plane, we couldn't take them with us, and we had warned the kids that these were just temporary and we'd have to toss them when we went home. A had forgotten about that, so he was very upset at having to leave Pikachu behind. He wished he had a Pikachu plush that he could hold and cuddle. We promised we'd look for one.

We went for lunch at Saltgrass and asked our server if he knew where we might find a stuffed pikachu. He said he had heard something about Universal aquiring rights to Pokemon, so perhaps a Universal store at the airport, or maybe the Outlet malls. So back to the outlets we went. No luck. We headed to the airport. Our flight was in the evening, but being international, we had to check in several hours in advance, meaning we'd be in the airport during dinner. We had tried to get A some chicken nuggets from McDonalds for breakfast, but the one we went to didn't serve anything but breakfast food until later in the day. He didn't like the fries at Saltgrass. So we told him we'd get him McDonalds for dinner. We knew there was a McDonalds at the airport. By the time we turned the rental car in, we were cutting it close and just wanted to check in for our flight and get through security and it wasn't dinner time yet.

We got to our terminal and gate and there was no McDonalds there. A started to cry. First he had had to say goodbye to his balloon friend, then we couldn't find a plush one anywhere, he hadn't eaten anything all day, and now there was no McDonalds. And then alarms and flashing lights started going off, and our flight was delayed because of awful weather. A was melting down...it was just too much. We tried to look for somewhere he could just get fries. I don't remember for sure, but I think there was a burger king and we decided to get food there, but A doesn't like their fries or their chicken nuggets, and we were facing a very long flight on which he wouldn't eat. When they announced our flight was delayed even more, he completely melted down. He was crying, rocking back and forth, pounding his legs with his fists, so I gave him my neck pillow to punch instead. People were looking and I apologized and explained that he has autism and is struggling with the change in routine as well as the flashing lights and the sirens (they were working on alarms I guess). Everyone was very kind, but as a parent, it's really embarrassing when your child is having this degree of meltdown and you can't stop it. You feel like it's your job to fix it and everyone is thinking you're the worst mom ever. Unfortunately, you just can't plan for some things, and flight delays and alarm system testing are outside of mom's control.

The upside to all this was that now that our flight was even more delayed, M had time to take A back through to the main airport entrance to the one McDonalds we knew was there. So he was able to get his food and get back through security well before our flight actually boarded, which helped, although nothing was going to completely make up for this awful day and all the let downs.
I don't even remember our flight home. I don't remember if we were seated together. I don't remember the food or the movie options. I DO remember that when we landed, we looked for our baggage claim number and stood there waiting forever. Our suitcases never came out. We finally heard from someone else that a bunch of people on our flight had to go fill out forms because our luggage was sent on a different flight or something? It didn't make it to Amsterdam with us. All that time waiting at the baggage claim had been for nothing. We now had to wait in a line with all the other people with no luggage to get a form, then fill it out and wait in another line to turn it back in so our luggage would be delivered to our home. This meant all our clothes and such were lost for now and all we had was the clothes on our backs.

It was eventually delivered to us a couple of days later, but A was having a hard time after the day before, and now having something else go wrong. My in-laws had to wait for ages for us to come out of the baggage claim area because we were filling out those stupid forms...I felt so bad for them. E and I kept A occupied by playing Heads Up on one of our phones, but he was anxious and tired, and just drained. We were so glad to just get home.

Disney would be the most amazing thing ever if we could just learn to teleport/aparate so we didn't have to deal with flight checkins and security and lost luggage. I hope someone is working on that whole teleportation thing.

Other than the trip home, our trip was pretty great. It was nice getting to spend time with my family, and we enjoyed introducing my niece to Disney magic. It went by too fast, but when is that NOT the case? And now, I'll go back to living vicariously through all of you!

I really enjoyed following along, and I'm quite sorry for that awful trip back! It sounds like you and your family handled it the best you could given the circumstances. I know it's hard to fight that feeling as a parent, but to me it sounds like you're a pretty awesome mom!

 

[Songbird76]

I really enjoyed following along, and I'm quite sorry for that awful trip back! It sounds like you and your family handled it the best you could given the circumstances. I know it's hard to fight that feeling as a parent, but to me it sounds like you're a pretty awesome mom!

Aw thank you! And thanks for following along! I don't think any trip is ever completely free of some ups and downs, but it's a lot harder for A to roll with the punches. You do the best you can and hope you can help. At least in A's case, McDonalds goes a long way!

 

[Darstarr]

This wasn't just a trip report it was a saga!
You all did so much, no wonder A melted, poor kid, I am exhausted reading it (and it’s taken me 5-6 months?)
They say trips to WDW are like child birth. They can be painful as anything but we quickly forget...
Thank you for sharing!

 

[Songbird76]

This wasn't just a trip report it was a saga!
You all did so much, no wonder A melted, poor kid, I am exhausted reading it (and it’s taken me 5-6 months?)
They say trips to WDW are like child birth. They can be painful as anything but we quickly forget...
Thank you for sharing!

They can be really painful, but the joy you get out of it is so worth it, right?

I think it only took you so long to read it because it took me that long to write it! But yeah, an almost 4 week trip was bound to take some 'splainin'!

Thanks for following!!